50

Pa pa ra, pa pa rum pum pa ra ra ra~

Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of furrrrrr~

My heels tapped on the marble floor as I rotated the desk, eyes glued to the screen blaring at me. The Verity data. My nemesis. No amount of 'pa pa ra-s' was going to make me forget how much I hated pulling an overtime in the dead of the dark evening in this office. My back was hurting, and the fifth cup of coffee on my table hadn't helped me much in preventing exhaustion. I fucking hated capitalism. It was bitching with me.

But, but, and a very cute little but. I would probably make up for this exhaustion tomorrow on the first official date with Jungkook. My boyfriend, as you can see, is very serious and excited about the little date. And honestly, it had been ages since I went on a date with someone I liked too. After Jong Suk dropped the marriage bomb on me, my dating charts fucking collapsed on me. For the next three months, I was a hovering scarecrow. But now I had this beep beep of a beeping man.

My phone blinked again. Jungkook was adamant on the message.

'I'll come back. Let me wait with you.' - His message said.

I smirked, picking my phone up and typing back - 'I warn you. Let me work in peace, Mr Jeon.'

A sadly tearing-up emoji lit up the chat screen but I ignored it, tossing the phone aside and resuming work.

Jungkook wasn't happy at all in the morning when I broke the overtime news to him. He was furious—ready to throw hands at Mr Min and whatnot. Not that I was going to allow him to explode my reputation like that anyway. For a long time, he had hovered on the sixth floor with all sorts of stupid reasons hanging in the balance. But I know me, no boyfriend was going to get me to compromise on my work. I always did what I wanted to and now would not be any different.

He insisted that he didn't want to see me work like a—and I quote—wild dog sucking on a bone. Too bad. Wrong answer Mr Live Wires from the sixth floor. You've officially pissed me off. I wanted to shout that to him but we were in public. He instead offered me his keycard and door code to the third-floor cabin from Antarctica, suggesting I use it for absolute privacy. And as selfish as it sounds, I liked him getting all worked up about me. Of course, I wasn't going to outright tell him that it was turning me on to see him so possessive of me. Didn't want to get that man's hopes high when I later would underperform in bed. And when he gave me the keycard, I knew I had won a different kind of victory.

It wasn't a bad idea to use his cabin but it was too much work carrying my stuff down and setting it up. With my recent memory, I'd end up forgetting some of my stuff back there. Jungkook would become minced meat trying to cover up why there are girlish things in his cabin.

Besides, the office was too quiet on my own on the sixth floor. Only the blinking lights and me. The rest of everything was empty. The kind of emptiness that makes you feel like you're not alone. Like a ghost of an overworked corporate girl would find this the perfect place for her first kill.

I leaned closer to the screen. The Verity data staring at me with eyeliner eyes meant to dead me. Oh chuckers, was this what my twenties were going to be like? My dream of being a hot forty-year-old woman would be down the drain if I continued sitting hunchbacked before this screen. I have always wanted to be one of those hot women who everyone would try to link up with and then realise she has an equally hot boyfriend—mind you, boyfriend. Not husband. What a life to be a little slut in my naughty forties.

Marriage was threatening to put me in a hospital bed, so I preferred this kind of life for now.

I was taking a sip from my half-cold coffee when there was a loud echoing tap. The kind of tap that could be someone's shoe while walking or someone's elastic underwear snapping. The latter would be too much for an assumption. So...shoe?

I gulped. Fuck.

No. No. No, Haerin. I was sure this was maybe some old lady who cleaned up the office at night.

Or a dead old lady who cleaned up the office at....WAIT. No self-sabotaging!

I cleared my mind, reaching for my earphones to listen to music instead of this gutter crap ghost music band at Neureva. Verity data was more important than some gho—

There it was again.

It happened again.

My back prickled because the sound of the shoe was surely closer now.

I turned to my phone, blasting the first worship song I saw on full volume in my ears —holy backup for an unholy night.

Damn it, cleaning lady ghost! Take an off today, please?

I closed my eyes, lifting my chin to the ceiling. God, this is the last time I pull a stunt of staying back in a dark office. I'll never come back again. Please, save me from any ghosts this once. I still haven't crashed a wedding or blacked out drunk. I have dreams of eating ice cream with Nutella. Please.

I was sure that the deities were rolling their eyes at me right now. But desperation was turning me shameless. I didn't fucking care about that! I was closer to an exorcism than anything else.

Wait. What if I got possessed by some ghost? Will I return to Neureva tomorrow and then people will slowly start noticing I'm weird? Like in those ghost-hunting movies. I'd think Jungkook would be the first one to notice the issue on our date tomorrow. Maybe I'll eat half-cooked chicken before him with sauce that looks like blood. Will he run headless chicken style? Well if this fucking man runs from me because of a fucking ghost—

'Can I at least pick you up when you're done?' Jungkook's message flashed on the screen.

