Fateful (book 1 of the OT7 series) ✔️

Chapter 14

Over at the hospital, Namjoon was back keeping Miki company while Jungkook was once again doing the rounds with the other boys. Miki was so bored. There was only so many times a girl can check her Instagram account and so much daytime tv she could watch before going insane.

"Joonie, stop reading and tell me a story. Pleeeeaaaase?"

"Do you want me to read you my book?"

"Much as I appreciate the offer, if you read me another page on Socrates, I might slip back into a 5 day coma again."

Namjoon laughed. "I should be offended but you're not the first person to tell me that. What do you want to talk about?"

"Tell me about you and the boys. What was Kookie like when he was a kid?"

"He's not so different to what he's like now. It was hard in the beginning, I think mostly because he was waiting for us to kick him out so he was angry a lot. But when that didn't happen, he eventually mellowed out. He's always had a good heart but he's so damn active. I'm exhausted thinking of how many times I had to go to his school because he broke a bone somewhere from doing some sort of dare his friends put him up to." Namjoon sounded like he was complaining, but Miki could tell by how his eyes had softened that he loved Jungkook with all his heart. It was heart warming to see.

"You should be proud of yourself. Kookie and the others told me that you basically saved them."

"Don't ever let them know I said this, but the truth is, they saved me. They came when I was having a really hard time as a prosecutor and was really struggling with figuring out how I could make a meaningful life. And those 3 clowns showed up and basically gave me a reason to keep going. Plus they make me and the other older guys laugh so much. Kookie in particular brought so much joy into our everyday life."

Miki looked at him in silence for a long while that Namjoon got self conscious. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"You're a good man, Kim Namjoon." Miki said as she reached over and patted his hair. He noticed her eyes were glistening a little.

Namjoon stood up, feeling a little panicked. "Oh my God, are you crying? What the hell Miki!" He said accusingly.

Miki laughed through her tears. "Don't mind me. I'm a crybaby, I cry about everything. I even cried watching Finding Nemo, you'll get used to it soon."

He sat down next to her on the bed and put his arm around her to comfort her. Miki put her head down on his shoulder as she continued to sniffle. The man smelled so good, citrus-y like mandarin. And she could feel the muscles underneath his t-shirt. 

Namjoon looked down and felt her sniffles. He didn't like seeing her cry. He fought the urge to give her a hug and instead said, "Hey Miki, you want to hear something funny? JK's first ever crush was the school librarian, who was an older lady."

"How old?"

"She had a seniors card."

Miki burst out laughing and looked up at Namjoon to see if he was telling the truth. He saw her eyes sparkle as she laughed and he felt his heart stop. She was so beautiful when she laughed. I want to be the one that makes her laugh like that everyday. Namjoon surprised himself with that thought. Where did that come from?

"Joonie, you're lying, right?"

"No, the librarian thing is 100% true. But she wasn't quite that old. Maybe in her late 40s and she did look good for her age, but still!"

They continued talking about silly things for the rest of the day. When Miki stopped crying, Namjoon could have moved back to his seat but he stayed next to her with his arm around her shoulder.