The stranger said something in an unfamiliar language. Eyebrows furrowed, Jungkook took a steady step back. He continued to dart his eyes back and forth between the man who made no attempt to conceal and the now empty windowsill. Jungkook knew he kept the windows locked and the door remained bolted shut at all times unless he was entering or leaving so how had this stranger managed to get inside?

 And where was the plant? Of all the items in his house why would he have chosen to go after the thing of little economic importance?

The man tilted forward ever-so-slightly. His sleek hair swept across his forehead like parted drapes and his arms hung limp at his sides like deflated balloons. He sputtered as Jungkook's shirt fell onto his face. 

"Put it on." Jungkook said. 

The man fidgeted with the shirt, not understanding which part of his body goes through which hole. "I-". He spoke in Korean; the language Jungkook understood which wasn't saying much considering he had decided to flunk his English classes on purpose.

 The stranger looked up from having been running his lean fingers over the shirt's soft material. His dazed expression dissolved into a joyful one that showed off the most peculiar smile Jungkook had ever seen. An almost oblong-shaped smile stretched his lips tight over his face so that the rounded corners looked like they had been tacked down onto his skin. Coral pink gums capped off the rows of pearly white teeth. Surreal.

Like the flower Jungkook should have been looking at. 

"What did you do with the plant on my windowsill?" 

The stranger struggled to bend his right leg up to his chest as if it were a weight to be lifted. "Everything's awfully heavy as a human,” he mumbled. Had the stranger said that to himself or was he speaking to him? Jungkook couldn't be sure when he wasn't acquainted with people who said what they thought out loud. He couldn’t even be sure the stranger had meant to say that out loud considering he had been staring at his knee. 

Jungkook wanted to get rid of the stranger as soon as possible. Up! and out of his life. 

The stranger grunted. Jungkook continued to watch the man with a detached wariness. His way of life had been to remain calm and composed even if you did feel tense or distraught. The only lifeguard worth protecting was what was inside; the part that neither the world or your common, everyday self could glimpse. If you acted like you were in control of the situation, no one would have reason to suspect it was anything but. 

The man had managed to slide his legs up underneath his bottom and was now pulling himself up with help from the windowsill. 

Jungkook didn't understand. Was he injured? Why was it so difficult for him to move? He scanned his body—taking precaution not to let his eyes roam near his ia—and was just about to conclude that there was nothing wrong when the sun's rays glinted off of the skin near his abdomen. A cloud floated over the sun and the skin no longer gleamed but what Jungkook was seeing had not been a play on part of the sun's rays. 

A cluster of thin, jagged lines marred the skin where his abdomen curved around into his back. Dried blood rimmed the edges and while they looked to only be surface wounds, Jungkook couldn't help but feel some measure of accountability. His wishes to reprimand whoever was responsible for his current situation would go to waste if the man had been injured while under his supposed supervision. 

Jungkook glanced at the stranger who was still struggling to lift himself up into a standing position. He definitely did look the part of an actor.

 The man lifted his head and met Jungkook's fixated gaze head-on. He cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brow. Jungkook latched onto the subtle play of light within his eyes. The brown i