MANNEQUIN. x bts series

14

•

"Jane, please. Listen, you just stay right here, wait patiently til I return, do not touch anything-"

"Yes, okay, okay! Oh my goodness, you're worse than my aunt and uncle, Jungkook." I mutter under my breath, bored after listening Jungkook's repeated do's and do not's.

We are currently in his place, well, the damned shop that ruined his life, basically. He casually slips into one of the doors at the very back of the store, while asking me to remain seated with concern evident in his tone.

He's too worried.

I wave him off, before he send me one last glance and entering behind the doors.

I sit and wiggle around of course, trying to find the most comfortable spot while waiting for him... My thoughts then bringing me back to the incident that happened just right outside my home, an hour ago.

I was in my cute cute cute fancy pink apron with white ruffles designed on it, cooking disaster for myself when the doorbell rang- Which I in turn was glad to hear. I just found a replacement for the glass panels Jungkook had used to break into my house that time, and surely I didn't need him to break another door again.

I left the stove, and wiped my hands on my apron before going to the door. Jungkook was standing there, his outfit was the tuxedo-ish thing he wore when I first saw him.

He smiled with the brightest he could give, lines appearing on his cheeks even as he pressed a hand onto my wrist, "Good news. I found something you might wanna know. Follow me."

Still in my ugly bunny slippers and cute cute cute apron, he dragged me out to the corridor outside my home and apparently looked at me from top to bottom, muttering a, 'Cute' which I obviously didn't need to hear.

My cheeks flushed, "Dude, I left the stove on and burning! I need to-"

"That can wait." He continued pulling me to the main lobby.

I then supressed a groan in my throat, "You stupid! It can't! And I'm not even dressed. Release my hand, idiot."

So when I got back, running with hefty footsteps back to my apartment, the contents I'd been cooking were of course, found to be burnt and inedible.

Then Jungkook, out of nowhere, held up a pair of black baggy pants, and a white loose sweater with a hole at one of the sleeves. A hot pack was also stuck on the back of his neck like a neck pillow.

How did he even find those? And is that my menstrual relief heat pack?

"Change up," he says.

Without giving me allowance of time, he helped to untie my apron and even managed to tug on my shirt, to which I slapped his hands away and gave him a solemn stare. He backed away with both hands up, and I left to change.

Therefore, right now, I'm basically in my worst, ugliest outfit and my bunny slippers I have not managed to change out of. My eyes wander around the store, and I hear a faint noise of metal objects thrown here and there. Must be Jungkook.

I then spot a pretty, sparkling pair of heels, sitting next to the dull cashier counter. It had a purple and blue design, and glitter all over it. It doesn't seem to be my type but I'm somehow attracted to it. How did I not notice it before?

Unconsciously, I walk towards it with my body kept low, my eyes wide and I find myself to be in a blur, actually. My hands are reaching out, ever so slowly, for it... And a smile begins to form somewhere, pulling on my lips...

But I don't feel it on me.

Just as I am about to grab them both up to examine it, Jungkook returns, just in time to shout, "Don't touch it!"

I blink twice, then I stare hard. Hard at the heels in front of me. I was... Just so close to wearing them.

He seems to be running up to me, gripping my face with his both hands... And something like a brown envelope clasped tight under his arm. Everything is still in a haze, and I don't know what to think.

"Jane Hollister, wake up to your senses. Yah."

He begins by slapping one side of my cheeks, softly. When he realizes I'm still in a trance I have yet to escape, he slaps both my cheeks at the same time, a couple of times, and slowly I feel the piercing pain on both cheeks coming to me. I let out a frown. "Ju-ng. Kook..."

Jungkook broke into a smile of relief after he sees a threatening glare from me. "Jane! Finally! What were you thinking, crouching next to the counter with a foolish smile on your face, like you won the lottery? Even almost touching something you're not supposed to?"

I was?

"I don't know, something must've caught up inside me. Aish, the more I think, the more I forget." I turn my head to look down, and I see nothing but a dusty purple pendant.

"Oh? What's that?" I pointed it out for Jungkook.

He proceeds to pick it up, "This-" He takes a look at it closer, "This has a similar motif to the ornament I saw..."

He sits back down at the couch, and I follow suit. He opens the brown thing and it reveals torn pages of information written in cursive and old English.

Ah, he never leaves out his over-confidence.

"Okay, back to business. So what was it you want me to know?" I asked.

"Oh, right."

He flipped to a page, pointing at a sketch of a ball with waves of lines drawn on it. It looked like a baseball, or basketball, or maybe it's a soccer ball-

"This is it, the ornament I touched before I turn like this."

Then he brought up the purple pendant to me, "It has similar lines on it. Look!"

"What do you think about this? Surely you're not thinking about something funny..." I give an awkward smile.

"What do I think? Why did you try to pick this up in the first place?" He looked at me with a distressed expression. I couldn't read him. But he knows. That I had doubts I can't seem to clear.

"I... Honestly I really don't know anymore."

I try searching for pieces for information in my head, but they're coming off blurred and... fading away?

"Exactly. You're forgetting it slowly because you have not touched it. If you had, then..."

"But the point is," He continues, "According to my research so far... I think this pendant is our first clue."

Well, whatever he says, I just have to go along with it, right?

To hell with everything. His fate is tied within mines, since the beginning.

"Do you think we should spend the night here, hunt for more clues?" I finally let out a grin, "Also, let me get a heater for you. This place is indeed freezing."

•

a/n: longer chapter huehuehuehe. sorry for not updating for a week. c: thanks for reading!