It took about an hour, only because you felt a sense of perfectionism. God knows the scuffs of disappointment you'd hear from Taehyung to see Jungkook with patches in his hair. If you were going to be the one to dye it, might as well leave your mark on it. You waited on your bed, robe wrapped around you like a blanket while you listened to the rushing water from your joined bathroom. You just let Jungkook wash the dye out in your room versus walking all the way across the mansion just to get to his own bathroom and come all the way back to show you how it turned out. You knew he was going to want you to see the after result.
Hearing the bathroom door click you raised your head and turned it to the left. A beam of light with steam trailing close behind left the door first. You had to squint at the brightness to readjust your eyes. The door opened wider and Jungkook's frame was eclipsed by the light behind him. Raising your hand you tried to block the bright florescent light out with your palm. The dim fire-lit room having darkened your gaze. Jungkook quickly noticed you struggling not to go blind and reached for the light switch and flipped it down.
With a few flutters of your lashes, your eyes cleared the haze and you were able to look back up to him. Your gaze trailed from his feet up to his eyes and froze there. He... Did this boy just... Sweet Jesus, you were short-circuiting. Should you have expected this? Were you missing common sense? Or was it genuinely surprising to see this man walk out of the bathroom in nothing more than a towel?! The most skin you had seen from this man was a little forearm and maybe a calf if he was feeling frisky with a pair of cargo shorts. What laid beneath those baggy shirts he loved to wear was comparable to a fine piece of timeless art. No wonder his clothes were always clean, he carried a washboard around with him.
"How's the hair look?" His arms spread out in front of himself as if putting himself on display. He was on display alright. The top prize in the arcade or the perfect pasty in the bakery. You'd take a bite out of-- Focus! Hair, you were supposed to be looking at his hair not ogling his body.
"Where--" Your voice cracked as soon as it came out of your throat. Your eyes fluttered quickly as you pointed your gaze away toward the fireplace. "Where... are your clothes?" It pained you to ask but good-god talk about shit timing.
"What?" He said, taking a step forward as he turned his ear to you. Great! You did not say that as loud as you had thought.
"Nothing!" You chiming up with a clearing cough from your throat. "Nothing..." Turning you tossed your long legs over the side of the bed and hoped to your feet. Closing your eyes you chanted internally 'Just look up high.' Raising your head and gaze you looked over at him, trying not to let your gaze lower past his shoulders.
His hair was still damp and it actually had a bit of a wave to it. His part split down the middle causing his short - now black - hair to drip droplets of water onto his glass-like skin. Black was his color. He made the color black his bitch. It was as if the shadows hugged his frame so much tighter, his honey-dew skin shimming in the soft light. His chocolate eyes flickering with the embers of the fake fireplace.
"You look..." How to put this in a way that wouldn't make Satan himself blush? "...good." Nailed it. "It looks goods." You tried to correct quickly as you pinch your lips together in a forced smile. Your eyes felt heavy, oh how they wanted to fall. "Do you like it?" Grabbing the edge of your robe you wrapped it around yourself a bit tighter and looked to your feet.
"Yeah." His curvy lips turned up in a gentle smile that flashed those adorable bunny teeth. That was it, the perfect transition to a 'goodnight'. You raised your head to start the parting speech but was your eyes met his you noticed the distance you last remember was considerably shorter. You could smell his mint mouth wash, he was so near.
The sudden closure of space tossed you off your guard but was quick to spark your reflexes. Without a proper through you stumbled back, your heel stomping into the corner of your robe. The plush fabric lost all traction on the hardwood floor you quickly began to fall back. The last thing you saw before hitting the ground was Jungkook's utterly shocked face as you just slumped down to the ground unexpectedly.
You slammed into the ground on your left side with a painful groan. You felt the sharpness fill half of your body for a few lasting seconds causing you to writhe in pain. Your robe having come loose near the belt and the slit of fabric spread right at your hip. Nothing private was revealed excluding your right asscheek but what was seen was far worse. He noticed it far before you ever realized it. He knelt down beside your ready to help you up when his eyes met your blue and purple bruises that decorated your hips like tattoo ink.
You saw the horror in his eyes when you finally pushed your upper half up with your arms and gathered yourself again. You caught his haunted eyes first before following his gaze to your exposed skin. Shit. Grabbing your robe you yanked it close and quickly tucked your legs closer - curling into yourself.
"Don't." Clenching your jaw you waiting for it to come. The bombardment of questions that you couldn't answer. The lies you've had to claim to cover this up. The shame you had to hide in your eyes. You didn't want this. You couldn't handle this right now.
