Chapter Text
The days that followed were normal.
Too normal.
Jimin woke up, made his coffee, had his breakfast, watered the small plant by his window that refused to grow properly no matter how much care he gave it. He went to work, greeted familiar faces, restored tiny cracks and paintings.
His routine. Safe and predictable.
Yet, every now and then without warning, his mind drifted.
To the voice.
'Strange world we live in.'
Jimin clicked his tongue softly, shaking his head as he dabbed a careful stroke over a piece.
“Focus,” he muttered under his breath. But focus didn’t come easily anymore.
Not when a pair of dark, unflinching eyes had decided to linger in the back of his mind for few days now.
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“Shipment has been confirmed sir. Will arrive by midnight.”
“Mhm.”
“Routes have been cleared. No interference expected.”
A tiny nod.
Jeongukk sat at his usual spot, room waiting for his orders or response, but his attention wasn’t fully there.
It hadn’t been, lately.
“Sir?” Hajun inquired.
Jeongukk blinked once, slow, as if returning from somewhere else entirely.
“Proceed.”
The meeting continued. But beneath it all, a flicker of something unfamiliar was burning within him.
Not distraction or weakness. Just… interest.
Persistent one.
His thumb brushed absently across his lower lip.
A habit. Which surfaced only when something occupied his thoughts longer than it should.
And Jeongukk never left thing bothering him, unattended.