A/N - fyi, chapter 1 takes place 1 month prior to this moment. we already found out how y/n and namjoon met. and now where are in present day, after the hookup, where we will find out why y/n painted namjoon and what happens in the next chapter :)

[ ' .... ' ] 

[ ' Present time ' ] 

"I should just text her."

A snort came from the side then the sound of a glass clanking against a countertop followed by the click of a lighter and a soft huff from an inhale came next, "Yeah. You should." The voice breathed out a cloud of smoke, waving the smoke away from above his head, "Better yet...." The inhale sounds from the cigarette came again, this time longer, savoring. "...Pass me that phone. I'll do it."

"She won't respond. She made that pretty clear when she left that night a whole month ago." Namjoon sighed, cursing under his breath, "Fuck." His index finger scrolled idly down the mousepad of his laptop, nose scrunching to adjust the glasses resting on the bridge of his nose as they slid down,

The man next to him huffed a soft "damn." then his lips began slurping noisily at the rim of the glass mug within his hand, head tipping backwards while he drank down the dark, viscous looking Guinness. He placed the mug down onto the kitchen countertop with a thud when he was finished and turned to look at his friend, eyebrow raising with a small smirk forming along his mouth, "She just left like that?" He ask after he swallowed and licked over his lips, blowing the fringe cascading over his eyes away afterwards, "That's kind of hot." He muttered and out came a loud sigh from his friend at his side, "Has that ever happened to you before, Nam?" His smirk only raised as he watched the younger male at his side shake his head,

"Of course you of all people would think that's hot, Yoongi hyung." Namjoon's eyes rolled, "Maybe it's me." He sighed, "I get too attached before even knowing a person." He had a hand over his face now, rubbing his palm gingerly over his cheek, "I thought me and her had something... as stupid as it sounds. I felt a connection." Namjoon's head shook and then hung between his slumped shoulders, a hand wrapping around the neck of a beer bottle in front of him to pull it closer to him, "She's the first person to up and leave like that. But I still want her." He confirmed to his hyung, bringing the beer bottle to his lips and taking a drink out of it.

He knew how corny he sounded but couldn't help it. Especially around his Hyung. Yoongi had a way about him that made it easy for Namjoon to start spilling his deepest, darkest secrets and not to mention, the honesty towards how he truly felt inside was only amplified while he was drinking too. He felt so ridiculous to be sitting here on a Friday night in his apartment like this. He could be anywhere. Doing anything. Except he was... here. Sitting at his kitchen island on his laptop... waiting for the moments to countdown before he could join a live auction for some of your unreleased work being held on your website soon.

Namjun told himself he wouldn't even look at your work anymore. Told himself he wouldn't look for you anymore. He was over it. Over you. He was done with it. Done with you. But here he was. Leg bouncing up and down anxiously as he watched the timer on your website counting down backwards from five minutes until your live drop happened. He wasn't going to buy anything. Swore to himself that he wasn't going to entertain another auction for a long time. But he was curious. Damn Yoongi. He cursed his hyung for even letting him in on the secret auction about to happen. Damn Seokjin. He cursed his eldest brother for talking him into joining too.

Yoongi's knowing smile only quirked wider with the cigarette between his lips and then his cute gummy grin was on display as he took the cig out of his mouth to breathe smoke out, head shaking as he gave the end of his cigarette a light tap to shake the ash off the end of it into a Aztec designed ashtray Namjoon had perched on top of his kitchen island,

"You're thinking too much about it." Idle fingertips drummed along the countertop and then he hummed out in thought, "Invite her to your exhibition. It's coming up soon, isn't it?" Yoongi gave Namjoon a peek as he dragged a bottle of Mezcal he had brought over along with him on his way to visit his band mate, "I know you want to." He continued, bringing a pair of shot glasses over to himself to pour out a shot for the two of them, sliding the filled mini glass over to Namjoon with a smile budding mischievously along his lips.

Namjoon exhaled a loud sigh and shook his head, eyeing the shot glass of liquor as it glided its way over to him, "It's not that easy." Namjoon responded, pushing his laptop away but still keeping his eye on the countdown, elbows propping up onto the counter's ledge, "I can't just invite her like that."

"Why not?"

"Would you? After something like that happened to you."

Yoongi shifted in his seat and laughed, "Probably not... but this isn't about me. It's about you. Now answer."

