"Where were you all this while— Why did you not pick up my calls? God, you had me sweating like crazy, senior! Are you alright? Are you in some kind of trouble? Damn it, answer already you're testing my patience for real now—"

"How will I address your incessant queries when you aren't even allowing me to?" Youngmi replied curtly, a frazzled sigh following right after.

Once Youngmi had penetrated into the situation— where numerous of calls made by Namjoon had been left unattended by her, with her being utterly oblivious of the accompanying recklessness— she strove to ameliorate it in a heartbeat. Thankfully, the male had permitted Youngmi to connect with him right away, for the second the line produced a tinkle, it ended up being heckled by a guttural voice.

That was the exact moment when Namjoon had pounced upon Youngmi with those breathless questions.

"I was out for a stroll..." Youngmi started with a deliberate lie, hesitating regarding the statement being too blunt as she picked up, "And bumped into Ewan unexpectedly."

"What—"

"He returned me my wallet, which he said he found on the street... It doesn't look like it has been trampled upon, though." She trailed off, piquing Namjoon's curiosity. "Never mind, I have it in my possession once again and that's something to feel relieved about. I'm on my way back home now so you don't need to worry anymore either."

"Glad to hear that." Namjoon enunciated, the tacit annoyance cloaked beneath the surface proving to be more overt than it should have been.

"Is it perhaps— Is anything missing from it? Have you checked it thoroughly?" He continued, diverting Youngmi's attention from his previously laconic reply.

"Yup, the shape's intact. Nobody went through it except for Ewan, I guess." Youngmi pursed her lips while casting a rapt glance at the object.

"It's— You know, it doesn't sound so convincing to me. How did you lose it anyway?" Namjoon quizzed, causing the female to rewind the entire day's incidents and process them simultaneously.

"It could've been around the time when I received that blank call? That's the only point in time that comes to my mind when I try to recall."

"That was not what I meant by that question, though. It's more like how is it even possible for you to drop your wallet when you never put your phone and that thing in the same pocket? You always keep them separately, don't you?" Namjoon explained, leading Youngmi's visage to ashen, owing to the epiphany that had eventually suggested itself to her.

"You're right." She mumbled as one of her hands smacked against her mouth, consternation evident on her face.

"For Heaven's sake, please be more careful when it comes to your belongings. I had made your phone buzz for almost thirty minutes before giving up on it altogether, but you've yet to show your concern about that fact," Namjoon feigned a whimper, "I'm hurt, deeply hurt."

Youngmi snickered, swaying her head at Namjoon's jesting, "Why did you call, by the way? Was it something urgent—"

"Extremely urgent. Even surpasses issues of national significance at this stage." He initiated, clicking his tongue as he sat up on his bed— totally abandoning the idea of dozing, for what it was worth— "You never gave me your answer. In case you weren't aware, I'm still waiting for one, senior."

The embers burning in Youngmi's head glowed fiercely once Namjoon mentioned the ineludible, spurring her to clarify her stand before the forces governing their unconventional relationship took over its leashes for once and all, and hence wound up truncating the meager amount of influence that Youngmi had managed to retain over it till then.

She cleared her throat, a blatant augury of how Namjoon was about to be rendered devastated for one more time.

"Namjoon, I—"

"Nuh, not now. Save it for later. Actually, what do you think about tomorrow? I have a feeling that it's going to be a good day. It can't go wrong anyhow, especially when it's a date we'll be meeting each other through. At least agree to this much? I won't pressurize you for anything else. I deserve to go on a date with you, after all! Please don't deprive me of my privilege." Namjoon pleaded, his speech sounding muffled due to the pout on his lips.

"Okay..." Youngmi dragged on, a glazed expression prevailing over her features. "Consider your wish granted."

"Really? Shall we meet after work, then?" Namjoon squealed, his pruned articulation indicating the zeal that had begun to trickle into his blood, thus restraining him from talking at length.

"That sounds fine. I'll try to get off from work early tomorrow." Youngmi attempted at mirroring the male's elation as a matter of courtesy.

It did not even take Namjoon a whole minute to fling his phone away in disbelief, and wallow in his hard-earned victory without any further ado— which was obviously to bounce on his bed like an exhilarated kid.

Youngmi's capability— though inadvertent— to make Namjoon feel like as if he were on top of the world, had always been beyond the realm of reason for him. However, what amazed Namjoon more was not merely that, since the condition had persisted for so long that he could not help but subsequently adapt himself to it. Rather, it was how the scenario did not seem like permuting itself even in the far future.

Youngmi's effect on Namjoon had become so profound that disentangling the knots of this very dilemma— specifically all by himself— was not something that remained under his control anymore.

Youngmi's impression on him was ineffable.

▪️

Chucking his shoes at the threshold, Ewan proceeded towards his bed. He gazed intently at its squashy exterior for a while, whilst musing about an issue that was particularly incongruent to his otherwise unsullied train of thought. Plopping down on it, he then landed on his back with a thud, as the soft texture of the mattress engulfed him from all sides. Restive, he turned on his side, closing his eyes gently only for them to flutter back open in a haste.

Ewan scoffed, "She's so naive."

Colliding into Youngmi had not struck Ewan as this convenient in the first place. He felt timorous, retracting every now and then because of how much fraught with danger the scheme that he had concocted, apparently was. But now that he laid unscathed within the protective walls of his home, the jitters that overwhelmed him earlier felt nothing but a result of inexperience to him.

The long spell of inactivity, to be more precise.

Ewan's hand glided through his hair as he recollected the degree of effortlessness that was required of him in order to fetch Youngmi's wallet from her pocket. Truthfully, it was almost disenchanting how much of an unchallenging task it supposedly was. All he had to do was to frame himself as the innocent passerby and sidle his way past the woman. That was all it took him to accomplish his motive, really.

Certainly not a euphemism.

Now that Ewan had time on his hands to do a quick introspection, he realized that the approach on which he had been operating accordingly, until then, may not turn out to be as much rewarding in the long run as he had expected it to be. In retrospect, it was as if the stars had decided to rewrite themselves for him, for if it had not been the case, not only would he have to shed his camouflage, but also settle with an outcome much less satisfying than what he had deemed himself as worthy of witnessing.

Ewan vividly remembered how red hue flared in his eyes when he first saw Youngmi through the excuse of providing a change in her place. And then at her clinic. The pavement out front, as well as the ice-cream parlor. Not once had it happened that Ewan did not have to have his rage subsumed by the pretentious emotion called delight.

Oh, how badly he wished for it all to dissolve into nothingness.

"That's too unrealistic of a dream." Ewan commented, an irked puff escaping his lips.

However, with the newfound opportunity revealing itself to him, Ewan resolved to come to terms with how a gradual pace was more likely to yield relatively better consequences than a series of unmindful and impulsive actions. Conforming to his conscience as he broke into a wide grin, Ewan fished out the card that he had so furtively claimed his right over, its details flashing clearly before his eyes.

"Straightaway killing her wouldn't have pleased me much but this," Ewan emphasized, his brows arching in amusement as he skimmed through the information imprinted all over the card, "this is going to be so much fun."

a/n

hello, my loves! how are y'all? i hope you're having the best time of your lives😳 (which i want to last forever but eh, wouldn't that be wishful thinking?) my uni has finally reopened after 2 freakin' years, so my life's gonna be shifting offline from next week onwards yehet🎉. i'll try my best to update the book atleast once a week and maintain the current update schedule. so even if i skip a week in between, pls don't forget about me😞? thank you sm for reading. pls vote and comment too if you liked the chapter