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The sun glistened in all its glory as the morning rose over the quiet neighborhood of Kensington Avenue. The trees swayed pleasantly as a cool breeze went by and the birds chirping their merry little tune as they nested. The mornings on Kensington Avenue were always the same; dull but peaceful, a quite perfect description of myself. I sighed as I moved away from the window sill and headed towards the kitchen, there was no possible way I would be able to start my day without a cup of brew. Today was the official start of my summer vacation, though the University continued to run over the summer, there were only a few who attended which meant that I could take a step back from the life of a professor and just enjoy some time to just be myself.After finishing breakfast I decided it was time to head out to the grocery store since my refrigerator looked positively empty, save for the leftovers from last night’s lasagna. I grabbed my car keys and my handbag and headed out the door, straight into the grueling heat of summer. As soon as I locked the door, I was startled by some shouting that was coming from next door, which was fairly odd given that the house next door had been on the market and empty for nearly a year. I looked left and saw that the “FOR SALE” sign that was once on the front lawn of the empty house was missing. “It looks like we have new neighbors on Kensington Avenue,” I mumbled to myself in amusement as I continued to hear someone shouting, “I can’t find the crate with the Xbox and the games!” “That’s because I hid them so that you could have motivation to finish unloading the Uhaul, we only rented it for two days, remember? They charge too much for renting longer than two days so you better get everything out of that truck now because I’m not paying another $150 due to how lazy you are!”I chuckled as I got into my car, although I would have loved to stay and hear the rest of that conversation, it was none of my business and on top of that, I had no intention of being caught listening by the new neighbors. The trip to the grocery store was boring as one would expect although the free food samples were quite the thrill, they actually had someone making pizza rolls which I was too excited for since pizza rolls have always been my go-to snack for an elegant evening of Netflix, paired with some white wine.As I was happily munching on my pizza roll, I was briskly pushed aside; almost toppling over the canned beverage pyramid, if it wasn’t for the hand that caught my arm. “I am so sorry, are you alright?” I glanced up at the person who had quite possibly saved me from a trip to the hospital. My savior was a boy who was more or less my age and had light brown hair –which I assumed had been dyed that color due to the roots that were much darker, as well as the fact that he was Asian. He was tall but he was not of an intimidating stature, he was slender but well-built judging by the biceps that were on display thanks to his tank top. “Miss? Miss are you alright?” He asked, and I snapped out of my current state of shock.I nodded my head and smiled up at the boy before me, “I’m alright, thank you for saving me, that would have been an awful fall,” I said as I glanced back at the unharmed pyramid then back to my savior. “I am so sorry, I was acting careless because a friend and I were having a cart race to see who could get to the meat first and misjudged the turn and I couldn’t stop in time to not bump into you,” the boy explained, his expression full of regret. “I forgive you, after all, nothing really happened and you were able to prevent anything that would have happened. No harm no foul,” I smiled up at him, “just be more careful and be more aware of your surroundings.”The boy smiled a rather box-like grin as he nodded his head cutely, “will do!” he said, “Tae, are you alright?!” Asked another, he was a boy with raven hair, his height was nearly the same of his friend but he held a more muscular physique. Then the unthinkable happened; it happened in the flash of a second, when his glance met my stare. There was already an unsteady rhythm in my chest area due to the almost accident, but the most curious thing was that when it was calming down, with just the mere glance from this one stranger, the rhythm grew in irregularity and my voice was caught in my throat, producing a light gasp that went unnoticed.The boy who I assumed to be ‘Tae’ turned back to his friend, “Everything is fine, did you get the meat already?”The raven haired boy nodded his head in response, his glance never meeting mine again after that brief moment as if intentionally ignoring me, “we should get going,” the boy stated, turning away and walking off.My savior turned back to me, his box-like grin returning on his face as he backed away from me slowly, “see you around, I guess,” the boy said.I chuckled but nodded my head in agreement; “see you around,” though I knew for sure that the probability of running into each other again was quite slim. “My name is Taehyung, by the way,” the boy stated with a smile. “My name is Mily,” I replied.With that said, the boy- Taehyun gave me a playful salute as he walked away, “nice to meet you!”I chuckled again at the bazaar encounter, shaking my head in the disbelief of it all.
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When I finally got home from running errands, it was already 3:30 in the afternoon which meant that I had the rest of the day free to do as I pleased after putting everything in its proper place. I hurriedly stacked the groceries into the fridge and headed upstairs to change into my pajamas with the baby dinosaur graphics on it and ran back down stairs to watch the new season of Sherlock on Netflix.II was already deep into the first episode of the new season, the intensity of the scene playing out on screen so incredible and thrilling that I was leaning forward in anticipation for what was to come. The background music grew in volume as Sherlock came closer to whatever danger was ahead, then suddenly all went quiet. Too quiet in the scene, I was so invested into the moment that as soon as there was a knock on my front door, I jumped out of my seat with a rather loud yelp. I glanced back at the door and at the television screen, groaning when I realized that I missed a vital scene thanks to my jumpy reaction. I paused the episode and walked towards the front door, glancing through the peep-hole to see who dared to disturb my peaceful afternoon. I gasped when I saw the raven-haired boy standing at my front door, shifting his weight back and forth between his toes and the ball of his feet. I glanced at the mirror beside the door to see if I looked presentable but groaned as I realized that I was in my pajamas and not wearing a bra.Having no choice but to answer the door because the frequent knocks, I opened the door slightly; just enough to stick out my head. “Can I help you?” I asked trying my best to act naturally despite my awkward position and my nervousness.The boy glanced at me, his eyes slightly widened in what I assumed to be in realization, “Hi,” he said, “um, I-I’m well, my friends and I just moved in next door,” he pointed towards their house, “we were just playing a game of basketball in the backyard and one of the guys knocked the ball out of bounds and it landed in your backyard. I was wondering if it would be alright if I jumped the fence into your yard to go get the ball back.” “Oh,” I responded, “it’s fine but I could just go back there and get it for you and toss it over the fence, I mean, it’s not exactly easy to climb a wooden fence.”The boy shook his head, “It’s fine, I don’t want to disturb you, and after all it’s our fault that the ball landed in your yard.”I sighed in contemplation as I got my keys and headed out the door, the boy looked puzzled as he took in my actions and maybe my appearance as well. “Follow me,” I said, holding up the key to open the lock on my side yard that lead to the back. I unlocked the door and ushered the boy in, leading him into my backyard. “Woah, you have a pool?!” the boy exclaimed in delight which I found to be utterly charming. “It was a nice added bonus when I bought this house,” I chuckled but my chuckling subsided when I saw that his basketball was floating around the center of the pool which meant there would be no way to get it out without something long to reach out for it. “Oh, let me go see if I can find something for you to reel in the ball,” I stated as I headed towards the back door, fumbling to find the right key to unlock it. “Don’t worry, I’ll go get it,” the boy stated as he took off his black muscle t-shirt and threw it on the ground before jumping into the pool to claim his ball. I stood their speechless as I watched the scene before me unfold; he gracefully cut through the water like an Olympic swimmer and when he finally pulled himself up from the water, supporting all of his weight on his arms which were glistening with droplets of water, a few of them were lucky enough to slowly slide down the length of his arm; there was never a time that I was more envious of water.Once he was fully out of the water, he ran his hand through his wet hair to slick it back away from his face. He held the ball at his side, which allowed a good view of his abs –they weren’t exactly a six pack but they were well defined with a few more prominent than others. His arms were far more muscular than what I had imagined from earlier but I also took note that he was probably flexing due to the fact that he was probably cold from his small dip in the pool. That was when realization dawned on me; I was too busy openly gawking at the nameless boy instead of offering him a towel. “You must be cold, let me run inside and get you a towel,” I offered as I turned around and began to fumble again in search for the right key. “That won’t be necessary,” he countered, “I am going home now to shower anyways,” he said as he picked up his t-shirt from the ground, walking towards the side entrance we had come in through. “Thank you for helping me get back the ball,” the boy stated, a breathtaking smile was perfectly framed on his plump lips. Then, for the second time that day, my chest area was acting rather strange with the irregular beating of my heart. Maybe I should schedule a meeting with a cardiologist this week. “Y-you’re welcome,” I responded, mentally slapping myself for the quiver in my voice. “I- uh, I better get going, the guys will get rowdy soon if I’m not back with the ball.”I nodded my head in understanding, though my mind was actively trying to get me to tell him to stay a while longer. “Goodbye,” He stated, waving back at me as he walked through the side entrance and headed towards his house. “Goodbye” I called back, making no attempt to move since my limbs seemed to be rooted to the ground.It looks like 51st Kensington Avenue will be becoming a lot less dull from now on.
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It had already been a week since the unexpected knock on my door however; my mind had grown rather fond of the memory of the nameless boy. It was all quite ridiculous to me, normally new neighbors gift the other a homemade pie or cookies, but instead my new neighbors gifted me an unexpected and unnecessary –but still appreciated- strip-tease in the comfort of my backyard. I still couldn’t wrap my head around the whole ordeal and it was no help what-so-ever when the official neighborly introduction was done. They came over to formally introduce themselves about three days ago, fortunately nothing bazaar had occured save for the fact that I came face to face with Taehyung, the boy from the grocery store. I have come to know that the new neighbors were a group of seven boys who transferred to Ilemy University for the fall term, which was a University I’ve known all too well, given that I have been working there as a professor for the last two years. They seemed rather impressed with the revelation of my profession, some also seemed rather intimidated –they would most probably be future students of mine no doubt. They were all majoring in different fields, for example, Jin –the eldest in the group- was accepted into the pre-med program at the university and is an aspiring nurse practitioner. While Jungkook –the youngest of the boys as well as the most brazen since he took a dip in my pool- was majoring in film production in hopes of one day becoming a critically acclaimed director. Three of the boys, J-hope –he insisted on me calling him that- Jimin, and Taehyung were accepted into the performing arts program; Jimin and J-Hope for dance while Taehyung was accepted for theater. Then Namjoon and Yoongi were both majoring in classic literature. They were a kind and enthusiastic bunch who would unmistakably be the cause of my cardiac arrest in the near future.Today was just like any other day; I had gotten out of bed to be greeted warmly by the summer sun and prepared myself for my outing. My oldest sister, Molly, just got into town last night and is visiting for a few days; no doubt taking measure of my well-being as well as comparing her success to mine. Though I loved my sister, she was a bit too full of herself –too proud to admit her mistakes and too proud to be happy of my accomplishments at such a young age. Pride is undoubtedly her folly and it only got worse with age unfortunately. As I had finished changing clothes, I heard knocking coming from the front door, thinking it was Molly I took my sweet time going down the steps, relishing my last few moments of peace for the day. When I finally answered the door, imagine my surprise when I found a very sweaty Jungkook in a white tank top that was practically clinging onto his muscular frame, a pair of red gym shorts, and a red baseball cap that was placed backwards on the top of his head. “Jungkook,” I said startled at the pleasant sight of him and not Molly, “what brings you here?”Jungkook looked down at me with a small smile on his face, he was indeed a man of many sides; at first he was indifferent, then he was brazen, and now he seemed to be shy. “The boys and I were playing basketball and the ball flew over the fence and landed in your backyard again. Would it be alright if I just jumped the-“ “Come in,” I cut him off opening my front door wider for him to make his entrance. He was hesitant, standing at the door as he shifted to his other foot, “I don’t want to impose.” “It’s no imposition at all, you are just taking a short cut to my backyard to get your ball and hopefully this time it hasn’t landed in the pool.” I joked and Jungkook seemed to relax a bit, allowing a small laugh pass his lips as he cracked a smile. He took two steps into the house and waited for me by the coat rack while I closed and secured the front door, admiring the interior of my home or at least trying not to make eye contact with me –which I noticed was something he did often since we met. “This way,” I ushered as I walked before him, leading him through the dining hall and passed the kitchen where I had a lounging area with floor to ceiling impact windows that gave a magnificent view of the backyard. “You have a beautiful home, Miss. Mily,” Jungkook commented as he took in the view. “Thank you, and please just Mily, you don’t need to add in the ‘Miss’ bit.” I replied as I unlocked the back door and walked out, holding the door for him to pass through. Fortunately for him and unfortunately for me, the ball landed in a large clay pot where I had planted some double-flowered impatiens.Jungkook looked back at me with an apologetic expression as he picked up the ball and revealed the tragedy that once was a stunning pot of blooming double-flowered impatiens were now damaged and bent from the impact of the ball’s landing. “Sorry about your plants, we’ll get you a new one, promise!”I shook my head and waved him off, at the end of the day they were only flowers, “Don’t worry about it, it was an accident.” “It won’t happen again though; I’ll make sure of it.” Jungkook stated resolutely while he followed me back into the house and towards the front door. “Oh, by the way, Jin wanted to know if you would like to join us for tonight for movie night.” “A movie night, well that sounds like fu-“ I was in the process of turning around to speak with Jungkook but I never realized how close behind me he was until I felt his warm breath hit the tip of my nose, I froze in my place out of pure shock from our close proximity. Now normally this would have been a moment to jump back and apologize for abruptly stopping but my eyes just traveled the length of his torso until they met with his. His eyes were nothing out of the ordinary; they weren’t the dreamy shade of blue every girl would fawn over but his are a deep shade of brown, his gaze held such innocence yet they contradicted the warm intensity that was as if he was able to see right through the very essence of me. Jungkook never moved a single muscle, his eyes just looking deeply into mine, blinking slowly as his breath picked up. There was a tension between us that grew which with words alone could not describe, there was a warmth within me that dared wanted to get closer to him, to allow his musk to completely envelop me and never leave. There was another knock on my door which instantly pulled me away from the trance I was in. I pulled away from Jungkook, finally able to get my senses together, “sorry about that,” I said, heading towards the door. Jungkook hesitantly walked behind me, but not as closely as before, “so are you coming to movie night?” he asked, his voice sounded a bit deeper than what it was a bit earlier, there was an added flare of husk to it that was unintentionally alluring to me. “I’ll be there,” I replied, as I grabbed hold of the door knob and unlocked it, revealing my oldest sister, Molly on the other side.Jungkook smiled as he stepped around Molly, “see you tonight.” “Yeah, see you then.” I responded back with a wave of my hand as I watched him go on his way home. “You’ve got it bad,” Molly stated as she welcomed herself into the house, her eyes mischievously glinting as she spoke. “I haven’t the slightest idea of what you are referring to,” I responded unassumingly as I closed the door behind her and headed towards the beige couch in the living area and Molly followed shortly. “Don’t give me that, Mils, you looked like a heart-sore teenager dreamily staring after the retreating figure of her school crush.”I scoffed at the deduction my sister had made; it was indubitably far-fetched and positively false. “That’s a bit dramatic don’t you think? I was simply sending off my neighbor and making sure he got home safely,” I retorted but Molly was believing none of it. “So why were your cheeks burning scarlet just now?” Molly countered, her arms crossed over her chest in the triumph of her question that had caught me off guard. “I-I was,” I paused momentarily, racking my brain for the proper response, “I probably put on too much blush, that’s all.”Molly gave me a disbelieving glance, “that’s what they all say, but I’ll just warn you now, he’s not a good suitor for you.” “Says the one who has been married eight times already,” I retorted a bit too harshly. “I’ve only been married five times thank you very much and trust me when I say that boy is really JUST a boy, you need a real man, one like my Jeffery, though I bet it would be hard for you to find someone like that since you are so,” she paused trying to find the right word but I took the liberty to finish the sentence for her, “Intelligent, thank you. I graduated with a Doctoral Degree at the tender age of twenty.” “I was going to say difficult to understand, don’t fill your head with so much of your own fancy, it’s most disdainful when you do.” Molly countered, “Look at how filthy this place is, don’t you clean? If you don’t have enough money to hire a cleaning lady at least do the work yourself! You are just such a lazy girl, how will we ever marry you off?!”I sighed as Molly continued to rant about my cleanliness and the state of my life, with this alone it was guaranteed that today was indeed going to be a very long day. The only thing that could help me survive it is the thought of movie night tonight with the boys, free food was calling me and I was more than ready to answer it.