Namjoon pondered Yoongi's question and wracked his brain to come up with a reason why you wouldn't come to his exhibition. It wasn't hard to come up with a million reasons why you wouldn't dare to. He had two big reasons. For one, you clearly weren't interested in him judging by the way you vanished without a trace that night. And two, it was just too awkward for him to try,

"It just seems like a stupid thing to do." Namjoon finally grumbled in defeat.

"No... it seems like a Namjoon thing to do." Yoongi quipped, "If you're going to keep moping around and groaning about her, you might as well give it a shot." He shrugged, gesturing to Namjoon's untouched glass of Mezcal he had poured for them, "And speaking of shot... drink up." The older man mused, waiting patiently for his band mate and fellow drinking companion to down his drink already.

Namjoon picked up the glass of alcohol, clanked it against Yoongi's own and then downed the shot in one go, face and reaction virtually expressionless as he swallowed the liquid, letting the fire of the liquor burn him from the inside out, "I'll think about it." He spoke after chasing the strong tasting alcohol with a sip of his beer, "I'll try."

"You know what they say, right? You only live once."

"That's the motto." Namjoon's brows raised in agreement and Yoongi chuckled,

"Yolo."

"No one says that anymore, Hyung."

"I'm old. Give me a break."

"You're only two years older than me."

"What's your point?"

"Get out of here." Namjoon rolled his eyes, "The auction's about to start." He gestured to the front door of his apartment, "I need peace."

"Don't think about buying anything." Yoongi slowly began to rise out of his seat, making the move to leave before he had a change of heart, "On second thought." Yoongi started to smile and Namjoon only sunk further backwards into his seat with annoyance, "I'm gonna stay right here and watch." He flipped his long, black hair away from his face and got comfortable in his chair once again, "Moral support, you know?"

Namjoon groaned under his breath and felt the sparkle in his eyes come back to life as the countdown went from 3, 2 and finally 1. Unlocking the website and beginning the bidding war, "Shut up." He grumbled under his breath as he expertly navigated the website while completely ignoring Yoongi now, furiously scrolling through the lineup of work you had being auctioned off, "Damn. She gets better and better every time." He thought he was speaking to himself but Yoongi heard him and began to laugh,

"Yep. I bet she sure does." He muttered to Namjoon as he leaned in and took a peak at the website, eyebrows raising impressively, "Pretty good. Hey... What's that one? You passed it. Go up." He pointed to the screen and watched as Namjoon's cursor slid the navigation bar higher up, "There." He squinted at the screen, cigarette in hand almost dropping to the floor from his own shock from what he was looking at... or more importantly, who he was looking at,

Namjoon was too busy focusing on the majestic new pieces you had lining your site. You had a beautiful array of canvasses at full disposal for greedy art collectors like himself to bid on until they went broke. He itched to put a bid in. Fingers hovering over the options to counter off any price he wanted to just so that he could have another one of your pieces as his to hang in his home. 

But he couldn't... because he promised himself he wouldn't. All he could do was sit there and watch in agony. Pieces were going fast. Bidding and selling out in a matter of seconds. Damn, if his hyung wasn't sitting here next to him watching him like a hawk, he would have surely bought out the entire site by now.

"What?" Namjoon hummed, scrolling too quick to notice the prized piece garnering the most clicks. He scrolled past it twice and Yoongi had to reach over and physically point it out to him. "Woah." He sat there mouth agape when he finally came to the piece. Eyes wide. Body freezing at the realization.

Namjoon was stuck facing a canvas of himself. A literal painting... Of himself. 

You painted him. 

Him! 

It had to be him... It was him, right?

Who was he kidding? No one looked like Namjoon with his insanely handsome, unique facial features. You portrayed him perfectly. Using charcoal coloured paint to smear across the canvas to create his silhouette. Adding a glimmer of gold mixed with the black paint to give the iris of his eyes a glimmer. Making the painting literally glitter through the dark of his eye shape. 

You painted his hair to make the locks of hair fan outwards. The brushstrokes you used making the smudges of paint for his hair disappear into clouds. You made him look real and ethereal at the same time. Making the painting appear as an optical illusion. Making Namjoon look different in every angle you looked at it from. Making Namjoon look... like a beautiful... otherworldly being in any lighting. 

He wasn't smiling in the portrait. Not focused on anything in particular either. He was looking off into a distance... looking for something far from the sight of his vision and the touches of reality.

