Chaeyoung couldn't concentrate much on her work, spending the rest of the hours thinking of going home. What would she even do at home? Probably anything that would stop her from thinking of what just happened at Jungkook's place since her workload wasn't doing it for her.
They had almost kissed.
She held her breath every time she thought of how Jungkook's eyes were glued to her lips, forcing herself to rid that image off her damn mind because that wasn't even the first time that he did something like that. She couldn't even explain what was so different about that moment with the other times.
The harder she tried not to think of Jungkook, the more often he invaded her mind. As soon as she arrived home, Chaeyoung took a warm shower in an attempt to calm herself down from the stupid way her body and mind were responding to him. The accidental glance her eyes made toward the tent in his pants made it worse for her because not only the image was etched into the crevices of her mind, but she had subconsciously pictured what was hidden beneath the fabric.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Park Chaeyoung," she grunted to herself as she was drying her hair.
How was she supposed to face him after this? Would he still want to get lunch with her tomorrow? Would she want to have lunch with him after that incident? She pushed her face into the pillow to muffle her scream at how she was thinking of his warm hold on her when she fell on him, how hard his shoulder muscles were under her touch.
This was bad.
This wasn't supposed to happen to her.
She grabbed her phone without thinking about what she actually wanted to do. Did she want to call him? Text him? What would she even talk about? Her inability to think of anything else but that incident for hours? Even at 1am? Why was she even acting like back when she was in high school?
Chaeyoung groaned, going into the chats and stared at his name for minutes, not knowing what to do and not having the courage to do something, even though she doubted that this was necessary. What she should be doing right now was to sleep, because she still needed to go to work the next morning.
Just as she was about to press on the back button, the word 'online' popped up under Jungkook's name and her eyes widened when she saw that he was typing. Her heart raced as she waited for his text to appear, the word 'typing...' came and went a couple times and Chaeyoung thought her heart would fail her if she kept staring. She tossed the phone to the side and hid herself under the cover, finally falling asleep after another hour of attempting to forget about him.
*
Jungkook heaved a sigh, putting aside his phone after multiple times of typing and erasing his message, eventually not sending anything at all to her. He didn't even know what he actually wanted to say to her. Did he want to apologize for tossing her like a doll earlier? He was certain that she was surprised and probably upset about it.
He was also thinking of canceling their daily lunch date. He didn't think he could see her after what happened, but after having lunch with her every day for almost a week, that would have felt strange.
At the wee hour of 2am, Jungkook's mind reeled back to when it all happened and he felt like the worst person ever because all he had in his mind during that time were nothing but very inappropriate thoughts of her. It wasn't until he'd heard her left and after he'd showered to relieve himself that he could properly think of what had happened between them and the consequences of his actions if he'd went on with it.
He couldn't make that mistake, again. Never.
The next day, while he was trying his best to put his mind solely on his work, Jungkook's eyes kept glancing at the clock on the wall. When it was approaching her lunch break, he repeatedly checked his phone and walked near the front door, his eyes glancing at the monitor, not knowing whether he wanted to see her standing outside his door in the next few minutes or not.
*
It had been exactly a week since Chaeyoung had stupidly stumbled forward into Jungkook and almost kissed him, a week since she had difficulties trying to get herself to sleep because all she could think of was him. She was pretty convinced that the stupid incident even appeared in her dream, though it became vague once she woke up.
A week passed since she had last eaten lunch with him and neither actually contacted each other to talk about lunch ever since. She wasn't sure if she could come over and even if she could, she didn't think lifting her spoon was even possible with the embarrassment surrounding her. And Jungkook didn't say anything either unlike how he used to text her every morning asking if she was coming over to his place for lunch or not.
For one week straight, despite her attempt of keeping herself busy with work to keep Jungkook off her mind, her meals felt distasteful and it was pathetic that loneliness was an inevitable feeling when eating lunch on her own. She had been just fine consuming every meal either all on her own or with her friends in the past before he came into her life.
