Work of Art [J.JH] - epilogue four - something like two years later
You and Jaehyun loved your apartment in Seoul, the placement, the convenience, but eventually it just couldn’t keep up with your needs: you had a curious baby who, on more than one occasion, crawled into your studio and came out covered in oil paints she then tracked all over the floor; Jaehyun wanted to practice choreography at home and there was no space and neighbors who came up to complain when they felt he was making too much noise; and those two points didn’t even matter, because your paintings eventually breached the confines of your studio and began to intrude into the rest of the place like an invasive species. You had outgrown your beloved little apartment, and needed a bigger place.
Not even a year after you had given birth, you had made the decision to buy a house and move to a quiet neighborhood that was a little closer to his parents as well. The proximity to them was convenient not only because they loved baby sitting, often coming over to watch the baby so you could paint without being interrupted constantly, but because his parents were genuinely lovely people and you loved being around them. Of course, they’d have to be if they raised someone like your husband.
“Be good for grandma, okay?” You kissed your daughter on the forehead as she groggily nodded yes and you handed her off to Jaehyun’s mom.
Anna gave both of the twins a kiss and told them to behave themselves. While your child was already tired from running around with her “cousins” all afternoon, her kids were a little older and still had some energy left. They were currently drawing a picture together.
“I’ll get them all to bed on time, don’t worry,” Jaehyn’s mom smiled.
You returned the smile. “Thank you, Omma.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Jeong.” Anna smiled.
“Have fun with your friends, you two.” She said as she sat at the table across from the twins.
“Jae’s mom is so sweet,” Anna said as the two of you walked down the stairs to join the others.
“Mhm. Oh my god, I remember being so nervous when I met his parents. I was like this… dumbass American kid who purposefully orphaned herself from her family and now their son was about to present that mess of a person to them like, ‘Hey, I love this person.’ I was shitting myself.”
Anna laughed.
“But they liked me?” You widened your eyes at her, miming the astonishment you felt when they didn’t just not present you with an envelope of money as a bribe to stop knowing their son, they actually liked you and welcomed your presence.
She laughed again and swatted at you. “Didn’t they like you a lot when you finally met them?”
“Oh yeah. He told them all about me so: I didn’t even know I had a reputation, but it had already preceded me.” You chuckled as the two of you reached the bottom of the stairs and you turned the hall light off as you made your way to the kitchen. “And then his mom was all cute and weepy like, ‘If you ever need a mom, I can be your mom,’ and we both ended up crying.”
“Aww.”
“How’s your mom by the way? How’d the surgery go?”
“Oh, she’s doing great. Her and my dad want to visit once she’s okay to fly.”
“Would they want to come out here at all? We can maybe barbecue in the backyard and the kids can run around.”
“Oh, could we do that? It’d be so much better than having everyone over at our place.”
“That’s why I offered.” You laughed as the two of you walked into the kitchen. “As my oldest and most important friend, of course we can barbecue here.”
“We’re barbecuing?” Jaehyun asked as he arranged snacks onto a tray.
“Anna’s parents might visit soon and I offered our place for barbecuing. Do you mind?”
He shook his head with a smile. “Of course not. I love your parents, Anna.”
She smiled.
“And we’re of a singular mind,” Jaehyun said as you walked over to steal a snack and he seized the moment to kiss you on the cheek.
Anna chuckled. “If you two are going to be like this, I’m going to go wait for everyone else.” She left for the living room.
“You’ve chased our friend away,” you giggled as he went in for a second kiss.
“Had to happen at some point.”
He chased your lips with his own as you tried to dodge him, laughing as he tried to get you. He pulled you close and buried his face in your neck, you draped your arms over his shoulders with a chuckle and rubbed his back for a moment.
“You okay?”
He nodded into your neck before pulling away. “I want to see our friends, but I’m suddenly wishing we were having ‘alone time’ instead.”
You snorted a laugh. “But this is the first time we’ve seen everyone since, like…” You had to think for a second, you almost couldn’t remember. You narrowed your eyes at him for a moment as you thought, unable to come to the answer. “...Since everyone came over to see the baby for the first time-- I think?”
He buried his face in your neck again and said something you couldn’t hear.
“I’m sorry? Was I meant to understand that?” You laughed.
He pulled back again and leaned his forehead against yours. “I don’t care. I want to be with my wife.”
You exhaled a laugh and headbutted him gently. “Such a whiny boy.”
“Maybe.”
“Well, it’s Friday, so maybe we can convince your mom to take Yuri tomorrow and get some time to ourselves for the weekend.”
“Promise?”
“I mean, I can’t because she’s the one who has to say yes or no, but we can try asking.”
He hummed happily and kissed your neck.
“Sir, we’re having company soon. Actually, we have company already.”
He whined and pulled back so he could show you how angry he was at your rebuff: he furrowed his eyebrows together and frowned.
“Oh my god, so scary. What an intimidating presence.”
He furrowed his brows harder and scrunched up his nose.
“Oh my god. Were I wearing boots, I would be quaking in them. How will I ever recover from this-- this-- terrifying being?”
He laughed and sighed.
You patted his shoulders to get him to focus. “The kiddo and the twins are in bed or at least occupied, and your mom is watching them--”
“You mean Table?”
You laughed. He'd never let you live it down. “Sure.”
“You’re the one who wanted to confuse people,” he laughed.
You smiled. “Well, you picked a better name than I ever could,” you kissed his cheek, “good job, bestie.” You extracted yourself from his embrace
“Bestie?” He asked incredulously.
