HYUN [ JJK ]

50

Jeongguk noticed how her lips trembled as she blurted that out, enough for him to know that she was as nervous as him. It was fascinating though, to find out that he wasn't the only one who's feeling some kind of way. "I didn't do that because of the custody." Jeongguk shrugged, letting his gaze fall on his feet. "Maybe I was too busy focusing on Hyun to realise that I... kinda like you. But everything just rushed into my mind once Hyun's gone. Like... blinds were raised that I finally could see something I couldn't before. Do you want to know a secret?"

Jaehwa swallowed hard, however keeping herself intact as she raised her eyebrows as a gesture for Jeongguk to spill it.

"That night, when you came to my house after forgetting your purse." Jeongguk bit his inner cheek, mind battling if it's okay for him to let Jaehwa know without her seeing him as a pervert or anything along the lines. But once he wanted to swallow the words, Hoseok's voice replayed in his head like a broken tape that there's no way for him to turn it off, ringing like a continuous mantra to help him pick up the bits of courage left in his body. "I almost kissed you. That's why I asked you to go home. I was- I was scared if I lost control of my own body." Jeongguk chuckled lightly, the memory of him being on the edge somehow flustered him. "I don't want to fuck things between us up, when you know... it might be a one sided love."

Jaehwa blinked her eyes furiously, froze in her spot upon hearing Jeongguk's confession. "Have you kissed anyone though?" Jeongguk had to widen his eyes, asking if he heard her right. "I asked you... have you kissed anyone before."

Jeongguk opened and closed his mouth, his tongue froze thus making it hard for him to speak properly. "I had my first kiss on my final year of middle school. You?"

Jaehwa tilted her head towards Jeongguk's direction, squinting her eyes at him that it made Jeongguk wonder if he said anything wrong. "You must be popular at school." She crossed her arms over her chest, the way she grinned cheekily afterwards relieved Jeongguk a tad bit. "If you kissed me then it would be my second one."

Jeongguk didn't know how to react when he saw her arching an eyebrow, her heels tapping the bare ground out of nowhere. He had no idea if it's because he's super dumb at the moment or he's just too nervous to make a move that all he could do was staring down at her lips for what seemed like an eternity, eyes trailing the cupid bow with admiration as it glistened under the moonlight.

"Should I kiss you?" Jeongguk nudged her elbow, making both of them laugh nervously upon their awkwardness.

"Come on! That was not smooth at all!"

Jaehwa smacked his chest, but before she could inch away from Jeongguk, he quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing their bodies together as if she would run away from his embrace. Jeongguk pursed his lips together, his rapid heartbeat was starting to kill him that he thought his blood vessels would burst anytime soon due to the overwhelming pressure. This, he managed to identify, was the feeling he felt when they're watching that video of Hyun together. This was the urge he felt when he saw how her raspberry-juice-tinted lips glistened within the dim lit living room. Everything was insanely identical—the way his eyes scanned her features and the way his heart thumped against his chest—that it drove him crazy as time went by. Except that this time, Jeongguk wasn't just staring. This time he had Jaehwa secured in his embrace with her palms pressed against the circle of his chest. He wasn't the only one who was staring. This time, Jaehwa was looking up at him as well, her dark brown irises wavered as they bored into his.

Jeongguk leaned in, noticed how her eyes were shut close the moment the tip of their nose touched, saw how Jaehwa practically grabbed the fabric of his jacket with all her might. With a faint smile to assure himself that he wasn't the one who had been wanting to seal his lips with hers, Jeongguk tilted his head and with that, a sudden gush of adrenaline flowed along his bloodstream. Jeongguk had never known that he could see fireworks with his eyes closed until he kissed Jaehwa, didn't know his heart could beat faster that what it did when he was doing triathlon as he tilted his head, didn't know the world would stop revolving as his hand traveled to the back of her head to deepen the kiss until he could taste the strawberry from her lips.

Jeongguk pulled away, however didn't break the hug as he looked down at the girl before him. He loved how Jaehwa's cheeks turned into shades of red, loved how she averted her sight to anywhere but not him.

"Yeay. Someone just had her second kiss tonight." Jeongguk muttered in a half-whisper voice before he leaned again to peck on her lips.

_________

If anyone saw him at the moment, Jeongguk was more that sure that he would be labelled as a maniac—smiling and giggling alone. He threw himself onto the couch and fished for his phone from the pocket of his jeans, giddiness washed over his body as his thumb hovered the contact name that read Jaehwa the babysitter. Sounded funny, especially when their relationship was more than just a babysitter or friends now, but Jeongguk decided to remain it that way so that he would be constantly reminded of how they first met.

He took a sharp inhale and laid down, waiting for the beep to end but as soon as it ended, Jaehwa was fast enough to beat him to it.

"We just met and you're calling me already?"

Jeongguk laughed, the way she nagged reminded him of the day she found that he was still giving Hyun formula instead of feeding him with solid food. For some reason, he could picture Jaehwa scowling with her arms crossed over her chest, intense gaze glued to the floor as she waited for his response.

"What are you doing?" Jeongguk got up from the couch, shuffling towards his bedroom.

"Getting ready to bed. I have class tomorrow."

"Do you want me to-"

"You don't have to fetch me. I can go on my own." Jeongguk pouted out of habit, a dot of disappointment formed somewhere in him upon hearing that. "Stop with your carpooling." Jeongguk remained silent, everything he planned to say to her just now was gone and now, all he could do was looking around his room. "I mean... not tomorrow. Let's go together someday, but not tomorrow. Okay, Jeongguk?"

Jeongguk nodded. "Hmm. You're going to bed already?" He heard Jaehwa hummed from the other end of the line, loved how her voice sounded sweeter now compared to before when they were just friends. "Good night."

"Night, Jeongguk. Sleep, alright? Don't go out or else I'm breaking up with you."

"Copied that loud and clear, ma'am." With another inaudible bye, Jeongguk ended the call, another smile tugged at his lips before he got on his feet.

Jeongguk was on his way to the bathroom when his eyes landed on something placed on the desk, couldn't resist himself from ignoring those two pieces of polaroid for him to head towards the direction instead. There, the two polaroids that never failed to make his heart swell, the two polaroids that were taken during the outings he had together with Hyun and Jaehwa.

It's not even 24 hours since he saw Hyun, but Jeongguk couldn't deny that he had missed the little boy like crazy. Tracing his thumb against the pictures, Jeongguk then picked them up, bringing them closer to his eyes only to have the smile on his face grew wider.

"Hyun." Jeongguk breathed. "Wait just a little bit more. Daddy will come and get you back. I promise."

_________

a/n:
we actually have reached the end of this story but there will be an epilogue!

also! those edits were made by me lol i'm sorry if they suck. it's my first time trying those kind of edits oops.