· ————— · · 『• ⚜️ •』· · ————— ·

I want to be quiet,

but I don't know how to.

· ————— · · 『• ⚜️ •』· · ————— ·

Younha was panicking for nothing.

It was just a mailman accidentally delivering her another's package and she wondered how much times she had cursed him before and how much she had blessed him after but she hoped they were balanced.

After successfully rescuing Younggeum from the closet, she had flopped down onto the sofa and warily glanced at the time before waving the latter off to venture in the kitchen. Younha had checked her phone and found out that it wasn't Taehyung calling either, it was just some scam caller. Seemed like her brother didn't care about his ex-temporary-housemate at all.

But it was fair.

Who was Younggeum to him in the first place?

"Are you okay, Your Highness? You don't look too well." Younha cracked open an eyes to see that Younggeum was offering her a glass of water.

Hesitantly she took the glass and placed it down after taking a huge gulp, "Nothing much," she began, "seems like you would be staying with me for a while."

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I

t has been four long days since Taehyung saw Younggeum.

And three days until he finally started his work at Haeron.

Truth to be told, Taehyung was kind of excited because his father was going to assign him into one of the different branches under Haeron group. From the distributive sector to the hoteliers, he could be placed anywhere in the whole group.

But here he was, sitting alone in the darkness, watching Titanic dubbed in Korean while he gained weight on diferent flavours of popcorn. He was sure that the amount of popcorn he ate in the past quadruple days was enough to land him a position in the survival show of 'Popcorn MasterChef: South Korea', if it even existed, that is.

But there was a phonecall that ruined his soggy evening.

Taehyung has tried to console himself that he wasn't the man who was his father but the chairman of the company he'd be working for but he knew they were a waste of time. He muted the movie after he picked up the phone but not before thoroughly clearing his throat.

"The number you have dialed is currently unavailab-"

"I know it is you, Taehyung." A gruff voice called him out on the other side.

"Darn it," Taehyung accidentally choked a popcorn, "Why are you calling me at this hour? The last time I checked, I thought we had agreed on a no-calling-policy-until-grave-emergency?"

"It is literally in the middle of the day and even you know that policy is stupid just like yo— I mean, you'd be working under me as of three days and I would have to call you for professional reasons, totally not inviting you to have dinner with your family. You do know that he is back from the States, right? "

"Was Younha aware of his arrival?" Said Taehyung whilst popping in another popcorn down his throat.

"Yes—"

"Great, so only I was left in the dark," He barred his teeth at the earlier recollection of his sibling driving Younggeum away, "That little shit-eating rascal." He breathed out.

"What was that?"

"Nothing of your concern," he said as he unmuted the movie but still kept it at a low volume, figuring that the conversation was soon going to turn boring, "Why'd you call me anyway? Don't you have things to say to your precious son after he's back after three whole years?"

"Don't be silly Taehyung, you three are my most precious treasure amongst all the wealth I've acquired. And he's coming for a little chit-chat today for lunch anyways, Younha isn't coming though, heard she's entangled with some friend who's staying at hers for a while."

"Oh okay, sure sure. We're all your favourites yup. Totally." Taehyung raised the volume up by a notch now.

"Don't be sarcastic now Taehyung," a sigh was heard from the other side, "I called you since I've business for you to take care of. Think of it as your first task here, at Haeron."

Now Taehyung was a bit interested.

"Tomorrow's weekend right? The third generation heir of Park Corporations is expected at the company's court on Saturday at sometime around late afternoon, accurate details would be shared by my secretary. Now listen carefully, I had a meeting with the President of the Park Corporations last month and his son was present there and let me tell you lad, he's quite the naïve type. Too innocent for the corporate world."

"So," Taehyung mused, "what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to go there as a representative of the Kim Corporations and strike a deal that our company wasn't able to do in years, if you pass, you're entry in Haeron is secured but...if you fail, there are other people that are more compatible than you. Don't think that you're irreplaceable."

"And how am I supposed to do that— you know I can't play tennis for the love of God!"

"Take Younha with you, if he spots you, pretend that you two got there by mere coincidence and that Younha was there to teach you because I remember she took the tennis club in High School."

"But father—"

"Do you want to work here or go broke? Because I'm not sure if I want be funding you since you act so hostile towards me."

Taehyung was stumped, he thought the road to the company was going to be easy as he was a son of the chairman and a brother of the President itself but it seemed like he thought too highly of himself.

So with a deep sigh, he replied, "Send me your secretary's number right now. I even need to persuade Younha to go with me."

"I'm so happy, son—"

And Taehyung hung up the phone.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎

It was oddly quiet that day.

It wasn't a good kind of quiet, it was sort of the 'calm before the storm' silence.

But that was what Younha thought.

She even started at the still, cocoa coloured liquid resting peacefully in the china cup in front of her. No ripples, no floating undissolved particles, no nothing. Her eyes then drifted over the tranquil figure snoring quietly on the couch beside her with a thin sheet covering her figure as her head was on the verge of falling off the couch. After a heavy lunch, Younggeum said that she'd do the dishes as she cooked but as they both sat down to enjoy an afternoon's tea, she passed out saying that she was only closing her eyes for a bit.

Younha chuckled as her attention drifted towards the clean, sparkling dishes set out to dry.