"Y/N..." Jungkook whined out softly, his voice crackled at its end. You could hear the pain he felt for you in his baritone voice. It's soothing tone trying to chip away at the defensive walls you had just rebuilt in a fraction of a second.
"We're not having this conversation." Pushing yourself on the floor you tried to widen the space between the two of you. Jungkook only responded by sinking down to the floor at your level and taking a seat. His knees folded under him as he looked at you with compassion. All you could see was pity.
"The last 'hit' did this?" His fingers curled into fists atop his knees as he asked. It was an understandable assumption. You had a risk job in the organization, seduce men, sometimes sleep with them, then kill them. There were low-risk cases where the men were older and weak, able to be easily overpowered by a young woman. Then there were the more physically fit men that you were trying to manipulate, men more than capable of knocking you around. They could never knock around a bullet though.
"Stop." You jerked your head to the right, trying to dismiss this conversation completely. Turning to your side you moved to sit and let your legs curl beside yourself. You fixed the robe again, making sure you were completely covered and any more markings wouldn't be seen by worried eyes.
"Did Mono not look after you?" His impatient words raced after your answers. His speech was quickened and his eyes grew wider with worry with every dismissive answer.
"That's not it!" Hardening your gaze at him as that wall around yourself grew stronger. She didn't need a baby sitter. You were a grown woman and there was nothing Mono go do, she didn't even know half of what you've been through in the organization.
"Was it... Jimin again?" His voice shook as he questioned the actions of his closest friend. His widen gaze fall with worry, it broke his heart to this Jimin would hurt you again. He took all the responsibility for Jimin's actions.
"What?" Your brows were crinkled. He was just going through a list now. He wanted a name. Geeze, he sounded like Mono. "No!" You answered him quickly in hopes of calming the demented imagines he was imagining in his head. "Just stop. We're not having this conversation!" One last time you tried to convince him to just drop this.
"This isn't okay, Y/N!" Jungkook's lips burst as his hands exploded open with jest. He was trembling. "Were you r--" he opened his mouth to finish his question but you didn't want to hear the words out loud.
"YES!" You screamed at him, your voice exploding out of your throat. "Yes." You repeated in a more civilized tone as you straightened your posture up on the floor and attempted to hold your head a bit higher. "And..." You added, trying to calm the shake you felt in your vocal cords. "I'd appreciate some time to process this on my own before I talk about it... okay?" Reaching up you tossed your frizzed bangs out of your eyes. Hardening yourself you projected your sincerity in your words through the gleam of determination in your gaze.
Jungkook's rigidity frame began to soften at your request. He was scared for you, he worried about you. He wanted to protect you, just like he wanted to protect everyone in this house. He didn't see the flaws in the faces around him. He saw friends, he saw his family. He lived for the people around him, not for himself. His identity revolved around those he cared for, he didn't necessarily have an identity of his own. That or people had simply never seen it. He saw only the good in you and he wanted to protect it. His sharp jaw dipped down as he nodded in response.
His hands parted as his arms opened wider and framed his figure. His brown eyes dulled down to a soft welcoming milk chocolate gaze. He remained still as he asked quietly over the crackle of the fire and the low hum of the music in the background "Can I stay here for a while and just... hold you?"
Staring at him for even a second too long felt rude, but to process what he just said was going to take a second. Such a request was something straight out of romantic novels but no love story started like this. A woman stained in blood with icy blue in her veins and a soul too pure for this world. You weren't ever going to get that happy ending now, but he still had a chance. It was his need to protect that fueled his request. You wouldn't give him a name - a person to hate - so he was projecting that energy elsewhere. If he felt you in his arms then you couldn't be hurt for as long as you were there. He was offering up security.
You knew that if you didn't accept this offer the questions would come back, and should you not answer them he'd likely go hunting for information elsewhere and get himself into a world of hurt. Pushing yourself up and a little closer to him you met his gaze again. A gentle nod was all you could muster but that was all he needed. His solid arms wrapped around your shoulders and helped you spin around to face the same direction as him. His arm curled around your shoulder as the two of you pushed yourselves back against the frame of the bed. You used your robe like a blanket as you curled into the curve of his body. The light of the fake fire dancing across the hardwood floor and you focused on those colors.
Maybe this was what you needed. A moment of peace where you didn't have to worry about protecting yourself. Where you felt safe and protected, you could zone out from reality and process your thoughts. It was a second to breathe and it felt like the first time in years. Maybe this was all you needed, you were grateful that he knew that before you did.