"Three consecutive days, huh? Mind enlightening me about the details, senior?" Namjoon quirked his eyebrow, causing Youngmi to roll her eyes and subsequently produce an exasperated sigh.

"It's nothing, Namjoon. When I was at the supermarket the other day, he happened to immediately follow me in a queue for the billing counter. I didn't have change on me, so he volunteered and gave it in my stead. I swear to God, it would've been much better if all this had ended right then and there because oh my, is his mannerism obnoxious?" Youngmi exclaimed, eyes widening incredulously upon realizing the exigency to rectify her comment. "That sounded much rude than how it did in my head so... slightly? Yeah."

Namjoon had almost succeeded at throttling the ineluctable string of chuckles that followed owing to Youngmi's adorable amendment of her former— and to an extent— an impertinent statement, though a few remnants still managed to transcend the rickety boundary of his determination. He instantly slapped his palms across his mouth, obscuring it with the same as his brows arched in stupefaction.

Why did he not just laugh in her face? How was this any better than that?

Youngmi gawked at him fiendishly, probably amazed at the somewhat odious, behavioral convulsion that Namjoon had exhibited a moment ago. She further clicked her tongue in distaste, tearing her gaze away from him just in time, before the looming repulsion had gotten the best of her.

Swivel-eyed, the male cleared his throat while his brain simultaneously whirred to churn out an ice-breaker. However, it was only after a spell of discomforting silence hovering above their heads that triumph came along his way at long last, for he proceeded.

"So you found him obnoxious—"

Music trilled from one of Youngmi's pockets before Namjoon could finish, the sound indicating that somebody was trying to reach her through a phone call. She fetched her phone out without any further ado, ensuring to receive the call before it turned into a bygone occurrence.

"Hello?" She croaked, pursing her lips in contemplation. Though much to her dismay, her couth was not reciprocated by the other side, leaving only an abysmal quietness for her to wade through.

Youngmi cast an intrigued glance at Namjoon, who bobbed his head up in an attempt to implicitly derive answers from the female regarding the unconventional phone call that had been made to her. He had to douse his curiosity with a series of distracted head-sways nonetheless, post which he desultorily shifted his focus back to the street.

So much to expect an actual, solicitous response from a woman who had never been half as interested in conversing with him.

"Must've been a mistake." Youngmi mumbled while sliding her phone back into her coat, shrugging her shoulders in an obvious cluelessness.

Although Namjoon's previous endeavor at conjuring up a subject for the otherwise-inhibited tête-á-tête had long been rendered defunct, in lieu of exhausting his brains for one more time, he set forth the same query yet again, only to be shut down by Youngmi with an offhanded remark.

"Don't pry into my personal life."

"Okay."

The two figures continued to stroll in the direction that they had intended to set out for, as an indescribable tranquility enveloped them. However, the nonchalance would have definitely withered away had the baffling knowledge about how they were apparently a focal point for someone been imparted to them.

Someone who had been trailing them for as long as they had been out in the sun.

A smirk graced the person's lips as they watched the duo unknowingly abiding by their plan, while cursorily glimpsing at their phone's screen which displayed that the individual at the other end of the line had, at last, cancelled the call.

▪️

An enervated Youngmi toppled over the doorsill of her house, gasping out an unusual relief as she meandered around in weariness. It did not take her more than a few couple of minutes to settle herself on her bed, eventually slewing from the position to locate herself in the middle of it while preparing to drift into her world of dreams.

"Socializing is certainly not it for me." She grumbled, mouth opening wide for the impending yawn.

The meet-up that Youngmi had hauled Namjoon along for, induced anything but exuberance to be bestrewn in her heart. For someone who rather plumped for living in the present, revisiting the old times and pretending to feel gratified upon being able to encounter a handful of catalysts from her history, was nothing more than a downright mundane experience for her. To sprinkle it with additional veracity, getting out and about was more arduous for her than had been the medical school.

Rubbing her eyes, regardless, Youngmi aimed to chase away the warbling ideas that kept on delaying her slumber, thereupon rolling over to lay prone on the fleecy surface of her mattress.

