chapter v. homecoming-2
Seoul, D-day, December 2021. ETA - 11 hours.
Waking up in this new bed would take some time getting used to.
Opening your eyes to find yourself in your boyfriend's bedroom and being surrounded by his belongings—everything that you had only gotten the chance to see through your video calls prior to this day—had you feeling lost and confused for a moment. It took you getting out of your daze before you finally began to remember that you had not been sleeping in your old rented room back in New York.
But then you were soon grounded to the present when you felt Jungkook's arm on your waist, anchoring you as he held you back against his chest with his fingers moving in circle patterns on your bare stomach. The same fingers that now have the strongest grip on your thigh as he holds your leg up around his waist, holding you in place as he keeps driving himself into you, moving ever so gently as he makes sweet love to you, something that is in complete contrast to the reunion rump that you shared with him last night.
His lips pressing into your hair had been the one that had woken you up this morning, whispering to you, "I thought you would be asleep a bit longer," when you began to stir in his arms. And those same sinful lips are now pressing right at the nape of your neck, finding the right spot for him to kiss which makes you writhe beneath him, adding to the delightful bliss that you are feeling from his gentle thrusts.
"Jungkook, I'm close—" you whine breathlessly as you move your hips to meet each of his thrusts, already feeling your muscles teasing you with the incoming climax. It doesn't feel like it is coming to you just as strongly as it did last night, but your body is still way too sensitive while still feeling the dire need of his lovemaking that you cannot stop the rush of pleasure rising from deep inside you.
"Let go, baby," he grunts between his ragged breath, slowly increasing his pace to send you over the edge when he can feel you pulsing around his cock, while at the same time, he begins chasing his own high. "Cum around my cock. Let me feel you, baby. I've pictured this many times whenever I woke up alone, wishing you there with me, wishing that I could wake you up like this—"
His whispers fade under the sound of your pounding heart and the mix sounds of your moans and his breathless grunts as you are thrust over the edge. And just right then, your body tenses beneath him, your muscles coiling to a knot merely seconds before you are quaking in your release. Your pussy starts pulsing and convulsing intensely around him, squeezing him inside you as you succumb to your climax. The rise of your orgasm comes to you at a slow and steady pace, appearing subtly before it unfolds like a steady wave, helping to push Jungkook towards his own release not long after. There is nothing sort of explosive in the way his climax takes over him, nor does yours as it comes rolling from within your core. But you can feel his body shuddering against you as it happens, when he gives you one final thrust, pushing himself so deep within you that you can feel him pushing the air right out of your chest. You feel his cock pressing tightly against your walls before the warmth of his cum fills you up, sending you to a smaller orgasm to join him in the peak of your bliss.
Jungkook captures your lips in a slow and languid kiss before pulling out of you, once again leaving your body pulsing against the void he leaves behind as he falls back beside you to catch his breath. You close your eyes as you do the same, basking in the delightful feeling of your climax with a content sigh while he marvels at the sight of his cum dripping out of you. His chest swells with pride as if he had marked you, and he waits until your body grows lax before he reaches between your legs, using his shirt to gently wipe your skin clean from the remnants of your lovemaking and his dripping cum. He tosses the shirt away once he is done and presses his lips on your temple, before falling by your side with a content sigh.
A moment of silence passes by, and you feel him shifting on the bed to sit up, slightly dragging the sheets with him. Along with his movements, he drags your attention to him, and your breath gets caught in your throat the moment you lay your eyes on him.
Sitting up against the headboard, Jungkook appears like a marvellous looking art piece. Everything else in the bedroom seems to disappear from your eyes when all you can see is him, and you take this moment to take in everything, finding all the things that you have missed while you were away from him while listing out everything that you have always loved about him.
The sheets that had been covering his body have fallen from his chest and are bunched up near his waist, covering his hips and legs while revealing his defined torso that looks way more magnificent than what your memories have served you. You look up to see his broad shoulders that seem to have grown over the year you have been away, and then your eyes keep going higher, until you are looking at his beautiful face that is the definition of both innocence and sin as he gives you his gentle smile while his eyes are glowing at the sight of your bareness. His dark hair is tousled in a sensual way, messed up from the mix of them brushing against the pillows in his sleep and from the way they had fallen over when he was bent on top of you in the midst of your sweet lovemaking, and your fingers are now itching to comb through his locks to mess them up even further.