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A groan of relief slipped past my lips as I threw myself onto the beige couch in the living area; my day had been a rather tiresome one with Molly rambling on about how fantastic her life was while degrading mine. Upon arrival at my home, not only did Molly manage to insult my “poor housekeeping” –which is complete absurdity- she also went onto to insult my appearance, my romantic life, my “dry” personality, and to top it all off, even poor Jungkook-who she had only seen for a fleeting second became a target of her scrutiny. I was having none of it however, I wasn’t about to put up with my sister bringing me down just to glorify herself; I had had enough of that when I was younger. I was especially livid at her comment about Jungkook being Asian and probably having unsatisfactory performance in the bedroom for the lack of length in his trousers. Let it been known, I have little to no tolerance for remarks of the sort towards race, gender, sexual orientation, and the likes; so it should come as no surprise when I escorted Molly out the door after lunch –which she found to be too salty- and told her to call me when which ever demon was currently possessing her left her form. This was followed by her calling out, “You see how difficult you are? That’s exactly why you are in your twenties and have yet to experience your first love and if you keep going on like that you never will!” “Good!” I had called back.I was just glad I had my house back to myself and not being polluted with the negative remarks thrown at me by my sister; it took a long time for me to grow thick skinned and I credit it all to her. I rose from my seated position and headed towards the bar area in the kitchen; I was rewarding myself a glass of Whiskey after the events of today. I took a sip as I made my way through the house into my study, it was a rather dull room in the house; the paint on the wall a warm tone of hunter green filled with bookshelves decorated with what I would probably consider my most prized possessions; books. I have adoration for the written word, if it wasn’t obvious enough from the fact of my small collection then one would know from the fact that I teach Shakespearian Literature at the University. My study was the heart of my home, although the room was small and only allowed two armchairs and coffee table; it was still my pride and joy. If I could compare my affection for books, I would say I was the equivalent to Ariel from “The Little Mermaid” where she flutters about her treasure trove singing “Part of your World.” Although the room was certainly nothing out of the ordinary, it was just right for me and –although I will never admit this aloud- one day I hope my future husband will enjoy reading novels as much as I do and we could spend our lazy days in this room, or in another study room in our future home reading as we cozy up to each other.I sighed heavily at the thought, I have never been one to be involved in romance as my sister so kindly pointed out, but I’ve always been a bit of a hopeless romantic. Though I doubt that I could be blamed when I have the works of Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, and more who have no doubt spoiled me rotten with their ideas of romance.I took another sip of my Whiskey, the smooth burn bringing me an odd form of comfort as I strolled around the room; my fingers running along the spines of the novels on the third shelf until I found the tale I knew would lift my spirits; “Pride & Prejudice.” It was one of my favorites and it never went unnoticed how much Lizzie Bennet and I had in common, we were two “difficult” women with similar ideals.Before I could even sit down in my reading chair the sound of the doorbell chimed throughout the house. I muttered a few curses at the noisy perpetrator until I reached the door, praying to the heavens above that it wasn’t Molly coming to put a damper on the rest of my day. I opened the door and yet again had been pleasantly surprised; at my doorstep for the second time that day was Jungkook. He had changed out of his sweaty attire and looked just as refreshed, probably just out of the shower; he scratched the nape of his neck shyly as he glanced across the lawn towards his house. “Jungkook, hello again,” I said mustering a smile despite the slight annoyance of never getting the chance to crack my favorite novel open, “did you lose your ball again?” I asked, opening the door wider for him to come in should that have been his reason.Jungkook shook his head guiltily, probably because the only reason he had ever knocked on my door was to retrieve their basketball. A small, nervous smile found its way on his lips as his gaze landed on mine, “I actually came by to escort you to our house for movie night,” he stated, trying his best to not let his confidence waiver though it was clearly obvious it was, “I mean, unless you don’t want to come, which is alright, we would all understand if you didn’t want to join us sinc-“I cut him off his rambling by grabbing my house keys, walking out the door and locking it behind me; I turned around to face him again with a smile on my face and a slight flush on my cheeks which couldn’t be helped since I found his actions to be quite adorable. “It’s very sweet of you to escort me although I live just next door,” I said, hoping he picked up on both the tease and the gratitude towards the gesture although I was sure his friends had forced him to retrieve me. “It’s my pleasure,” Jungkook responded as we began the short walk between our homes. He was silent for a moment- pensive- from my deduction since he would take a glance at me and acted like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how. “Ask,” I kindly demanded as we were already on the lawn of his home, about to walk onto the front porch.Jungkook glanced down at me, his eyes slightly bewildered, “what?” he questioned in turn. “Whatever it is you wanted to ask me since I just about opened my front door,” I responded, an amused smile finding its way on my face as I watched the younger boy flush at the cheeks and fumble for words until he sighed and decided on his truth. “I-I just wanted to know if you were okay, I was at the side of our yard moving our basketball hoop a while ago when I heard some shouting coming from your house,” Jungkook recanted softly, although he seemed to have been terribly shy before asking, his eyes now held the soften look of concern, his plump lips slightly parted as his tongue nervously swiped at his bottom lip.The warmth that emanated earlier from the incident found itself nestled in the pit of my stomach, I felt an odd sort of elation in my chest as though there was someone inside my body blowing up a warm balloon and –somehow- it felt nice. I smiled up at Jungkook as I spoke my next words, “my sister and I had a disagreement, no big deal.” I played it off, not having any intention to tell him the topic of our disagreement as it would clearly make him uncomfortable; though I did hope he hadn’t heard what Molly said outside which to my dismay he probably did.It seemed Jungkook arrived at the conclusion that I wasn’t going to let on much about the argument that unfolded and thankfully didn’t pry for the entire story, he simply shrugged his shoulders and carried onto his front door, opening it wide without even using the key. “Guys, we’ve got company!” Jungkook shouted throughout the house and all that could be heard afterwards were the sound of scattered galloping footsteps barreling down the stairs. I was curious as to how they maintained a horse in the household but at the end of the staircase instead of being greeted by the equestrian animal, I found Taehyung and Jimin smiling like a pair of buffoons. “Mily!” Taehyung was the first of the two to approach me, wrapping me in his arms in a friendly display of affection, “I haven’t seen you in years, I’ve missed you so much!” Taehyung continued dramatically while I waited in his arms for his monologue to come to an end. I chuckled delightedly as I returned his embrace, the sound of my voice muffled as he held my face against his sinewy chest, “but I live next door to you! I wave hello every time I go get the mail out of the mailbox!” I exclaimed, clearly baffled by his statement. Although I only met taehyung a few weeks ago, he already felt like one of my best friends. “Alright, alright, knock it off Taehyung you don’t want to step on anyone’s toes here,” Jimin stated cryptically as he pulled Taehyung off of me, “besides, it’s my turn!” Jimin then threw himself at me it a tight embrace that quite literally took my breath away. “Hi, Jimin, I can’t really breathe right now.” I muttered out breathlessly but Jimin didn’t seem to take the hint, offering up a cheesy line of self-praise instead, “I know, I’m breath-taking.”In a flash Jimin was pried away from me thanks to the help of Jungkook who looked rather displeased with a highly amused Jimin, “enough,” demanded the youngest, his voice firm as he exchanged glances with his friends; his body language tense as he held Jimin at arm’s length. A silent conversation passing through their eyes which I desperately wanted to understand to have a better grasp of the situation at hand. Jungkook glanced back at me, probably noticing my confusion at his tension, before shyly muttering an explanation to his friend, “you were hurting her.” My heart soften at his words, indeed it wasn’t hard to be charmed by the youngest of the boys; although Jin warned me in a jesting manner about his friend’s charms, I was starting to see that maybe I shouldn’t have taken it as lightly. After all, I haven’t been able to get the boy out of my head since the first time we had met. “Mily!” Jin called as he walked out from one of the rooms on the first floor; I assumed it was the kitchen since he dawned a pale pink apron with white little frills on the lower hem. Jin –being the oldest of the group- seemed to have taken a rather maternal role in the household, he cooked, he cleaned, and he nagged at the others to help around the house. Jin was a kind and gentle soul with a smile that could instantly warm any heart, which was why it came as no surprise to me that he was studying to be a nurse, and he would be a rather great one, I was more than positive of that. “Hello, Jin, thank you for inviting me over,” I said as I gave him a quick hug and pulled away, “although I am a bit confused as to why I am here so early, the sun hasn’t even fully set yet.”Jin smiled kindly, “because you are here for the house tour and for dinner of course! Don’t think we would just invite you to watch a movie on an empty stomach! Come in and make yourself at home, I’ll have one of the boys give you the tour while I finish up dinner, I hope you like Spaghetti Bolognese; it’s one of my specialty dishes.” “That sounds delicious! Thank you!” I exclaimed excitedly and Jin chuckled, ruffling my hair before heading back to the kitchen, “I leave you in the hands of these three for the time being since Yoongi and Namjoon ran to the store to pick up a few things for desert, should they misbehave just give a shout.”The three boys began the tour in living area where we currently stood, then onto the kitchen, the family room, the bathrooms on the first floor and then we headed up the stairs. Jimin grabbed my wrist and bolted down the hallway, to the third door on the left. He opened the door and pulled me in, “this is mine and Taehyung's room,” he explained as he allowed me to take in the light blue room before Taehyung's hand took hold of mine and led me farther down the hall, “I think she would be far more interested in this room,” Taehyung called behind to the boys, it was the last door to right, Jungkook, who was painfully quiet during the first half of the tour, reached over me and placed his hand on the door knob over Taehyung's hand. My sense became enraptured in his scent as he unknowingly brushed against me, my body tingling as if a spark of electricity surged between us, his warmth sending pleasant shivers down my spine. “I think I should be the one to introduce this room since it is mine and Namjoon’s room,” Jungkook spoke, his voice velvety sweet. Taehyung let go of the doorknob and let Jungkook have the honors of introducing the room.Opening the door, Jungkook held it for me to enter and take in the room. It was a warm shade of red, not too obnoxious that it overthrew the room but it was a rustic color that allowed anyone in it to relax. The walls on one side of the room were covered with movie posters like “King Kong”, “Godzilla”, and a personal favorite of mine, “Singin in the Rain,” to my surprise, there was a tall bookcase that was filled with films, everything from “Gone with the Wind” to “Big Hero 6.” I ran my fingers down the spines of the movie cases as I roamed each title, I hadn’t realized I had drifted into my own little world until Jungkook cleared his throat and then spoke, “A-are you familiar with any of these?” I smiled at him from over my shoulder, “All of them actually. This is quite the collection; I take it that these are yours?”Jungkook nodded his head, “How did you know?” he asked amused. “Only someone with a love for cinema would have a collection like this and since you are studying to be a director, it only made sense that it would be yours.” I replied which made Jungkook smile proudly, his deep brown eyes lighting up with happiness. “So which one is your favorite?” Jungkook questioned as he walked to stand beside me, his arm lightly brushing against mine.I scanned the bookcase once again before finally pointing up at the top shelf where “Singin’ in the Rain” was proudly perched between “Meet Me in St. Louis” and “Casablanca.” Jungkook reached up and pulled out the film, and placed it in my hand, “Good choice,” Jungkook commented.I smiled up at him as I held up the case, “this is my favorite classic film,” I replied shyly. I used to watch this movie at my grandparent’s house all the time; they actually had a collection quite similar to Jungkook’s. “Let me guess,” Jungkook stated, “your favorite song from the film is ‘Singin’ in the Rain.’”I scoffed, “although that song is the most iconic staple of the classic Hollywood era, it doesn’t mean that it’s my favorite from the film.”Jungkook looked on at me, amusement clearly written on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his shoulder against the bookcase, “then which song is your favorite?”Suddenly feeling a rush of warmth spread through my cheeks, I looked down onto the cover of the movie, hoping he wouldn’t know the flush taking over my face, “You Were Meant for Me,” I replied shyly. Jungkook mumbled something lowly that somewhat sounded like ‘I know’ but I wasn’t too sure of it. “Pardon?” He questioned teasingly as he leaned in closer to me, it seemed he had caught me blushing.I pretended to sigh in annoyance, “The song, ‘You Were Meant for Me,’ is my favorite from the movie.”Jungkook nodded his head in understanding, taking the film from my hands, “and why do you like it so much?” he questioned.The hopeless romantic in me was about to make her grand debut, “It’s such a sweet serenade, Don is declaring his fondness for Kathy in what he and I would consider the perfect setting.” “You consider a stage lot the perfect setting for a confession? The fake sunset backdrop, the fog machine, the latter that was propped to be a balcony and all the stage lights make for a great confession?” Jungkook paused, “wouldn’t you prefer the real thing though? Instead of a set, wouldn’t girls liked to be confessed to at the actual locations instead of fake ones?”I shrugged my shoulders, “I guess, but there is something about how he refused to tell her what he wanted to say unless if the setting was right, and imagine, he had been trying to find Kathy for weeks and now that he had finally found her, he wasn’t about to let her slip away again so he