Work Text:
Perfectly Annoying
Jumin Han.
God, just the name sent shivers down your spine. He always managed to get unexplainable reactions out of you without even trying. He was aggravating to deal with and impossible to talk to, he was a douche, a rich, silver spooned douche. To Jumin money solved everything, money could buy anything and to make matters worse his damn cat wore your entire college tuition around her neck as a collar.
Speaking of his beloved Elizabeth the 3rd, his compulsive obsession with his cat was not only disturbing but borderline crazy. At first, you thought you were the only one that harbored this animosity towards him, but the other RFA members reassured you that Jumin and his nuances were a nuisance.
You didn't quite understand Zen's level of 'fed up' with him until you saw how little concern he had towards Jaehee. The nerve of him! She was a valuable asset to his company and she kept things running smoothly. As far as you were concerned, Jumin was the figurehead while she did everything else. The useless unrelated cat projects and unexpected trips for personal leisure would drive anyone up the wall. Yet she kept her composure.
That was more than likely when you realized your deep hatred for him. You weren't scared to call Jumin out whenever he crossed the line, and he crossed many lines all the time. You were surprisingly close to his age being a year off, so it was no problem seeing him as a peer more than anything else and his status in the high society didn't mean shit to you.
What pissed you off more than anything, was the way he never got angry with you; no matter how much you taunted and pushed him, He was never fazed by it. The more you tried to get under his skin, the more he would brush you off, it was a conundrum. Which made you hate him even more.
Yet...
There he was, standing across the ballroom, and you couldn't even bring yourself to go near him.
The day before the party, you were ready. You couldn't wait to see him, to watch his reaction when you told him how much of an ass he was in person. You even went as far as rehearsing what you were going to say to him in the mirror.
But, after you were finally introduced to the other RFA members you got cold feet. The minute you made eye contact with Jumin the words wouldn’t come. Before he could even get a chance to open his mouth, you excused yourself to the bathroom, as quick as your tight dress and heels would allow.
He was tall, Jesus Christ he was tall, and if that wasn't intimidating enough he was...his eyes, his steel grey eyes, they were...intoxicating.
You weren't sure how long you were standing there staring at him interacting with the other guests. His every movement and gesture, smile and laugh, were oh so elegant…oh so fake as fuck. He wasn't making fun of Zen, he wasn't ordering around Jaehee, he wasn't lecturing Luciel and Yoosung, he was doing what he did best. Were you expecting, more?
"I know, handsome right?" You jumped placing a hand on your chest and turned seeing a head full of red hair.
"Damn it Seven!" You choked out slapping his arm playfully. He slipped a hand around your waist pulling you in and motioned for you to walk with him.
"You've been staring at him for a while MC, I'm starting to get jealous." He laughed his golden eyes meeting yours. Seven was the first member you recognized upon entering the building. A head as flamboyant as his wasn't hard to miss.
"Why would you be jealous? You had exclusive access to see me through the cameras." You said the corners of your lips curling up.
"Oh, did you like the show I put on for you?" You added.
"If you mean watching you thrash around in an attempt to dance, then yes...very sexy." He said.
You chuckled lightly leaning in closer to him, taking in his scent. Borbury, nice.
You didn't notice he took you to a reserved table where the other members were seated.
"MC!" Yoosung sprung up from his chair almost knocking over Zen's drink. Seven's hand slipped away just in time for the blonde's embrace.
"I wanted to hug you the moment I saw you, but the hallway was so crowded." He took a step back, holding both of your shoulders, "I'm so glad I'm finally able to meet you MC!"
He turned to Zen grinning. "I told you she was a brunette." It was Zen's turn to stand up, his eyes trained on yours, "It could be dyed." He shrugged out.
Approaching you he took your hair into his fingers. "Sorry", you said moving his hand away then pulling him into a hug.
"All naturaaal" you sang as he returned the gesture. You turned your head to Jaehee silently making an exaggerated swooning expression while fanning your face, causing her to smile.
