But I Hate You || JJK (in editing)

Interrupting

Doing his best to calm her, Kook whispered gentle shushes and gave light strokes over her head.

"I'm sorry," she finally voiced, although he was the only one who would have been able to hear it. "God, is this weird?" she panicked, pulling away to wipe her tears as if that would recover her lost dignity. "I left a message, I didn't mean to interrupt..."

"I got your message," He smiled softly, hand cupping her face so she had to stay close to him. His thumbs wiped at the tear stains down her face and then at the final drops that escaped.

She relaxed into his hands, but there was still a crease in her brow. Her arms secured around his waist but he could tell she was still holding back from the way she looked up at him.

"Hi," she flushed, trying to avoid his deep brown eyes staring quizzically back at her, but she couldn't resist. They drew her in against her better judgment. God damn Bambi-eyes.

"Hi," he returned, lightly amused by her flustered state. You'd think by this point they would be past bashfulness.

"We still need to talk," she announced in return without being questioned.

"About what? You just flew halfway across the world- aren't we on the same page about this now?" Kook teased, trying to bring a smile onto her face because he'd yet to see one and he was desperate for it.

"It's not that simple," she sighed, "A few grand gestures don't undo the hurt we've both been through," He tensed at the bombshell, his hand falling from her face.

"It could be that simple," he argued sadly, "What are you afraid of?"

"Kook-ah,"

"I'm serious," he stepped away from her completely, forgetting the public setting they were in. It felt like she was dangling his favourite food in front of him and yanking it away every time he got close enough to taste it.

"What's holding you back?" he raised his voice a little. The lack of sleep clashing with the emotional rollercoaster of the day in the worst way.

"Because," she returned with equal attitude, "You make bad choices, Jungkook-ah!"

Seeing him frown, Mimie took a calming breath before elaborating. Laying all her worries out on the table, but summing them up in this one confession.

"What if I'm a bad choice? What if I'm the worst choice for you?" He stared back in silent incredulity, "What if choosing me ruins everything? I'm just not sure if I'd survive if one day in what? 16 years you wake up and realise what a horrible choice you made. And because everything was so ruined you can't even get away and then you resent me and everything and I have to live knowing that I should have known better than to allow you to make this choice?"

Mimie stared up brokenly, she was reaching out for him in her mind, but in the real world, she couldn't seem to unfreeze her terrified body.

"Ok," Kook nodded, confusing her by stepping a little closer again although his words seemed to agree with her reasoning for distance, "Maybe I do have bad taste..."

"Kook-,"

"But maybe you have even worse taste and therefore I have a duty to protect us all from allowing you to make the choice to not allow me to make the choice?"

"... huh?" She was genuinely lost. How people followed maps without google was beyond her. She couldn't even find her way through that sentence.

"Trust me," he whispered, leaning back in, yielding to his need to be closer to Mimie.

"I want to..." she tried to fight the resentful smile growing up her face. Coming to her aide, Jungkook stopped her lips from smiling by busying them with other activities. Kissing her firmly and with need, Kook pulled her tightly against him and let the world disappear for a moment. If he gave his brain the chance, he could probably still hear the busy crew members working around him or feel the breeze from the aircon they had on full power.