Park Jimin walked to her and seeing that she was still soundly asleep, a tranquil expression on her captivating face, he heaved a sigh of relief. It was as if a mountain was lifted off his shoulders when he saw that she did not run off into the night.
But his happiness was short-lived when he realized her position. Her body was on the floor, without a source of warmth or a blanket to cover her, and not in a proper sleeping posture.
He let out a low growl of anger. This fool. Why did she not kick him out of the bed and sleep on that instead?
Grumbling to himself about how dumb she was, he bent down and picked her up. With great care, he placed her onto the bed, and, in the dim room where he could barely see her properly, he took off her dress and slipped one of his tops over her body before tucking her into the blanket.
He climbed back into the bed and tightly wrapped his arms around her until she was buried against his chest. With his previous fear of her disappearing right before him, he could not bear to take any more risk of losing her.
He stiffened when she stirred in his arms.
"...Park... Jimin?" Rosè Yang groggily mumbled, wanting to rub her eyes, but something strong was binding her arms in place. She could feel comforting heat radiating in front of her and did nothing but snuggle closer to it, burying her face into the solid chest.
"Shh, go back to sleep, love." He patted her head, caressing her hair. He felt his heart swell when she nuzzled her face against him, clinging onto him, even if it was to leech the warmth off of him. He wondered if she could hear his pounding heart.
While she peacefully slept in his arms, Park Jimin stared up at the ceiling, recalling the nightmare. The scenes were from different timelines merged into one and the end result was always the words, "I'm sorry, but who are you?"
"Mm just...one more rice cake." She talked in her sleep, her small rambling amusing him. He pulled the blanket up more until it covered her chin.
Seeing her now in his arms and not a different man's, Park Jimin could feel the slightest bit of relief. He needed it to remain that way, he needed her to belong to him and only him.
His heart stirred with uncertainty. He did not know how or why she forgot about him. She might've been young when he left for overseas, but he did not leave long enough for her to easily forget him like that.
Something must've happened within the two years that he left and Park Jimin was determined to get to the bottom of it.
- - - - -
The next morning, Park Jimin woke up to a pleasant surprise. There were feather-light touches trailing a path on his face, going from his long lashes to his chin. A tiny giggle could be heard beside him when his nose twitched. The sound was music to his ears, the small note that lead to a symphony.
She yelped when he abruptly captured her fingers, his swift movement startling her.
Rosè Yang was so busy watching his face scrunching up with her teasing touches to realize he was truly awake. When he opened his eyes, blinked, and lazily tilted his head in her direction, a low smirk hanging on his face, she felt her heart thump faster than normal.
His perfectly chiseled face was still handsome in the morning, even though he had just woken up. "Good morning." His voice, thicker than usual from sleep, did unruly things to her heart.
He lifted his other arm to gently graze her face, rubbing circles on her silky smooth cheeks. He didn't want to get up yet and only wanted to savor this moment.
"Good morning..." She tiredly mumbled, feeling warm upon hearing his deep and hoarse morning voice. She was shocked to have woken up in his bed, securely wrapped against him, but figured he must've been the cause of it. She only hoped he did not see anything when he changed her into one of his shirts.
"What time is it?" He grabbed his phone, his brows slightly furrowing together at the overflooding messages. It was mainly from his parents and a few were from his grandmother. His groggy eyes became tense when he saw one of them was from his grandfather. They had all seen the news of his relationship.
"What's wrong?" Rosè Yang asked when she saw the sudden irritation and anger on his face. Was it because they overslept?
She tried to reach her purse to grab her phone, but his arm was wrapped so protectively around her, she couldn't shift her body. Sighing to herself, she had no choice but to lay her head on his chest again, but because of their proximity, she finally saw the messages bothering him. His family wanted to see her.
"Don't reject, I don't mind visiting them." She could see the urgency in his parent's desire to seeing her. She understood why. His son was rarely seen with women and there had not been a dating scandal in all of his twenty-seven years of living. By now, they're probably assuming his taste in lovers had nothing to do with women.
"Are you sure?" He didn't want to pressure her into meeting her in-laws. His mother tended to be overbearing and dramatic whereas his father was brooding, but very persistent of having grandchildren.
"Of course. My schedule is always free, I have practically nothing to do every day." She thought back to the days spent in her grandfather's home watching television and lazing around.
Occasionally, she would review RY's situation, make plans for them, and inform Cha Eunwoo of what to do, or she would consult her grandfather from home. Lately, he had not been allowing her to go to his office and she figured it was because he was worried something might happen again.
"You don't have to feel obligated to go."
"Don't overthink it, I can go anytime you're free." She teased, pinching his nose, noticing how tender and loving his gaze had become.
"Then let's visit them today." He declared, eager to show her off to his family. Her eyes widened and she immediately shook her head.
"What's wrong?"
"I need to buy them presents before I visit and I have to change my clothes. We can go tomorrow—"
"I'll take you to buy the gifts. As for clothes, Lisa has left a lot here." He was afraid she might spend unnecessary money on his parents. All she had to do was show up and he would've been fine.
"No, I'll buy it with my own money." She saw he was momentarily distracted from the conversation, causing his arm to loosen around her waist. She easily maneuvered out of his arms, ready to climb out of the enormous bed, but in the split second her foot brushed the floor, she already felt a heavy force tugging her back onto the bed.
She groaned, "I have to get ready and go home." She huffed when he responded to her request by tightening his arms around her waist, yanking her back to him.
"So soon? Don't we have to shop for gifts?" He didn't want her to leave this quickly. He wanted to spend more time with her, but she always seemed eager to run off somewhere.
"No, I can shop by myself. If you come with me, you won't let me use my money."
"I know my parent's best. I can offer you tips and advice on the way there."
She pouted at the truth. She didn't know anything about his parents. She thought it might be a good idea to ask Lalisa Park, but seeing she had a relationship to worry about and her schedule was always booked with gigs, promotions, photo shoots, being the ambassador to several brands, as well as worrying about her new job as a fashion designer, the poor girl didn't even have the time to entertain sleep, much less shopping.
"Don't pout, I'll gobble you up." He ran a thumb over her jutted bottom lips.
"I'm not pouting." She argued, biting his thumb in annoyance to which he let out a bark of laughter.
"What? Was that supposed to hurt?"
She scowled and elbowed him, but he flexed his abdomen and she could practically feel the rippling hard eight-pack from here.
"Fine, come shopping with me. But you better not swipe your card." She mumbled, waving the white flag. She could practically feel Park Jimin brimming with happiness at her words.
"Alright, I'll have the car ready. We'll go as soon as you eat breakfast." Park Jimin eagerly said before leaning over to swiftly kiss each of her cheeks.