"Aera," Axl called out with a phone in his hand. "Don't forget it."
I'd already dashed out the building. I turn my head. It's my phone, "Oh."
Flustered, I stride back inside and take it from his hand, "Thanks."
"Where're you going? You normally stay past your shift." He checks his watch, "You're off on time, not a second late."
"Date with Jungkook!" I reply speedily before taking off, running towards the bus stop without caring to see his look of disappointment.
/
It's my date and I'm late.
"I've already reserved a seat for two," I tell the lady at the front of 'Minerva's', a restaurant that I treat myself to on my most special days.
"Six thirty, two for Ms.Yi." I mentally snorted. I'll never get used to referring myself as Miss to strangers, as if I myself was a separate person.
"Ah yes, they've already arrived."
damn it.
The lady leans in, and hesitantly whispers, "Is he Jeon Jungkook? I asked him and he said he gets it a lot. But I can't help but see that they are too similar."
I look at her.
"My apologies," She backs away, flustered. "How unprofessional of me."
"No it's fine. He really does get it a lot. But no, he's not. The Jeon Jungkook wouldn't eat here. No disrespect on my part, it's just...Jeon Jungkook himself would probably eat gold bars with gold spoons, am I right?"
She nod, "I suppose."
I suppose too.
"Shall I lead you to the table?" I nod. And so I let her take me to the very end of the restaurant, where a two-person table was. Jungkook sat alone, with his eyes looking out the window. He was in a long brown coat, hair parted and his forehead showing. He was focused, looking out on the road as if to look for something.
"Here you go." The lady gestures towards the table and whispered. She hands me a menu and goes on her way, leaving me with Jungkook.
"Hey." I call out, taking my seat across from him. He jerks his head towards me, mouth slightly open from surprise.
He smiled, "I didn't see you come in?" That explains the whole eyes-glued-to-the-window situation.
"Other side." I told him. He nods in response, grinning.
I was about to tell him about the dishes from this restaurant until he spoke before me, hands going under the table and pulling up a big bag, with the width of more than half the table.
"...what is this?"My stomach churned then.
"A few essentials that I think you-"
I cut him off, "Jungkook, the last time you said anything along the lines of 'essentials' I received a bag the price of my pay check..or more." God, that felt like a slap in the face to say. "And that was literally this morning."
His lips protrude just the slightest, "But I already paid for all this. Don't let me return it." He pushes the bag towards my side of the table.
If i reject it, he'll be upset. But accepting these type of things makes me feel dirty. As if I was with him so i could steal from his credit card. Which is far from the truth, but it doesn't stop me from feeling that way. He can keep giving but I can only take. Even seeing him in this restaurant makes me feel so much smaller. What does he normally eat? Would a meal of mine equal to a side dish of his? I look down at the menu. The prices next to the dishes make me stressed about my money, yet he probably goes to restaurants that don't even have prices on the menus. I then look up at him, who's looking back in confusion. I wonder what he thinks of this place. Or what he thinks of my flat. Or of me. Or the clothes that I'm wearing. Which reminds me that I haven't checked the price of the cardigan he'd gifted me. I don't want to check.
"Jungkook-"
"You seem stressed about this," He sighed, hooking his fingers through the loops of the bag. His eyebrows are furrowed and maybe I've really upset him. "I wanted this to make you smile, not frown."
He puts the bag back underneath the table and out of my sight. "Just forget about it. Let's eat. What do you normally eat when you come here?"
He completely ignores my look of guilt and averts his eyes to the menu. He's a sensitive guy, and I know he hates for me to reject his gifts just as much as i hate to accept them.
"Jungkook..." I know he's upset, even as he's pretending to look through the menu. I know he doesn't care about what he's reading.
I call again, "Jungkook-"
"No, stop. It's fine. I said it's fine. It's my fault, you told me you didn't like gifts and I still ended up buying you more. It's fine. It's fine." His words slowly drift into mumbles, eyes trailing back to the menu.
"Just forget it."
Okay.