"Zen, you're so much more handsome in person." You said and took a step back, cupping his face in your hand, and turning his head to examine all angles. It wasn't a surprise that he let you, you could feel his ego radiating from every pore.
"I know right,” Seven laughed, “Zen has a face that you can't help but rub against." He swooned playfully making a similar gesture as you.
"Dude, don't say shit like that!" Zen exclaimed, he looked mildly disgusted.
"MC! What about me, how do I look?" Yoosung asked.
Your hands left Zen's face and you placed them under your chin in thought. You circled around Yoosung making the boy tense up a bit from being analyzed. You broke into a smile placing a hand on his surprisingly fluffy hair.
"You're cute too Yoosung." His eyes lit up in delight. "I just want to put you in my pocket, you're so tiny." You said slightly pinching his cheek.
"Poor Yoosung, forever trapped in the cute zone." Zen said patting his back roughly, "We should work out together, we'll get you bulked up in no time." Yoosung let out a small weep similar to the one he used in the chat.
"Oh! What about me MC! Am I pretty too?" Seven said fluttering his eyelashes.
You rolled your eyes matching his sly smirk, you weren't going to give Seven the satisfaction of knowing your answer out loud. He was sadistic enough to ask anyway, he knew the small exchanges you two would share with one another through the CCTV camera. Including the late-night phone conversations. He knew where he stood.
Zen crinkled his eyebrows giving Seven a look of disgust, "Guys can't be pretty." He said.
"You thought Ms. Vanderwood the 3rd was pretty." Seven quickly said.
Zen rubbed his temple, "Please do not remind me." He said through clenched teeth.
Everyone laughed, it was refreshing to mingle with the members as if you've known them for an eternity. They opened their hearts and became so close to you within a month (A/N: because 11 days is ridiculous Cheritz!), regardless of the way you met them. You laughed to yourself, who would've known it was a blessing in disguise.
You all were sitting at the table sharing a few stories, having a few drinks, and of course keeping them out of Yoosungs' reach. You were discreetly having your own conversation with Jaehee through text, of course admiring Zen's appearance, and she was right, his photos didn't give him enough credit. You noticed when you sent her another message, she frowned a bit still glancing at her phone.
"Jaehee, what's wrong?" You asked in concern, grabbing the other member's attention.
Her facial expression quickly changed, and she quickly waved everyone off. "Oh, it's nothing, just a message from Mr. Han is all."
You heard Zen groan next to you setting down an empty beer going for the another, instead you offered yours for him to finish.
"That jerk, even at an event like this MC worked so hard for, he doesn't even have the decency to congratulate her and sit with us." He took another swig, "I swear Jumin, that guy..."
You couldn't help but smile a bit at Zen. His older brother complex was comforting, all flirting aside, he was always the first one to immediately jump to your side whenever Jumin stepped over a line, and with Zen it was a very short line, it didn't take much.
You were immediately pulled from your thoughts looking down at your lap feeling a familiar buzz.
Jaehee Kang [He said he would like to speak with you.]
You held your breath. He asked to speak with you? Why the hell would he request something as risqué as that? He was more than capable of talking to you publicly with the other members around. If there was anything he needed to say to you, he could've easily done it here. But you were curious...
MC [What does he want?]
Jaehee responded automatically.
Jaehee [I am not sure, but he said urgently.]
You clenched your teeth looking at your phone. The nerve of him, it was one thing that he couldn't say what he had to say in front of everyone, but he didn't even have the balls to message you personally and tell you to meet with him? You groaned inwardly.
"Well the lady has to go to the lady's room." You said standing up smoothing out your dress.
"If you need help getting out of that, let me know." Seven said, his head resting on the palm of his hand. You smiled turning on your heel but not before turning your attention to the albino actor.