Clouds of chaos surrounded the outline of him to mask a world of uncertainty... but the only thing that was sure about the painting was the clarity that was Kim Namjoon.

This was a masterpiece.

And you named it, "arduos."

"Is that...?" Yoongi questioned with a tilt of his head, a puzzled look on his face.

"Me." Namjoon finished the question in awe, trying to adjust his vision to what he was seeing.

You painted him from memory. Painted him based on the way you saw him that night. On the way you remembered him. Glowing. Fresh. Smoldering. Intense. Getting the sharp of his jaw nice and chiseled. Adding in faint shadows under his eyes that appeared when the light hit him. Dabbing pink to the plush, roundness of his lips and even remembering the specks of grey in his hair too. He was looking into a literal mirror. How you managed to get even the finest details about him down to the faint wrinkles under his eyes was beyond Namjoon.

"Bid." Came a voice right in the shell of his ear. Making Namjoon's head tilt in the opposite direction to get away from the hot breath, "Do it."

"Space." Namjoon muttered to Yoongi, eyes rolling jokingly at his Hyung's proximity, the mouse on the screen hovering over the very enticing, very intriguing 'join auction' button option, "No." He shook his head, fingers yearning to join anyways, "I can't." He heaved, "Promised myself I wouldn't." He blew out a breath, trying to advert his eyes from the computer screen.

"--Then I will." Yoongi announced, snatching the laptop away from Namjoon at once, "Scaredy cat." He huffed, cigarette back in mouth as he took over the computer, "Promises mean nothing when you don't mean them, punk." He teased his nervous dongsaeng with an elbow jab, fingers tapping wildly at the mousepad now, "Shiiiiit. This bid is crazy." Yoongi chirped, making Namjoon push him to the side instantly so that he could see what was happening on the auction screen.

Namjoon grabbed the laptop back from his Hyung once he saw what he had already accomplished in the seconds that he had possession of his computer, "Yah. Hyung." He complained loudly, prying the computer out of his brother's mischievous fingers, "What— you— you bid already? That wasn't even two seconds! Dude, can't they see who bids?!" He started to freak out. The adrenaline of stress rushing through his entire body.

"Pfft. Like she would be the one controlling her own auction. She's got money. And I bet my ass that she has people running this show for her. Trust me." Yoongi's lips twitched into a more menacing grin, "Looks like you're about to win too." He noted, pointing to the screen to show Namjoon that Yoongi's bid was the highest. Putting the two of them in lead against the other potential bidders, "No one else would even try outbid that number." He nodded proudly at his efforts, "Five... four..." Yoongi began to countdown along with timer running out on the screen, "One..."

A congratulatory message welcomed the screen once the counter had run out and instructions on how to pay for their winning bid followed soon after, bringing the duo to a payment screen which made Namjoon curse uneasily under his breath, 

"Great. Now what?" He questioned, "I pay and then what? She finds out I fuckin' bought a painting of myself?!? This is so fucking bad, hyung. Why would you do this?" He turned to face Yoongi and pointed a finger at him, "You did this on purpose, huh? Knew she'll find out this was me and think I'm even weirder?!" Namjoon had his head in his hands now in utter disbelief and an uncaring Yoongi reached over to the mousepad on the computer, fast fingers tapping on the 'pay now' function so that the payment could proceed,

After a minute of letting Namjoon have his moment of distress, Yoongi finally spoke, "You signed in under a fake name or something, right?" He asked, sliding the laptop away from Namjoon and bringing it back into his own possession, "The payment will be anonymous but nothing can help you if you logged into the auction using your real name." He was busy typing in the login details to their company's payment account, "...Tell me you used Runch Randa or something, man." Yoongi's eyes were still glued to the screen as the payment confirmation popped up and only turned his attention to look at Namjoon when the younger didn't answer, "Don't tell me you used your name..--"

"...I was just planning to look." Namjoon whispered, "Seokjin hyung told me it was okay to use my real name if I was just looking." He glared at Yoongi.

"Damn." Was all Yoongi said. 

"Yeah... damn." Namjoon breathed. 

Yoongi snorted, head shaking as he laughed, "You're fucked then."

