Chapter Text
“Will you be my partner?”
Dreaming of a recurrent memory woke you up. You tossed around in bed and grabbed your phone from the bedside table. 3:09 in the morning. You sat up and drowsily rubbed your eyes as you looked to your right side. The thought of a frown crossed your mind - not a frown quite yet, it was too early for this kind of energy expense. Or too late, if you were like someone. You turned around to place your feet on the floor, straightened your shirt, and stood up to go towards the source of the light that seeped in through the crack of the bedroom door.
You knocked gently on the section of the wall beside the desk in the living room.
“Huh?”
Jaehee’s brown eyes looked up from the piles of books, articles, and whatever sort of legal papers that littered the desk before taking a second to find yours. She blinked a few times before you could see in them a clarity uncharacteristic for someone who was up at 3 a.m.
“What’s wrong, can’t sleep?” she asked.
“That’s my line, isn’t it?” you said with a yawn, “I was worried you weren’t there. Still working?”
“Yes… I was reading a few articles on independent business owners and how they manage to stay afloat during the first year, especially, and then how in the two years following…”
You walked up to her left side and placed a hand on the back of her chair, while you looked at her unravel in that way she so often did when it came to topics she felt passionate about.
“Jaehee.”
“…to achieve that, a market study would probably be necessary; first, there could be a pre opening, like the pilot of a…”
“Jaehee,” you said a bit more firmly, “Rest up. If you lose sleep, tomorrow you won’t be able to keep on working with a clear mind.”
“Ah… You’re right.” She shifted on her chair in order to turn just enough to grab your hand and place it over her shoulder, which she leaned on slightly without removing her own hand. “I just… Hadn’t had a direction for so long. It’s hard not to start running now that I’ve found it, but I keep forgetting I could fall.” She tightened her grip on your hand and lowered her voice. “Thanks for keeping me in check. It’s only thanks to you that I can even have this much.”
She looked up at you, her glance softened, and smiled. Your hold on the her shoulder tightened a bit as you felt a small pang of loneliness hit you.
“Jaehee, you did everything yourself. Thanks for letting me support you and be part of it.” A comfortable silence lingered for a second. “Come to bed, okay? ‘The work will still be there tomorrow, Assistant Kang,’” you said, finishing your words with a drop in pitch and an increase in monotony that you hoped would emulate Jumin’s.
Jaehee giggled a bit. A job well done. “Yes, I’ll put these in order and go right to bed. You go on ahead.” She squeezed your hand tighter for an instant before removing it, pushing back the chair, and standing up to sort things in place.
“Fine. Don’t take long, okay?”
“Mhm!~” was the only response before you returned to the bedroom to sleep again.
You slid back in under the sheets and turned on your right side so that you’d be able to see her when she laid down.
It was so painful, waiting this long.
She was someone so strong, so capable. Despite every single time she’d told you everything she did was thanks to you, you kept wondering if she really needed you by her side. After she had opened up to the members of the RFA, not only you, but everyone - except Jumin - had tried their best to support her. Zen, in particular, came to mind. It still ached that he had been the one to comfort her that time she realized that life under the corporate fist was not for her, that she felt trapped and needed to forge her own path, that…
That she loved you? You had been so hopeful then, but as one, two, three months passed, it felt as though maybe she had grown attached to you simply because of that female bond Yoosung kept talking about. She had said she might know how to describe it by the time her hair grew out, but not once had the words come out of her lips. Not once had she attempted to get any closer than the odd hand holding, than the small, discreet touches to your shoulders and arms. Hadn’t it been long enough? Perhaps, in the heat of the moment, you had misinterpreted the words she’d said back then, and what had seemed so clear to you was not really what she meant. Not romantic. A respectful kind of liking. That was it. Had you really done anything significant?…
“Hey,” Jaehee whispered, as she sat in bed and pushed a strand of her now mid-neck length hair behind her ear, “are you up?”
By the time she’d come into the room, sleep and your thoughts had already defeated you. She contemplated you for a few seconds and smiled softly seeing you, the person she loved, sleeping quietly in the same bed as her. Very gently, her fingertips touched the palm of your right hand, which had been left exposed. Your hand quivered a bit from feeling tickled and you closed it loosely. Jaehee let out a quiet giggle and laid down facing you.
“I guess not. Then… good night.”