23

After what feels like forever, I'm able to open the big door and make my way out, finding a dark and long aisle.

I walk around the place. Everything is narrow, except for the moonlight coming through the windows, that's making each of the frames of those be visible on the floor right in front of me with their shadows.

I hear nothing but my heartbeat and my fast breathing as my eyes move around, fast and desperately, as if I were looking for something. I find a white door in the distance, and for some reason I start walking to it. Although I don't know what's behind me, I'm more scared of what could happen if I stayed here.

My hand almost reaches the knob, but something covers my mouth as my body is easily lifted and pulled away from that door.

This is it. There's no way out. Or at least that's what I think as I try to fight back, moving my body desperately and looking up at the male figure holding me close as he tries to keep me still.

Just one small push. Just one step further over the edge, and we both fall.

I jump on the bed before my body touches the ground in my dream. And all the fear and stress disappear as I feel his arms holding me close, his heartbeat setting a relaxing pace on my back, while his thumb plays circles on my side.

—It was just a nightmare —he reassures with a raspy voice—. I'm here. You're safe.

The accelerated pumping in my chest lowers its rhythm with his words and his touch. I'm just able to focus on him, to the point of being able to leave that nightmare behind.

I roll under his embrace, turning my body to face him and find him with his eyes still closed. Jungkook slowly opens them, giving me a tiny smile that make his eyes squint a little.

—Sorry. I always wake you up.

With a sigh, he pulls me closer to his body, hiding my face on his chest while his fingers trail invisible lines all over my back and nape.

—Don't be dumb, cocktease —he breathes in my hair—. Just try to sleep again.

He hugs me tight as he feels my arm wrapping around his waist. Lost in the warmth of his body and his own scent, I close my eyes trying to sleep again.

✸ ✸ ✸

I don't find him in the bed when I wake up, yet the covers are still wrapped around my body as if he hasn't moved. While I'm lost on the sheets, sitting up on the bed, the nightmare replies in my head.

Last week I didn't dream of anything, there was no nightmare. But it's back again, and it's always the same place, the same shadow holding me, the same darkness and the same fear. Nothing ever changes, except for a few things that keep being added to it.

That place seems so familiar, yet I don't remember being there at all. I can't understand why it keeps popping out of nowhere.

—You're awake —he brings me back to reality—. As much as I like how you look in my bed, breakfast's ready.

When I look up at him, I see he's fully dressed already with a pair of worn out jeans and a white t-shirt.

—You could've brought it to bed —I joke, as I lazily get up.

—Who the fuck actually does that? —he frowns, resting his weight on his shoulder against the door frame— Eating in bed is gross. Imagine you spill your juice. Worse: there are toast crumbs all over the sheets.

—That's why people usually use plates for that.

—Note it up here —he points cutely to my forehead—: do not ever bring me breakfast to bed.

—Not that I would —I push his hand out of my face—. What did you prepare for breakfast? —I walk outside— Reconstruction of toasts?

As I step closer to the table and see everything neatly prepared on it, I gasp surprised. There's coffee, juice, toasts, fruit... I haven't had this type of breakfast since I moved out from home, and not even then it was as elaborate.

—What do you want? —I sit on the chair that's facing him.

—Do I have to want something to be nice? —he joins me at the table, faking how my words offended him.

—You do all of this only when you want to be nice? —I gasp again— Let me doubt it.

—Stop being so bitchy and eat —Jungkook giggles, before he picks the first slice of bread.

While we're having breakfast, he keeps ranting about a tattoo he has to make today and that will take him most of the morning. He keeps saying how the design is difficult, to the point that Mark himself refused to do it and directly assigned it to Jungkook. Since I insist on him doing well, he shows me the design.

—You drew this? —I ask surprised by how real the wolf looks.

The details are perfectly defined, to the point that the fluff of the wolf on the paper seems real. It makes me want to pet it. And I can see why he's so anxious about it when he zooms out and hands me his phone. It shows that the wolf is just part of a bigger design with a lot more details.

—Not only is the design difficult, he wants it on his forearm and hand.

—Take it easy —I give him back his phone—. You'll do great. The design is yours?

—Yeah —he nods—. Took me two days to finish it.

—It looks really cool —I say genuinely—. Yeah, you'll do great —I confirm—. If what you do on ink is similar to those designs, you're amazing at it. I wouldn't mind getting something if you're the one working on it.

—What would you get?

—I don't know —I take a sip of my juice—. I never thought of getting one.

—A skull would look amazing here —he points to my arm, giggling when I push his hand away—. Now seriously —his laugh turns into a smile—, if you ever think of getting a tattoo, I'd love to be the one working on it.

