Just My Size - Ch. 14

Third-Person point of view

It would be quite the understatement to say Ji-Eun was shocked by Jinki’s answer. At first, she thought she heard him incorrectly. She blinked a few times in response, and kind of mumbled, “Did you just-?”

Jinki chuckled and touched his forehead to hers again. “Yes, my dear Ji-Eun.” He kissed her nose softly. “I love you.”

Ji-Eun gasped almost silently and searched Jinki’s eyes for any indication that he was joking. She found no such thing, just overwhelming love pooling in his deep eyes.

“So, uh,” he broke eye contact and scratched his temple. “Are you gonna, like… respond?” He met Ji-Eun’s eyes again, and his expression just - once again - melted her heart. He looked simultaneously hopeful and nervous.

Ji-Eun looked down for a second, then closed her eyes. She took a deep breath in, let it out slowly, then looked up into Jinki’s now worry-filled eyes. She couldn’t leave the poor boy hanging!

This was the moment she’d dreamed of; a scene she’d rehearsed in her head for years now. The situation and setting was romantic, and she should have confidently repeated those three sweet words back to him, but her voice wouldn’t work. Air moved through , but no noise came out. Her vocal chords hesitated; she cursed her body for not cooperating, and tears started to form in her eyes.

Just when she thought Jinki was going to back away, he actually moved in closer. He hugged her tightly and pet the back of her head lovingly. “My dear Ji-Eun, what’s wrong?”

Ji-Eun still couldn’t say anything, so she just shook her head and wrapped her arms tightly around Jinki’s waist.

“Was… Was I wrong in thinking this was the right time for a confession?” He sniffled back a light sob. He lowered his voice to barely a whisper. “Was I wrong in thinking that you felt the same way?”

“No!” Ji-Eun yelled as her head snapped up. Her voice cracked, and sounded foreign to her, but at least it was working again. “No, you’re not wrong,” she assured him at a more reasonable volume. “I’m just… so emotional right now.” She looked up at him, and giggled through the few tears that escaped from her eyes.

Jinki’s smile returned a little, and he squeezed her to him once more. She returned the gesture, and they broke the hug a bit. Their hands intertwined, and their eyes met.

Once again, Ji-Eun took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly. Jinki patiently waited for her to collect herself.

“I… love you, Jinki.” She smiled sheepishly, and he out-right grinned with joy. “A lot.” She added for good measure. Jinki laughed - a sound filled with pure joy - and picked Ji-Eun up off the desk. He twirled her around, and she let loose her own laughter.

As Jinki spun her around, Ji-Eun got a glimpse of the door. She thought she saw a head peeking around the door frame, and patted Jinki to let him know she wanted to get down. He complied and tried to hug her again, but she moved towards the door. Jinki was confused, and followed her. She put her hand out behind her, and he took the signal to hold it.

She hadn’t heard any footsteps running away, so she poked her head around one side of the doorway. Jinki did the same on the other side.

Ji-Eun saw a figure hunched over, trying to tip-toe away. That figured looked awfully familiar…

“Hea-Jung?” Ji-Eun called. The figure stopped and straightened up.

“Oh, uh… Hi Ji-Eun! Onew-Oppa!” She greeted while giggling nervously.

“What are you doing?” Ji-Eun asked accusatorily.

Hea-Jung meant to put something in her back pocket nonchalantly, but missed and it fell to the floor. “Oh, no!” She picked up her cell phone and inspected it for damage.

“Did you record-?!” Ji-Eun swiftly made her way to her friend, and Hea-Jung couldn’t dodge any more questions. She hung her head and showed Ji-Eun the screen. Ji-Eun pressed “play” on the video that was just saved, and saw Jinki and herself in the classroom kissing. She kept watching through the whole thing, which ended with Jinki picking up Ji-Eun.

At first, Ji-Eun didn’t know what to say; part of her was livid at her friend for spying on them. Then Jinki said from over her shoulder, “Can you send me that?” He then wrapped his arms around Ji-Eun, and her temporary anger subsided.