squeezed lemons into lemonade. I found it to be the perfect balance of sweet and romantic.”Jungkook nodded his head in approval as if I had just passed a major debate in high school, “Tell you what,” Jungkook started, “how about we watch it tonight for movie night?” He offered. “I don’t want to bore you boys, besides, you guys are the hosts of this movie night so you all should pick,” I countered. Jungkook shrugged his shoulders a cheeky smile slowly appearing on his face, “well I am one of the hosts and I say we should definitely watch this tonight if it pleases you. Either way, Jin has a rule that whenever we have a guest for movie night, our guest has dibs on the first movie we watch.”I smiled bashfully, my heart fluttering like a small bird, “you guys are too nice to me, really.” I turned my head towards Jimin and Taehyung who should have been standing by the door but it has seemed they disappeared some time ago, their absence unnoticed by Jungkook and I. “Oh, where did the others go?” I asked the youngest, baffled by the fact that Jungkook and I had been deserted by the pair because we were completely wrapped up in our own conversation. It seemed he also didn’t notice his friend’s departure because he glanced back at the door and a surprised, “oh” slipped his lips, we both chuckled for a moment before deciding to go off and find the other boys and head to dinner.Before I knew it, dinner had come to a delicious end and it was time to pop in the movie. To my surprise, none of the other boys had protested about the choice of film, stating that it was a nice change of pace for them. We had all settled down on the couch in the family room with the lights off as the movie started; to my left sat a very enthusiastic Jimin while to my right sat a very sleepy Yoongi, I was afraid he wasn’t going to last through the movie; the poor fellow looked absolutely exhausted but yet he fought to stay awake. Fifteen minutes into the movie I felt a soft pressure on my right shoulder; it seemed Yoongi’s valiant attempts to make it through the film went in vain as his light snores filled my right ear. I did my to adjust my position without waking him up, his head was admittingly heavy so I needed to shift a bit closer to the couch to see if maybe his head would lean against the back of the couch to take a bit of the pressure off me. However, before I could put my plan into effect, I felt the pressure of Yoongi’s head being lifted off of my shoulder. I glanced to the side and found Jungkook rearranging some pillows and placing them under Yoongi’s head, he was muttering something that I couldn’t quite make out but I was at least grateful for the help.The movie came to an end and we opted to watch something else, Jin decided to switch on Netflix and jumped with glee when he found what he considered to be the perfect movie to top off the night, Trolls. We laughed, we cried, we danced, and we sang along to the film in delight until it was time for me to make my departure when the film drew to a close. “Well, thank you for inviting me over, boys,” I said as I stood by the door, “next time movie night is at my place! Good night, guys!”One by one each came up and gave me a good night kiss on the cheek followed by a hug with the exception of Yoongi –who was out cold for the rest of the night- and Jungkook who decided to walk me home. “Did you have fun?” He asked, his hands in his pockets as he kept his eyes up to the night sky. He looked absolutely breathtaking under the light of the moon, his fair skin looking like porcelain perfection, his raven hair a stark contrast that gave him an almost mysterious aura. “I did actually, thank you. How about you?” I asked in return, we were already approaching the steps to my front door. “I enjoyed today very much, we should definitely do it again. I’ll hold you to your promise, movie night at your place next Friday. If you want, I’ll even bring a few of my films over should you want to fall in love with Gene Kelly.” He teased.I rolled my eyes at him and lightly pushed his shoulder with my own as we made our way up the steps. I turned around to face him, a kind of nervousness beginning to fill me as we awkwardly stood in front of my door. Neither of us said a word, instead we opted for shifting around and creating more of an awkward atmosphere between us. I had no idea what had gotten into me, for heaven’s sake, all it should have been was a quick goodbye and sweet dreams as friends always do, but instead I stood there waiting for him to make a move as if we had just gone on a date and he was bringing me home. I felt quite stupid actually, enough so that I finally decided to speak up and end the dreadful silence. “Tha-“ “Well I gues-“We both glanced at each other and then looked away it was already painfully awkward between us at this point, Jungkook cleared his throat and began to speak, “Well, I guess I should get going,” he paused momentarily about to say something else but thinking better of it not to, “good night.”I smiled at him as he began to descend the steps, “Good night,” I called back to him as I turned to open the front door. “Oh and Mily,” Jungkook called from the foot of the steps. “Yes?” I questioned turning around to face him.A breathtaking smile unlike any I’ve seen before settled itself on his handsome face although I was quite far from him I was still able to see his eyes gleaming like he had captured the stars in them. “You sure look lovely in the moon light, Mily.” He recited in almost a dreamy manner. My chest swelled and my stomach was filled with the fluttering butterflies, he was reciting the line Gene Kelly said to Debbie Reynolds in “Singin’ in the Rain” right before he starts to sing “You Were Meant for Me.”I smiled at him and made my way down the stairs, coming face to face with the flushed face of Jungkook. I took his face in my hands as I tip-toed to place a soft kiss on his cheek, “Good night, Jungkook.” I replied as I made my way back up the stairs. “Sweet dreams,” he called back to me as he walked backwards towards his house, waving good bye all the while.When I finally walked into my house I leaned against the door, my heart pounding sporadically in my chest, the palms of my hands were clammy, and my cheeks were flaming with scarlet, all of this occurring at the thought of what just happened with Jungkook.Maybe Molly was right, maybe I do have it bad.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was Tuesday night and surprisingly instead of staying at home I found myself sitting inside one of my favorite restaurants, Jaguar with two of my female co-workers for- what they consider- a girl’s night out. The restaurant was fairly crowded for a Tuesday night, the place was so crowded in fact, that our waiter had yet to have made his presence known to us. “So Mily,” Tina, the professor of the Humanities began, “how has your novel been coming along?”I groaned internally at the daunting question, it is true, I have been working on a novel for the past two months but, alas, not much has happened within that time. Every time my fingers hovered over the keyboard of my laptop my mind would draw blanks, it was like the most severe case of writer’s block any author could experience. “It’s not going to well, T, I’ve been having some complications getting this book started,” I replied dejectedly. “What’s the trouble? Anything we can help you with?” Audrina –one of the professors in my department- offered.I shrugged my shoulders, “I don’t think you could help, I’ve been suffering from the worst case of writer’s block known to mankind!”Audrina threw her head back in joyous laughter while Tina tried to control her giggles, I glanced at the two oddly; either these ladies have been drinking before coming here or they were just simply insane. “What’s seems to be so comical?” I questioned defensively, crossing my arms over my chest.Tina, who seemed to have exercised the most discipline of the two, spoke, “it’s just ironic that the person who always has something to say is actually having difficulties putting her ideas into written word.” Audrina nodded along in agreement as she tried to grab a hold of herself, “you know what your problem is, dear?” Audrina asked.I cautiously shook my head, knowing whatever would come out of her mouth next would probably be highly inappropriate, “what you need, darling, is a good shag.” At this, Tina lost all her self-control as she began snorting with laughter while my face began to feel heat creeping up to my cheeks as I lowered my face into my hands. Before I even had the chance to make my comeback, a voice piped up at the edge of our table, “Good evening, Ladies and welcome to Jaguar. My name Matthew and I will be your waiter for the evening; sorry for taking so long we are a bit backed up today as you can see. Any drinks to start off with or appetizers?”We placed our orders for drinks and glanced at the menu for anything that gained our interest, just as I was skimming through the entrees, Tina spoke up, “Cutie with a booty at 10:00 and he seems to be liking what he sees at this table because he keeps on glancing over here.”Audrina perked up at the mention of a good looking male and subtlety glanced over to the right. She squealed delightedly in what I would assume to be approval, “Mily you’ve got to see this guy, he’s a total stud muffin!”I rolled my eyes playfully at her, “honestly, aren’t you two a bit too old for this? I mean the both of you are happily married women with lovely ch-“ I turned my head to the right and my words got caught in my throat. My eyes widened as they held contact with a familiar dark brown pair who was equally just as surprised. “My goodness, he is everywhere,” I muttered to myself blinking rapidly to make sure I wasn’t imagining things, I must look like a total lunatic at the moment but who could really blame me? I smiled awkwardly as I waved at him and he returned the friendly gesture with a bright smile of his own, he glanced around the restaurant momentarily before jumping into the empty booth beside ours. “Hey, Mily, what brings you here?” Jungkook asked as he folded his arms over the divider and rested his head over it.I laughed lightly, “Well I could ask you the same! What are you doing here?”Jungkook tsked lightly as he shook his head, “I believe I asked you first, young lady!”I scoffed at his usage of ‘young lady’ because we both knew that I was quite a bit older than he was, “this just so happens to be one of my favorite restaurants in town, now tell me, what are you doing here?” “Well,” Jungkook began, lifting himself off the divider to show off his black uniform shirt with his nametag, “I work here now, I just started yesterday.” “That’s great, Congratulations!” I replied happily offering him a high five which he gladly took. “Oh Mily,” Audrina called out, “aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend?” She questioned; her voice sickeningly sweet.I smiled at the girls nervously and introduced them to Jungkook, I was praying to heavens above that they wouldn’t embarrass me in front of Jungkook. As much as I loved my friends, they have always drawn the conclusion that I was in need of a love interest and have always insisted on finding me one which included all of the following: the mail man, my dentist, Audrina’s step brother, Patrick, the pizza delivery guy, one of the anthologists at the university, and lastly, the random cashier at a department store because he said that I had a pretty smile. “So Jungkook,” Tina started, her tone of voice changing into one that was all too familiar to me, so I did what any logical girl in my position would do; I began to slowly slide down on the booth towards the bottom of the table discreetly. “Are you single?”Jungkook chuckled as he shyly rubbed the nape of his neck, “yes I am.” “Oh bollocks, a handsome young fellow like you being unattached is simply unheard of, isn’t that right, Mily?” Audrina asked and my blood ran cold, all eyes were on me with an expectant look on their faces. I cursed Audrina internally for her British wit, for I hadn’t the slightest idea for how to approach the situation and it didn’t help that my brain was currently on overdrive at the moment. Again, I smiled awkwardly and nodded my head much to the satisfaction of my two dearest friends who I wanted to strangle right on the spot. Jungkook smiled down at me brightly, his cheeks lightly flushing from the forced –but definitely truthful- compliment. “Alright ladies, here are your drinks,” Matthew announced as he placed three wine glasses down and popped open a bottle of white wine and leaving it on the table. “Jungkook, they need you over at table seven,” another waiter called out as he passed by the booth. Jungkook glanced back at the dirty table before looking back at us, “Well, it looks like duty calls, you all have yourselves a lovely night,” he said as he took his leave to clean the tables.Throughout our meal, Tina and Audrina never failing to bring attention to all the times Jungkook had glanced at our table and teased me about hiding such a glorious slight from them. An hour later and three bottles of wine in, we all decided it would be best to call it a night since it was already a quarter to midnight. We had all drank a bit much but we weren’t exactly drunk since we ate while we drank but it was always best to be safe than sorry, Audrina called her husband Todd to come retrieve her and Tina since they both came together and they offered me a ride as well. The only thing that was holding me back was the fact that I left my car parked in the guest parking garage a block away. “Why don’t you give Jungkook your keys and he could drive your car home since he lives next door, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind,” Tina paused momentarily, a suggestive look crossing her face, “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind taking you home either if you know what I mean,” She winked playfully and Audrina began to laugh like a drunkard. Before too long Todd messaged Audrina to let her know that he was already parked by the front of the restaurant which was our cue to pay the bill, gather our belongings, and leave. As we were making our way towards the door, a voice from behind me called my name, as I turned around; I realized it was Jungkook lightly jogging towards my direction. He had changed out of his work clothes and had a regular white T-shirt and a pair of skin-tight blue jeans that did wonders for my imagination. “You’re leaving already?” Jungkook questioned worriedly. “Yes, why?” I questioned in return.Jungkook shyly rubbed the nape of his neck which I was quickly beginning to realize was a nervous habit of his, “I mean, you did have a few drinks and I don’t know if you drove here with your friends or on your own but, it’s not safe to drive with alcohol in your system and I-I wanted to know how you plan on getting home.”There that feeling was again, my heart felt as though it expanded in size as a Kaleidoscope of butterflies filled my insides. It was scary how much more intense the feeling was when I was slightly intoxicated, to the point that I couldn’t even speak for a moment as I stared up into in dark eyes, “w-well, Audrina called her car and he came to pick us up in his Todd but my garage in the car a block down,” I fumbled idiotically and realized my excruciatingly embarrassing mistake. Jungkook chuckled lightly at my mistake, his breathtaking smile almost soothing away the embarrassment. “Well, how about I drive you home in your car so that you could let car have one less stop to make in his Todd?” Jungkook teased and I was more than positive that my cheeks were brighter than a baboon’s rear end. “But what about you? How did you get here?” I questioned in return, purposely lowering my head so that he would see the embarrassing display of color on my face.Jungkook smiled in reassurance, “Jin drove me here, we only have two cars and we