A Little into You (Junkyu x Reader) (Ch. 35)
Chapter 35 - Back to reality Word count: 4.4k words Genre: Fanfiction, PG13, Comedy, Romance, slight Angst.
A/N: Hello~ I’m back with chapter 35! Drama lesgoooo >< I’m jk, i miss you all! Hope y’all enjoy this one 🧡💖 i miss reading y’all’s comments too! Take care and love y’all <3
It had been a day after your Treasure friends had returned to the city, and now it was your turn to leave.
Dongyun helped put your luggage into the trunk of the cab that your boss had sent out to Haenam to go pick you up—as he had promised when he had sent you away last week.
“Ahh, this sucks,” your childhood friend sighs out loud. “Sure I can’t have you to stay for another week?” he asks.
“You tell that to Joonyoung-ssi,” you said as you rolled your eyes. “Oh wait, I mean, Mr Bae;” you corrected as you remembered that your boss’ mum was standing not far from you and Dongyun.
Dongyun chuckled at your action, him wrapping an arm around your shoulder. “Gosh, I was getting used to having you around too,”
“I know. But hey, your semester break is ending soon too, no? You won’t be here either if I stayed any longer you know,”
Dongyun was about to answer you back when he felt someone pinching his forearm, making him yelp.
“Ahhh! Aunt Nari what was that for??” He unwrapped his arm from you and rubbed the spot that got pinched on his other arm.
“Hmph. You had the nerve to put your arm around my girl here when you rejected her countless of times now,” the lady grumbled, making you laugh out loud as your friend gets nagged upon by her.
“Now—I didn’t reject her. I rejected the idea of marrying her and being matchmade with her,” he corrected Aunt Nari.
“Aigoo! Exactly the same! Now, don’t stand too close to Y/n. I’m gonna take good care of her and make sure my future son-in-law wouldn’t have to worry about being jealous of you two,” she nagged as she pushes Dongyun to the side gently.
You scrunched your face at what you heard. “Ew who are you matchmaking me with again this time?”
“Hey! Be nice! It’s that gentleman friend of yours of course! Jaehyuk-ssi will definitely take good care of you, you know.” She beamed happily just by the mention of Jaehyuk. Wow, he must’ve really impressed your Aunt Nari; you thought.
Dongyun burst out laughing as he heard this. “Hah, Aunt Nari is shipping you with another guy aside from Junkyu!”
“H-hey! You don’t have to say it out that loud!”
“Hm? Junkyu? I was talking about Jaehyuk, Dongyun-aa. Did you clean your ears properly this week?” Aunt Nari responded, missing the point of what Dongyun had meant earlier.
“Nooo I was saying—”
“Okay, okay hold it up you both. Let’s not talk about my love life any further, please?” you stopped them before their discussion could escalate. Gosh, why are they so interested in your love life though?? If you had let their conversation gone any further you wouldn’t be surprised they’ll be talking about naming your future kids too. You shuddered from the thought.
*
YG Building (Treasure’s Practice Room)
Junghwan entered the practice room with his bagpack hanging on one side of his shoulder. He was still in his school uniform too, implying that their manager had just fetched both him and Jeongwoo from school.
“Oh, Junghwan! Where’s Jeongwoo?” Jihoon greeted the maknae when he sees the boy entering the room.
“He’s just stopping by the convenience store downstairs,”
“Huh, he better not get any more ramen cup. He’s had two yesterday.” The leader complained to himself.
“Enough about that, hyung,” Junghwan said as he approaches Jihoon who was sitting on the floor.
It seemed like they were all just chilling in the room. Probably waiting for the rest of their members to arrive before they begin with practice.
The only ones in the room right now were Jihoon, Hyunsuk, Junkyu, Yoshi and Yedam. Including Junghwan that had just arrived of course. The rest were probably hanging out somewhere else in the building.
Junghwan places his bag beside his hyung, sitting beside him right after.
“Hyung, how was the trip at Y/n-noona’s hometown? Did you all have fun??”
“Aigoo, why are you asking me? You should ask Jaehyuk since you guys live in the same dorm,”
“No way. When he arrived last night he immediately entered his room,” Junghwan pouted. “Instead, when I asked about how the trip went, he replied with ‘Later~’,” Junghwan imitated his Jaehyuk’s singsong voice, making Jihoon laugh.
“So yeah, tell meeee,” Junghwan pleaded.
“Alright, alright,” Jihoon said as he laughs. “I can show you pictures I took there,” he picked his phone up from the cold floor, unlocking his phone screen to open up the gallery.