You smiled and opened a bag of chips so you could empty them into a bowl.
He scoffed and walked around the room, pretending to pay attention to everything but you, before launching himself at you and pinning you between himself and the counter.
“Stop stop stop,” you slapped at his hands as he held onto the counter, “everyone else is going to be here soon.”
“You should have thought of that before kissing me~” He sing-songed as he tried to plant kisses on your face that you, giggling, evaded.
“Jae,” you whined, “Anna is in the other room and I have to put chips in a bowl; very important.”
“More important than my kisses?”
“Much.”
He made a face of false offense and made sure you saw it.
“Do you know how many chips go bowl-less every year? Too many.”
“What would you do, if there was a chip, right in front of you?”
“In the arms… of… an angel…” you warbled in the worst singing voice you could muster.
“Oh my god,” he laughed and hugged you from behind,” I’m going to put that on Soundcloud and make you famous.”
You laughed loudly. “I’m a whiteboy Soundcloud rapper! ‘Skrrt! Skrrt! My daddy never loved me and now I have bad feelings about women and have to make it everyone else’s problem!’ Let go, I have to start my career! Skrrt!”
“Skrrt! Skrrt!”
“Skrrt!”
He laughed and held onto you as you tried to struggle, both of you laughing like idiots as you “Skrrt”-ed at each other and he only landed half the kisses he was trying to plant on you.
“Ah-HEM.” The two of you heard and Jaehyun turned to see who it was, pulling away from the counter and turning you as well.
Johnny laughed. “Are you going to flirt with your wife the whole time, Jeffery, or are you actually going to say hi to your guests?”
“Wave for us,” Jaehyun said and lifted you so you could wave with your feet.
You waved with your feet.
“Hi, y/n.” He laughed as he put the drinks he arrived with on the counter. “I’m going to say hi to my babies, but before I do, this is Mark Lee, a friend I met while DJing. He’s Canadian so don’t be afraid to act like a foreigner around him.” Johnny presented him to you before leaving for the upstairs portion of the house.
“Ahh, vous êtes Canadien?”
“Huh?”
You chuckled. “Hi, Mark Lee from Canada,” you said before waving again. “I’m y/n, this is my husband, Jaehyun. I’m from the US and he lived in America for four years.”
“Hi,” he awkwardly came over and shook your hand. He looked at Jaehyun, confused.
“Honey, let go of me and shake his hand,” you laughed.
He finally let go of you and you helped Anna unpack the drinks. Jaehyun shook Mark’s hand.
“This is a nice house.”
“Thank you.”
They stood together awkwardly. “Why don’t you show him around?” You suggested. “Mark, are you a DJ?”
“Oh-- Actually I’m a rapper.”
You laughed. “Maybe Jae can show you his studio, then.”
“Oh-- Yo, you have your own studio?” Mark asked Jaehyun, excited.
“Yeah. Want to see?”
“Of course! Jaehyun, let’s see that studio, son!”
You laughed loudly as they walked away.
“My husband finds the weirdest people.” Anna said, shaking her head.
“I think you mean he finds the best people,” you corrected.
She laughed. The doorbell rang and both of you went over to the intercom to check who it was. Seeing the rest of your friend group standing there, you opened the door and let them all in.
“Hi! Did you all come together?”
“No,” Eunji said as the two of you hugged, “somehow we all arrived at the same time.”
You laughed as Jungwoo gangster-cat-walked his way into the house before giving you a hug as well.
“Was traffic bad?” Anna asked.
“Not too terrible,” Taeyong answered as he walked in with Yuta behind him.
“Did you get my files for the multimedia exhibition?” Yuta asked you.
“I did. I think I was breastfeeding at the time and swiped it away by accident, but I’ll look on Monday.”
“Why not tomorrow?”
You narrowed your eyes at him.
He narrowed his eyes back.
“It’s the weekend, my dude.”
“You can still look, my dude.”
“But my dude wants to fool around, my dude--”
“Okay, I was going to make a joke like, ‘Were you breastfeeding Jae or the baby?’ but I didn’t know I would be given that information.”
You laughed loudly and slapped him on the arm.
“I have to go to Japan next week and I was hoping you’d look at it before then.”
“Then why’d you send it on a Friday afternoon?”
“I was--”
“He was bothering me all week about the music for the exhibition,” Johnny said as he came down the stairs. “That’s why.”
“Ohh…” you said and raised your eyebrows at Yuta.
“What a traitor,” he said back to Johnny.
Johnny shrugged and walked over to give Anna a hug and kiss.
“What’s that for?”
“The beautiful mother of my beautiful children.”
She laughed softly and rolled her eyes.
“Did your beautiful wife tell you that our firm picked up another project?” Jungwoo asked.
Johnny turned to Anna. “No she didn’t?”
Anna scowled at Jungwoo.
“Oh-- sorry.”
“Jungie,” Eunji sighed.
“Sorry.”
“Am I not supposed to know?” Johnny asked.
Anna sighed. “I had reserved a table at a nice restaurant so I could tell you and we could celebrate in a little style.”
He put his arms around her. “Aww, babe, we can still do that.”
“But now it’s not a surprise.”
“...What’s not a surprise?”
You snickered.
She looked up at him, her brows furrowed.
He looked back, doe-eyed in false confusion.
She sighed. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, but I don’t know what you’re thanking me for.”
She sighed and hugged him.
Johnny turned them both so he could get her walking towards the dining room, and winked at Jungwoo in as they passed him.
Jungwoo shrugged apologetically. Eunji hit him on the arm.
“What?”
