Shion wasn't the type of a person to overly think of something particular. Usually, she would just forget about it and assume it isn't that important.  

 But this time, it was the only thing that couldn't leave her mind.It wasn't like she never thought about the same matter and faced the same problem, but having it stuck inside her head for two straight days was kinda tiring.

 A side of her was trying to ignore the subject, letting it slide whenever her brain got confused. But the other side didn't dare to let the rope slip and drop the case without an argument. 

 She needed to know what he wanted to tell her, and how long did he kept it locked inside his voice box. It occured to her that maybe it was about her, that's why he wasn't ready to announce it when he had no idea how would she react. 

 In some times, she kept reminding herself of his words and that she should trust him and move on. But she couldn't wait, her heart was too curious, too wild to watch a roller coaster without riding it. 

 His texts messages had the same ambiguous flavor , they were read in a suspicious way by her, inserting more intricacy to the problem. Yet Shion didn't want to give up, she was determined to keep investigating him, until she analyzes his blurry orbs to reveal what every blink meant.

--------------------

 The exhibition attracted more people than the volunteers expected, the spacious room didn't have a single empty corner. People were all over the place, checking out the paintings on the walls and inspecting the statues with interest. Some students were more excited about the handmade accessories and small decoration items that looked simple but artistic. 

 Shion was proud of being a part of the event, even if she wasn't much of a big help, she still tried to print her touch on a wall to grab some attention, and it worked.

 A bunch of students but mostly teachers were gathered in front of her painting, amazed by her distinguished skill that seemed effortlessly conspicuous. Her face was ripped by a huge hopeful smile, she wanted to brag about it but staring from afar was enough to make her feel satisfied. 

---

"So I'm not the only one who likes your falcon."

 A low voice from behind startled her, causing her to quickly turn around and instantly sighed when she was met by her teacher's face.

"God Jimin, you scared me." She rolled her eyes when he grinned like a mischievous child.

"Come on, Shion. Go ahead and introduce yourself to them, I bet they're dying to know who painted it." He tried to encourage her to go and reveal herself to the people, but she shook her head. 

"No need, I already put my special signature on it. Besides, I like being the anonymous artist."

 She turned to see the people who were still interested in her work, her ears could hear their positive comments and opinions about it. Jimin could only smile as he realized something about her, she liked hiding her identity and surround herself with obscurity . 

"I'm so proud of you, Shion!" He ruffled her hair until it was completely messy, leaving her looking angry but totally adorable. 

"Yah! Stop ruining my hair, you idiot!" She scolded him while she tried fixing her hair, making him laugh at her expected reaction. 

"Okay. But please don't be mad at me." He pouted cutely with sad eyes to make her feel bad, but it didn't work. 

"Don't you ever mess with my hair, you're lucky my hair is still short." She warned him with a threatening finger in the air, though her hair was neat again, she couldn't stop herself from feeling a bit of annoyance from him. 

---

"Happy birthday, Mr. Park!" Out of nowhere, the two girls popped up next to them, each holding a gift that Shion assumed they were cupcakes inside of those boxes. 

"Oh thanks!" Jimin instantly smiled kindly at them and took the gifts, surprised that they remembered his birthday. 

"They're homemade cupcakes, we really hope you'll like them." They said it in a flirty way which sounded irritating to Shion. 

"Don't worry, I'm sure they're great." And the sound of them laughing shyly was even more annoying than him trying to keep up with them. 

 They left after that, and Shion couldn't look at Jimin when she knew he'd be asking her about his gift. She kept her eyes away from his face and of course, he noticed. 

"Hey, do you wanna eat them with me? You get to choose which one you want." He offered as he tried to win her attention again. 

"No. They're yours, they made them just for you." She answered while she played with her hoodie's zipper, looking at her fingers to avoid his eyes. 

 He furrowed his eyebrows, something was bothering her. Her eyes had a gloomy color, bringing out her disturbance from the inside. It wasn't hard to read it off her face either, her expression had a strong print of sadness that was easy to spot with an eye.

