Neighborly [Seo Changbin + FemReader]

[3.2] Seo Changbin

I saw her eyes widen when I smiled, and something deep in my gut rejoiced. I wasn't trying to flirt, but it was nice to know that just being myself could still be attractive to someone else. It had been a long, dry spell and I had almost given up on being interested in anyone. My job made it so incredibly difficult to meet anyone organically who didn't assume to know me because of my entertainment persona. Having the opportunity to present myself as just Seo Changbin was refreshing.

"What would you like to drink? I have water, juice, a couple no sugar sodas, and beer." I asked and saw the longing look in her eyes when I mentioned the alcohol. Without waiting for her to answer, I turned on my heel and walked to the fridge, opening the door and grabbing two beers off the door. When I brought them over to her, I handed her one and she hesitantly took it from me.

"Look, you're safe here. You can relax. This is a no judgment zone." The moment the words left my mouth and I watched one of her eyebrows tick up higher than the other, I knew I had said the wrong thing.

"So what was that last night when you slammed the door in my face when I tried to come up here to ask civilly if you could turn the music down?" Her voice was neutral, for the most part. She set the beer down and popped the tab open. After taking a sip, she continued. "I'd just worked two shifts in a row and then had Yu-Jin and the apartment to take care of when I got home. I had been asleep for less than an hour when the bass and the voices got loud. I don't know how, but it didn't wake Yu-Jin up."

She paused, and I could only assume she was replaying the events in her mind. So, I asked, "Was that why you were crying?" I wasn't trying to avoid the question, but my mind was needing to connect the dots. "Because you were exhausted?"

She looked down to her plate and nodded. "Yeah. That seems to be a fairly normal state for me."

I placed my hands on either side of myself on the countertop and sighed. I sure could be a shitshow when I wasn't aware of what was going on around me. "I'm sorry, for both the noise and for being so rude to you at the door. I shouldn't have assumed that you were the one who called in the noise complaint on me. That was very immature of me to jump to conclusions and for not giving you the chance to say what you were here to say."

Her eyes rose slowly to meet mine, and I was blindsided by the fear of what she made me feel right then. She really was beautiful. There was a mercy in her expression that made the backs of my knees weak. My gaze was steered to her mouth as she brought the beer up to her lips and took another draw from it. I fought to swallow the knot forming in my throat. Calm down, Bin.

"Thank you," she breathed out her reply more than sounded it out and, good god, did it do something to my insides.

"Go ahead and eat." I pointed to the plate right in front of her that she hadn't touched.

She picked up a piece of gimbap and asked before she shoved almost the entire slice in her mouth, "I saw on your business card that you work for JYPE. What's that and what do you do?"

Errgh. Well, she went straight for the jugular. Here was the beginning of the test. I took a long swig of my beer and set it down on the counter. "JYPE is an entertainment company. I'm a music producer, songwriter, and an idol. My friends and I are in a group together under the company label."