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vii. a cursed rain

a/n: i'm back!!! and maybe!!! the plot is going to pick up soon??? idk lmAO i'm honestly just winging it, made a lot of edits to my previous draft:) anyways, finals are coming up so might be signing off next week so yes saying goodbye for rn! but hope u enjoy this chap! as always, thanks for reading<3333





Yerim was coming back from the grocery store when the sky decided to clap, flash with light, and pour rain, all in ten seconds.

Now, she was crouched underneath a gazebo, hair drenched and shirt plastered to her bra, four plastic bags full with not only groceries but also water. Around her, the rain fell from the roof in sheets, so dense that she couldn't even see about five feet into the distance. To make matters worse, a stranger was blatantly eyeing her body, in a very sexual way that made her ick and cringe.

She cursed at her decision to walk instead of drive. It had been an impromptu decision, driven by restlessness and frustration, one that was now laughing at her face.

The stranger moved closer to Yerim, and she jerked away, hard. He made no attempt to hide his eyeballs dropping down to her chest. Very cool, very cool.

Clearing her throat, Yerim shifted all her bags into one hand before taking out her phone. She had just navigated to Irene's contact on her favorite page when she remembered that her friend was visiting her sister. Sighing, cursing at herself again for being dumb, she went to Jimin's contact. He didn't answer; knowing him, he was probably nursing a hangover from hell. Well, there went all her options. Yerim could call Joy, but she doubted anybody would want to wake up at 8 in the morning on a Saturday, especially if that person worked late night shifts.

With no other choice, she plopped her butt on the bench. Ten minutes, she reasoned. There was no way the rain wouldn't stop then.

Yerim was terribly wrong.

Eighteen minutes later, she was munching on a granola bar and staring gloomily at the rain. She had a meeting later with Thomas Sawyer and had planned two hours to finish any last touches to her portfolio. At this rate, though, she was going to have only an hour or thirty minutes.

At least the creep hadn't tried to make a move; all he did was stare.

When five more minutes passed and the rain was still pouring, Yerim finished the bar and decided that getting drenched would be better than being a statue for a pervert. Throwing away her wrapper, she had just walked to the edge of the gazebo when a deep red Ferrari cruised to a stop in front of her.

The windows rolled down, and a familiar deep voice said, "Get in."

What was Jungkook doing here?

It had been two weeks since she had gone to his office that night. They had been too busy with upcoming deadlines to really talk about what had happened, not that she wanted to. Every single time she thought of the way she stormed out, she wanted to dig a six feet deep hole. (Maybe also kick his groin.)

"Come on. The rain is getting into the car." He leaned over the middle stare at her, his long eyelashes lifting to show his purposeful eyes.

Why was Jungkook here again?

"I just picked up some groceries." He definitely had mind reading abilities. "Get in. Your seat will be wet."

She hesitated.

"Babe." He sounded exasperated.

All of the hair on her arms stood up. "Babe?!"

Behind him, a car honked, and Jungkook turned around, looking, before throwing his stare back onto her. "Get in." His voice was more urgent.

Even though she knew he was holding up traffic and could possibly suffer from consequences, she refused to concede. Nope. Never. Not in a million-

The pervert suddenly stood up, coming towards her with outstretched hands and an even creepier grin. "Is he giving you trouble?" His voice literally croaked, as if he had been smoking since he was a baby. "I'll help you. Come to-"

Yerim reacted without even thinking.

All she knew was that the asshole had been staring at her for the past thirty minutes, and if she could brave the thick rain for almost half an hour to escape him, then she could sit in Jungkook's car for fifteen minutes.

The moment Yerim was situated, Jungkook sped off.

Her heart rattled in her chest. She was still trying to come to terms with the turn of events when Jungkook asked, "Are you heading home?"

She dumbly nodded.

"What's your home address?"

She told him without any questions, breathing hard.

At a stop sign, he entered the address into his phone. Then, he pressed on the accelerator, glanced at her, and asked, "Were you buying groceries?"

Yerim finally snapped out of her daze, looking at the huge smiley faces on the bags and tightening her hands around the plastic. "Yeah."

"Do you go there often? I feel like I always see you there."

Mom used to take me here every Sunday. It would be the highlight of my week, she thought. "Yeah."

And that was the end of the conversation. Yerim kept her eyes trained on the road in front of her, on the rain drumming against the windshield, on the wiper moving across the glass every two seconds, anywhere but on Jungkook. She didn't like that she felt as exposed as a newborn kitten in front of him. Thank goodness it was easier to ignore him than-

"Is it because I'm strict?"

Yerim almost jumped out of her seat. "What?"

She felt the heat of his eyes on her for a second before he said, "The reason why you hate me. Is it because I'm strict?"

"What?" Yerim clearly heard him, though. She was just confused on why he was asking her this. Every interaction with him was like a puzzle, leaving her scrambling and struggling to compose herself.

"You've called me a jerk multiple times, have splashed water on me, even slapped me out of the blue. I think I deserve to know why you've done all of those."

Her grip tightened even more, nails digging into her skin.

If Yerim had to write a book about her life, then she would divide it into three parts. Part one was her childhood and youth, happy days spent with her mother and father. Part two was the day her father left without a word, miserable days spent trying to get him back.

Part three happened the day she found out her mom was at stage two of Alzheimer's disease and would probably transform into stage four very rapidly.

Like any other bad news in the world, it came with the most impeccable timing. In her case, she had just finished her presentation for a conference. Riding a wave of adrenaline and pride, she didn't even hear her phone ring until the third time. When she finally picked up and got the news, her heart stuttered to a stop. Suddenly, all the congratulations around her became white noise, and the room felt too small. Muttering a pathetic excuse to use the restroom, she ran to the staircase and crumbled against the wall. She stayed in that position for a long time (afterwards, she found out it was only ten minutes), swallowing against the bile rising up her throat.