“Yeah, I’d like it too, actually.” She giggled and turned her head to the side. Jinki turned his head as well, and they kissed briefly.

“S-Sure! I can do that!” Hea-Jung was obviously relieved that they weren’t mad at her.

“Hey, Hea-Jung,” Jinki addressed her again, “Can you get a few couple pictures of us?” He then smiled at a tomato-red Ji-Eun.

“OK, why not?” Hea-Jung was more than happy to oblige, and started clicking the shutter button rapidly as Jinki did cute things with Ji-Eun.

He kissed her sweetly for a couple of seconds, then turned Ji-Eun around to face her friend and back hugged her. He put his lips right up against her ear and whispered seductively, “Sweet nothings~” Ji-Eun couldn’t help but laugh both at the horrible pun and the tickling feeling of his lips and breath.

“Oh, that’s a great one!” Hea-Jung exclaimed as she adjusted her angle and clicked the button more.

Mi-Sun and Minho found them then, and Mi-Sun looked from the phone screen to the couple in front of them all. “Yeah, work it guys!” She cheered, which made Ji-Eun laugh and blush again.

After a few more poses, Minho spoke up. “Hey guys, we’re going to Noraebang again. You coming?”

Hea-Jung stopped taking photos, and Jinki looked at Ji-Eun hesitantly. “Sure, it’s OK.” She smiled sweetly, and Jinki smirked.

“Alright, let’s go!” Mi-Sun her fist up in the air as she, Minho, and Hea-Jung turned to go down the hall.

“We’ll catch up in a minute,” Jinki called after them. The girls called back “OK~,” and Minho turned his head and nodded. Ji-Eun could have sworn that he had an annoyed expression on his face.

When they were alone in the hall, Jinki addressed Ji-Eun again. “Are you sure you’re OK with going there? I remember how uncomfortable you were-”

“So long as no one makes me sing, I’m perfectly OK with going there.” Ji-Eun assured her boyfriend, and Jinki relented. They too turned to go down the hallway and out of the building.

Noraebang was a lot more fun for Ji-Eun this time. Taemin was completely enamored with this Naeun girl, and kept trying to get her to sing. Finally, he found a song she approved of, and they sang “Dancing in the Street,” the David Bowie and Mick Jagger version.

Neither of them knew the lyrics that well, but they certainly had a fun time dancing in silly ways! Everyone had a great time watching them.

Ji-Eun noticed that the two kids seemed a lot more comfortable around each other, like they had met before today at the Festival. She asked Jinki, but he had no idea what was going on. So she poked Key’s shoulder and asked him.

“Ah, see, Taemin and Naeun share a lot of classes,” Key started. “And they both kinda like each other~” He raised his eyebrows a couple times. “So, they’ve been talking, little by little. Though this is the first time they’ve really interacted, as far as I know.” He shrugged and turned his attention back to Eunji. Eunji smiled brightly at Key, and snuggled into him a bit. Key rested his arm around her shoulders, and they smiled sweetly at each other.

“Key sure isn’t wasting any time, eh?” Ji-Eun whispered as she too snuggled into her beau. Jinki chuckled in response and held her tighter.

As the evening wore on, the songs and performances got crazier. Everything from the latest KPop hits, to old Trot songs, to English-language stuff was being performed, and there seemed to be some contest going on to see who could do the most over-dramatic rendition. So far, it seemed like a tie between Mi-Sun and Jonghyun.

Jinki and Ji-Eun, who were seated at the back of the room once again, realized that no one was really paying attention to them. At first, they just stole quick kisses, then got braver and eventually were making out. Ji-Eun turned herself around so they had a better angle, but her knees kept slipping off the couch. She determined that the best position was for her to sit across Jinki’s lap. She was really embarrassed at first, but once they got back into a pattern of tongues touching and exploring, the embarrassment melted away.

