Lingering Jasmine | Im Jaebeom

Chapter Three

Miyoung picks up on the third ring and begins spewing question after question at the speed of lightning, clear concern lacing her voice due to the unexpected call, "Hey! Soomin? How is your date going?! Is everything okay?! Are you o-"

"I haven't been able to find him. He's not here, Miyoung. I was stood up." Soomin cuts her friend short as she gathers her belongings in disappointment and makes her way out of the café onto the bustling street.

Just strides behind her, Jaebeom was rushing to catch up to her. He reached his left hand out to tap her shoulder. He was within inches of grazing her blouse and catching her attention when all of a sudden, he was almost thrown off of his feet by the impact of a passerby who wasn't paying attention to where they were going. He half-heartedly mumbled some apologies toward Jaebeom to give off the impression of being courteous but continued on his path without making sure that the other party wasn't injured. Jaebeom paused to collect his thoughts. After the shock, they felt as if they were droplets of water spilling over the top of an unsteady glass. Within a split second, he recalls his actions just moments ago.

'Where'd she go?!', Jaebeom asks himself as he repeatedly shifts his head from left to right, scrutinizing the crowded sidewalks, hoping to notice that familiar figure among the sea of Seoulites. He lost her. Again.

"I can't believe he just bailed without saying anything.", Miyoung remarks, shaking her head and clicking her tongue, utterly appalled at the nerve of some people.

Soomin despairingly made her voyage back to the company by bus. Since her lunch break came to an end, it was time to go about her normal daily routines. Only this time, with her spirits only a fraction of what they were before her failed blind date.

The girls snuck down to the second-floor storage room, evading their duties, so Soomin could fill Miyoung in on this afternoon's happenings. This was somewhat their workplace retreat, a place they could escape to when they needed to talk about topics they wouldn't want curious ears to overhear. This storage closet contained holiday decorations, so it was seldom visited by company employees. Soomin tried to recall the last time her and Miyoung sat in this closet, it must have been the time when Miyoung had that unforgettable run in with her department head.

It was during a huge publication project for a major foreign partner. They were working the entire translation department to the absolute bone. Miyoung must have been on her third night sleeping at the office, too tired and overworked to make her journey home, only to immediately have to turn around to return to the office. That day, she had gotten a massive nosebleed from the stress and, unfortunately, droplets of blood glided between the keys of her keyboard. When the device shorted out, she ran all over the building, tissue paper shoved up each nostril, searching high and low for a spare keyboard to use so she could finish the reports that were due within the next few hours. Soomin's heart ached at the sight of her frantic colleague, so she rushed to unplug her own keyboard and lent it to her friend. Luckily, Soomin was in good graces with her department manager, so she happily obliged when she volunteered to tackle the team's large 'to shred' box of files in the meantime. As long as it got done and she didn't need to do it herself, she didn't care who shredded those documents. However, despite Soomin's kind efforts, precious time had been lost and Miyoung's reports were slipped into her department head's hands well beyond their deadline. Without a moments' hesitation or a single word, he tossed the bundle of documents back into Miyoung's face and spun on his heel, heading back to his office.

"I'm sorry..." Miyoung pleaded to his retreating figure, kneeling on the ground with tears streaming down her face.

That day, Soomin comforted her comrade in their quiet storage closet as her tiny frame vibrated continuously from the never-ending stream of sobs. Miyoung's medium-length, dark hair matted to her cheeks and her sky blue blouse became drenched due to the steady flow of tears. She couldn't help but feel like, no matter how hard Miyoung worked or how much she did right, it always seemed as if the world was never on her side.

Deep in thought, Soomin glances up at Miyoung whilst she's spouting this ranting monologue which focused on 'how much you deserve better', to 'not let that deter you', and 'how lucky any guy would be to date you'. She wasn't paying much attention to what it was Miyoung was saying, to be honest. Yes, she was bummed about being stood up, but it didn't feel like that big of a deal to her in this very moment.

All she could do was look sympathetically at her dear friend and think, 'How can you be so happy and concerned about other people, when you should be taking care of yourself?'

After losing the floral-scented girl to the flood of bodies, Jaebeom reluctantly continued about his day. Making his way back to the studio that night to help finish recording for their new comeback album, he couldn't help but wish she'd magically appear. Every corner he turned, every shoulder he'd accidentally brush against, he had hoped that the moment gazes would meet one another, it would be her. His nose subconsciously searching for the scent that engulfs her existence, almost as if he's a small police hound in training. Sadly though, he reached the studio without incident. Everything was returned to normal once again, just as it had months ago after his very first encounter with the mysterious bookstore beauty.

"OUR WONDERFUL LEADER HAS ARRIVED!", a man with a contagious, joyful demeanor shouted among the slew of voices and laughter as Jaebeom slipped through the glass door to the studio. The one excited at Jaebeom's presence, Jackson, rushes over to whole-heartedly greet the leader.

"About time, we were waiting on you. C'mon man." One of the younger members, BamBam, jokingly called out, hoping to provoke an entertaining response from the older. Unfortunately for BamBam, Jaebeom has mellowed out a lot over the years. In response, he gently smiled and said his apologies to the members for his tardiness.

"My mind has been everywhere recently." Jaebeom explains as he embarrassingly scratches the back of his head. "Anyways, let's start back up where we left off... We're on Mark's verse, right...?" He continued, setting his belongings aside and getting comfortable at the studio's control table.

To be continued...

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How has your day been, everyone? I'm really tired, but after receiving positive feedback, I was extremely motivated to pump out this chapter! I'm sorry if it seems drawn out with the character development, but I'm happy we got a little bit of GOT7 at the end of this chapter!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you continue to like my storyline!

지혜 드림 <3