 An unknown matter was upsetting her, whether it was serious or simple to deal with, Shion didn't attempt to keep it from taking over her mood in an instant. Though he was glad she didn't lock it in and draw a fake smile in front of him, it still worried him that he may not be able to break through her walls to reach her soft center. 

"I'm going to my office to keep these there, wanna come?" He thought she would agree without a thought, but she shook her head and gave him a tiny smile. 

"No, I need to go somewhere else." She walked away just when he was about to ask her another question. He frowned, her words were a lie but he didn't mind them. He couldn't stop her from leaving, he didn't want to stop her from swallowing her suffocating emotions. He just hoped it wasn't about yesterday, or else he'd be in a complicated situation. 

--------------------

 Shion slammed the door of a random room as confusion drove her to the edge. Luckily, it was empty and had a few canvases and a large table in the middle.

"What am I going to do? I can't just give him this!"

 She almost yelled at nobody, or she did, but at a keychain. It had a small blue bear holding a red heart that said 'accept me'. It wasn't a keychain at first, but she turned it into one just the day before. She added the bear to the original keychain that had only the number 13. She thought it would resemble him in two ways, his favorite color and the date of his birth.  

"It's too simple for a birthday gift, I should've bought chocolate instead."

 She sat on a chair with a heavy sigh, staring at the bear in her hand. It was exactly the size of her palm, she could still remember when it used to fill her whole hand. Its tail was her favorite part, she would squeeze it with her fingers several times but it never came off. Its eyes were very tiny, she liked searching for them from behind the soft fur.

 She weakly smiled at the memory of her old days, back when it was just as precious as her frog plushie. She cherished it like it was the only cute thing in the world, especially after the hard times where someone else would've considered it as a valueless object when it was similar to a treasure a few days ago.  

"I'll let go of you today, but I hope you'd  bring him luck too. After all, we caught you by betting on our own luck."

 She patted the bear with her thumb one last time before slipping it into her pocket. Somehow, Shion was glad she was going to give it to him, she knew she wouldn't regret her decision because Jimin was also a life changer. 

 She would've not painted that falcon if it wasn't for his suggestion in the first place, she would've stayed as the girl with no friends if it wasn't for his afford to get to know her little by little. He was truly someone who had a heart of an innocent child, the hands of a gentleman and a mind of a wise man. 

--------------------

 As the door to his office closed by an effortless pull, Jimin walked down the corridor in a slow careless pace, leaving audible footsteps for the walls to reverberate. His head was stuffed with accumulated clouds that grew bigger within seconds. Their main component was a single person, someone who couldn't stop invading his mind in unintentional ways. 

 He thought of the reasons to why Shion looked miffed and decided to be alone for awhile. He didn't want her to deal with her grief all by her own, but she seemed like she really needed some space and time to calmly think about it. Yet something seemed off, it was odd that her mood suddenly turned upside down when she was so happy with the results of her work just a few seconds ago. 

 It could've been a personal matter she abruptly remembered, or even one of his actions or words accidentally hurt her and made her feel uncomfortable. But still, those contemplations weren't enough to cause that antic change of status in that exact moment.

 Oh wait, that moment, was when the two girls came to deliver the cupcakes, and immediately after that she plastered a frown on her face and tried avoiding him. And when he offered to share them with her, she refused and stated that they were just for him.

He stopped walking when he figured it out.

"It's about my birthday gift."

 A low laugh left his mouth and he couldn't stop smiling to himself as he started walking to the elevator. To him, it was stupid to feel down because of a matter as simple as that. In fact, he didn't even want from her anything at all, her presence around him was enough to please him for days. 

"I wonder if she actually got me a present though, I hope it's something unique."

 He entered the elevator and pressed the first floor's button, then watched the door as it automatically closed and felt it slowly moving downwards to his destination. A piece of his memory replayed a particular tape, which recorded a certain scene that had been filmed in this cramped place. 

