Soul Bound

07 | A Scary Thought

Yoongi blinked and Namjoon looked like a deer caught in headlights.
"Uh...I think we're just...uh ... just looking", Namjoon said, entirely too distracted by piercing blue eyes to form a proper sentence, "...yes. Just looking."
Narae lifted one brow at the awkward answer. And Yoongi shot his mate an incredulous look. Could someone fuck up a first impression more than that?

"Suuuure", Narae replied, pulling the word long and giving her dark voice a slightly sarcastic note.
"Just looking." The at me was certainly implied even if it was left unsaid. Namjoon wanted to turn around and flee from the shop in that very instant. He was utterly embarrassed. His ears turned red and his cheeks warmed.
"You're new", Yoongi stated flatly, really not helping the entire situation.
"First day", Narae nodded slowly, not entirely sure what to make of the incredibly handsome but also incredibly awkward men in front of her. Or where this conversation was going anyway.
"Uh-huh", Yoongi hummed and pushed his hands into the pockets of his trousers. "You sorted the last vinyl wrong." He nodded towards the box Narae stood in front of.
"Huh?" Narae's head shot down to check. And there it was. Pink Floyd did definitely not belong next to Igor Levit.

Well...she too had been a tad bit distracted after all.

Her own cheeks heated in embarrassment just like Namjoon's and as she shot them a sheepish look, the tallest of them couldn't quite keep the burst of a low chuckle in. Narae soon joined him, a bit shocked at her unfamiliar, male laughter. And even Yoongi couldn't fight the cute smile pulling his lips wide.
"I'm Kim Namjoon", Namjoon introduced himself with a respectful bow of his head, the smile still on his lips, dimples denting his cheeks cutely. "This is one of my mates, Min Yoongi." The pale man nodded, lips still pulled into the hint of a cute gummy smile.
"Choi Muyeol", Narae introduced herself. "Nice to meet you." She felt settled in their presence. Her magick didn't act up and she felt no threat coming from them. And with her disguise on, the usual tension she felt outside of the Im coven home was blissfully absent.
Her muscles weren't tensed and her brain didn't need to always work on high speed to keep her secret hidden. It was a liberating feeling. Almost euphoric.

For a moment they just stood there and smiled at each other.

Then Narae recollected herself with a slightly awkward cough and took the Pink Floyd vinyl from where it very obviously didn't belong.
"Soooo", she pulled her lips into a lopsided smile. Namjoon almost stopped breathing. "You guys need me for something or are you just having a look around?"
The gleam in her piercing eyes betrayed that she knew perfectly well how ambiguous her word choices were. Vibrant blue eyes flickered towards Namjoon with a tiny wink, whose ears turned a bit pink again.

"I was actually looking for Solar", Yoongi said to keep his mate from the worst of his embarrassment. Narae blinked at the abrupt change of topic.
"Uh...sure", she replied and half-turned towards the checkout and the door behind it that lead into the office and break room. "She was back—"
"Up here."

All three of them looked up at the sound of Solar's voice. A bit startled as they hadn't noticed anyone besides them in the shop. There, up on a supporting beam laid a black cat. Slightly mocking grin obvious even on her feline face. And suddenly Narae stopped wondering why everyone talked about Solar's Cheshire Cat grin.
A wave of embarrassment rushed through her and made her cheeks warm, certainly also turning them a pretty shade of pink. Even Yoongi seemed slightly disgruntled, the calm flowing magick suddenly roughing up a bit before it calmed down.
"Please continue"", Solar said, laughter audible in her voice. "Whatever you need Yoongi, surely has time until later. I was perfectly entertained by you three just now. Better than anything on TV!"

Narae closed her eyes in quiet pain. Why did Solar always have to rub salt in a bleeding wound? Why?
Well...there were only two ways to deal with this: retreat or attack. And Narae had come to find that she had been forced into retreat too many times since her death. And anyway, she had died and came back. There really wasn't that much worse, right?
So with a little twirl of her fingers a flurry of snowflakes and blizzard-cold wind pushed Cat-Solar from her high perch with playful ease. Using her magick so openly brought an almost giddy smile on her lips and made her piercing blue eyes almost gleam with joy and life.