JIMIN'S POV
The next day, it certainly felt weird knocking on Y/N's door after so long but I was already here. There was no going back now.
Heart beating fast, I grinned nervously as Mrs. Lee answered the door, staring me up and down confused.
But then her disoriented expression morphed into one of pleasant surprise as she threw me a kind smile, familiar warmth seeping into me.
"Isn't it Park Jimin?" She mumbled fondly. "It's been years since I last saw you. You've become such a handsome young man, oh my world."
"Thank you, Mrs. Lee." I smiled back, feeling embarrassed all of a sudden.
The only probable reason that she was still nice to me was because she hadn't heard about how much I'd changed in the past few years. "I was wondering if—" I started but she already knew what I wanted to ask.
"Oh come right in by all means. Y/N is in her room. I'm sure you already know where that is." Even though a genuine smile graced her lips and tender affection shone in her eyes, I didn't miss the little faint ring of hesitation in her voice.
Even though she was glad to see me, it was clear that she didn't really understand why I decided to suddenly show up at their door after not visiting for years.
Nevertheless, she led me in and then quickly walked to the kitchen. "I'll bring some snacks for you guys, then. You can go ahead, Jimin-ah. Y/N will be elated to see you."
I held back an amused smile. If only she knew how much her daughter detested me now.
"Thanks, Mrs. Lee." I smiled politely and ambled towards Y/N's room, a confused frown making way onto my face as I noticed the lack of the barbie posters that I'd expected to be stuck onto her bedroom door. Guess she didn't like barbies anymore.
That made sense...since she herself was a doll now.
Y/N'S POV
"Owh, that mannerless jerk!" I scowled, throwing a glance at my window as I sauntered into the bedroom, a fluffy white towel wrapped around my damp body and a separate towel wrapped around my freshly washed hair.
I loved how I smelled like strawberries and vanilla and since it was the weekend, I had every intention of putting on the comfiest pair of pajamas I owned and spending the day rolled up in my sheets, binge watching my favourite Disney movies.
But since Park fvcking Jimin had this remarkable ability to always take over my thoughts at the most inappropriate of times and ruin my mood, I found myself dwelling over old memories again. "He used to be such a cutie. Gosh, I can't believe I adored someone who turned out to be this rude. All he has now is a nasty attitude and that cursed addiction. Ugh, what a waste of that gorgeous face."
Tsking angrily, I opened my wardrobe to grab my panties. Since I planned to stay in, it was unnecessary making myself uncomfortable and wearing a bra. Shrugging, I threw the panties and the newly washed pair of favourite pajamas onto the bed, shimmying towards the mirror to dry my hair and do my skincare.
"Lace?" A dangerously familiar voice mused from behind me, laced with a wicked amusement and a teasing, husky undertone that I greatly dreaded.
There was no way!
"I didn't peg you to be a lace kind of woman, Lee Y/N. That's kind of naughty of you."
I didn't dare turn around as the person continued, almost playful if not downright mocking. At that moment, I preferred to die rather than turning around and facing the smirking devil in my literally naked state because I already knew who it was.
And he wasn't here to make my life easy.
"Get out." I lifted my eyes up to see him leaning against my bedroom door that was firmly shut behind him, a shiny black boot clad foot pushed up against the wood as he stared at me through the mirror, his handsome face annoyingly smug. "Now, Jimin!" I emphasised, my knees weak. Who did he think he was to barge into my room uninvited and intrude my privacy in this manner?
"I was actually here to make you a deal, Y/N. And after seeing you like this..." He paused to flash me a crooked smile, eyes roving over my back. "I'm certain than ever that we need to reach an understanding of sorts between the two of us."
I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath before clutching my towel tightly and turning around to face him.
"I don't care about any of that. I just need you to get out of here. Right. Now." I yelled. "You don't want me to butt into your life, I don't want you to butt into mine either. We are both on our own now! Why's that so hard to understand?"
Jimin stared at me unamused, his visibly darkened eyes lingering on me for a heartbeat too long as shifted positions. "Actually why don't you put on some clothes first? It's fvcking distracting."