 A scenery where two disparate hands were messily tangled into each other's loose grip. It was a swift contact, a kind of action where he unconsciously interfered between her fingers with his ones. A thought of comforting his terrified student was hanging somewhere in his brain, while the chance of taking advantage of the situation, and properly lace their fingers together just like he always wanted had strengthened his need to do so. 

"I've been crazily crushing on her ever since then, no wonder it's hard for me to forget about her."

 He stepped in the ground floor as soon as he reached it, and started pacing to the exit to get to the other building. He pulled out his phone and dialed his student's number like it was a usual thing for him to do, then went on searching for her by looking into the rooms as he walked along the corridors. 

--------------------

"What the...?" Her eyebrows were furrowed as she stared at her phone with confusion. "Why the hell would he even call me?" Her teacher's name was clearly written on the screen, it was the first time he ever called her. She almost left the phone on the table vibrating with no hope of being answered, but she decided that acting nice and actually picking up were the best choices for her if she wanted to know what was going on. 

"Hello?" She answered.

"Where are you?" His question was so rushed she almost didn't hear him that well. 

"Umm.... in some room. Why? What do you want?" She replied. 

"I want to see you."

"Oh well, you have to search for me my dear, I'm not giving you directions." The sassy tone was well added to her voice. 

"No need, I already found you."

 She quickly turned around to see Jimin standing by the doorway with a victorious smile blinding her eyes. "What?! But I didn't hear the door open." She hanged up as she felt a little surprised that her senses failed to actually sense his quiet arrival. 

"I guess my voice did distract you."

 She immediately rolled her eyes and turned to face the white canvases, sighing when she heard the door close and slow footsteps were making their way to her. Jimin settled himself right next to her, looking at her blank face while she spaced out.

"Shion, can you tell me what was bothering you?" He laid his hand on top of hers on the table, dragging her out of her thoughts as her eyes instantly landed on his comforting hand. She stared at it for awhile before she met his eyes, they gazed into hers like they were trying to find an answer to his simple question. 

"It isn't something important, but you might laugh if I tell you." She shyly smiled at him then looked away to prepare herself to reveal what she has hidden from him. 

"It's my birthday gift, isn't it?" She was shocked. How the hell did he know? A small smirk grew on his face as he watched the change of expression with a tilted head. 

"B-But how did you know?" She asked. 

"It wasn't that hard to figure it out." He replied. 

"Oh, I see." She kept her eyes down, hoping he wouldn't ask her about it or else, she would be too embarrassed to even look at him. 

"So, what is it?" Oh no. 

"Umm...." Her eyes wandered around the room and she tried to find an excuse to leave but another possible idea came across her mind. 

Run. 

"If you're thinking of running out of the room, then I suggest you shouldn't." He warned her before she could even clearly think about it, but she didn't listen. Her feet took only three small steps once she got up before he pulled her back to him, then gently pushed her against the edge of the table and crossed his arms afterwards. 

"I told you, running away is useless." He reassured her that she would be stuck in this room until she gives him what he wants. She gave up with a tired sigh, why was she even trying to escape? It was pointless and she obviously knew it. Her right hand slid into her hoodie's pocket and took out the keychain, then she hesitantly offered it to him. 

"Take it or leave it." She pouted angrily but in a cute way. 

 Jimin took the keychain from her and scanned its shape with pleased eyes. He surely didn't expect this kind of a gift from her. But in some way, he noticed her childish taste in how they were put together in order to innovate an object that include both of them. Of course, he knew what she wanted it to mean to him, but he couldn't ignore those two words that were written in a barely readable writing.

"What a way to confess, Shion. I never knew you were too afraid to say it to me."

"What?!" She was taken aback. "What do you mean by a confess?" She seemed astounded by that single word, even though he only meant to a little. 

"It says 'accept me' in the heart, so it means you want me to accept your feelings for me, right?!" An evil smile was curved in such an irritating way on his face, making her curl her hands into fist to mentally punch him several times. 

"No, it means that I want you to accept it as a gift." She cleared her misunderstood intentions while faking her politeness. 

"Oh! So your feelings are the gift that you want me to accept?" He spoke with an annoying innocent tone, and she swore she would really hit him if he said something else to piss her off. 

