no one above you - day one
@juminweek2019
jumin x mc
rating: T
prompt: Serbian bellflower - everlasting love, gratitude, constancy
warnings: mentions of housefire, slight angst♡
word count: 3.6k
ao3 link
MC trusts Jumin with her life. Right?
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MC pulled the key out of the lock finally, sighing and making a mental note to talk to her landlord about it. She’d been struggling to unlock it for a little over a week at that point.
Stepping out of her shoes, she pulled her hair from its updo and set her bag down. Another interview down, and she was really hoping that they would hire her.
Once she had changed into something more comfortable, she switched on her laptop to check her emails for the RFA party coming up. Her heart fell as she saw the subject line of her most recent email.
After much convincing, she’d convinced the owner of an up-and-coming ramen chain, Mr. Seo, to attend the party. She’d been so proud of herself, and the whole RFA had praised her when she’d bragged about it in the chatroom.
“There’s nothing more to say, see for yourself…what?” she read aloud to herself, clicking on the attachment from the owner. Inside was an email sent to Mr. Seo earlier that morning, and as she began to read, her mouth fell open in shock.
“My fiancé is too shy to admit it, but your attendance at our fundraiser would be disgraceful. Please consider this a revocation of your invitation.” Her eyes widened as she looked to see who the email was from, finding Jumin Han signed at the bottom.
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and disbelief, but there was no denying that the email address was the one he used for business purposes. Could someone have hacked his account?
She put her head in her hands, sighing out in exasperation. Why did this keep happening?
Over the last six months, MC felt as if she couldn’t escape the bad luck that was finding her. It began with little things. Her apartment window shattering at 3 in the morning, losing her favorite bracelet, or finding a nail in her tire two weeks in a row.
It soon turned into bigger things that ruined not only her day but her week or even her month. She was fired from her job of three years because someone made up a story that she had threatened them with violence. Multiple party guests all decided to pull out at the same time. The worst was when someone forged a note from Jumin to her landlord saying that he was a crook and shouldn’t manage an apartment complex. Jaehee was still having that investigated.
She had been through three cars in the last six months, having had her catalytic converter stolen, her fuel line slashed, and discovering her brakes had rusted through. If she hadn’t had Jumin to help her make ends meet when she couldn’t, she wouldn’t have known what to do.
Thinking about all these things, she closed her laptop, not even going to bother trying to convince the party guest that there had been a misunderstanding. Just like with the note to her landlord, she didn’t believe for one second that Jumin would do such a thing. But her stomach was tied in a strange knot, one she couldn’t seem to untangle even with reason. She tried to convince herself that he must have been hacked, but she still reached for her phone and dialed his number.
She heard the phone ring not even once fully before it went to voicemail, and she pulled her phone back to stare at it in disbelief. As her unease grew, she checked to see if she’d gotten any texts from him before calling Jaehee next.
MC was holding her breath, happily releasing it after Jaehee answered almost immediately.
“Thank go-”
“I’m sorry, MC, can I call you back? Mr. Han and I are about to meet with the Chairman,” Jaehee spoke quickly, and MC’s smile fell.
“Oh, yes,” she replied, about to add that it was urgent before Jaehee abruptly hung up. Despite the momentary relief, the call brought her no peace of mind. She began a text to Jumin, but after a pause, she stood from her couch and grabbed her purse.
It was a brisk 15-minute walk to Jumin’s apartment, and she couldn’t keep her mind from running. She tried to scan the previous night for anything she’d done wrong while she’d been visiting him. When she found nothing, she thought back further, coming up short again. If Jumin was upset with her, she wouldn’t have known without the email from the guest. But was he upset with her? Was she overthinking it? Her mind was in a dizzying mess by the time she walked into the lobby of his apartment.
The attendant in the elevator gave her a strange look but still managed to smile at her. She was hoping her nerves would calm if she could get up there to his penthouse and just wait for him there. Elizabeth the 3rd would help her settle down too. She considered going straight to his office, but if he was meeting with his father, it was for something important that she didn’t want to interrupt.
Stepping off the elevator at the top floor, she nearly breezed past the guards as she always did.
“Ms. MC,” the taller one called. She turned to look at him – Juwon, if she remembered right – expecting the usual smile and finding a tight-lipped expression instead. Her stomach turned, wishing she’d thought of the possibility of being stopped there.
“Yes?” she wondered, turning to face the two of them.
