Her eyes fluttered rapidly and something, strangely felt like electricity jolted inside her. Nothing weirder than sensation she felt in her heart. It almost as if her heart was startled that it skipped a beat than as id to make it up, beat faster. She could hear the thumping sound from the back of his ears, which felt warm.

Jihyo was lost for word. Anything that crossed her mind before flew across the window. Even though it’s hard to admit, she was jumbled mess. At one point, she didn’t really understand what Jongkook has tried to do until the elder man already did. The next point when she actually learned what’s going on, her body was short-circuited that it makes no sense for her to comprehend.

Hey, she’s above 30s. She had a boyfriend before. She had experiences being kissed by a man, in much more intense and romantic way. She even acted out ual scene with charming actor. But none of them made her knees weak like a small kiss the singer stole from him a while ago. A little contact of his lips on her forehead felt warm. She felt jittery yet weak at the same time. She never expected this, for Jongkook to kiss her forehead. She never prepare for her reaction to the act as well.

“I’m sorry,” the singer whispered hoarsely, pulled himself away.

The actress opened her unconsciously closed eyes. She met right away with his. Just like that she got another jolted reaction when she saw how clouded those eyes. She can’t grasp the meaning for his apologize. Is he sorry for his push and pull antic or is he sorry for the kiss, or both?

“What?” Jihyo retorted after several minutes of silence.

In mid of this confusing situation, Jongkook managed to smile at her airhead moment.  “Sit down,” he requested her, gestured to the empty chair next to his bed.

Jihyo, got nothing in mind at the moment, followed the request. The singer didn’t let go of his grip on her hand. Jihyo sat with Jongkook still clung to her hand, as if he held on to the safeguard life jacket. He held her as if he tried to tell himself that she actually here next to him.

“Are you going to tell me what happened now?” Jihyo uncertainly spoke.

Jongkook sighed tiredly and nodded. “I will.”

Then Jongkook fulfilled his words. He told her about the threat, about what it’s written and about the constant feeling of someone watching him. Also, he told her about the latest letter he received. Along with his story, Jihyo looked at him with her eyes widened. She also had her own tight grip on the singer’s hand. At some point, Jongkook released his grip only to hold her hand tenderly, laced their fingers together. Jihyo appreciated the touch and gave a squeezed when Jongkook told him about the constant feeling of being stalked.

“He didn’t do something to you, did he?” was the first thing Jihyo asked the singer when he finished his story. She abruptly stood from her chair and pulled the blanket away from the singer so she could take a better look on him. She scanned his body from head to toe, searched for something she didn’t know what, but a sign that nothing happened.

Jongkook squeezed her hand that still laced with him. “Relax,” he cooed her. With his eyes, he managed to convince the actress to sit back. “We shouldn’t worry about me, we should worry about you,” he softly told her, as if afraid the news could hurt her. “He seemed have his attention on you.”

It took her some time to let the news sink in. Strangely, she’s not terrified like he expected her to do. Jihyo felt relief, as out of place as it may sound, to hear that Jongkook was alright, and nothing bad happened to him.

Since when did Jongkook’s safety and well-being matter most to her, she didn’t know. Jihyo didn’t want to know too, at the moment. It’s for her to spent and figured out later in the night, when she’s alone and ready to face whatever it is to face. Truth to be told, she had a good guess about what it might be, but she stubbornly ignored it. Not now, she excused herself. Not at the moment.

“I…I think I’m alright oppa,” she managed to let out.

Just after the answer left from , Jongkook lightly raised her hand and run a finger on her gauzed wrist. “This is not look alright to me,” he reminded her.

The unusually deepness and tender that laced on his voice created a faint blush on her cheeks. Under such intense gaze, she can’t help but drifted her gaze elsewhere than the man in front of her.

And again, the jolted ran straight to her heart. “I’m alright. He could’ve done worse but I got out with just a light injury. But who is this person anyway. Do you have any idea?” she asked him, ignored her weird body sensation.

“Not in the slightest,” he replied, half annoyed. “I was expecting you would know.”

Jihyo frowned. She tried to picture it but she got nothing. “Nothing comes in mind, oppa. I don’t think I’ve done something that could trigger this kind of antic.”

“Of course it’s not you’re not doing anything wrong. It’s not your fault,” he said. The idea of Jihyo blamed herself from the sick antic some psycho done is disturbing. And it’s not really like Jihyo, lady with full charm and confident to become self-conscious like this, but then again, it might be the first for her to experience this kind of thing.

Jihyo shut . It’s true. She shouldn’t feel guilty, even though in fact she felt slightly guilty. She can’t help but wondering if she ever offended someone so much, except for Kwangsoo maybe. But it’s really not out of love.

“I don’t think his aim is you,” Jongkook trailed off.

Jihyo lifted her eyes to look at the singer with questioning eyes. Jongkook shrugged. “I don’t know either but isn’t it somewhat weird? If he wants you, why would he hurt you?”

The actress returned the confused look and started to think of her own. “Everything doesn’t make sense to me. He sent the letter to you, but he hurt me. Why didn’t he send the letter directly to me? What does it means to stay away from me?”