Despite the female being on the brink of slipping into unconsciousness by literally any minute now, her phone did not seem to be bothered about the situation at all. Much the same as that one incident early in the day when it rang for absolutely no purpose— though that largely could be due to the call perhaps being misguided— the memory repeated itself. Not merely in the subliminal form, but in reality as well.

Youngmi's eyes flew open upon registering that her phone had yet again been blaring, reaching for it with a redundant effort that her perfunctory crawl across the bed was impeccably showcasing. She stretched her arm towards it, grabbing it hastily and bringing it closer to her ear before ultimately swiping over its screen in aggravation.

"Hello!" Youngmi's overenthusiastic reply was undoubtedly faced with the possibility of being misconstrued.

"Hello, Doctor Shin?" Contrary to that one time— few hours ago— when Youngmi earnestly awaited an answer and yet had to content herself with disappointment, a voice acknowledged her greeting. Even allayed her qualms— regarding herself being a victim of another one of those diverted calls— when the caller addressed her as a doctor.

"Yes?" She muttered, her tone colored with skepticism.

"Oh hi again, Doctor Shin! It's Ewan Choi speaking—"

"For God's sake, are you stalking me or something? Where did you get my phone number from?" Youngmi's apprehensions overcame every other emotion once the identity of her late-night surprise got revealed.

"Uh, it's not like that— I found your wallet lying on the street. Now, I know I could've— maybe should've— waited till the next day to return it to you but I don't know what moved me in the meantime to call you at this hour. You're not wrong to harbor such suspicion about me. I would've been of the same opinion if I were in your place—"

"My wallet is with me, you creep. Stop coming up with excuses that won't even match with the reality." Youngmi seethed.

"Are you sure?" Even though Ewan had clearly posed a rhetoric question, Youngmi had had enough of the meddlesome male to keep entertaining him like that.

"I've never been so sure, sicko."

"I don't think so, because I have your social security card in front of me right now, and it says that your number is nine five zero four one seven—" Ewan would have recited further but Youngmi had interjected before he could complete himself.

"H—how do you know that?" Youngmi had become fully awake by now, and most of the credits for it ought to be ascribed to the stranger's ability to ascertain her birthday in a thoroughly correct manner— even if it were merely his intuition at work.

Youngmi rushed out of her bedroom in a blink of an eye, rummaging through the pockets of her coat in an utmost fervor. She had plunged her hands into the farthest corners, in the hope that she would wind up having it brushed across her touch in the end, only for that very optimism to get shattered before its fruition.

Another vague thought crossed her mind when she undertook to recollect that the device— her phone— which would generally accompany her wallet, was safe in her possession, while the latter was— strangely enough— still nowhere to be detected.

Could it then be that the person whom she had been lunging rounds of insults at, was forsooth well-intented? That he only sought to assist the hapless and that was also precisely why he had deferred to the relentless slanders?

"As I told you, miss, I really do have your wallet with me." Ewan reiterated the point that he had initiated with, indignation evident in his voice.

Youngmi's face scrunched up in defeat as she buried her head in her hands, combing her fingers through her hair under the influence of an overwhelming vexation.

This was it. This was her breaking point.

"Where— where do I have to come in order to collect it?" She quizzed, rubbing her temples in distress.

"No need to step out in the cold, Doc. Tell me your address, I'll come and drop it at your threshold. That's the least I can do to thank you for putting up with this sicko's creepy flirting." Ewan's jibing may have proved to be arcane for some in the past, but Youngmi was not that ignorant not to pay heed to such a blatantly underlying pique. Not only had she fathomed it, but also begun to devise ways for the two of them to be ushered to an equal ground.

"My house..." She trailed off, insinuating as though she was absorbing in a panoramic view of what laid before her, "isn't adequate to invite someone over right now. You wouldn't mind if I took you to have some ice cream, right? Let's meet at that one parlor at the crossroads, then? My treat, of course!"

▪️

a/n

for some reason, ppl are confused about joon and youngmi's profession... they both are dentists! it seems i didn't explain it well in the introductory chapter how they met in the med school😭 anyway, i stumbled across this minor wheein x jb moment irl (pls refrain from shipping, okay?) so i thought why not bless y'all with it too🤭 thank you for reading the chapter btw! pls leave your precious votes and comments if you liked it ;-;