“I’m afraid I can’t let you through at the moment,” Juwon replied, narrowing his eyes at her.
What?
“I understand,” she said after a moment, swallowing thickly and trying to think on her toes. “I just, I–” She choked on her words, pretending to clear her throat.
“I forgot my medication here last night again, and it’s really important I take it on time,” she said gently, lying through her teeth but finding it felt necessary in that moment. The guards’ expressions flickered, and they glanced at each other in hesitation.
“You can follow me inside if you’d like. I swear I’ll be less than a minute,” she offered, smiling at the both of them. “Just close the door if you see the cat,” she teased, finally bringing a smile to Juwon’s lips.
“Alright, but less than a minute is what we’ll stick with,” he said, nodding at the other guard to remain put as he moved towards her. She smiled, relieved.
“Thank you,” she breathed, knowing that he couldn’t get into the penthouse without a special code from Jumin or his father that changed every 10 minutes. She would be safe there for the time being.
They approached the door, and she pressed her thumb to the touchpad, feeling the relief wash out of her when the panel flashed red. She tried her thumbprint again, taking a shallow breath to try and calm herself. Her access had worked just last night! What had–
“Hey,” she heard behind her, turning to see the head of security, Mr. Jung, stepping off the elevator. Following him were four more guards, ones she’d never met before. She whipped around and tried to get in one more time, gritting her teeth when NOT AUTHORIZED popped up for the third time.
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Mr. Jung said as he walked up to her, and she raised an eyebrow at him. His expression was stern, not the warm, friendly one she was used to.
“Why? What’s going on?” she wondered, feeling as if she was running out of options.
“Direct orders from Mr. Han,” he replied coldly, making her heart drop against her lungs and knock the wind out of her. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, her vision spinning for a second before she felt a hand on her wrist. She twisted out of it, glaring up at him and holding back tears.
“I know the way out,” she sneered, pushing past them and stalking over to the stairwell that led back down. She trudged down a few flights in silence before she sat down, letting a few tears fall before pulling out her phone. No notifications from Jaehee, and none from Jumin either. Ignoring the way her hands had begun to shake, she navigated to that floor’s elevator and took it down, determined to get to the bottom of whatever was going on.
Just before MC could lift her arm to hail a cab outside, her phone rang in her hand. She lifted it to her face in a panic, praying it was Jumin but frowning when it was just her landlord. She thought about declining the call, but she decided to pick up, having let the only cab in sight fly past her.
“Hello?” she answered, being met with the wail of sirens and a slew of curses.
“Get yo– Here now! Your apartment– fire!” she heard, shaking her head in disbelief.
“What?” she yelled, her eyes wide as she stared at the ground and waited for a reply.
“Get here now!” she heard, pulling the phone away from her ear. Swallowing her growing anxiety, she waved down the next cab and headed for home, hoping that today wouldn’t get any worse.
When she arrived and saw the firetruck, she felt the tears threatening to fall again, running through the lobby towards the stairs. She could smell the smoke already. Her landlord was standing in front of the elevator, and a whole new fire was set ablaze in his eyes when he caught sight of her.
“This better be a joke,” he growled, pointing a finger at her.
“What is going on?” she demanded, glancing at the people in the lobby who were coughing.
“I’d love to know! You can tell me exactly why your apartment went up in flames,” he replied icily, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at her. She felt dizzy, shaking her head.
“You’re kidding,” she said weakly, thinking of all of the damage she’d have to deal with.
“I wish I was!” he exclaimed, cursing at her before a firefighter walked up breathlessly.
“It was the stove,” he explained, looking between the both of them and making alarm bells ring in her head. The landlord shot her a deadly glare before stepping aside to speak more with the man. She took wavering steps towards the couch in the lobby, seeing her neighbor Jiuen and rushing over quickly.
“Jiuen,” she sighed, placing a hand on her shoulder. Jiuen turned and looked at her with wide eyes before hugging her from where she sat on the couch.
“MC! Thank God you’re okay,” she whimpered, shaking her head against MC’s stomach. “They didn’t know if you were in there or not when the fire started.” MC patted her head, not feeling like providing much comfort at the moment.
“Are you okay?” she wondered quietly, feeling her neighbor nod and hearing her sniffle in reply.
“I saw people at your door a little while before it all started and figured someone had come to get you, but the firefighters were scaring me because they didn’t know if they’d find a body in there–”
“What?” she interrupted, watching Jieun lift her head and pull away from the hug.
