What's Wrong With Assistant Kang?

36. Because I Only See You

Jumin and Jaehee were seven and six respectively when they were still trapped in that very small room, kept away from the rest of the world for three days.

There were cobwebs and big spiders lurking around in the darkness, and even though she was trying her best to hide it, Jumin could see Jaehee shuddering.

"Are you afraid of spiders?" he asked with curiosity.

Jaehee huffed and crossed her arms, not wanting to be seen as an scaredy cat. "I just don't like them."

"I see," he replied robotically.

Jaehee kept glancing at the place she last saw the spider, fearful but not wanting Jumin to know. After all, the last time she showed her fear to him, he only got mad at her, didn't he? He responded so coldly...

"Stop it. Your mother's not going to hear you... Dummy."

It was getting chilly. There was a leak in the roof and small droplets of water sometimes fell on either of their heads since it was raining torrents outside.

When Jaehee was finally starting to relax — her shoulders slumping as she sighed — the big spider suddenly appeared behind her back.

She leapt up with a shriek.

Thankfully, the kidnappers had taken off the ropes tying them from before. Neither of them knew why, but it was probably because now they had moved them to a smaller, more isolated room where they were hidden and no one could find them even if they tried screaming; not to mention the door was locked with a key only the bad guys had.

Jaehee's back hit the wall of the very cramped room. Jumin immediately turned to the arachnid scaring her, which she was staring in terror at.

He quickly grabbed a dusty, old book that was laying around and smacked the unsuspecting spider with it without so much as batting an eye.

"How is he so brave?! He did it like it was nothing!" Jaehee wondered in her head with wide, flabbergasted eyes — and a secret, new sense of admiration.

She gripped the edges of her yellow sweater nervously and looked down at her Mary Jane shoes, bumping them together. "...T-thank you..." she murmured sincerely, glancing away from him.

"It's fine," he answered, deadpan as usual. He noticed she was still trembling. "Are you still scared? The spider is dead. It won't hurt you."

"Um, no. It's just..." She didn't know if she should tell him she was cold.

Jumin huffed, sounding annoyed. "If you're cold, just say so."

She finally turned towards him, now irritated as well. "Well, it's not like you need to—"

"I said I would protect you, didn't I?" Jumin interrupted her, walking towards her and, firmly but gently, tugging down her hand so they were both sitting together. "I never go back on my word... I mean it." Their shoulders were touching as he leaned closer toward her.

Their faces were centimeters apart, and six-year-old Jaehee blushed. "...Why are you getting so close, Oppa?"

She noticed the smallest hints of pink grazing Jumin's cheeks. "So you won't be cold! The most we can do to get warm is huddling together. Don't you know about body warmth, Jaehee?"

"Oh." Seeing his obviously embarrassed expression (which he tried to hide with an irritated frown) made her giggle. She smiled softly at him. "Yeah, Oppa. Thank you."

The two kids leaned into each other, silently; hearing the sound of the rain outside. Even though the whole experience was scary, and she really missed her parents, she was glad that if there was someone she was going to be stuck with — it was him.