outbreak | bts

025

"I was scared." She started with a whisper, eyes still closed, tears now successfully stopped. Jungkook didn't reply but she felt him angle his head down, felt the slight wind of his breath on the top of her hair. He was listening.

"I was scared when you said to split up. Having to go by myself was nerve-wracking; I fell and hurt myself. And I was scared that your plan wouldn't work and you'd get hurt." The hand that patted her back slowed and she felt eyes peering down at her. She shifted closer to his heartbeat and felt his arms squeeze her gently after a pause.

"Well, I did get hurt a bit." Jungkook snorted at the memory, still in shock as he resumed his patting of her back. Seriously, the abnormals were no joke. Eunha lifted her head to look at him, eyes shaking.

"You got hurt? More than your elbow?" She asked, touching said elbow tenderly. Jungkook shrugged.

"The abnormal threw something at me that made me crash through a wall. It was crazy. My back hurts so much." He admitted. Eunha tried to pull away but he gently clung her to his chest.

"Jungkook let go, I need to look at your back." Eunha tried again, voice firmer, and this time Jungkook complied. Once stood up, Eunha asked him to remove his shirt and turn over so that she could inspect him, fanning her face when he couldn't see her.

Since Jungkook was a martial artist, he often needed physical examinations, so he was used to ripping off his shirt on command. Eunha didn't have such experience, or at least not with physically fit young men, so the sight of his defined muscles, broad shoulders and back was certainly disorienting. Don't be weird Eunha! She swallowed and tried to zone out.

You're not touching him up, you're just going to put that first aid course to use, okay, Eunha? As she was softly prodding his back to find the source of his pain, Jimin rushed into the med bay like a whirlwind.

"Jungkook-ah!" He cried. Jungkook lifted his head to look at him but remained on his front.

"Hyung. Eunha you can keep going." He added calmly when Eunha stood to attention like some soldier in Jimin's presence. Sending the older youth an apprehensive look, Eunha continued after he gave her a small nod.

"Yah, are you crazy? How could separate from your partner like that, you punk?!" He wasted no time laying into Jungkook, who for his part looked completely unaffected by the nagging.

"I wanted to make sure she was safe and we wouldn't have been able to make it together because of the horde." He explained. Jimin huffed out a breath of air that threw his bangs upwards before they settled back against his forehead.

"Eunha knows how to take care of herself." He stated, emphasising each word slowly, like he was speaking to a child.

"Obviously. No way would I have suggested it if I didn't know that." Jungkook scoffed, turning his head so that he was facing forward. Eunha felt heat flush into her ears. It was an unexpected compliment from the both of them. Jimin finally paid attention to the scene in the med bay.

"Ya, did you get hurt?" He queried. Jungkook rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I did. It hurts a lot actually so could you hold off on the nag until Eunha's done? Your voice makes the pain worse." Now it was Jimin's turn to eyeroll, but he complied and stood silently as Eunha located Jungkook's main source of pain, massaged some salve onto the spot and placed a heat patch on it.

Jungkook scrunched his nose up as he adjusted to the warmth hitting his muscles before rising off the bed. There was a short pause after he turned around to face Eunha when he realised that one, he had just yanked off his shirt in front of the girl he liked and two, said girl was staring at his chest with wide, bewildered eyes.

Heat flushed in his upper body and he reached for his shirt, breaking whatever trance Eunha had been under. She spun away and busied herself with packing away and disposing of all the supplies she had used. Jimin watched them with raised eyebrows. Were they being for real right now?

"You guys dating?" He asked, curious. He knew that Jungkook had long running feelings for a girl but he hadn't realised how much Eunha fitted the description of that girl until now. Jungkook had never mentioned her name or shown him a picture because he felt it wasn't right to talk about others like that, and their circumstances hadn't allowed him a real moment of calm to piece things together.

Jungkook and Eunha snapped their heads towards him with reddened cheeks and ears and then looked at each other, making flustered noises before looking away. Jimin stared at them. Oh? Look at these two. Jungkook cleared his throat and set his lips in a stoic line.

"We're gonna talk about it first." He stated. Eunha sent him a scandalised face before hiding her head in her hands. This was so embarrassing. After a short pause, Jimin shrugged and turned around.

"Alrighty. Be good to her okay? Come out after you're done. You look like you have more to report." He advised as he left the med bay. Jungkook and Eunha watched him as he left.

When it was just the two of them again, Jungkook squared his shoulders, heart suddenly beating in an unsteady rhythm. He could do this. He and her both deserved clarity. Clearing his throat a few times, he finally turned to face Eunha, who for the most part seemed to have frozen in place.

"Eunha?"

"Hm? Oh, uh, yeah?" She blinked through her fingers but didn't lower her hands from her face, nor did she turn to face him.

"Let's talk?"

"...Okay." She nodded after a moment of silence and followed him to the bay beds, seating herself on the one opposite from him this time. She didn't know where to direct her gaze, so she stared at the hands she had dropped from her cheeks into her lap. Finally gaining courage, she peeked up from her hands at him and felt her heart stutter when she saw his earnest expression directed towards her.

"Jung Eunha," Jungkook murmured softly, "I like you, and if you'll have me, I'd like to date you." Eunha stared at him, taking him in. She let out a soft exhale; she didn't have butterflies, in fact, her heart felt easier as Jungkook's words settled into it, as if they had returned to their home. Warmth spread out from her chest to her cheeks and she felt a smile tug at her lips.

"Jeon Jungkook, I like you too. It would be my pleasure to date you." She whispered back. Jungkook's eyes slowly lit up, and a grin donned his face instantly.

Coming to sit beside her, he gently grabbed her hands, resting his forehead against her knuckles before pressing her palms to his chest where his heart was and giving her hands a soft squeeze.

Though no words passed between them, both of them understood the other. Eunha beamed at Jungkook and right then and there, he vowed to himself that he would make sure they would definitely escape this predicament for as long as they could manage.

I'll protect what we have left. Definitely.