25 days left.
Even though time moved slowly Saturday came by way too quickly. It was scary how impatient I had been for the weekend to come, because I knew Jungkook was free this whole weekend. It was scary that I had wasted so much time waiting for it to speed up.
It's a natural human habit to be bored and waiting for time to pass. But it was a terrifying habit that only made me waste my running time. All, even down to the very minute, I could've spent on something else than starring at the clock, waiting for my parents to call or waiting for Jungkook to burst into my apartment as if he lived there. So why did I just sit around waiting for time to pass?
Anyways, as said time went by slowly yet quickly and this Saturday I had convinced Jungkook to go fishing with me.
"So we went and rented these fishing rods only for us to get here and just stare at the river?" Jungkook snapped me out of my stare at the river current. It was a new habit of mine to space out, that only started showing recently.
I rolled my eyes jokingly as a reply before bending down to grab the box with bait in.
"I got confused for a second." Jungkook said and grabbed the box from me, knowing I wouldn't dare to put the slimy worms on my hook myself. And yes, I didn't want to, so I just stood observing as he did it for me.
"So how did your mother react to your new hair?" He spoke with his eyes still focused on putting the bait on both our hooks.
"The same as with my tattoo. She said she liked it. She didn't convince me." I chuckled light heartedly, "My father however didn't say anything. It might've been from the shock."
"My mother laughed over the phone, telling me I'd better not turn into some punk." He empathized and glanced at me shortly before focusing on the hook again. I too adverted my eyes to the hook, shortly wondering if he even knew what he was doing.
"I don't doubt that." I laughed, reminiscing his mother whom I hadn't seen in a long time. She lived in Busan along with Jungkook's father. His older brother also lived somewhere close in the coast city.
"I miss talking to her, when will she visit?"
Jungkook shrugged his shoulders, "My father is busy with work right now and you know my mother, she doesn't go anywhere without him." Jungkook chuckled, "Plus, it's my turn to visit them, I miss hyung too."
I nodded understanding. I hadn't seen Jungkook's older brother for years. Last time I saw him, was when he helped Jungkook move to Seoul a few years back.
"She misses you too, my mother. She asks about you a lot when we're talking."
"Aw, does she still only want me as her daughter in law?" I joked, remembering how many times Jungkook's mother has told him to marry me, in front of me.
"Take it easy princess, your ego is growing." He laughed, avoiding my question but I didn't bother.
"Ironic words, coming from you." I let out a small chuckle and Jungkook joined in on that. He was certainly the one with the biggest ego here.
But how did Jungkook and I meet in high school then, if I lived in Seoul?
I grew up in Busan too but moved to Seoul for university when I got older. My parents had talked about moving to Seoul for long, so they followed. Jungkook moved to Seoul too, to pursue his career, which was very fortunate for me as I would have a hard time being long distance with my best friend.
"I told her I did it for you." He mumbled referring to his mother. His lips pursed as he was careful about not pricking himself with the hook.
I lifted my gaze from the hook to Jungkook's face. It looked like a sparkle lit in his eye and his skin suddenly seemed much smoother, his lips way redder. Why did my body grow hot, forgetting about the chilling early spring weather? Why did he seem... attractive?
"I actually really like it." Jungkook spoke looking at me again.
I shook my head as our eyes met and he woke me up from whatever chaos was going on in my head.
"Thank you..." I took in a deep breath, trying to shake off the thought from before, "I like yours too." I smiled, glancing at his prominent blue hair tips.
"Oh, you thought I was talking about your hair?" He questioned.
I stood baffled for a moment, my lips slightly parted and my eyebrows must've been furrowed. A smirk slowly showed on his lips, which made me snap out of it once again, "Idiot." I scoffed and grabbed my fishing rod and hook from him and went to the edge of Han river.
"Hey, you look good too." Jungkook came up behind me and ruffled my hair, letting out a breathy chuckle.
I chose to ignore him.
"Do you even know how to fish? I don't." Jungkook questioned, looking at me as I was facing the river.
"I don't either." I replied without being able to hold in my chuckle.
It was stupid. None of us knew how to fish and here we were, at one of the most popular places along Han river, standing with our rods and without any experience at all.
"But you don't learn if you don't try." I smiled, swinging my rod as I'd seen in cartoons when I was younger.
Jungkook took a few steps away from the scene, slightly terrified by me swinging a thin string with a hook attached to it without any control.
But the line went, without trouble, into the water with a small plop. Jungkook gathered the courage to stand next to me again and threw his line in the water as well. We couldn't help but smile at the situation. We'd never thought we'd be the ones fishing by Han river on a weekend.
