Chaeyoung's POV
Jungkook and I had been playing a tug of war with our feelings. Since the beginning, we were both indirectly and unintentionally showing how much we cared for each other but no one ever voiced it out until recently.
So I always had this fantasy that it will be like a magical moment when me and Jungkook began dating each other. I imagined angels singing a sappy love song in the background, bright and colorful fireworks lighting up the place, and getting lost in thought due to absolute happiness. But none of those happened after my man carelessly confirmed our relationship to a complete stranger. Honestly, I wished that he did it more romantically. But it's unfortunate that there's nothing I could do about it, everything that happened yesterday was all in the past now.
Though I could not deny the change between me and Jungkook after we became aware of and acknowledged our feelings for each other. Every little thing was labeled with love, his smile, his touch, his gentlemanly actions such as opening the car door for me, and his good night kiss on the top of my head. Everything he did made my heart flutter and I don't need to deny nor hide that anymore.
"Park?" Jungkook called, bringing me back to my senses. "Is everything alright? You've been quiet since we left the apartment."
Without tearing my gaze outside the window, I blushed and stifled a giggle.
"And don't you dare answer me that it's nothing." He said before I could even open my mouth to answer.
"It's nothing . . . you should worry about." I answered as I gently massaged his right hand that I selfishly trapped in between my hands.
"You're being extra touchy today." He commented.
"Well, aren't you lucky?" I responded in a teasing manner, looking at him from the side of my eye.
He responded by intertwining his right hand with my left hand. Then he brought my hand in front of his face and kissed the back of my hand.
"Yup, lucky is what I am." He whispered. "And I'll even be luckier if you go on a date with me tonight."
I bit the bottom of my lip, feeling guilty as I answered, "I would love to."
"Uh-oh, I'm hearing a but. What is it?"
"I promised the girls that I'll be hanging out with them tonight. And we talked about it a few weeks ago so I just can't bail out on them on a whim. Sorry!" I answered with a frown on my face. I felt bad refusing to go out with him when we just made our relationship official last night.
"How about lunch? I can . . ."
"As much as I'd love that, I don't want to tire you out by driving back and forth from my office to yours. And I'm fully aware that you're busy with work so please reserve some of your free time to get some rest." I interrupted what he was about to say, knowing that he was always willing to make an extra effort for us spend time together.
"But I don't really mind." He whined in frustration before adding, "Plus, you are my rest."
His answer touched my heart, making me want to wrap my arms around him as tightly as I could. But his whining like a baby made him too adorable that I ended up squishing his cheeks before I gave him his well-deserved tight hug.
"I meant rest as in, in reference to the dictionary, to cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength . . ."
"Exactly, it perfectly describes what you are to me." He interjected.
"Yah! Stop that." I said while pressing my blushing cheeks on his chest.
"Why? I'm only being honest here."
"Whatever!" I grumbled before trying to pull back from the hug and get back to my seat.
But he refused to let go and whispered, "I'd appreciate it if you can spoil me for a few minutes more and stay there until the traffic lights turn green."
I grinned in giddiness and happily obliged to his request.
... ... ... ... ... ...
The girls and I were in the middle of our lunch when Lisa broke our usual happy banter.
"I can't hold it any longer. Spill the tea, bitch!" Lisa growled, looking at me with the eye of the tiger.
I shuddered in fear while meeting Lisa's gaze, it looked like she was about to eat me up if I don't give in to her anytime soon. I'm used to the unnies coercing me and Lisa whenever they needed something from us. So this was a rare occurrence with Lisa. She wasn't always the sweetest maknae but she was adorable just fine.
"What are you talking about, Lis?" I nervously chuckled and feigned ignorance while avoiding to look her in the eyes.
"Yeah, what's up with you Lisa?" Jennie interjected and I would have kissed her in gratitude if she only stopped talking right then. "Is what I would say to save Chae's ass but I'm not feeling like it right now. So you better speak up, wifey." She added with a menacing smirk.
I immediately turned towards Jisoo to ask for help but she shrugged her shoulders in response.
"I'd love to hear the story too, sorry Chaeng." She explained.
I gulped in nervousness before I tried to evade the issue one more time, "I'm not really . . ."
"And before you keep on denying, please bear in mind that it will not take me even three minutes to get Jungkook's number from Taehyung. He would even spill it in under a minute if I'd put in extra effort." Jisoo added, to my horror.
I could not even say that I was surprised at the way they were ganging up on me. So I annoyingly rolled my eyes at them before telling them what happened between me and Jungkook yesterday.