Yerim had devoted so much of her life to bringing back her dad that she lost her mom, slipping right out of her fingers.

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. It wasn't a fair world.

She was so wrapped up in her misery, she didn't even hear footsteps until two shiny brown leather shoes lined up in front of her. She didn't even think, didn't even wonder why someone had stopped an inch from her. Instead, she immediately ducked her head.

"Here." The voice was deep and gruff. The person held out a simple white card, a glistening watch and a silver ring with a heron engraved on it enhancing the shape of their wrist and finger. "If you're interested in working here, call this number."

Even to this day, she regretted not lifting her head. If she did, she might've been able to meet Jungkook earlier, might've had a proper first conversation with him, might've realized her dream company was recruiting her and not thrown away the card when he left. But, at that moment, she had been unrepresentable with puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks. The business card laid crumbled in her hand, a mirror to what she was feeling.

It wasn't until later that she found out that the executive manager of Jeon's Skyline also wore a silver ring engraved with a heron.

Now, Yerim glanced at the wheel, at the silver ring that still glinted even though the sky was dull and barely any light filtered through the glass windows. Sitting on his pointer finger, the heron looked majestic, bathed in power and wealth, a lifeless bird taking flight into the great blue skies.

"Yerim?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, she quickly glanced away, pulse racing again. Glancing around, she realized she was just outside the gates of her apartment complex. "You can drop me off here," Yerim said instead.

Jungkook didn't listen, though. He kept on driving, past the gates, past an apartment building, before pulling up to an empty spot and shifting his car into park. She frowned, but didn't say anything. That was, until she was about to climb out and she heard the lock click.

"Jungkook!" She pressed the unlock button, but the door refused to open. "What the fuck, Jungkook!"

"I should be saying that." His voice was chipped.

Yerim whipped around, aiming a glare at him. "Let me out."

"Not until you tell me why you hate me."

"I'll call the police."

Jungkook maintained his composure. "I can tell them what you did to me, too. We can take this to the court and fight it out, or you can tell me why you hate me."

Yerim almost combusted from the way her blood raced through her veins. He was a devil through and through. 

"Tell me."

Dryly laughing, Yerim nodded. "Alright. I'll tell you." She didn't even need to think about where to start. Many nights, she had dreamt of spilling it to him. "You impose strict deadlines and then you criticize every tiny detail. Sometimes, you force people to restart on their project, even though they've dedicated their whole life to it." She had meant to say "so many hours", but somehow it came out to be about her.

Nonetheless, she went on. "I can excuse that behavior, though, if you actually helped them. However, instead of doing that, you say that it's their responsibility and that doing the job for them would defeat the purpose of being a 'good' architect." She made air quotations. "You want 'good' architects, but all I see is you crushing people's dreams."

When she finally finished, the car felt more silent than before.

Jungkook's face revealed no emotions, and Yerim thought he was going to just drive away after a few seconds. Finally, he said, "That's how I do things."

She snorted.

"I'm strict, but I get the work done."

Yerim wasn't sure where he was going with this.

"It doesn't matter if they're new to this field or they came out of their mother's womb knowing the secrets of the universe. If they're not producing the right results, then I'm not going to say lies to cover up a fault. And you know what I hate the most?" He didn't wait for her to answer. "People who don't try their best, even though they have the talent and capability."

Silence again.

This time, Yerim wasn't thinking of escaping. No, she was thinking about what he had just said.

In some ways, she couldn't help but admit that she understood. Every month, a new headline would pop up in the news: "buildings collapsing because of unstable structures", "cement foundations not surviving an earthquake even though they were designed for that specific function", or "utilities not providing sufficient energy to renters who pay thousands every month". An industry that promised to deliver and provide safety had failed in big and small ways, resulting in hundreds and sometimes, a thousand deadly outcomes.

Jungkook continued. "Those are the values that I run my company by, and they won't be changing anytime, as long as I'm the leader."

Deep down in the most tucked away corner where she had once idolized Jeon Jungkook, she thought it was admirable. He had strong morals and possessed a passion that other people rarely had. However, it didn't take away the fact that he had said those hurtful words to not only her, but other employees hoping for a chance to breakthrough with their projects. He might've been her inspiration, but he had also hurt her.

"Unlock the door."

Good thing he followed her instructions because she was seriously about to kick him.

Without another word, Yerim grabbed her grocery bags, opened the door, and stepped out. Sometime while he was explaining himself, the rain had stopped, leaving behind only puddles of water and regret. She should've just stayed behind in the gazebo and waited it out with that creepy pervert.

"I'm sorry." Jungkook said before she could close the door.

Yerim simply stared at him with what she hoped was blank eyes, even though her whole body jolted from those two words.

"Give me a chance and give yourself a chance, too."

Her stare turned into a glare. What did that mean?

Jungkook shifted the gear into reverse. "Maybe start with telling me why you completely gave up on your portfolio?" When she opened her mouth, about to rip into him for being a jerk again, he shook his head. "Again, I'm sorry for saying those harsh words to you all those years ago. However, there's no way that a few words from someone who wasn't even close to you could affect you like that for almost two years."

Yerim gritted her teeth. "Thank you for the ride." There was no gratitude in her voice; if someone had told her she actually said "go screw yourself", she would've believed them.

For some reason, one corner of his mouth kicked into a half-grin.

Jungkook was fucking amused.

Yerim slammed the door and once again stormed to the entrance of her apartment building. She had never been religious, but she was suddenly praying to any god that existed.

Thomas Sawyer, please pick up my portfolio.

Thomas Sawyer, please let me succeed.

And, most of all:

Thomas Sawyer, please don't have hawkish eyes and an even more straightforward mouth than his.

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