Jongkook softly traced his thumb on her back hand to calm Jihyo. There’s a sudden raise on her tone at the end of her sentence. He could feel her distress right now. She got tense and her body being pulled back in poor attempt to protect herself. Jongkook was more than willing to give everything he had in exchange to gain this one shot of pulled her into comforting hug.  That’s the main reason he didn’t want to tell her in the first place. He knew that Jihyo will be hurt, in emotional way.

Jihyo sighed and felt herself shaking. “This is too much for me to handle. It’s too sudden, too much at one time. I don’t see- I don’t-“ she was rambling but she made no attempt to hold that back. Jongkook stunned for a moment to really realize that she actually got a panic attack.

As if on cue, her breath started erratic. She still let out a broken word that can’t be comprehended. She can’t bring herself to stop. Now that they actually had the discussion, everything hit her hard like a raging wave. It felt real that it stole her breath and her peace of mind. Her lungs started to ache by her uncontrollable breath and she choked.

Next thing she knew she was held tight in Jongkook’s embrace. He pulled her face to rest on his sculptured chest. The loud beat of his heart could be heard right on her ear. Jongkook engulfed her, as if he tried to shield her from anything that may hurt her. One of his hand played on her hair, it lightly to calm her down.

“Shhh,” he cooed. “Breath.”

Now it’s Jihyo’s turn to cling onto him like he’s safeguard life jacket. She clutched on his clothe and another hand found anchor on his broad shoulder. She took a sharp intake of breath that made the singer softly told her to take it easy. Following his instruction, she took it slow.  She used his steady heart beat to match its rhyme with her breath.  It calmed her fast.

The singer, lost and don’t know what to do when she started to sob only repeated the warm gesture of his hand brushed her hair. He leaned until his lips closed to her temple and hummed a soft melody to cheer her. It seemed to have an opposite effect, though, since she only sobbed harder in her chest. Her entire body shook hard that Jongkook afraid she will get sick. This is the first time for him to see her broke down. He held her tighter in his arm didn’t utter any word and just let her be.

Jihyo wetted the singer’s chest with her tears but she couldn’t care less. She just needed to let out every emotion she bottled up for the past months. The insecurities the singer made her feel, the loneliness, the frustration, the emptiness, the shock for someone to hurt her, the confused, the struggled to deal with anything, and all that pent up until she felt numb. Jongkook was there, all comforting and warm and Jihyo didn’t have the control to pretend strong in front of him anymore. Not when he’s all inviting and caring.

Jihyo cried uncontrollably for times that she didn’t count. It felt like she was undergo a phase. She cried hard, then she tried to muffle her sob, but then she realized there’s still something stuck on her chest that needed to be released and she started to cry wreck again. she felt sorry that Jongkook had to deal with her in this messy state but Jongkook didn’t seem to mind. He just stayed there and rubbed comforting circle on her back. He softly murmured that it’s okay for her to cry, to just let it out. In the middle of all this, Jihyo stupidly thought that even the strongest man will freak out if she came to them with this wave of tears. But when she lifted her head to have the same eye level with the singer, Jongkook smiled and wiped away her tears with his thumb. With that, Jihyo felt like he gave her permission to do whatever she wanted to do and she cried again.

When she finally stopped, she lost her voice and her eyes all red and puffy from the amount of tears.

“Feeling better?”

She nodded and pulled away, no matter how comforting to rest on his chest. She felt ashamed now that it ended. “I’m sorry oppa,” she apologized.

“Don’t be,” he denied. He once again run his hand to comb her hair down, as caring as mother. But again, there’s no way a mother touch could make her blush. “You need to rest. Go home for now and knock yourself to sleep for hours.”

Jihyo opened his mouth to retort but Jongkook would have nothing of it. “Jihyo,” he called and Jihyo stopped because Jongkook rarely used that tone to her. “Just go home today. Kapjin will send you home.”

She could only nod. Even though she hated to admit it, Jongkook was right. She felt drained already. She had to take a break to keep her sanity. But then she suddenly terrified that Jongkook used it as an excuse to push her away again. She stared back at him with widened eyes.

As if he could read her mind, Jongkook once again brushed his hand to wipe the remaining tears on her face. “I’ll still be here tomorrow. We’ll talk about this at that time, ‘kay?” he assured and yeah, it calmed Jihyo in an instant.

“Kapjin should be outside. Tell him to bring you home. Don’t forget to lock your door after you enter and don’t go anywhere alone,” he reminded her.

“I got it oppa,” she said while standing up, ready to leave. She took once last glance toward the singer and said sincerely “I’m really glad he didn’t do anything to you.”

Then she walked toward the closed door. Her hand was already around the knob, when something struck her mind. What if they took it the wrong way? What if they were wrong?

“Oppa,” she called and abruptly turned around to face him. Jongkook lifted his head to see her. “What if his target is really you?” she asked.

Then right after she said the sentence, she frowned. “Then, why he blackmailed you by hurting me?” she voiced out her mind.

Jongkook sighed. He knew one time or another she would reach to that conclusion. And he tried to conceal it as long as he can, by not telling her the most important fact that being the key of the whole incident. He thought over the whole thing that happened today. He screwed his rationality once by kiss her forehead, then he screwed it twice by pulled her into his embrace. What’s wrong about screw it thrice? They did say third time is lucky.

“Oppa?”

Mustered up his courage, Jongkook met her eyes and replied. “Because he knows you matter the most to me.”

(Ladydeb)