Junghwan scoots over close to his hyung excitedly, ready to see pictures of the places you grew up in, not to mention pictures of you; he hoped. He hadn’t seen you for over a week and he had missed you terribly in that short period of time too.
The both of them focused on Jihoon’s phone with him telling about the places from the pictures. He showed your school, your favorite bakery, the local convenience store where you and Dongyun posed with V signs in front of it, the beautiful fields that you had brought them on tour through.
Hyunsuk, Junkyu, Yoshi and Yedam listened as well to Jihoon’s description of the pictures—even though they weren’t looking at the pictures themselves, they smiled as they listened to him talk.
Junghwan listened attentively; almost like an innocent child listening to a bedtime story as he stares in amazement at the pictures Jihoon showed him. He was amazed by the place you grew up in, the places you liked. In fact, he was amazed how such a small town had produced such a wonderful person like you; his favorite noona.
While he was happy looking at the beautiful sceneries and places that Jihoon had took photos of, he couldn’t help but wonder if his Jihoon-hyung has pictures of you as well.
“Oh and these roses! These are—”
“Hyung,” Junghwan interrupts Jihoon as he was happily talking about the potted plants in his picture now.
“Yeah?” The hyung stopped talking.
“Do you…have pictures of Y/n noona?”
“Of course. There’s one just now, right?” Jihoon said as he swiped back to the picture of you and Dongyun posing in front of the convenience store.
Junghwan shakes his head, “No, no! I can’t see noona clearly in this one. Besides, she’s posing with a dude I don’t know of,” he whined, a little tinge of sulkiness sounding in his voice.
“Easy, here you go,” Jihoon tapped on his phone to zoom on the picture, your face now more visible on the screen.
“Hyuuunngggg you know what I mean!” Junghwan was at the point of groaning in frustration at this point.
Jihoon laughed at the maknae’s reaction, along with the rest of the members in the room. “Sorry, sorry. I was just kidding.” He ruffled the kid’s hair.
“I don’t think I have any other pictures of her though to be honest. It’s just this one.”
“Oh…”
“Oh wait—” Jihoon said as he remembered something. He remembered taking a group photo with you last night before departing back to the city.
“There’s one we took before we left last night. Aunt Nari helped took the photo,” he swiped to the most recent photo in his camera roll, showing the young boy beside him the picture of him, Junkyu, you, Jaehyuk, Dongyun and Hyunsuk posing in front of their black van.
“Aww Y/n-noona looks so small beside you guys!” Junghwan smiled as he looks at the photo. But then, slowly, his smile fades as he zooms in on the picture.
“Hyung…why does noona look like she had been crying? And Hyunsuk-hyung too,” he added as he moved to look at everyone’s faces in the photo.
“Hyung?” Junghwan asked again when he realised everyone in the room going silent.
The maknae looked around the room, trying to read his hyungs’ expressions, noticing how Yedam and Yoshi were as clueless as he is. His Junkyu-hyung looked like he was thinking about something as well—probably curious on what Junghwan meant when he noticed you and Hyunsuk’s post-crying face in the picture.
“Okay Junghwan, let’s just…uh, continue looking at other pictures, okay?” He heard the younger leader beside him say, making him turn to look at him.
Junghwan nods his head slowly, deciding that maybe this wasn’t the time to question his Hyunsuk-hyung’s guilty expression a moment ago, along with his Jihoon-hyung’s awkward response in trying to move on from the subject they were on.
*
PEWA Groups (after lunchtime)
“Y/n!” Soomin squealed as she sees you enter through the office doors.
You smiled at your team leader, feeling glad to see her after some time. She beckoned you to approach her desk, so you did just that.
“Soomin-unnie, hello,” you greeted her with a smile once you reach her table.
Soomin, instead of responding to your greeting, extended her arm to give you a pinch—making you scream.
“H-hey! Watch it,” you flinched away from her, making her grin at your reaction.
“Good to have you back, Y/n. Also—what’s with not replying my texts??” she was leaning back into her chair, her arms crossed against her chest as she stares at you.
“Uh, thanks for welcoming me back?” you stated sarcastically before continuing, “What? No, I didn’t get your texts,”
“That’s silly. I didn’t text the wrong number, did I?”
“Well…you kinda did,”
“Huh? I don’t get it,”
You shook your head, thinking of it as a hassle to explain to her about your boss giving you a junk phone and confiscating your own phone.
“Look, just come with me to Mr Bae’s office, please?”
Soomin looked at the opened books and files on her table; figuring that she could take a short break away from them. She was growing tired of reading the same chapters anyways.
