Nahee, Namjoon and Hoseok ▪

     
      Two days before she went...

She received a message from her boyfriend that there would be an extra element for the gathering and told her to pack her things which could last for one week. So, she prepared in advance because she afraid if she packed her things last minute, she would forget what she needed to survive for one week.

She folded her clothes, packed sanitary needs and two books that she borrowed from Namjoon. She even a brought notebook and a mechanical pencil, just in case she wanted to do something more than reading.

Nahee double checked her luggage before sealing it with zip and pushed it beside the door of her room. Just right after the luggage leant on the wall, the door was pushed open, startling the owner of the room due to the suddenness.

Namjoon found her in front of him. He pushed his square-rimmed spectacles above his nose bridge and said, "Jung Hoseok's here."

Nahee straightened her body and made a confused look to her brother. "What is he doing here?"

Namjoon internally rolled his eyes. "What do you think?"

"Eomma asked him to come?"

"He's only visiting," Namjoon answered almost sounding bored. "Hurry up. You need to accompany him. Eomma is out buying something."

"Then what about you? Why can't you accompany him instead?" Her intonation was almost as though she was scolding Namjoon. Her eyebrows frowned, showing her intimidating look.

Namjoon pursed his lips into a thin line. "I'm going out to buy my phone's top up."

"Excuses..." Nahee quietly mumbled as she fixed her luggage's position. And then, without any further complains, she left it there and glared at her brother. He had been watching her as though he was pleading her.

"Fine... Go," she said.

"Gomawoyo(Thanks), Nahee-ya!" Namjoon immediately left the door with a huge grin after he got his sister's approval.

Before Namjoon left the house, Nahee yelled, "you owe me stuffs for this task. Come back with something for me!"

Hoseok was at the living room, looked up to find where the yell coming from and knew it was Nahee's voice. He chuckled, knowing how Nahee was actually. And then, he heard Namjoon yelled back as he passed through the area where Hoseok sat.

"Arasseoyo! (Okay!)" Then, the entrance's door shut. Hoseok continued to look down on his phone while waiting for his younger cousin.

Someone like Namjoon was hard to reject something that people wanted, Hoseok concluded. Maybe he had gotten used to it. Afterall, Namjoon was the sole male in the family, and he was the only male that his mother and sister could rely on. In conclusion, Kim Namjoon was the family's leader.

Hoseok snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a click from a door. He jerked his head up and noticed his younger cousin's appearance.

"Annyeong! (Hi!)" Hoseok greeted cheerfully.

"Annyeong (Hi)," Nahee greeted back with monotone.

"How are you?" Hoseok asked.

"I'm good. And how are you?" The woman asked back.

"I'm good too!" Nahee smiled after getting Hoseok's answer. Suddenly, the woman just remembered something. She smacked her forehead and got up from her seat.

"How could I forget to serve our guest's a drink?!" She scolded herself.

She was about to leave but Hoseok stopped her. "No, no, Nahee-ya! You no need to trouble yourself. Besides, I won't stay long."

Nahee stared at him with a questioning look, as if she was asking him if he would be fine to stay without having a drink. Hoseok softly smiled before he took out something from a pouch.

Going back to her seat, she questioned herself what his older cousin was trying to take out and show. A plain, white envelope only to have written a name of the receiver on it, was slid slowly on the coffee table. Nahee stared at the envelope for a while, debating what could be inside.

Hoseok seemed to have a favour to ask her. Nahee had the instincts that the envelope was not for her.

"I heard from Namjoon-ie that you'll be leaving to Jejudo (Jeju Island) for a week. I also heard you'll be riding a cruise," Hoseok chuckled. "How lucky. I don't experience this when I'd a contract relationship with someone."

Nahee also chuckled at the statement. "My luck," she uttered, feigned a smug. "Who is the letter for, anyway?" She asked, knowing that the letter would be more important than her leaving to Jeju Island.

Hoseok smiled softly at her, looking down at the ground before looking back at her. "Can you pass this to Kang Aeri?"

