Mark Me { Jeon Jungkook Fanfic }

Chapter 6

Joon-Woo sat at a desk covered with unpaid bills and final notices. He rested his head in his hands. No one knew about the shop's financial struggles, especially not Celia. He had taken great pains to hide this secret from her. For quite some time, he had continued to believe that he would pull out of this financial slump, but it had yet to happen.

When Celia entered the office, he swept the bills into an open drawer and smiled at her. "You're looking a little tired? Did you sleep well?" he asked, noting the dark circles around her beautiful green eyes.

"I slept OK," she answered vaguely. She took a moment to study his face, trying to see what Jungkook had talked about the day before. She saw concern, and perhaps a twinge of sadness, but she wasn't sure she saw attraction.

"Are you available to grab a drink after work?" Joon-Woo asked, closing the desk drawer.

"A drink?" Celia questioned. "We've never gone for a drink before. Why the sudden invitation?"

Joon-Woo looked around the room uncomfortably. "I just thought we should catch up on each other's lives. You know --- what we're up to these days and all that," he explained.

"Alright," Celia agreed as she breezed out of the office, pausing in the doorway to say, "Tonight it is, then."

She had no appointments in the morning. So, she spent the time working on her new design with the tree growing out of the wounded heart. She wondered why Joon-Woo didn't understand the meaning of the design. To her it seemed pretty clear. It was a statement about how life grows out of brokenness. In fact, the tree roots caused some of the brokenness. They split the heart open and stretched it wider to allow more growth. So, life itself requires the breaking open of the heart to make room for it to grow. She opened the rings of the binder and removed the page from it. She had decided not to include this design in her book because she wanted to save it for herself. She wanted this tattoo to be uniquely hers, marking the journey she had traveled as life had broken and stretched her open. Now, she felt drawn to walk with Jungkook and others like him who had suffered abuse.

When her day ended, Celia met Joon-Woo outside the shop. They agreed to walk to a nearby bar. It was still early evening, and the sun was only beginning to slip beneath the horizon in a grand finale of pink and orange. When they entered the bar, it was still relatively empty. So, they chose a table in the back. Joon-Woo ordered soju and Celia ordered a Moscato.

Celia smiled at Joon-Woo who seemed jittery and uncomfortable. "So, what have you been up to recently?" Celia asked to break the strangeness of the moment.

"Not much," he answered, pouring himself another cup of soju. Celia, who was still nursing her Moscato began to be concerned that Joon-Woo had every intention of drinking her under the table. It wouldn't be a hard feat since Celia only drank in moderation. She hated feeling out of control. So, she never allowed it to happen.

"How 'bout you?" he asked. Celia noticed the slightest slurring of his speech and wondered if there was a polite way to cut him off. "You've been spending a lot of time with that Jungkook guy, haven't you?" he asked as more of an accusation than a question.

Celia swirled the wine in her glass and peered at Joon-Woo through her black-framed glasses. "We get along well," she hedged.

Joon-Woo poured yet another glass of soju, finishing his second bottle. "I passed your house the other night at 2:00 AM and your lights were still on. He was still there that late," he litigated.