“Yeah, a ton of guys in suits,” she shrugged, wiping her eyes. “Did Jumin call and say he stopped by? I didn’t have time to go out there and say hi,” she wondered. MC balled her hands in fists, pressing her nails deep into her palms to keep her tears in.
“Thanks for worrying, Jieun,” she whispered, turning around and walking back out of the apartment building.
—
MC rolled over achily, reaching over to turn off her alarm and sigh. After getting a hotel room last night, she had crashed, exhausted and numb from all that had happened. She squinted at the light coming in through the blinds, picking up her phone and glancing at all her notifications.
Jumin had called her multiple times, Jaehee had as well, and the text notification bubble didn’t even have a number on it anymore.
She began to scroll through Jaehee’s first, sighing at all the questions and worry as she read backward to the previous night.
“The Chairman never showed up. I apologize for the wait.” She sighed, pulling up Jumin’s text and feeling her heart begin to ache at the worry. She was fuming mad, but seeing him so helpless wasn’t comforting.
A similar text to Jaehee’s caught her eye, making her tired brain finally start to wake up.
“My father missed our meeting. He’s never done that before.”
MC stared at the text, pressing her lips together.
Jumin’s father had never approved of their relationship. From the moment Jumin proposed at the party, he’d never once given her a smile that was real. She could see the hatred behind it, no matter how much he thought he was hiding it.
She pushed the thought away, reminding herself that Jumin was who she was upset with. Right?
The harder she thought about it, the more doubtful she became. Jumin had never done anything malicious to her, and she found it hard to believe that he could.
Sitting up from when she lay, she took a deep breath and steeled herself. She was going to put an end to whatever was going on.
Having been so out of it last night, she hadn’t realized she’d gotten a hotel close to Jumin’s apartment. The morning air was nice and refreshing on her skin as she stepped outside and began walking, her thoughts swirling in confusion and anger.
When she reached the lobby of his building, she noticed the security guards at the entrance. She walked back around the corner, chewing on her bottom lip as she took a deep breath and put her faith in her fiancé.
She waited through half a ring before Jumin answered her call, a deep exhale leaving him.
“My love,” he breathed in relief. She held back a larger smile, feeling the way her muscles relaxed at the sound of his voice.
“I’m here, Jumin,” she replied, looking around the corner at the door.
“My door is always open,” he said after a pause, sounding slightly confused. She leaned against the wall, shaking her head.
“Not for me,” she said quietly, waiting for him to respond but hearing silence.
“Where?” was all he asked, and she glanced upwards towards the top floor, knowing what he was asking.
“The lobby,” she answered, hearing rustling before the line went dead. She pressed her lips together, watching the guards as her heartbeat began to accelerate.
After a long minute and a half, she saw the guards turn to look further into the lobby, their shoulders tensing. She took that as her sign, and she started towards the entrance, nearly tripping over her own feet.
She could hear Jumin’s voice and many footsteps on the fancy tile as the doors slid open, their eyes meeting as she spotted him paces from the elevator.
“Mr. Han,” the head of security warned, following after him as Jumin strode towards her.
“MC,” Jumin called. She almost was able to smile in reply before two guards stepped in front of her, and she was walking so fast that she barrelled into one of them, stumbling to steady herself.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Jumin boomed, and she peeked over the shoulders of the guards to see who it was directed at. Mr. Jung came up to Jumin’s side, his eyes meeting her fiancé’s gaze apprehensively.
“Ms. MC has been trespassed from this property,” he told Jumin just loudly enough for her to hear. She wanted to panic, but the way Jumin’s expression shifted didn’t leave her with much to worry about.
“On whose authority?” Jumin asked lowly, and she lost sight of him as the guards in front of her pushed her forward a little.
“Orders from Mr. Han,” Mr. Jung replied, and she furrowed her eyebrows. Mr. Han. Jumin’s father. Of course.
She held her hands up in silent surrender, taking two steps back from the guards to be able to see Jumin, almost wishing she hadn’t. She’d never seen him so angry, but he didn’t look like he was about to explode; his eyes were on fire. She didn’t know gray could burn like that.
“That’s my fiancé,” Jumin murmured, and Mr. Jung’s mouth twitched as if he had something he wanted to say. Jumin raised an eyebrow expectantly, his jaw set and clenched.
“I won’t ask you twice to let her through,” he hissed, and Mr. Jung paused, looking towards MC.
