♠︎ seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

⁃⁃⁃⁃♠︎⁃⁃⁃⁃⁃⁃⁃⁃♠︎⁃⁃⁃⁃

♠︎ YOU

"Hi Kookie," you said with a flirtatious smile. "Long time no see."

It was a ruse, of course it was. The easiness of your tone. The suggestiveness on your face.

Deep down, you were bricking it. 

Jungkook, however, seemed entirely unfazed by your presence. If he was surprised to see you here already, he didn't show it, wearing an expression that hinted nonchalance, or perhaps even indifference altogether. 

"Hi," he said back. His voice was just as firm as it had been on the phone; on the quiet side, but steady nonetheless, and your stomach clenched.

You didn't know why you were so nervous. It was all a bit of harmless fun, after all. A competition, a game - one that he would learn from. And besides, you were the more sexually experienced here. There was no need to feel weird about it. 

But as Jungkook was steered away from you by Jimin before you could converse any more, off to greet Yoongi, you couldn't help but watch him from the corner of your eye.

Something had changed, since the last time you saw him. Or had it always been there, and you just hadn't seen it? Either way, you didn't remember this quiet stillness in him, this calm confidence that seemed to emanate out from his core. Perhaps he had just been working out? He did seem more muscular, his arms more defined beneath his shirt, his jaw clearly cut against his neck when he turned to smile at Yoongi, leaning down for a hug.

Not to mention that gorgeous mane of smooth, wavy raven hair, and the silver lip ring that glinted in the sunlight.

You weren't even sure handsome covered it. The man was downright pretty.    

You cursed your ovaries for responding to the sight of him in just a baggy t-shirt and shorts, his broad chest and tattooed arm on display. Soon, he would be in that pool, in his full bare-chested glory, and-

No. Soon he would be naked, in bed. With you. 

Only god knew how you'd deal with him then. 

Like you deal with every other guy, your inner voice tutted at you. He's just a man, for god's sake. Get over yourself. 

Begrudgingly, you had to admit that the inner bad bitch inside you was right. 

He was just a man. 

A man you had to beat. 

⁃⁃♠︎⁃⁃

The rest of that afternoon passed in a daze. 

All of you went your separate ways, to wash up and prepare for dinner that evening. You barely saw Jungkook, who retreated up to his room to unpack and settle in. In the meantime, you got ready yourself, a mixture of excitement and nerves tangling in your belly as you got dressed.

When you were done, you grinned at yourself in the mirror. You looked good, and you felt confident. Considering Jungkook's stoic reaction to you earlier, this wasn't going to be easy - but it was definitely going to be a lot of fun, trying to break him. 

When it was time, you descended the stairs to make for the dining room, where you could hear the warm conversation that flowed from the other four guests who were already gathered there. You relaxed a little, remembering that this was supposed to be a vacation, with your friends. You knew others would be coming and going over the course of the next few weeks, and the prospect of getting to see all of them in this idyllic paradise was an exciting one.

But the knot in your stomach returned when you heard the melodic laugh of your new competitor rise above the other voices. You swerved into the kitchen, determined to have at least one drink in you before you faced him.

No such luck. The moment you stepped into the kitchen, a figure appeared in the opposite doorway, with an empty glass in his hand.

"Oh," you let out a soft sound of surprise at the sight of him, before remembering yourself and smiling. "Hi."

Jungkook stopped in his tracks, and when he caught your eye you could see that he'd already had a little to drink. His cheeks were pink, lips stained a little with the tint of whatever he'd been drinking, though his outfit of a white knit t-shirt and black jeans had remained surprisingly pristine. 

You had a fleeting feeling of awe that he could make such a simple outfit look so sexy, and then before you could regain any sense of calm, he was speaking.

"Hey," he returned your smile easily, his doe eyes practically glinting. It was the opposite of the stoic Jungkook who had greeted you earlier. "I was wondering when I might get you alone."

"That's very forward of you," you shot back, trying to maintain composure against the low suggestiveness of his tone.

But Jungkook just smiled calmly, moving to refill his drink from the refridgerator. "I just meant to talk. Why, are you that desperate for me already?"

Damn, you thought, as the knot in your stomach tightened further. When did he become this confident?

"You've grown up, you know," you took a few slow steps towards him, until you leaned on the kitchen counter beside him as he poured. "The last time I met you, you were just a shy boy at the back of a room."

Jungkook shrugged, eyeing you sideways. "I don't think I've changed," he said casually, taking a second glass he had poured and handing it to you. "I just wasn't thinking about taking your clothes off while you were interviewing us."

This made you smile a little, though you leaned more into the counter to stop your legs from buckling. "Are you thinking about it now?"

Jungkook didn't smile back, just gazed at you, his dark eyes like moonlight. "Wouldn't you like to know."

For a long, heavy moment, it was silent between you.

Already, you could feel the surge of competition singing in your belly. And lust - huge, roiling waves of it, ones you couldn't have ever predicted having for him before. 

You gazed at him, and he gazed at you, determined not to be the one to cave first. The room felt boiling all of a sudden, and at the rate you were going, you'd have each other's clothes off in mere minutes, let alone weeks.

"So," Jungkook finally broke the silence, tapping a finger against the wet rim of his glass. "It looks like we're doing this, huh?"

