Untitled, 2018

Chapter 75: A Kiss To Seal The Deal

The officers caught up to us and just looked at each other, shaking their heads and sighing. I suppose they thought we were dramatic lovers and harmless, but because of formalities, one of them had to take us to a room in the back and ask for our IDs and tickets anyway. He did a double take when he saw mine, and told us to wait there longer while he "verified something"— I guess he had to make sure my ID was real.

The whole time Riti and I were just giggling like schoolchildren, excited to see each other but also laughing at how silly this situation was.

"I can't believe I've been detained at the airport twice." She said.
"I can't believe both times were with you!"
"How the hell did you get into the terminal?"
I showed her my ticket. "Cha-ching. Going to..." I looked at the ticket to check the destination. "Daegu!"
She looked at me in disbelief. "...Wow, the life you live must be nice."
I just grinned wickedly.

She looked at me intensely for a moment, and I boop'd her nose. "What is it?"
"Just looking. Pictures don't do you justice, you know."
I almost blushed, embarrassed at how casually she said things that made my heart pound. I grabbed her hands with mine. "At least they photoshop the blemishes out."

Her face slowly broke out into a mischievous grin and I could tell she was formulating some plan in her head.

Before I could ask her about it, she lifted her hand and held my cheek, pulling me closer to her. A little surprised, I obliged and pulled my face closer, and she quickly puckered her lips.. and kissed me.

I felt her lips on mine for only a moment before she pulled away shyly, covered her face with her hands, and got up to scoot far away from me. I was stunned and stood there, frozen, before bursting out into a surprised and gleeful laughter.

I walked up to Riti, but she protested. "Go away! Ugh I'm embarrassed."
I took her hands but laughed again when I saw her embarrassed expression dodging eye contact. "Why are you embarrassed? You're the one that did it! Now I'm feeling shy!"

She ducked her very red face down by my chest so she wouldn't have to look at me and mumbled. "I don't know, since we're never seeing each other again and all, I just wanted my... first kiss to be you."
I hugged her, cracking up at the situation and how adorable she was. "You silly girl."

Once I'd calmed down, I looked down to see Riti nervously looking up at me. Still holding her, I slowly swayed and pushed her backwards until her back softly hit the wall. I slowly pressed her against the wall with my body and held her hands down by our sides. She looked completely flustered, but I was feeling bold and in the mood to continue after she'd teased me with that peck earlier.

"Your first kiss with Park Jimin, is that what you wanted?" She tried to maintain her eye contact with me but her eyes kept dodging my steady gaze.
"You call that a kiss?" She froze and turned crimson red, her eyes now fixed on me and my lips. "Want to know what a real one's like?"

Riti
__________________

Ohmygod. This can't be real.

Jimin had pushed me up to wall, and if he hadn't, I think my knees were going to buckle. I wondered if he could hear how fast my heart was beating right now. I felt the contours of his toned body, one thigh pressed to mine, the other pinning me to the wall. His abs and chest were holding me down as his face moved closer. I felt electricity where our bodies touched.
He had a bold, dangerous look in his narrowed eyes, and he smirked at my reaction to his question. But his eyes still searched mine thoroughly, almost asking for permission.

I glanced between his eyes and his lips, which looked, well, incredibly tempting at the moment. My previous kiss was a small stolen taste of something I wanted more of, and being this close to him had thrown me off balance completely. Something about the fact that we shouldn't be doing this, definitely not in a security office, made it even better, and I couldn't think straight anymore. I unconsciously swallowed and bit my lip looking Jimin, and he took it as invitation enough to take a quick breath and dive in to close the gap between us.

His soft lips slowly moved over mine, our eyes closed as we savored the closeness of the moment. His smell and his body were overwhelming, and I whined through the kiss to latch onto his lip. I heard him exhale as he kissed me, and I interlaced one of my hands with his. I leaned into him as he got more aggressive and my whole body tingled with adrenaline. His other hand moved from my hand to my lower back, and I softly held him to me with his neck. I don't know how long it lasted, but we both came up for air for a few moments, just staring at each other while catching our breath. I felt and looked a little dazed, and Jimin giggled and tickled me, making me squirm in his arms and giggle too.

I was too floored and dazed to say anything, and Jimin just watched my reaction smugly. He looked a little red and flustered too, and his lips were a little more swollen than usual, but he was definitely the experienced one. He dipped back down to steal another kiss to my lips before kissing my nose, my cheek, my forehead.

I felt his tear roll down to my brow and looked up in surprise to see tears streaming down his face. Suddenly, I felt his body shake with a little sob, and I tightly hugged him, perhaps for the last time, to try and calm him down.

Despite my own tears slowly welling up, I whispered, "What– not going for my neck this time?"

He cracked up with a surprised laugh and rested his head on my shoulder, looking up at me with sadness. "Getting a little raunchy, are we?"

The door opened, and Jimin and I immediately split from each other. I noticed his eyes were red and that he was trying rather hard to not spill his emotions in front of the guard who'd just walked in.

The guard looked at the two of us suspiciously, but then handed Jimin his ID and whispered, "Sir, you should be more careful."
He then turned to me in annoyance and said, "Why are you still here? I already checked your ID. Now both of you, leave."

I grabbed Jimin's jacket and he put his arm around my waist as we left the room, but I stopped before we exited the hallway to the main terminal. I turned and looked at Jimin, who was sniffling now.

"They'll recognize you easily out there. We should leave separately." When he didn't respond, I continued, "Besides, the international terminal is right there, and they won't let you in."

Jimin nodded slowly, but then burst into tears. "I'm going to miss you."
I felt tears pricking my eyes as I hugged him again.
He continued, "I wish things had been a little different."
I nodded and comforted him. "Maybe we'll see each other again."
"Maybe you'll forget me."
I pouted at him through my tears. "I won't. But you should definitely forget me. Date someone better than Baek Hee. Become even more successful and do what you want. Nobody will stop you from following your heart then."

He tried to dry his tears and put his face mask back on. "I want to hear about you in the news sometime too, Riti. Never change. And... be more confident in yourself, seriously."
We didn't make any silly promises about waiting for each other or wanting to meet again or come visit. We knew.

I picked up my duffel bag and dried my eyes.
"Have a safe flight. Don't get into trouble like at that studio. Be wary of who you trust. Don't sneak around and try to solve everyone's problems yourself all the time." He rambled.

"Okay, okay, I will, mom." I looked at him one last time and resisted the urge to hug him. "You... please. Take care of yourself."

Before I had to see his face fill with sadness again I pushed open the door and started speed-walking straight to the international terminal on the right. Like ripping a band-aid.
I had resolved not to turn around or look back, but just as I reached the doors, I stopped and realized my heart was beating erratically and aching again. My legs felt heavy and my eyes felt sore.
I turned around to see Jimin's back, almost on the other end of the huge walkway. He had also stopped right in the middle. Look at me. Don't go, damn it... I just want to see you again. Slowly, he turned to look at me too. I couldn't see too clearly with his face mask but I could recognize the longing in his eyes.

We were both blocking the middle of the walkway, and with a heavy heart I smiled at him one last time. He pulled his mask under his chin and gave a huge grin, but I could see the tears sparkling in his eyes.

I turned around and walked through the doors, leaving him, leaving Korea.