Reaching for the packet of cigarettes Yoongi had left on top of the kitchen counter, Namjoon breathed in a deep breath and took one out of the pack, "Yeah." He confirmed, putting a cigarette between his lips and snatching the lighter Yoongi offered to him out of his hand, "Fucked." He grumbled, lighting the cigarette up to take a puff, "Truly fucked."  

[ ' .... ' ]

[ ' same day. in your city. ' ] 

"This one's for all the janky men who ain't shit. Cheers, ladies!"

"That's right." You sucked in a breath and licked the salt on your hand, then downed the shot glass of tequila in your hand, "Fuck men." You grumbled and sucked at the lime wedge that was in your other hand, making a face of disgust from the liquor and lime that left a bitter, sour taste in your mouth, "Damn." You hissed then grabbed a handful of peanuts from the bar, cracking one open to chew on and chase the liquor with it.

"Men are trash, yes." Your other friend chimed in, clinking her glass with your other friend's before taking a drink out of her cocktail, "But you, missy can't hole yourself up in your apartment all day. You gotta go out there." She eyed you from over the rim of the glass in her hand, "Check out all the people here tonight. Find a decent man... Or a lady to talk to." She smiled, eyebrows wiggling, "Maybe even let yourself get laid."

You rolled your eyes and made a face, searching the bar for the tender so that you could order yourself another drink, "No thank you. I'll pass." You shook your head and then ordered yourself a strong drink.

Sex was the last thing on your mind right now. All you wanted to do was get out of the brain fog you were in. That's why you decided to come out with your friends for a long due girl's night. You didn't plan to come out with them. Didn't want to leave your office as your website's annual auction was launching tonight. 

You normally sat on standby to watch the bid wars happening. But tonight, you truly didn't want to be anywhere close to your workspace because the painting of Namjoon you made a month ago after the night you hooked up with him was going up for auction today. 

You knew it would be a big seller as it was the first time in a long time that you were using realism as part of your work. You knew there would be a war over the piece and you didn't want to be there to watch it. So, under the guise and encouragement of your assistant, you let her take over the auction. Entrusting her to make sure everything runs smoothly. You told her you were only a text or call away if she ever needed you but she assured you to just go out and have some fun.

Fun, huh? Was this your idea of fun? Sitting in a hot, sweaty bar amongst your friends? No.

But was this your idea of getting away? To forget the man that has clouded your mind ever since that fateful night? Yes.

Ever since that night at the hotel, you kept yourself boarded up in your apartment or at work. You avoided going out. And avoided your assistant too because you knew she had a million questions about what happened. You were never one to reveal details about your companionships anyways. That didn't mean she wasn't going to try and pry information out of you either. Especially when the man you disappeared with that night was none other than Kim Namjoon himself. 

You kept it short and sweet with her after that night and managed to get away without talking about him or that night at the auction for a month straight by choosing to ignore the spicy questions she was asking. Choosing to change the subject whenever she mentioned the one that shall not be named.... Yes, we were in our harry potter era. Using the name Voldemort to address the man whose name started with an N and ended with big body.

It was better for your brain to pretend he was something you were forbidden to talk about.

Big mistake.

Because now that you were out with your girls, you were surrounded by people... And booze. Lord knows what booze does to you when you've had enough of it. And lord knows the man your mind happens to stray to when you're strung out and feeling every bit of emotion the effects of alcohol made you face. 

Tch. Your friend mentioned finding decent men? That was definitely the last thing on your mind. Scratch that... there were no decent men in this bitch tonight for you to even give your time of day to. The only decent man you've come across in a while was on the other side of the world. Fifteen hours away in another continent to be exact.

There was one man that came to mind when you thought of anyone being decent and that was... you know who. But you didn't want to think about that. You didn't even want to think about him. Not after what you did.

You didn't even realize your expression had changed at the sudden thought of Namjoon intruding your brain. For fucks sake. You hardly knew him and you were blushing already. Just hearing his name echo in your head made the temperature in your body begin to rise. The heat in your cheeks starting to make you feel hot and flustered.

You couldn't help it, really. Finding yourself unable to stop your mind from crossing to the last time you saw him... a month ago. You couldn't refrain yourself from reminiscing. Thinking about everything. The evening at the auction. That stupid auction. The stupid hotel... That stupidly... intoxicating man that made your body feel so right.