"Looks like it," you replied, trying out an unbothered tone, as you sipped your drink. You didn't know what it was, but it was sweet and redolent, and you enjoyed it.

"Because it's okay, you know," he was saying now. "If you... don't want to."

You blinked a little in surprise.

He had changed right in front of you. For the first time this evening, you glimpsed the Jungkook you thought you had known before. Shy and introverted - obvious in the way he worried his lip ring between his teeth. You softened a little, knowing that he must be at least a little nervous about this whole thing.

"Why, do you not want to?" you asked.

Jungkook shook his head. "No. I mean - yes, I do want to. I... need to do it. It's hard to explain."

"Okay..." you replied slowly, contemplating what this meant.

It must be for someone. Someone he wanted to sleep with, maybe more. There was not a chance in hell that Jungkook would want to do this if there wasn't some end goal in mind. 

And you didn't mind that. At the end of the day, you were getting a free vacation, and what might hopefully be some mind-blowing sex. Jungkook would get whoever he'd set his sights on, and it was a win-win for everyone. 

"Look, Kookie - it's fine with me," you reassured him. "I mean, we're cool. We're friends. We both know what we're getting into. And if either one of us changes our mind we can just stop, right?"

Jungkook seemed to visibly relax at your words, nodding in agreement. For all of his suggestive talk earlier, you knew that this reassurance was what he had really wanted to hear from you.

"But," you continued. "If we do this... we do it properly. I meant it when I said I'm not going easy on you. I'm gonna push you. Hard."

Now, Jungkook smiled, doe eyes sparkling. "Who's to say I won't push back?"

"I'm to say," you retorted brazenly. "You can't even imagine half the shit I'm gonna put you through."

One of his eyebrows raised, the competitiveness in him flaring immediately. "We can test that out right now, if you want."

Jungkook looked you up and down once, quickly, making heat break out over your body - but you resisted.

"Hold your horses, junior," you laughed at his eagerness, holding up a hand. "There won't be any of that for a while."

Jungkook looked entirely confused, his brow furrowing in a way that would be adorable if you weren't literally discussing when he was going to rail you. "What do you mean? I though that was the whole point..."

"Here's your first lesson about sex, bunny boy," you replied, taking a tiny step closer to him so you were level with his gaze, which flashed with annoyance at the nickname. "Sex is good, right? But what happens before sex is just as important. We have to do a whole lot first before we even get to the bedroom."

"So, what, you're talking about foreplay?" he asked, earnest eyes following yours. The way he said it in a low voice, like a dirty secret, sent a small shiver down your spine - and it only increased when the side of his mouth tugged up in amusement, and he added - "Because I'm happy to play with you, you know. If that's what you want."

"Well, as useful as that is to know," you continued, trying to sound calm despite how arousing his words were, "It's not really foreplay I'm talking about. It's like... foreplay with words. I have to learn you first, you understand?"

Feeling daring, you took one more step towards him.

"What you like," you said slowly. "And what you don't like."

His eyes didn't leave yours. You gave him a devilish smile as you leaned forward, tilting your mouth up to his ear.

"What turns you on the most," you whispered. "And what makes you snap."

When you pulled away, Jungkook's jaw was clenched. He was barely a hair's breadth from you, lips centimetres away, the scent of his cologne making your veins hum, but you knew you couldn't give into him just yet.  

You drew back, and saw the way his eyes narrowed as you did, skeptical.

"We're gonna do all of that," he questioned, "before anything else?"

You grinned at his impatience, knowing you had the upper hand, as you repeated his own teasing back to him. "Why, are you that desperate for me already, bunny boy?"

His jaw clenched again as his tongue poked into it. "Stop calling me that."

You ignored his request, sensing that this conversation was already becoming far too tense and charged for either of you to handle. There was a low, dangerous humming in your veins at being this close to him, at how unexpectedly handsome you had found him earlier, and you knew you had to exercise some self-restraint about now before things got out of control.

Not that your hormones were happy about that. They were downright pissed.

"Look, just trust me," you said calmly, taking a small step back for the good of you both and sipping your drink again. "When it's time for moving forward, you'll know. In the meantime, just sit back and enjoy the ride, hm?"

You held a hand out to him, and he eyed in skeptically.

"Deal?" you offered.

Jungkook hesitated, before extending his tattooed fingers to meet yours. "Deal."

The moment he said it, the unmistakeable sound of the front door swinging open resounded through the kitchen. You both turned, hands untangling, at the sound of clattering shoes on the marble, accompanied by the rolling of suitcase wheels, wondering who it was that had arrived.

The moment you set eyes on the new guest, your heart sank low into the pit of your stomach. 

Oh shit.

Yoongi had certainly not mentioned that he would be attending. And judging by the shock horror on his face, he hadn't expected to see you either.

"Huh?" he let out a noise of surprise, gazing at you in panic.

You let out a deep exhale of resignation, sensing Jungkook's confused eyes on you, knowing there was nothing you could do about it now. 

You looked up at him, and forced a grimacing smile onto your face as you greeted him.

"Hi, Taehyung."

 ⁃⁃⁃⁃♠︎⁃⁃⁃⁃⁃⁃⁃⁃♠︎⁃⁃⁃⁃