To Find Something True

※ forty-seven

Shinhye had woken up - fortunately - with Jiah by her side. Jiah had informed Hoseok that she would be absent that day, and he was fine with it. But upon knowing Jiah was at the hospital with her injured friend, he decided to take the day off too.

He ordered two bowls of bibimbap from Aunt Soojung as takeaways - one for Jiah and the other for her friend. While waiting, he remembered Seokjin hadn't clocked in for work. At this point, he wouldn't be surprised if he met Seokjin at the hospital by chance.

**********

After gaining some information from the counter, he walked leisurely to the ward. His feet stopped in front of the sliding door, peeking through the rectangular glass and spotting Jiah's and Seokjin's back view before knocking on the door.

An unfamiliar female voice cried out, "come in!"

Hoseok entered, and the occupants turned their heads to look. He heard Seokjin whisper to Shinhye (who had a bandage around her head), "You should've said 'go away.'" The comment earned a soft smack on Seokjin's arm from Jiah and an awkward chuckle from Shinhye.

Just as he got closer to the bed, Shinhye displayed a smile and bowed. He bowed back. He was still not used to meeting strangers, but he forced himself to say something. "How are you?"

Shinhye slowly nodded as she said, "feeling better. Thank you."

He made a glance at Jiah, who was giggling and smiling at him before returning his view to Shinhye. "Yeah," he said.

Jiah introduced them. "Oh right. Shinhye-yah, this is my boss, Hoseok. Hoseok-ie, this is my best friend, Han Shinhye."

Shinhye then warmly said, "Ah... thank you for coming, Mister Hoseok!"

He rubbed his nape as he said, "Uhm. You're welcome."

Leaning closer to Shinhye, Jiah whispered, "he's shy with new people." Shinhye only nodded her head with her mouth expressing a silent 'ah...'

Quietness circulated briefly until Seokjin noticed something in his hand. "What's that?" he asked.

Hoseok looked down at the plastic in his hand. "Oh right!" he spoke. Raising the plastic bag, he looked at Jiah as he said, "I bought you and your friend bibimbap from Aunt Soojung."

"Wah!" Jiah expressed, her lips stretched to a grin. She fetched the food and placed it on the table. Then, she asked her best friend, "do you want it now?" to which Shinhye nodded her head.

The rustling noise from the plastic broke into the space. In the midst of the noise, Seokjin asked him, "do you only buy two?"

"Yeah. I didn't know you were here; otherwise, I would buy three," he lied. Seokjin being there or not, he would never bother to buy him one.

"Yeah. No thanks," the older man drawled, looking elsewhere as he crossed his arms against his chest.

Then, Hoseok realized Jiah was looking for something in the plastic. That day, she clipped her hair half up and half down. Immediately, he remembered her style during the event at the In-Kang. He loved it when she had that hairstyle. His memories vanished when Jiah muttered, "Hoseok, there's no spoon."

"Let me get it." "I'll get it!" Hoseok and Seokjin spoke in unison. Realizing it, both men looked at each other. That got Jiah raising her eyebrows while Shinhye looked at them blankly.

They had an eye battle for a few seconds. With no cue, both of them turned around and dashed to the door. Just as they were almost at the door, Seokjin pushed the door to the side, pushing Hoseok to the back. But Hoseok managed to catch the older man's waist, so he pulled and forced Seokjin to drop to the ground.