WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Hobi wouldn't stop crying again.
This time, it had nothing to do with the milk.
Without much of a choice, Soo-ji had entrusted Yeonjun to look after Hobi while she prepared to attend the fundraising ball with Jackson. Yeonjun was delighted to babysit, of course, but Hobi wasn't too keen on the idea.
"He's a kid himself." Hobi complained, the bottom of his little lip folding over the top in a small pout. "And he's annoying. And he's a dummy."
A snort came from behind Soo-ji. Jackson was in the motel room with them, discussing their plan when the topic of Hobi sprung up. Soo-ji ignored him, kneeling in front of Hobi who sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh against her lips.
"You can bully Yeonjun all you like," Soo-ji pat his head as a source of comfort, "you can tell him his head looks like a coconut, that he smells and you can tell him to stop following us like a loser!"
"B-but..." Hobi was sniffing again, rubbing his puffy eyes with the back of his hands, "why can't I come with you? I can protect you!"
If Soo-ji said her heart didn't melt at that statement, she would've been outright lying. A smile graced against the lining of her lips, she looked at Hobi closely, grateful that Hobi was here in that dump motel than with the others at the temple. In a lot of ways, Hobi really reminded her of Hoseok. He never failed to bring a smile to anyone's faces, he was the sun of the group, much loved by every member of the Hope Gang.
"Hobi-ah... you're so silly. I don't need protecting. It's me who needs to protect you."
Hobi looked at her in confusion. His little head tilted slightly, his eyebrows pinching together as he considered her words. Then, ever so slowly, he turned towards the open laptops sitting on top of the table. His pudgy finger reached up, pointing towards Yoongi and Chung Ha's photo.
"You're the silly billy," Hobi reprimanded her, making Jackson snigger behind her again, "if that ugly picture is upsetting you, then I need to tell uncle meow meow that he fucked up!"
Jackson burst out laughing. "Yah! This baby will grow up to be great boyfriend material!"
Soo-ji, frowning and irritated that he was laughing in the wrong moment, used every ounce of resistance to kick him out of the room when she was trying to be the adult here and discipline Hobi. His laughter only fuelled Hobi into a fit of giggles when Hobi suddenly leaned his back on the bed, rolling around. Jackson joined him next, jumping on the bed as they began rolling around together like two puppies.
The absurdity of it all brought a smile on Soo-ji's face finally.
Discipline was out of the window. When Hobi eventually stopped laughing (but Jackson still carried on), Soo-ji sat him up again. With a serious adult voice, Soo-ji asked him, "you'd be a brave boy, right? You won't be scared?"
Hobi scoffed, waving his tiny hands at Soo-ji. Sometimes, Soo-ji thought, that this kid was growing up way too fast.
"Scared?" Hobi asked, "I'm not uncle Kook."
"Jungkook?"
"Yeah!" Hobi exclaimed, "that idiot boy likes aunty Microsoft Word but he's too scared to talk to her so he just gets angry at her all the time!"
As always, Hobi was spot on.
When night fell and the stars came out to play, the lack of windows at the temple always plunged the prison cell into a darkness that one could easily lose their minds. It was fascinating how Chanyeol managed to stay in solitary confinement for so long by himself. His mind and willpower must've been the strongest amongst them when he endured the longest vicious cycle of torture, darkness, coldness and silence.
In-ah sat in the corner of the cell, wide awake in deep thoughts. Her back leaned against the concrete wall, but her knees were pushed against her chest for some sort of warmth. She was freezing. And from the slow deep breathing around her, she could only guess everyone was sleeping.
She was wrong, though.
Jungkook sat beside her in the overcrowded cell. Not that she could tell who it was in the pitch black darkness; all she knew was someone was sitting so close next to her that their shoulders touched.
Jungkook knew, however.
He hadn't said a word to her and she didn't to him either. She thought he was sleeping but it was obvious to Jungkook that she was awake by her constant shivering.
At first, Jungkook thought she would feel better if someone sat close to her. But she had been so cold that it was becoming impossible to sleep. Jungkook stayed awake with her, waiting till she drifted off to sleep before he did so himself. Before he knew it, hours ticked by. Everyone had drifted into a light slumber, except for her. At this rate, Jungkook wouldn't be surprised if she didn't sleep until the sun rose.
In complete blackness, he raised a shaky hand in front of him. He gulped, fearing the nerves biting at him at what he was about to do.
He shifted his body slowly to not startle her. He turned towards her before wrapping a secure arm around her small quivering body.
He stilled, testing the waters first.
And when In-ah didn't give much of a reaction, he continued.
He scooted closer to her, leaned his head on her shoulder and nuzzled his head into the curve of her neck. His hot breath blew onto her skin, comforting and soothing her.
In-ah shifted slightly. This time, towards Jungkook, and she leaned her head on top of his. His warm breathing was steady and In-ah found herself relaxing into his arms as his body sent waves and waves of heat towards hers.
"You're hot." In-ah murmured.
Jungkook's breath hitched, hiccuping the pattern of his rhythmic breathing.
And that was how In-ah knew he had been awake all along.
Jungkook thought he could continue pretending to sleep. Maybe, just maybe, the chilly air had numbed In-ah's brain so much that she hadn't clocked on.
"I don't mean your body temperature, by the way." In-ah said, catching him off guard.
And Jungkook revealed himself. Choking on his saliva, he coughed out loud, making In-ah chuckle next to him. Her shoulders shook in laughter, knowing fully well that her comment would make him become flustered.