As much as I wouldn't like to admit it, it was a painless torture to stand still with a stupid stick in your hand waiting for some dumb fish to go into the trap, only so you could let it loose again.
But nothing was never too boring with Jungkook around and I'd even prefer standing with a stupid stick in my hand for an hour with him than being at home trying to solve that damn Rubik's cube alone.
But after an hour of waiting for a naive and hungry fish to bite on the hook, something finally dragged at the other end of my fishing rod.
"I've got a bite!" I exclaimed in eagerness, pulling on the string and spinning the reel.
Jungkook stood next to me, not really knowing whether to help me or not. Of course, he didn't know how to catch a fish either.
A stranger came up to us and helped us spinning in the string in a proper way. Apparently it was obvious to him that it was our first time fishing.
As he'd gotten the fish out of the water, he gave the fishing rod back to me. Both Jungkook and I thanked the young man before he greeted his goodbyes and went on with his life.
Despite the kind gesture, I was more focused on the fact that I had caught a fish, "And I even caught one before you!" I taunted Jungkook, whose smile immediately disappeared.
"Well I'm sure if I'd gotten a few minutes more I would've caught a way bigger and better fish than that small thing." He pouted, but not for long as I eagerly did small hops, holding the string with the fish on in between both of us.
"Here, let me get it off the hook." Jungkook suggested and I extended the string for him to take. He did so with a smile before squatting down next to the bucket we'd brought for the fish to be in.
All the while he was busy taking the rather small fish that I had caught off the hook, the adrenaline was rushing through my body.
The adrenaline that had aroused from the moment I caught the fish and I touched it, which I didn't think I would've actually done, had made me do small jumps recklessly out of pure eagerness and now I felt slightly light headed.
My breaths started becoming heavier and it became harder for me to take in the air that my body needed. I started hitching for air as black spots blurred my vision. I looked down at Jungkook, only able to form a tiny vision of the red hoodie he was wearing and the sounds leaving his mouth as I couldn't decipher what the words were.
I took a small step back, whether it was on purpose or due to lack of balance, I couldn't tell. My doctor had told me that when I would experience shortness of breath, I would have to place a hand on my stomach and breathe through my nose. Two big inhales, four small exhales. Fill my stomach with as much air as possible and try not to stress.
But this was my first time experiencing shortness of breath to this extend. But I did remember to breathe through my nose. The cold air helped slightly as I slowly gained control over my body again.
"Hey hey, Y/n?" A voice spoke clearly and a pair of warm hands wrapped around my shoulders.
I opened my eyes, that I didn't even remember I closed and I met Jungkook's worried expression.
"Are you okay? You look pale." Jungkook questioned, a care in his eyes that I couldn't help but love and hate.
"Excuse me... shortly." I spoke between deep breaths as I made my way to the public bathroom a little away from us.
I sat down on the toilet, gathering my breaths and composure before I stood up and looked at myself through the small mirror.
Get it together Y/n, I thought as I looked myself in the eyes.
I knew Jungkook only looked at me with worry because he cared for me. I couldn't help but think if he seemed so worried about me then, how would he react if I told him about my condition?
I knew I had to tell him some time. But I wanted to extend the time of us acting normal for as long as possible. It'd be torture to look into those eyes of worry for the rest of my days.
"Y/n, are you okay?"
Jungkook's voice made me snap out of my stare at myself and I exited the bathroom shortly after, "Yeah, I just think I got something caught in my throat." I said and smiled bravely.
"Are you sure? When I looked up you seemed so out of it and-"
"Jungkook, I'm fine, I just got a little too eager, I think." I smiled.
Jungkook didn't seem to let his worry go away, so I quickly changed the subject back to our fishing session.
We went back to the edge of the river where our things were. I shortly scolded Jungkook for letting our rented things lay unsupervised - even though I knew he didn't even think about that at that moment.
Squatting down, I admired my catch for a few moments before grabbing the bucket it was in and standing up.
"It's a rather disappointing catch considering we waited for an hour, don't you think?" Jungkook said and glanced at the little fish almost able to swim in circles in the small bucket, while awaiting my answer.
"Well at least I caught one." I bragged proudly, hoping to tear down his ego a bit.
Jungkook looked at me with a jaded expression before gesturing to the river, "Just let it loose and let's go home."
"Don't be such a sulking baby." I taunted him, noting his slightly pouted lower lip.
"You're the baby here."
I looked at him with disbelief, trying to suppress my chuckle before turning around and throwing the fish and water out of the bucket for it to find its family.
I caught a fish.
And I touched it.
AN:
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