You shivered at the memories. Unconsciously leaning into the absent remembrance of the soft, warm touch of his hand in yours. The gentle caress of his lips on your cheek. Those gorgeous dimples showing up on his gorgeous face every time he smiled. His deep, infectious laugh. Those beautiful, addicting eyes swallowing you up with his undivided attention anytime you looked at him. Fuck.

The dude was already back to wherever for all you knew. But you couldn't lie, after that night, you hadn't stopped thinking about him since. You thought you were over this already! You were out of your mind to still be stewing over a man you ghosted.

The delighted look on your face dulled to a small scowl and you reached to grab your drink. Snatching it up to take a long drink out of it while you adverted your eyes away from your girl that immediately picked up on your change in demeanor.

"Alright, babe. What's his name?" Your girlfriend rolled her eyes, setting her drink down onto a coaster with a nod, "Spit it out." She commanded, eyes on your face with a smug grin starting to grow along her lips, "Don't even try to play with me today." She threatened you, giving you a stern look, "Is it someone from work?" She pressed on and you sighed, head leaning down onto the bar countertop and flopping onto it with a light thud as you puffed out a breath,

"What are you talking about?" Your voice was muffled from the way you had your head on top of the table, "There's no one." You lied through your teeth, "I'm just... messed up from work. Tired. Busy. Hungry." You nodded, finally lifting your head to look over to your friends who all collectively began to laugh at you.

Your friends all looked at you as if you head a third head and you made a face at them, "Be serious." One of them commented, "Who is it? Who's the person that's got you drinking yourself into a stupor?" She laughed, pointing out the fact that you were already gesturing to the bartender for another drink even though you weren't finished with the one you had in your hand.

Right before you were about to answer your friends, you felt your phone buzzing on top of the bar's countertop. One, two, three texts coming in faster than you could reach and pick up your phone. It was your assistant and you expected a text from her anyways. You knew that she always kept you updated on things going on throughout the night when an event was happening. 

Thinking nothing of it, you unlocked your phone to read the messages.

Expecting them to be texts about the sever of your website crashing which happened every time you held an online event like this, you smiled as you opened the texts up. But no... this wasn't one of those messages tonight. You focused on the pictures your assistant texted you, ignoring her screaming in caps locks for you to give her your attention and then your smile dropped.  

Oh, she had your attention alright. She didn't need to yell about it for sure. Your jaw dropped in horror now, screenshots of tonight's big purchase confirmations flooding the feed of your phone screen,

[' Arduos – Purchase – Confirmed - Buyer: Kim Namjoon ' ]

Don't react. Don't feel. Don't.... feel.

You were on the cusp of springing out of your seat and dancing around the bar at the thought of Namjoon remembering you. But the feeling of joy only lasted a few seconds and then you were left feeling confused. So... he wasn't mad at you? He didn't hate you? He was still wanting to buy your art after all that happened? 

What did this mean?

You tried to hide the immediate distress on your face and calmly set your phone down back onto the countertop, this time facing it down as you locked it. You didn't message your assistant back. Hoping that you leaving your read receipts on was enough for her to know that you got the message loud and clear. You knew she would understand your lack of reply. Knew she would know that you were too shocked to even function right now.

You weren't going to react here. Weren't going to cause a scene here in front of your nosy friends who wouldn't hesitate to rip the phone from your hands to see what made the color drain from your face. You weren't ready for that. Weren't ready for their reactions. You knew what they would think. Knew that they were die hard Armys who would lose their minds over this spec of information. Knew that they wouldn't hesitate to start jumping off the walls of this bar at the knowledge that the man making your brain work overtime to get him out of your head was the Kim Namjoon himself. You couldn't do that yet. Couldn't tell them. Not now. Not today.

You took a breath to relax yourself although your heart was beating a thousand beats per minute. Then you wiped all sense of giddiness from your system and calmly lifted a hand to get yourself another drink, gesturing for the tender to make it a double before you finally turned to face your friends who had still been begging for you to tell them who the mystery man was throughout this whole ordeal and all,

"Come on!" The other friend pleaded. "Tell us!" The other chimed in and you groaned louder, this time for more obvious reasons,

You took a second to pull yourself together. To put on the façade you had easily mastered by now and then you spoke, lips at your new drink as you forced yourself to smile,

"Voldemort."

