The Rules of Courting | nj

Four

Namjoon was put straight to work on his second day in the village. The gentle omega lady from the council had arrived at his new home while he, Yoongi, and Hoseok had been in the middle of eating breakfast. Yoongi nearly fell over himself, trying to be as hospitable and respectful as possible while Hoseok slinked off to his bedroom, and Namjoon just continued to sit on the couch, very confused as to why she was there. "I'm here to take you to your job."

Namjoon quickly washed up and dressed himself before following the elderly woman, finding himself in a storage cabin full of various flowers and herbs. "Your grandmother dedicated five years of her life to filling up and organizing this area. She was very passionate about what she did."

"She still is~" Namjoon commented, recognizing many of the flowers and herbs both from the flower shop and from what his grandmother always had on hand in the house.

"That doesn't surprise me." She smiled at him before grabbing a clipboard and pen from the small table in the corner of the building. "This is our inventory sheet. Everything that's stored in here is used for medicinal purposes, so it is very important that we have an accurate record of how much is being used and how quickly. Your job will be to come in here at least once every day and record, and if we are low or out of anything, our garden is just a few meters behind this building. Baskets are in the utility closet over there." She handed the objects to Namjoon and left him alone to do his work.

After carefully counting and recording how much of each flower and herb was currently stored in the building, Namjoon realized that they were completely out of oregano and cowslip, so he grabbed two of the baskets from the closet and followed the trail behind the building to find the garden the elderly omega had mentioned. Once there, he couldn't help but smile at all of the blooming wildlife in the wooded area, even humming an upbeat melody as he got to work gathering the needed plants. He filled up each basket and was ready to turn back to add them to the storage building when a voice startled him.

"Nice song~" He jumped as he was turning, falling on his bottom and dropping the baskets as he did so, the herbs and flowers spilling out. He looked up as he heard a giggle. "I've never seen a clumsy alpha before." Seokjin crouched next to Namjoon and began gathering up the fallen plants, placing them in their proper baskets. "You're Namjoon~"

Namjoon nodded, snapping out of his daze enough to assist in cleaning up. "H-how d-do you know m-my name?"

Seokjin shrugged. "This is only the second time someone from Jiluhan world has come to our pack, and the first that it's been because they're one of us." He stood up with one of the baskets after the two of them finished picking up all of the gathered flowers and herbs. "I'm Seokjin~" He introduced himself, holding the basket out to Namjoon.

"I-I know~" The alpha stuttered, taking the basket and stepping back from the omega to create some distance. "J-Jimin's t-told me a-about y-you."

Seokjin tilted his head in curiosity. "Is that why you're so nervous right now? Did Jimin tell you I'm scary?"

Namjoon shook his head. "W-we're not s-supposed to be alone t-together, and I'm k-kind of here on a probationary basis." The more Namjoon spoke, the calmer he got, and he couldn't help but believe that a large part of that was from the vanilla scent now enveloping him as it permeated off of the omega in front of him.

Seokjin snorted. "Oh, you mean that old rule. That's obviously something Jimin neglected to tell you..." Seokjin stepped towards Namjoon so he was even closer to the alpha than he had been originally. "I don't follow the rules."

Namjoon felt like the wind had been knocked out of him, feeling his cheeks heat up as he attempted to come up with a response. Before he could, he caught a whiff of peppermint followed by a new voice. "Kim Seokjin~"

Seokjin rolled his eyes and turned to the newcomer. "Jeon Jungkook~" He replied in a mocking tone. "Shouldn't you be fawning over Taehyung right about now?"

Jungkook blushed slightly and shuffled his feet. "I'm on my way to meet him now~" He mumbled before clearing his throat. "But then I saw a certain omega doing something considered inappropriate and decided I should probably step in before someone else saw and decided to tell his grandfather."

"Oh no, whatever would I do if my grandfather found out about me being alone with an alpha. I'm just so ashamed of myself now." Seokjin said with a flat voice. Namjoon looked between the two, feeling slightly awkward as he didn't know how to contribute to the conversation.

"Seriously, Seokjin, your grandfather would be pissed, and you know that Namjoon here will end up with most of the blame." Namjoon was confused at first as to how Jungkook knew his name, but then remembered Seokjin's comment about how rare his whole situation was. "Especially since rumor has it that one mistake gets him exiled."

Namjoon hadn't even considered the pack alpha's warning when Seokjin was talking to him, but at the reminder, he took two large steps away from the omega. "Fine, I'll be going now." Seokjin turned to Namjoon and smiled at him. "It was nice to meet you, Namjoon, hopefully we can talk again sometime." He then left, leaving the two alphas alone.

"I hope you're ready," Jungkook said, patting Namjoon on the shoulder as he moved passed him to continue on his way to meet Taehyung. "Because if anyone finds out that Seokjin has the slightest bit of interest in you, you're gonna be getting a lot of angry alphas trying to challenge you."