sea-kissed 🌊 || j.jk+k.th

{12} lips sealed 🌊

Jungkook's body remained frozen in shock, even when the door opened to reveal Namjoon's bewildered face.

"J-Jungkook ? What are you doing here ?"

Seokjin appeared behind him in the frame of the door, with a suspicious frown.

"And how long have you been here ?"

Once Jungkook was in control of his thoughts and his body again -which took a few seconds-, he tried to answer their questions but guilt and shock and fear mingled with his words.

"I- I'm sorry I didn't mean to eavesdrop," he stuttered, "but I heard you mention my name and- uh, I'm here since you've called me a serial killer I think- but I, uh, I-I know I'm late but there was this lady crying and I, I didn't know what... what..."

"Jungkook, it's okay, breathe." Namjoon gently suggested.

The boy did as he was told, and took a deep breath in.

"Let's sit down and talk a little, shall we ?" Seokjin asked, but it wasn't really a question.

Jungkook entered the hotel manager's office eyes glued to the floor, and took a chair silently. The two older men sat across him.

"So... how about you explain the situation again, slowly, and in details ?"

Jungkook knew he had no other choice anyway, so he explained everything as truthfully as he could ; the woman by the beach, how he wanted her to experience being in the water again, how he escorted her, how he remembered his promise and ran to the hotel, how he came to the office and ended up listening to their discussion.

The two men nodded as he delivered his story. When he was finished, Namjoon looked up to Seokjin as if to say : 'So ? What do you think ?'

"I believe the boy," he answered the silent question. "We both know Go-eun, and I'm thankful you helped her," he continued, turning to Jungkook. "I suppose I can let it slide for today. But I'll make you work even harder tomorrow, I hope you're ready for that."

His tone wasn't threatening like Jungkook had feared it would be. Rather, it seemed unexpectedly friendly.

Namjoon nodded with a smile, as if he was glad that Seokjin shared his opinion. But his face turned more serious when he turned to the youngest boy.

"Now that that's settled, there's one more thing we have to get straight."

"Yeah, notably the fact that we're not," Seokjin supported.

If Jungkook has been sipping on water, he would've choked on it. Instead, he choked on his own saliva.

"We've been caught, so there's nothing we can really do about that," Namjoon continued once the boy had stopped coughing. "I just hope you'll understand that we need you to keep it a secret. People aren't that judgmental around here, but it's still the countryside. Some aren't as open-minded as in Seoul. We can't risk losing our job, we've both worked very hard to get where we are now."

Jungkook nodded.

"Of course, I will," he assured them. "Still, I had no idea you guys were, you know..."

"Together ?" Namjoon said, while Seokjin simultaneously offered "Gay as fuck ?"

Jungkook and Namjoon both turned to him with varying degrees of surprise.

"What ? Anyways. It's getting late, I think we all need a little rest."

The three of them agreed on that, and so they parted in the hotel's hall ; Namjoon to his car, Seokjin to his own room, and Jungkook to his.

As soon as he opened the door, Jungkook threw himself on his mattress. What a confusing day he had had. Half had been peaceful and quiet, the other filled with a weird boy pouring water on himself, him singing, witnessing an old lady's spiritual reunion with the sea, and discovering his two 'mentors' secret relationship -in that precise order. What a day indeed. 

Determined to take a shower as soon as possible so he could sleep as soon as possible, Jungkook started to take off his clothes on his way to the bathroom. But when he lowered his jeans, he heard the crinkle of paper coming from his pocket. 

He grabbed the slip of paper and recognized Jimin's number. He stared at it for a while, and finally decided to add it to his contacts ; it wouldn't commit him to immediate interaction, so it didn't feel that far out of his comfort zone.

He turned back on his tracks towards the bedside table, where he had put away his phone. This time around, it didn't blow up with notifications when he turned it on, and he gladly ignored the red bubbles signalling the missed calls and messages. Instead, he just carefully entered Jimin's number and name.

But as he was about to put it away again, his phone vibrated in his hand. He meant to ignore it as well, but unconsciously read over the new message :

'Tiny Coconut Head : i'm not gonna ask where or why you've gone, i just want a word to know ur safe, mom's going crazy'

Jungkook stared blankly at the words on screen for a long time. Then, after a deep sigh, he quickly typed a message and threw the phone on the bed the second it was sent. 

'I'm safe'.