16 Danger

"Say, Ji Ah-yah, do you believe in soulmates?"

"I don't, Joon-ah. But I do believe that once in a lifetime you come across someone you want to wake up beside every day."

Sunlight flitted in through the parted curtains, spots of light dancing on Ji Ah's eyelids as they fluttered open. She was lying on her side facing the windows, yawning and stretching her arms as she twisted around.

Still in the haze of semi-consciousness, Ji Ah smiled sluggishly when her gaze landed on the sleeping form of Namjoon, his mouth slightly open, snoring softly and squirming on the small space the pair was encumbered in.

"Ha! I'd have to be incredibly drunk to have such a crazy dream," she mumbled, her voice sounding raspy. "Though I might not mind it so much."

Ji Ah reached out to touch Namjoon's cheek, shifting uneasily when her cold skin came in contact with his warm flesh. "No way…" Her eyes travelled over him, slowly inching upwards and widening at the sight of the handcuffs. Ji Ah sat upright at this, the sheets rumpling with the movement.

Kim Namjoon was handcuffed. To her bedpost.

This couldn't be happening.

Relieved that they were clothed at least, Ji Ah prodded the sleeping young man furiously, trying to maintain her calm. She had no idea how they had gotten into such an unbelievable position but she had to wake him up. Now.

"Namjoon!" She nudged him when the rapper failed to budge. "Wake up! How can you be sleeping so soundly in this situation?"

Ji Ah was aware of the speed at which her heart was racing and willed the galloping organ to slow down. Once it did and when a semblance of composure settled over her, she looked down at Namjoon's serene face, peaceful in the security that sleep provided and wondered if he was dreaming.

But she winced when she looked at the handcuffs restraining his left arm. That's gotta be uncomfortable, she thought, frowning.

But Ji Ah couldn't do anything about it. Not until So Min got back at least. She tried to invent a plausible reason for Namjoon having, from the looks of it, spent the night sleeping next to her when the man stirred, his eyes opening to meet Ji Ah's now calm ones.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," she greeted him and batted her eyelids exasperatedly. Namjoon's head snapped up instantly, trying to scuttle away. But the action was constrained by his position and he almost toppled to the ground when Ji Ah held him in place.

"Good morning? What could possibly be good about this?" he questioned vehemently, rattling the handcuffs and waving his arm to indicate the tangled forms of the two of them.

Namjoon still couldn't grasp the situation he found himself embroiled in, hoping that Ji Ah would remember the events leading up to it and save him the task of reminding her. But she didn't.

"Well, why don't you enlighten your bedfellow by telling her why the hell is your arm handcuffed to her bedpost?" She raked her eyes over him and Namjoon blushed, the word 'bedfellow' ringing in his eardrums like a clamoring bell.

The rapper jingled the limb shackled to the wood, looking at her pointedly. "Well, this is all courtesy of you. You're the one responsible for this."

"I'm responsible?" Ji Ah scoffed. "What are you talking about?"

But her embarrassment knew no bounds when Namjoon explained the circumstances of his detention. "I had to call Jin Hyung and tell him to leave without me. And you have no idea how difficult that was. The boys have probably reached all kinds of far-fetched conclusions by now."

Her cockiness replaced by perturbation, Ji Ah grasped at words which eluded her. She could never have, in a million years, fathomed that she would end up doing something so incredibly stupid. "I asked you to stay?"

"You most certainly did," Namjoon confirmed, noticing the sudden paleness of her features and his own discomfort was momentarily forgotten. "But you were drunk and probably mistook me for someone else." He didn't know why he concealed the little fact that she had specifically called his name. He just knew that now was not the time to bring it up.

"Probably," Ji Ah's voice wavered and she didn't sound convinced. But before she could venture another query, Namjoon spoke up.

"Why exactly do you have handcuffs anyway?" he asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes. It was Ji Ah's turn to blush at the implication in his manner and she flung a pillow at him which the rapper skillfully dodged.

"Those belong to So Min's dad who's a cop and are like a memento of sorts!" she clarified in a rush but Namjoon only snorted.