Nahee stared at the letter which was slowly sliding towards her as Hoseok slowly pushed it nearer to her area.

"You can ask Jungkook if you don't know her," Hoseok added.

"Omo, you know Jungkook?"

"Who doesn't? That boy is golden. I knew him since people around the company kept mentioning him when I was with someone. And you know you chose the right man," Hoseok uttered as he grinned widely.

Nahee also grinned widely because of the praises. She felt proud of Jungkook when Hoseok commented that she chose the right man. She felt happy too. However, her smile slowly fell. She just remembered that they were only contracted, boyfriend and girlfriend. They only have a relationship under a signed contract. And then, she started to zone out.

Hoseok noticed the changes in the atmosphere. He had the urge to ask Nahee if she was fine.

"Nahee-ya, you okay?"

"Uhh... I'm okay," Nahee stammered and then smiled, scratching her nape as she nodded her head. Knowing Nahee for so long, Hoseok doubted her answers.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes, yes. I'm okay. I just... had a... uhm... You know, a short blank moment."

Hoseok seemed to be convinced with her answer this time. He showed a slight smile for her.

"So, please pass the letter to Aeri," Hoseok uttered, trying to divert their conversation topic back to the main one.

"Why don't you send this letter yourself?"

Hoseok chuckled at her question. Someone who was inexperienced in this matter like Nahee has a lot of questions. He decided not to answer her question, knowing that she should learn to experience that kind of relationship.

To him, a contractual relationship and real relationship have no differences. Except there were rules that they needed to obey.

"Once your contract ends, you'll understand."

When Hoseok mentioned the contract to end, the younger felt a strange feeling. She couldn't describe it properly. The feeling was mixed.

There was a tight feeling in her chest, making her hard to breathe, making her feel sad. But on the hand, thinking that it would end, there was a feeling that telling her she will be happy. And then to think Jungkook would get a new contract girlfriend after her, there was a feeling like fire rekindle inside. She was sure it was venge, it was not obsession either, but it was something different.

Ahhh, she didn't know!

"Yah, Kim Nahee!" Her cousin's call startled her from trances. Nahee looked up at him with sudden wide eyes.

"What's wrong with you? You're like this just now but you said you're fine. And it happens again. I just called you like more than 10 times to get you out of somewhere I don't where were you in your mind..." Hoseok complained, sarcastically.

The older's comment made Nahee to glare at him.

Nahee took the letter and stared at the name written in blank ink. The hangeuls were nicely written in cursive.

The relationship which Hoseok used to have with the woman named Kang Aeri made her feel curious. Nahee was curious about how their relationship was before, how they ended it.

Did they cry? Did they tell each other that they regret to have a contractual relationship with each other? She knew Hoseok had written a testimony about how he was happy to have met the woman. But why? Why did it seem fakery to her?

Being grown and educated to be considered with people emotionally, Nahee had an instinct that she shouldn't let this important point go. Hoseok seemed to have fallen in love with the woman.

Was he? Or was he actually not?

Nahee made a glance at Hoseok who was scrolling on his phone for a moment.

'Jung Hoseok,' she said his name mentally. 'Why are you sending her a letter? Do you love her? Or have you moved on?'

**********

Nahee sat on a couch at the living room alone. A bowl of chips was on her lap. The television was playing a live news broadcast. Her eyes might have glued on the television but her mind seemed to be everywhere.

After Hoseok left, he warned her for the last time about the contract relationship.

"Once you've fallen in love with someone, and when you need to let him go. You'll find it hard to do it."

"Hard? What hard?"

"Find it out yourself."

Because of that, she started to afraid of creating memories with Jungkook. She started to feel pain even though she knew that she and Jungkook had a long time to go. Because what if one of the reasons why it's hurt to end the contracted relationship?

But she knew...
She knew she shouldn't afraid during this moment. She knew that both of them had a long time to go.

"Ayo, potato!" Namjoon's voice was heard at the entrance as the shuffle noises of his sneakers getting taken out from his feet could also be heard.

