a dream of love ; got7 (jaebum + jinyoung)

.11.

Jaebum sat outside the stairs that lead into the shrine. His pants on his right leg had been pulled up to his knee, exposing his shin and the paper bounded around it with some strange symbols on it. His right foot tap against the concrete block nervously as his fingers entwined tightly against the other, placing right over his mouth to cover his cackling teeth.

Beneath all the nervousness he had muttered a prayer to the gods even though he didn't expect anyone to hear if if there was even a higher being. He was but a man against a whole world of chaos. He was perhaps simply a bug out of all of it.

The door behind him drew to a a gentle close as it made a creaking sound in the process. Jaebum looked up to see Mark coming out and he stood up, his hands nervously trembling on his sides as they wondered around for something to hold on to. Hope perhaps.

"What did she say?" Jaebum asked with a wavering voice. Realizing that, he quickly cleared his throat and scowled a bit to maintain his normal emotionless image.

Mark glanced at him from the door, trying to make out this new, nervous wreck of a man that he never knew existed in Jaebum, a calm and calculated man. "How's your leg?" Mark simply asked.

"My leg?" Jaebum questioned as he was lost in his thoughts of Jinoung's well being for a moment. "Oh― It's alright. Feels better." He admitted as he tapped his thigh awkwardly. "I thought it was just cramps or something. I didn't believe her when she said that it was caused by the touch of a ghost.. Can ghost even touch humans? Are you sure she's for real―"

Mark looked at him and sighed. "Sit down will you. You look like a wreck." Mark patted him as he sat down on the stairs, looking out to the city of Seoul below, blanketed by the light that was seeping in through the horizons.

"So?" Jaebum descended to his level as he sat down besides his tall american friend. "How did it go? Was she able to do it―"

Mark nodded without looking at him. "Yeah. Yeah― she said umm. She'll try her best."

Jaebum was a little conflicted by the uncertainty of Mark's answer but he decided that it'll do. He breathed out in relief as he eased his shoulders for the first time. He grabbed his chest as he sighed out again, releasing all his anxieties and ridding his uneasiness.

Mark looked at his friend who closed his eyes as he steadied his breath, seemingly relieved by the news he had just spoken of. Yet despite seeing the easiness return to Jaebum's face, Mark remains concerned for him. He feared that this incident was only the start of a trail of bad luck that will be aimed at him caused by the ghost's presence. 

But Mark realized something from the events that had occurred. Jaebum, who couldn't care less about much, cared about this ghost. He would save him... protect him even. And Mark couldn't ignore that fact alone.

"Is he worth it?" Mark spoke up out of the stillness of the coming dawn.

Jaebum opened his eyes and glanced at his friend in confusion, unsure of what he was referring to. For a moment he tried to make out a possible reference but he quickly gave up and blinked at mark blankly. "Sorry, what?"

Mark sighed as he faced his friend. "Is he worth all this trouble?" When he received a look of confusion still intact on Jaebum's face he tightened his lips in frustration before spelling out what he meant to him. "The ghost. You would risk your life for him. I saw that last night. Is he worth that risk? Of you losing your life."

Caught off guard by the question, Jaebum averted his gaze away from mark and casted it upon the hazy city in the distance. "Are you crazy." He chuckled, nervously. "I wouldn't put my life on  the line for a ghost..."

"But for him?" Mark asked again, his tone firmer.

Jaebum looked at Mark, lost for words. He never really realized it but he came to grow upon the ghost that he once found to be the core of his frustration and annoyance. He never really thought about it, and Mark's words brought him to light of his very own emotions and feelings.

"He mean's nothing to me. I― I don't have a reason to lay my life on the line―"

"It was a simple question dammit." Mark barked at him.

Jaebum sealed his lips quickly as he looked away out again into the distance. He didn't even know the answer to it. Heck, he wasn't even aware of what he was doing. "I don't know." He confessed firmly, though uncertainty was thick in his words. "I just know that I can't let him die. He still has a functioning body and he... He's alive. And I― I can't let him die."

Mark looked at Jaebum who didn't return his gaze. He could feel the chaos of his soul in conflict. His mind, heart and spirit were all fighting in a mess of confusion and madness. Mark reached out and took hold of Jaebum's shoulder firmly in his palms. "I just wanted to say... I'll do what i can to help you.."

Jaebum looked at back at him in surprise. To him it was very unexpected of Mark yet he remembered that the man that sat besides him was only interested at the safety of him and he never meant any harm despite his rather harsh dialogue and crudeness.

Jaebum nodded at him and pressed his lips together to choke back his emotion. he drew a sharp breath and stood up. "I should uhh... I should."

"You should check on him." Mark nodded as he too stood up. "I'll uhh.. Jackson's on the way. I'll be back with some changes for you."

"Thanks Mark." Jaebum muttered a little awkwardly. Mark turned down at the stairs and stepped down carefully down to the end. Jaebum stood still for a moment, watching him go. "Hey, Mark.." Jaebum called out suddenly.

Mark looked back at him, shortened by the distance between them.

"I― I just wanna say I'm sorry... For being―"

"Don't... It was me but we're not about to get into that like this." Mark shouted back at Jaebum. "I'm going to apologize when there's not this much distance between us cause the only people who's ever heard me say the S word are you and Jackson and I'm not about to let the world hear me say it now so we'll have this talk later, ok?"

Jaebum chuckled as he shoved his hands in his pocket. "Jerk." he muttered under his breath. "Go on then, get out of here. Don't wanna keep your man's waiting." He shouted back at Mark, playfully, who replied with a wave and quickly skipped down and away.

Smiling Jaebum turned around and entered the shrine. He slowly crept back into the old creaky building and he peeked into the room where Jinyoung was held. He sees his friend on the mattress with a dozen of pots releasing some strange incenses in the air. It gave a feeling of deep peace and tranquility to the conflicted Jaebum and he entered the room with ease. The Shamen was nowhere in sight so he invited himself in.

He settled down besides Jinyoung and studied the boy's face, staring into the very existent to the spirit of the young man. What did you do to me. He sighed as he reached to touch Jinyoung's hands only to go through them, as he had expected. He didn't know why he did it even though he knew the outcomes of it. And that was unlike him.

Jaebum was a careful and calculating man. He didn't do things because he felt like it. his actions are the result of careful considerations and planning. He wasn't a rash man and he believed in doing what was right.

And this― the whole thing of him talking to a ghost, excepting the ghost, and even saving the ghost... It was wrong... But it felt like the right thing to do.

Why do you make me do these stupid things?

What power do you have over me??