Inviolable

4 - One step at a time

"It always shocked me when I realised I wasn't the only person in the world who thought and felt such strange and awful things."
-John Green

~*~

Park Chaeyoung

I was currently in my apartment sitting in the puddle of clothes trying to figure out what to wear. The groan kept building up in my chest. I've never paid attention to how I look this much but that didn't mean that I ever dressed shabbily either.

The reason for my dilemma made me blush. How did one person coming in my life change me so much?

Me and Lisa came home and set up the apartment for the party that the whole group decided to keep to celebrate the first week of knowing each other. Though everyone agreed we'd meet at our apartment at 7, it's already 6:10 and I'm nowhere close to being ready.

Letting out the long awaited groan, I decided to stand up and clean up the mess I made first. Once that was sorted, I let out a long breath and decided to calm down. The time showed 6:30 now.

Deciding to hop in the shower, having my hair up since I blow dried in the morning itself. While looking myself in the mirror while doing my makeup after the shower, kept it very light and natural.

Returning back to my closet now the time was 6:45. The black lingerie peaked out of the underwear drawer that Lisa had given me as a gag gift. stuffing that back in after shaking my head vigorously, I decided to dress cute but casual for the party.

On cue the bell rang and I heard Lisa opening the door and greeting everyone. Giving myself a last glance in the mirror and giving myself a thumbs up, I smiled.

"CHAE!"

"NE I'M COMING!" Rushing out while trying to wear the heart pendant necklace, unaware of the surroundings. Slightly pouting when the necklace clasp just wouldn't join, kept trying for it while walking.

"Rosie Posie do you need help with that?"  Jennie unnie asked while looking at me amused while I poured about not able to complete this silly task.

"Yes, thank you I don't know why I'm not able to do this today."

As someone as Jennie unnie was done clasping the necklace for me, she stepped away while everyone got into a flowing conversation. Lisa directed everyone towards the table which we had set up with drinks, snacks and disposable plates and cups, placing a garbage bag on the side of the table so when everyone was done, they could throw it in themselves. This reduced our work.

The whole time I never heard the one person talk, he sat in the corner with his banana milk he had taken from the table quietly observing everyone.

He looked breathtaking. Even though he too was dressed casually in black jeans and a black T shirt, I realised I'd never noticed his tattoos before. This entire week of knowing Jungkook was a roller coaster of emotions. He was sweet and nice just like I'd thought. But at the same time, how my heart reacted around him was unhealthy.

I looked around the room and smiled at everyone. Taehyung and Lisa in one corner arguing over what shade of green is superior and jimin sitting between them looking at them like they'd lost it. In the middle of the room there was Jin, Jisoo, Jennie and Namjoon discussing about the new netflix series. While Yoongi and Hoseok sat at the table eating chips and Yoongi cracking up at Hoseok being hilarious doing his little quips.

I noticed Jennie stealing glances at the table, particularly at the pale male who had a big grin on his face. I chuckled over how fun it would be confront her about it later.

Parties were never my thing, it has always been Lisa's department. Though I occasionally enjoyed dancing, social interactions were never something that I was too comfortable with. Even though the people in the room were my closest friends, the feeling was a little harder to shake.

I wanted some fresh air so I stepped on the balcony which e and Lisa had decorated with old wooden furniture, few plants and lots of fairy lights. While I watched the scenery seeing the lights of the cars at a distance, letting the cold air calm me, the feeling of peace-

"Parties make you uncomfortable as well?" Jungkook slid at the spot besides me. In the dim lights the fairy lights showed, he looked much more handsome than I thought he ever could. Nodding my head and giving him a shy smile, I returned my gaze towards the road, so as to not make him uncomfortable with my staring.

"Not really. Even though I'm extremely comfortable with each person present at the party, it just feels-"

"Overwhelming" I turned to see the ghost of smile on his face and instantly felt calmer.

"You don't seem to be a social person either." I pointed out my observation to him with a smirk.

To that he laughed " No. Like you said, it's overwhelming."

"So tell me Jungkook, why are you talking to me now, even though inside you sat in a corner."

"You feel warm. It's comfortable to talk to you, even though we don't know each other much. Does that make sense?"

I didn't need anyone to point out to me how red I was now. I could feel my cheeks burning.