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you mean by 'my feelings', are they something a retard like you would like to have?"

 Sarcasm could be smelled in the air, and it literally slapped him from its amount and how good it dripped from her bitter mouth. A challenging stare was first given by Shion, but in a mere of seconds Jimin's eyes reflected the same fierce look she displayed in those courageous orbs. 

"Yes, I'd like to have them if you'd offer them to me." He confidently answered.

"Unfortunately, I don't know what are they. And even if I have them, they probably don't belong to you." 

 She tried to jitter him with that last sentence as she was well aware of the slight admiration he had for her. He paused for a moment upon hearing her statement, his mind started analyzing her provocative words. Was she trying to hint something?

 He automatically smirked when an interesting question interrupted his thoughts, he could just imagine her reaction to it and it definitely excited him even more. He took a step towards her to terrify her a little, then took another while she rested her palms on the table behind her for support. 

 He stopped approaching her when the space between their bodies nearly disappeared, dropping the inordinate act off of his face to replace it with a serious expression. Shion felt intimidated by his closeness but she didn't want to show it, because that would only make her more vulnerable and he'd take advantage of that.

"Would you know if I kiss you?"

 Her eyes widened once his question flied into her ears with the speed of light, they were staring at his nebulous ones with incredibility. How could she answer that? Her mind was too busy remembering that day when he almost kissed her, will he do that again to her and steal her first kiss? Or will he walk away like he did when he didn't have the guts to do it? 

 They've been staring at each other for almost two minutes, and not a single word has be uttered from one of them. The atmosphere was already intensive and he could see the nervousness she felt in those dreadful orbs. Shion lowered her head with a soft pink blush on her cheeks, hoping he'd step away from her and allow her to leave. 

But he didn't. 

 Instead, he took the chance to lift her head with two of his fingers. The tenderness she witnessed in his features left her gaping subconsciously, it's been a while since the last time he wore that kind of mask in front of her. Only a few inches were between their faces, their breathing became deeper and eventually they inhaled each other's breaths. 

 Jimin didn't stop decreasing the distance, and soon enough, his eyes were attached to her parted lips. There they were, waiting for someone to fill in the emptiness between them. He brushed his thumb on her bottom lip and stared with hunger as he slightly pulled it down to watch it bounce back to its place. He couldn't take it anymore, the smoothness of those rosy lips was incredibly enticing and he had to possess them as soon as possible.  

 Shion's heart was about to burst when she felt him touch her lip, and the look his eyes attire was enough to dread her and give her a heart attack. She panicked when he leaned to close the gap between them with half opened eyes. Her hands were placed on his chest to try and stop him but she couldn't find the strength to push him. 

"No."

 Less than an inch was what he left before he abruptly paused once he heard her mutter that one word in such a weak voice. He leaned away a little to properly look at her, she seemed tenuous, afraid of what could've happened. She lowered her hands when he dropped his from her face, still feeling the tension inside of her. 

"I wouldn't know. Perhaps you'd only confuse me even more than I already am."

 She stated with honesty. That was the case, she didn't need more complication to add to her list of constant disruption. It never was an easy thing to think about him without finding herself totally lost in her own maze of bewilderment. 

"I have to leave now. Thank you for accepting my gift, please take care of it." She smiled sweetly, fooling him into thinking she was alright.

"I will." He smiled in return. 

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HEY GUYS! IM BAAACCKK!!! Finally after three weeks. Well, what can I do? I can't just abandon my business if you know what I'm saying. Yeah I mean F.I.N.A.L.S 

What a long chapter, even I got tired of writing it lol. 

OMG! IM ING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW! HE ALMOST KISSED HER AGAIN LIKE DAFUG MAN JUST GRAB YOUR BALLS AND KISS HER ALREADY!!! 

God, boys these days. 

I really hope you liked this chapter though, I didn't mean to make it a long one I swear but it just happened lol.

And yes, their first kiss is soon so just wait like three chapters then you'll get what you want :D 

\@_@/ 

N.T.K ~♢