I nod, being completely sure that if I ever wanted to make that decision, he'd be the first one I'd run to. Not only because of his designs, or the way he takes his job so seriously to the point of him being anxious about it; but the level of trust I have on him right now. It wouldn't be the same.

—I heard that it's better if tattoos have a meaning.

—Sometimes —he shrugs and stretches his arm—. Some of mine have meanings, and some others don't.

When he turns his arm, with his palm facing the table, I see the black snake tattoo. I really like his full sleeve, but the way that one sneaks from his forearm to almost his hand has always gotten my attention.

—I like this one.

Unconsciously, I caress that spot with my thumb. And probably I wouldn't have noticed if it hadn't been for the contrast the hair on his arm has with the dark surface of the table, but I see how they lift as soon as my fingertips touch his skin.

—Are you cold? —I tease him, dragging my fingers further to the blue microphone.

—You just surprised me —he moves his arm away.

—I'll pretend I believe you.

After eating the last grape on my plate, I stand up. I think I should get going, and let him get ready for work. But when he leans his body, so his hand can reach to me and wrap around my wrist to pull me to his body and make me sit on his lap, I know I'm wrong.

—Where are you going?

Seeing his face so close all of sudden has definitely killed some brain cells, because there's no way I can't form a correct sentence in my head before speaking.

—Getting changed? —I reply confused— To go back home maybe?

—Why? —he places his hand on my knee, while his other arm is wrapped around my waist to hold my body.

—What do you mean why?

—You could stay here —he plays with my fingers that rest carelessly on my thighs—. I'll only be away for a few hours, Mark said he'll look after the studio when I'm done. So I'll be off, and you aren't working today either, right? —I shake my head, with a tiny smile because of his idea—. You have canvas if you want to draw, that big ass TV —he points to it—, I have the PS4 as well, delicious food... —he keeps counting.

—So —I wrap my arms around his neck—, is this some kind of plan to fool me into staying here, and then cut me into pieces and eat me? —I remember the plot of the movie we watched last night.

—Baby, I want to eat you —his hands moves higher on my thigh—, and I'd be eating you out right now if it weren't because I have to leave —the smirk on his face while he's saying that makes my clit throb—. But it's not because of that —his hand leaves my thigh, and reaches up to my waist, locking it with his other arm—, I just want to see you here when I come back today.

He makes me feel so confused. One second ago, I was getting ready to feel his tongue in the deepest corners of my body, but just like that he makes my chest burst with excitement. His duality will drive me crazy... literally. Also, he's so vocal, yet at the same time he makes me doubt whether he means what he's actually saying, or at least giving it the same meaning I would.

—Why? —I look into his eyes.

I don't really know what I'm expecting with that question, I'm not sure what I want to hear, or what would be the safe answer from him. The fact that I'm in his house in the first place already means a lot. He already said he values his home, his safe place, to be sharing it around with a random person. And not only he has shown me this place and has let me stay the night, he goes as far as wanting to leave me by myself here because he wants to see me here when he comes back.

It already feels too personal and intimate.

—I like being with you —he pinches my side—, and I want to make up for the past week —he rubs his lips on mine, giving me puppy eyes before he insists again.

I make the space between us disappear as I lean in and link our mouths with a sweet and calm kiss. Jungkook doesn't try to take the lead, doesn't make it faster or more passionate. He just moves his lips on mine following my pace, tasting the moment. The tip of my tongue hits against his upper lip, and that makes him smile and silently giggle before he opens his mouth to let me in.

The tip of my tongue meets his as I dive into his mouth. And, as if he were waiting for me, he curls it whenever I'm about to make the slightest move. He moves his head back when I'm about to do the same thing he's done to me, breaking the kiss when I was in the middle of sucking his lower lip.

—If we keep doing this, there's no way I'm going to work —he jokes—. Save all this energy for later.

—You're sure I'm staying.

—You're not? —he lifts one of his eyebrows, while a smirk starts drawing on his face.

He's right. I am staying.

He leaves his place five minutes after, and leaves me on my own in his apartment. At first, I just sit on the couch thinking what I could do while he's missing. There isn't really a way I could get bored here, since I have a fair amount of options.

While giving myself a small tour around his house, I decide to sit in front of the record-player he has next to his canvas. I remember he said it was similar to the one I have in my house, and that it belonged to my grandma's. The only difference is that this one seems newer and in a better state. Probably because he's been taking care of it, while I just keep it because it's always been part of my house. He also has a varied collection of vinyls: Queen, Kiss, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Nirvana, Stevie Wonder, Coldplay... and I guess the rest are Korean singers (I'm assuming because of the characters that appear).

Nice.

