Safe With Me | A Jeon Jungkook AU Fanfiction

fifteen | 십오

Sitting comfortably in the crook of Yeseul's arms, Bomi licks her paws, seemingly unfazed by the turn of events.

"The countless days you've gone hungry waiting for me to get home... The lack of our play time whenever I get too occupied with work on the weekends... The thumb-drive that I left behind on the table... And now this..."

Yeseul questions her worth as Bomi's caregiver, letting her tears flow uninhibitedly. The thought of losing her one and only friend terrifies her.

Yeseul sniffs through her mucus-filled nose. "I need to do better, Bomi. But how... How do I do better..?"

Four hasty rings of her doorbell travel through Yeseul's apartment; and a rough, urgent-sounding knock on her main door doesn't give her the time to reflect. 

Yeseul hears a muffled question from the corridor. "Is everything alright inside there??"

The unanticipated question drives Yeseul to blink her tears away. Groggily swallowing her fears, she brushes the wetness of her cheeks with the back of her palm. Straightening her back, Yeseul flexes her calves and stands right up, like a kid who doesn't want to be found out for her less-than-adult moments.

She takes a quick glance at the bathroom mirror, then takes her time towards the main door. Her right eye hovers above the vacant peep hole, and a young man with anxious brows stares right back at her.

Yeseul pulls back her steps. She was not expecting to see Jungkook outside her door, much less with worry written all over his face.

"Noonim?" Jungkook calls out again when his rings go unanswered.

Twisting the bolt of her door lock, Yeseul pushes her door lightly. The weight of the door tarries its own opening, leading Jungkook to pull it open quickly.

The force of the swiftly open door blows like an abrupt, enchanted breeze on Yeseul's face, and her neck-length bob hair swirls messily around the frame of her face. 

Jungkook catches a pause in his breathing, admittedly guilty for his crime. Though he ought to lower his eyes, his brown orbs are involuntary distracted by Yeseul's make-up free, natural-looking face. 

The state of his pulse worsens when Yeseul tidies her dark brown hair with the slurry comb of her fingers. 

"Are you... going to keep standing there without saying anything, Jungkook-sshi?" 

Yeseul hears herself say, then wishes the words she uttered hadn't been so forward and blunt. 

"I'm sor--"

"Sorry--"

The two say simultaneously, tongues and brains sailing on the same frequency. It's not too different from the night they walked home together from the pork-cutlet house.

Only this time, Jungkook struggles to hide the crescent moon in his eyes. 

He gathers himself and remembers his call of duty. "Hmm... Are you alright, Yeseul noonim? I heard a sound from your place, and it was loud."

"Oh," Yeseul quips, the tip of her ears salmon-pink. The paper-thin partitioned walls are the reasons for gossiping ahjummas to spread news like a wildfire after all. "Something tipped over, but everything's fine really... I didn't mean to cause a disturba--"

A second wave of the tumbling block and a cat's surprised purr deters Yeseul's less-than-necessary clarification. She runs quickly towards Bomi and the source of the crash, giving Jungkook an extended view of her living space. Keeping his feet outside the door, he sticks out his long, sturdy neck, curiously peering over what seems to be a fallen, wooden construction.