“You know she likes to surprise him.”
“I thought she told him already.”
“You should have asked.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“Do you not celebrate a new project?” Taeyong asked.
“I-- we do-- but…” Jungwoo stuttered.
Eunji raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s uh… more lowkey.”
Taeyong looked at them in confusion for a moment before realizing what they meant. “Okay, well--” and left for the dining room.
“Yet another thing I didn’t need to know.” Yuta said and followed him.
You laughed and linked your arms in theirs. “Come on, you crazy, childless lovebirds.”
Eunji laughed softly. “Speaking of, can we watch the peanut again? She was so funny last time.”
“I know you’re not warming up to the idea of having kids.”
“Our Eunji? Never.” Jungwoo laughed.
“Listen, I heard every pregnancy horror story my grandmother, aunts, and mom all went through, I am so good. But Yuri’s cute when she’s awake and playing. You can have her back when she poops or cries or whatever.”
You laughed. “Rent-a-baby.”
“Exactly. I’m like a fun aunt: I watch her when she’s fun, you can have her back when she’s work. And then I’ll go home to my quiet and my cute husband.”
Jungwoo blew her a kiss.
You laughed again. “I love you two.”
She hugged you as you walked into the dining room. Anna and Johnny were setting up the food and snacks and getting the drinks ready. Jaehyun and Mark were coming back from the studio.
“And where’d you get the yellow one?”
“The Behringer? Amazon, honestly.”
“Oh, no doubt.” He made a note in his phone.
“You can get some really interesting distortion effects if you just fuck around with it for a bit.”
“Expensive?”
“Not really.”
“No doubt, no doubt.” He saw Johnny. “Amazon, more like AmaJon!” He laughed and gave Johnny a handshake hello.
“Mark, I’m literally the one who invited you.”
“You gotta be cordial, you gotta be cordial, you know? And me, I gotta be cordial.”
Cordial? You mouthed to Jaehyun.
He widened his eyes and shrugged as he walked over, and kissed you on the head. He whispered into your ear: “He’s an interesting guy.”
You giggled.
“Was it that funny?”
“Your breath made my hair touch my ear.”
He smiled and brushed it back away from your face, and then kissed you on the lips.
“Ahhh!” Johnny clapped loudly. “Stop that! You have guests!”
The two of you laughed.
“Maybe we should start the game.” Taeyong said. “So they’ll be preoccupied with something else.”
“Hey, we’re more than capable of keeping our hands off each other,” you protested.
“That’s not what I heard,” Yuta said with a wry smile.
You threw a chip at him.
With the snacks all placed on the table and the drinks all opened or mixed, you were all finally able to get to the main event of the night: Mafia.
A favorite of the group whenever you got together, it had started as a fun suggestion when you were still all in college, and became a sort of tradition. It was just competitive enough that you all got silly with it, but not competitive enough that anyone ever got into a fight. And it was perfect, because you all had your own way of trying to figure out who the mafia was; there was never a dull moment in any of the games you had played over the years.
So drinks were drank and since everyone was a little more drunk, the game started.
“Okay, everyone, heads down.” Johnny commanded.
“Thumbs up, Seven Up.” You said.
He chuckled. The only other people who would have understood you - Anna and Jaehyun - elbowed you in the side from where they sat on either side of you. You laughed.
“I will now walk around, and if I tap you,” Johnny said, “you’re that thing. Okay?”
A chorus of muffled ‘yes’es came back to him, along with one “Yes, games daddy.”
Johnny paused for a moment. “Yuta, was that you?”
“Yes.”
You all laughed, heads still down. You could guess that Johnny was probably shaking his head as Yuta laughed, self satisfied.
Johnny went around, telling everyone what they were, saying the name and then walking around the table a bunch of times so no one could figure out who was being tapped and who was what.
“Okay, the town, city, whatever is asleep,” Johnny started. “Can I see the mafia? Ma-ma-ma-ma-mafia, yeah, they are the mafia--”
“Babe.” Anna admonished.
“Ring-ding-ding, ding-ding-ding,” you sang.
Jaehyun laughed next to you.
Anna sighed. “You’re both as bad as each other.”
You laughed.
“No talking,” Johnny said with a sort of faux annoyance you knew to expect from him. “Mafia, wake up and do your dastardly deeds.”
You weren’t anything so you kept your head down.
“Who would you like to kill? Mhm? Alright, thank you. Go back to sleep. Now can the cop wake up?”
“ACAB,” Eunji said.
The table laughed quietly.
Johnny suppressed a laugh. “And who would you like to sneak a peek at?” He asked the cop. He was quiet for a few moments as they picked who they wanted to check and were told the answer. “Okay, go back to sleep. Now will the doctor awaken?”
Silence for a few seconds.
“Doctor?”
Silence again.
“Doctor.” He said forcefully.
“That’s me!” Mark said happily.
The game ruined, everyone groaned and picked up their heads.
“Mork!” Johnny yelled, exasperated.
“Mork!” You yelled, delighted.
“Mork?” Jaehyun asked.
“Wait, what’s ‘Mork’?” Jungwoo laughed.
“That’s what the other rappers and DJs call him when he does things like this,” Johnny said with a sigh.
“What?” Mark asked.
“Mork, come sit near me,” Yuta said, patting the seat next to him.
As he changed seats, Jaehyun asked. “Who was the mafia?”
“Me and Yuta,” Jungwoo said.
“Ahh,” Jaehyun nodded.
“It’s actually a good thing that you ended the game, Mark,” Johnny said as deleted the first list of positions he had made on his phone.
