The classes ended at 6:00 pm where the rest of the students packed their books inside their bags and walked out of the room. As for the English professor, he collected the papers and noticed the small handwriting at the bottom left corner with a smiley face drawn beside it.
“Don’t worry about it, Mr. Kim. He will come around. Cheers!”
Namjoon’s lips curled half-heartedly and was very grateful for his students. He sighed melancholic and dialed to call his friends. Then, he received voicemails from them, indicating they’re very busy. Instead, he came across in his mind to contact the only two certain ones. “Hey. Is it okay if we meet up?”
Thirty minutes later…
He sat down in the round-table where he was facing Bryan and Valerie at the coffee shop. He was staring at the mug he was holding with his fingers folded firmly.
“There, he snapped at me because he thought I was the one who posted the pictures online,” Namjoon explained in a mellow tone of his voice.
“Did you try giving him a clear understanding?” Valerie asked.
“I tried, okay? But he swears me off,” Namjoon gestured with a flung of his hand.
Valerie nodded and glanced at Bryan, who spoke up.
“Anyone can disguise themselves as anyone in the media. They can steal your personal information, data, change their voices to sound like yours. In other words, hackers,” Bryan stated sternly.
“That’s why I haven’t been able to log into my Twitter account yesterday. I thought the system was glitching,” Namjoon said shockingly.
“No, dude. Twitter’s running smoothly. It’s just your account hasn’t been secured and it gave them a chance to easily access,” Bryan said formally.
“The question is why,” Valerie wondered.
“Many ways to find out. I’ll be back. I got to use the loo,” Bryan stood up from the chair and headed to the washroom area.
Valerie gazed at Namjoon and leaned in forward gently. “I never knew he would lash out on you.”
“He is not always full of sunshine. There are some days he was full of rain,” Namjoon noted metaphorically and continued on. “Hoseok and I are best buddies. Back then, he was constantly being bullied by others in the streets. Even when we first debuted on stage, I was his shield and I didn’t want them to hurt him or destroy who he was.”
“Do you miss performing?” Valerie asked, frowning.
Namjoon chortled a little and looked sideways. “I don’t really know. Maybe sometimes.”
Valerie gave him a genuine smile and bent on the ground to pull out a rectangular box. She held it and slightly pushed it forward, much to his astonishment.
“Is that-?” Namjoon paused for a moment.
“Yes. It’s your all-time favorite; Friends,” Valerie nodded coolly.
“Aww. Thanks, Val! You didn’t have to,” Namjoon grinned, scanning the front cover of the DVD.
“Okay…” Valerie raised her eyebrows and giggled.
“I had a dream about… us. We were alone in my classroom and you helped me with the history questions and answers. Then, we both started to kiss,” Namjoon murmured and lowered his head in embarrassment.
“Ah…” Valerie nodded intriguingly.
“But nothing sensual happened, though! I don’t know… I just had this dream and it suddenly came to me,” Namjoon groaned.
Valerie smiled at him serenely, saying. “It’s alright. Having lucid dreams is normal for everybody.”
“I have no intention or thought of us being cozy with each other. Let me assure you, I’m not the type of guy who would fall for a girl, who I look at as a little sister,” Namjoon explained and snickered.
Valerie dropped her jaw and rolled her eyes at him with a laugh. “Okay, brother.”
Namjoon chuckled, then exhaled his breath out and sipped his coffee. He placed it down and said sincerely. “More so, I consider you as a friend.”
“Me too,” Valerie agreed, smilingly until Bryan was approaching them with his hands rubbing together after using hand sanitizer.
“So what did I miss?” Bryan chirped.
“Some things, Mr. Zedler,” Valerie joked smugly and queried. “What took you so long? You look flushed.”
Namjoon tried to stifle his laughter quietly, whereas Bryan squinted his eyes at her in annoyance.
“Ha, funny. No, I was trying to wash my hands in the sink, but there were a couple of guys hogging it. I had to wait, at least, 4 minutes,” Bryan scoffed grumpily and sat beside her.
“I see,” Valerie nodded in understanding.
Then, the three of them continued to have a conversation where they laughed about the hilarious moments that happened in the series; Friends. Yet, there were most parts showing half inappropriate and half comedy, they enjoyed the entire ten seasons of it.
When they all went home, Namjoon stood in front of his doorstep and unlocked it with his key. He entered the living room and opened the box case. The white envelope caught his attention and lifted it closer to his face. He ripped the paper flap that was sealed in the middle and carefully pulled out the polaroids of him and the rest of his group in Jeju Island beach. He smiled contentedly, saying to himself. “Worth remembering, Val.”
He turned on the TV and DVD player before inserting the disc forward. From there, he laid on the couch, relaxed as he placed his arms behind the back of his head. He wasn’t aware he was being watched through the night vision.
“Sir Kai, is there anything else you’d want us to do?” His subordinate asked on the phone.
“No. Let him be. For now, the four are already down and we are moving onto the remaining three,” he replied in a deep tone of his voice. “We have a lot to bring onto their table.”
“Got it, sir,” his subordinate responded back determinedly. He lowered his night vision telescope onto his left side and shuffled his way out of the green leafy bushes.
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