“Okay sure,” she replied as she got up from her chair.
*
PEWA Groups (Mr Bae’s Office)
*knock knock*
Joonyoung heard the subtle knocking, recognising the voice on the other side of his office door—obviously being his mother’s favorite student; also someone he’s grown used to looking out for. If he had been in a closer age range with you, the both of you would have hit it off like real siblings—he thought. But of course, there will always be a gap between you two. The both of you were purely connected through work—and only work. Aside from his mother of course. But Joonyoung didn’t mind it at all. He had already treated you like family anyways. He was just happy his mother has a girl companion since the only children she has are him and his brother.
After giving the instruction to enter his office, he sees your small figure showing up from the opening of his office door. And then Soomin appeared behind you.
“Oh? Soomin? I didn’t expect you to be here,” he said.
Soomin smiled apologetically. “I was just accompanying Y/n, uh, since she asked for it,”
He turned to look at you, questioning you with his gaze.
“Yeah, I did. Actually, I brought her here ‘cause I wanted you to explain to her that you confiscated my phone and gave me this stupid junk phone to survive with all the while I was in Haenam,” you huffed, slight dissatisfaction sounding in your voice.
Joonyoung chuckled at your serious expression. “Hmm. That’s true,” he said simply.
Soomin looked at the both of you confusedly. “Erm…so…Mr Bae took your phone away…? Which is why you didn’t reply to my texts…?”
You fold your arms against your chest and nod. “Exactly.”
“Now now, I saved Soomin’s number in that ‘junk’ piece of phone you’re holding right now, didn’t I? Now don’t blame me if you didn’t contact her,”
You bit your bottom lip from his response. Damn. He definitely said some truth.
“O-okay but I didn’t want to use the junk phone. I want my phone,” you frowned.
Your boss lets out a sigh and pulls out the bottom drawer of his desk. He picks up your phone and held it out—expecting you to take it from his hand.
You marched up towards him, grabbing your phone from his hand and then placing your junk phone in return.
Your boss smiled as he keeps the so-called ‘junk’ phone you kept complaining about back into the bottom drawer—not looking at it at all.
“Wha—it won’t switch on!” you panicked as you pressed the power button on your phone several times.
“Well, duh, I never charged it. It was kept in the drawer since the day you left for Haenam.”
You frowned even harder. “With all due respect, Mr Bae, sir, I charged the junk phone even when I didn’t even use it,”
Joonyoung shrugs and ignored your glare towards him. Instead, he turned to Soomin. “Right. So I only confiscated her phone ‘cause I know how much she would be stalking our company’s forum page and she’d probably sneak online to see all the nasty comments being said to her—only to let herself get hurt. Seems like a good idea to take it all away from her and send her away while we clean up our sites, no?”
Soomin nods in agreement, earning a shocked gasp from you to see your team leader siding with your boss’ actions towards you.
“Not gonna lie, that does sound like something Y/n would do,” she chuckled as she glances over at your still-shocked expression.
“No worries there though, we’ve cleaned up the sites and we’ve put up notices not to let any staff speak of that unfair incident that happened. We got you covered, Y/n,” she continued.
This time, you weren’t gaping or frowning at all. Instead you felt moved by your boss’ and team leader’s action. They have been protecting you. They didn’t want you to be affected by what had happened.
Just what did you do to deserve such good people in your life?
“Oh gosh, are you gonna cry about it?” Soomin teased you as she noticed your expression softening now.
You shook your head. “N-no,” you lied as you tried your best to suck your tears back into your pooling eyes. “I just…” you paused. “T-thank you…both of you…”
“No worries, Y/n,” Soomin smiled.
“Yup. I told you before, didn’t I? We’re family.” Your boss said this time.
You nod your head at the both of them, tears still pooling in your eyes.
“Ah, right! Since we’re here—” Soomin said in all of a sudden. “Hey boss is it okay if I steal Y/n away from the office for a while to get some errands done?”
“Sure. She’s your team member. Do what you guys want, as long as it’s not a crime,” he chuckled.
“Thanks!” Soomin beamed at your boss before turning to you. “Come on, Y/n. We need to get some stuff done before work ends,”
“Huh? Oh, s-sure,”
*
“Noooo! I don’t want to be the third-wheel again!” You whined as Soomin tried to persuade you to leave her car.
“Oh come on Y/n! It’s gonna be a short while! We’re just returning the access cards,”
“Puh-lease. You’re gonna go meet your boyfriend while at that too. As if I don’t know,” you refute, knowing her intentions very well at this point.