It's already been twenty minutes since he left, and I'm already bored. My body falls on the couch, my feet resting on the coffee table ahead of it before I switch the TV on. I need to find something interesting to watch, or else I'll smack my head against something. After looking for fifteen minutes, my head's safe. I find a superhero movie I wanted to watch a while back, but never got the chance to watch at the cinema because I was working (and even if I hadn't been working, I didn't really have something to watch it with).

I lose myself in the movie, and some of the awful CGI they use, to the point where I think I imagined the doorbell ringing. After I stop the movie, so the room is in silence, the doorbell rings again. And I confirm it wasn't my imagination nor part of the soundtrack.

I don't know whether I should open it. In any case, I run to his room so I can put my clothes on -well, at least my pants- and come back to the living room, just to take small steps towards the door. I peep through the glassy hole at the top. The brunette waiting outside finally lifts her head back to the door, and crosses her arms over her chest while she waits for me to open up.

Should I though? This isn't my house. I don't know who the girl is. But I'm not a 5 y/o either to be hiding behind the door whenever a stranger rings the bell. That and I'm way too curious to just ignore her.

When I open up, the brunette is relieved until she sees me standing in front of her. She wasn't expecting this. Well, duh. Of course she wasn't. She showed up at Jungkook's place, so clearly she was hoping he was the one that would open up.

I look at her from head to toe. The beautiful and shiny straight brunette hair that dies at her waist only seems to be the starter pack to her dark pink full lips, green siren eyes, a sharp jawline that would cut me if I dared to lay a finger near. She also has several tattoos on her arms, and even some of them seem quite familiar.

—Is Jungkook here? —she sounds annoyed.

I'm taken aback by her tone. But I also understand it, I've been staring at her for a long minute as if I wanted to create an exact photocopy of her the second she walked out of the building.

—No. He'll be out for a few hours —I place one of my hands nervously on the door.

—I thought he'd be here —she frowns—. He was usually off on Fridays.

Well, not anymore. At least not since we started talking.

I get a bad feeling when she says that, and the pile of questions start forming in my head when she says that. What other day? And why does she know when he's supposedly off? Who the fuck is she even?

—If you tell me who you are, I'll let him know you were looking for him.

She smirks, lowering his gaze for a second before her green eyes look through me. Girl, chill, I just asked who you are.

—Leslie —she tilts her head—. You are?

That name makes me momentarily dizzy and makes my ears ring. Leslie? That Leslie?

—Y/n.

I don't know why I answered at all. It's not like she needs to know. But by the way she smirks again when she hears my name, I'm convinced she's heard about me.

—Oh right. He told me about you.

I could pull the "Well, he didn't tell me about you" or start a rant on what he's told me about her, but both are uncalled for. Her attitude is shitty, but either of those two answers would be way worse.

I simply nod, nervous over the fact what exactly he's told his ex about me.

—Not exactly about you, but he said there was someone... And here you are —she looks down at my t-shirt— wearing his clothes.

—Do you need anything? You caught me in the middle of something —I'm starting to lose my patience under her judging gaze.

—I wanted to talk to him. He left before we could finish our conversation the last time.

When she says that, I'm not sure if it's the jealousy or annoyance taking over me, but the words run through my mouth before I can give them a second thought.

—I shouldn't say this, but it's been a week. You already talked to him and nothing came out of it. He moved on, you should move on, too —she squints her eyes at me—. Just leave him alone.

Is that me being overprotective over a friend? Or is it just me being intimidated by the woman in front of me and that's exactly why I'm talking about something I should have no opinion on? The fact that she's here after a week, when supposedly they only met because she wanted to apologize properly has set all my alarms. It doesn't mean he lied to me, but he's obviously hidden part of that conversation from me.

—And what are you of him to tell me that? —she's pissed, but she's still smiling— His spokesperson? Feel lucky if you're still around by next month.

—Yet I'm the one in his house, wearing his clothes, while you're looking for him after a week. And don't even know where he is because he isn't picking up your calls —I'm getting ready to close the door—. If you don't need anything else, I'm back to what I was doing.

And after waving goodbye to her with my head, I close the door behind me.

All that confidence I had outside, falls down to my feet when I'm back to being alone in his house.

It pisses me off he didn't tell me the whole story behind that conversation they had, it pisses me off she's coming around looking for him, and it pisses me off how she's probably right about me disappearing from his orbit sooner rather than later. It annoys me how bad I keep letting anything related to him affect me this much when this was never supposed to happen. But mostly, I'm annoyed at myself because out of all the men out there, I decided to let my guard down and get comfortable with the only man I wasn't supposed to like further than just a heavy attraction.

But I'm already down bad to whatever this is, too late for me to step back. And it's not like I actually want to step back from our situationship. This whole thing just feels way too good to ignore it and act like there's nothing going on. And I'm lowkey convinced he's feeling the same way.

I can't believe we allowed it to get out of hand though.

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