"What is it, baby? What are you thinking?" Jungkook asks you, though the glint in his eyes tells you that he knows just where your mind might have been wandering off to. Better yet, he obviously knows that you are enjoying what you are seeing. You can tell by the amusement sparkling through his gaze that he likes the attention as he catches you perusing his bare body with your hungry eyes.
Smiling at him, you simply admit it openly instead of denying it. "Just admiring the view. Can't help that my boyfriend is so tempting even in the morning."
Jungkook laughs at your words, pleased to hear you teasing him. Meanwhile, the heady fog of your bliss begins to fade even as you are lying there beside him and feeling his warmth, and you are taken aback as a different rush of emotions begins to unfold inside you, allowing you to feel too many things at once the longer you keep looking at him.
You push yourself up to sit right beside him, resting against the headboard with the blanket pulled up to cover your breasts. His gaze follows your movement, growing darker as he catches a peek of the swell of your breasts before they disappear from his sight. In return, you continue to ogle his beauty, feeling warm at the thought of him returning every drop of emotion you have been giving him while slowly feeling your chest pinch with your insecurities. Even the delightful feeling that still lingers inside you doesn't help much to stop your mind from wandering off, allowing your doubt to slowly take over when you start to question everything.
How does such a perfect man become yours? You cannot help but wonder silently as you keep your gaze on him, wondering how have you gotten so lucky, while wondering if you truly deserve to be loved by such a man.
Your chest flutters with a warm feeling of delight when you remember how he has always been so genuine in showing his love to you, giving you the courage to openly express your deep feelings for him and to return his love just as fiercely. Reaching up, you gently touch his cheek with the tip of your fingers. The subtle touch brings a smile to his face, and he tilts his head and leans more into your touch, staying like that to enjoy it just a bit longer before he presses his lips on your palm. As your heartbeat leaps in your chest, you recall the night you met him, when he did the same the moment he pulled you to his bed the first time.
Looking back into the past only reminds you of everything that you had felt then. How right it had felt when you fell into his arms, and how he made you feel like everything was going to be alright even when it almost felt like your entire world was falling apart merely moments before you met him.
It shouldn't amaze you to feel such a strong bond with him just as soon as you got together that night. Two broken souls, both betrayed by the universe without being given a chance to build any hope for happiness with your intended soulmates, only to find happiness within each other. Like two pieces of the puzzles that wouldn't fit anywhere else suddenly falling into place.
How did the Fates make it possible for your paths to cross one another that night, and that it had to happen at the right time?
You refuse to believe that it had been a coincidence that you stumbled into one another at the right moment, as if the universe had deliberately made it happen. Though, despite everything that had happened, you cannot deny the unsettling feeling that is growing in your chest as you are once again reminded of the fact that you still have no clue what secret plans the universe has written for you. As you begin to wonder what might be waiting for you in the future, the fear of facing the unknown, the foreboding feeling that you have buried deep in the back of your mind suddenly makes its presence known.
As if he can sense your mood changing, Jungkook gently touches your chin to make you look at him. He does it without saying a word, giving you no chance to hide the fear that might be showing itself through your eyes when you return your gaze. "What's wrong, baby? Talk to me."
Tears begin to form in your eyes and you quickly blink them away before he can catch a sight of them. You have heard stories of soulmate pairings who can almost read each other's thoughts and emotions, how the bond makes it possible for them to function in the same wavelengths that they can sense everything from one another without so much of a word to explain their feelings.
If that had been the case, then how can he still read you better than anyone else in the world even without the bond?
Jungkook brushes his thumb gently across your cheek, pulling your attention back to him. "Are you tired? I'm sorry that I didn't give you a chance to rest more when I kept telling you to," he says to you with a low chuckle, though he cannot hide the worried look on his face.
Sighing deeply, you can only smile at him and shake your head. "It's not that, baby. I was exhausted, but I feel slightly better now," you admit to him truthfully, when you feel like even the shortest sleep had been adequate enough to give you all the rest you needed and that he had helped made it happen when he drained the last drop of your energy last night.
"What is it, then? Is something bothering you?" Jungkook asks you as he shifts to lie on his side so he can face you. The movement draws your eyes to the mark on his chest, to find the tattoo that he had gotten a year after you started dating him.
You close your eyes, telling yourself that there is really no need for you to worry about the future when everything that you have in the present is only showing you just how good your life could be. "I'm just feeling overwhelmed," you tell him as you open your eyes again. "We've been apart for a long time, and I still can't believe that I'm here with you. That we're together again. It feels like I'm dreaming."
