Accidentally Assisting

Chapter 5 - It's not your fault, Rose

It turns out the firefighter was right. As we enter the BigHit building and therefore walk away from the crime scene, the numbness in my body disappears. It's like my body was on survival mode before, and now, all of my real emotions are coming back at once.

I heard a man fall to his death.

I touched his lifeless body.

I feel disgusted and sad, and horrified, and suddenly, I start shaking again.

"What just happened to me?" I mumble to myself as I start sweating.

The fireman immediately notices the change in my behavior. "Hey," he says. "Hey, miss Rose, it's going to be alright. Help me find your boss, and I'll take care of it from there, okay?"

Barely registering what he's saying, I lead him to one of the makeup rooms. "The maknae line is getting ready for a photo shooting right now."

"I have no idea what that means, but sure. I'll just follow you."

On any other day, the sole idea of barging into a room full of k-pop stars accompanied by a freaking firefighter would make me die of embarrassment, but right now, I'm feeling way too out of it to care.

In my head, the loud sound of the body crashing replays and replays and replays, and I don't hear the people around me talking. Without introducing the firefighter to anyone, I weakly let myself fall on one of the sofas.

Everyone around me is cheerfully getting ready. For Big Hit standards, a photoshoot is one of the more fun things on k-pop singer's to-do list, and the mood is, therefore, quite light.

It just all seems so absurd and pointless to me. Are we really all just supposed to carry on? Someone just died.

Jimin is the first one to notice me, quickly walking over to me. "Rose? What happened? Why are you so pale? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"That's pretty much what happened," I just croak without looking at him.

Taehyung appears next, a water bottle in his hand. "Here," he says warmly, handing it to me. "You look like you could use something to drink."

"Thank you so much," I offer him a tired smile.

Then, Jeon Jungkook finally takes note of my existence and reaches us. "What the heck happened?" He narrows his eyes at me. "What did you do?"

Usually, his accusatory tone would infuriate me, but right now, I don't even have the energy to respond.

Acknowledging the firefighter, he shakes his hand. "Good morning. Sorry for all these other people. I'm her boss, Jeon Jungkook."

"Ah, that's you." The fire fighter's smile has suddenly become very fake. He's got Jungkook's bossy attitude figured out. "Rose here witnessed a suicide on her way to work this morning. A man just plummeted to his death in the building next to yours. As someone who deals with this situation every day, I would advise Rose to take a break today and not work very hard. Please also be aware of the fact that she might be reliving the trauma the following days, which will affect her work performance."

Jungkook raises an eyebrow at me. "You saw a suicide?"

When I show no reaction, he turns towards the fireman again. "Could you please tell me more?"

He, Jungkook, and Jimin keep discussing what happened while Taehyung sits down next to me.

"I'm sorry, Rose," he says with his deep voice, and for some reason, just hearing him speak deeply calms me down.