figured we’d share them since all we plan to do is go to school, work, and come back home.” “Oh!” I squeaked stupidly. “Oi, Mily, are you coming or what, Love?” Audrina called from the passenger side window with a cheeky smile on her face.I glanced between her and Jungkook weighing the pros and cons of each option before finally throwing caution to the wind, “you guys go on ahead, Jungkook is going to take me home in my car,” I called back to them which gave me the response of hooting and howling from the girls which was then followed by, “make sure he takes you to bed!” from Tina which was cleverly played off by Todd who must have had some sympathy from the expression on my face, “yes, Mily, we don’t want you passing out on the floor again alright? Goodnight!” Todd called to us as he quickly rolled up the window and drove away.I turned around and glanced at Jungkook, his face was probably just as red as mine was at the moment. I was quickly beginning to regret my decision to go home with Jungkook because I knew that awkwardness would ensue. “Well,” Jungkook began, clearing his throat, “we should probably get going,” he stated, pushing the door to the restaurant open and holding it for me to exit first. “So which garage did you say your car was parked in again?” He questioned walking beside me, opting to take the left side of the side walk closest to the road as we went down the street. “I parked in the guest parking garage right there on the first floor,” I responded, I was still tense about the “take you to bed” situation that had occurred and it was obvious that Jungkook was doing his best to rid us of the awkward tension between us as we reached my car. The drive home was much better than I expected, Jungkook drove and made light conversation about how my day had been and if I enjoyed my meal at the restaurant. “Hey Mily,” Jungkook called softlyI leaned my head against the window and closed my eyes, “yes?” I responded tiredly. “I-I know that right now probably isn’t the best time to be asking you this but I think now would be better before I get too busy and forget to ask you,” he paused, “there is an event going on at the park not too far away from our houses that is hosting a really cool movie in the park event. They are going to be playing a Gene Kelly and Judy Garland film called “Me and My Gal” and well, since the boys didn’t want to come with me, I was wondering if maybe you would like to go with me.”My eyes snapped open, any trace of sleep gone from my drowsy eyes, “O-oh, Jungkook, I-I-“ before I could even speak, Jungkook cut me off, “I-If you don’t want to go, y-you don’t have to,” he fumbled with his speech. “Well it just so happens that I would love to go,” I answered soberly, not wanting to leave him with any doubt that I wanted to go.Jungkook smiled at me again as he parked my car in the driveway of my house, “well, it looks like we’re here,” Jungkook stated as he glanced at me with a goofy grin. “It seems so,” I responded, getting ready to open the car door. “Wait,” Jungkook said, he quickly jumped out of the car and jogged around towards the passenger side to open my door for me. “Well aren’t you quite the gentleman,” I teased as I got out of the car which made Jungkook laugh.We walked up the steps to my front door where the same awkward silence from last Friday took over us, but luckily it wasn’t as painfully awkward since Jungkook took the initiative to start a conversation, “so,” he started, rubbing the nape of his neck for probably the millionth time tonight, “should I really escort you to your bed?” He questioned shyly with a hint of concern in his voice.I honestly felt like I wanted to crawl under a rock and disappear from society from the embarrassment I was experiencing, “N-not at all, I-I’ll be able to make it to my bed just fine on my own, thank you.”Jungkook nodded his head in understanding, it seemed like his body relaxed from my words, a small smile finding its way on his face, “well then I guess I should get going,” he stated as he began to walk down the stairs. “Goodnight, Jungkook! Thank you for driving me home tonight!” I called out to him as he made his way onto the sidewalk. “ Sweet dreams, Mily!” He called back, “Don’t forget about movie night and our date at the park this Saturday!”My eyes widened at his use of words, he was calling our outing on Saturday a DATE. A million questions ran through my mind at that moment; was it even really a date? Did he mean date as in an outing between two friends or date as in a romantic evening that ended with a sweet kiss? Before I could even vocalize any of these questions to him he was already walking through his front door.Well, I guess there really was only one way to find out if this was a romantic date or a friendly date, and it was approaching soon.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
When Wednesday made its appearance at my window in the form of sunlight, my mind was still a bit obscure from the events of the previous night. I slowly rose from the comfort of my bed, my body feeling heavier than usual as I stretched out my arms and legs; it was to be written and remembered: no more drinking. I groaned as I made my way towards my vanity mirror and took a glance at my early morning appearance, the sight almost as ghastly as that of a ghost; my olive skin was deathly pale and the bags beneath my eyes were more prominent than ever with their dark hue. I reminded myself again, no more drinking. I walked off to the master bathroom and began to spruce myself up a bit so that I wouldn’t look like a character from a horror film, although I was hung over and could have cared less about my appearance at the moment, mother always taught me, “if you feel like crap then that is the time you need to look your absolute best.” It was a lesson all three of us Martin girls learned well, because once you look good, you start to feel good.By the time I was done fixing myself up, I was starting to feel much better but I was going to take a pain killer regardless once I got to the kitchen to prevent any unwanted headaches. Today was about business, I was expected to meet with two professors from the university to discuss a rather unique opportunity. Professor Landon Wilson, the head of the university’s performing arts program, and Professor Ana Lockwood, one of the professors who work under Professor Wilson, were to meet me promptly at 11pm at Olly’s Fine Dining and Wine. I glanced over at the digital clock on the cable box in my room and found out that I had just enough time to dress up and head out the door to at least be at the restaurant five minutes earlier. I grabbed a white shirt that seemed to fit the summer breeze we’ve been experiencing in July, it was one of my favorites because it was casual enough to be worn with jeans but yet elegant because it held so much movement since the fabric was loose and though it had round neck, it had sleeves that went off the shoulder. I wore my favorite pair of jeans with a pair of nude flats and I was out the door within seconds, always remembering to have my keys and my bag at hand while I locked the door.Arriving at the restaurant, I was instantly greeted by the pleasant appearance of Ana. She was a kind person who I had admired greatly when I first started working at the University, she was in her second year of being a professor at Ilemy at the time and she so graciously showed me around the University my first day. She was 40 years-old and was married to Stephen, a very famous producer for BBC, for fifteen years and have two very lovely children to show for it; Thomas and Katherine. “Mily!” Ana shouted delightedly, pulling me in a friendly embrace, “how has your vacation been? Sorry that we intruded on your free time for this meeting, it’s just that Stephen and I came up with a wonderful idea and I presented it to Wilson and he loved it!” She exclaimed animatedly as she took my hand and began to drag me into the restaurant not even letting me get a single word of greeting in. We sat down at our table that was by the window overlooking the pier where seagulls flew about the few who chose to dine on the dock. It was indeed the perfect day to be at Olly’s, the salty sea air that blew in through the window with the help of the pleasant wind was doing wonders for the adventurous soul, and one could help but want to be by the pier on such a lovely day.Ana shifted around in her seat excitedly, it seemed the poor woman was ready to burst if Wilson didn’t get here any time soon. “So,” I stated, beginning to feel a bit anxious to what this great idea of hers was, “how are Stephen and the kids doing?” I questioned, trying to make light conversation to calm the anxiety that was growing in the pit of my stomach.Ana smiled brightly, “Stephen is fine; he just flew back to London last night since they were going to start filming the pilot for a new show. The kids are being all kinds of crazy these days, Tommy just got his driver’s License and swears he is in one of those fast and furious movies, while Katie has taken a liking to some boy in the 8th grade who has trouble written all over his face.”I chuckled lightly at her answer, “So I guess Tommy inherited your heavy foot and Katie inherited Stephen’s ideas of an adventurous romance.” Ana gasped in mock offense, placing a hand on her chest as she spoke, “I drive perfectly fine, thank you very much!” “If perfectly fine means Indy Race Car Driving then yes, you drive perfectly safe, please disregard how every passenger clutches on to their seat belts for dear life.” I retorted sarcastically. It was no secret, if you were willing to ride shot gun with Ana as the driver, you probably had a death wish.By the time we finished our debate over who was the better driver, Landon appeared in his signature wool suit and bow tie; it was fairly evident that he had just finished a lecture since he still had on his thick-rimmed glasses. If I could compare Professor Landon Wilson to a fictional character, I would compare him to Indiana Jones, he was charming and quick witted which made you like him even more. He had salt and pepper hair that was more on the salty side since the man was nearing 60 years of age but still looked handsome as ever. If he was handsome now, imagine how he looked when he was in his twenties; he must have given Harrison Ford great competition when it came to looks. “Hello, ladies,” Landon said in his overly confident tone of voice, a sly smirk played on the corner of his lips, “I hope I didn’t miss out on too much of the fun.”Landon Wilson was a very successful stage actor who had the honor to perform on Broadway numerous times and even starred in a few movies. After retiring from the world of theater when he broke his left hand and permanently damaged it, Landon decided he would still be part of the world that he loved so much, but just not as the star. With his partner, Andrew, at his side, Landon decided he wanted to inspire younger generations to express themselves artistically and thus landed himself a position as the head of performing arts at Ilemy University four years after I was born. “Alright,” Landon started as he made himself comfortable in his seat and moved the brunch menu off to the side, “let’s get right down to business. Ana, do you want to start explaining since you were the one to have the idea?”Ana nodded eagerly and sat straighter, “Okay Mily, you know how summer term is coming to a close in three weeks and the Fall semester starts a week after right?”I nodded my head and waited for her to continue, “well, Stephen and I were talking the other night about how uniform , dull, and daunting lectures tend to be for both the professors and the students and well, an idea just dawned on me,” Ana paused for effect, “we have the best professors at our disposal at Ilemy University; we have Wilson here who is experienced in theater, then there is me with my experience in film production, and then there is you, the top professor of Shakespearian Literature and Literature in general. What if we were to all band together and create our own course, a course that is more hands on for the students but at the same time less stressful for us, the professors?”By this point I was absolutely intrigued, “and what kind of course would this be?”Ana glanced over at Landon, hinting him to take over the conversation, “We’re talking about an arts study course, we would all take turn lecturing and from the beginning, we will have our students paired into groups of seven or eight –every group will have a script writer or two from your class, a few actors from mine, and director from Ana’s class, to put together a low budget film. At the end of the semester, the groups will get to present their films at the next Sundance Film Festival and whichever group is rated the highest would be offered an internship to BBC or become our interns.”My jaw was practically touching the ground by the time Ana and Landon finished their pitch for the course idea, it was absolutely brilliant! “Let’s try to add MGM onto the list of internships,” I stated confidently, it was no secret to neither Ana nor Landon of my connections to MGM, after all, my second cousin was the CEO of the company, hell, there was even a time when I worked at MGM. “Splendid!” Ana exclaimed while clapping her hands together while Landon smiled at me triumphantly. “So you are on board with the project?” Landon asked hopefully.I nodded enthusiastically, “Absolutely, I think it’s a brilliant idea! We just have to sort out a few things first,” I stated, “if we offer this course, it should be offered to the best students in each of our class who seem capable of handling the pressure of the project. I suggest maybe narrowing the scope to our Senior students since they already know how to maneuver though schedules, or at least students who have taken literacy, performance, and film courses as prerequisites before signing onto the project.” “Agreed, I think it would be best if we just left the course open to whoever wants to join just as long as they meet the prerequisites,” Landon concurred. “Excellent! Now we just have to work on a syllabus, and gather our schedules to see which of us will lecture on specific days.” Ana stated as she pulled out her mobile phone and opened her calendar of schedules, Landon and I followed suit. “I have two free days every Tuesdays and Thursdays that I usually spend in office grading papers but I could just as easily pass that off to George, my student intern,” I said to Ana and she quickly jotted it down on her calendar, filling me in as the professor for every Tuesday and Thursday. “I have Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays available,” Landon jumped in. “I have every Wednesday and Friday free,” Ana stated, “what we could do is, on Friday, Landon and I can give a joint lesson where we show a film and dissect it from the standpoint of the director and the standpoint of the actor.” “Then on Thursdays, Landon and I could do a novel versus film lesson where we will read a novel and watch the adapted film version to compare and contrast the differences between a novel and film.” I responded triumphantly, I was beginning to get exceptionally excited for the undertaking of this project. “Perfect!” Landon called out, “then on our individual days we can teach our specialty subject and give the students advice on how to approach their projects.”I clapped my hands excitedly the same way Ana did earlier before realization dawned on me, “there is only one thing standing in our way,” I said warily, “Lamont.”Everyone let out a groan of frustration at the mention of the Dean of the University. Larry Lamont has been the Dean of Ilemy University for the last seven years and he is notorious for his ridged manner and stubbornness. The man was slightly older than Landon, by 10 years at best; he had snow white hair and an icy gaze that could leave you paralyzed in your