Chapter 13

"Exploring the unknow requires tolerating uncertainty."
- Brian Greene

If Jungkook said it was a surprise, seeing Dasom in front of his door, it would have been an understatement.

It even took him a second to realize that he was half , dumbfounded by her taking his offer earlier than expected.

He followed her gaze and quickly covered his torso, a rush of blood creeping up in his ears.

“Ah, I'm sorry” he stuttered, turning his head and searching for a shirt hurriedly. “I just came from under the shower.”

Dasom nodded and entered his – beyond chaotic – room.

“Make yourself a home” he said, while awkwardly shuffling to his fridge, opening it and taking two cold bottles of beer from it.

As he turned around, a chuckle of surprise escaped his mouth.

Dasom had shoved all of the clothes on his bed onto the floor and sat on it, leaning her back against the wall with her knees pulled to her chest.

She shrugged at his expression. “I was taking you by word.”

Jungkook nodded and was unsure of what to do next. They barely knew each other and she wore only sleeping shorts and a tank top – a tank top that even showed her bra, he noticed taking a closer look – so he thought it would be weird sitting next to her.

But on the other hand – it was his room, after all.

He sat down next to her, so far they wouldn't touch, but he could still feel her body heat radiating. As he handed over her beer, she took it from him and their hands brushed against each other. He was surprised at how warm and soft her touch was.

“Cheers” she toasted lazily, and they clinked the bottoms of their bottles against each other.

“To another sleepless night” Jungkook mumbled to himself, but from the way he felt her eyes on him, he knew that Dasom had heard him.

“Can't sleep, huh?” she snickered. “You should really stop thinking about me so much.”

Jungkook snorted at her sarcastic remark and set the bottle to his lips, swallowing a large chug.

“Talk for yourself” he countered. “You're not any better.”

Dasom sighed dramatically, waving around with her hands.

“Ah, you caught me. I'm really too full of myself.”

Jungkook started chuckling, leaning the back of his head against the wall and closing his eyes.

“You do look tired, though” Dasom commented.

“That's because I am, smarty pants.”

“Where's the sass coming from?” she giggled and bumped her shoulder into his. “What keeps you from sleeping then?”

Jungkook opened one eye, seeing her eyeing him up and down.

“You're a psychology student” he yawned. “You tell me.”

For a second, she seemed like she was searching – even struggling – for the right words, but then a grin appeared on her chap lips. Something that didn't fit her girly looks at all.

“If you don't know that for yourself, you should probably change your major.”

Again, Jungkook grunted, amazed by her quick-wittedness.

“Maybe” he replied, starting to scrape off the label on his bottle. “But what's your excuse?”

“My profession” she returned quick like a bullet. “If you want to call it like that.”

Jungkook's head turned around quick, sending his vision off into space and back. Dasom seemed amused by his freaked-out expression, because she started laughing at him.

“I'm not a e” she grinned. “I'm not as easy as that, so stop gawking.”

“I...I never...I, uh-”

“Ah, nevermind. Let's just say I'm used to being up all night. This studying thing is really a huge readjustment for me.”

Jungkook was afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing again, so he simply nodded and went on picking at the already damaged label.

Next to him, Dasom stretched her arms up in the air, her bare arms brushing along his by accident, but she didn't seem to mind. Without thinking, his eyes fixed onto her body.

The way how her body was really lean but trained at the same time, the perfect side profile of her face, the geometric wolf tattoo on her arm – and the black lace that showed a little too much under her wide top.

“I told you to stop gawking” she grinned as his gaze met hers.

Immediately, a blush appeared on his cheeks, causing Dasom to giggle.

“You're not very confident with girls, are you?”

“What's that tattoo?” he pointed at her arm, trying to change the topic, which didn't stay undetected by her.

Dasom smiled to herself for a second, before extending her arm in his direction.

“It's just a tattoo I got with all of my friends” she explained.

It itched Jungkook to trace the lines with his fingers, to feel whether her skin felt as soft as it looked. Her forearm was very pale and almost seemed translucent, with the pattern of her veins clearly visible beneath it. The dark tattoo stood out like a neon sign in the dark night.

Again, it was something that didn't really fit her outlooks.

“Are you, like, in a gang or something?” he mumbled, raising one of his eyebrows while inspecting it.

“No, who do you think I am?” she asked, sounding a little attacked. “They are my family.”

“Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt-”

Jungkook got disrupted by Dasom clapping her hands, and she flashed a bright smile at him.

