New To All Of This [Jonghyun] Part 5/Final
“Why are you working so hard?” you could recognize that voice anywhere.
“Well, Jonghyun,” you smile and look up at him. He leans on your desk and plays with some pens, “Even though you guys are on a break, I’m stuck doing work for my boss that he could easily be doing but instead dumped on me,” you ramble on, not being able to stop ranting. You take a deep breath and lean back in your seat, taking a break from typing. “What are you doing here? You should be out and relaxing.”
He shrugs and puts the pens down, “I don’t really have much to do, and I don’t feel like rotting away at home. That’s why I came here to see if you wanted to go out and do something with me.”
You tap your chin and tilt your head, jokingly acting like you were deep in thought. You can tell Jonghyun was impatient for your answer by the way he shifts his weight from one leg to the next and stuffs his hands in his pockets. After teasing him, you finally reply, “I’d love that.” You save the file you were working on and turn your computer off. “Let me just go inform my boss that I’m going to take lunch break early,” you tell him and grab your purse. “Wait here.”
Right when you leave the room, Jonghyun quickly rushes over to the mirror in your office and runs a hand through his hair, trying to fix it. He adjusts the collar and rolls up the sleeves on his plaid button-up shirt. When he hears your heels click on the floor, he turns around and walks to the door so you don’t catch him fixing his appearance.
“Okay, so what are the plans? My boss just gave me the whole day off, so I’m all yours for the rest of the day,” you explain and head out the back door with him.
“Well I was thinking we would just get something to eat, but now since you have the whole day off, let’s go on an adventure!” he exclaims and rushes towards his car. He opens the passenger’s side door for you to get in.You thank him and sit down onto the leather seat. You place your purse on your lap and put your seatbelt on. He gets in on the other side and starts the car. He turns to you and suggests, “How about we go to the beach?”
You gesture down to your jeans and heels, “I don’t think I’m really dressed the part for the beach.”
“Yeah,” he chuckles, “I’m not either really. But that’s fine; we can take our shoes off and just walk along the shore. Then we can go and get some food. Sounds good?”
You nod your head and smile. He turns on the radio and starts to sing along. The whole time you two drive, you both sing to the songs that were playing. When you arrive at the beach, Jonghyun parks the car and hops out. He waits for you and then you two walk towards the beach together. When you reach the sand, you slip out of your heels and carry the pair in your hand. Jonghyun does the same and then walks towards the shore. The beach was almost empty, except from some other couples and families.
“This beach is so barren. How’d you know it’d be so empty?” you ask him as the tide rushes in and hits your bare feet.
“Pure luck,” Jonghyun chuckles, “This is the beach that we used to visit during our trainee days. There was a bus that went straight from our dorm to this beach, so we took advantage of it. Hey! You know what we should do? Let’s collect seashells and then we can bring them back and brag to the others about our fun day at the beach!” Jonghyun searches the sand while walking for seashells.
You smile at his childish suggestion and also start to look around. Something catches your eye and you find a little pink seashell buried halfway under the sand, “Oh! Found one!” you shout and reach down for it. You wash it in the water and hand it over to Jonghyun.
He takes it and examines it. The seashell looks tiny in his hands. He smiles and jokes, “You must be a natural at this.”
“You’re right,” you sarcastically add, “I should just quit my job and spend the rest of life looking for seashells.” Jonghyun laughs with a big smile on his face and stuffs the shell in his pocket. He continues to search for shells till you interrupt him. “Actually, since we’re on the topic of jobs,” you keep on walking, to make the situation a bit less awkward than just standing there, “I’m being relocated to manage a different group.”
Jonghyun silently keeps on walking. You wait to hear some kind of reply from him, whether it be bad or good. “Which group?” Jonghyun finally speaks up.
“They’re still not sure. I’ll end up managing either TVXQ or EXO,” you answer.
Jonghyun has a serious look on his face but quickly lightens up, “I’m in trouble, huh?” He suddenly chuckles. You look over him with furrowed brows, confused nonetheless. “I really like you.”
Your eyes go wide as you try to wrap your mind around what Jonghyun just confesses. You open your mouth to speak up, but nothing comes out. Jonghyun rubs the back of his neck with his hand and looks at you anxiously, “I’m sorry for just springing that onto you.”
You smile to reassure him and reply, “No, there’s no need to apologize. I’m not going to lie and say I don’t also have some feelings for you, but I’m confused. When I first got this job, you wouldn’t even look me in the eye.”
“Yeah,” Jonghyun sighs and gives you a small grin, “I was nervous. I never liked a girl as much as I liked you. It kinda surprised me that I started having feelings for you so quick. I was just going to hide my feelings for you, but now that you’re leaving, maybe you could give me a chance?”
You bite your lip and try to hide the big smile on your face, “I’d love to, but would we even be allowed? “Jonghyun dates his old manager!” sounds like the perfect headline.”
He chuckles at your joke and brings you into tight hug. He drops his shoes so he can wrap both of his arms around your torso. “Don’t worry. I’ll figure it all out. We can keep it a secret if that’s what you want,” he mumbles.
“Aish, where did this serious Jonghyun come from?” you tease and slap his forearm.
“Look! Another seashell!” Jonghyun shouts excitedly and picks up a tan seashell that was the size of his palm. He takes out the other seashell from his pocket and shows them off on his hand. He points to the shells and chirps, “This big shell is me and the small one is you!”
You burst out laughing and take the smaller shell, “How about we each keep a shell?”
“So instead of like couple rings or shirts, we’ll have couple shells?” Jonghyun raises an eyebrow at you.
“Why not?” you giggle and wrap your arm through his.
“Sounds like a plan,” he grins and kisses the top of your head.