[ ' Later that night. ' ]

The first night Namjoon dreamt of you was bizarre. He had no intention of it at first. Perhaps the dream followed after the whirlwind of an auction he had just involuntarily put himself through. Or perhaps it was because even though after all of that he happened, he was still here. In bed. Reading the email confirmation fucking email Yoongi had the balls to forward to him that detailed when the piece of art would be shipped to him.

Namjoon knew it was inevitable. He was bound to end up bidding on your auction anyways. He couldn't blame Yoongi for doing something he wanted to do. He knew he wanted to buy that piece the second his eyes landed on it. After all, it was a portrait of him. How could he pass that opportunity up?

Strangely, Namjoon felt a sense of calmness although he had been freaking out during the auction. The feeling burning inside of him was one of acceptance. It was over and done with. After all, it was one or the other. You either found out that it was him that bought the piece or... a glitch in the system kept him anonymous (hopefully this would happen). No matter which way he looked at it, Namjoon could only accept the fact that Yoongi was only doing what he, himself was too scared to do.

After reading the email a thousand more times... after letting the thought that he was about to be the sole owner of one of your rarest art pieces consume him... After wracking his brain to figure out why you would even paint a picture of him... Namjoon breathed a sigh of relief.

The good news was that you hadn't forgot about him. Hadn't forgot the smooth of his skin. The plush of his lips. The sink of his dimples.... the warm, gentle person that he was. He was engrained in your memory. Long enough for you to paint every detail of his face to the T anyways. 

But.... Why?  

That was the only word that floated around in his brain. 

Why me?

The question plagued him but there was no way to find out an answer. He didn't want to know. Maybe that was your way of moving on. Your way of thanking him for the night and bidding him a final farewell. And maybe this was his way of saying goodbye to you too. By buying one final piece of your art. By making the piece you created of him his own. This was his way of telling you he understood why you did what you had to do and didn't feel any ill way towards you for it. 

...At least that's the scenario Namjoon forced himself to believe.

He wasn't going to let the who, what, where and why's pester him and so, he deemed himself as grateful and bid the world a goodnight. Sinking into the plush of his bed and switching the screen of his phone from the email to your website. Choosing your blog as a nighttime story to lull him to sleep.

Yeah, he said he was done with you but he enjoyed doing a little light reading before knocking out for the night. He could have chose a book off the array of novels he had piling up in his living room. Could have chose an article off Naver to dive into. But he chose your website. 

It was almost as if he gravitated towards you without knowing. And next thing you know, he was here. Beginning to read through your latest website update. He didn't think anything of it. As the update was just a small article detailing your travels and experience at the Louvre Museum in Paris earlier this year. 

Your blogs filled with little blurbs about your quests in the art world was Namjoon's favorite type of posts on your website. It was wholesome. Admirable. Something he had looked forward to reading when you updated your blog every month. 

Sometimes it was an entire think piece with opinions on art history. Or sometimes it was just a simple sentence under a picture of yourself taken on a day at a gallery. It gave him and the rest of your fans a little insight on your daily life. The things you liked to do. Small tidbits of your life you graciously shared with the world. 

Would this be the last time he got the chance to prowl through your website without feeling guilty? Namjoon didn't want to think about that and so, he gave himself this one night. This one night to think about you one final time. To indulge in you one more time. And then tomorrow... when it was a new day... he would move on. 

Tomorrow. For sure. 

After reading through the article, Namjoon switched the lamp on his nightstand table off, plucked the thick rimmed glasses off from his face and placed them into a safe spot on the pillow next to him, and then cozied into bed. Truly deciding to sleep now that he had his fill of you. He snuggled into his chiffon sheets. Pulling the thick duvet over his bare chest to nestle into it while he closed his eyes and let out a rather large yawn.

Finally, it was time for him to call it a night. Or in Namjoon's case, morning because his sleeping schedule circled around coming to bed at wee hours in the day when people would be waking up to start theirs. Either way, sleep was sleep. And Namjoon was so looking forward to that.

That was until he began to dream of you, of course.

He was hours deep into sleep when he heard the gentle echo of his name, "Namjoon." Your voice tickled his ear and he hummed into his pillow in response, nestling his head further into the soft bamboo cotton of his pillowcase, "I missed you, Namjoon." He heard you again and Namjoon grunted in his sleep, rolling over so that he was now laying on his back. Throwing his arm over his face while his freehand rested over his bare stomach.

