Jungkook thought things couldn’t get any worse. He thought wrong.

It’s only been five days since Chaeyoung joined and he already wants to flee the country. He thought by avoiding any sort of interaction between them the tension would disappear, but Taehyung and Chaeyoung got close despite the short period of time, and now he’s stuck with having to hang out with both of them. At first, it was a little bearable. He would just sit down, silently munch on his food as he lets them do all the talking, purposely avoiding to look up at her, but he should’ve known. He should’ve known Chaeyoung was the cheeky type. She took advantage of his awkwardness and every chance she got.

Just yesterday as he got out of his room to get something to drink, he caught her hanging around the kitchen, wearing short shorts and a soft pink camisole that really complimented her slender figure, and he couldn’t help but gawk at her attire, his body going rigid.

“Like what you see?” He jerked his head in the speed of light to find Chaeyoung staring playfully at him, a mischievous smirk playing on her lips. Jungkook blushed madly, his ears turning redder than a ripe tomato and sprinted back to his room.

Needless to say, Chaeyoung is enjoying making Jungkook’s life a living hell.

They’re currently huddled on the couch watching a movie. They’ve had this tradition to watch movies every Saturday night when Jimin was with them and Tae thought it was a good idea to include Chae in it despite Jungkook’s initial vehement protests. Taehyung's lying his head on Chaeyoung’s lap as she plays with his hair unconsciously, his legs dangling off Jungkook’s lap on the other side of the couch. It was Taehyung’s pick tonight and surprise surprise! He chose ‘Love, Rosie’, aka Jungkook’s favorite movie that he can’t say no to re-watching. He hates how Taehyung knows his weaknesses and hates even more that he knows how to utilize them. So yeah, tough luck. Although to be fair, Jungkook is actually enjoying himself right now. He’s too focused on the movie to pay attention to his surroundings, until he feels a pair of fingers brush against his shoulder. He turns his head to see Chaeyoung has put her arm at the back of the sofa, her hand hanging next to his shoulder and that’s where he immediately flinches. The movement doesn’t go unnoticed as both Chae and Tae look at him with raised eyebrows. Too embarrassed to say anything, he coughs awkwardly and gets up, mumbling an excuse about being thirsty.

Chaeyoung and Tae exchange a look and he begrudgingly gets up to follow his friend. Once in the kitchen, he tackles Jungkook in a headlock and rubs his knuckles on his head. The younger whines until Tae lets him go with a huff.

“You okay?” Jungkook’s surprised by Tae’s sincere tone and he visible relaxes.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. Just a little nervous I guess.” Tae nods in understanding and holds his hand.

“Chaeyoung is a really sweet girl, Kook. You don’t need to be on guard around her. And if she ever crosses the line with you, which I highly doubt, I’d be the first one to kick her out.” Taehyung’s words make him chuckle and he thanks the universe for giving him such a loving friend.

“Thanks Tae.”

“Anything for my Kookie.” he tickles his chin lightly until a smile appears on Jungkook’s face and he grins back. “Now let’s go back, Rosie is about to give her grand speech at Alex’s wedding and I know how much that scene makes you cry.” They go back to their living room and to their surprise, Chaeyoung’s not there. Thinking that she went to the bathroom, the two cuddle up together on the couch and focus back on the movie. Except Jungkook can’t focus, because the movie is nearing its end and Chaeyoung hasn’t come back yet. The ending credits roll and Taehyung yawns, untangling himself from Jungkook.

“Chae must have gone to sleep.” He rubs his eyes tiredly. “I’m going to bed now, good night Kookie.” he ruffles his head as he heads back to his room, but Jungkook’s mind is elsewhere. He glances nervously at Chaeyoung’s bedroom door and sighs. Maybe he’s just overthinking, but it wasn’t like Chaeyoung to disappear like that. Sure, they’ve only known each other for five days but some things are just easily noticeable. He knows she loves hanging out with Taehyung and exchanging absurd dad jokes with him. He also knows that Chaeyoung always excuses herself if she wants to leave, so he can’t help but worry.

With a dejected sigh, he walks back to his room and closes the door carefully so as to not wake Taehyung up. He knows the elder is a pain in the once you rob him off his beauty sleep. He doesn’t feel sleepy yet, so he scrolls through his Instagram feed, wasting time watching fitness videos and outdated memes that he truthfully still enjoys. He gets too engrossed in a video of a small child pulling off mad skateboard skills that he almost fails to hear the faint knocks on his door. He lays his phone down and leaves the comfort of his bed. Taehyung never knocks so why would he now? Oh well, perhaps he’s too sleepy to realize what he’s doing.

“I will not cuddle with you Tae-” he stops dead in his tracks the moment he opens the door and sees Chaeyoung staring blankly at him. Oh, how much he wants the ground to swallow him alive right now. It’s one thing to be awkward around Chaeyoung, but it’s a completely different story to embarrass himself in front of her. He’s about to close the door when she stops him.

“Wait! Before you close the door, I just want to say something.” She fidgets in her spot, looking a little nervous and Jungkook has never seen her like this. “You don’t have to talk, just listen.” She takes a deep breath and looks him right in the eyes. “I’m sorry.” She starts, startling Jungkook. “I’m sorry for always teasing you and making you uncomfortable. I thought you were just, you know, adorable awkward but, seems like it’s more than that. I mean, you flinched when I accidently touched you and I’m really sorry about that.” She sighs with a pained smile that nearly breaks Jungkook’s heart. “I’ll move out of the apartment as soon as I find another lodgment, I promise. So, you don’t have to worry about me. uhm, well, that’s all I wanted to say. It was really nice meeting you Jungkook. Goodnight.” She turns around to leave but Jungkook reacts quickly and grabs her wrist. He struggles to get the words out of his mouth as she stares confusedly at him. Ugh, why is he so freaking bad at this? Words should be easy to say! With a sigh, he lets go of her wrist and motions with his head to his room.