“Why?”
“Because they killed Taeyong and he died first the last two times we played.”
“What?” Taeyong asked as he looked between Jungwoo and Yuta. “What have I ever done to you two?”
You laughed. “Again?”
“Do you kill him all the time?” Mark asked Yuta.
“We do. It makes him so mad.” Yuta laughed.
You couldn’t tell if Taeyong was actually offended or pretending to be as he sat there, slack-jawed at the two of them.
“Okay, let’s start over.” Johnny said, finishing his new list.
He went around the room selecting the positions again, and again you weren’t any of them. The first morning came and he had you all ‘wake up’.
“Good morning~” he sang. “Edvard Grieg’s ‘Morning Mood’ is playing like it’s a laundry commercial and you’re all waking up to a new day.”
“I’m taking down my laundry and smelling how fresh they smell,” you mimed taking laundry off a clothesline.
“What’s that?” Jungwoo asked.
“Taking it off a clothesline-- wait you don’t have that here. I’m taking it off a drying rack.”
You pretended to take something like a towel off a drying rack and leaned over the table to let him smell it. He pretended it smelled amazing and both of you mimed like two people in a detergent commercial, smiling in an absolutely unhinged way at the scent of fabric softener.
“Does this mean they’re the mafia?” Anna asked.
“No, it means they’re clowns,” Eunji said.
Jaehyun pulled at your shirt to make you sit. You looked at him and held up the imaginary towel to let him pretend to smell it. He did and you both started miming being in a box.
“Even worse,” Anna laughed.
Jaehyun kissed your cheek in a sneak attack.
“No profanity at the table,” Johnny said.
You snorted a laugh.
“Now,” he paused, “there was a death last night.”
You all reacted with shock.
“The person murdered… was Mark.”
Mark reacted with surprise.
“Sounds like a revenge killing,” you said.
“Are you the cop?” Jaehyun asked.
“No, I’m a concerned citizen; I came here to wash and dry my unmentionables in peace, now there’s crime happening in the area! What about my unmentionables?”
“For unmentionables, you sure mention them an awful lot.” He said.
“Sounds pretty suspicious to me…” Anna trailed off as she narrowed her eyes at you.
“You also went pretty hard on the waking up bit,” Taeyong pointed out.
“Yeah, but she always does that.” Jaehyun said.
You nodded. This was true; who would you be without sprinkling random comedy bits throughout your day like a vaudevillian actor. Of stage and screen.
“I can’t figure out who it is.” Yuta said, glaring at everyone at the table.
“I have an idea--” you started, and Anna started sarcastically clapping for your ability to have an idea. Johnny and Jaehyun joined and soon the whole table did as you sat there, looking unimpressed. “Fine. I won’t tell you what it is.”
“What is it?” Yuta asked.
“No.” You pretended to fold your laundry on the table. “If you’re going to be like that then I won’t tell you who I think it is.”
“You can’t just hold back clues.” Jungwoo said.
“I bet you she doesn’t know anything,” Anna laughed.
“No,” you said.
You finished your imaginary laundry and folded your hands in your lap gently like a middle-aged mother who felt unappreciated by her family, whose kids haven’t called since they moved out and who hasn’t received even a card for Mother’s Day. You can’t even go to the store to buy a card? On which to write ‘To’ and ‘From’ and mail it a few days before? You can’t even think about your mother on the day specifically for thinking about mothers? Hah. There truly is no point in raising children.
You laughed a short sigh as you shrugged. “I won’t tell you.”
“Well, regardless of whether we need to start visiting during the holidays…” Johnny said.
You pointed at him. You knew he’d get it.
He nodded at you. “You do all have to pick a mafia to get rid of.”
“Do we have any clues?” Anna asked.
“Not really,” Taeyong said. “But I’m alive so it can’t be Jungwoo or Yuta.”
You all laughed.
“On the count of three,” Johnny said. “One, Two, three.”
Everyone pointed at whoever and Johnny looked at the chaos of indecision.
“Uh… Jaehyun two, Taeyong two, Eunji two. You three can make your plea. Eunji?”
“So, I wasn’t going to pick Taeyong,” Eunji started, “but then I saw him pick me so I picked him back.”
“That easy, huh?” Anna asked with a laugh.
She nodded. “I figure, if he’s going to pick me, I’m going to pick him back because I have no idea who it is.”
Johnny nodded. “Taeyong?”
“I’m not the mafia. I don’t know who it is, but I-- it’s really not me.”
“Convincing,” Yuta nodded.
Johnny nodded. “And Jae?”
“I don’t think it’s Yuta or Jungwoo like Taeyong said, and I don’t think it’s y/n.”
“Isn’t this supposed to be a plea for you?” You asked.
“I saw Eunji’s face when you said you had an idea, so I think she’s a mafia. She acted like a mafia would if they knew they were caught.”
“Jungwoo’s been quiet,” Eunji said.
“Have I?” He asked.
“Hmm, maybe a little,” Yuta said, eyes still narrowed in suspicion.
Jaehyun continued. “I think that maybe the mafia are in a rush. Other positions aren’t in a rush, but the mafia are, obviously.”
“Are you in a rush?” Yuta asked.
Zinged, Jaehyun fixed his hair, smiling.
Everyone talked for a few moments until Johnny shouted over the group. “Okay! You all have to pick: one, two, three.”
Most of the fingers pointed at Taeyong.
“What?” He asked.
“Okay, Taeyong’s out.”
Yuta looked at everyone at the table. “What the--”
“Everyone back to sleep!” Johnny said.
