Nodus Tollens || Jung Jaehyun

Chapter 2: A Proposition

A/n: Park Haejin as Han Seokju

On a random note, but why does Park Hae Jin remind me of Yuta a bit?? Like, idk, is it the smile, the eyes???? Does anyone else see the resemblance??

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It took about thirty minutes until Jiwoo's cousin returned back to her studio.

The girl was in the midst of creating an upbeat and catchy song to add to NCT 127's mini album until she heard the door knock and swing open. She bared a simple glance at the entering Seokju, gave him a brief wave, then returned back to her soundboard to record her sudden idea. The tall man removed his jacket and collapsed back onto her sofa, his legs kicked up onto the coffee table.

"I didn't think you would be so forgiving to people who discovered your existence on the seventh floor," Seokju uttered tiredly, as he loosened his necktie. "Are you biased now that they're basically your responsibility?"

Jiwoo snorted with a chuckle, "Dear god, you say that like I'm their manager. May that man have plenty of patience for however many boys he'll have to babysit." She pressed a series of buttons along her soundboard, the sound of drums and cymbals blasting from her speakers. Slim fingers danced along the device, making for a beat to grab anyone's attention. "But, maybe you're right. I'm pretty much connected to them now."

"Doesn't that freak you out a bit? I know how you don't want too much people to know you're here," her cousin replied, roughly thumping down on his stiff shoulders. An uneasy expression etched on his face as a thought came to mind. "You don't want to suddenly stop this, do you?"

"No, no, it's fine," Jiwoo answered quickly to assure him. "I can't give up on something that the Shaman said would be good for me."

The mention of that voodoo man got Seokju to straighten up on his seat, his narrowed gaze piercing to the back of his cousin's head. "The Shaman? Since when did you visit that man?"

"The day after you told me about this deal to being NCT's composer, duh."

"What did I tell you before? He seems iffy, I don't trust him."

Jiwoo swerved her chair around to face her cousin. Her own stare reciprocated his, to show how done she was for his distrust on someone she did, in fact, trust. "Well, you don't have to, as long as I do," the young woman huffed. "I don't need you to tell me every single time that you don't like him. He helped me a lot back then if you had already forgotten."

Seokju's expression darkened. "You promised that you wouldn't visit him too much."

"I haven't! I haven't seen him since that day so far. That's about five months ago." She held up her hand, all her fingers outstretched for him to see. "Five. Look, I've been doing just fine recently because of his advice and wisdom."

"Yeah, sure, okay. He's an assuring factor. However, I wish I didn't have the delightful surprise of walking on salt barefoot in my own home."

"I told you all the places I put the salt at though. Besides that, nothing bad happened to you, right?" She scooted her chair closer to the man. "You don't have to trust him. Just trust me, eh? Besides, Shaman-nim hasn't steered me wrong yet. I've followed his every word and I've been doing great! And oh! Okay, get this, guess what happened after I visited the Shaman for taking this task."

The bright enthusiasm Jiwoo emitted nearly killed Seokju. He'll admit that he liked seeing this side to her, her determined and happy side. Something he would much rather see all the time than what the girl was years ago. With a sigh of defeat, he gestured her to tell him. "I had a dream about pigs!"