Hobi's Demands • JHS

Forty Nine

"The best flight I could arrange is tomorrow afternoon, but if you get packed up I've got a hotel reserved by the airport." Ji-woo closed her laptop and sighed, a deep shaky sound that matched your own feelings.

"I'm sorry Ji-woo, you don't understand how much I'm going to miss Nabi." You stopped talking when the threat of tears became unbearable.

"We'd really hoped you'd stay at least another year, or as long as you wanted after that. When you get settled will you at least tell me you're alright?" You nodded at her request not trusting yourself to speak.

"I'll walk her back to her room to pack," her husband appeared from the patio and you winced, unaware he'd been listening, "sorry, I was going to say something but I didn't know what to say."

"It's fine." You stood and picked up Nabi who protested, her game of plucking invisible things from the floor interrupted.

You nuzzled her fat baby cheeks and and bounced her over your head until she giggled. You'd miss everything about her, even the long afternoons of exhaustion from teething. She tangled her fingers into your hair and you almost burst into tears again remembering that was exactly the way Hobi had found you months ago.

"Bye sweet girl." You kissed the top of her hair gently releasing yourself from her grasping fists and handed her to Ji-woo would was wiping her tears with her wrist.

"Whatever they did Y/N-ah, it's not your fault, keep your chin up. If you need a reference just let me know." You hugged her but didn't bother telling her you didn't intend to work as a nanny again.

You walked down the hall, her husband at your back and the tears started again. The strength you'd felt in the face of not upsetting Nabi crumbling. The sheer thought of how you'd pack all your belongings and leave right away seeming monumental. Where could you go? Without your stepfather and Suyee you had no clue, they'd always been your safe place to crash.

He waited outside your room, sitting on a bench next to Hwan's door while you entered. You dragged your suitcase from the closest and got to work trying not to think too much. Packing these items would be easy, handfuls of clothes disappearing into it's wide jaws.

"Hoseokie, go back to your room, leave her alone." You heard her husband and you closed your eyes tight, the anger rolling upward in your body again.

"I think I need to speak to him for a minute." You opened the door and looked at Hobi, he looked terrible, but it didn't rouse a single bit of sympathy.

"Are you sure? I'll be right here."

"I'm sure it will only take a minute." You turned back to your packing and Hobi followed, silent, probably hopeful that you were angry but could be dealt with like every other time.

"I have a few questions, and I only want the answers. If you try to overwhelm me with the whole story or details I didn't ask about then the conversation is over." You couldn't look at him, see his pain.

The truth was the minute you left this house there wouldn't be a single person in the world on your side anymore. His family would comfort him, Hybe would protect him, and he'd get to lick his wounds in peace. So you intended to get only the barest of information that might help you sort out some of your feelings.

"Why did he have to blackmail you?" You let your fingers catch on a bikini before throwing it on the floor, it's black strings impossibly long.

"When he asked me to mentor you, I refused." Hobi's voice was thick with emotion but so far he'd followed your rules.

"Because?" Why did you even care at that point he'd not even met you?

"I get requests like that all the time, mostly from producers for their new trainees, but I have so little free time as it is, I didn't want to give more of it away. It wasn't personal."