summer love, summer loss. ➣ j. jungkook

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HE bounced up and down to the steady rhythm of his music. stick sweat soaked his light hoodie. jungkook panted as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve. he could only imagine how badly he stunk. but something about the breezy walk made him feel rejuvenated. he stopped at a sleek, erect water fountain. sunlight tinted the sky various shades of gray.

the male shuddered and sighed. he'd had this eerie feeling for a month. jungkook tried, but couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching... waiting. he nervously glanced around and took off sprinting this time. his heart pounded against his chest and she lengthened her strides-- making it to his apartment in minutes.

as he rounded the corner, he neglected to recognize the person before him--knocking her and himself over. he collected the spilled grocery bags, filling them as his eyes stayed on the floor.

"i'm sorry about that.. i was in a rush and-- nari?"

"what a coincidence. i was just on my way to see you."

she smiled, adjusting her sleeves before retrieving the fallen items. the pair worked from their knees, finishing the pick-up process before jungkook invited the female inside his apartment.

the room gives away his bachelorhood. everything is functional. the mantle is where he puts his keys and garage door opener. on the coffee table is a wrench set and a new set of wheels for a long-board. under the small eating table is a pack of beer. nari internally guessing that the fridge-freezer holds meals for one and he has more clothes in his laundry basket than in his closet.

he's not hopeless though, he clearly knows one end of a vacuum cleaner from the other. he's got modern looking prints of the wall and a small photo of his folks on a side table. he's never decorated, that's for sure, but then who paints a rental place? he turns, smiling shyly, a look she's seen on his face before. the noirette can't help but smile back, he just told her all she needed to know.

he doesn't bring people back here often.

"welcome to casa jeon-- it's still undergoing some construction, but for the most part it works."

"cute man cave", the girl held up the plastic bags in her arms, "so where should i put these?"

he pointed at the space past the coffee table, "kitchen's fine. also, if you don't mind me asking-- why are you here?"

"you forgot to put water in ramen and nearly burnt the building down-- i'm doing your neighbors a favor and teaching you how to cook."

she bent forward, disappearing for a few moments before reappearing-- her inky hair pulled into a ponytail sitting atop her head. she nodded, getting right to work. jungkook focused on the girl, his curiosity building like a cat fixated upon its prey. it wasn't likely a cute girl would come to his home, never mind cook for him as well.

"don't just stand there, kook. wash your hands and get in here."

jungkook complied with her directions. he took out the flour and eggs while nari fetched him an apron. she took a chair from the dining table and climbed up high. tool in hand she climbed down carefully and replaced the chair.

he called out to her. "how much of each?"

"uh, three and two."

jungkook dipped his cup into the sack of wholewheat and counted three. then he cracked two eggs, whisked them and tipped them into a well in the middle just like youtube has shown him. after a time he noticed that it was too dry. it didn't look like good pasta at all. his face fell and his eyes rolled.

"it's dry!"

"oh, what, you did two flour and three eggs?"

he felt frustrated, she could have said that at the start, now his pasta was a mess. his enjoyment evaporated like summer rain from hot tarmac and he even stopped listening to the soft jazz coming from the kitchen radio. nari put the meatballs in the fridge and came to see.

"right," she said, "two more eggs, a little flour, a tablespoon of olive oil and a little water. We can fix this, kook."

she rumpled his hair with her hand and he rolled his eyes. jungkook wanted to be cross with her right now and she was making even that difficult. despite himself his face recovered to normal and he fetched the eggs.

"right on. never give up, that's the spirit!"

a few minutes later the dough was a satisfying ball ready to be kneaded. he felt it in his arm muscles, this was nothing like just throwing the dried stuff in a pot, but he liked it so much more. after a time the grainy texture became silky and it was time to wrap and refrigerate. later he'd get to feed it through the pasta machine.