Aww. This man.

I hugged the phone because I couldn't hug him then.

'Did you sense the ghost, too?' I hit send and then realised how confusing that must sound.

My attempt to type another message stalled when something heavy stopped behind me. My chest tightened and I shifted my neck to the right, peeping from the corner of my eye. No. Nobody behind me. But there was a shadow on the wall of the nearest turn in the corridor. And it looked like a man. A man who wasn't even moving. My spine froze.

Oh fuck me.

I wasn't going to go all horror movie stupid right now.

'Come to Neureva now. There's someone here in the building.' I grabbed the keycard, mentally preparing the code as I grabbed my handbag and my phone. Fuck the company laptop. For all I cared—I hoped the ghost ate it for dinner with the Verity data.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

It only hit me that my heels weren't very cooperative once I had flown through the back door towards the pantry. And fuck! because everything was so scary! My hands iced.

I kicked the door to the pantry open and the automatic lights flicked on. And there that bastard was.

That motherfucking douchebag.

Taehyung.

I slowly slid off my heels because bitch was in some serious trouble. My body was shaking. Hard. I gulped reaching for my shoe with my hand, angling the pointed heel at him.

Taehyung stood by the kitchen counter, casually leaning. He had strategically used that place because the automatic lights didn't work there.

Bastard.

"Long time no see, my love." His voice was warm. Too warm. His lips curled. "You ran really well the last time. I love a girl who can run. That's a sign of stamina you—"

"Oh, shut your trap, Taehyung." I sneered, fingers tight on my phone that was buzzing now.

Jungkook. He was calling me.

"Don't answer that." He pretended to plead. "If you do, I won't even give you the seconds I am giving you right now to breathe."

What? What did that even mean?

"You sick bastard. You're going to jail this time." I spat and took a step back. I couldn't take the elevator now because he was in the way.

But I had to get to the third floor so maybe if I used the stairs...

"Say, Miss Kang." He stepped forward, a genuine concern on his face. "I would have let the groin kick go. I really would. But why did you cheat?"

"What the fuck are you talking about? And get away before you get beaten to death." I reached for the baton in my bag, clicking it open so quickly that he blanched and stalled for a second. Then he smiled at me.

"You shouldn't have cheated. But I'll not hurt you too much because you haven't done the deed with that guy yet."

I turned swiftly, getting the door's handle but he slammed his hand on it, shutting it. His torso pressed against mine, trying to pin me in to the surface. The coffee on my breath hit the door.

His breath. His breath was warm, smoky, right behind my ear. "I'll claim you before he does."

That was it. This sick bastard was a cigarette-smoking cheap-ass crackhead.

I launched the back of the baton into his gut.

"Ack—" he stumbled back, clutching his belly and I yanked the door open. I fled. My feet charged into the air. I felt his body lurch after me. I fucking felt it.

I was only two steps out on the floor from the door when he got me.

His fingers twisted around my hair and he yanked me back.

"You buttwad!" I screeched and swung the heel in my hand right at his head. He dodged but got his face in the way. It was fast and quick. "How dare you grab me?!"

He clutched his face and then turned to me again. His eyes were empty and dark. "I'll show you," he said. "I'll make you beg."

"I don't wanna see it!" I turned and sped off back into the work floor. He didn't even chase me. He was sure. I didn't even know what he was sure of. He looked so confident letting me run.

My gut clenched.

I turned into the service stairway, launching into the stairs, my feet moving faster than I had ever run in my life. This was hell. I was about to be boiled in a pot for not filing a complaint against this man.

I should have listened to Jungkook. Fuck. He's going to be livid at me if he realises this.

Wait. I should call. I'll take his scolding but at least if I call—

My hand huddled to the phone but Taehyung jumped off an entire flight of stairs, catching me at the foot of it, as if it was no problem. I couldn't even believe he actually did that.

"I told you not to call. You don't listen, do you?" He yanked the phone from me and threw it down the spiral of stairs.

"What the fuck?! Are you crazy?" I screamed, watching with horror. "Why did you—"

His hand jammed into my jaw, pushing me back until I was pressed against the wall. My teeth cut into the inside of my cheek. Something metallic tasted on my tongue. I tried to move the baton but he had gripped the other end of it way too tightly for me to move it. My strength was failing. No no no. I had to think fast.

I had to think of something—

Groin?

"Don't even think of repeating that." He smiled closer to my face, close enough that his lips brushed my cheek. "You do that one more time and I'll make sure you're on your knees sucking me off to compensate for it."

"You're so filthy!" I struggled to push him. He grabbed the end of the baton, twisted my wrist right out of my grip. It didn't even seem that hard for him.

Taehyung wasted no time. He tossed it down the spiralling stairwell too.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

No. I wasn't going to go down like this. Not like this.

