Broken Promise | Monsta X Jooheon

30//Devils Don't Fly

"I give my best smile, my last dime but I'm always getting wrong. It's not 'cause I'm young or from a broken home. Maybe I just fight 'cause I don't know where I belong." — Devils Don't Fly, Natalia Kills

It wasn't even a surprise anymore when Veronica and I reached my grandmother's bookstore to find Nana at the front counter reading with Jiho beside her, bopping his head along to the music playing from his earbuds and Jooheon and the rest of my friends either horsing around or helping put books up.

They all looked up when they heard the bell above the front door ring, only to stop when they noticed the unfamiliar female standing beside me.

I could already tell by the way Veronica curled in on herself a bit, shuffling to the left to hide behind me that she was pretty shy in front of people she didn't know. I supposed she hadn't been that way in front of me because I'd made the first move.

"Come on," I grabbed her hand, already beginning to lead her toward the stairs, trying to get her away from the attention that was clearly causing her so much discomfort.

"In here," I showed her the small room that Nana used as a bedroom for me even though I rarely slept over here. Might have to start, though, at least until I find an apartment.

"The bathroom's there and you can get a snack from the kitchen if you need, just tell me if we run out of something so I can replace it later. When you wake up just come down and we can start studying."

Veronica was looking at me in wonder, like she couldn't believe I was real, her lower lip even trembling a bit before she launched herself into my arms.

"Y-You're one of the first people who's been n-nice to me in a while," she croaked out, sniffling a bit and I frowned as I hugged her back, trying to rub her back in comfort. It was more than a bit awkward on my end — I wasn't used to being hugged by near-strangers — but Veronica honestly didn't seem to notice.

"Why?"

Veronica pulled back, she was relatively tall for a female as well, a bit taller than me, so we were eye-level and it was easy to see the shame and fear in her eyes that stemmed from my question. "I'll tell you later. Not really ready to talk about it."

I nodded, giving her what I hoped was a reassuring smile, before patting her shoulder. Someone needs to teach me how to comfort people ASAP, cause I can't continue on like this.

"I can respect that. Now, get some rest."

Veronica nodded and I left the room, shutting the door to give her some privacy before grabbing a turkey sandwich from the fridge and heading back downstairs.

Jiho frowned when he saw me, angular features illuminated by the sunlight spilling in from the window beside him.

"Oh yeah, I wasn't hungry at all, Promise, thanks for asking!" he said sarcastically, pouting until I rolled my eyes and let him take a bit of the sandwich, muttering under my breath before I saw the looks on  Ajiad and the other's faces like they might explode if I didn't tell them every detail of Veronica's existence in the next ten seconds.

"Um, are you guys...ok?"

"Who was that girl?" Minhyuk exploded at the same time that Changkyun said, "So that was a pretty cute friend you had there."

Jooheon was silent, the only one not looking at me as he kept putting books onto the shelf but I couldn't figure out why he would be upset. Was it something that happened before they got here?

I tried to remember if he had been upset when we walked in, but I had been so shocked by Veronica's 180 in attitude that I didn't really have time to look that hard.