“Mr. Han–”
“MC, come here please,” Jumin called, his voice shifting into a gentle melodic tone. She glanced at the guards in front of her, watching them make a space big enough for her to squeeze through the two of them. She walked over to Jumin, holding his left hand with both of hers and looking up at him. His expression was cold again, his eyes set on the guard in front of him.
“You’re all dismissed. You won’t enjoy yourselves if I see you again,” he spoke calmly, and the head of security took a quick breath in.
“Your father–”
“Now.” Jumin said, cutting him off. Mr. Jung glared at the both of them, growling to himself and turning away as the rest of the guards hesitantly followed after him. She pressed her forehead into Jumin’s shoulder, her deep breaths slowing as she felt Jumin squeeze her hand and raise his right to her head.
“Are you okay?” he wondered, lifting her chin to let his eyes roll over her completely.
“I’m fine,” she whispered, a lump forming in her throat. Jumin’s eyebrows pulled together in worry, and he pressed a short kiss to her forehead before starting towards the elevator.
“Let’s get inside,” he said reassuringly, holding her hand the whole ride up.
When she showed him how her fingerprint was no longer authorized at the door, she watched his eyes grow fiery again.
“I see,” was all he said, glancing at the camera pointed at his door and leading her inside.
Jumin sat her down on the couch and poured her a cup of tea, kissing her cheek and waiting until she relaxed before he started with questions.
Once MC started, it was a while until she stopped, watching Jumin grow more and more tense as her story continued. Now that she knew his father had something to do with what had happened yesterday, she wondered how much more the Chairman could be guilty of.
When she finally finished, she wiped a few stray tears from her face and looked up at him warily.
“I’m sorry I thought you were behind it all,” she said weakly, watching Jumin’s expression soften as his hand moved to cup her cheek.
“This was all a deliberate ploy to create resentment between us,” he replied, stroking the skin beneath her eye with his thumb. “Of course you came to that conclusion.” She shook her head, sighing.
“That doesn’t make it okay. I should have trusted you wholeheartedly,” she replied, pouting. He smiled, blowing an amused breath from his nose.
“What matters is you’re here now,” he whispered, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. She knew he was right, but still felt guilty.
“What now?” she wondered, watching his face harden as he exhaled slowly.
“I’m going to speak to him.” Jumin removed his hands from her, standing and starting towards the door.
“Jumin,” she called, following after him and taking his hand to stop him. “I don’t want to come between you and your father.” Jumin stopped, his firmly-set shoulders drooping slightly. He turned to glance at her, his eyes evaluating her face as he considered what she’d said.
“MC,” he murmured softly, turning around to face her and place his hands on her upper arms. “My father has let me down countless times. I acknowledge that he is my family, but if he continues to disrespect you, I cannot tolerate that,” he continued, his eyebrows drawing downwards as he spoke. She searched his eyes as she listened.
“You are who I am choosing to love. You have never let me down. I love you, and I have no doubt that you love me,” he spoke softly, beginning to smile down at her. She couldn’t help but return the smile, feeling her anxious heart begin to warm.
“And that is why,” he whispered, stepping closer to her and wrapping his arms behind her back. “I must put a stop to this. No matter who it is that tries to come between us, I won’t let them get away with it. I’m sorry it took this long for me to realize,” Jumin sighed, pulling her in for a hug and pressing her tight to his chest. She hugged him back, having felt his love for her in both his words and the way he was holding her. She held back more tears, relieved that nothing had gone wrong between them.
Jumin ran a hand across her back soothingly, making her close her eyes and settle into that moment. She pressed a gentle kiss to his shoulder, feeling gratitude for the man who she loved so much flowing through her.
He pulled back, his eyes honeyed and straying far from that fire from before as he gazed down at her. She let out an amused sigh, pushing some hair away from his forehead.
“Weren’t we going somewhere?” she wondered quietly, seeing some of the warmth leave his expression.
“You’d like to come with me?” he wondered, his eyes scanning over her face.
“Yes, Jumin,” she replied. “We’re in this together.” He smiled at that, pulling away from her but staying close as he smoothed out his dress shirt and patted his pocket for his phone.
“Indeed we are, my love,” he agreed, holding out his hand for a mere second before she took it. Whatever was ahead for them, they would face it hand in hand.
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thank you so much for reading! I hope someone enjoyed this :) I haven't written anything since last year, so I'm rusty! also posting this late lol
stay tuned! I can't promise a full catalogue this year, but I'm going to try my best <3
mel x