Now, it just felt strange and empty. She had gone out having lunch with her colleagues, Sooyoung and Seojun, thinking that all she probably needed was a company to enjoy her lunch together. Despite enjoying her lunch with them, her mind couldn't help but imagine and wish for Jungkook's presence.
One week was enough before she decided to show up at his door during lunch hour with the hope that after this lunch, he would stop occupying the space in her mind for a while. But what started to be a couple seconds turned into a minute. A minute turned into ten and Chaeyoung sighed heavily, her shoulders dropping as she looked into the security camera. For ten minutes or so, she had been standing outside his door, ringing and knocking without a single response. Her texts were left unread.
Was he pissed about what happened about a week ago?
Could be, since it definitely wasn't supposed to happen. They weren't quite fond of each other, and an incident like that was only going to worsen their relationship that had just become slightly better.
After spending another five minutes of waiting, Chaeyoung decided that it was better to just leave. She put down the lunch she had cooked from home on the floor just right in front of his door, fished for the sticky note she brought with her anywhere and a pen, and wrote a note for him.
Chaeyoung checked her phone and read all the texts she sent to him. Couldn't he at least read them? She pouted as she began to delete them one by one as she stepped into the elevator. The elevator ride felt especially slow at that moment, feeling like it was taking more time than necessary to bring her to the next floor that she started to cross her arms in annoyance, leaning her back against the wall. Once every few seconds, she brought her phone up and considered calling Jungkook once she got back to her car but then she doubted that it was possible to get a word out of her mouth.
As soon as it reached the ground floor, Chaeyoung let out a huge sigh as she uncrossed her arms and lazily brought herself forward to leave. When she stepped into the threshold, a hand slammed against the elevator door to prevent it from closing and a figure stepped just right in front of her before there was a hand holding her waist.
Chaeyoung gasped softly as she was led backwards, back into the elevator before she realized who it was when she looked up. Jungkook's eyes were locked on hers as he pressed the close button behind his back while his hand on her waist stayed.
"Where have you been?" he asked with a frown when the elevator door finally closed. He briefly turned around to press on his floor before his attention was back on her again. "You weren't in your office."
Chaeyoung's brows furrowed, her mouth opened and closed for a few moments. He was looking for her? "Oh, I took a day off," she said quietly.
Jungkook's face morphed into what seemed to be concern, slowly removing his hand from her. "Is everything okay?"
Chaeyoung nodded her head as her eyes downcast, staring at his hand and secretly wishing it was back to her waist again. "You didn't reply to my texts."
His brows shot up as he quickly took his phone out and she heard him cursing under his breath. "Sorry, it died."
The elevator stopped two floors before his, and Jungkook stepped to stand just beside her while a man who looked like he was in his late thirties went inside, not before staring at her, his eyes gave her a head to toe scan, and smiled at her. After the incident at the bar, gestures like that coming from a stranger felt like a menace.
Chill ran up her spine and Chaeyoung instinctively leaned closer toward Jungkook, fingers lightly tugging on his sleeve. Jungkook moved his arm and Chaeyoung had almost thought he didn't want her to touch him until he took her hand in his and entwined their fingers.
She bit the inside of her cheek when she felt the corners of her lips slowly pulled and she tried to glance at him while he continued to look straight, his face unreadable as it was devoid of expression. The elevator then stopped at his floor, and he led her to walk before him while their hands were still connected. When they almost reached his door, his steps faltered and Chaeyoung noticed how his eyes had fallen onto the food she left in front of his door.
"You were here..." he trailed off, walking slowly toward it, "...with these?"
Chaeyoung nodded, her lips curled inward. The softened expression on his face made the slight irritation she had initially slowly dissolved. But as natural as it felt, Chaeyoung made a choice to feign hurt just to annoy him. "I waited here like a fool for 15 minutes."
Jungkook's eyes downcast, his lips slowly curled into a small smile before he suppressed it and turned to her. "I waited in front of your office for almost an hour. Like a fool."
