safe place || k.v.m

three

seated in the staff room, jacob laughs from where he sits by the other side of the table. after taking another bite from his salad, he says, "so what, if he recognized you? things like that happen all the time."

what goes nari, she's taking a bit longer with her own lunch, picking on it with her fork more than actually eating it. "that doesn't make it any less embarrassing, cob. if the barista noticed, I bet customers must've noticed too."

jacob sighs, watching her before reaching out for her fork to pick up a slice of avocado; as if feeding a child, he waits for her to open her mouth, leaving the fork past her lips once she has eaten it while glaring at him. "are you sure some embarrassment is what you should be worrying about?"

"what do you mean?"
"you know what I mean." as jacob says this, she's looking at him behind the paper mug she's drinking from, though has stopped midways. when she doesn't answer, only placing the mug down on the table and staring at her lap, he goes on,

"why are you doing this to yourself?"

said girl sinks down in her seat, suddenly not even feeling hungry at all. "he's not a bad guy, jacob. he just has some bad habits, a shitty temper and a tendecy of easily getting jealous."

"and that's a reason to take it out on you?"

once again, nari can't make herself answer. while she knows it's simply out of care, she's not used to an approach of this kind from jacob, out of all people, and on top of that, somewhere knowing that he's not wrong doesn't make it any better.

this, however, doesn't go unnoticed, and another breath emits from jacob. truthfully, she immediately starts worrying about his reaction but in the end, it turns out to not be needed as he softly speaks. "nari, I know you're a smart person. if you ever need anything I'm right here, but how you'll handle the situation is up to you. just... take care, yeah?"

it takes a few moments but eventually, she nods and whispers, "yeah. I will."

content enough, a small smile spreads across his lips before they part, "oh, and..."

when he doesn't go on, nari curiously looks up at him, only to see him suddenly reach out for her head. for a moment, she thinks it's just the usual pat. he retreats his hand just as fast though and between two fingers, he holds a small, pink petal in front of her. "did you know that you somehow always end up with petals in your hair?"

in the back of her mind, there's a huge sense of relief with the situation taking a turn to the more light-hearted. in response, she blinks at jacob, somewhat confused. "wait, really?"

"really! that's why customers often smile at you when you take their orders."

quickly, her cheeks heat up, "wha– why didn't you say anything?!"

jacob lets out an airy laugh, "it's cute. looks kind of funny, but still cute, and it clearly makes people happy."

"yeah, on my behalf."

• • •

"take out the damn cat already."

daehwan pushes the feline off from her couch and even though it hadn't been much more than a light nudge, nari gasps, "dae! be careful, I've already told you he has hurt his leg!" when she only receives a sneeze in response, she adds, "besides, it's not his fault you're allergic."

"and that means I'm not allowed to come over and visit my girlfriend?"

nari holds her arms crossed over her chest, eyes locked with his, glancing down when she feels her cat rub his soft fur against her leg, letting out a breath of defeat, arms eventually falling down to her side as she finally looks up at him. "I'm sorry, 'kay? I'll take him to a different room, I think I have some allergy pills too, just a sec."

she walks around in her apartment, doing what she had said. while dropping the pet by off to her bedroom, she bends down to lightly scratch the back of his ears and silently whispers, "sorry, baby, I'll get you out soon, yeah?"

nari can't help but smiling when he lets out a soft meow. "cute."

moments later, she's back in the living room, seated next to her boyfriend after having handed him some pills and a glass of water. her knees are pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped around her legs while wondering what to do about the silence residing between them.

"listen, I'm... I'm sorry about the other day."

the apology quickly has her turning her head to daehwan. "what?"

he clears his throat and places the glass down on the coffee table in front of them. "our date the other day. I've been stressed lately and got in a fight with my brother a while before that so I wasn't having the best day. I know it's not a valid excuse but I just wanted to, well, let you know."

nari takes a few moments to process his words, remaining silent while so. at last, she slowly nods and drops her legs down the sofa, lips pursed as she answers, "it's alright. shit like that happens. I'm more upset about what you did to my cat just now, so don't do that again."

"by the way."
"hm?"
"why did you name the cat new anyway?"

her gaze is stuck on the tv in the room but her attention is elsewhere rather than the cheap movie playing on the screen.

"just because."