Thin Air

Chapter 8

The next morning, Namjoon was just finishing up another batch of haejang-guk to take to Yoongi when there was a banging on his front door. He quickly answered it and Yoongi came barreling into his apartment.

"Why do I have Hana's number?" he demanded.

Namjoon chuckled. "Because you asked her for it."

Yoongi blinked. "What?"

"You texted her last night, right?"

"Yeah, apparently," he said, holding up his phone to show the text on the screen.

Yoongi HOME!!

"But why did I ask her for her number?"

"That's a question only you and your subconscious can answer, Yoongs," Namjoon said with a smile.

"I'm not interested in her."

"Sure."

"I'm not!"

"Okay," Namjoon relented, holding his hands up as if in defeat. "You don't like her, I get it."

"No, I like her... no, not like that! She's nice and – "

"She's a friend," Namjoon interrupted.

"Yeah!"

"Then it's not that weird to have her phone number, Yoongs."

"What if she got the wrong idea? Fuck! I can't remember half of what happened last night!"

"She seemed okay with it," Namjoon assured him. "I don't think she thought it was strange."

Yoongi sat down on the couch and dropped his head into his hands. "I feel like an idiot. Why does she always make me feel like an idiot?"

"What?" Namjoon asked, sitting in a chair next to the couch and observing Yoongi confusedly. "What do you mean by that?"

"No, I just mean, I always feel like such an idiot after running into her."

"Why?"

"I don't know! I always say stupid shit!"

"Why do you care?"

Yoongi looked up. "What?"

"Why do you care? It's not like you're trying to impress her. Right?"

Yoongi scowled. "I know what you're implying, Joon. Stop it."

"I'm not implying anything. You said it yourself that you're not interested, and I believe you. I'm just wondering why you care so much about her opinion in that case, though."

Yoongi rolled his eyes. "I don't."

"Then you shouldn't feel like an idiot."

"Well, then fine, maybe I don't!"

"Fine."

"Okay."

"Good."

They stared at each other for a few moments, Namjoon doing his best to suppress the smile that desperately wanted to spread across his face. "Want some haejang-guk?" he finally asked, changing the subject.

"God, yes."

"So, tell me about how it went with Misun," Namjoon said as he handed over a bowl of the soup to Yoongi.

Yoongi groaned. "It was ridiculous. She had the other guy there, admitted she'd gone off the pill without telling either of us, then asked me to get back together with her in front of him."