"Zen, did Seven ever mention to you that he's been selling strands of your hair on Ubay for money? " The sound of Zen's yelling and Sevens hysterical laughing slipped further into the background as you approached the double doors leading to the reception hall. You pushed them open the hall was empty. You weren't surprised when you didn't immediately see him there.
Jumin was the type of man that would suddenly be there, not making his presence known, the type to startle you. You crossed your arms pressing your shoulders against the wall taking out your cellphone.
You were flipping through some of the emails from the guest, they were thanking you for inviting them. A few minutes passed and you started to feel your underwear riding up your ass again for the umpteenth time for the night. You carelessly put a hand behind your backside digging it out through the dress.
"Well that's attractive."
Well fuck...
"Only for you Jumin." You said sweetly keeping an even tone, you turned to face him.
There he was, standing there a couple feet away from you again, this time looking perfectly annoying. His Adonis face had that perfectly annoying smirk you pictured him with. He had that perfectly annoying voice you heard over the phone that seemed deeper in person.
You wanted to leave.
"I realized you were pretending to avoid me." He said walking towards you while adjusting the cuff of his sleeve.
You wanted to leave.
"Tsk, I realized you were pretending to act normal in front of the guest." You matched his tone watching as he was getting closer.
You wanted to leave.
"Are you saying I am not normal?" He asked.
"Far from it, you were smiling way too much, it was actually disturbing." You said slyly.
He quirked an eyebrow pausing in his steps to give you that perfectly annoying smirk. "You were observing me?"
You wanted to leave so damn bad!
"Jumin, what do you want?" You snapped standing up straight watching him take a few more steps closer.
The whole point of wearing heels was to give you more confidence and make you feel tall not just in height but in power. However, under Jumin Hans sharp gaze, as he towered over you, you felt much smaller.
With his eyes still trained on you, he took a moment to take in your appearance humming slightly.
"I imagined you in red, but the black is more alluring." He finally said.
You placed a hand on your chest sarcastically, "Did Jumin Han just compliment me?" Your expression and tone immediately changed, "I'm flattered." You said monotonously.
"That's because it was." Jumin said, he was close enough now to take a handful of your hair into his perfectly annoying hands. He watched thoughtful as the strands flawlessly slip through his fingers.
"You look stunning tonight, I wanted to tell you in person." He said in a low tone.
This made you crinkle your eyebrows. "Did you drink before coming here?" You asked, leaning into him to smell any trace of alcohol. He didn't move or seem affected by how close you were to him.
"I haven't had the chance to have a glass of wine yet, no." He said simply.
"So, you expect me to believe that you're standing here in front of me, telling me something I already know, and not under the influence of anything?" You snorted.
"I'm not buying it. I don't know what kind of people you deal with, but your charm doesn't work on me Mr. Han, I'm immune to that facade you get women to believe in. If all you wanted was to complement me, you could've done it at the table, with everyone else." You emphasized the latter.
Jumin sighed, you tried to analyze his perfectly annoying face hoping to find something. There was no possible way this man didn't have some kind of achilles' heel. Something to get him to react.
"I don't know why you're always targeting me, MC. I didn't do anything against you to make you hate me."
Oh, Fuck that.
"Are you serious Jumin?" You clenched your fist, "How can you act so ignorant to everything around you? Your head is so far up your cat's ass, you can't tell how miserable you make the people around you. You made Jaehee go through so much working for you! You were the last person to realize how miserable she was and you remained ignorant about it every time we confronted you! You made Zen feel so insecure, that he over exerted himself to the point of injury. You know how devoted and passionate he is about his work, yet you constantly challenge him! You called Yoosung all kind of things without any concern for his feelings at all, and you had no right call his mother, he is an adult and you're not his father. It's was not your place yet you did it anyway! And Luciel..." you paused closing your eyes and shaking your head. There were some things that didn't need to be said.
