jisoo turns once she’s addressed, hues drifting from the ticking overhead and back to the male on the opposite end. she stares at him for a moment, as though contemplating her response, before her attention is diverted. she sees the flicker of a shadow somewhere among the top shelf liquor, emerging from behind the bottles of sweet vermouth and scotch.
she watches it as it crawls towards the ground, melting in the darkness cast by the dim lighting before it blends and disappears against the backdrop of nothingness. please don’t, she thinks, inhaling, not tonight.
it’s a second or two before she regains her bearings, stepping out from behind the bar and crossing the distance until she’s on the other side, facing opposite from hanbin. she spares him another smile despite his forbidding greeting, “ i’m sorry, “ she replies, clearing her throat as to rid it of the sudden dryness. she suddenly feels parched, but continues, attempting to seem inconspicuous, “ i was just making sure they hadn’t added any new liquors. “
it’s an obvious lie, especially considering her orbs snap away from him the second she sees another grim outline. she can feel it hovering, taunting her to say something, anything – she can’t, she won’t. but she also can’t cause a scenes, especially not here.
“ a-actually – i think you should get rid of that one wine, “ she states, eyes flicking around before she lands on the only thing she can decide would be the best distraction. a single bottle of campari cordial, the furthest thing away from where they were standing, “ it’s shelf life isn’t very long, and it’s been up here since the last time i was in the vip section. “
jisoo takes a step back, watching as the shadowy reflection mirrors her actions. she swallows again, and speaks a little more frantically this time, “ uh – let me throw it away for you. “
now, he was hardly the most ‘normal’ person around, but he could tell when someone started acting rather odd. and jisoo was suddenly acting rather weird. hanbin had stopped what he was doing, now just watching her curiously as she seemed to be staring at something above his head. but when he turned to follow her eyeline, he didn’t really see anything out o the ordinary. and yet, she was still watching whatever might be there.
and then she was moving from behind the bar, walking to stand in front of him on the opposite side like she was a customer. and he really didn’t believe her words, she had not looked like she had just been checking if there was anything new on the shelf. so, hanbin frowned at her, slowly shaking his head, “you’re a really bad liar.” and he wasn’t about to sugar coat his words about it, either. if she wanted to lie to him about something and get away with it, then she was going to have to try better than that.
though it was doubtful she was going to fool him, he was a master of bullshitting himself and liked to think he knew when someone was bullshitting at him.
and then she appeared to be staring over his shoulder again at something. “what on earth are you gawking at?” he snapped, turning his head once again, and yet not finding anything out of the ordinary there. “are you high or something?” that sounded like the only explination at the moment because he was sure that she must be seeing things and was just really badly lying to pretend she wasn’t.
even the next excuse out of her mouth was half-arsed and hanbin simply offered another shake of his head and a laugh. “you know we re-stock the same things, yeah? that’s a new bottle.” he would know, he only put it up there a couple of days ago.
“so,” he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the bar out in front of him, “how about you stop lying and making up excuses because it’s not going to work on me.” and after that was said and done, he flashed her a smile, as if the rub the point in further.