Soomin grinned at you. “Hey, it’s not like I get to see him every day, you know. Besides, who knows you could go meet that kpop boyfriend of yours too,”
You felt your cheeks blush from what she said. “W-what? He’s not my boyfriend! We just…like each other that’s all. Besides—” you flipped your hair over your shoulder before continuing, “you can’t lie to me like this. You worked with Bomin-ssi every day for the past month! You did meet him every day before this, remember??”
Soomin rolled her eyes at your argument. “Enough, Y/n, we’re going in now.”
*
YG Building
“Hi, I have an appointment with Mr. Bomin to return our access cards? Yup, from PEWA,” you heard Soomin inform the receptionist in the lobby.
You were standing a bit further away from her, grumbling to yourself about how underdressed you were if you were to even bump into your celebrity friends today. You were dressed in a dark grey tshirt, black jeans and your hair was tied into a low messy bun. You barely wore any make up too, silently thanking yourself for putting on some lip tint before heading to your office today.
You didn’t expect to be running work errands today, not at all. Instead, you thought that your plan for today was simply getting your phone back from your boss, saying hi to Soomin for a bit, stopping by your usual convenience store for some packed lunch and then heading home and just spending the day there before you get back to work the next day.
But noooo Soomin managed to persuade you to accompany her to YG’s offices.
You let out a sigh as your team leader walks ahead of you, turning back once to gesture you to follow her.
“Let’s go, Y/n. We’re heading up,” she said as you progressed your steps towards her.
The both of you scanned through the entry access point with the access cards you both had used for the past month; probably for the last time too, before returning it to Bomin in a short while.
*
YG Building (6th Floor / Bomin’s Office)
“Come in,” Bomin answered as he heard the knock on his door.
His eyes lifted from his desk and widens along with his smile when he sees his girlfriend entering the room.
Okay but his smile faded when he saw you entering closely behind her.
“Oh, you’re here too,” he said sarcastically.
Obviously he meant to say that to you.
“Tsk, she has a name, Bomin. It’s Y/n, Y/n, get it?” Soomin nagged at him.
Bomin cursed silently under his breath, remembering how much his girlfriend adores you, to the point that she would even get into arguments with him just to defend you. Fine, he might as well behave himself for a bit just so he wouldn’t upset his girlfriend, he thought.
“Yes, that’s right. So sorry, my mistake. Hello, Y/n,” he responded with a slight sigh.
You could hear the obvious dissatisfaction in his voice to see you here.
“I’m here to return our access cards,” Soomin reminded him as she waved the stack of cards in her hands.
“Right. You can place them on the table,”
Soomin did as she was told and then she stood back to the same position she was seconds ago.
“So uh, you guys wanna get coffee?” Bomin asked, his eyes glued to the screen in front of him now, his nose scrunching a bit as if he just read something he didn’t like.
“Uhh, sure?” Soomin said in an unsure tone. She turned around to look at you, wondering if you were up for coffee with her boyfriend.
“Uhh, you guys go ahead. I uh, I’m just gonna go say hi to my friends—”
“Great!” Bomin’s voice cut you off.
He seemed pleased to not have you tagging onto his time with Soomin lol.
Bomin was already on his feet and checking his pants pocket for his wallet when you heard Soomin asking you if you were really okay with her not accompanying you.
“Nah, I’ll be fine. Enjoy your time with…him,” you smiled.
Soomin smiled happily back at you. She immediately turned to Bomin who was already standing beside her, his arm on her back.
“Okay! I want some ice blended mocha pleaseee. Can we get some of those today?” she said to him.
And for the first time, you saw Bomin’s gentle smile.
“Sure. Anything you want, jagi,” he beamed at his girlfriend, forgetting that you were still there.
“Yay! Let’s go!” Soomin said excitedly, making you giggle at her cute behaviour. This is probably her cute side when she’s around the person she loves, you thought to yourself.
“It won’t be long, okay? Text me if you want to go back later on,” Soomin said to you before she followed Bomin out his office door.
“Sure, I will,” you nod at her.
*
YG Building (Treasure’s Practice Room)
“Hahahaaha again, again!!!” Doyoung laughs out loud as he records Jeongwoo dancing to this tiktok trending song.
“Okay calm down, hyung. That’s the third time you’ve asked him to do the dance,” Junghwan said to him.
“Yeah, but he just does it so cutely, no?” Doyoung said in between his laughs.
“Okay I’ll do it—but only one more time, okay??” Jeongwoo said as he points out a finger, indicating that it’s his last time doing the dance for the day.
