An Unexpected Clandestine

| 57 |

(unedited)

///

"Mind explaining to me where you decided to go last night?" Sungjae's voice rang through the kitchen, startling Bora, who had just woken up. She hadn't even realized he was in the same room.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack in the morning?"

"You still haven't answered my question."

"I went to theufcheadquarters," Bora mumbled the last part.

"You did what?" Sungjae jumped out of his seat. "After I explicitly told you not to? What if something-"

"I didn't even manage to get into the building," Bora sighed. "We have a bigger problem."

"What is it?" He eyed her suspiciously.

"Someone was following me."

His eyes widened. "Did you catch who it was?"

"No," Bora shook her head. "I was trying to lose them. Luckily I ran into someone," Bora spoke, propping her head with her hand.

"Friend?"

"I guess," Bora whispered.

"Hm?"

"Yeah," Bora confirmed.

"Well, this reveals that we need to be careful now. We can't be doing anything reckless. The paparazzi are already watching us closely after that news headline."

"You're right. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. We'll catch him one way or another."

"I hope you're right."

///

"This better work," Jungkook sighed, knocking on the door in front of him.

"Jungkook," Haneul smiled when catching sight of him. "I was beginning to think you got lost."

"How could I? I used to come here in middle school," he awkwardly rubbed his nape before stepping inside.

"My mom isn't home now, but she'll be back in a few hours."

"Oh," Jungkook mumbled. He was hoping he'd be able to spark some sort of conversation with her. He had used a class project as an excuse to go to Haneul's house.

"Should I bring out some snacks?"

"Sure," he smiled, setting down his bag as Haneul left the living room and towards the kitchen.

And as the hours passed by, their project slowly came together. The research had been done, as well as the annotations and the PowerPoint slides. When they were done, Haneul's mom still hadn't come back and Jungkook was beginning to get impatient.

"Would you like a drink before you leave?"

"Thanks, Haneul," he nodded as he sat on the couch. 

"Here,"  she handed him a glass cup.

"Your house looks exactly like back then," he sparked up a conversation. If he couldn't find out the information he needed through her mom, he'll have to do it through her.

"Yeah, a relative was watching it for us."

"I see," he smiled, the detail catching his attention.

"I actually found out something interesting about my aunt," he laughed. "Turns out she had published a book under an alias, crazy right?" He lied, hoping this would spark something.