place. Lamont was known for his traditional point of view, anything that seemed to modern or too risky, the man would completely dismiss it, claiming that that isn’t the “Ilemy way.”There was little doubt that Lamont would refuse our new course however he would not be quick to give us appropriate funds to get the proper materials accessible for our students. If Lamont refused to give us funding then we would either have to do one of two things: 1) scrap the project, or 2) raise the funds ourselves. “We have nothing to worry about,” stated Landon confidently, “we have aces on our team and maybe we could even get a sponsorship from BBC and MGM to buy enough camera equipment and lighting.” “We’ll need to draw up contracts with MGM and BBC then to make absolutely sure they will be with us every step of the way,” I responded.Ana nodded, “I’ll talk to Stephen about it to see what he can do, you work on your end too, Mily.”I hummed in understanding which signaled the end of our meeting and the beginning of our feast! “Mimosas around the table please!” Landon called to the waiter and I groaned in horror, at the mention of alcohol.By the time I reached home, it was already 3pm in the afternoon, the heat coming off from the sun was absolutely grueling and relentless as opposed to how it was earlier on in the day. As I was slamming the car door shut a shout came from the house next door, “Mily!” called a shirtless Taehyung over a bush, I glanced around behind him and noticed that all the other boys were just as shirtless and glistening with a mixture of sweat and water. I was about to have a heat stroke and by goodness it wasn’t going to be because of the 95 degree weather outside but the sight of so many muscular six packs glistening in the reflection of the sunlight. “Hey, Mily, do you want us to clean your car?” Taehyung asked as he held up a rather large and porous sponge. “I-I-I, Don- Maybe N- h-ho- um, Okay.” I stammered clumsily feeling the intense need to run my hands down all of their abs to be certain this wasn’t a wild fantasy of mine. “Great, We’ll be there in a few minutes after we finish Namjoon’s car!” Taehyung called back and I wordlessly nodded my head. I glanced around one more time and my eye caught a hold of Jungkook’s who gave me a playful wink and his ridiculously charming smile. I don’t know if I was imagining all of this or not but I will know one thing is for sure, if it’s to get awesome dreams like this, I’ll start drinking Mimosas every day for the rest of my life.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Whiskey on ice and fingertips tapping on keys, a melody that was blissful through the eyes of a writer; however concentration had seemed to elude me as I stared blankly at the screen of my laptop. I have been in the process of writing a novel since May, and the process within itself has proven to be far more daunting than the last book I had written which was an analysis of the life of William Shakespeare where I drew parallels between his personal life and his work in theater. In truth, the last book was easier to write because there was little expectation of me, but this time around the stakes were high and my publisher wanted something refreshing, or as he stated, “something personal that has life, it would be good for your career and maybe you could eventually turn it into a screenplay.” “This is pointless,” I grumble as I slam my laptop shut, I was torturing myself for nothing! My brain hadn’t even been able to come up with a story I wanted to tell! My frustration was growing on a daily basis and I was dangerously close to throwing in the towel; I would go down in the literary world as a one hit wonder. “Tae, I’m open!” called the familiar voice of Jimin.The boys were in their backyard probably playing basketball. It had been a few days since the last time I had a proper conversation with them; I’ve been so caught up in getting this book started and planning out my curriculum for the fall term that I haven’t had time for much else. The casual greeting during encounters to collect our mail was probably the extent of conversation between myself and the neighbors but aside from that, I’ve been pent up working. I stood up from my bed and made my way towards the window in my room that was facing the boy’s house, watching them engage in a competitive game of basketball. My eyes found themselves trained on one person in specific, Jungkook, whose words still echoed in my head about our so called “date” that was going to happen the day after tomorrow. I snorted at the thought, there was no way he meant what he said about the “date” being an actual date; this guy was so far out of my league, he was built like a daydream completed with starry eyes and a gorgeous smile. Jungkook would be turning a lot of heads at the university and no doubt become a fan favorite amongst the girls on campus, I could already tell. Besides, I’m a couple years older than him, I’m sure he would prefer a girl more his age and not someone who is a potential professor of his. I sighed dejectedly, turning away from the window as a familiar ache nestled itself in my chest.In the short amount of time after meeting the boys, I have come to realize that I have been developing some kind of an emotional attachment to the boy, and for many reasons, it was wrong. The realization dawned on me the day I woke up in a sweat and panting from a rather x-rated dream I had about the boy. It was odd; to say the least and I could only imagine the awkward atmosphere that will loom between us today since it was movie night at my place.I was pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of something shattering into pieces which was then followed by an “Oh, shit” from one of the boys. I looked out of the window again to see Jungkook glancing over our shared fence to a specific spot in my backyard, I followed his sights direction and realized that their basketball had hit and broken another clay pot that was holding the precious Zinnia flowers that were just starting to bloom. At this point, I was never going to have my dream garden. “I’ll be back guys,” my attention snapped back to Jungkook as he called back to the boys, lightly jogging out of their yard to cross to mine. “Take your time, Tiger!” hollered Taehyung with a hint of playfulness present in his voice which was followed by a few hoots and hollers that the youngest dismissed with a simple “shut up.”Before I knew it, the doorbell rang and my feet automatically shuffled down the stairs and towards the door, my heart rising in anticipation knowing who was waiting for me on the other side. Should I have been angry? Yes, those Zinnia’s took forever to grow since I planted them in the winter and they were finally starting to bloom now in the summer. However, was I actually upset? No, how could I be when the person at the door is adorably shuffling their feet shyly with their eyes down casted like a child who has done something wrong and is being reprimanded by their parents. I took a deep breath as I opened the door, raising one eyebrow as my eyes made contact with his, “So I’m guessing that crashing sound in my backyard had nothing to do with Mrs. Smith’s cat,” I stated with a knowing expression at the boy with his flushed cheeks standing before me. “I’m so sorry, Mily,” Jungkook started his apology in exasperation, “I know I promised I wouldn’t let anything like this happen again but Yoongi tried to dunk the ball and hit the rim instead and then it bounced off into your backyard.”I sighed as I opened the door wider; allowing Jungkook to come inside and led him into the backyard to the scene of the crime, “don’t worry about it.”He kneeled down and picked up the ball, revealing the extent of the damage; the Zinnia’s that I’ve nurtured were indeed dead on arrival, the stems of the flowers all bent and broken from the impact of the ball, it was such a shame, they were so beautiful in their varied colors and brought life into my backyard but now I guess I would be starting all over again. “My poor Zinnias” I muttered under my breath as I bent down beside Jungkook to see if there were any survivors among the bunch, “they are my favorite flowers too.” I pouted to myself, realizing that there was indeed no surviving flower from the incident. “I swear I’ll make it up to you, Mily, I’m so, so sorry,” Jungkook apologizes again, placing his hand on my shoulder, “I promise this will never happen again, and I’ll make sure to keep that promise this time.”His touch sending a jolt of electricity through my body with his simple action, a cool fire tickling just beneath my skin where his hand touched me; this was a delicious sensation. My mind struggled to find words to make a coherent sentence to tell the boy it was just a plant and all was well, however, Jungkook mistook this pause of mine as me being distraught. “Please Mily, don’t be mad, we’ll never play basketball in the backyard again! I’ll- I mean, we’ll do anything so that you won’t be mad at us.” “Jungkook, it’s fine,” I say as I get to my feet, I realized that I needed to cut the physical connection to be able to think properly, “it’s just a plant, I’ll grow them again next summer. Relax.”Jungkook sighed as he brought himself to stand, his lean and muscular frame towering over my smaller one, his dazzling eyes looking down into mine as he spoke, “I’m still really sorry about what happened and I mean it when I say we’ll make it up to you.”It seemed that there was no sense into talking him out of this since his mind was already set with the determination to make it up to me so I did the only logical thing I could think of at the moment. “Are we still on for movie night tonight at my place?” I asked, the change in subject was a welcomed distraction for the both of us as a shy smile tugged on his lips. “Of course, we wouldn’t miss it for the world,” He replied, “are we still on for tomorrow?” He questioned shyly, bringing his hand up to scratch the nape of his neck.At the mention of tomorrow, my body became overwhelmed with an explosion of a sensation that I could only –at best- describe as the fluttering of butterflies throughout my entire being. I took a sharp intake of breath at the sensation, welcoming its foreign feel. “Definitely,” I responded, watching as the shy smile on his face grows into a full-fledged grin that displays his adorable bunny-like front teeth. “Great, I’ll pick you up at 7p.m. since the movie starts at 8:00, we could walk around the food trucks and grab a bite to eat before the movie starts.” Jungkook stated and I don’t know if it’s an after effect of playing basketball outside or if the heat was getting to him but his cheeks had a bit of a rose tint to them. “Then I guess it’s settled, now let’s get you back to your game before your friends get mad at you again,” I said as I made a move towards the sliding door to go back into the house and he trailed behind me at an awkward distance. It seemed he has yet forgotten about our close call one of the last times he was here.When we were back at the front door I turned the knob and held it open for him as he passed beside me to make his way out. I leaned against the door as he faced me again an awkward atmosphere loomed over us as neither of us knew what to say. Well, I knew I was supposed to say ‘bye, see you in a little while’ but I didn’t want to, I didn’t really want him to leave yet. However, it would be odd of me to just say ‘hey want to come in for a bit and have a drink with me?’ That would totally send him the wrong message and it would almost put me in the same category as Gramma Thompson down the street. “So I guess I’ll see you later then,” I blurted out lifting the awkward veil from on top of us. Jungkook smiled again, “Yeah, see you later, Mily,” and with that he was gone.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The day was dreary at best on Kensington Ave,
the skies had decided to open and unleash its fury upon the usually quiet neighborhood; the pitter patter of the rain claiming the streets selfishly as its own as puddles began to form on the ground. In the distance, one could hear the distinct sound of thunder clapping over some other part of town drawing nearer as time passes. I sighed bringing a warm mug filled with coffee up to my lips while watching the weather forecast for the day. There was a 70
percent chance of rain today as a storm system moves over the city and would probably last throughout the day and later into the evening.It looks like my “date” with Jungkook this evening would be cancelled. It seems even the heavens look down on my friendship with the youngest of the boys next door. I scowled as I switched over to Netflix and began searching for my go-to rainy day show.
“Identity theft is not a joke, Jim; millions of families suffer every year!”I laugh delightedly at the antics on the television, glancing every now and again out the window to see if there is even the slightest of hope for the skies to clear up. However, my hopes had diminished with every glance I took; it seems like I would be spending the night huddled up underneath my favorite baby blue blanket watching re-runs of “The Office” and ordering the two for one special from the Chinese restaurant a few blocks up the road.By the time it was 6:45, I had successfully watched about 4 seasons of “The Office when there was a brisk knock on my door. Confusion set in as I paused the show and made my way towards the front door, it couldn’t have been the delivery guy; I had just placed my order not even ten minutes ago! I glanced through the peephole and gasped in surprise, as I quickly unlocked the door and let a soaking Jungkook through the threshold of my home.
“Jungkook, what brings you here?” I questioned in bewilderment as I studied the boy from head to toe, the poor thing was drenched and probably cold so I made haste and went to the guest bathroom on the first floor to grab him a towel, not even giving him the time of day to answer my question.
“Here, dry yourself off with this, you must be freezing,” I said as I handed him the towel, what on earth possessed this boy to be out in this kind of weather?Jungkook smiled sheepishly as he accepted the towel with one hand and wrapped it around himself, keeping his other hand behind his back, “Thanks, Mily.”
“Why are you soaking wet, Jungkook? Most importantly, why are you here?” I asked, my tone laced with concern towards the young fellow.Instead of answering my question with words, Jungkook brought around the hand that was behind his back and revealed three DVD’s from his personal collection; “Godzilla” “Iron Man,” and “Me and My Gal”
“I thought that since we couldn’t go to the Cinema at the Park event because of the rain and all, that maybe we could still watch some movies together, here.” He explained, rubbing the nape of his neck anxiously while he eyed me expectantly as if I were to deny him.Although I know it’s not humanly possible, I felt my heart melt at incredibly sweet he was and I felt the odd fluttering sensation throughout my body all over again. This boy would be my ultimate undoing.
“That’s very sweet of you, Jungkook,” I said, hoping to any divine power out there that I wasn’t blushing uncontrollably, “but you’re all wet, and you’ll get sick if you don’t shower and change clothes. Maybe we should reschedule for another time?”
Jungkook’s eyes were crestfallen at the sound of my suggestion as if the thought of it was disappointing, “but I really wanted to hang out with you today and watch movies,” he whined, a small pout forming on his plump lips.I sighed inwardly at the sight, “then let’s make a compromise, you go home, shower, change clothes and then come right back to watch movies. This time, you are taking my umbrella with you so that you can stay dry. Do we have a deal?” I questioned.Jungkook beamed down at me as he eagerly nodded his head in approval of the plan and made his way towards the door.
