expectancy ; jackbum

xxxxxxx

Someone was following him.

He felt eyes tickling the back of his bruise covered neck as soon as he left Jackson's place-- feeling them still as he neared his house. He cast a quick, discreet glance behind himself, yet saw no one in sight. It was a strange hour to be out, but an even stranger one for anyone else to be out in. He convinced himself it was nothing, and kept on.

It was around five in the morning, he hadn't wanted to leave so soon but Jackson insisted before Jaebum missed more meetings or more paper work and pissed anyone else off. It was nice to have him worry over him, even though he didn't want to cause the other man any stress. Jackson didn't deserve that.

The sun was barely rising over the city, the air chilled as it entered his lungs, and warm as it left. Walking was a time where he could relax and set his mind to rest-- except not when he still felt pricking eyes on his skin. He quickened his pace to try and shake off whatever or whoever was behind him. It was a strange feeling, and he wished he had stayed at Jackson's longer.

As he entered the front door, he turned to stare out into the early morning for a moment, the air coming alive slowly, silently watching, waiting. The sun was rising further up the buildings, rays blocked by the tall stories of cement. In the shadows, hidden from view, stood a man with a camera. Jaebum missed it, and turned to walk inside.

...

It was strange to wake up from a phone call.

Usually no one ever called him unless it was an emergency, it was more typical to be awoken by a knock on his door than a call. In his groggy state of being woke from his late day nap, he answered.

"Did you see the news?" The voice cut him off before he could speak.

"Huh?" He rubbed at his eyes, trying to make out the name on the caller I.D.

"Yeah," it was Jackson's smooth voice, "there's some crazy stuff going around about you. About us, actually."

Jaebum felt his heart stutter in shock and instant anger, body stilling at the words. "What?"

"Mhm, check Twitter-- or hell, even just Google your name. It's not hard to miss."

He pulled the phone from his face to put on speaker, fingers moving rapidly as he typed in his own name. As his thumb hit enter, articles upon articles popped up-- headlines blinding his tired eyes in bold font.

"Billionaire caught drunk and out of control"

"Rich Gone Wild: Drunken Nights and Affairs"

"Another Famous Figure in Downward Spiral: Im Jaebum"

"Im Jaebum Spends Money on Two Things: Strippers and Hook-Ups"

"Holy shit," he breathed, chest heavy from the letters before him, "when did this get public?"

"Looks like just yesterday," Jackson sighed, "it started with the rumors of you being an alcoholic, and now go on about you leaving my place. Do you have any idea who did this? Did you see someone following you?"

"No, I thought I felt something watching me-- though. Why would someone do this to me? None of this is even true. I drink, yeah, but I've never let it get out of hand."

Jackson was quiet a moment, setting him off even more.

"What, was this you? Do you think I'm some wild, drunken douchebag, too?" His voice rose, then cut off into a sigh of 'I'm sorry'.