"Come now, apologise," he simpered. "I'll forgive you for cheating if you apologise."

He pulled me forward by the back of my top, sending my knees crashing on the floor. I whimpered, my breath rough and strained. This fucker was about to get it from me.

I grabbed his leg and bit his thigh. Hard. My teeth sank. I felt his flesh under my teeth. He screamed, horrified as landed a kick with his other leg, sending me rolling towards the stairs. I threw my handbag to the floor to shed the extra weight, grabbed the keycard tighter than ever as I launched down the stairs. My ass hurt. This fucker had kicked me on my butt.

Third floor. Third floor.

I had to get to Jungkook's cabin. I'd hide myself till he gets here.

He wasn't going to find me easily because my phone was gone but his cabin would be the easiest guess. I prayed he found me out before this fucking Hatter did.

"You bitch!" I heard him shouting as the pad of his boots began racing down after me.

My feet were on electricity. I could feel it shooting down my body. I only had the keycard left. All of my things were up there. I wanted to cry so bad because my makeup was too expensive. But fuck it. My life was more important than that shit. But I was still sad!

He was quick. Taehyung had already reached me by the time I found the door to the third floor.

I turned and launched a kick in the same place I had bit him. He groaned. I grabbed his fingers, pushing them between the door as I walked to the other side. Then I slammed it shut.

He screamed raw — a new shout of surprise and shock. Then he cursed.

"You asshole!"

I didn't wait. I spun and sprinted.

The third-floor corridor blurred as I sprinted, lungs burning, hair sticking to my face with sweat. My bare soles slapped against the cold marble, the keycard cutting into my palm. Just one more corner. Just one more door.

There. Jungkook's cabin. My sanctuary. My last chance.

I fumbled with the card, trembling so badly I nearly dropped it, but the lock finally beeped green. I shoved the door open, slammed it behind me, and twisted the handle down as hard as I could.

Silence.

My chest heaved. My back pressed against the door, heartbeat pounding in my ears. For a second I thought… maybe I'd won. Maybe he hadn't seen which way I'd run.

"He won't get in here," I whispered, clutching the keycard like a cross to a vampire. "He can’t. He won't—"

A bang rattled the handle.

I froze.

His voice slid under the crack of the door, warm and venomous:"You think a door can keep me out, my love? You'll bow to me sooner or later."

My entire frame trembled as I turned to face the door. The door was strong and heavy and electronically locked. There was no way he was going to get in without a keycard. Right?

"No. No, no, no—" My whisper fell apart as the handle jolted again, harder.

"You forgot the keycard." He scoffed and my blood ran cold.

The keycard was in the door. I was dead. How could I have been so stupid?!

Taehyung.

He slipped in, shutting the door behind him like he'd just entered his own room. His smile was unhurried, poisonous.

"I really would have let the groin kick go," he mused, stepping closer. "But you cheated. You let him touch you, didn't you? You smiled at him the way you were supposed to smile at me."

"You're insane," I hissed, backing away. "Get out before I—"

My words cut off when he lunged. His hand fisted the back of my top, yanking me forward until my knees buckled. I crashed down on the carpet with a cry.

"Apologise," he ordered, pressing my head toward his boot. His voice was a low, delighted snarl. "On your knees. Apologise for defying me. For touching another man. I'll forgive you if you beg."

"Never." I twisted, clawing at his wrist, biting down hard enough to taste blood.

"Ahh—!" He recoiled, clutching his hand, but his smile only widened, wild. "That fire. That's why I need to break you."

He lunged again, shoving me against Jungkook's desk. His breath reeked hot against my cheek. I groped blindly for anything—my hand closed around the glass paperweight. I smashed it into his shoulder.

He stumbled with a curse, and I bolted.

The door was right there. I yanked it open, shoved him back with every ounce of strength, and slipped through. He slammed into the wood as I wrenched it shut—then swiped the card from the outside. The lock beeped.

"NO!" Taehyung roared, pounding the door with his fists. "You bitch! Open this door!"

His rage shook the frame. His fists rattled the glass. But he was trapped.

And I was free.

I staggered down the corridor, lungs burning, clutching the keycard so tight it cut my skin. My legs felt like water but they kept moving, dragging me toward the elevator.

Please. Please. Please.

The doors slid open with a soft chime. I was going to be free. I would wait downstairs for Jungkook to get here. Maybe in the parking lot. Or maybe I could go home. I didn't want to risk anything right now.

Behind me, Taehyung was still roaring and pounding the door. And every time I heard his voice, my body flinched.

This elevator door slid open and Jungkook stood there.

His eyes widened the moment he saw me—barefoot, trembling and probably in the worst state a guy should see his girlfriend in. His face went white, then black with rage.

My breath cracked as I stumbled into him, clutching his shirt. "I'm sorry."