You all put your heads back down. And that’s when you heard it again, the noise you heard during the first night: something between a rustling and a jingling. You had, as any hard boiled detective would say, a hunch. And it wasn’t just because of your bad posture.
And after all of the named positions made their choices, you all woke up.
“Good morning lawful citizens,” Johnny started. “There was a death last night.”
Giggling and gasping.
He turned slowly towards Jaehyun. “The Valentine Boy himself… has passed.”
Jaehyun sighed. You pretended to mourn him so he pretended to be dead.
“No! Jaehyun! My one and only love!”
“I thought I was your one and only love?” Anna asked.
“You’re my one and only platonic love,” you corrected before turning to Johnny. “Anyway, Eunji is the mafia, I heard her earrings during both nights after you asked the mafia to wake up, meaning she picked her head up, meaning she’s the mafia.”
Jaehyun looked at you, surprised, and whispered: “Wow.”
“You’re dead, you can’t talk.” Johnny said.
“Can I come back from the dead to make out with my wife?”
“Absolutely not.”
He sighed dejectedly. “Being dead sucks.”
You laughed.
“I heard her earrings too,” Yuta pointed at you. “She’s definitely one. I think Anna is the other one.”
“Why me?” Anna asked.
“You’re being suspicious.”
“Does that mean you want to vote?” Johnny asked.
“Yes!” half of you shouted.
“I think we need to discuss this more,” Eunji said.
“Nope. My husband is dead and I desire vengeance!" You countered, hitting your fists on the table. “Who’s going to run the washing machine? Because it definitely won’t be me!”
Jaehyun laughed his dad laugh.
“One, two, three.” Johnny counted.
You, Yuta, and Jungwoo pointed at Eunji. Eunji pointed at you, Anna pointed at Jungwoo.
“Why are you pointing at me?” He asked.
“I panicked.”
He shot her a look.
Yuta narrowed his eyes at her.
“Eunji, you’re out. We’ll hold a lovely funeral for you.” Johnny said.
She sighed. “You’re making a mistake.”
“Beddy-bye.” Johnny said and you all put your heads down.
A few moments later and you all picked them up again.
“Good morning, random citizens. Y/n has died. Her funeral will be held tomorrow… if you can make it that far.”
You turned to Jaehyun, mouth agape, and he nodded at you sadly. You sighed and linked arms with him, both of you closing your eyes and pretending to be laid to rest for a few moments before going back to listening to the game.
“Okay, now I know it's Anna.” Yuta said.
“How is it me?”
“Because you pointed at Jungwoo instead of Eunji, and now y/n is dead which means she was right.”
“That checks out,” Jungwoo nodded. “I vote for Anna.”
They both pointed at her.
“Can’t I defend myself?”
They shook their heads.
Johnny shrugged at her. “Is that your final answer?” He asked them.
“Mhm,” Yuta nodded.
“Mhm.” Jungwoo nodded.
He nodded and paused dramatically. “The Citizens… have won.”
You clapped. The whole table bustled with energy.
“I knew I shouldn’t have pointed at you, Jungwoo.” Anna said.
He laughed. “Why did you?”
“I didn’t want to vote Eunji and I panicked.”
“You could have voted for me, I wouldn’t have been mad,” Eunji said.
“I’m surprised you managed to get it together after not listening to me and then letting me die.” You said.
“Who were the doctor and cop?” Yuta asked.
“I was the cop,” Mark raised his hand.
“I was the doctor,” Taeyong said.
“And you got voted out instead,” Jaehyun laughed.
Taeyong laughed with a sigh.
“Do we want to break for five minutes before the next game?” Johnny asked.
“Yes,” the table said in unison, as Eunji stood and left for the kitchen.
“If you need a drink, I’ll get it,” you offered as you stood.
“No, I’m taking my earrings off.” You heard rustling, her bag probably, and she came back in with naked ears. “If you think I’m getting caught like that again, you’re out of your fucking mind.”
You laughed.
“Anyone want their drinks refreshed?” Jaehyun asked and stood.
Everyone put their drink orders in and he went back and forth a couple times between the kitchen and the dining room getting drinks and throwing out empty bottles and cans.
He sat and put a new drink in front of you.
“Oh, I don’t need another one.” You said.
He shrugged. “We can share.” And kissed you on the head.
“No making out at the table!” Johnny said forcefully.
“It’s our house,” you said back through gritted teeth, “we can do whatever we want!”
“Not during the game!”
You turned to Jaehyun. “Let’s throw all these drinks off the table and really show them something.”
He looked at the drinks for a few seconds. “...I don’t want to clean it up though.”
You turned back to Johnny. “You’re only safe because my husband is lazy. And so am I.”
He laughed.
Anna laughed and imitated the two of you. “‘Jae! Hold me back!’ ‘...Nah.’”
You laughed. “That’s exactly it.”
“If anyone actually made her mad, they’d only be getting what’s coming to them,” he said and sipped the drink.
Johnny pointed at him, hoping he’d understand what he had in mind.
Jaehyun didn’t notice him at first, but the silence made him look in his direction. He considered him for a moment and then realized what the pointing was in reference to. He raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement and pointed back.
Mark looked between the two of them. “What does the pointing mean?”
Johnny looked at him, confused for a moment, and then realized: “Oh, I forgot someone was here who didn’t know.”
“You don’t need to explain it,” you said to Johnny and then addressed Mark, “Something happened a long time ago because of someone we used to know. It’s not important.”
He nodded.
“My wife is a terror, Mork, that’s all you need to know,” Jaehyun said and hugged you.
