Passionately Infatuated | pjm

Chapter 16

Jungkook seemed confused by this aggressive and terrified reply.

"Calm the fuck down dude, I merely asked you if you have any serious intentions towards that girl, and you're reacting as if I'm forcing you to walk straight into a pit full of famished tigers."

Realizing I might have overreacted slightly, I let out a heavy sigh, massaging my temples.

"Sorry." I murmured.

"Talk about commitment issues, am I right?" Jungkook said smugly. "I'm just asking because if you were planning on moving forward with her, I'd probably need to warn you beforehand."

"Warn me about what?" I asked, puzzled.

Interlocking his fingers before him, Jungkook cleared his throat and made a dramatic pause, offering me a look of intrigue.

"Homegirl's got issues." He confided quietly.

"What issues? And how do you even know that? What are you, her shrink?"

"Her best friend slipped last night. She didn't give me much to dwell on, but I think Diane's been having some problems with her father. I'd tread carefully if I were you. You know, I'm actually saying this for Diane's sake."

My brows pulled together and my gaze dropped to my lap. Unsurprisingly, this was nothing new to me.

Now, I may not be the brightest, but even I've been able to deduce from my observations on Diane that she doesn't have the best relationship with her father.

For example, she flat-out had a panic attack in front of me, calling out for him in her moment of weakness. Not wanting to invade her privacy, I didn't pry and ask her questions about it. Her mother, I don't know anything about. Truth be told, Diane has never even once mentioned her family. That tells me she's either a very private person, or she's hiding some deep childhood trauma. Or maybe both. All I know about her is she's been working part time to support herself through college. While I find that to be admirable, it's also a sign that most probably her parents are not in a condition to help her out.

Slowly but steadily, I was finding myself more and more immersed in the idea of her. What was Diane truly like? Because on the surface, she seemed very charming, exciting and vivacious. Disarming, even. She was devilish and foxy, and also provocative but not in a cheap, slutty kind of way. Very sexy. Also snarky, sarcastic and stubborn to a nauseating level. Her sass could drive a man insane if only he has no idea how to handle her.

Fortunately, I do know how to handle her.

However, those were all qualities that were pretty evident to anyone who's had the privilege of knowing her for more than thirty minutes. But what lay beyond that? Behind that thin veil of careless light-heartedness and witty humor, that seemingly laid-back attitude?

Congratulations, Diane. You're one of the very few women who have managed to pique my interest.

"Wow, I have never seen you into that much thought. Be careful, I wouldn't want you to overexert your brain." Jungkook stated, glancing over at me with worried eyes and snapping me out of my daze.

"Yes, I've noticed that Diane has issues but so does everyone. I don't see what does have to do with me or why we're even discussing it." I shrugged, turning my face away.

"For heaven's sake, Park Jimin!" suddenly Jungkook exclaimed, his fist colliding with the wooden surface of the table and managing to give me a full-on jump scare.

"What is the matter with you, why are you yelling!" I shot back with the same amount of heated emotion.

"It's because you... you... you're just so fucking dense!" Jungkook fumed, chest heaving with indignation.