JUNGKOOK

I stood in the bathroom, finishing washing my hands as I stared into the mirror. Obviously there was nothing wrong with me. I’d done my makeup especially well today, and my outfit too, said I’d made an effort, without seeming too obvious. My hair hung down my back in shiny curtains, pinned up on the side with a cute barrette… So why hadn’t he made a move yet? Or was I the only one who thought this was a date? I sighed, tossing my lip-balm back into my purse after having applied another coat to my lips.

‘Maybe this was just all in my head…’ I told myself, giving my reflection one last look before exiting the restroom.

Jungkook stood outside, facing away from me. Hands in his pockets, kicking at the ground at stones I couldn’t see from this distance.

“Oppa!” I called out to him, making his head snap up and turn around, his look of surprise turning into a smile as he saw me walk over. “Sorry for taking so long.”

“Ahh, don’t worry about it…” he mumbled, bringing a hand to the back of his head as he smiled in embarrassment, “Shall we?”

I nodded sheepishly, and we went on making our way through the giant public park. I was the one who had suggested coming to the flower gardens, but now I sort of regretted my decision. At first, it had seemed like a really romantic idea: strolling hand in hand through the beautiful gardens and looking at the flowers together… Jungkook would smile at me, and maybe even compare me to the flowers… but none of that had happened. Instead, he’d barely said two words to me, looking at his feet the whole time, and standing so far apart from me I’m pretty sure that other visitors didn’t even think we were together.

We entered another greenhouse, filled with pretty exotic plants, and again, he had nothing to say. I sighed – perhaps a little louder than I’d meant to – because he suddenly looked up at me, a worried look in his eyes, asking “Is everything okay?”

I shook my head, forcing a smile on my face and said, “Oh, no… I mean yes. I mean… I’m just a little tired.”

“Oh, why don’t we take a break then, let’s go over there, I think I saw a café.” I pointed pack towards the door, so we left. I followed him outside, and he led the way – for once, seeming sure of himself – down a narrow little cobbled path that was quite prettily lined with little bushes of blooming flowers. It seemed a little out of the way, but there was indeed a small café nestled in the back of one of the buildings, with lovely little white tables spread out into a green lawn under the sunshine.

“Aaawww… it looks full though…” he said, looking disappointed as I looked around and noticed that indeed, all the tables seemed to be taken.

“Hmm… that’s ok, let’s just go sit over there,” I suggested, motioning towards some benches in the distance, and pulling on his arm.

I dunno if it was just because I hadn’t really been aware of what I was doing, but it was only a few moments later that I realized that I was still holding on to his arm. He hadn’t said anything but was dutifully following behind me as I pulled, and I decided not to let go. A few moments later, he wiggled his wrist out of my grip, and grabbed onto my hand, lacing our fingers together. I felt my eyes widen but thought that if I turned around to show my surprise, he might drop my hand so I didn’t.

A moment before were about to reach the bench, an old couple arrived and sat down onto it. I stopped dead in my tracks, face twisting in despair and heard Jungkook start laughing behind me. I turned to look at him, in shock, but he didn’t notice me right away. His face looked so beautiful when he laughed like that, and he actually looked like the teenager that he was. For the first time today, he looked totally carefree, and it was amazing to behold.

“I guess it’s really not our luck, huh?” he looked down at me, still beaming, and I felt myself flush. I nodded, looking away in embarrassment.

“Come on,” he said, unfortunately NOT grabbing my hand again, “let’s go look somewhere else. There’s gotta be a place we can sit somewhere…”

So again, we started walking down the little winding path. The further we went, the less people there seemed to be. Eventually, we ended up in a little garden that looked so peaceful and quiet, and like it came straight out of a fairytale. There were blooming cherry trees all around, a little brook with a brige going across it, and right in the middle, there was a little white gazebo with seating, and surprisingly, it was completely, deserted. We both turned to look at each other at exactly the same time, and he just smiled and held out his hand to me. I placed my fingers in his, and within seconds, he’d started running down the hill.

“Jungkookie! Wait up!!” I called out in surprise, though I was laughing, trying to keep up.

We ran the short distance to the little shelter, and once we had finally reached our destination, he threw his hands up in the hair, making little fists and shouting “Yes!!” in a ridiculous little victory dance.

I couldn’t help but laugh, though it was a little hard since I was still panting from that sudden run.

“My lady…” he turned, giving me a low bow and gesturing to the seat. I cracked up again, seeing him act like that. I didn’t know if it was the adrenaline going to his head that had made him loosen up, or if it was just the lack of people around us, but I was both surprised and happy at his sudden personality change.