I gulp, "The um..I like the lobsters here. They make really nice lasagnas as well."
He nods, and I purse my lips, looking out the window just like he had before I sat down.
I then looked at the waitress standing not far from us. She looked like she was waiting for us so she could take our orders, "Jungkook-"
"I said it's fine." He replied, sounding irritated now. His voice wasn't as quiet as before and I even found myself jolting in response.
"That's not..what I was gonna say."
He looks up at me, seemingly sorry. I hate that look on his face. I wish he was smiling, and I wish I was too.
The awkward silence takes over us until I cough, "Are you ready to take your order now?"
/
So here we were, walking back to my house. I was sure that I saw his car parked near the restaurant. I'm positive it was his. Nobody else here would drive a fucking Mercedes Maybach. But he insisted to walk, and I find it better to not reject him anymore. He had our fingers intertwined and he tucked our hands in the pocket of his coat. It was nice and warm, to have his palm pressed against mine.
It was silent, as we walked. The cold wind blew and I reached a hand up to brush the hair away from my face. I feel him turn to look at me. I look back, and he's smiling. It's a good sign, considering how he'd been frowning for the most of our dinner. Frowning and ignoring my gaze.
"What?" I asked about the wide grin on his face.
"I don't know," he shrugs, "I'm just..baffled that you still care about me enough to do all this."
I feel his wrap on my hand go tighter, but not tight enough to make me feel uncomfortable.
Just enough to make my heart pound harder.
"To do all what?"
"Everything. Everything since my birthday. It doesn't seem real that you're next to me, is what I'm trying to say."
I tilt my head up to look at him, truly, look at him. And as I look at the crinkle of his eyes, the dimples on his cheeks, and the teeth peeking out from his smile, I feel like I can understand what he means perfectly fine.
"I think it's harder to believe that you remember me at all." I tell him, as we reach a crosswalk.
We face each other then, as we waited for the light to go green. It was cold out, but it's as if the sight of him was keeping me all warm inside.
He doesn't reply as he takes our hands out from his pocket. A cold breeze greets my palm when his hand leaves mine. I look up at him, confused, until he engulfed me into his arms. He held me tightly, and he didn't seem to be thinking about letting go. So I wrapped my arms around his waist, returning the butterflies, hopefully. I wasn't tall enough to rest my chin on his shoulder, so I just rested my head against his chest, closing my eyes as I listened to the beating of his heart.
"We're going to miss the green light." I mumbled against the soft fabric of his coat.
"I don't mind."
"I'm sorry I ruined our dinner." I swallowed what I believe was my pride. I felt him shake his head against my hair.
"Don't say that. You know it's not your fault. I shouldn't have ignored you like that when you were trying to make it less awkward for us."
I smiled. At least the man knows.
"You have to let me treat you to another dinner soon, so we can make up for tonight's disaster." I smiled and he broke into a chuckle. It was nice that we were talking again. I just wish it wasn't when we already finished eating and were heading back home.
"Shouldn't it be the other way around? Not you treating me? Since I ruined the dinner?"
"Exactly. Repay me by giving me another chance to treat you back for the gift."
"But gifts are for giving. Who gives gifts just to get something back?"
"Jungkook." I warned jokingly.
He grinned sheepishly as he dipped down to plant a kiss on my forehead. His lips were cold as they pecked my skin, and somehow, I wanted to make them warm with my own. I wanted to feel his warm lips on my skin instead. I wanted him to hug me again, but without these clothes in our way. I wanted him to intertwine our fingers again, but tighter, and not here on the sidewalk.
"Can you come to my house?" He knew what I meant when I spoke with my lips on his neck.
It didn't take me any more words for him to lead me back to his car and drive the both of us towards my flat.
——
A/N: rushed. unedited.
imagine working your ass off and not getting paid. epic tingz 🥴🤚
hope everyone is doing alright, it's okay if some of you aren't as well. don't beat yourself up for not having a good time. you're trying hard enough. take it easy on yourself sometimes is all i can say.