He gives you a sad smile. "It was hard when you're away," he confesses, before he pulls you closer so he can hold you to him. "I'm sorry if it was hard for you too."
"It really was," you answer with a whisper as you recall the days when you were away.
Even before you left, you have always known that it wouldn't be an easy journey. But you had never expected it to be as hard as it was. You had never thought that it would be so painful when you had to go through the days carrying a massive void in the size of Jeon Jungkook inside you. Though it may not be the same as the pain that fated soulmates would feel in their distance, it was still there, creeping in to fill the emptiness that had existed because he wasn't there to fill it.
"Have you ever—even once, while I was away—questioned about us? About what we have or what would have happened to us?" you find yourself asking him before you can stop it. For years, you had proven that your relationship had managed to withstand and survive against the test of time, remaining strong even when the people around you—those who had known about the truth behind your situation with Jungkook—had doubted what you had at first. But there is no denying that even as time has gone by and even when both your families have finally accepted the relationship you had built, the doubt still lingers inside you, ready to come poking its head out to each time you are starting to believe that you have moved past it.
"No," Jungkook hums, answering you after giving it a lot of thought. "I might have questioned it in the past, wondering why I was dealt a bad card while everyone else around me was given a chance to find their intended love and happiness. But I had stopped questioning things since a long time ago," he says, looking straight into your eyes before adding, "Ever since the night I met you."
Once again, you find yourself blinking away tears. The genuine look in his eyes as he says those words only makes it feel more real, and it almost seems too good to be true that someone can feel something so deeply for you the way he does.
Jungkook takes your hand in his as he continues, "I do admit that I would compare what we have to other people once in a while, and the loneliness I felt when you were away didn't stop me from wondering if I would have felt something different if we had the soulmate bond between us or if the feeling would fade with time because we had none. But I've moved past all of that—" He stops and shrugs, making you smile in return when he does. "I no longer feel all the doubts and regrets since I still believe that what we have is just as strong as the missing soulmate bond. We may have had our stories written differently compared to other people around us, but that only means that we can give ourselves our own ending. That thought gave me a reason to hold on, and the fact that you were still the one my heart was searching for when we were apart, so I guess that should mean something, right?"
He stops talking and looks at you deeply to ask, "Is that what you're thinking? Did you question about us when you were away?"
Frowning, you contemplate your answer for a moment and try to recall ever finding a moment when you had ever given in to doubt. "It wasn't so much about questioning everything. But I suppose, not having you by my side sort of opened up a window of opportunity to witness and learn more about other people and their soulmates. Whenever I'm with you, I never have to look around me. It was different when I was on my own, and nothing else was obstructing my view of the world. All of a sudden, I was able to see everything," you look at him with a smile, unable to hold back your tears any longer when you add, "It was hard when I got to see others and their bonds with their true soulmates, cause I would often end up comparing everything we have to them and wonder if I was somehow lying to myself when I said that it didn't matter if we were different—"
And that you would wonder if your bond would remain strong when the distance became a factor, while you had never once been without each other for years. But you keep those words to yourself instead of speaking them out loud, when it sounds silly now to even question about it after the joy you felt when you held him for the first time after being apart. The feeling that came over you the night you saw him again had only validated what you had believed to be true, that you were meant to be with him.
"And still, all that I could think about was you, about us. And the more I've seen people around me who had their own love stories with their soulmates, the more I compare what we have to them, it only makes me want you more."
Without a word, Jungkook leans in for a kiss. You can obviously feel his relief radiating through his touch. Knowing that he may have shared the same insecurities as yours, it gives you the courage to speak your truth. "I do have to admit that I was scared," you whisper to him as he pulls away. "You know, when we weren't together."
"Scared? Of what?"
You shrug as you answer. "Of things changing. We both know that there is nothing definite between us both with our bonds being broken. We promised ourselves to each other, but still, the universe did promise us to be with other people first," you tell him this with a small voice, slowly feeling the relief of finally being able to voice this out loud after letting this thought dwell in your mind for a long time, though you still feel guilty for ever having the doubt inside you in the first place.
Unsurprisingly, Jungkook only has an understanding look on his face as he smiles. "You know that you're not the only one who does it, right? Comparing ourselves with others," he quietly confesses to you.
"Do you still do it too?"