“Jae--”
“She’s a terror and I love her.”
You laughed. “So romantic.”
“You know those horror stories of women of the woods who are terrifying and beautiful--”
“--and terrifyingly beautiful--”
“--who eat men and are pure chaos? That’s her.” He squeezed you.
“Are you sure you’re not drunk?” You laughed.
He pulled back and looked at you. “I never said I wasn’t.”
“Oh my god.”
He grinned a dopey grin at you. How did you not notice before? His ears were already red and his eyes were getting that sleepy look you thought was adorable as he got all clingy with you.
“We’ve lost him.” Yuta said.
“I can’t believe I was hoping you two would get together, you’re so annoying.” Taeyong said.
You laughed.
“Okay!” Johnny clapped his hands together. “Next game.”
The game started and when Johnny said ‘Mafia’ the first time, you felt a tap on your shoulder as he walked by.
You were rarely chosen as mafia, and you honestly liked it better that way; you were able to goof off more and didn’t have to try and strategize at all. A small wave of panic surged through you for a second, and you wondered if you could actually win. It depended on your partner.
Johnny started and asked if you’d all like to introduce yourselves:
“I’m a…” Mark thought, “a concerned citizen.”
“What are you concerned about, Mark?” Johnny asked.
“Uh… laundry?”
“You have to get your own bit,” you said.
The group laughed.
Everyone else introduced themselves in some way or another, and you all decided not to vote, as no one seemed suspicious.
Then you went to the first night.
“Oh mafia… please raise your heads.” Johnny said.
You picked your head up and looked around, before landing on Jaehyun, who was looking right at you. You smiled in surprise, and he smiled back. This could be very bad… or very good. You smiled deviously at him, he mirrored you.
“Who would you like to kill, mafia?”
You pointed at Taeyong. Jaehyun looked at you, surprised. You scrunched up your nose with determination and nodded. It was a perfect opening. He nodded back and both of you pointed to him and nodded to Johnny.
“Thank you mafia, your order will be delivered in three to five weeks.”
You both put your heads down and waited for the others to do their thing.
“Okay, everyone, the day is dawning; time to write your morning pages, time to do your yoga and have a green smoothie. And maybe file a police report because Taeyong is dead.”
“What?” Mark says, sadly.
Taeyong sighed.
Yuta and Jungwoo’s attention snapped to each other.
Perfect.
They sized each other up for a moment.
“You think it’s me?” Jungwoo asked.
“I think it’s you.” Yuta replied.
“I think it’s you!” Jungwoo laughed.
Yuta narrowed his eyes at him, Jungwoo narrowed his back.
“Maybe it’s Eunji,” Yuta shifted his attention over to her.
Eunji looked up from sipping her drink. “Me? Why me?”
“Because you’re being quiet.”
“I was drinking? Should I talk when I drink? I’ll drown!”
You laughed.
“I think it’s Anna,” Jungwoo said.
“Why’s that?” Jaehyun asked.
“She was the mafia before.”
You stared at him for a second. “Are you new at this?”
“Is there anyone you would like to vote off?”
Everyone voted and no one had over one vote. Somehow.
“Ohh, one of those games,” Johnny said. “If you can’t decide, go back to sleep.”
“Mafia~ oh mafia~!” Johnny sang.
You and Jaehyun lifted your heads.
“Oh there you are, my little mafia. Who would you like to kill, mafia?”
You weren’t sure who to go for next. Yuta and Jungwoo had to stay alive for the plan, but you weren’t sure about everyone else.
Jaehyun pointed to Mark and raised his eyebrows, asking if you agreed. You shrugged and nodded. You both pointed at Mark.
“Oh? Really? Really, really? Wow! Okay!”
You tried not to laugh and put your head back down.
“Oh cop~! The next stop is: cop. Who would you like to check, cop? Okay~! Is there a doctor in the house? Oh doc! Who will you save, doc? Think carefully doctor! Think with all of your heart and your hippocratic oath! Okay, I’ll ask you about my bill later. Everyone wake and greet the new morning.”
You all woke up, you pretended to yawn and roll over in bed, and put your arm across Jaehyun. He patted your arm and you pretended to wake up.
Johnny stood still like a video game character who had just spawned in.
You all stared at him.
He stared back.
“...”
“...”
“...”
“Anyway, Mark is dead.”
Mark looked heartbroken. Poor goofball.
“I still think Jungwoo is suspicious,” Yuta said.
“Me? I’m just a citizen. You’re the suspicious one, you keep laying blame everywhere.”
“You have to lay blame somewhere, that’s how the game is played.”
“Are you just picking people you don’t like?”
“I can only trust Yuta,” Jaehyun said. “He’s really good at this game.”
You nodded. “But so is Jungwoo. Who do you suspect when the dream team is broken up?”
“Unless they’re the mafia and this is all an act.”
“Oh, shit,” you whispered.
Yuta stared at the two of you for a few moments. “I think it’s Jaehyun, y/n. Done.”
“Such confidence,” you replied.
“I’ll give you time to talk it out,” Johnny said and set a timer on his phone.
“I think he’s the mafia and he’s floundering,” Anna said.
“That could be it,” Eunji added.
“Why do you think I’m the mafia?” Yuta asked. “You know how I play.”
“That’s exactly something the mafia would say.”
“What about you?” Eunji asked Jungwoo.
“Me?”
“Mhm.”
“I’m a cop.”
Taeyong pressed his eyes closed and tried to sigh without anyone noticing. You noticed.
“You’re the cop?”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t seem like a cop.”