"It's okay, you know. I won't judge you for having bizarre proclivities," he teased her and Ji Ah scowled.

"Yeah right, you wish."

                                 ***

"You all know it's Kookie's birthday next week," Jimin was saying and Namjoon found it hard to concentrate on his voice when all he could envision were Ji Ah's lips, so close to his own as she whispered his name.

Someone, probably Yoongi, elbowed him and he tried to snap out of the inappropriate images that flooded his head; Ji Ah's flushed face in the morning, her shirt askew, a few undone buttons leaving very little to imagination.

I really need to get a grip. This is starting to get dangerous, he lamented wearily.

"Uh, yes?" he stuttered, looking up at Jimin who was studying him suspiciously. Not just him, but all the members shot him dubious looks, still not believing the flimsy explanation he had provided for spending the night at Ji Ah's place. So Min had arrived and freed his cramped arm, apologizing for misplacing the handcuffs which had placed both him and the videographer in such a precarious situation.

Now sprawled on their living room sofa, the rapper inclined his head towards Jimin, a curious expression on the younger man's face.

"Do you have any ideas?" he reiterated his question and Namjoon's eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"How about organizing a party for him? Since he's going to come of age, let's do something special," Namjoon suggested and Taehyung nodded.

"We could display a montage of him growing up and his journey up to this point," Hoseok added enthusiastically.

"I know the perfect thing to do," Yoongi chimed in confidently. "Me performing an Agust D medley." The members burst out in laughter inducing the rapper to look puzzled. "What? I think it's a brilliant plan."

"Its Kookie's birthday, Yoongi-ah," Seokjin chortled, his raucous laughter reverberating within the room. "Not yours."

Yoongi merely shrugged and Jimin took the lead once more. "Any other ideas?"

Taehyung had remained silent, now looking around at his members. "How about we surprise him with what he's been wanting this entire time?"

"I doubt IU's going to agree to do a gig for him," Yoongi snickered and Seokjin cackled some more, clapping Hoseok's back in the process.

"I meant something related to music production, Hyung," Taehyung laughed but the rapper continued to tease Jungkook in spite of the maknae's absence.

Namjoon turned this suggestion over, wondering what would make their youngest member happy when his eyes flitted down the hallway and towards his studio. And he knew the perfect gift for Jungkook.

"I think I know exactly what we can give him for a present."  

                                  ***

Over the next few days, Namjoon and the boys prepared Jungkook's surprise painstakingly. The maknae could sense something was up but he refrained from asking his Hyungs, merely raising his eyebrows whenever they tiptoed around him.

As for Ji Ah, Taehyung had let her in on the plan and she had contributed with making a certain suggestion to add to their party owing to her job.

"Really?" Taehyung's eyes shone with admiration when she told him. "You can do that? That's awesome, Noona!"

"I can't promise anything just yet," Ji Ah tried to warn him but the man was too ecstatic to heed her. "But I could try to whip something up."

The pair had rendezvoused in Bangtan's practice room, conducting their little conversation while they waited for everyone to show up. One by one, the members began to file in along with the choreographers and videography team.

Namjoon was the last to walk in and Ji Ah instantly recalled what had transpired between them. She was aghast to find that something so trivial bothered her and she vowed to treat it like it never happened, like the rapper himself had. By some unspoken agreement, the two of them had been steadily avoiding each other, not wanting to incite any more perplexing notions.

And once the practice had ended, Ji Ah evaded any interaction with Namjoon, slipping out of the room faster than The Flash could have. Hoseok watched her in bafflement, plopping down beside his friend when everyone had exited the room.

"I wonder what's up with her," he ruminated out loud while Namjoon perched on his haunches to catch his breath.

"Hong Ji Ah? Beats me," he gave a small laugh and Hoseok shook his head at his pretense. The tension between them had been obvious and the dancer wasn't immune to it. He bit his lip and wondered if he should mention the conversation between Ji Ah and So Min which he had overheard. The leader looked troubled and Hoseok wanted to assuage his qualms.