Jungkook nods with a low chuckle. "I suppose neither of us would be able to help it when the comparison is out there and we are constantly surrounded by them. I have a few people at work who had met their soulmates. Some are married, some are getting there, and the rest are taking things in a stride and letting the universe show them the way to go. Even the ones who haven't met their soulmates yet all seem hopeful and positive about it. While I'm happy for them, it's hard not to remember what it was like for me then when I was in their shoes," he admits to you nervously, though the warmth in his eyes remains when he looks at you. "I also have my fears, that's why I'm working so hard to become someone who deserves you and to be better, making sure that I can give you the best life I can afford so I can make you happy as long as you're with me."
"I've been so afraid of losing you," you find yourself admitting to him, and to yourself, finally revealing the one thing that you have feared of the most. Jungkook lifts your chin, stopping you from avoiding his gaze.
"Then that makes two of us," he whispers with a soft voice. "And the fear always comes back stronger if I have to remember how—despite us experiencing the same heartbreak and betrayal—our cases were still different from one another."
You can feel a huge lump coming up in your throat. "What are you saying?" you ask him, even if you have an inkling of what he is trying to say. You know it because your sister and the rest of your family had kept reminding you of it for many years.
Looking down on your wrist, Jungkook touches your soulmate mark with his gentle fingers. He rarely does so as both of your marks had always been reminders of the heartbreak you had gotten in the past, so his touch only helps you feel his desperation even more, especially when he traces each petal on your skin with the tip of his fingers before finding its center. The initials written on your skin had been small enough for you to hide it. And yet, even if the initials no longer appear as clear as they used to, Jungkook can still find them, as he brushes his thumb across the spot while whispering softly, "I'm saying that the universe loves surprises. We would probably have to spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders to prepare against any surprises they might throw at us, but I'll be ready to face everything as long as I am with you."
His words remind you once again of the warnings that your family had given you in the past, and of all the doubts that they had all spoken out to you after they all found out the truth about your bond.
It was your sister who had first noticed the different soulmate marks on your wrists, but you were the one who couldn't find it in yourself to lie to either of your parents that you simply confessed everything to them. As expected, your family had been against your relationship at first, and it took years for them to finally warm up to the idea of you and Jungkook being together. Though the acceptance had not come without a warning and a constant reminder for you to always be prepared for what the universe might have planned.
"Because, unlike Jungkook, your soulmate is still out there somewhere," you remember your parents telling you this, long before they finally looked past the common beliefs of the soulmate system and opened up their minds about your bond with Jungkook. Still, what your parents had said next would forever haunt you as they added to remind you, "One day, the incompleteness might start catching up to him, and things will change once he remembers that his fated pair is still present somewhere else for him to find."
Your eyes fall on the tattoo on Jungkook's chest, where your name is written right on top of where his heart is, created to replace the missing initials on his wrist. He had done it just so he would have your name on his skin to replace the absence of your initials on his wrist, to which you had returned the honour by having his initials inked on your left chest and a piece of leaf covering the initials on your wrist to permanently hide it from sight and make it harder for people to notice, a simple procedure which you had done a couple of years ago.
Leaning up to him, you brush your finger gently across the tattoo on his chest, before pressing your lips on your written name while whispering to him, "The universe can throw whatever damn thing they want at us. I already have everything that I've wanted."
Before you even have the chance to finish your sentence, Jungkook swiftly pulls you to him and presses his lips on yours. The kiss immediately grows deep and hard, as he puts his desperation and his need into it, letting you feel the bottled up emotions that he had kept hidden from you and allowing you to do the same as you return his kiss just as fiercely.
"I love kissing you," he whispers, making you sigh when every word he says brings some new hope into your soul, how he can soothe your mind just when you are starting to feel overcome with the fear of losing everything that you had built together with him.
"Then kiss me again," you whisper to him in return, and the smile that he gives you seem to light up your morning more than the sunlight could ever have.
You melt into him as he takes your lips in his once again. His deep kiss steals away your thoughts, blinding you completely from the world around you, making you forget for a moment about the unknown future. As the kiss lingers, he even manages to ease your worries, even if for a little while, even if the warning signs that you have been feeling ever since you returned may never disappear.
This feeling has been there for a while, hidden beneath all the other things in your life that you had been putting your focus on, only to suddenly start haunting you, taunting you with its presence. If only you had been willing to listen to your gut feeling, perhaps you would have realised what it has been trying to convey, that something deep inside you is trying to tell you that things are going to change, and that you might not be as strong as you had thought you were, unable to stop it from happening once the universe puts everything on its course.