“I’m a very good cop, every investigation I take on gets solved.”
“So who do you think is the mafia, cop?” You asked.
Jungwoo looked around the table. “I’m leaning towards… Anna, honestly.”
“Me?” She asked.
“Yeah. You seem suspicious.”
Anna turned to Yuta and glared at him.
“How’s it feel, mafia?”
She glared at him harder.
The alarm went off. “Okay, you have to vote.”
Everyone pointed. Most were pointing at Anna.
“Eunji, you have to save me,” she said.
“How do I save you?”
“And my lovely wife is no more.” Johnny said. “Go to sleep.”
You all put your heads down.
Johnny sang. “Mafia, mafia, who will you pick? Mafia mafia, who will--”
“Get sick.”
“You’re dead, Mark. You can’t talk.”
The group chuckled.
“Will the real mafia, please wake up.”
You and Jaehyun raised your heads and shared your second devious smile of the night. Anna looked at you, unimpressed. You blew her a kiss.
You pointed at Jungwoo and raised your brows to ask if Jaehyun agreed. He nodded and you both pointed at him to show Johnny your pick.
“Okay. Okay. Okay? Okay! I got it! I said I got it! I got it!”
Mark started laughing and Jaehyun implored Johnny with his expression.
“Alright, thank you to the mafia, without them, this wouldn’t be the same.”
You put your heads back down.
“And the cop? Thank you copper. And the doc? Thank you doccer. Everyone awake, to a new, fresh morn’.”
“Doccer?” Taeyong whispered to himself.
“It’s the next morning,” Johnny continued. “...Jungwoo is dead.”
“Oh my god,” Yuta said. “It was Jaehyun and y/n.”
“Wait, are we done?” Eunji asked. “We didn’t find anyone.”
“There’s still four of us,” Jaehyun said.
“How many mafia are left?” You asked.
Johnny smiled. “I don’t know, you tell me.”
You smiled and held up two fingers.
Yuta groaned. “I should have gone with my gut!”
“Why didn’t you?” Jungwoo asked.
“I have no idea!”
The group laughed.
“What number game was that?” Jaehyun asked.
You started ticking them off on your fingers, “First game… Borked by Mork. Second game… Ladies Night. Third game… Sleeper Cell Dream Team.”
He nodded.
“Where do you come up with this shit?” Eunji laughed.
“I have no idea, my good dude.”
“Should we play one more game?” Jungwoo asked the table.
“I don’t know,” Anna responded, nodding a Johnny, “Are you okay? Didn’t you stand all day while you were setting up the festival?”
“I’m okay.”
“Your feet don’t hurt?”
He smiled. “They’re fine, my love.” He looked past her for a few moments before gesturing at what he was looking at. “Anyway, I think at least one of us is a lost cause.”
Anna turned. Jaehyun’s face was buried in your neck and in between gentle pats and shoves, you were giggling as you tried to fend him off.
“We have guests, sir! Guests!”
“Tell them to get their own wife.”
“Oh my god--ahh!”
Anna shook her head. “I guess we’re done.”
a/n: I hope you enjoyed my little ditty (heavily) inspired by watching the (at the time, new-- this has been sitting in an unfinished state for a long time 😅😅😅 lol) NCT mafia game (and then rewatching the old one). I thought, “Wouldn’t it be fun of my idiots did this?” yes. I think so. lol
[this is the end this time! I promise]
previous | main cast | masterlist | start again?🍑
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Work of Art - Masterlist
Work of Art [Jeong Jaehyun]
By: noonaishere (main blog: symphonyofmars)
Fic type: social media au / traditional
Pairing: Jaehyun x fem!reader
Genre: slow burn, friends to lovers, college au (replacement for Dear.M? I don’t know about you but I’m still salty it was cancelled)
Warnings: allusions to emotional and financial abuse, backhanded compliments, negging, sexual assault, drinking, suicide mention
Status: completed!
Updates: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays at 12pm EST
SYNOPSIS:
Y/n is an art student who - through much hard work and many scholarships - has gotten accepted to the Neo Cultural Technological Institute, a foremost University in Seoul, Korea. There, she makes friends, keeps up with project deadlines, and meets one Jeong Jaehyun. She knows she’s there to work but… the dimpled dancer just might sway her heart.
[I was originally planning to do the whole social media part of this smau, but ended up dropping it, as the story idea seized me and I needed to write it and the social media pics aspect would have taken too long. There’s just texts and group chats. Any part that has 💌 means it has some amount of text.]
🍑 main cast
Parts:
🍑 one | 💌 in the beginning...
🍑 two | 💌 café et pluie
🍑 three | richelda rich
🍑 four | foreign swaggers
🍑 five | phone tag
🍑 six | 💌 music and dancing
🍑 seven | beauty rest
🍑 eight | 💌 you know tom and jerry? jerry is here
🍑 nine | 💌 dump out your bag
🍑 ten | 💌 “i lived in america for four years”
🍑 eleven | copacetic
🍑 twelve | 💌 have you had soju yet?
🍑 thirteen | 💌 water and wallflowers
🍑 fourteen | 💌 let’s goooooooo
🍑 fifteen | 💌 j and j back at it!
🍑 sixteen | 💌 government issued high-five cat protection squad
🍑 seventeen | 💌 26 seconds
🍑 eighteen | if you’re so okay why do I hear crying?
