Fateful (book 1 of the OT7 series) ✔️

Chapter 21

Miki woke up at the crack of dawn the following morning. Tried as she could to stay asleep, she couldn't as she had spent the whole night worrying about what was going to happen and how Namjoon was. Frustrated, she decided to go to the kitchen to get something to eat. On her way, she caught sight of Namjoon walking into his bedroom. Is he just getting to sleep now?

Miki stood still and fretted about it for a few minutes before going over to knock on his door. No answer. So she knocked again, and this time she thought she heard Namjoon sigh loudly. "Joonie, I know you're in there. I'm coming in, ok?"

She gave him a couple of minutes before opening the door. Namjoon was sitting on his bed, his hair all ruffled and tears streamed down his cheek. It broke Miki's heart. She sat down next to him and slipped her hand into his. Namjoon was still for a little while, before turning to Miki and leant down for a hug. She linked her arms around his neck and held him close as he cried. She could feel his tears on her shoulders and she teared up too, feeling his pain, and rubbed his back to comfort him. Eventually his tears subsided, though they continued to hold each other.

Wanting to see his face, Miki pulled back but took his hand in hers. Namjoon saw the tears on her face and reached up with other hand to wipe them away with his thumbs. Tearily, he said, "We're a sorry looking pair like this."

Trying to lighten the mood, Miki said, "I'm a crybaby, I look like this all the time." But then more seriously, "Joonie, are you ok? I'm worried about you."

"No, I'm not ok. I spent the whole night going through Lisa's case file to figure out if I could've done anything differently."

"And?"

"And of course with the benefit of hindsight, there were things I could've done more. But if I had my time again, I'm pretty sure I would've done what I did the first time round."

"Isn't that a good conclusion to come to?"

"I guess. It still doesn't make it any better. I have all these people's blood on my hands, Miki."

Miki tightened her grip on his hand. "Look I don't know much about law or procedure or whatever. But I do know this. What happened with Mark isn't your fault. You can't control what other people do, Joonie. He made those decisions and only he can take responsibility for it."

"I know. Of course I know that. It's just hard to accept." 

Miki nodded. "Yea I can see how that would be hard. Just cut yourself a bit of slack, Joonie. And you should talk to the boys about this too, it's not good to carry all this by yourself."

Namjoon shook his head. "No, I've already brought too much trouble to everyone. It wouldn't be fair to add to the pile."

"Joonie, that is not at all how they feel. They love you. You need to share more."

Namjoon said nothing and Miki decided to drop the matter for now. "Come on, why don't you lie down and get some sleep. Everything will be better when you wake up, you'll see."

"Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?"

Miki cupped his cheek with her hand and nodded. Namjoon laid down and it wasn't long until he fell asleep.

Across the hall, Aerin woke Yoongi from sleep. "Yoongi, I need to go to work. I'm going to head back to my place. I can make my own way. I'll see you later, ok?"

With his voice still laced with sleep, Yoongi said, "No, give me 5 minutes. I'll take you. We need to talk anyway."

Aerin nodded but she suddenly had a deep sense of foreboding. That doesn't sound good. Yoongi was quiet the whole car ride and barely made eye contact with Aerin. This is definitely not good.