Given that Jinki was against the couch, Ji-Eun didn’t have many options for where to put her arms. She ended up wrapping them behind Jinki’s neck, and raked her hands through his hair. Jinki, on the other hand, had plenty of room to explore, and his hands went from the nape of her neck down to - very tentatively - her rear. She gave a small squeak when he gave her bum a couple light squeezes, and their kiss broke. Jinki quickly put his hand on her waist, but Ji-Eun shook her head.

“It’s OK, you just surprised me!” She giggled, and Jinki calmed down. They kissed sweetly again, but didn’t get a chance to continue.

“Next up is Onew-Oppa!” Mi-Sun called loudly into the microphone. Everyone cheered, and turned towards the couple. Ji-Eun’s face turned bright red again as she scurried off Jinki’s lap, and Jinki was equally red. He stood up, made his way up to the front of the room, and hesitantly took the microphone from Mi-Sun.

“I have no idea what I wanna sing,” he admitted sheepishly.

“Don’t worry, I queued somethin’ up for ya!” Mi-Sun answered coyly as she took her seat next to Minho.

“But what if I don’t know it-” He started, then the song kicked on. A smile crept onto his face, and he turned to Ji-Eun.

“My dear Ji-Eun, will you please join me up here?” He smiled sweetly at her, and held out his hand. Ji-Eun gave him a questioning look. “I’m not asking you to sing, I just want you up here with me.” She took a deep breath, then nodded as she got up from their couch. Jinki smiled broader, and started vocalizing.

The song was James Ingram’s “Forever More.” Ji-Eun was not familiar with it, but it definitely sounded like a love song. Her face got even more red as she took Jinki’s out-stretched hand and stood beside him.

He gazed lovingly into her eyes as he started the first verse. Ji-Eun shyly smiled back, and tried to focus on his voice, rather than everyone’s eyes on them. Sensing her discomfort, Jinki turned her so she was facing the wall, and wrapped his free hand around her waist. That way, she could just look at the wall or close her eyes and lean into him (which she did) while he sang in her ear. Ji-Eun was very grateful, and was able to relax into him. She concentrated on the lyrics and the emotion he put into his singing, and knew he meant every single word.

They started swaying to the beat, and Ji-Eun felt like she could just drift off into the sky on Jinki’s heavenly voice. But at the last line of the chorus - “I’ll be the one to love you when the morning comes” - her eyes popped open. Did Jinki even know what that meant? That the singer and his beloved would… make love as the sun rose after a night in bed next to each other? Ji-Eun’s face grew hot with nervousness (and a little excitement) at the thought.

The second verse didn’t help at all. With even more allusions to love-making, Ji-Eun found herself turning her head as far away from her watching friends as possible. Jinki squeezed her tightly, trying to comfort her. He most certainly did not want this to be bad for her; he wanted her to feel loved - to feel his love for her.

As he started on the final chorus, he moved so that he was facing their friends, and she had her back to them. He directed her hands to his shoulders, and he put his free arm around her waist again. As they slow danced, Ji-Eun rested her head on Jinki’s shoulder. He hugged her again, and she looked up into his eyes just in time for the last line:

“I’ll be the one to love you forever more.”

Happy tears formed in Jinki’s eyes as he leaned in to kiss her sweetly. As their friends cheered and clapped, he whispered, “I will always love you, my dear Ji-Eun.”

Ji-Eun finally broke out her radiant smile, awkwardness and nerves forgotten. “And I will love you Jinki. Forever more.”

“I… love you, Jinki.”

Ji-Eun was laying on her bed, watching the shaky video that Hea-Jung had taken for about the 1,000th time. As the video ended abruptly, Ji-Eun let her phone flop onto her chest. She sighed contently, and let her thoughts drift.

The first place her mind went was not to the school room where the confession happened, but to the noraebang room when Jinki was singing. Her heart fluttered and her face flushed once again. When she remembered the lines that alluded to the singer and his lover consummating their love, she was positively giddy - which surprised her greatly.