🍑 nineteen | 💌 feelings and ice cream
🍑 twenty | it’s *not* okey dokey, yo
🍑 twenty-one | the wonders of the follicular world
🍑 twenty-two | 💌 forlorn looks (belonging to others)
🍑 twenty-three | i’ll buzz your head
🍑 twenty-four | 💌 scout’s honor
🍑 twenty-five | 💌 animal crossing
🍑 twenty-six | 💌 a catch, a queen, if i were song i’d be a bop
🍑 twenty-seven | hi, hello, annyeong from the other side
🍑 twenty-eight | 💌 ms united states canada mexico panama
🍑 twenty-nine | 💌 a knight protects his queen
🍑 thirty | 💌 my spellcheck doesn’t like ‘food was had’
🍑 thirty-one | the grim reaper has come to collect
🍑 thirty-two | court is in session
🍑 thirty-three | expensif
🍑 thirty-four | 💌 the salon is open
🍑 thirty-five | OnlyOmmas
🍑 thirty-six | 💌 have you had breakfast today
🍑 thirty-seven | class? what class?
🍑 thirty-eight | 💌 our lady of drama
🍑 thirty-nine | humbirdery: confirmed
🍑 forty | ice cold americanos
🍑 forty-one | 💌 onions make me emotional
🍑 forty-two | i want to meddle but i refrain
🍑 forty-three | miss skull meats
🍑 forty-four | 💌 laptop
🍑 forty-five | 💌 when will my pencil case come back from the dance studio?
🍑 forty-six | 💌 *ABS*
🍑 forty-seven | 💌 question marks
🍑 forty-eight | 💌 girl’s day!
🍑 forty-nine | we live here now
🍑 fifty | GREASY
🍑 fifty-one | 💌 ann-phra-dite
🍑 fifty-two |💌 johnny dad, anna mom
🍑 fifty-three | 💌 take them all
🍑 fifty-four | *delete*
🍑 fifty-five | 💌 no hard feelings
🍑 fifty-six | mr. chen, my beloved
🍑 fifty-seven | 💌 pfeffernusse
🍑 fifty-eight | common law wife
🍑 fifty-nine | 🔫🔫
🍑 sixty | how jeffery
🍑 sixty-one | or maybe it was the slovakian students
🍑 sixty-two | 💌 pep talks are important
🍑 sixty-three | 💌 interloper
🍑 sixty-four | 💌 nice lipstick
🍑 sixty-five | secret agent doberman
🍑 sixty-six | you’re cute jeans
🍑 sixty-seven | swell
🍑 sixty-eight | is that weird?
🍑 sixty-nine | 💌 earthquake, take me now
🍑 seventy | council meeting
🍑 seventy-one | 💌 thanks a ton
🍑 seventy-two | 💌 we’ve all done stupid shit for 6’2”
🍑 seventy-three | legit disgusted
🍑 seventy-four | 💌 cherry blossoms
🍑 seventy-five | 💌 some things are universal
🍑 seventy-six | terpsichore
🍑 seventy-seven | 💌 personally victimized by regina george
🍑 seventy-eight | 🧋🧋
🍑 seventy-nine | left on read
🍑 eighty | got em!
🍑 eighty-one | 💌 egregious bros
🍑 eighty-two | that’s not what I heard her say
🍑 eighty-three | throw bone to sky!
🍑 eighty-four | 💌 such a goof
🍑 eighty-five | homie
🍑 eighty-six | I feel the power of satan in me
🍑 eighty-seven | 💌 taeyong said the same thing
🍑 eighty-eight | 💌 food is my life
🍑 eighty-nine | you snipe but you won’t take the shot
🍑 ninety | 💌 the color and the shape
🍑 ninety-one | 💌 hyper-awake
🍑 ninety-two | i’ll leave first
🍑 ninety-three | mr. bigbooté
🍑 ninety-four | 💌 how many words is an audio file worth?
🍑 ninety-five | me paint
🍑 ninety-six | 💌 i believe you *so much*
🍑 ninety-seven | 💌 a newborn deer on ice
🍑 ninety-eight | 💌 pull the trigger, piglet
🍑 ninety-nine | 💌 audiovisual
🍑 one hundred | tea and tea and tea
🍑 one hundred and one | we both saw it
🍑 one hundred and two | 💌 i guess i thought i was too smart
🍑 one hundred and three | i’m proud of you
🍑 one hundred and four | summer crimes
🍑 one hundred and five | totally spies
🍑 one hundred and six | 💌 flower viewing
🍑 one hundred and seven | the superior roommate
🍑 one hundred and eight | desperately seeking (missed) connection
🍑 one hundred and nine | 💌 hey
🍑 one hundred and ten | and then you can move on
🍑 one hundred and eleven | exqueeze me? bakin powder?
🍑 one hundred and twelve | 💌 before the summer is over
🍑 one hundred and thirteen | ginger ale
🍑 one hundred and fourteen | 💌 long flight
🍑 one hundred and fifteen | brooklyn babey!
🍑 one hundred and sixteen | 💌 sitting on the swings
🍑 one hundred and seventeen | 💌 do you want to pet the cat?
🍑 one hundred and eighteen | 💌 THE PART WHERE YOU LOSE JAEHYUN ON THE SUBWAY
🍑 one hundred and nineteen | group chat singularity
🍑 epilogue one | 💌 four years later
🍑 epilogue two | 💌 two and a half years after that
🍑 epilogue three | about three months after that
🍑 epilogue four | something like two years later
[If you’re thinking, “Hey, noona/symph that’s too many fucking parts” my answer to you is: “Yes.” And also, “It might get one or two more, I literally cannot be contained. I have the Too Much gene and this means we all need to suffer.]
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