Chapter Eleven: Where We Heard Horse Hooves

I played with the palm of Jungkook’s hand. It was much larger than my own, and his had a few calluses to show for it too. There was a scar on the back of his left one. A large, circular divot that appeared faintly new, as if he had gotten it in the past year or so. The redness was just beginning to fade away and look more natural.

“You want to be an English teacher? Why?” he chuckled, rubbing my hair between two fingers.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I just want to do something meaningful with my life, and teaching the next generation seems like a good idea. Plus, English is my favorite subject.”

His fingers brushed down the contours of my nose, against my lips tugging them down slightly. “I don’t know what I want to do.” His brows wrinkled prominently against his face. “My parents are always getting onto me about it.”

He twisted around, checking his cellphone before getting in a sitting position. I laid my head in his lap once he had settled, staring up at him. “What are your parents like?”

He tugged at his comforter, nose scrunching as he picked at a stray thread. “They’re in their own little world,” he said finally. I placed my hand on his thigh, attempting to comfort him. He smiled, placing his own against mine. “My parents aren’t really home much. Dad lives at the casino, and mom at church. I was never that impressive to them anyways. My brother was always the favorite. The one with good grades, without any learning disabilities. My dad doesn’t even bother to deny it.”

“I’m sorry,” I murmured. I couldn’t picture having parents like that. Yeah, my parents showed favoritism towards Kaeun, but it wasn’t like I thought they loved me less. I knew they gave most of their attention to her because she was so young.

And so much work. Tons of work. It took a village to raise Kaeun.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not like I care.” He avoided eye contact, lips a firm line against his mouth. Jungkook’s face told me everything that I needed to know: that it was something he was trying to convince himself of.

“My dad’s not home much either. He’s always pretty busy with work,” I said, trying to console him. I didn’t bother telling him that it was still different from his situation. Being a small business owner of two places was a lot of work, but when I did get to see my dad I always had his complete attention. I never once doubted his love for me. Jungkook snuggled into the comforters, pulling me against him. I let out a giggle, splaying my hand against his chest.

“Talk to me about Nana,” he said, attempting to change the subject. I went along with it. I could tell he wasn’t ready to talk about his parents.

“What about her?”

“Why is she called Nana? I always wondered that.”

I placed a kiss against a single knuckle. “She used to be called The Nana Girl. It got shortened to Nana throughout the years.”

“Why?”

“When we were little she used to love any song with the sound ‘nana’ in it. She would always sing them. People started calling her that because of it.” I let out a giggling, hiding my face against his shirt that smelled faintly of cologne and freshly pressed laundry. “I remember the grown-ups used to hate it. She would start up the rest of us singing the same song over and over. It drove them crazy.”

A small smile bloomed across his lips and I knew my goal was completed. He was no longer worrying about his parents. “What’s something you want to do with your life? Besides being an English teacher, that is.”

I bit down on my bottom lip, pulling back to be able to see him better. “One day I want to publish a book of poems I wrote.”

He gave a soft tug on my ponytail. “That’s cute. Kind of like a life goal, right?”

“Yeah,” I agreed. Poems had always been something I loved writing. To be able to not only do something I love, but get paid to do it would be a dream come true. “What about you?”

He frowned, eyes darting up in thought as his face scrunched. “I think my dream would be to run a mechanic shop. My parents would never accept that though.”

I sat up, wrapping my arms around my legs and laying my head against my knees. “You can’t always live for them. Once day you’ll have to live for yourself too.” After noticing the expression on his face, I continued, “That’s whenever you’re ready though. Don’t rush it.”

He nodded. “I think you’re right,” he said softly.

I gave a small smile, tilting my head to watch him. It was somewhat insane how much Jungkook consumed my mind. He was in my thoughts all the time. It almost hadn’t hit me that we were actually dating, something I didn’t even dare to dream about before. I looked over his profile. He was staring down at his hands as he fidgeted. His hair hung low over his eyes, lips in a tight pout of concentration. His brows furrowed, biting down on his lip as he struggled with something in his hands.

“You’re a bunny,” I told him.

His forehead wrinkled, distracted by my sudden statement, before letting out a low chuckle. “I haven’t been called that since I was a kid.”

“That’s what you are,” I insisted.

He darted for me, fingers brushing against my side to tickle me. I burst into laughter, struggling to get away but he was too strong. His thighs went around my waist, holding my arms above my head with one hand as he tortured me.

“Say 'Jungkook, I was mistaken. You’re not a bunny, you’re a man',” he demanded, stopping long enough to let me catch my breath.

“Jungkook is a bunny,” I baited, immediately regretting my decision. His fingers went nimbly for my stomach.

“Let’s try this again,” he said, blowing his hair out of his face. “Jungkook. You are a man, not a rabbit.”

“My Jungkookie is a cute, little bunny!” I burst.

I screeched when he resumed tormenting me, in deep breaths once he stopped. He raised a single brow, not even bothering to repeat it.

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