Little Red Riding Jimin

She became the victim of an array of angry stares. She whispered soft apologies and quickly searched her bag for her phone. She found it and disabled the sound. Finally, the university library returned to the silent oasis it was meant to be. She fell back into her chair and sighed inaudibly. She hated making a fool of herself in public like that. She heard a soft giggle coming from the group of girls at the other end of the table she was sitting at.
"Whatever..", she whispered. She got up as gracefully as she could and walked over to the Philosophy section. She let her fingers run along the bindings. Leather bound books well over a century old, newer plastic paperbacks, fabric covered books that dated somewhere in between. She loved spending time there. Time and time again, the amount of knowledge that was contained within the walls of this beautiful Jugendstil building dizzied her.
She was about to reach out for a collection of moral letters by Seneca, when a figure in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She looked out of the enormous window and saw a certain familiar silhouette disappearing around the corner. Her heartbeat quickened at the sight. She quickly walked back to the table she had been working at before, gathered her things and shed the group of girls a side-eyed glare. She grabbed the copy of Seneca's De Ira she had luckily already checked out and left the building in an attempt to chase him. 

 

She ran as soon as she had crossed the doorstep of the library and hurried towards window from which she had seen him. She followed him around the corner and let out a frustrated sigh at the sight before her. Hundreds of students occupied the main square of the campus. All on their way to colleges, labs, meetings. She turned around and gave up her short search. She stopped by the small coffee place she'd become a regular at on her way home. She couldn't help but scan the constantly moving crowd outside. Her eyes flickered from face to face, looking for the features of the person that hadn't left her mind since they met. She hardly heard when her order was up, thanked the familiar barista with a quick smile and was back on her way. 

 

She brushed her hair back with her hand, absentmindedly taking a sip of her coffee.
"Ah that's hot!", she stuck out the tip of her tongue and softly felt the scorched flesh with her finger.
She sighed and longed for her bed: it had been a long day. Luckily the library was only a ten minutes from her apartment, so she could easily walk it. She caught herself checking faces still. After a while she simply decided to give up.

 

She walked through the park adjacent to the apartment complex and while following the winding path up to main entrance, looked up at her balcony. She softly smiled to herself.
"So that's what it looked like, for him?", she whispered to herself.
She was about to go into the complex when she heard a male voice coming from what seemed behind the side of the building.
"I'll see you again tomorrow, baby.", the voice said, a vaguely familiar vibration apparent.
She raised her eyebrows but walked on and waited for the elevator to arrive. Her ears perked a little when she heard footsteps closing in, yet she waited patiently. The figure was right behind her when a cheerful ping could be heard, indicating the arrival of the elevator. They both stepped inside and it was then that she recognised the tall young man she had seen a couple days before with Jimin.
"Ah, good evening.", he said, obviously surprised to meet her again.
"Yes, good evening. What a coincidence to meet again like this.", she replied politely.
"Haha, yeah, I guess so. I'm Namjoon, by the way, I live together with Jimin?", her eyes lit up a little at the mention of his name.
"Ah, I see. That's nice. Are you living there with just the two of you?", she asked in the spur of the moment.
"No, actually, there's one more kid living with us and another four, next door.", he answered her honestly.
The elevator display showed a neon-coloured "1" and the slick metal doors opened.
"Well, it was nice meeting you again, neighbour.", Namjoon said quickly as he got out.
"Yes, likewise.", she said as the doors slid back into place. Once more she was standing alone in the small metal box, forced to listen to that godawful music, until the elevator hit her floor.

 

She dropped her bag as soon as she entered her room and let herself fall back onto her bed. The soft bedding made her bounce a little and she let out a small giggle. She quickly stripped herself of her clothes and put on comfortable sweatpants and a tank top. She fished her pack out of her bag and went out onto the balcony. She stretched her tired limbs and lazily leaned on the railing while she raised her hand to light her cigarette. Suddenly, a voice called out.
"Hey! Miss Cat-Ears!"
She dropped her lighter in shock.
"Ah you have got to be.. ", her voice trailed off in disappointment.
She looked down to see Jimin standing on a balcony to the left of hers, one floor down. He, too, was wearing sweatpants and a tank top, but she had to admit he looked a whole lot better in them. The thin fabric of the top clinging to his body, revealing a well-formed torso, which was even more accentuated by the light seeping through from the living room.

 

She noticed her cheeks feeling a little warm, but replied as coolly as she could. 
"Hi there, neighbour.".
He smiled widely.
"How are you today? Doing well?".

"Surprisingly well, until a moment ago.", she sneered at him.
She regretted her words immediately as she saw his face cloud over, a small pout appearing on his lips.
"You startled me and I dropped my lighter, that's why!", she said hurriedly.
His eyes lit up as he snickered.
"You should be thanking me. You're making your skin get wrinkly all the faster, noona."
She flushed scarlet at his words, overcome with a mixture of embarrassment and anger.
"I don't need you to look out for me, kid.", she demonstratively turned away from the railing and went inside to search for a box of matches.
It took her a while to find them, thanks to her roommate's interesting habit of burning all the matches in a box and putting them back. This might be something she should be worrying about, but Ilse never actually hurt anybody, so she just left it as it was. 

 

When she went back onto the balcony, she couldn't help but sneak a peek at the balcony Jimin had been standing on. Surely, there he was, now with toothbrush in hand, white foam at the corners of his mouth. She let out a small laugh.
"You're back!", he noticed cheerfully.
"Did you miss me that quickly?", she smiled at him, knowingly.
"What if I said I did?", he shed her a provocative smirk.
She laughed.
"I'd say you must be a very lonely person."
"Well, who knows. At the lack of certain company?"
She thought she'd heard a sad undertone in his voice, but disregarded it. 

 

Silence fell over the two, only broken by the occasional buzzing of cars driving by in the distance.
"Well, I.. better finish up.", he finally said, apologetically pointing at his toothbrush.
She feigned a smile.
"Sure. Good night."
He waved at her and turned around.
"Do you know where to find Draco?"
The words had passed her lips before she knew it.

He looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"Draco?"
"The constellation. If you can find Draco, the Cat Eye nebula sits in the turn of his body. It's one of the most complex nebulae known to mankind.", she said, nearly tripping over her words in excitement, "If you can find Ursa Major, Ursa Minor and Lira, you can see Draco."
"I.. see. You'll have to teach me how to stargaze some time.", he said with a sweeter smile than usual.
"I'd love to.", she replied.
"It's a date.", he smirked.
"And there I was, thinking he might be cute after all", she thought to herself.

 

However, that night she went to bed with a content grin plastered onto her face.

 

---

She sat down in a field of violets.

The morning sun was shining down on her.

She ran her hand through the grass,

wetting her fingers on the dew.

A pair of hands covered her eyes.

She felt his body lean against her back.

"Oh grandmother, what big eyes you have!"

She removed his hands and looked up at his sun-bathed face.

"The better to see you with."