“By the way, I ordered some Chinese food not too long ago; it should be getting here shortly so you better hurry back or else the food might get cold if gets here before you do.” I say as I pass him my Umbrella from the coat rack.
“Will do,” He exclaimed while he shot me a wide, toothy grin, “by the way, your pajamas are really cute,” he stated cheekily.I gasped in horror as I glanced down at myself, I had totally forgotten that I was still wearing my favorite yellow pajamas with pink baby Tyrannosaurus Rex’s printed all over them. Jungkook chuckled delightedly at my horror, I take it back, this boy is anything but sweet!
“Oh gosh, thanks for reminding me, I’ll change while you’re gone.” I replied sheepishly.Jungkook shook his head from side to side, “don’t change, you are in your house and you are comfortable. It actually gives me a good idea; I’ll be back soon okay? Promise you won’t change!” He called as he darted out into the rain with my umbrella shielding him from the downpour.I shook my head as I watched his figure disappear into his house and close the door and mirrored his actions. Honestly, I didn’t know what to think of the boy; every time we meet I feel like I am discovering a new side of him and it seems like the Jungkook I get today is a playful, mischievous one.There was a knock on my door ten minutes later and to my ultimate delight, it’s Zhou the delivery guy from the Chinese restaurant with our food, as I was handing him his tip, Jungkook jogged up the steps onto my porch squeezing his way around Zhou to stand at my side which caused old man Zhou to smile.
“It looks like the two for one special will actually be eaten by two people tonight here,” Zhou nodded approvingly at me and I wished that right at that very moment I would disappear into the depths of the deepest hole.
“Mr. Zhou, you know I usually take the other plate for lunch the next day right? I swear I’m not that much of a pig!” I whine and the old man chuckles.
“Enjoy your evening, you two, and thank you for ordering from us!” Zhou shouts as he steadily makes his way to his black Mazda.I gave the old coot one final wave before closing the door and glancing at Jungkook but I froze on the spot as I drank in the sight of him. Before me, in the flesh, stood a very handsome Jungkook with his hair still damp either from the rain or from the shower, wearing a white tank top that put his built arms on full display and a pair of pajama bottoms that were dark blue.
“I thought it would be fun to have a pajama movie night,” he stated proudly as he did a 360 spin to show off his look with a proud smile on his face. “Now let’s eat!” He clapped as he grabbed the food from my hands and made himself at home on the floor in the space between the coffee table and the couch in the living area. I don’t know if he was doing it intentionally, but his arms were flexing the entire time he was opening the take out bags and pulling out the containers of food allowing his veins to pop out.Holy Shit.This little shit is trying to give me heart attack.The evening was spent watching movies, starting with Iron man and making our way to Me and My Gal, we had small talk here and there, making small comments about the movie or inserting facts about the production behind the filming of said scene. The bulk of our conversation was during the rolling credits of "Me and My Gal."
“So tell me a little about yourself; Jungkook,” I ask as I take a sip of my coca-cola, now leaning against the couch as I faced him.
“What would you like to know?” He asked, casually leaning back against the couch and mirroring my position with his elbow propped on the couch and perching his head on the hand that was propped up.I shrugged, “anything.”Jungkook nodded as he began to think of some facts about himself, “well, I am from South Korea and participating in a foreign exchange program with the rest of the guys, which explains why we are here and my horrible accent.”I chuckle, “your accent isn’t horrible, it’s pretty cute.” I widened my eyes as the realization dawned on me of what I just said.
“Really?” he asked his voice dripping with amusement at my words, “you think I’m cute.”
“Don’t push it, Jeon, I only said your accent was cute, nothing more,” I combatted, desperately hoping the heat I was feeling in my cheeks was from resting my head against the seat of the couch.
“You think I’m cute” Jungkook sang in a teasing tone, his eyes sparkling with mischief and delight.
“No I don’t!” I pout uncharacteristically; I think his personality is starting to rub off on me.
Jungkook chuckled, “It’s okay, Mily, to be honest, I think you’re really cute, too.”My eyes snapped back onto his face, taking in his words as the gears in my head begin to work on reading between the lines because there is no way he would think me to be cute in general, it was probably a compliment given out of sheer kindness, a tit-for-tat kind of deal since I unexpectedly said that I thought he was cute.
“Anyways, back to getting to know you, is your family still in South Korea?” I ask, skirting away from the embarrassment of what happened a few seconds ago.His eyes saddened, I assumed it was at the thought of his family, “they are all back in Korea.”
“Do you miss them?” I asked although I already knew the answer.
“Terribly” was has reply, a distant look of longing came across his face.I nodded my head in understanding; I remember when I left the comfort of my hometown to attend university in England. I left the buzzing city life of Miami to go across the pond and study what I was most passionate about; Literature.Of course I got an earful of my mother’s nagging about studying Literature and even got the lecture of “you could study that here in the United States; there is no need to go anywhere else!”However, there was nothing left for me in Miami but the bitter taste of a rough childhood; while my sisters grew up in affluence while my parents were still together. I on the other hand, grew up wondering everyday if my life was going to change for the worst since my mother was struggling to make ends meet as a single mother while battling breast cancer.
Thankfully by the time I was fourteen my mother was in remission and had officially won her battle which I am thankful for every day. I don’t know what would have happened to me if things went differently and I shudder at the thought, it’s not easy growing up thinking that every day you might become an orphan; It’s not easy growing up and knowing that your father wants nothing to do with you and that your sisters treat you like a rag doll, this was my childhood in a nutshell.So when the time came after high school, I decided to move away from the city where I suffered from so much sorrow. I left to England and stayed there for two years doing a dual program to advance my degrees. Then when I returned to the United States, I moved to Louisiana where I now reside on Kensington Ave.I missed my family dearly, but I don’t regret doing what I did.
“I know how you feel,” I responded softly.Jungkook flashed a sad smile and I wanted nothing more than to put a smile on his face.
“So, any girlfriend back home? I’m sure a handsome young man like you must have someone special in their heart.” I asked in a lighter tone hoping to switch things up a bit.
“Nah, I don’t have a girlfriend,” Jungkook stated as he glanced towards the television that was now showing the main menu display while an instrumental version of “Me and My Gal” played in the background, “I haven’t had one for a while now. How about you? Do you have a boyfriend I should worry about? Or any ex-boyfriends I should keep my eyes on?”I felt my cheeks heat up at his question, how do I tell this boy who is years younger than I and probably has more experience in the world of relationships than I, that I’ve never had a boyfriend before.
“Well, I’ve never actually had a boyfriend before so, yeah. No, I don’t have a boyfriend,” I reply sheepishly glancing everywhere else except at him.
“I’m calling your bluff,” Jungkook stated in pure disbelief, “there is no way someone like you has never had a boyfriend before. You are far too cool and way too pretty to not have had a boyfriend.”I glance at him taking in his expression as I shook my head from side to side, “you’re too kind to me, Jungkook. I could assure you that back then I was anything but cool and pretty. I was a book worm who was far too focused on studying than anything else. Besides I wasn’t exactly popular or pretty, none of the guys ever really took interest in me and that was okay with me.”
“Those guys were idiots then,” Jungkook stated, his eyes set on me with a determined look in them.I snorted, “Maybe they were, I honestly didn’t care too much though.”There was a moment of silence between us as nothing but the orchestrated version of “Me and My Gal” played softly in the background along with the sound of the rain falling outside. I glanced up at Jungkook to find that he was still glancing down at me and for the third time in two days I felt the explosions of fluttering throughout my body; the sensation so overwhelming that I took a sharp breath in to try to calm myself. This feeling was so odd, it felt like a drug coursing through my veins and it was one I was quickly becoming addicted to.We held each other’s gaze for a while more, both caught in a web of a trance that was spun by this unknown feeling.
“I think I should get going, it’s getting late,” Jungkook whispered as to not disturb the moment.I nodded my head blinking out of my momentary stupor before rising to my feet, “I’ll walk you out.”
I opened the front door and he brushed right by me at the other end, turning around to glance at me.
“Thank you for today it was really sweet of you to keep our plans although I would have perfectly understood if you had cancelled,” I state as I lean against the door.Jungkook smiled bashfully, “I couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend my Saturday, thanks for having me over and thanks for the food, next time it’s on me though.”Next time. There will be a next time. There went the explosions yet again, does this boy have no idea the effects he has on me?
“Next time, then.” I confirm and he nodded happily.
“By the way, is it okay if we exchange phone numbers?” Jungkook asked, his nervous tick making an appearance as he brought his hand up and rubbed the nape of his neck.
“Sure.” I replied, taking his phone in my hand and typing in my details before handing it back to him.He shuffled back and forth on his feet, his eyes glancing anywhere but at me, “I guess I’ll see you around then.”
“Yeah,” I replied admittedly a bit huskily, my voice sounding foreign even to my own ears.
“Good night, Mily” he responded just as lowly, his voice velvet soft like a dream.
“Good night, Jungkook,” I said, my body rooted into its place not wanting him to go but then he would get the wrong idea.Jungkook licked his lips hesitantly before taking a step towards me, my eyes widened as he leaned down and placed a small peck on my forehead, “good night,” he stated one last time before dashing down the stairs of my front porch and headed back towards his house leaving me a frenzy of feelings as the explosion of flutters increased by the thousands.It was clear within that moment that Jungkook wasn’t simply going to be the boy next door.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“May the Lord bless these Korean men with their glorious bodies and may he also have mercy on my soul as my thoughts verge on dirty at the sight before me,” Audrina said as she gawked out of the window, spying on the boys on the front lawn washing our cars.
“Amen,” Tina agreed as she took a sip of her Brandi, standing beside the Former with a predatory gaze directed at my poor unsuspecting neighbors.I rolled my eyes at my co-workers and closest friends as they continued to shamelessly disrobe my neighbors with their eyes; but then again it didn't entail too much work on their behalf since the boys had their torsos bare of clothing and wearing swimming trunks to clean cars.
“Did yo
both happen to forget that you are married?” I quipped un-amused by their behavior,
casually taking a seat on the sectional opposite them with a well adorned look of disapproval.
“Eyes were made for looking, Mily and it would be a shame to turn a blind one to such fine specimen as these lovely gentlemen who are so kindly doing a service not only to our cars, but to our fantasies as well.” Audrina retorted with a sense of playfulness, she raised her glass towards the men in a silent cheers
I
scoffed at the comment, crossing my legs in indignation “the both of you are honestly so despicable!”The pair before me shared a knowing look amongst them before turning their gaze onto my own, their eyes filled with a mixture of amusement and mischief, a look of which I have come to know of what follows after.
“Now, Mily,” Tina began her teasing, “don't be bitter because your Prince Charming isn't here getting all soaped up,” She tsked placing her glass down on top of the mahogany coffee table, “the man has responsibilities and besides, maybe he’ll make it up to you later with a private show,” she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively which caused Audrina to giggle in a childish manner.
I rolled my eyes in disinterest, it was predictable that they would find a way to loop Jungkook into the conversation; ever since that night at Jaguar the girls were incessantly bringing him up in anyway they could, convinced that the two of us were something more. Though despite my constant protests and denials they contInued on their quest to irritate me.
“Again, there is nothing going on between Jungkook and I, he is my neighbor and will attend the University we all work at. End of discussion.” I scowled giving them both a menacing gaze that dared them to further speak of the subject to see what would occur.
Tina raised her hands up in defeat, “it was merely an observation,” she stated cheekily.
“Then maybe you should have your eyes checked, for your observation is far off from the fact of the matter,” I retorted successfully being irked, I brought my glass of whiskey to my parted lips and basked as it’s rich scent filled my nostrils with a delicious tingle as the liquid left a sensational burn down the back of my throat.
Before either of the two could respond, there was a rhythmic knock on my door that was filled with a childish familiarity. I rose to my feet, leaving my glass forgotten on the coffee table and proceeded to answer the door where I found a very drenched Taehyung awaiting on the other side leaning against the frame. It seemed the whiskey had an early effect on me today as words had seemed to have failed me as the young man before me looked as though he could rival Adonis; his fringe matted to his forehead, his sharp eyes warm and brimming with happiness, his body glistening in the sunlight which allowed him to look as though the heavens themselves had blessed him.
As much as I hated to admit it, I was caught red-handed gawking at him and Taehyung wasn't one to let things slide, on the contrary, he liked to act upon them and revel in the aftermath of it all.
A smug grin found itself settling on the other’s lips, bringing a hand up to slick back his fringe while he held eye contact with me. His gaze was lethal in all the right ways, a cocktail of emotions swirling around his iris’ ranging from playful to lustful and all that was in between.
“We’ve finished washing your car,” he spoke, his voice an octave lower than the one I came to associate with him, each word rolling off his tongue like a prayer but it’s effects were sinful, “how are you going to pay us back?”
I gaped at him, my lips parting to speak only to come back together again as i was finding it difficult to put together an intelligent answer however blurting out the only word my sentence revolved around, “waffles,” and I cursed myself a thousand times within the moment the word left my lips.
Taehyung took his lower lip between his upper canines to choke back the laugher that had his abdomen flexing and shoulders shaking, his eyes now only mostly gleaming with amusement as he glanced down at me.
“Waffles, huh,” he said as he leaned down closer to level himself with me, “I never took you as the type to have a safe word but I could get into it,” he purred, standing tall again while giving me a playful wink.
I was mortified beyond belief failing my arms in front of me like a maniac to gesture that that was not what I was trying to say, “what I meant was that I recently bought a waffle maker and I wanted to make waffles for you guys! I swear!” I explained in exasperation.