Nahee looked back in annoyance, disliking the nickname that her brother just used to greet her. The sound of footsteps entering the area was heard, but the woman ignored them.

"What'cha doin'?" Namjoon asked in English as he spotted the chips on his sister's lap. He quickly took a few pieces and stuffed 2-3 pieces of them into his mouth. He then grinned with his mouth stuffed like a squirrel's mouth full of acorns and Nahee made a distasteful look.

She decided to ignore her brother as he plopped on the couch beside her and 'stole' a few pieces of chips.

"How long has Hoseok left?" Namjoon questioned her.

Nahee buzzed. "Erm... Around an hour or two hours ago?"

Namjoon then nodded his head. For a while, both of them were to accompany with silence. The television only to has its volume low, and the sound of both of them crunching on the chips filled their hearing sense greatly.

"Oppa," Nahee called. Just by the way the woman just called him, he knew there was something his younger sister wanted.

"What do you want?" Namjoon asked in a monotone.

"Does Hoseok oppa ever told you about his worries?"

Her question had caused Namjoon to stop crunching the chips in his mouth slowly and made him look at her. His eyebrows frowned as if he was inspecting something.

"Waeyo? (Why?)" Namjoon remembered Hoseok came to visit that evening. He wondered if... "Did Hoseok tell you something?"

"No," the younger answered. "He just..." She halted.

"He just?"

"He just told me to pass a letter to his ex-girlfriend," Nahee uttered.

Namjoon's eyes widened. "I don't know Hoseok has an ex-girlfriend already."

"Not a real ex-girlfriend, oppa," Nahee told, sarcastically. "He had a contract relationship before, remember?"

"Ahhh, yeah!" Namjoon muttered with his eyes squinted as he remembered an event. "I remembered I and Eerin met her before."

"You've met her?!"

Namjoon bobbed his head up and down, eagerly answered Nahee's question.

"How's she?"

Namjoon said, "she's nice."

His short answer caused Nahee to glare at him. She was unsatisfied.

"Then, how did Hoseok act around her?"

"He acted like how boyfriends do. Getting jealous, pampering their girlfriends, holding hands."

Again, the answer was an unsatisfying one to Nahee. Nahee once again shot daggers through her sights to Namjoon.

"Ah, cham-na...(seriously...)" Nahee decided to give up on interrogating her brother. Then, she remembered another matter.

"Where are my stuff?" Nahee asked. She then showed her palm as if she was asking for something.

Namjoon stared at her with a questionable look. "What... stuff?"

It seemed that Namjoon had forgotten. Then, when his younger sister shot him a blank look, a slow reminder then came in his mind, but he decided to continue to act as he had forgotten.

He's a bad actor anyway...

"Kim Namjoon..." Nahee said, in a deep dark tone. "My rewards for staying at home alone while you and eomma left to shop."

"I don't remember you asked for a reward."

Namjoon continued to look at her blankly while Nahee narrowed her eyes, ready to shoot daggers next. Slowly, the man shifted his view to the television as if he was trying to run away from a wild animal.

Namjoon was praying something or someone would save him at this time...

He had to admit his sister could be a little childish, but once you accidentally let go her wrath side, don't expect you would leave the scene proud. Namjoon was sure Nahee got her confident and dislike quitting personalities from Mr Kim. Nahee would never let anyone go from an argument without getting speechless.

She might've won a debate competition in her past life, even though she didn't seem to be interested in the field...

Suddenly Namjoon's phone rang, he quickly got it out from his jeans and slide the green button to answer the call.

"Yeoboseyo? Jagiya! I miss you! How's our baby?" Namjoon immediately left Nahee on the couch alone.

He mentally thanking his fiancée for saving her from the debate master.

On the other hand, Nahee...
"Just admit that you don't want to get anything for me," she mumbled as she chewed in the chips.

"I'm just testing you," she told as though she was talking to Namjoon.

What do you think Nahee meant when she said she was only testing her brother?

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I forgot to publish this one....