excuses, excuses ; junhoon

one

"Please!" It's the sixty-eigth time today.

All Jihoon did was show his mom a recent picture of his co-workers, and now he's being attacked by his sister for the number of one of them.

"Jieun, I don't need anyone's numbers at work so why would I get them?" An exasperated Jihoon sighed, turning the volume knob on his speakers. The chorus of HyunA's 'Babe' blocks out everything else Jihoon's seventeen-year-old sister says.

"Well, you could just ask for it casually! You don't need a reason to get someone's number!" Jieun yelled over the song.

("Can the both of you shut up!" Their six-year-old brother walked out of the room with his iPad in his hands.)

Jieun stayed silent for a few more minutes, until she came up with something. "It's my birthday coming up soon, if you get me his number, I won't nag Mom to nag you to get me a gift."

Jihoon sighed again. "I'll think about it."

"You're the best!"

("I told you two to keep it down!")

And that's how Jihoon ended up trying to get Junhui's number without being too awkward. Jihoon was never a social person; he only went out if he needed to or if his friend Soonyoung would threaten him.

"Woah, what's this? Jihoon's actually out of his workroom?" One of his co-workers, Minghao, squints to see if what he's seeing is true. Another co-worker hears him and suddenly it spreads like wildfire. If their company had a newspaper, "Jihoon actually goes out of his room!" would be the headline.

All eyes are on him as he struts to the other side of the floor. (Jihoon takes a peek behind him and suddenly everyone else pretends to go back to work. He rolls his eyes, shaking his head.)

He knocks on Junhui's door, peeking through the window to see if he's there. He's there, but he's sleeping. Since Junhui shares a room with Wonwoo, the latter opens the door.

"Is Wen, uh, available right now?" Jihoon tip-toes (it's not his fault that Wonwoo's tall) to peek if Jun woke up to the sound of the door opening. Apparently, that's not the case.

"He's... taking his afternoon nap," Wonwoo shakes his head once he eyes Jun pretend to go back to sleep. "What do you need so important that you decided to come here instead of messaging him?"

"Actually," Jihoon takes a deep breath. This is so that you don't need to buy Jieun a gift. "I don't have his number so that's what I'll be needing."

Wonwoo's lips make an 'o' shape before he bites the side of his cheek. "Iㅡ I'll tell him when he wakes up! Yes, yeah. Um, thanks for your, uhhh, visit! Very much appreciated. Bye." And with that, Wonwoo closes (more like slams) the door.

"Hey, what did Jihoon say?" Junhui gets up once Jihoon's out of sight. He stretches his arms out before letting out a yawn.

"Your number," Wonwoo sighs.

Jun's expression lights up as if he just won the lottery. "Really? Lee Jihoon? The Lee Jihoon? For my number? Wow, sounds good. I'll give it to him rightㅡ"

Wonwoo stops the Chinese male from stepping out, "Remember you lost your phone last week?"

"Oh."