Taehyung let his head fall back as laughter escaped him, he had to lean himself against the frame again to prevent from falling on the ground, “you,” he gasped, “ you should have seen you face!” He laughed some more as heat slowly rosed to my cheeks, embarrassment and frustration were the main emotions that dominated my being at the moment, a murderous glare was sent his way as he righted himself, the laughter subsiding slowly as he gauged my reaction and an apologetic smile formed on his lips. “sorry Mily, it’s just that teasing you is too much fun and I don't get to do it often because Jungkook is around. I had to take full advantage of this while I could, hope there are no hard feelings, we’ll definitely take you up those waffles though,” he chuckled nervously, his signature rectangular grin surfacing as he cautiously backed away from the door sensing his impending doom. I slammed the door without another word sparing him of suffering for today, “ i’ll make sure to burn your waffle to a crisp,” I mumbled, turning around only to groan at the sight of Audrina and Tina a mere inches away with Cheshire Cat smiles on their faces. It seemed they got the entertainment they came for and much more.
“I envy you,” Audrina sighed dreamily as her gaze lingered on the door
“Don't worry, Mily, at least you are getting the attention you deserve” Tina stated, placing her hand on my shoulder and giving it an encouraging pat.
“they could spare me form the attention. I could do without all of the teasing and the embarrassment that comes along with it.” I replied weakly as I made my way back to the comfort of my seat, Audrina and Tina following close behind.
“I think this is wonderful if you ask me,” Audrina stated as she sauntered back towards the window, “this is a great chance for you, Mily.” She stated kindly, losing all sense of her earlier teasing.I sighed, leaning back in my seat and taking a long sip of my drink allowing the smooth burn to placate me, “a chance for what exactly?”Audrina sighed in an almost whimsical manner, her eyes casted far beyond the room into vast nothingness as if she were caught in a daydream, “to fall in love.”
It was never my intention to be rude, however the snort that came out of my mouth was barely retained, “I don't have time for such things, at least not now.”
“Life doesn't happen when you want it to, Mily, these things occur at their own volition. Life isn't the picture your parents painted for you when you were young; every choice that you make is one presented to you by life and the outcome is what you live. You are so young and you have so much life a head of you, but you don't take advantage of it; instead of being proactive about your life you just wait for it to happen and that’s not living, that is just merely existing. I think it’s time you played the protagonist in your own life instead of writing about someone else's, and what better way to do that by taking a chance and falling head over heels for someone?”
These was a pregnant silence in the room, the wheels in my head pulling overtime to make sense of what she said. I clearly understood every word however the resonance that it had within me was frightening. She had a valid point but if I agreed a loud then it would make a sudden shift in my life, one I admittedly wasn't ready for.
“I understand what you are saying, however I fail to see the urgency in falling in love when I have a deadline to meet for a novel that I could barely even begin to write and on top of that I have to write up the curriculum for the fall term and give lectures at the University.” I replied, preferring to be realistic than getting caught up in a fairytale.
“Maybe the inspiration you need to write that book is just next door? Maybe you need to put yourself out there a little more and everything will fall in place on its own. No good story i’ve ever read has a protagonist that just stays indoors.” It was Tina who spoke up this time.
“I disagree with you on that,” I retorted, “A Gentleman in Moscow’ by Amor Towles had the main character under house arrest and the story developed in the hotel he was staying at the entire time.”
Tina scowled rubbing her temples, “that is besides the point, Mily.” She sighed heavily, “Why don't you write your novel based on your real life circumstances? That way you are living in the moment as well as getting your job done! People do it all the time, it’s like a form of therapy for them, and with the way you write, I am sure it will be a New York Time’s Best Seller in no time at all. All you would have to do is heed Audrina’s advice and be proactive in your life.”
“So let me get this straight,” I paused, glancing between the two, “you want me to write a story about my personal life and have it published for all the world to read? You also want me to write about my neighbors and how a possible romantic relationship takes place between myself and Jungkook?”
Tina shrugged, “something like that, yeah.”
“News flash; that’s not literature, that’s fan fiction and it’s already been done numerous times. For heaven’s sake even in my grandmother’s time there were movies like that, like ‘Meet Me in St. Louis!’ where Judy Garland literally sings about falling in love with the boy next door. Besides, there is nothing going on between Jungkook and I.” I answered.
“It’s so obvious that he wants there to be something between you though! You're just making up excuses because you're scared and I understand why,” it was Audrina’s turn to interject, “you don't want to end up like your parents did, and that is perfectly understandable however, that doesn't necessarily mean that the same will happen to you, Mily. Learn from their mistakes while you make some of your own, all we are asking you to do is just live in the moment and act like the 23 year old you are.”
I sighed dejectedly, I couldn't refute their point because they kept on nailing the hammer on the head, calling me out on my insecurities and whatnot, although I was extremely annoyed with the two females before me at the moment, I couldn't have been thankful enough to have them as my friends.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, the leather beneath me crinkling slightly in protest. I was glancing around the large office space that held the entire history of Ilemy University within its four walls; walls that were decorated with accolades given to the university over the years acknowledging its excellence producing fine scholars. The day had finally come; Landon, Ana, and myself had been working relentlessly these past few days pulling strings and pushing points all to lead to this very moment when we would present the idea of our combined course to the dean of our university. The three of us sat patiently awaiting for Lamont to finish reading through our plans, the presentation had drawn to a close long before and all that was left was for him to give his say. Thus far, the man had not given away anything as he flipped through the pages of the syllabus and past the unsigned contracts from BBC and MGM; he offered no hum nor huff as he continued to analyze the words on the page.Ana and I shared a look behind Landon, her face ridden with a mixture of anxiety her leg bouncing in a means to calm her nerves as the waiting period dragged on. I took a deep breath myself before directing my gaze to Landon between us, his eyes never leaving the form of Lamont as if he were looking for some minor indicator from the male that his interest was piqued. With the clearing of his throat, Lamont claimed our undivided attention as his hands folded over the table with eyebrows slightly raised over his glasses, “Your plan has merit, however there will need to be some adjustments made should this course be offered in the university,” he glanced down at the documents we presented earlier and began flipping through the pages again and paused over the fall syllabus, “this course cannot be offered to the students on such short notice which would mean the course would have to be postponed until the spring semester granted should there be enough students enrolled in it to begin with.”Landon hummed in agreement, “we were hoping you would say that however we came prepared in case you wanted it offered to students sooner rather than later.”Lamont nodded his head as he glanced back down at the pages before him and skimmed a few lines down, “only students who have met the prerequisites you listed may participate in the course and have this class satisfy the humanities credit requirements since i feel hesitant to have it set as an elective. This course should be exclusive to those who are truly interested in this field of study and not just taking it because they need to graduate.”
“We are in absolute agreement with you,” Landon replied eagerly, watching as the older man continue to flip through the pages and pausing over the contracts with both production companies.
“If successful, this course could change the tide of all departments involved and make a rather large contribution to the future of Ilemy University. I will sign onto this project with high hopes for our school, however, hope isn’t enough to accomplish what lies ahead so i expect all parties involved to be prepared to put in maximum time and effort, even if it means longer hours.” Lamont leaned back in his chair as he glanced between the three of us, a ball-point pen rested between his index and middle finger as he made his final decision before finally putting the ink on paper to seal the deal.We all let out a sigh of relief as his name was signed on the dotted line, indicating that we have claimed victory. I smiled widely at my companions as we shared a glance between one another, “then it’s settled,” Landon said as he came to stand up from his seat and shake hands with the dean, “you won’t regret this, Larry, I promise this is gonna be one for the books.”Lamont gave a fond smile, “I don’t doubt it.”
“We did it!” Ana exclaimed excitedly as she pumped her fist in the air, a broad and proud smile adorning her face as she turned back to Landon and I while we made our way through the empty halls of the university. I couldn’t help but smile right back at her as a giggled passed my lips.
“It’s all thanks to you, Ana, it was your idea in the first place and without you i doubt it would have ever happened,” Landon said as he came up to stand beside Ana and patted her shoulder with a fond smile, “now let’s get out of here before students swarm us with questions, class lets out in ten minutes and i wouldn’t want to be caught in that crossfire.”We quickly headed out to the parking garage and went our separate ways, promising to meet up at a happy hour later on to celebrate our victory.I plopped onto my chaise lounge and kicked up my feet fully intending on enjoying a mid-morning nap since it was only 10:00 a.m. and since i had nothing else to do today, it would be perfect. I snuggled into the cushion and sighed happily as sleep began to consume me, but of course my stomach couldn’t have found a better time to protest. I haste to make it to the meeting on time i had completely bypassed the most important meal of the day which in turn led to the angry growls that were being emitted by my stomach. I stood up and made my way to the kitchen hoping to satisfy my stomach enough to quiet it down but to my dismay, the fridge was in desperate need of restocking. I glanced at the time on top of my stove, deciding that Jin was probably awake already so i grabbed my newest prized possession which came in the form of a waffle maker and headed next door.
“Hey Mily, what brings you here so early in the morning?” Jin asked as he held the door to his home wide open, waiting for me to come inside.I motioned towards the waffle maker in my hand as walked towards their kitchen, “I thought i’d pay you guys back for washing my car the other day by making breakfast for everyone,” I replied.
“There is no need for you to pay us back for anything, your expression when Tae hit on you was more than enough repayment for all of us,” Jin jested as he began to put on his pink apron.
“Which reminds me to make his waffle extra burnt, thank you, Jin.” I replied as i began to pull out the flap-jack mixture they had in the pantry along with some chocolate chips, I had become quite familiar with their house since I started joining them for movie nights.Jin laughed, “I’m sure Tae will really appreciate that. Is there anything i could help you with?”I shook my head, “just carry on as you normally would,” I replied as focused on mixing the batter with water and adding in the chocolate chips.
“I’ll go waking up the boys, then,” Jin said as he made his way out of the kitchen and towards the stairs. Slowly, I started to pour the batter onto the waffle skillet and closed it, the best thing about making waffles is that they practically make themselves, all you have to do is flip it once and then you are done, it’s the perfect morning treat for the lazy soul.
“G’morning, Mily,” Jimin slurred in his sleepy stupor as he plopped himself down at the breakfast table. His hair was mussed up carelessly as he probably didn’t even bother to brush his hair or put on a shirt for that matter. I smiled at Jimin as I platted the first waffle and presented it to him, “Good morning, sleepy head.”The next to come down the stairs were both J-hope and Namjoon, both looking the exact opposite of Jimin as they were wide-eyed and fully clothed, ready to take on the day, “I knew i smelled something good when i came out of the shower!” J-hope exclaimed as he came up beside me and served himself a warm waffle and began to dig into it with his bare hands.
“You savage,” I gasped as i watched J-hope gawf down the entire waffle in mere bites.Namjoon laughed as he patted my shoulder, “leave him be, he has an interview today at a dance hall.” I glanced back J-hope to see him chugging down a glass of orange juice before rushing his way passed us, “Thank you for the breakfast, Mily, it was great!”
“You’re welcome!” I called back to him as he made his way through the front door, “good luck!”A muffled “Thank you,” was heard through the door and I chuckled as i served Namjoon his own waffle.
“Good morning, everyone!” Taehyung said as he skipped the last step down the stairs and made his way in the kitchen, pausing momentarily when he saw me, “good morning, Babe,” Taehyung said as he winked at me and i pretended to gag. The boy seemed awfully chipper this morning as he came to reach for a beautifully plated and decorated waffle, I slapped his hand with the spatula i was holding in my hand, “not so fast, Tae, your waffle is this one,” I said as i pointed to a now cold and over-charrd waffle i had made especially for him. Taehyung took the waffle in hesitance at first but then picked up the burnt waffle with his hand and began to tap the edge of it against the plate to test if the waffle was hard, after confirming that the said waffle would indeed probably break his teeth he glanced up at me with a smug smile, “I know you made this with all the burning love you have for me.” He then turned around and walked to the table, taking his place beside Jimin.Next down the stairs was Yoongi, who offered a lethargic smile as he walked towards the counter, “Morning,” he said as he grabbed his breakfast and sat beside Namjoon, the two immersed in a conversation about what they had planned for the day. Jin came back down, taking slow strides down the stairs the way a grand duchess would at a ball, “Jungkook went to take a shower, he’ll be down soon. Thanks again for the breakfast, you saved me from slaving away over a meal today,” Jin said as he grabbed his own plate of waffle goodness. I made a waffle for Jungkook and then plated one for myself to join the boys at the table for breakfast, strategically sitting myself between Jin and Yoongi and as far away from Taehyung as possible, i didn’t trust his overexaggerated good mood so it was a good idea to keep some distance.We enjoyed our breakfast over light conversation when suddenly a loud, “WHAT THE FUCK!?” was heard from upstairs followed by a loud slam, “KIM TAEHYUNG!!!”Taehyung quickly jumped out of his seat, “that’s my cue, gotta run!” he saluted as he bolted out the front door. Angry footsteps hurried down the stairs until they came to a halt by the entrance to the kitchen, all eyes widened at the sight before them “where is he? I’m going to kill him!” Jungkook asked, as he glanced around the table paying no mind to the curious gazes that were directed towards his fire engine red hair.
“He just left not too long ago,” Yoongi replied, his eyes twinkling in amusement.Jungkook huffed in annoyance as he paced the length of the kitchen entrance, “coward,” he muttered along with a slew of other profanities. My eyes never left his figure as he continued to pace, although it was a shock to see Jungkook with a bold hair color like that, it unsurprisingly suited him.