Namjoon knew he was dreaming because he could feel the gentle feather of your touch move up his bare thigh from under the sheets. His brows furrowed and lips pressed tight together. His head dropped back against the pillow for his chin to tilt upwards towards the ceiling. Letting the feel of your touch brush from his thigh to his stomach and then all the way up to his chest. 

What if while dreaming of you, there was a ghost touching up on him and making him fantasize over a person that wasn't even you? Namjoon spooked himself now that he was more conscious and before he opened his eyes to be greeted face to face with a jinn or something, Namjoon forced himself to wake up,

"Great, now I'm dreamin' about her." He grumbled to himself as he awoke to see that it was just himself in the bedroom after all, "Ghosts aren't even real either, Namjoon." He spoke to himself again, pushing himself up on his elbows to sit up and rid his brain of the dream he was experiencing. 

He had a hand in his hair. Frustratingly shaking the locks out over his forehand then he ran a hand tiredly over his face, yawning quietly while he peeked over at the clock on his nightstand to check the time. It was already mid morning and his alarm would be going off in a few hours anyways. So, Namjoon decided to start his day early. Knowing that if he went back to sleep, he would keep dreaming of you all over again anyways.

Sitting right back in front of his laptop now... the same place he was once in just a few hours prior, Namjoon sipped at the coffee mug within his hand, idly scrolling through the emails he had left to be piled up until after he had some down time, "Right I forgot about this." He hummed, setting the coffee cup down to peer at an email he had opened, "Should I?" He spoke to himself and rubbed at his chin in thought before grabbing his phone and unlocking it,

[ ' Joon --> your number ' ] 

Hey... just wanted to see how you're doing? Hope all is well.

Delete-delete-delete.

[ ' Joon --> your number ' ] 

Hey 😊 how's it going? Do you want to come to my exhibition in Seoul?

"FUCK!"

Delete-delete-delete.

He was being stupid. He knew deep down you wouldn't answer his text. He was being foolish to think you would. Desperate much. The voice in his head whispered to him. You seem so desperate. Stop. The voice went again and Namjoon threw his phone onto the couch in exasperation, pulling at his shirt that seemed glued to his skin with irritation before grabbing his phone once again with a snatch and unlocking it to send a message to a different person now,

[ ' Joon --> Jin hyung ' ] 

Going through the final guest list for the museum... wanted your opinion on something rq.

Hello?

Stop leaving me on read.

Seokjin..... 🙁 not cool.

[ ' Jin hyung --> Joon ' ] 

WHAT! DO! YOU! WANT!

dnt even ask me if u should put her on the guest list.............

b like nike and just do it hehehe

Namjoon sighed softly under his breath, not even bothering to reply to his hyung and locking his phone instead to toss it aside, "Not that easy." He said to himself, slumping back against his couch with his eyes on the computer screen, arms stretching over his head to stretch the tense muscles in his shoulders out before he rocked his head from side to side to crack his neck, "Fuck." He swore quietly, fingers under the lenses of his glasses to rub at his tired eyes, "Fuck it." He said, adjusting his glasses then finally leaning over the keyboard of his laptop, typing up a quick reply to his assistant,

"Add Y/N to the invitation list, please. -- NJ."

What's the worst that could happen?   

[ ' .... ' ]

[ ' A few weeks later. ' ] 

"Boss, you have mail!" Yelled your assistant as she tossed you a sturdy envelope, "Maybe it's a love letter. Stamp says it's from Seoul." She was already smiling because... deep down, she already knew what was happening. 

"Funny." You huffed and caught the envelope, giving it a once over and seeing that there was no return address on it, "Hm." You flipped the envelope over after examining it and tore it open, reaching into the opening to pull out an invitation, "Oh brother." You immediately felt uneasy as you opened the card up, reading at the contents of the letter and feeling your eyes round to the size of the moon, 

[ ' Mr. Kim Namjoon and the National Art Insititute of South Korea is delighted to request your presence to attend a private exhibition organized by Mr. Kim Namjoon himself. Enclosed, you will find travel information, as well as hotel accommodation. We hope to see you there. ' ]

Your head raised slowly and you stared at your assistant in horror, feeling your body grow limp with dread and an excitement you forced yourself to hide, 

"Oh God. No." 

[ ' .... ' ] 

End of chapter 5. 

a/n - 

idk why our girl pretends she doesnt like this fine ass man :/

why is she me when i have a crush tho