Chaeyoung forced a pout when she felt her face breaking into a smile. "I cooked them and rushed here, wishing that they could all be eaten while still hot but... well..."
"We can reheat them," he lightly chuckled. "How would I know you took a day off?"
She rolled her eyes. "Why would you even leave your house? You've been cooped up in there because you're scared people would see your severely battered face—"
"It wasn't severely battered. It's only got some little cuts and a few bruises."
"—and now you're suddenly going out without telling me that you've overcome your fear," she continued, ignoring what he was saying earlier and bit her cheek when Jungkook looked defeated.
Jungkook's smile was still on his face when he tilted his head upward with his eyes shut while sighing. "Fine. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I left my house to look for you in your office."
She finally let her laughter out as he was finally punching in the passcode. "I'm sorry for not informing you that I took the day off," she said, grinning before she playfully added, "to cook for you."
He scoffed but his eyes were all smiles. Chaeyoung completely forgot that they were still holding hands until she felt him releasing her hand so that she'd enter the house first.
Jungkook followed her from behind with the food in his hand and when he placed it on the table, her eyes settled on his injured hand. He had taken off the bandage. Chaeyoung frowned and subconsciously, her hand reached for his, gently holding it before she turned the palm up.
The tip of her fingers traced the scar on his palm. Thankfully, the knife didn't slash too deep into his hand, but the scar was evidence for what she considered as one of the most terrifying moments in her life. She forced the possibility of things to go worse than that out of her mind, because he was fine, he was okay, he was there standing in front of her, his warm hand was in hers.
Jungkook slowly closed his hand around hers, squeezing it gently and Chaeyoung looked up. "I'm fine," he assured her, his thumb brushing against her knuckles delicately.
They enjoyed the lunch together after what felt like an eternity, and neither tried to bring up the incident that had caused them to take some time apart. Chaeyoung was glad that the topic was not brought up and he had probably forgotten about it, which was good because there was no way she could hide herself from the embarrassment.
When their lunch was over, she had considered staying there since she had nothing else planned for the whole day. But Jungkook still got work to do despite being at home. Chaeyoung mentally assured herself that there was always tomorrow and slightly cringed at herself for her unwillingness to leave his house.
Wasn't this the same man she couldn't stand and would rather not be in the same space as him for a long time because he was irritating her? She sighed as she took reluctant steps toward his door when Jungkook's 'hey' stopped her in her tracks. She expected him to tell her to stay. She wouldn't know what to do in his place if she was to stay either, but maybe she just wanted to hang around.
"You're leaving?" he asked.
Her lips curled inward. 'Can I not?' was just at the tip of her tongue but she swallowed it and nodded as a response.
Jungkook walked over to her and Chaeyoung's stomach knotted when he stood too close. "Don't forget about the dinner."
Her eyebrows furrowed. "Dinner?"
A slow smile spread on his face as his soft gaze met hers. "The monthly dinner with my parents."
"Oh! Shoot. I totally forgot about that."
Jungkook's face visibly fell. "You got other plans?" he lifted his right brow, and his eyes seemed to beg for her answer to be 'no'.
"No, I have no other plans," she grinned sheepishly.
Jungkook's face brightened up. "Great. Pick you up around seven. Is that okay with you?"
"Yeah. Of course," she nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow." She bid him goodbye and wasted no time to exit his house, afraid that if she stayed longer, she wouldn't ever leave. But confusion settled in her face when Jungkook was suddenly walking out of his house too. "Are you going somewhere?" she asked confusedly and nothing could prepare her for his answer.
"I'll walk you to your car."
"That's—"
"Necessary," he cut her off, as if he knew that she was going to tell him that it was totally unnecessary to walk her to her car.
Every word in her dictionary disintegrated as the back of Jungkook's fingers grazed the ring on her finger briefly as he walked past her and Chaeyoung's stomach tightened when she felt all the butterflies dancing in her tummy.