Still With You | JK ff

Chapter 4: I'm yearning for more!

By the time Jungkook dropped you home, it was past 4 AM. The sky had turned a cold grey, and the world seemed pure, born anew with the hopeful glimmer of another daybreak on the horizon. The sound of chirping birds melted into the cold air, warming the silence with a melody. You had spent hours with Jungkook, driving around the city through the night, laughing and talking about the silliest things – but it still didn't quite feel enough. You felt your heart sinking as you watched the sky become lighter through the windscreen.

When the car came to a halt in front of your building, he took off his seatbelt and twisted his body in his seat to turn towards you, and stared at you with his face propped timidly on his hand, while you gathered your things. You had become very aware of his habit of observing you intently while you were off doing other things, but you could never get used to his curious doe eyes resting on you. With a tickle in your stomach that made you giggle, you met his gaze nervously.

"I should go," you said, pointing at your gate. "Should you though?" he quipped, teasing you.

"Stop it," you laughed as you raised your hands in front of you to block his view of you and began to unlock the door.

"Wait," he said as he grabbed your hand and placed it between his palms, casually fidgeting with your fingers as he spoke. "What will you do today?" he asked distractedly as he searched for something in the glove compartment.

"Not much, I'm unemployed now," you scoffed, letting the dread wash over you for the first time, regretting having quit your part-time. "Oh, but I do have an interview today," you suddenly remembered.

"Oh, do you? That's very nice!" he replied without looking at you, as he pulled out a pen with a child-like brandish. "Will you become busy when you get your dream job?"

"Ha! Says the idol himself!" you scoffed again. But he didn't pay any attention as he began to draw on the back of your hand, bringing it right up to his face. His eyes squinted and lips pouted in concentration, making the bow of his upper lip protrude more prominently over the plump lower one.

"Would you like me to be unemployed and at your disposal instead?" you continued without interrupting him or pulling your hand away.

"I wish," he sighed, "but I know that wouldn't be the girl I-," he stopped short, and looked up at you briefly with secretive eyes. "I know that that wouldn't be you, so I don't want that."

"And what exactly do you think makes me, me?" your curiosity was piqued.

"Well, a lot of adorableness mostly," he bit his lips as he suppressed a laugh.

"Alright that's enough," you threatened as you pulled on your hand.

"No, no, no, don't ruin my masterpiece!" he pleaded as he tightened his grip.

"Then give me a real answer," you said as you tried to peak at what he was busy scribbling on your hand. By the swift strokes that you felt on your skin, you knew he was now coloring into a shape.

"Well you-," he sighed. "You're fiercely independent," he spoke thoughtfully. "Aren't you?" he asked, his eyes still firmly placed on your hand.

His words pinched your heart, in more ways than you could absorb all at once.

It surprised you that he knew your core already, the very tenet on which your existence was built.

As a young girl, born into a humble household, you had learnt the need to pull your own weight very early on in your life. Your parents ran a small diner, with little to no help, and spent up to eighteen hours every day investing their blood, sweat and tears to keep it afloat. Owing to this, you had spent perpetually most of your life by yourself. From getting ready for school in the morning, to eating lunch and doing your homework when you came back home to an empty house in the afternoon, to playing all kinds of imaginative games around the house in the evening, you were always alone. When habits form in such formative years, they become second nature, and solitude had become a part of yours. You hadn't just embraced it reluctantly; it had been ingrained in your bones.