EUPHORIA ¦ PARK JIMIN

Chapter 28

December 7, 2010

'He's called off his engagement!' An employee gossiped as Ha Eun had coincidentally passed by them.

Surprised by the news, she began to think of possible reasons why he had decided to call it off. Maybe he's too scared to get married. Or perhaps, is he.... gay?! While walking and her mind flying off to another dimension, she had completely forgot to look at her way and unfortunately bumped into someone's arm. It snapped her back to her senses and for a fact that a hot liquid was poured on her arm. Flinching away from the burning sensation, she hissed in pain and the person she had bumped into jolted in surprise and looked at Ha Eun wide eyed, not because he had spilled his boiling hot coffee on her arm but because of another reason.

Ha Eun immediately realising her mistake of bumping into the person, bowed her head and apologised regardless that her arm was stinging in pain. As she looked up to meet his gaze, she felt her heart drop at the pit of her stomach and her guts tightening. Does he recognise me? I think not. Instead of getting too dazed and shocked by the sudden furtuitous meeting, she gave him a forced smile and endured the pain alittle more.

'I'm sorry, sir. I wasn't looking at my way,' She said and bowed at him again, sustaining an eye contact of less than half a minute.

'I-It's okay,' He stuttered. 'You.. You're arm..,'

'Ah,' she began and laughed foolishly. 'That'll disappear in a few hours. I'm fine, sir,'

'But... it's red,' He argued but softly.

'I'll buy you another coffee, sir. Since I had spilled it. Accept it as a token of my apology,' She insisted and it had only been  now that she had realized that three men in black suits had came scurrying towards him.

'Sir, are you alright?' One man asked.

'Yes. Yes, I'm fine,' He had replied.

Ha Eun stood there, unable to even look at him for a few seconds. Until now, she never really had the confidence and the face to ever look at him. It was as if, when that incident had happened she no longer had any right to ever lay her eyes on him; not even a glance.

'Miss, you don't have to buy me another coffee. Please, get yourself treated,' He said before he walked away with his body guards.

It was only then moment that Ha Eun was able to look at him without him knowing. When she had spun around to head to the infirmary, Jimin had called at the same time informing her that they had an urgent meeting to attend. She scurried to the fifteenth floor and upon reaching there, She attempted to move her arm as casually as she could without looking like a cat who had broken its other arm. She entered Jimin's office hiding the burn beneath her sleeve and and attended to his urgent call.

They both headed to the meeting room with the rest of the employee in their department and when she had stepped inside, she was taken aback that the person that they all had to meet was, him. Averting her gaze somewhere else, she trailed close behind Jimin and sat beside him as the meeting soon began.
While they spoke about the charity foundation and opening of the new branchof the company where he was the one in charge of, Ha Eun focused her attention of taking notes regardless that the pain on her arm made her wince a few times. Jimin had noticed and so did he.

At the end of the meeting where Jimin and him were merely catching up and bringing up memories of their university life, Ha Eun instantly excused herself to head to the infirmary. Her arm was profusely red and the pain was tolerable but bothering. When an ointment was applied on her arm and wrapped with a bandage, she headed back to her department.

'JungBiseo!' Minji rushed.

'Yes?'

'Huijang-nim is requesting you to bring him and Mr Tuan coffee and some of his favourite cookies,' Minji said.

'I see. Alright, thank you for informing me,' Ha Eun replied and went to the pantry.

Preparing what she was told, he endured another few minutes of pain while carrying the tray to Jimin's office. Her arm shook and as she arrived, they were in the middle of laughing. She placed the tray and Jimin had noticed the hem of the bandage peeking through the sleeve of her blouse. He cleared his throat to catch Ha Eun's attention while distributing the coffee. The moment Ha eun caught his gaze, he pointed at her arm and gave a questioned look. Ha Eun simply smiled and left right after doing her tasks.

It seemed like working was 2x slower for today. She did her paper works with one hand and the other attempted to grab light things but would sometimes fail and drop it instead. Getting too fed up, Ha Eun slacked on her seat and looked at Jimin's office.

I'd blame you for this but I guess now we're even.

Ha Eun felt stupid by just bringing up topics that had happened years ago back in highschool and a foolish reason to act so awkward. He was her best friend and he was a secretive person and yet when he had found out that she liked him during those teenage times, he had decided to break the friendship built for 6 years and never talk again. He had made a fine line that he will or she will never ever cross.

Ha Eun smiled at herself as she remembered the thought and pulled her drawer to pickup a Polaroid film with a picture of them when they were just 16 years old. It seemed like old memories came rushing back.

After a few minutes, Jimin's door opened and the two males exited, still chatting and smiling. Ha Eun glued her gaze on Jimin who looked kike he had sun rays flashing around him as he smiled and laughed but that ray of sunshine was quickly covered by the dark clouds that she dared to not look.

When he had left, Jimin approached Ha Eun's desk and stared at her arm.

'What happened to that?' He asked.

'I spilled coffee on myself. Accidentally,' She replied with a smile.

Jimin furrowed a brow, indicating that he wasn't buying her excuses.

'Daebak!' He suddenly clapped, resulting for Ha Eun to flinch. 'You're really horrible in lying. Don't even attempt to. Tell me what exactly happened to that?'

Ha Eun averted her gaze somewhere and tried to come up ofanother excuse. Jimin was sure knowing what exactly she was thinking.

'Ah, huijang-nim, is your coffee and cookies finished. Do you want some more?' She tried.

'Stop changing the topic and tell me what happened to that,' he demanded.

She hesitated. She wasn't going to tell him that she was spacing out just now and bumped at him.

'Well? Are you waiting for summer to arrive?' Jimin impatiently added.

'I-I... I accidentally bumped into Mr. Tuan just now and his coffee spilled on my arm,' She said, anticipating to be scolded.

'Bwo?!' His eyes widened as he yelled. 'And are you saying that you only had that treated after our meeting?!'

'Ne, huijang-nim,' She answered softly.

'Wae?!' he yelled again.

'Well, you called me while I was on my way to the infirmary because we had an urgent meeting to attend,' I reasoned out.

'Are you saying that it's my fault?' Jimin scoffed.

'I never did, huijang-nim. You did,' She replied with a cheeky grin.