The Idol In My Living Room

Part 15: (500) Days of Winter

I try to ignore the bell but it keeps ringing and ringing and ringing! Can a girl just be depressed in peace? I get up and go to the intercom. I roll my eyes when I see who it is.

"What do you want?"

"Just wanted to check on you,"

"Well I am alive so have a good day"

"Come on, Ellie, it's freezing"

I go back to the couch. I don't have the energy to deal with Chris right now although... No, no, I'm still mad at him. The stupid intercom rings again. Why is he not leaving?

"Can you just leave, please? I'm not in the mood for an 'I told you so' lecture."

"I'm not gonna lecture you, I promise. I heard about what happened," Chris sounds genuinely concerned.

"That's considered old news at this point, so you're late," I say in my most snarky, bitchy tone.

"Not that, the other thing. I figured you needed a friend right now."

Great so everyone knows about that too? I close my eyes and try not to cry even though I doubt I have any more tears left.

"Okay, come up."

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Namjoon is laying on his couch when he hears a knock on the studio's door. Usually, he would jump up and run to the door but he seems to be moving in slow motion lately. He opens the door to find Jimin and Hoseok.

"We brought you food," Jimin says pushing past him.

"And a change of clothes," Hoseok says too cheerfully for Namjoon's current mood.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Namjoon says looking at his black hoodie and sweatpants ensemble.

"You've been wearing the same thing for like a week," Hoseok snaps at him. "Have you even showered?"

"I showered the other day, you're exaggerating," Namjoon hisses at him and goes back to the couch.

"We get it hyung but you can't just give up like this," Jimin says handing him a plate of jajangmyeon.

"I really appreciate the concern but I'm fine. I'm just trying to stay busy."

"You sleep here most nights, you don't want to talk to us, and you don't even eat if we don't bring you food."

Namjoon opens his mouth to interrupt Hoseok but he gives him that menacing look he often uses during practice when someone complains about the choreography being too hard.

"No, coffee is not food," Hoseok continues.

True, Namjoon doesn't have the appetite he used to plus he's been working so late that going to the dorm just seems like a waste of time. And yes, as odd as it may sound he just doesn't feel like talking.

Namjoon shrugs and opens up his container, the smell of the food makes his stomach grumble. What was the last time he ate other than coffee since that's not considered food? He can't even recall if he had dinner yesterday.

"Remember what you used to tell me when I got in my moods? Talk it out, get it out of your chest. It'll make you feel lighter," Jimin says sitting next to him.

"What do you want me to say? That I miss her? That I keep checking my phone waiting for her call even though I know she won't...because I told her not too? That every second that I'm not working I'm thinking about how she's doing, how is she coping, wondering if she hates me?" Namjoon throws his head back and closes his eyes. He feels exhausted physically and mentally.

"There, doesn't it feel better?" Jimin says patting his shoulder. Namjoon opens his eyes and stares at Jimin.

"No!" He says with a poker face.

"I didn't plan for that answer, your turn," Jimin says throwing a disappointed look at Hoseok.

"Seriously Namjoon, is there anything we can do to help?" Hoseok asks as his last resort.

Namjoon's phone starts ringing, he recognizes the unsaved number immediately and picked up.

"Please tell me you have good news," Namjoon says.

"Hello, Mr. Kim, yes! I do. Like I told you before, it was an anonymous caller which made it harder to find him."

"Him?" Namjoon hadn't told anyone this but during the meeting with Bang PD, he was told that someone had tipped the magazine about him and Eleanor. Something that bothered him greatly since no one really knew other than BTS and his brothers would never do that! Long story short Namjoon asked someone he knew in the entertainment industry for a favor, culminating with this investigator.

"I was able to trace the number back to...Christopher Anderson. A foreigner, I know, very odd!"

Christopher? Christopher? Chris!! Namjoon closed his fist and felt the urge to smash something.

"Do you happen to have an address?"

"Sure do, I can text it you."

"Thank you so much, Detective Jung!"

Namjoon hangs up and looks straight at Hoseok.

"I know exactly how you can help me." He got up and grabbed the clean clothes from the table where Hoseok had placed them earlier. 

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"Are you sure you don't want us to stay?" Jimin looks back at Namjoon from the passenger seat.

"No, if all of us are gone it'll raise suspicion plus I don't want you guys to get in trouble," Namjoon says getting out of the car.

"Don't do anything stupid," Hoseok yells before driving off.

Namjoon had to give a long —don't you trust me?— kind of speech to convince Hoseok to drive him to Suwon. Hoseok has always been the logical one, the voice of reason when someone tries to do something out of an impulse which exactly what Namjoon was doing right now. He didn't even have a game plan. All he needed was to see this jerk's face.

Luckily enough someone was entering the apartment building so Namjoon followed them inside. He went to the second floor and right away found the apartment number he was looking for. Namjoon knocked on the door a couple of times before he heard footsteps approaching.

His heart sank to the bottom of his feet when he saw Eleanor open the door. She was wearing an oversized sweater, her rarely-used glasses, and her hair was up in a messy bun. She looked tired yet so beautiful that his heart ached.

"What are you doing here?" She looked as shocked as he was. 

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Author's note: Please don't hate me because of all the cliffhangers lol  I'll have the next update up pretty soon. There aren't that many updates left so what do you think about the story so far, will they end up together? Let me know in the comments and thank you so much for reading ☺️