{김홍중}
"I'm tired of giving people what they want and doing things that please them. Why aren't I allowed to do what I want?"
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ATEEZ SERIES: PART 1
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c h a p t e r s e v e n : a s a c r i f i c e
Before Hongjoong could move any closer, if it were even possible to do so, a deep voice interrupted his actions.
"Yoo Jina. There you are"
Both heads turned to where the voice came from and to both of your surprises, it was Minsung. He had his briefcase in one hand and his overcoat hanging on his other arm.
"I wanted to offer you a ride home. I noticed you were holed up in the studio for the past couple of days." Minsung noticed Hongjoong standing closer to you and raised his eyebrow.
"Was I interrupting something?" Your eyes widened and you furiously shake your head. "Nothing is wrong Minsung. We were just taking a break, but I will take you up on that ride home. I really need to take a shower."
A wide smile made its way to Minsung's face, displaying his set of pearly white teeth. He gestured you to his car that was parked down the street. Before you followed him, you look back at Hongjoong, trying your best to avoid eye contact.
"I-I'll see you tomorrow to work on the song."
Still flustered you quickened your pace to Minsung as the two of you walked over to his car. You quickly looked back over you shoulder to see Hongjoong with a distraught look on his face before he finally decided to go back to his studio.
You decided to ignore the guilty feeling you had for leaving him alone but couldn't. It wasn't until Minsung tapped your shoulder to get my attention that you snapped out of your thoughts.
"You really get lost in thought often, don't you?" You shrugged, a sheepish smile on your face as you entered his car. "What can I say, I'm a daydreamer."
Minsung chuckled before starting his car and pulling out towards the main street. After telling him your address, it was a matter of moments before you arrived at your sister's house. After exiting the car, you turned around to thank him. "I really owe you one, Minsung. I really didn't want to have to take the subway at this time of night."
The man shook his head as he leaned closer from the driver's seat to clearly see your face in the darkness of the night. "It's my pleasure. Remember, if you ever need anything, I'm right here Jina." You smiled at his comforting words and waved goodbye to him as he drove off.
Upon entering the house, you made sure to be quiet as to not wake up Mina and her husband. After taking a long needed shower, you headed straight to bed.After tossing and turning for hours, you knew you weren't going to be able to sleep. Hongjoong's face was burned into your head. How close he was and how he was when you had left.
'Great... now I can't stop thinking about him.'
The next day, you woke up to the house being empty. Knowing that you needed to be at the studio soon to help Hongjoong, you quickly got changed, grabbed your things and headed on out. On your way to the entertainment, you decided to stop by the coffee shop to ask Naeun for advice.
Once you entered the cafe, you noticed that it wasn't too full as they had already dealt with the morning rush. You smiled at the coworker on duty who pointed me in Naeun's direction. After thanking her, you made my way to the back storage room to see her doing inventory.
Naeun smiled at you once she noticed your presence as she put down her clipboard. "Hey, what's up?" Taking a deep breath, you began to fill her in on everything that had happened the night before.
After you finished explaining, you looked back at Naeun, only for a wide smirk to be plastered on her face.
"Jina, it sounds like he was trying to make a move on you and you flat out rejected it" Your eyes widened as you shook my head, startled at her conclusion. "That's impossible! We only met a couple of days ago. I just helped him destress, that's all."
Naeun shrugged her shoulders and went back to counting the inventory. "If you say so.."With a huff, you grabbed your things and nodded goodbye to her as you made your way to the entertainment. The entire walk there, you kept thinking back at Naeun's words.
'He can't like me.. can he?'
Once you had finally arrived at the entertainment, you made your way up to Hongjoong's studio, only to be greeted by an empty room. Confused, you looked around the entire floor for him, but you ended up being unlucky.
Pulling your phone out of your pocket, you decided to call him when a sudden realization hit you. "Crap. I don't have his phone number."
You decided to fall back to your second plan as you pressed Minsung's contact. After a few minutes of dialling you finally got through to him. "Jina. Is there something you need?"
"Yeah, I was wondering if you had Kim Hongjoong's number."
"Sure, just give me a minute." You could hear Minsung typing something into his laptop before coming back. "Okay, I sent it to you via text message. Hope it helps."
Quickly thanking him, you looked at your messages to see the number. Dialling it into the keypad, you began to call Hongjoong, but you kept being sent to voicemail. Worried, you sent him a list of messages as you paced around the room to calm yourself down.
