Her presence was infectious. 

There was something so inhumanly spellbinding about her aura, and the way it had the capacity to rule a room as though she’d somehow found some magical potion that could edict each and every person that came into contact with her. He thinks it has a lot to do with her dangerous smile, the secretive (yet somehow, not lucrative but playful) burn in the corner of her lips, a slight upturn to their plumpness. It was a quality that he’d only ever seen in movies, a gravitational pull in the most addictive of ways. 

Jeon Jungkook wonders whether any human in the world was able to feel anything but compelled by in, in at least a minimal form of infatuation. 

Or was he the only victim?

Chances were, he wasn’t. 

He’s certain that he wasn’t.

Park Chaeyoung had the gift to make you feel as though you were the only person in the world, the ability to make you feel as though you were the only person that mattered to her and even if you didn’t want to, you’d find yourself opening up to her because she seemed so genuine, so real.

She felt like solid goodness, wrapped around him like a blanket, drowning you with an affection that was unconventional.

He doesn’t know how she does it, how she maintains such intimacy while being so conservative.

Perhaps, she was the only thing that felt tangible in such a toxic environment. 

Park Chaeyoung was out of this world.

Jeon Jungkook had always been cautious when it came to women, a second nature of sorts. 

But she was a different type of person he’d never encounter before, the type who’d remember you by story and not simply by your name or number, the one who’d make you feel like you were worth something and in a seamless transition, he found himself loosening to her. 

And he feels dissatisfied by the idea of friendship.

He recalls vividly their first impression, she was already sitting at a disadvantage because he had a bias placed against her before she’d even made trek into their penthouse. Kim Seokjin was raving about this girl he’d met briefly in exchange a few years back in Melbourne and how they’ve reconnected now that she moved to practice law in Korea and how, he was beginning to feel smitten with her. Park Alice. Despite his youthful age, his protective instincts kicked in and he felt bitterness, telling the other gentleman about how ‘convenient’ it was that someone suddenly makes their way back into your life after you become an idol. 

The world was cruel. 

And people like them, established idols who put their blood, sweat and tears were more prone to manipulation. 

He didn’t want to see any of his group mates getting used and abused, especially by an outsider, by someone who seemingly used unethical tactics to progress through life.

“ Alice isn’t like that, Jungkook. Trust me. She has a younger sister too, Chaeyoung, who’ll be coming. Your age. Be nice. You might be surprised, she’s actually a sweet person too, a trainee for YG if I remember correctly— ”

He remembers the words clearly and the bright red alarm bells ringing in his head too. There was nothing more suspicious about a trainee who wanted to hang out people like them. He’d seen it all before. 

He’s certain that someone of her story would want to use them for fame, wanting to create a scandal of sorts. Jeon Jungkook couldn’t allow that. 

They’d worked too hard.

He thought that his fellow bandmate was being naive and stupid but throughout the night, he realised that he was the one who was, considering his prejudice because he was wrong about her.

Oh, how ironic was it how wrong he was about her.

She made him feel as though he didn’t know a single thing about the world.

Park Chaeyoung was not like the other girls. 

She was more intoxicating than any illicit substance that had ever touched his body, better than any high that he’d ever felt in his body.

Slowly, he’d come to realise that she was an addiction he couldn’t weed out of.