“Were the nerves just from being in front of my friends when those lines were sung…?” She mused aloud. Before she could think anymore on the subject, her phone vibrated. She jumped up in surprise and practically dropped her phone in the process. Once she had a good hold of it, she checked the screen.

Jinki
Are you still awake?

She unlocked her phone and typed a hasty:

Ji-Eun

Yep!

Jinki

Can I call you?

Ji-Eun

Please do!

Jinki

Actually, can we video chat?

Ji-Eun checked out her appearance quickly and decided she was decent enough. Sure, she was already in her PJs, but they weren’t anything scandalous - just a large t-shirt and pajama pants. She briefly considered throwing on some eyeliner since she was bare faced, but she figured - the hell with it! Jinki would have eventually seen her without make-up on anyways.

Ji-Eun

Ok, sure!

A few seconds later, she answered his incoming call as she flopped back onto her mountain of pillows.

“Hey Jinki!” She greeted brightly.

“Hello, my love,” he crooned smoothly. Ji-Eun giggled, and he followed up with, “That feels so good to say!”

“It’s so good to hear, too,” Ji-Eun replied. “My love.” She giggled even more, and Jinki grinned broadly.

A silence passed between them, but it wasn’t awkward at all. They were simply enjoying a moment of staring into each other’s eyes and feeling the love.

An idea occurred to Ji-Eun. “I’ve never seen your room before! Gimme a tour!”

She could tell she caught him by surprise as his eyebrows shot up into his damp hair. But he complied, and she saw his bed disappear from the background as he sat up.

“It’s not a very big room, but it’s home.” He stood up as he spoke, and held his phone as far as he could from his face so she could get a better view.

His room was a pleasant light blue color, with a dark wooden door. Next to the door was his dresser. On the long wall to Jinki’s left was a closet with dark doors. He turned and showed her his desk.

“Sorry it’s kinda messy,” he grimaced.

“It’s OK - your room is so clean, especially compared to mine!” Ji-Eun laughed, and Jinki chuckled a bit as well.

“It can’t be that bad,” he responded as he sat down on the end of his bed. He angled the phone high above him so she could see his twin-sized bed behind him. He then flopped back hard enough to bounce a little bit.

“Oh, it is.” Ji-Eun nodded solemnly as she scooted off her own bed. She still held the phone close to her face so Jinki couldn’t see much yet. “Just promise you won’t judge me too harshly, OK?”

“OK,” Jinki said it almost questioningly.

Ji-Eun took a deep breath in and moved the phone away from her. She rotated slowly and showed him the absolute wreck that was her room. Piles of clothes were everywhere, mixed in with old school papers and random books. The only clean space on floor was in front of her little TV, where her Pump It Up dance pad was sitting. Everything else was a mess.

When she dared to look back at Jinki, she saw he was on the verge of laughing. “Oh, just let it out already!” She mock-chastised him, and he did indeed let it out. He laughed long and loud till his eyes teared up.

“On a scale of one to ten,” Jinki said between breaths, “I give it a ten.”

“What kind of scale is that?” Ji-Eun was baffled.

“The Messiness scale. It’s a perfect ten, m’dear!” Jinki started laughing again, and Ji-Eun joined in as she scooted back to her pile of pillows.

“Lee Jinki, you are one silly, silly person.” Ji-Eun rolled her eyes.

“Happy to be of service.” He made a flourish with his hand like he was bowing, which made Ji-Eun giggle again.

They settled into another comfortable silence for a while, then it was Jinki’s turn to break it. Awkwardly, he asked, “So, uh, what do your PJs look like?” He peered at the phone as if he could actually see for himself without her moving the phone.

Ji-Eun blushed a bit as she held her phone above her. “It’s just this big ol’ shirt and some comfy pants. Nothing special.” She shrugged as she brought the phone back down. “And certainly not y,” she added under her breath, but loud enough for Jinki to hear. But she realized too late that she wasn’t wearing a bra, and wondered if Jinki saw anything. The thought excited her, actually.