“Why thank you, kind sir.” I answered, playing along.

He grinned a mouth full of teeth at me, before sitting down on the seat next to me. For a moment we both smiled, looking at our surroundings. But in an instant the awkwardness was back and it made me sigh again.

“Aila, what’s wrong?” he asked me, his voice full of tentative concern.

“Nothing…” I mumbled, staring at my hands in my lap. “It’s just that…”

“That what?” he asked, when I didn’t go on, and I raised my eyes to look up at him.

Apparently I wasn’t supposed to do that because immediately he looked away, as if the ceiling of our little shelter was suddenly incredibly interesting.

“Jungkook-ah…” I started, “Why did you agree to come today if you didn’t wanna be here?”

His eyes snapped back to me and he exclaimed, “What?!”

“I feel like you don’t wanna be here…”

“Why do you think that?!” he said, his forehead creasing into a rather amusing expression of shock.

“You’ve barely said two words to me today… and you just walk ahead of me… and you don’t even try to hold my hand…” it took all my courage to add that last part, dying of internal shame as soon as the words were out of my mouth.

“Your…” he gulped, “hand?”

I nodded, not looking up.

“You, hum… want me to?” he asked, his voice croaking a little.

I could hear the nervousness in his voice, and again, I just nodded. There was no response from him, but a few seconds later, I felt his hand close onto mine. I looked up in wonder, but he was pointedly looking away, as his left-hand fingers wrapped themselves around my right-hand ones. I looked down at them in surprise, and then back at him, and back at our entwined hands, feeling shy smile taking over my face.

For a moment, neither of us said anything, just enjoying the moment. Or perhaps we were just both waiting for our hearts to stop beating so fast before speaking up again. I know I was.

“Oppa…” I felt him tense at me calling him that. “I… do you like me?” I asked, not looking at him.

“Aish… Why do you say it so directly like that…” he whined at me, and I looked up to see that his face was totally flushed, and again, he was scratching the back of his head nervously with his other hand. “I’m the guy… Aren’t I supposed to be asking that?”

“I just felt like… like you didn’t like me… so maybe I should just give up…” I mumbled, sheepishly.

He mumbled something so quietly that I didn’t hear and turned to ask, “What was that?”

“Hum… Aila-ya… it’s just… you make me nervous, you know?”

“I do?” I echoed, a dumb look plastered on my face, though for some reason, it seemed to make him smile.

“Yeah,” he smiled more softly, bringing a hand to my face and tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ear, “you do.”

I took a sharp intake of breath, both surprised and overwhelmed by the sudden confession and display of tenderness. Then he took his hand away and looked into the distance, bringing both his hands into his lap. My own hand felt suddenly cold, and I waited – seconds seeming like years – before he turned around to face me again.

“I do like you Aila.” he smiled, blushing again before looking down. Then he peeked at me again from under his long lashes, and flashed me a small smirk before asking. “You wanna date?”

I was stunned. And then I just burst out laughing. How could he be so cute and shy one moment, and then so cheeky the next?! But of course, that was one of the reasons I’d fallen for him in the first place.

“On one condition.” I said, with the most serious face I could muster.

His eyebrows suddenly rose up in alarm, his cool demeanor shattered, as he asked me, “What?”

I bit my lip, looking away because if I said it while looking straight at him I would just lose my nerve. I stood up, and then, grabbing his hands, pulled on them so he’d understand I wanted him to stand up as well. He was so tall that he literally towered over me, and when I finally looked up, he was staring down at me with the most curious expression. I’d never really been this close to him before and now, I was only a hair’s breath away from being able to hear his heartbeat. I felt mine accelerating alarmingly in my chest, but for some reason, I couldn’t look away as his big dark eyes locked onto to mine.

“I… hum…” I stuttered, forgetting all the words I’d been planning to say. But luckily, I think he’d figured it out because in a moment, his arms wrapped around my waist – gingerly, as if he was afraid to hold on to tight – and he pulled me a little closer to him, bending his head down so it stood only inches from mine before he asked, “Is this what you want?” in a low whisper.

I could only nod, unable to make any sound, and he lowered his lips onto mine in a soft, chaste, yet lingering kiss. He only pressed his lips there for a few seconds, before pulling away, and I don’t know which one of us was more embarrassed, but the way he looked at me as he asked, “And now?” afterwards turned my insides into mush.

“I will only date you if you kiss me like this every single day.”

It had taken all my courage to say that, but the way his cheeks reddened in response was especially cute. Then he pulled me tightly into his chest, and whispered into my hair in response, “You got it…”