"You put your cat and self-first without any regard for the ones around you! And I fucking hate you for that, you have everything. You never had to worry about anything besides waking up in the morning. Us "commoners" must struggle to get where we need to in life. We can't just buy everything, we can't just not worry about anything because someone will take care of it for us. You have no idea what's it's like and you don't even try to sympathize, or empathize with anyone!" You could feel wetness touching your cheeks.
You waited for him to say something, anything. But instead, he just watched you, waiting for you to say or do something. You bit down on your cheek out of habit until finally turning around walking the other way.
"I still didn't do anything to hurt you." He said softly, at least it sounded that way. You were probably too emotional to even hear how he said it. But you didn't want to turn around.
He was so fucking frustrating!
"I pushed Jaehee because I knew she had the potential to be great at everything, the only person that was standing in her way was her, that's why she's doing what she loves the most now thanks to you supporting her.”
“Zen cared too much about what people thought of him, and he let his own emotions and insecurities get the better of him leading to his injury. He was a victim of his past, and he wasn't able to see his future as brightly until you helped him realize that.”
“Yoosung had a problem, his mourning for Rika was consuming him. Thus, causing him to purposely sabotage himself and ruining his future by drowning his depression into video games, instead of dealing with it head on. He needed to let go and move on himself, and he did with encouragement and you being there for him.”
He paused, “And I am not sure what kind of relationship you have with Luciel, but you seem very close to one another. I'd be a fool to not realize he cares about you and trust you enough to tell you certain things he cannot with us."
You could feel Jumin's voice getting closer, but you refused to turn around. "You continuously put yourself before others and you take on their pain for them. It's not your burden to take on yet you do it without the slightest of hesitation. When you joined, you changed so many lives for the better, you have that effect on people. Even I have learned to appreciate that."
You wanted to leave, you wanted to hide somewhere, you wanted to go back and sit with everyone laughing, and having an enjoyable time and not be here with him. He was annoying, he made you feel complicated, and he made you question everything you did.
He was the reason why you were holding yourself against the wall unsuccessfully holding in your tears.
"But I've never done anything for you to hate me so much." He said softly.
He knew, he knew and you hated him for knowing the entire time. That’s what made it worse, that's what made it hurt even more. You were constantly trying to convince yourself that you hated him, that he wasn't a good guy, and that he was every bit of a douche that everyone said he is.
But the truth is,
You knew he wasn't that kind of guy. The way he puts all his love and attention into his cat was proof alone that Jumin had a sincere heart. He wasn't as cold and hard- hearted as everyone thought he was and deep down you knew that.
He was just misunderstood, and he only had one way of expressing things. He was trying, and no matter how much you wanted to deny it he never did anything to you. He was everything you loved and hated.
He was perfect. You could feel the tears coming.
Jumin continued, "You saw and noticed things about me that I never did. I've seen my father make the mistake of wasting his emotions on all the wrong things and I convinced myself that emotions are not to be wasted on remedial things, unless it's dealing with work or Elizabeth the 3rd.”
“Every time people called me emotionless and cold, a part of me that I hid deep down always hurt. But I bottled it up. I created these knots and ties within me and I knew that what I was doing wasn't healthy, but I pushed it away.”
“I told myself that I would deal with it when the time comes. But you MC... when you would tell me about myself and force me to look at things from a unique perspective, you always made me feel bad about myself. I would sometimes look at myself in the mirror and see all those knots and tangles consuming me and you helped me find peace within myself and I-."
"Stop!" You interjected.
You turned him finally, eyes now filled with tears. You didn't care about your red puffy face or swollen nose.
"MC…" He tried.
"Please, stop!" You held yourself closely, choking on tears. "You won okay... you didn't do anything. Stop trying to rub it in my face? You just make me feel even more complicated!"
You pulled yourself tighter, your knuckles starting to turn white.
"You all give me too much credit. I'm not some kind of savior or chosen one or something! How can I be thankful for helping others and sorting out their feelings and emotions when I can't even figure out my own!”
Tired, you were tired, “Every time I talked to you on the messenger or the phone, those complicated feelings would just stir up even more. I don't even know why I'm crying Jumin." You wiped your eyes forgetting about the mascara.
