Annie
Days on trial: 49
"What are you still doing in the office?!" Chloe almost shrieked as she walked in after her lunch break.
She and Namjoon had gone down to the market for street food, but I'd elected to stay couped up finishing a story that was needed for tomorrow mornings paper.
"It's Wednesday," she continued, utterly confused. "Why aren't you with Multi boy?"
Shaking my head with a laugh, bemused by her evolved choice in nickname, I felt an uncomfortable chaos unfurling in my stomach.
Airily, my shoulders shrugged, indifference dominating my poise. "I cancelled."
Chloe was sat in her desk chair within an instant.
"YOU DID WHAT?!"
"Cancelled," I repeated, voice void of emotion. "It's not a good use of company time - you should be thanking me!"
Chloe's jaw was on the floor, rendered speechless. Shoulders slumped, hands on the desk, she looked as if she was in a state of shock
"He's an interviewee, Chloe. Not my friend; not someone I should waste office hours hanging out with. It's unprofessional. What if head office ask about my missing productivity reports for Wednesday afternoons? What then?"
Stumped, Chloe didn't have anything she could respond to me with professionally.
As my friend, however, I could tell that she wanted to slap me silly.
Just as she was about to speak, her phone pinged, letting her know that Jimin had sent her through a message.
With a slight roll of her eyes, she turned the screen to face me. I was greeted by an image of Jungkook, lying facedown on their sofa, with a caption I didn't want to acknowledge:
Annie bailed on him and now he's malfunctioning. Send help. Or Annie. Preferably Annie.
"Not friends, yeah?" Chloe teased, earning a reluctant grin from me. "Not friends, my ass."
We both knew that the issue at hand was the fact that we were friends.
But friends didn't make their other friends see colour.
That wasn't very friendly at all.
Though Chloe didn't know that, and nor did Jungkook.
And so, a day later, I found myself wondering down the backroads of the city centre, searching for the address listed in the directory for Jeon & Sons Mono Motors.
Wide shutters were rolled to the top of the facade, doubling the space available to work. Glossy teal paint cracked along the window frames and it was in major need of TLC, but there was a certain nostalgia to it. It almost felt like I had known the shop my whole life. It was only a few blocks down from one of my favourite coffee spots, so I must have been past it a dozen times, never realising the significance of such a place.
The sun-kissed, slightly grey haired man working out front had a wicked smile, in the best sense of the word. Laughing at something a radio personality had said through his paint-splattered stereo, I couldn't help but grin too. It was easy to see where Jungkook got his infectious laughter from.
"Hi, sorry!" I interrupted, approaching him a little timidly. I interviewed strangers every day for my job, and yet felt nervous now. He turned towards me, wiping his dirty hands on an oil rag. "I don't suppose you're Mr Jeon?"