"I know this is going to sound very wrong, Joonie," Hoseok turned to face him. "But there's something you should know. I think Ji Ah's afraid that you're going to start developing feelings for her again."

"What?"

Namjoon looked skeptical as the dancer narrated what he had heard. "I had headphones on so I could only catch snippets but from what I did hear, it sounded like she was worried about something relating to you," Hoseok said, not realizing that he had made an error in his deduction, making Namjoon believe that Ji Ah had been referring to him when she had, in fact, been referring to herself.

The rapper felt guilty, hardly believing that Ji Ah was struggling with such thoughts all by herself. I wonder why she wouldn't be straightforward with me, he thought, bewildered.

When Hoseok had finished, Namjoon decided to alleviate Ji Ah's fears. Surely, he stood no risk of reviving any residual emotions; he had gotten over those. Now it was her turn to understand that.

"But I'm absolutely unaffected by such concerns," Namjoon tried to explain. "I've moved on now and it's been years, Hobi. I think I can manage to breathe around her without any fear of choking."

Hoseok looked unconvinced. "I don't know, Joonie. I want to believe you but I can read you too well. You're like an open book around her." He looked Namjoon straight in the eye. "Tell me, you never really forgot about her did you?" He interrupted the rapper before he could protest. "While we wrote the songs for 'Love Yourself: Her', especially the 'Outro', I felt like you were trying to purge feelings which had been residing within you for a long time. And then Ji Ah appeared and now you're beginning to reflect on whether you really understand yourself."

Namjoon was rendered speechless by Hoseok's observation, not wanting to acknowledge how accurate it really sounded. But the man wasn't wrong. Namjoon had begun to reevaluate every aspect of his life, the fame, the reality of his identity. And somewhere along the way, he had gotten used to Ji Ah's presence, much to his mortification.

"I think I should talk to her," he said slowly, rising to leave the room. "Ji Ah has nothing to worry about."

I wonder if that's really true, Joon-ah, Hoseok thought sadly as he watched Namjoon barrel out the door.

He halted in the hallway, his head swiveling round to seek Ji Ah. Namjoon spotted her leaning against a column supporting the vending machine and the rapper approached her cautiously, grabbing her elbow and steering her towards an empty studio.

The videographer wrenched free of his grasp, looking up at him in surprise. "You seem to have a penchant for grabbing the wrong things," she said light-heartedly, attempting to dismiss the clogging awkwardness.

"I'm sorry about what happened, Ji Ah," Namjoon stated earnestly, his eyes pleading with her to understand. "But you really don't have to worry. I don't feel anything I shouldn't."

But even as he said it, the rapper realized how hollow his words sounded. He shook his head, mustering the conviction he needed. He was so close to showing Ji Ah that he was fine, that he wasn't the same, impulsive kid of the past. And he couldn't let futile emotions get in his way.

Ji Ah stared at Namjoon; her lips unmoving, her mind devoid of any reply. But of course, she thought, this shouldn't come as a surprise.

"But," the rapper was saying, "you've led me to learn things I never would've learned otherwise. Do you think we could strike up a friendship?"

Ji Ah watched his lips move but didn't really register what Namjoon was saying. Something about being friends. Yes, friends. That was what she should want too. To be friends. That would solve everything.

What else could they be anyway?

"I don't even care about the proposal. I'd," he looked at her steadily, a firmness to his voice, such a contrast to the muddled canvass of Ji Ah's conscious, "I'd like you to stay on as the assistant videographer for the duration of this series."

"You're right," Ji Ah replied in a low voice, even though her every instinct was screaming at how wrong the situation was. "You're right. And I'd like to stay, too."

But he wasn't right and Ji Ah couldn't comprehend why. All she realized was that she couldn't stay and even if Namjoon didn't know it, Ji Ah knew it very well.

And as the rapper grinned at her, her own lips curved into a tight smile, wondering if Namjoon knew that whatever was blooming between them was running on borrowed time.

Such a heartless coincidence, putting together two people who should mean nothing to each other.