Before you knew it, he pulled you in close to him; your head pressed against his chest while his large hands stroked your hair. You wanted to leave more than ever, you wanted to pull away and act like this never happened, but he held you there. You weren’t sure how you felt.
You were so close to him, his heartbeat was so clear, his breathing was relaxed, his cologne smelled like something you were sure you couldn't pronounce and he just felt...warm.
"You're going to get makeup all over your fancy clothes Mr. Han." You mumbled sadly, sarcastically, turning your head so your cheek was now on his chest. He laughed lightly, it was nice, almost breathtaking. It was still a little unnerving because of the situation you two were in, because of how things have been. Nonetheless you wrapped your arms around him too, which caused him to hold on tighter.
"Your cheap makeup wouldn't leave a stain on my clothes." He laughed, you gasped pulling away from him for a second, this time genuinely offended. He laughed harder once more pulling you in again.
"I feel complicated as well." He said after a breath, taking a few strands of your hair into his hands. "I have pondered these feelings myself for the past couple of days, I wasn't sure how I felt until I realized I did not look at Elizabeth the 3rd as I used to.”
“She started to feel more like a house pet rather than an actual companion. I realized that it didn't matter how much I told her I loved her, she would never truly understand, she would never tell it back to me. Of course, I knew this, but I was fine with dumping my concealed emotions onto her, I was being selfish, and she nor you deserve that."
Jumin pulled back and looked down at you; his features graced with a soft expression that made you instantly remember why you felt so unsure about him.
"I was showing my cat more attention than the actual person I liked. I should've been honest with myself." Jumin kneeled slightly to look at you.
"I will give you the world and more MC, if you give me a chance to start over with you." This sounded like a proposal. You looked at him for a few moments, your eyes and his pooled around each other's, his grey coating your brown ones.
You raised a hand to your mouth laughing. Jumin tiled his head and just as he was about to open his mouth to say something, you stopped him.
"Are you trying to seduce me with "I'll give you the world" bit, Jumin?" You smiled, "I guess that's the best you can do huh? How about this..." You wrapped your arms around his neck pulling him closer to you, leaning to press your foreheads, never turning to look away.
"I want to get closer to you, and I want you to get closer with me." You said barely over a whisper, even though no one was there, it was only meant for him. Jumin was the first one to make the move, his hands gently dug into your hair bringing you closer to his lips brushing them slightly.
"I'd like that." He pressed his lips fully onto yours, you were falling for his spell. His lips were warm and wet. The taste of grapes lingered on your mouth, the liar.
He did have a glass of wine.
The kiss didn't last long. He pulled you away, and was the first to speak. "You taste like beer, Zen's doing I assume."
"You taste like grape wine. The winery's doing, I assume." You replied. Jumin chuckled lightly, sighing and looking away momentarily, to look at his shoes.
"I…" he struggled out. "I have no experience in this area, I will ask if you can be patient with me. Though my father may have his terrible taste and judgment in women, he treats each of them with respect and care." Jumin took your hand into his, his warm fingers lightly making circles on your skin.
"So, I intend to do that and more, if you will allow me MC."
You pursed your lips slightly, knitting your eyebrows together watching his eyes as they were focused on you.
"This isn't something I want to rush into Jumin, I am still sorting out my feelings." You said carefully, "I was in denial about having feelings for you and I want to make sure this is something I want, not some passing fancy."
Jumin watched you for a few moments then stood up straight with your hands still in his, "I understand. I will give you all the time that you need." He said, the corners of his mouth lifting.
"I will wait for you, I don't want you to feel pressured."
You nodded with a smile gracing your face. "Good, I'm glad you understand." You said as you turned back to the ballroom door, grabbing Jumin’s arm, forcing him to come with you.
"Besides, how would Elizabeth the 3rd feel that her beloved owner has replaced her?" You chuckled.