Normal, Abnormal or Paranormal
Jungkook enters Jin's apartment and finds him with Tae and Jimin playing Uno. "Hey, can I play?" He smiles, finally something fun and normal.
"Sure," says Jin as he reshuffles the cards. As Jungkook goes to sit down, he sees the snacks and grabs some chips.
"Does anybody want a drink?" They agree, and Tae goes into the kitchen and comes back with soda for them and banana milk for Jungkook. Trust Jin-hyung to stock everyone's favorite drinks.
Jungkook smiles as he opens the banana milk. "I'll never get tired of this." He takes a couple of swallows and sighs with contentment.
"Ok, let's play!" He excitedly claps his hands as Jin deals the cards.
As they have fun, laughing and snacking, Namjoon is with the maintenance man in his apartment.
Namjoon is standing at the bathroom threshold watching him check the pipes under the sink.
"Is everything ok? It's just the pressure in the pipes, right?" He leans down and looks under the bathroom sink as the maintenance man tightens the water line.
"Yeah, everything is fine. Sometimes, with new plumbing, there could be air in the line. In such a large building, it may take a while to work its way out, but when it does, it can cause pressure on the valves, making the water turn on. It's no big deal. Just let a small trickle of water run all night to ensure all the air is out of line for your apartment."
"Thank you, Mr. Hoke."
Namjoon moves as the older man shimmies out from under the sink. He smiles at the maintenance man and feels a sense of relief, knowing that what is happening is nothing paranormal—just air trapped in the line, just as he thought.
Next on his work order was to check the lightning system in Mr. Jung's apartment. He told Namjoon where he was headed and told him that if he needed anything, he should let him know.
"Can I go with you? I know Hobi was really worried about the lights flicking off and on. He's scared of them causing a fire."
"Sure, you can come along. It's probably a loose light bulb or just a wire that needs tightening. It happens a lot in a building of this size during renovation. People get in a hurry and rush things." He grabs his tool bag and follows Namjoon to the door, and they leave for Hobi's apartment on the next floor.
As they wait for the elevator, he says, "It's not like back in my younger days, we did things right the first time. Nowadays, it's all about how fast and cheaply you can get the job done and collect your money."
Namjoon nods, and on the way to Hobi's, he listens politely to the man reminiscing about his younger days. Namjoon was quickly coming to like Mr. Hoke and his no-nonsense outlook on life and pride in his work.
They reach Hobi's apartment, and he greets them with his sunshine smile. "Hello Jooni." He extends his hand to shake hands with the maintenance man. "Hello, I'm J-Hope, but you can call me Hobi."
Mr. Hoke shakes his hand and smiles, but before he can introduce himself, Namjoon speaks up.
"Hobi, this is Mr. Hoke. Tell him about your lights." Namjoon is ready to hear that the light issue Hobi was having can be logically and scientifically explained, just like his water pressure issue.
"Hello, Mr. Hoke. It seems several lights last night kept flickering. It was very unnerving. My last apartment did the same thing and it was a faulty wire that was smoldering behind the wall. If Kooki, um, if Jungkook hadn't been horsing around with Tae and fell against the wall breaking the sheetrock, we wouldn't have found it."
Hobi has a whole body shiver remembering. "My place was trying to catch fire, and I didn't even know it."
Feeling sympathy for Hobi's fear of fire, Mr. Hoke tries to reassure him. "Don't worry none, now, Mr. Jung. It's more than likely just a loose wire or bulb. Show me which one had you worried and I'll start there and check them all for your peace of mind."
"Thank you so much. It's this wall fixture over here." Hobi leads him to a built-in light fixture near the front door. "It started here, and then several of them were flickering as the night went on."
He pulls some tools out of his bag and puts them in his utility belt. "Where is your electrical box, Mr. Jung? I want to flip the switch to cut off the lights in this area before I go poking around. I rather not have a shocking experience if you know what I mean?" He grins at his pun.
Namjoon and Hobi both laugh as Hobi leads him to the electric panel.
Namjoon and Hobi decide to sit in the living room while Mr. Hoke works. Namjoon told Hobi what was causing his water to turn on and off and that it was nothing paranormal. He didn't bother to tell him what happened in the security office because he had already explained that away to his own satisfaction.
"I was so glad to hear there was a logical reason for it. He said just to let the water trickle during the night to let the air out of the line."
"That's great. I hope it's something simple going on with the lights. I don't like this whole otherworldly paranormal stuff the others want to believe." Hobi was very afraid, but he admits that when it comes to the paranormal, he is a true scaredy cat.
The lights go off and on a couple of times, and Hobi grabs Namjoon's arm, gripping it tightly in fear. His eyes rapidly looked around the room.
Mr. Hoke pokes his head around the corner. "That's just me checking the light before moving on to the others. I may do it a few more times before I'm done." Then his head disappears back around the corner.
"You can let go now, hyung. He made the lights go off and on." Namjoon is trying to pry Hobi's fingers from his arm.
"Oh, sorry." He lets go and stands, starting to pace. "That was silly of me. I'm truly sorry." Namjoon notices his hands are trembling.
"It's okay, Mr. Hoke will fix it. Don't worry."
Hobi seems less anxious and sits back down. Namjoon tries to keep Hobi's mind occupied with a discussion of crabs he's found on the beach—one of Namjoon's favorite subjects.
Shortly, the lights are on again, and Mr. Hoke enters the living room.
Namjoon and Hobi both sit on the edge of the couch, waiting.
"Several of your wall lights are dimmer controlled, and someone put LED light bulbs in them. As a matter of fact, all of your light bulbs are LED. That is good except when the light is connected to a dimmer switch. As the blub heats up, it starts to flicker because the mechanics of a dimmer switch aren't made for that kind of light bulb. It's a known fire hazard to use LED in light fixtures that are on dimmer switches. Good thing you called me in."
Hobi is in shock, thinking his apartment could have caught fire. Namjoon asks, "What do we do? It's so hard to get regular light bulbs now that LED bulbs are what we have to use."
"Don't worry. I removed the two bulbs and will bring you some correct LED dimmer lightbulbs tomorrow. I don't have any right now, I'm sorry. I will have to special order more for you to keep on hand."
Hobi finally lets everything sink in, and Namjoon hears his sigh. "So it was just a wrong light bulb?"
"Yep, that's all. As I said, I don't have any correct LED bulbs here. I'll have to bring them tomorrow."
Hobi is so relieved; for one, it's just a wrong bulb; two, it doesn't have anything to do with paranormal stuff; and three, there won't be a fire threat.
"Thank you, Mr. Hoke. I really appreciate it, and tomorrow is fine." Hobi sounds so pleased and shakes Mr. Hoke's hand.
"Ok, well, I have some other things to check into. Call me anytime you need me." He puts his things in his bag, and Hobi walks him to the door.
"Thanks again."
"You're welcome, Mr. Jung. Have a good day."
Hobi closes the door behind him and releases a loud sigh. "I feel so much better now." He smiles at Namjoon and then says, "I feel so good. I feel like dancing. Come with me to the dance studio."
He pulls Namjoon up from the couch and he readily agrees, if for nothing else than to make his hyung happy.
As Hobi closes the door and they make their way to the dance studio, all the lights in Hobi's apartment are wildly flickering, and maniacal laughter reverbs through the apartment.
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