She again proceeded to stare at the tea in front of her but her eyebrows suddenly scrunched up as she spotted some subtle ripples erupting, only for her to figure out that her phone was vibrating near the cup.

'Tae-snot'

Oh god, no no no no, I'm dead, I'm dea—

"What is the racket about, Your Highness?" Out of a sudden, Younggeum groggily muttered from her stance as Younha fumbled with her phone. She was planning to switch the device off but her fingers accidentally clicked the button and now her phone lay on the ground, face-flat, with a deep voice screaming on the other side.

"Yah Younha! What was that sound! Did you fall or something? I really hope your nose is broken but I have something urge—"

"Yes mom, I'm listening," Younha quickly placed the phone near her ear as she kept her index finger on top of her lips and got up hastily.

"What?! Mom?! Unfortunately I'm your brother—"

"Yes mom, don't worry I had lunch with a friend of mine. Yes, yes, it was nutritious," Younha mumbled quickly as she entered her room and closed the door behind her, "now tell me why are you calling me, idiot?"

"What was that 'mom' thing just now? I'm a male y'know, want me to show you my d-"

"I've seen your chili pepper on multiple occasions, and Younggeum was just beside me! She can't hear you, atleast not now!"

"Why not?" He inquired.

"She's so damn mad at you, you don't wanna know." She replied as she leaned against a wall.

As soon as she said this, the line went awfully silent and she could only make out the faint noises in the background of some show he must be watching paired with very quiet breaths.

"Anyway," he gulped, "I want you to come with me to a tennis court tomorrow. I really need your co-operation to help me secure a job and a future since money in my bank isn't going to stay forever."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you later, just show up 'kay? At around four thirty-ish at the address I will send you in a minute."

"I'll help you with your job, that's fine, but what's in it for me? You know I don't work for free," Younha twirled a strand of her hair as she eyed the bag on the top of her cupboard that contained her old tennis equipment.

"I'll donate to the psychiatric hospital you're currently working for." He answered shortly but sweetly.

A smile overtook her pink lips as she let the strand fall back in its place, "Deal."

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎

"Missus Park, can you please refrain from tapping your knees on the table while I'm trying to concentrate here?"

"I'm so sorry," Mirael let her gaze drop back to her unemployed hands as she traced the undertones and lines for the umpteenth time that day. She didn't know what was taking Officer Kim so long, she was here because she thought the tests were done and she would be given the results.

"Oh thank God, the file downloaded! I thought that it would keep buffering forever given that our router was shi— I mean, our network strength isn't that good...anyways, the results are here. Are you nervous for the results?" Namjoon cracked his knuckles and tilted his head.

Nervous?

I'm jittery!

"Just declare the results Officer, I can't wait for long you see, my husband's still admitted to the hospital and I need to pay the long overdue bills." Mirael shut her eyes as she anticipated the results after hearing a soft sigh from the other. She really hoped it wasn't too serious, maybe he was over working himself as the doctors said.

"All right," Namjoon clicked on the cursor as the file opened on the desktop. He can't say that he wasn't nervous too himself.

Namjoon's eyes trailed over the diminishing dots circling around the screen as he felt his blood gush through his veins at an alarming speed. Unbeknownst to him, his palms started becoming sweaty and he had to wipe them every now then, and his foot tapped vigorously on the tiled floor.

But at last, the buffering stopped and the page loaded.

Mirael abruptly opened her eyes as if she was just brought out from a nightmare only to be met with a distressed Namjoon covering his mouth with his hand as his eyes scrolled over the file.

"So," She began meekly, "what is it?"

Namjoon dragged in a breath as he tore his gaze from the file and looked at the impatient female right in eye, "Lung cancer,"

He felt a damp spot weighing down inside his chest as he heard her gasp. He should have been able to say that out loud and clearly but for some reason, it really pained him to say that out loud.

"Wih—Which stage?" She responded shortly after a while but her voice was no louder than a breath.

"Luckily, it's just stage one. He still can be cured and can return home. The medicine which he took, NBLON-D, was still being developed and was given to Mister Park by the company to take a note of the medicine's working. Do you know why he took it? Apart from the diagnosis, the file also said that he didn't suffer from any terminal illness or any of that sort. The medicine's still not launched in the market yet so we don't know about what it targets."

"I-uh, he told me that it was for strengthening immunity or something like that and that it was a better option than caffeine to work late nights." Mirael answered though she didn't know how the medicine, which was meant to help her husband's health, ruined it?

"Well, apparently the medicine triggered the tumours that resulted in the damaging of the lung tissues and vessels, or that's what this report says. I might have to hand this case over to the Prosecutor's Office if a similar case comes in. This is just one incident so we can't be that sure that it was the foreign medicine that caused this, it could be because of extrinsic factors as well. So, Missus Park, which company did he work for again?" Namjoon rubbed his chin as his gaze then transferred to the female who hid her hands under her sweater sleeves.

"He worked for...Reon-ul Pharmaceuticals."

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎

A/N: There was a mix up and I never noticed it until months later (goodness). I observed my chapter's titles in another app I write since Wattshit can't be trusted with pre-written chapters and the numbers didn't just add up. They seemed off.

Then I realised that I forgot to publish this chapter. The next chapter was supposed to come after this one but I had published it earlier causing some of my precious readers to be a little confused perhaps. I'm surprised no one noticed but that was that, now I feel at ease lol.