A couple of minutes after, my annoyance was immediately replaced with gratitude. The girls were feeling generous so they encouraged me to ditch them tonight for Jungkook. It was enough for them to know that I was willing to turn him down for them. So to show their support, they helped me in surprising him.
Jisoo was never one to abuse her position as the editor-in-chief but she willingly did it earlier without blinking an eye. She scheduled a meeting, with the four of us, an hour before the end of office hours. I did not bother asking how she managed to pull off setting up the meeting with a fashion editor, lead photographer, junior staff writer and herself. And since no one would ever doubt Jisoo's capabilities, the three of us blindly trusted her when we confidently walked out of the office about an hour ago.
Not long after, the three of them had the time of their lives dressing up a living doll that was me. It looked like I was asking them a favor but it should be the other way around because they were having way too much fun. In the end, they dressed me up in a caramel slip dress layered over a plain mocha tee. And I tried to convince them in allowing me to complete the look with my favorite white sneakers, but all of my reasonable begging was to no avail. They only let me go after I put on a nude strappy block heels.
Then all our shenanigans today concluded right in front of Jungkook's office building. The girls, especially Jennie, prohibited me from meeting Jungkook without giving him a piece of their minds. They asked me to stay hidden inside Jisoo's car as they went on to have that talk with Jungkook.
Since the girls met him about ten minutes ago, I had been feeling nervous the whole time. I trust the girls and knew them enough that I feared they could go a little overboard with their "talk". So I busied myself by playing a game on my phone to distract me from what was happening outside the car.
Later on, all my anxiety and worry instantly vanished when Jungkook opened up the car door without warning. I was surprised upon seeing him right before my eyes. But it was accurate to say that he looked more surprised upon seeing me.
The way Jungkook looked surprised never failed to make my heart skip a beat. He looked endearing every single time. His round and widened eyes and the way his jaw dropped always made him look too precious that I wished I could keep him inside my pockets and never ever release him for the world to see.
That thought made me giggle in excitement without realizing it.
"I was afraid that they were just playing pranks on me." He paused to give me a once-over before continuing. "Wow! You're actually here, looking so beautiful and . . ."
He did not bother to finish what he was trying to say and grabbed my hand to pull me out of the car. He engulfed me in a tight hug and sniffed the top of my head.
Surprised, I tried to break off the hug but he refused and held me firmly against his body.
"Did you just smell me?" I mumbled with my face still pressed against his chest.
"Mhmmm." He responded in affirmation.
"Why? Do I smell . . . bad?"
"Not at all! In fact, I always love the way you smell. I do not know how to describe it but I like it a lot. Or it must be because I like you . . . so much. I like every little thing about you. Oh, how much I like you, Park Chaeyoung."
"You're being extra cheesy today, ugh!"
"But you like it and you can't even deny it."
"Of course, I do." I said while daring to meet his gaze.
"This should be the last, please let me say it one more time."
I playfully rolled my eyes at him as I answered, "Alright, keep 'em coming!"
"You're looking extra gorgeous today. So I'm on the fence whether we should spend our first date in a public place or somewhere more private where there's only the two of us."
"Yah! What are you trying to say? Don't you dare play tricks with our Chaeyoungie. It's only your first date." Lisa exclaimed while grabbing me away from Jungkook.
Jungkook and I looked at each other in complete surprise with Lisa's actions. I could feel my face warming up, certain that I was blushing. And Jungkook was looking exactly similar, even his ears were bright red.
"I, uh . . ." He gulped and took a deep breath before he continued. "I don't know what you're talking about but I'm absolutely certain that I was not thinking of doing anything that would disrespect Chaeyoung. I adore and respect her so I can assure you that there's nothing for you to worry about. She's totally safe with me, please."
"You doubted for one second there!" Jisoo commented while raising an eyebrow at Jungkook.
He shook his head in denial and answered with confidence, "I did not doubt because I am a man of my word."
Then he turned to Jennie after saying that, looking like he was ready to battle as he waited for her to say something.
"Don't worry about me, I'm good." Jennie calmly answered.
After hearing that, Jungkook heaved a sigh of relief. He looked stressed for a minute there that I began to feel bad for him. At that moment, I started questioning the girls' support on my relationship with Jungkook.
"Okay, that's enough. We need to go." I interrupted and pulled Jungkook away in haste before any of them could protest.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
UNEDITED.
I wanted to publish this as soon as I finished writing up so I hope there's not much error. I'll try to edit, maybe? But I hope you still enjoyed the story. And feel free to tell me your thoughts.
I will try my very best not to keep you waiting for the next update. After all, it's the first date for our lovely couple.
Like always, thank you so much for supporting this story!