"You—" I sputtered, dumbfounded as I immediately rushed to grab the clothes off the bed, ignoring his heated gaze following my every movement. "You're the one who started it first! Who asked you to come in without knocking?"
"This is my best friend's room!" He retorted shamelessly, plopping down onto my bed.
"Ex-best friend." I pointed out vehemently. "Things are no longer the same way between us. You can't just walk into my room without knocking! Not only we are not that close anymore, it's also rude. We are not elementary schoolers anymore, you know!"
Jimin seemed to smirk a little as my heart thundered in my chest, pounding with the building frustration and inexplicable agitation. I swear I saw his tongue in the corner of his mouth as he propped himself up on one elbow, looking at me darkly. "So it would seem." He remarked seductively, not a sliver of innocence in either his gaze or his tone.
I bit back an urge to scream. What was this suffocating feeling constricting my chest? I felt like I could neither move nor breathe. The air was saturated with wordless sexual tension and I couldn't believe that my knees were actually turning to goo being under his constant scrutiny.
I hated how my thighs shook, a familiar, warm wetness accumulating between my thighs, causing my discomfort to intensify and rendering me unable to take my eyes off his magnetic stare.
What did it mean by 'so it would seem'? Why in the world would he stare at me like that? Like I was something delectable. Like he wanted to devour me.
"Hate it or love it, Y/N but I have a proposition for you and I'm not leaving until I get an answer to that." Jimin continued smoothly.
"And since you seem so utterly unable to dress yourself, I'll just make my point before we are interrupted. I was just trying to be considerate of our past relationship earlier but since you don't seem to be holding on to that," He got off the bed to saunter towards me.
"I'll make it clear that I don't exactly mind a hot distraction even if it just happens to be a half naked, stubborn ex-best friend of mine."
I crossed my arms across my chest, backing against the mirror and staring up at him trying my best to not look intimidated even though it was my first time encountering Jimin in years and such a bold, audacious and sexually appealing Jimin in general.
"What do you want?" I asked quickly. "Just say whatever you want to say and get out." I muttered anxiously, worried that my mother would walk in at any given moment.
"A kiss." Jimin answered firmly and I practically choked on my own saliva, blinking in disbelief.
"W-what?" I blurted.
"Yes. A kiss for every time I want to smoke."
"That's ludicrous!"
"I know." Jimin nodded. "But since you're always so fvcking hell bent on making me quit smoking, I thought it'd be good to give you a chance to actually do something about it."
"You must have lost your mind." I mumbled, shaking my head. "That is insane! Are you sure you're not high on something right now? What even makes you think that I'd kiss you...you of all people?"
"Why not?"
"Why not?" I scoffed, mimicking him. "Why would I? You're the most shameless, impertinent and perverted guy I know. I'd sooner kiss a stray dog than I kiss you."
"Who's being ill-mannered now?" Jimin retorted, getting slightly worked up now. "You have the filthiest mouth when you want to, Lee Y/N and your words hurt."
"Ha!" I rolled my eyes. "Look at you accusing me. As if you've got the purest mouth out there. Everything that comes out of your mouth is either downright bullshit and lies or completely mean words."
Jimin sucked in a deep breath. "So you're not going to do it?"
"No!" I exclaimed immediately. "Never in a million years. Not even if you're the last living man on Earth. If you were actually able to quit, you'd have quit long ago." I glowered at him, feeling hurt inside. I had never pictured myself saying such cold things to Jimin.
But he needed to get his shit straight. "You're just unable to quit, Park Jimin and I won't trust a single thing you say anymore."
"Fine," Jimin said, backing away a little. "I'll prove it to you then. I'll show you that I'm able to quit, that I wasn't quitting earlier simply because I didn't want to. But now that I want to quit, I won't touch my cigarettes for as long as you want."
I grimaced in disbelief. "As long as I want?"
"As long as you want." Jimin confirmed. "But after that you have to accept the deal. If I prove my determination to quit, you can't back out."
I regarded him carefully. Gosh, this whole thing was ridiculous but why was I letting myself be talked into this? I sighed.
"One week." I spoke up. "Try quitting for a week and we'll see. Now get out."