Jinki smirked and whispered back, “You are always y.” He threw in a wink for good measure.

Ji-Eun was a bit taken aback by that simple statement, but she managed to fire back. “Well, what about your PJs?” She knew he could see her red cheeks, and she was determined to make him blush as well.

She succeeded very quickly. “I, uh... I might not be, um... quite,” he struggled for the words to say for a second. “I’m not sure I’m exactly decent.”

Satisfied that she managed to catch him off-guard for once, she pressed on. “Oh, now that piques my interest even more!” Without even meaning to, she adapted a totally y expression: her eyes partially closed, she smirked devilishly, and she bit her bottom lip. That alone drove Jinki insane, and he knew he could not show her anything below the waist.

“Can I at least put on actual pants first?” He grimaced.

“Nope.” Her grin became even more wicked, and Jinki found himself wondering what he had gotten himself into this time. He sighed, and held the phone above him.

As he slowly panned downward, Ji-Eun’s heart was pounding hard. He wore an old, beat-up t-shirt on top. Since he was lying on his back, it fit his form nicely and Ji-Eun couldn’t help but try to picture the body that was underneath. As he got to the bottom of the shirt, he shifted his phone over to the side a bit. Suddenly, his body was no longer in the center of the screen, but off to the side.

He continued panning downward, and Ji-Eun saw the plaid fabric of his baggy boxers. She a big breath in to stop herself from squealing as he panned across and she saw the skin of his thigh-

Her bedroom door opened. “Ji-Eunnie, can you please help me with-” As Ha-Eun walked into Ji-Eun’s room with her head in a school textbook, Ji-Eun squeaked in fright and hastily ended the video chat, actually dropping her phone this time.

Ha-Eun’s head snapped up at the sound. “Oh, were you busy? I can leave-”

Ji-Eun couldn’t form a coherent sentence. An almost sinister smirk crept onto Ha-Eun’s face as she shut the door behind her. Ji-Eun scooted back as far into her pillows as possible as her sister pounced on her bed.

“Were you and Onew-oppa ting?” Her eyes grew wide with anticipation.

“What?! NO!” Ji-Eun wasn’t even quite sure what that would entail, but since they hadn’t been texting in the first place, she wasn’t lying. Ji-Eun pulled her knees up to her chest and just stared at her bed sheets for a bit. “What were we doing?” She asked herself internally. She didn’t have any answer other than, “Something y.” She physically shook her head and look at her sister.

“You know you can tell me anything, Unnie.” Ha-Eun’s devilish grin had disappeared and was replaced with a serene smile. It was moments like these that she looked exactly like a younger version of their mother.

Ji-Eun sighed hard. “We were video chatting.” She stated simply.

And just like that, the illusion of Ha-Eun looking like their mother was broken. The mischievous grin returned in full force. “Oh? Really now?” Ha-Eun waggled her eyebrows at her elder sister, and Ji-Eun tried to hide her reddening face with her arms.

“He asked to see my PJs,” she mumbled from behind her arms, “and he was showing me his when you-” she popped her head up - “so rudely interrupted!” She managed to smile to show that she wasn’t really mad. Both sisters burst out laughing.

Between laughs, Ha-Eun asked, “So, what was he wearing?” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively again.

“A t-shirt and boxers,” Ji-Eun admitted.

Ha-Eun let a low “oooohhhhhhhh,” and tapped her finger tips together menacingly. “Could you see anything?”

It took Ji-Eun a second to realize what Ha-Eun meant. After blinking a couple times, it dawned on her. She opened to speak, but didn’t quite know what to say. She then closed and put on a grumpy expression. “I probably would have if you hadn’t barged in!” She turned her head to the side with an annoyed “Hmph!”

“For real?!” Ha-Eun looked really excited for her sister.