“Okay, okay,” Doyoung nods as he giggles. His thumb was ready to press ‘record’ on his phone now.
Junghwan shakes his head at the both of them, though he was smiling at their antics. He proceeded to take a seat on the cold floor, resting up since both of his leaders had told them practice on their own today. They’re probably tired from their trip to Haenam too, he thought.
But of course, because their leaders have advised them to practice on their own, most of them ended up playing games, watching tiktok and doing their own activities; not that their leaders minded. Everyone probably needed the rest too.
And so, Junghwan was simply sitting cross-legged on the floor, taking in the scene of his hyungs relaxing and goofing around in the practice room—until he saw the practice room doors opening a little.
It seems like most of them were too busy minding their business to realise this so Junghwan sat up straight and wondered who could be entering at a time like this, especially since all of his members are already in the room.
And just as Junghwan was about to panic on his own—imagining that their CEO or any other higher staff were to peek on their practice today, he stopped moving when he saw the familiar face peeking into the room.
“Noona!” Junghwan shouted across the room, startling everyone, including you as you were halfway entering through the door.
Everyone immediately turned to look at the door, and you, as you entered fully now, closing the door behind you and facing them shyly after.
“Y/n! You’re here!” Jaehyuk exclaimed happily.
You nod at him and smiled at everyone, your heart pounding loud because having all 12 of them staring at you like this felt a little nerve-wrecking after not seeing most of them for a whole week.
Footsteps ran across the room, and then a pair of strong arms hugged you tightly, burying your head into his chest.
“Welcome back, I missed you, I missed you so much, Noona!” you heard the voice whispering above your head.
You pat his back gently, despite not being able to see his face right now. “Thank you, Junghwan. I missed you too,” you replied, your voice muffled against his school shirt.
“Aigoo, you’re gonna suffocate her to death if you don’t let go of her soon Junghwan-aa,” Jeongwoo spoke up, genuinely worried for your wellbeing.
Junghwan relaxed his grip around you, his arms now gently resting at your waist as he lets you turn to face the group again.
“I uh, dropped by to say hi since my team leader wanted to return our access cards,” you explained your presence there, with Junghwan still standing closely beside you.
“Ahh, I see.” Jaehyuk answered.
“Hyung, aren’t you gonna go and scream and hug Y/n too?” Haruto nudged Hyunsuk who was sitting beside him.
“Huh? I mean, I got to see her in Haenam already, so…”Hyunsuk replied solemnly. Though he still hasn’t got the strength to really look at you fully right now.
“Oh.”
“So…you didn’t bring any souvenirs for us then?” Asahi asked in all of a sudden.
You panicked, remembering that you did get them all something but you didn’t think you’d stop by to see them today; hence you not bringing their gifts along with you.
Junghwan sensed you tensing up beside him making him respond for you, “Heyy, noona must be tired out from her trip back, we shouldn’t be asking for gifts from her,”
“N-no! I did get you guys something! I uh, I just didn’t bring it with me. But I’ll let you know when y’all can come over and get it okay?” you explained.
Asahi shrugs at the both of you, “Sure, okay”
“Heh, Junghwan-aa, you haven’t left Y/n’s side at all now. And you’re answering for her questions too. What are you, Y/n’s boyfriend now?” Yedam teased their maknae for his clinginess towards you.
“EYYYYYYY” this earned him loud groans of dissatisfaction from his members, making Yedam laugh at their response.
Junghwan immediately lets go of you, his arms no longer hanging onto your waist now. He tried to explain to his hyungs that ‘it wasn’t like that at all’ but some of them started teasing him harder when they saw his face going red all the while doing so.
You giggled at their teasings, feeling sorry for the maknae as he fought for his ground on his own.
However, you tried to steal a glance over at the guy that you’re in love with and you couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed that he wasn’t paying attention to you at all. Instead, he was busy staring at his phone in his hand.
Did he not realise you coming over? That’s impossible to say, since he’s not wearing any inpods or anything in his ears. Surely he heard you, didn’t he?
And while you were distracted with Junkyu, and most of the members were still busy teasing Junghwan, none of you realised the pair of eyes observing all of you in the room.
Haruto leaned back against the wall behind him, noticing how all of his hyungs that had gone on the trip to Haenam—not joining on the teasings nor were they looking like they were having a good time right now. Instead, they all looked upset about something, though he couldn’t pin on what the issue was.
His eyes looked over at you, noticing that you were looking distracted as well, even though you were smiling.
A soft sigh escaped his breath, wondering what had happened the time you all were in Haenam.
To be continued…