Seong at Jumin's House (Part III)

(This is getting ridiculous. Up to the third blog post for Jumin's route now...)

This entire chat conversation
was mostly hilarious. I kind of
wanted to pick some of the "bad"
Jumin answers just to see
what would happen. But Seong Yi
was good. She couldn't do it.

Jumin made them dinner, though it was really more re-heating a meal that had been left for him by his chef. It was delicious. Some kind of noodle dish, but Seong barely noticed what it was. The meal flew by. They talked about books and about wine -- she actually knew a bit about the subject, but nothing compared to what Jumin knew -- and she studiously did not ask him about why Elizabeth the 3rd was in a cage. If he wanted to talk about it, she figured he would bring it up. Afterwards, she insisted on helping with the dishes.

Then he invited her onto the balcony, where the view was the best, and excused himself for a minute to go check on Elizabeth the 3rd. It was fully dark now and the city below felt very far away, like they were up at the top of some fairytale tower. She watched for a minute and then felt a start of guilt when she realised she hadn't told any of the RFA members that she had arrived safely. Seven probably knew anyway, somehow, but she opened the app and logged on. But only Zen was there and he was absolutely freaking out that she was at Jumin's.

She attempted to calm him down and had almost succeeded when Jumin himself logged in as well. She felt the now familiar sudden skipping of her heart at seeing his name appear. Jumin, good to see you here she'd typed before she thought how silly that was when he was literally in the next room.

But then she had to bite her tongue when he actually sounded jealous of Zen. He was too funny. The whole thing was funny. She felt laughter bubbling up inside of her. After all the sleeplessness and the stress and nervousness and, perhaps, after the glass of wine they'd had with dinner, she just suddenly felt almost deliriously happy, even though it wasn't as if any problems had actually been solved. Nothing had been resolved but--something had changed. Maybe in her. Maybe in Jumin. Maybe in them both. She still had a smile on her face when Jumin joined her on the balcony, typing away on his phone.

He blinked at her a moment and then gave her a smile in return and it felt like her heart skipped another beat. His smile was deadly. Kryptonite. Isn't that what her sister used to call it?

He sat down next to her on the settee, his leg brushing against hers. She bent her head to her phone, letting her hair fall forward to cover up the blush she knew was surely spreading across her traitorous face. Zen wasn't helping. He was going on and on about what type of thoughts a man alone with a woman might be having. Jumin was denying that he had any such intentions and she felt a moment's regret but stifled it. Of course he was a gentleman. She trusted him. She felt safe. They'd had such a lovely, normal talk over dinner. He'd even told her all about the cherry farm and how beautiful it was. But her pulse still picked up when he shifted closer to her, pointing out something on his phone, even though she could see the entire conversation on her own phone the same as he could.

"Zen wants a photo," he said, a subtle hint of amusement in his voice. "Well, I'm not giving him one."

She felt a little daring. "Are you going to take one, though?"

"Later," he said and it sounded like a promise.

He was still typing on his phone. He seemed to be enjoying himself. I'll make strawberry pancakes for you tomorrow. What kind of tea do you like for your breakfast?

She had a sudden image of him in the kitchen wearing pinstriped pyjamas and with his hair in complete disarray. Bed head. She blushed again. Thank goodness it was dark out on the balcony.

You don't have to...I can cook she typed and said the words aloud at the same time.

No, you're a guest. I can't make you work, he typed. But what he said was, "Let me, Seong Yi. I want to."

Doki Doki...

She simply nodded, pretending to watch the chat screen as Zen had a meltdown. She needed to head this off before he got too worked up so she brought up the reason Jaehee had sent her and asked Jumin if he would be going to work the next day. That did succeed in heading off Zen's rant, but it brought a slight frown to Jumin's face. Ah. He wasn't ready yet. She wasn't going to push him. He'd been through a lot the last few days.

She was trying to figure out how to wrap up the conversation with Zen when Jumin took matters into his own hands. She'd just let out a yawn, stifling it in her hand. He leaned over to peer at her.

"You're tired," he said. Seong Yi seems quite sleepy, he typed. I should put her to bed.

She hadn't actually realised before that you could stutter in shock while typing. She couldn't look at him.

"I'll be just a minute," he said, and got up. "Why don't you say goodbye to Zen?" She watched him head towards the kitchen. Oh, Good Lord. She felt like her heart had stopped for a moment there.

Oh Lord, Zen, I'm sorry.
I couldn't help it.

I trust Jumin she typed out to Zen in the chat room. He told her to call him at least three times but finally he logged out. She sat there for a few moments, still feeling a bit shocked. What was Jumin thinking? But then she got a devilish grin on the face and called Zen. She couldn't help herself. He was just too funny. He answered the phone immediately, sounding completely ready to come unglued. She had to stifle a laugh. He even instructed her on exactly how far away she should keep herself from Jumin.

Luckily, his director called and he had to hang up. She didn't know how much longer she could hold in her laughter. She tucked the phone away in her pocket and went inside.

Jumin was waiting there for her, carrying a glass of water in one hand and a book in the other. "This way," he said. "My bedroom is this way."

Did he say his bedroom?

(Day 7 continued here in Part IV where Jumin reads to Seong and...other stuff.)