Ji-Eun’s grumpy act fell apart as she stared at Ha-Eun. “Why are you so happy? Shouldn’t you be like, disgusted?”

Ha-Eun giggled and patted Ji-Eun’s arm lovingly. “Unnie, I’ve been hoping for you to blossom into a woman and get the hell laid for quite a while now.”

Ji-Eun’s eyes were wide, but her brows were low. “Why are you speaking with such authority on this subject?! Have you-?!” Ji-Eun’s brows shot up and she covered with her hands.

“Maybe~” Ha-Eun’s expressions turned down-right devious, and Ji-Eun buried her head under her arms.

“How-? Why-? When-? Who-? No, on second thought, I don’t wanna know,” Ji-Eun decided.  Ha-Eun laughed at her sister’s embarrassment.

She tapped Ji-Eun on the arm, and the elder uncovered her head. Ha-Eun scooted closer to her sister and looked her right in the eyes. “I’m gonna tell you something, but I am in no way pressuring you.”

Ha-Eun took a deep breath and continued, “You’re about the only girl in either of our grades who hasn’t… ‘gone all the way’ yet.” She nodded a couple of times, showing her seriousness. “I’ve heard some of the other girls making fun of you for it, and I always tell ‘em off. ‘Cause it’s none of their business, and they say some really rude things.”

Ji-Eun nodded this time. “Thanks.” Her eyes wandered down to her bed sheets again. She just figured most people ignored her; she never would have imagined that people actually talked about her.

“They’re just stupid s who you shouldn’t worry about.” Ha-Eun moved closer and hugged her sister. Ji-Eun returned the hug and was thankful to have such an awesome sister.

“Like I said, I’m not telling you this to pressure you into doing something with Onew-Oppa that you’re not ready for.  I just really want you to be happy. You deserve to be treated like a lady, and I think he can do that for you.” Ha-Eun gave her sister a lopsided, kind smile.

From somewhere on the floor next to the bed, the KakaoTalk chime rang out. The sisters broke apart, and Ji-Eun picked up her phone.

Jinki

What happened? Is everything alright?

Ji-Eun smiled at her phone, and Ha-Eun leaned over to see.

“Aw, he’s so sweet,” Ha-Eun cooed as she scooted off the bed. “Well, I should get back to my homework.” She let out a disgusted noise. “Ugh, who’s brilliant idea was it to assign us hard-working students more work over our summer break?!” She scooped up her book and opened the door. Ji-Eun giggled and nodded her agreement.

Before she left, Ha-Eun addressed Ji-Eun sympathetically. “Sorry about interrupting, Unnie.”

“It’s OK,” Ji-Eun smiled at her sister. “Oh, didn’t you need help with something?”

“Yeah, but I’ll see if I can figure it out-”

“I’ll come help you in a minute,” Ji-Eun replied. She typed a quick reply to Jinki letting him know she was going to help her sister with her homework. Ji-Eun figured the moment with Jinki was gone anyway, and both sisters needed to get as much of their homework done as possible before they left for California - in just a few days. The Han sisters would be leaving for an entire month to visit their family in the States. Aw, crap.

Sorrynotsorry for the cliffhanger from the end of last chapter. XD; Only sorry that it took so long to get this chapter out, though! ;)

Man, I tell ya - this story has gone on for a lot longer than I originally intended. XD; And I have no intention of ending it any time soon, either! ;) Too many ideas~

I did have the idea of making a companion story, actually. I never intended for this fic to get mature at all, but I can’t help but start to lead it in that direction! I love writing that stuff and Onew just inspires me so much in that department. XD;

Sooooo~ my idea is that I’ll put all the ~y~ stuff into a separate story. So, if a chapter in this story has a mature scene, I’ll just direct people (who are of-age!) to the corresponding chapter in the mature story. Make sense? Sound good? I just don’t wanna have to mark this whole story as mature when sooo much of it is not.

Anyways, thanks a ton for reading! :D