Blushing, Jungkook lifted his head by a margin of an inch off her shoulder. "Was it obvious that I was awake?"
"A little." In-ah's teeth chattered, hugging his arm tighter around her chest.
Jungkook gulped again.
"What's keeping you awake?" She asked, her voice dreamy and tired.
"Can't sleep..." Jungkook answered vaguely. He definitely couldn't sleep now.
Silence filled the air.
In-ah didn't answer him anymore. Had she fallen asleep? If she did, then good. Jungkook had successfully fulfilled his mission. But no matter how much he denied it, Jungkook couldn't help but feel a strong desire to keep talking to her.
"D-did you ever finish your book?" He tried, asking ever so quietly that In-ah could've easily missed it if his lips wasn't only centimetres away from her ear.
A few seconds of pause went by. She didn't answer him, and a little sigh escaped from his lips at the sheer disappointment.
"Literally read the last word just as we got ambushed at the church." In-ah whispered, feeling fatigue settling in.
Jungkook's face lit up.
She answered!
For a split second there, he thanked the gods that everyone was sleeping. If they overheard that he was having even a slight bit of interest in In-ah's book suddenly, when he had been taking the piss out of it this entire time, they would never let him live this down. Jungkook didn't care, though. If talking about her book was the only conversational topic to keep her awake, then so be it.
"What happened to Lucas and Alabama?" Jungkook asked.
"Oh for goodness sake, have you got a memory problem?! It's Lucas and Alana!" In-ah tutted at him, making him smile. The thing was... Jungkook remembered their names this time, but he knew getting their names wrong would annoy her to her wits' end. And he figured that the more irritated she was, the more awake she would be.
"It turns out... Lucas broke up with Alana to join the French army in the second world war. He told her to not wait for him and she was heartbroken by his sudden goodbye. Years later, she became a spy with the Germans. One night, when working at the telecommunications centre, she heard his voice again after tapping into the French's radio. She thought she was dreaming at first, and eventually risked revealing her identity to find him. They met again on the battlefield, and Lucas was so close to killing her when he found out she was with the Germans. He let her go, and she promised him he would learn the truth one day. And when he did, she hoped they would meet at the Eiffel Tower."
"Did they, then?" Jungkook asked, "meet at the Eiffel Tower, I mean?"
Jungkook felt her head bouncing up and down, indicating that she was nodding in response.
"Lucas waited thirteen years for her there." In-ah said, "he thought she died, but he still waited for her everyday. It turns out Alana was imprisoned in a concentration camp this whole time after the Germans found out she was a spy."
"Romantic." That was the only comment Jungkook could think of to make. The monotone and flatness of his voice irked In-ah, but he was pretending to not be interested at all. The truth was... After listening to every word of In-ah's, he would be in complete denial if he said that story didn't pique his interest one bit. Was he suddenly interested because she was? In some way, he understood why she was so engrossed in that old book.
"Why the Eiffel Tower, though?" He laughed, "that's too cliche."
In-ah tutted at him again, rolling her eyes at his comment. "Because as cliche as it sounds, they had to overcome so many obstacles to be together. Paris is their home, but while 'going home' might sound so easy to the people today, it was the hardest thing for them to do. And when they met at the Eiffel Tower after all these years, it meant they finally returned to where they truly belong. They were each other's home. Their 'home' wasn't complete if the other was missing. Their love for each other was as strong as the steel on the architecture when it still stood standing after years of war."
"That's some deep thinking." He said, lifting his head completely off her shoulder to look at her. He never quite imagined In-ah as someone who held deep thoughts, or even considered her to be intelligent if he was totally honest. It seemed, in that particular moment, his perception of her was slowly shifting.
"Yah Microsoft Word."
"What?"
"For someone with a bit of a brain, it's such a waste for you to take up Fashion and Fine Art at university."
In-ah snapped her head towards him. The twist of her head moved so fast that her nose bumped against his jawline. "Are you implying that Fashion and Fine Art students are dumb?"
Jungkook pursed his lips together, holding in his laugh. He loved it whenever she would get so riled up with him. "No..." He grinned at her, "how could I when I didn't even go to university and I'm a self-proclaimed Einstein?"
And then he burst out laughing. His shoulders shook next to hers. Without realising it, Jungkook clung onto her tighter, holding the small of her body as he stifled his laugh by burying his head into her neck.
In-ah, on the other hand, didn't laugh alongside him. She rolled her eyes for the hundredth time, sat motionlessly still until his fit of laughter died away.
"Shhh!" Jimin hissed at them from somewhere.
"Sorry!" They both whispered back.
"Keep your voice down!" In-ah nudged him, telling him to shut up.
"Okay, okay, sorry." Jungkook breathed in and out slowly, calming himself down.
Silence filled in the air again.
"Hey, Microsoft Word..."
"Hm?"
"You're kinda cool."
"Have you just realised?"
In-ah's heavy eyelids fluttered open and close. Sleep finally came and the warmth of Jungkook gave her a familiar feeling that her dazed mind couldn't quite pinpoint where from. The secure of his arm around her was a blanket of comfort.
Home.
Sitting up straight to reposition himself, Jungkook, ever so gently, held the side of her face in his large palm and brought her head down to his chest. The rising and falling of In-ah's chest rested against his body. She was snoozing finally, and Jungkook never felt so at peace when he wrapped his strong arms around her sleeping body.
"One day... I'd like to get to know you better, Microsoft Word."