“So, what do all those cool college kids do these days? Go clubbing? Snort coke off a stripper?”

He narrowed his eyes, clearly confused by her mood swings.

“Like I would know” he said slowly. “I'm not a cool kid. And I definitely don't” he put his fingers up in air quotes. “'snort coke off a stripper'.”

“So what do you do then?” she asked, looking around his room. “Except smashing your mirror trying to immitate Bruce Lee?”

Jungkook scratched his head and chuckled nervously, remembering that after all, he did it because he was seeing things. He couldn't quite tell her that, right?

“I mostly study” he explained, feeling endlessly geeky. “Or watch movies.”

“Well, I sure as hell don't want to study” she joked.

She leaned over to grab his laptop. For once, that wasn't anything someone you barely knew would do. And as she did so, her top slipped up a little, revealing the skin just above her waistline. Jungkook caught himself running his tongue over his lips, and then bit down to regain his composure. He felt like a and he didn't like it one bit.

“Let's watch a movie then” she announced, handing him the laptop.

They were into half of the movie when Dasom threw Jungkook's blanket over them.

By the end of the movie, they were sitting side by side with their arms touching, and by half of the second movie, when the sun was slowly calling in the next morning with birds starting to chirp outside his window, Dasom's head leaned on his shoulder.

Her steady breathing told him that she was sound asleep, whereas he himself hadn't been able to close his eyes for one second.

For once because of his insomnia.

But also because Dasom's face looked so young and she was so close, he couldn't keep his eyes off of her relaxed features.

It was the second when her eyes started shifting behind her lids quickly and her face scrunching up, when he questioned himself what had happened to her that something clearly terrifying would hunt her in her sleep.

He wanted to hold her, and tell her that everything was going to be fine, no matter what it was.

But he didn't.

Because he knew that it would most probably be a lie, since he had experienced it himself.

It was always a lie. It never had gotten any better for him – only worse.

Just then, Dasom's body twitched next to him and he immediately searched for her eyes. For a split second, there was pure horror in them. She seemed so frightened that Jungkook's heart dropped.

It only took her a moment to compose herself, her typical provocative grin on her lips.

“Didn't I tell you to stop staring?” she mumbled, her voice rasp from sleep.

She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath, before her grin turned into an honest smile – she even nuzzled her face into his shoulder, leaving Jungkook completely paralyzed.

“I-”

“You smell nice” she noted, then backed off and struggled off the bed and onto her tired legs.

With no further explanation or any word at all, she walked to the door, opened it and stepped out, leaving Jungkook staring in disbelief. Just right before the door closed, she popped her head back in, her face completely serious.

“Tell your friends about this and I will end your life, Jeon Jungkook.”

The she disaapeared, leaving Jungkook completely fazed.

And then, he smelled his shirt, wondering what he was smelling like to her.

As Dalnim closed the door behind her, she stopped in the middle of the hallway, which was only lit by the early signs of the sun rising, rubbing her forehead and feeling completely drained and dizzy.

She stood there for a moment, holding her spinning head until she stumbled forward, clumsily unlocking the door to her room and tripping into the dark room. She didn't even notice the snoring Nari in her bed – nor did she really care about her – and went straight for the bathroom.

Hunching over the sink, she turned the faucet on, letting ice cold water run down her wrists to cool down her heated body. Inside her chest, her heart was pounding hard and a look into her mirror told her that her face was flushed and felt hot. What was going on, she wondered. Was she getting sick?

The buzzing of her phone made her head snap up, sending her vision spinning. She grabbed it from out of the pocket of her shorts and answered without looking who the caller was.

Calling her before 6am.

“A bird told me you didn't spend the night in your room.”

“Namjoon, what the ?” Dalnim gasped into the phone, her hands grabbing tight to the sink.

A deep chuckle came from the other side of the line and Dalnim took the opportunity to take a deep breath and get a hold of herself – of her body.

“Where did you sleep, though?” he wondered. “Found a new toy already?” Namjoon sighed over-dramatically and Dalnim pictured him wiping his forehead as he did so. “I guess my beloved cousin won't be glad to hear that.”

“None of your business” Dalnim barked. “What do you want?”

“Just wanted to get an update. How are things going?”

“Great!” she answered a little too fast. “Everything's great. So stop interfering and keeping me from work.”

Then, she simply hung up on him. Overwhelmed by the whole situation, her grip around the phone tightened before she, blinded by rage, smashed it against the door, the display cracking at the sudden force.

Dalnim sunk against the shower door, sliding to the c