“You want me to come in?” she murmurs in astonishment and he nods as he goes into his room, Chaeyoung trailing behind him. They sit on his bed, a safe distance between them. Silence envelopes them immediately, making things all the more awkward and Chaeyoung feels like she’s about to burst.

“No.” that was the first word Jungkook had ever said to her and she’s not sure whether to smile in relief or frown in confusion, because, understandably, ‘no’ is a very vague word.

“No?” she parrots with a tilt of her head. Jungkook takes a huge breath to calm his nerves. You can do it, he chants mentally to himself.

“I don’t want you to move out.” He keeps his gaze on his jittery hands, his voice too loud in the calmness of the night. “It’s just, girls make me really anxious.”

“I noticed.” She replies with a lull tone. He looks up to see that’s she’s not glaring at him or throwing him judgmental stares. Instead, she’s curled up in the corner of the bed, her head resting on the wall with a calm and serene expression on her voice, her eyes glinting with something akin to understanding. And in that moment, Jungkook can’t help but admire the ravishing beauty that is Chaeyoung. He quickly discards his sudden thoughts and decides it’s best to tell he the full story, because, for some odd reason beyond him, he feels like he can trust her. He wants to trust her.

“When I was in elementary school, I got bullied by this girl who was older and taller than me. I was weak and looked quite feminine back then and I guess she thought it was funny to pick on me. She got all the girls to gang up on me. Everyday was hell, and even when I told mom about it she would laugh and tell me that the girl probably liked me and just didn’t know how to show it.” He rubs his hands together to ease a bit of the tension on his shoulders. “Long story short, I grew scared of girls and asked my parents to transfer me to an all-boys school and things got slightly better. I met Taehyung in middle school and Jimin in high school and they made my life better.” He stops to inspect her reaction, but she nods for him to continue and he does. “But then, it was time to go to college and although I was getting better at handling my phobia, I was still not ready to welcome girls into my life. So, I’m taking online courses instead and..that’s about it.” He finishes weakly, head hanging low as he busies himself with scratching his nails on his duvet, purposely avoiding Chaeyoung’s gaze.

“So, you don’t hate me?” he lifts his head at the sound of insecurity coating her words and his eyes soften, staring at her hopeful expression. Damn it, he really should stop sending the wrong signals.

“Of course not.” He reassures her with a small smile and Chaeyoung’s face suddenly lights up. He averts his gaze immediately at the sight of her blinding smile.

“I’m glad then, because I like you and I’d be bummed if you really hated me.” she chuckles and he swears he heard angels singing right then and there. He tried not to focus too much on the ‘I like you part’ or else he’d combust and he definitely doesn’t want to embarrass himself anymore. “Plus -and I mean this in the friendliest way- I really thought you were jealous because of my skin ship with Tae. Trust me, I would never do anything to steal your boyfriend. You two are absolutely adorable.”

Now that’s a way to get Jungkook’s attention.

“Boyfriend? Tae?” he raises both eyebrows at her and she looks confused.

“Yeah, aren’t you guys a couple?” Jungkook snorts loudly at the absurdity of the statement.

“A couple of morons is what we are.” He scoffs, almost forgetting that he’s talking to Chaeyoung, aka a girl. “Please, Tae is like a brother to me. Dating him sounds like the definition of hell and I’m don’t ever want to meet lucifer.” He shudders at the thought of his best friend being his boyfriend. Yeah, no, he can’t see that happening. Chaeyoung breaks into a fit of giggles, her body shaking uncontrollably.

“Oh my god, you guys are so touchy I thought you were together!”

“No, that’s just our way of showing love to each other.”

They stay silent for a while, but this time it’s comfortable and the tension has faded. He crosses his legs and wets his lips nervously, trying to come up with something to say.

“You want to finish the movie?” he finds himself saying and internally cringes. Well that sure was something.

“Didn’t you finish it with Tae?”

“I can watch again. With you.” He whispers and she blinks twice before she breaks into one of her radiant smiles.

“I’d love to.”

And so, they’re back in the living room, each sitting at the corner of the couch, the low volume of the movie bringing peace back to the atmosphere.

“I’m sorry that you got bullied.” She says out of the blue, shocking both herself and Jungkook. “Bullying really messes you up. No one should go through it.” He glances up at her swiftly before returning his gaze back on the movie.

“You don’t have to apologize, it’s not your fault. happens and I was too weak that I let it get to me.”

“That doesn’t make it okay and just because it was a girl who bullied you doesn’t make it any less serious. She doesn’t get a pass for being a girl. She really hurt you Jungkook.” She retorts defensively and he shuts his eyes momentarily. Chaeyoung’s words are resonating with him and he hates that they’re making him feel emotional. She turns her body towards, still keeping the safe distance between them. “Don’t blame yourself for something you had no control over. You were a kid, it’s okay. But I want you to know that not every girl out there is like her. Not every girl is out there to criticize you or make fun of you, you know.” Her voice is so gentle, so sweet that Jungkook feels like hugging her words and treasuring them forever. He musters the courage to stare back at her and smiles.

“I know.” You’re a prime example of that, he wanted to add but bit the words back.

“Good.” She smiles back and they resume watching the movie in silence until it ends. Jungkook gets up to turn off the TV and notices Chaeyoung sleeping soundly with her head lying on the armrest, her legs curled up to her side, a soft and peaceful expression adorning her face. He walks quietly to his room, fetches a blanket and drapes it over her body, making sure she doesn’t wake up.

That night, Jungkook goes to sleep with a lighter heart and a mind filled with thoughts of the beautiful brunette.