“Nice hair,” Jimin commented over his glass of orange juice and Jungkook so eloquently replied with a curt, “fuck you.”Jin stood from his seat and walked over to Jungkook, “that is no way to speak in the presence of a lady, Taehyung is gone and there is no use in you being angry and letting your breakfast that poor Mily slaved herself over, go to waste.”Jungkooks wild eyes glanced around the length of the room before landing his gaze landed on mine, “Mily,” he said as he let Jin drag him over to the counter to hand him his plate of breakfast a dust of pink graced his cheeks as realization dawned on him and he quickly looked away. He took the seat opposite of mine, his eyes never meeting mine as he kept his head low.The morning conversation kept on flowing between everyone else at the table figuring it was best to not give any more unwanted attention to the sulking boy sitting before me.
“Good morning, Jungkook,” I said once i was sure everyone was settled deep into their own conversation.Jungkook glanced back up at me momentarily before glancing back down at his plate, “hey, Mily,” he replied dejectedly. I was slowly growing irritated looking at the top of his head rather than the smiling face of the boy i have come to admire from a distance, so i gently tapped his leg with my foot under the table as to not garner the attention of the other boys. Jungkook’s head immediately shot up from the table, his large eyes blinking innocently at me while i gave him the warmest smile I could muster. His lips tugged into a slight smile of his own before glancing back down at the table, which in turn, caused me to tap his leg again. When he glanced up the second time, he had a questioning look on his face and i simply shrugged. When Jungkook went to put his head down again i gave a swift kick to leg and he let out a small yelp as he snapped his gaze back to me, I chuckled silently taking a sip of my juice when a soft yet forceful kick was delivered to my right leg; I nearly sputtered out my juice and Jin began to pat my back.
“Are you alright, Mily?” Jin asked in concern while i felt a rush of heat up my face, my glance meeting Jungkook’s who was stifling a laugh.
“I’m fine, thanks, Jin.” I replied as i glared at the clearly amused boy before me. When Jin was settled back into his conversation, i gave a great kick to Jungkook as revenge which he returned with his toes tickling my foot. I giggled at bit at the contact and watch Jungkook do the same as he kept his eyes on mine, a bright smile on his face handsome face. I took off my shoe and quickly brought my foot over his own and imitated his tickling which then led to a fun, private game between the two of us to see who would trap the other’s foot between their own.
“Oi, are the two of you done playing footsie yet because i’m in charge of cleaning up the table before Jin starts to nag at me about it,” Yoongi stated as he placed the bottle of Windex onto the table with a few napkins.I quickly stood up from the table, my cheeks felt as though they had been set on fire and one glance at Jungkook told me he was just the same, “I’ll help do the dishes,” I said as casually as i could before walking towards Jin who was by the sink, “you two are done having fun already? What a shame,” Jin said, a knowing look on his face as his eyes held contact with my own momentarily as i looked away, “I dont know what you’re talking about,” I muttered sheepishly and Jin chuckled “at least his mood is better, I guess i have to thank you for that; Jungkook can a really bad temper at times it usually takes him a bit to cool down but I think today was a record for him.”
“Oh?” I asked, not really knowing how to respond to that and not really wanting this conversation to keep on because i felt like a blushing mess, “pass me that plate, please,” I said as i picked up a towel to dry the plates.
“Nonsense, you made breakfast so you get to go relax and be king of the couch while we finish up here,” Jin replied as he took the towel from my hand and pushed me towards the living room which i happily obliged. I plopped down onto the couch and picked up the remote control, flipping the channels before settling on a rerun of The Big Bang Theory. Shortly after I was joined by Jungkook who sat on the opposite end of the couch, not a word was spoken as we both watched the show mindlessly letting an unknown tension build between us as stolen glances were exchanged from time to time.Jungkook finally took the initiative to scoot a bit closer but still far enough to respect personal space, “so how did the meeting go?” Jungkook asked lowly, his voice nearly inaudible over the dialogue being exchanged in the show. I glanced at Jungkook with a smile on my face as i recalled the events of the morning, “we did it, LTP 1793 will be offered starting spring semester,” I informed him.
“That’s great, Mily, congrats!” He praised as he offered me a high five which i gladly returned, “we should go celebrate tonight! I’ve been meaning to pay you back for dinner the last time at your place,” he stated confidently with a momentary smile on his face that was quickly washed away as a thought occurred to him.
“I mean, maybe not tonight because my hair looks ridiculous now but as soon as i figure out how to get it back to normal i would love to take you out,” he lowered his head in resignation as he spoke. I bumped my shoulder against his to get his attention, “oh stop being so dramatic, your hair looks great! You pull off the color surprisingly well, I really like it.” Jungkook blinked down at me, his eyes wide as he internalized my complement, bringing a hand up to touch his tousled locks subconsciously, “you” he paused, “like it?” Jungkook asked as he raised a puzzled eyebrow as though he had been thoroughly confused. I giggled as i nodded my confirmation and Jungkook let out a bemused, “huh.”
“So would you like to go out with me tonight?” he asked, a hopeful smile tugging at the corners of his lips while simultaneously tugging at my heartstrings.
“I would love nothing more,” I replied with a shy smile of my own, “what have you got planned for us tonight?” I regretted asking that question the moment his bashful smile turned into a devilish smirk, “it’s a surprise.”I huffed in annoyance, surprises were most probably the bane of my existence. I was always someone who liked knowing every aspect and every detail of what was going to happen, if not the anticipation of the unexpected would give me cause for anxiety.
“Can’t you just give me a hint?” I pleaded as Jungkook walked me back to my house, the most i was able to get out of him since he brought up the dreaded surprise was that it was “fun,” he offered nothing more or nothing less. Jungkook laughed, his amusement with my disinterest in surprises clearly becoming his source of entertainment, “for the thousandth time, Mily, it’s a surprise!”
“I understand but i need to prepare myself accordingly, for all i know, you could be taking me skydiving; a girl needs to mentally prepare herself for these things!” I argued as I took the first step up to my porch before turning around to face him, our eyes leveled with the added height of the step. Jungkook scoffed, “now look who is being dramatic, i promise what we are doing is nothing extreme; your feet will never leave the ground,” he paused, looking away as if he were lost in thought, “unless,” he trailed off as he glanced back at me, his eyes wide with mock fear, “nevermind.”My jaw dropped at his antics, “Jungkook Jeon, you will explain what you mean
by ‘unless’ this instant! Is whatever we are doing dangerous?”He stifled back a laugh as he shrugged his shoulders, “maybe, you’ll just have to find out for yourself when we get there.” With that being said, he turned around and began to go back to his house, “see you later, Mily!”The evening came sooner than expected thanks to all of the events that came in between, after having celebratory drinks at Red Rocket with Ana and Landon, I went to grocery store and resuppled my fridge with ten boxes of pizza rolls and double milk chocolate milanos for the particularly stressful times that were soon to come with the start of Fall semester looming close by. I made my way up the stairs towards my bedroom to begin preparing myself for my outing with Jungkook, while I was out with my colleagues he texted me that my attire for the evening be something casual but offered some flexibility. I had been debating with myself as to what that meant, if I were to go by his message then i could go in sweatpants and a t-shirt however I knew better than to go by that. Besides, I wanted to dress up a bit since all Jungkook usually sees me in are sweat suits or pajamas. I walked into my closet, the tips of my fingers brushing against the fabric of each clothing item as I made my way down the narrow alse, pausing every once in awhile to further examine certain ones that caught my eye. I pulled out a white designer shirt that had a black velvet trim around the neckline, despite its designer price tag, it was a simple but nice shirt that offered maximum comfort and at least it made it look like I tried to look decent. I pulled out my favorite black straight leg jeans and paired the look with black flats because heaven knows I’m not the type to wear dresses or high heels. I glanced at myself in the mirror and nodded at my reflection in approval, it wasn’t too casual but it was extremely comfortable and very much my style.While I was brushing through my hair i heard three brisk knocks on my front door, already knowing who was waiting on the other side of the door, i quickly turn off the lights in my room and grab my bag as i head down the stairs. “I’m coming!” I shout as i round the corner of the staircase and climb down the last set of stairs, finally making it to the door. When i turned the knob and took my first step out the door, I was certainly not prepared for the sight that stood before me; with a black button down shirt tucked in and the sleeves rolled three quarters of the way up his arm, and a pair of black jeans did plenty for the imagination, Jungkook looked every bit the sin that did in every biblical figure; a forbidden fruit that tempted even the strongest of wills.
“I’ll be damned,” I muttered to myself as my eyes roamed his figure on their own accord before a deep chuckle brought me back to my senses, “you look great, too,” Jungkook said as he rubbed the nape of his neck and I nearly wanted to bury my head into the ground like an ostrich for making him feel nervous or even worst, uncomfortable.
“Come on, we should get going,” he said while he held up a pair of car keys, “Namjoon is letting me use his car tonight so I will be your chauffeur for the evening.” His hand ghosted over my lower back as he walked me over to the passenger seat, never once did he touch me but the warmth of his hand radiated on the spot and caused a delightful tingle to run up my spine. The ride to our mysterious destination was filled with playful banter as i continued to interrogate Jungkook with questions of where it was we were going until finally getting my answer in the form of a large neon sign that said, “Splitsville.” I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
“You’re lying,” Jungkook says in disbelief as he holds the door open for me to walk through first, “everyone’s gone bowling at least once or twice in their life.”I shook my head, “not me, and if I did i was probably too young to remember it.”
“Well now, thanks to me, you can now say you HAVE been bowling before and you will be able to say that you were taught by the one and only, king of the lanes, Jeon Jungkook,” he stated with exaggerated hand gestures that spoke of wonders for Jungkook’s cocky and seemingly competitive nature.
“I’m honored, oh great one,” I replied flatly as i rolled my eyes. Jungkook chuckled as he rushed up beside me, his hand once again ghosting over the small of my back but never really touching me as he guided me towards a large counter where workers were polishing shoes but once their eyes caught a glance of Jungkook a look of recognition flickered in their eyes, “Hey, John Cook! Nice to see you again, here to break your own record again?” The male behind the counter asked as he turned around and reached for a pair of large shoes before placing them on the counter before us. I tried to stifle a laugh at the look on Jungkook’s face when his name was mispronounced alas he took it with a grain of salt as he kept the conversation flowing, while checking the condition of the shoes, “nah man, I’m here celebrating with this lovely lady,” he then nodded his head towards me and the boy glanced in my direction, “sweet man, trying to impress your girl, i get it. What size shoe do you wear, miss?” The boy asked as his green eyes watched me expectantly.
“Um, nine and a half?” I asked rather than said, still clueless as to what my shoe size had anything to do with this conversation. The boy nodded his head with his eyebrows raised, “not bad, you know our John here wears a size fourteen, you know what that means.” he then wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“Knock it off, man,” Jungkook said with a small flush on his face. The boy raised his hands in mock surrender, “whatever you say, bro, I’m only trying to help you,” he said before he turned around and pulled out a slightly smaller pair of shoes for myself, “have a good time you two, lane 7 is all yours.”
“Thanks, bro,” Jungkook said as he grabbed both pairs of shoes off the counter and motioned for me to follow him with the tilt of his head. As we walked through the different lanes i was awed with the fun atmosphere and the ode to the nineteen sixties this place provided. When we reached a rack that was filled with different colored bowling balls, “this is where you pick out your ball, it has to be a size that works for you and feels comfortable.” Jungkook explained as he easily found his own. I picked up different colored bowling balls and finally settled on a pink one and then we headed over to our lane.
After Jungkook set up the game, he took the initiative to go first to allow me to see how it was done. He grabbed his ball from the rack and took a deep breath as he held it up to his chest, he slowly strode up to the aisle and shuffled his weight onto his left foot as he slid right leg across the back of his other one as he threw the ball. I watched as the ball rolled down the aisle effortlessly and knocked all the pins down; from that very moment, i knew i was screwed as i watched the TV screen project the word “strike!”Inevitably, it was my turn to bowl after Jungkook cleared all the pins on his turn; I stood up from my seat and made my way over to grab my ball, praying to any and every bowling god in existence that i would not embarrass myself. Jungkook came up to stand behind me, “here let me help you,” he then began to explain the proper way to bowl, which in fact, was no help at all due to his proximity. His voice was low and velvety by my ear as he adjusted my posture and wrapped his arms around my own walking me through the motions of how to swing the ball and keep it centered down the lane. “You got it?” He asked as he pulled away and knocked me out of my momentary trance, my skin missing his warmth. I nodded my head hesitantly as i tried to recall everything Jungkook had taught me. I took a deep breath before mimicking his movements and throwing the ball down the aisle probably a bit too forcefully and watched it roll down before making it into the gutter half way down. Jungkook clapped loudly as he called, “you did great, Mily!” Bless his soul.I walked back over to grab my other ball since it was apparently still my turn, I took another deep breath and tried to focus a bit more, there was no way i was going to go down without at least giving a good fight. Each step i took towards the lane was filled with determination as i gave myself a mental pep-talk while Jungkook hollered, “I believe in you!” I swung my arm back and threw the ball, it looked promising as it rolled down the aisle until it curved half way and only managed to knock down the far right pin in the back.
“I got one!” I exclaimed excitedly as i turned around to face Jungkook who was leaning against a stool with a rather adorable smile on his face that had his eyes twinkling, “you did,” he replied happily as he stood straight from his position and offered me a high five on his way to grab his ball. This time around, Jungkook managed to knock down all the pins with the exception of two that were off to the left which he was able to get on his second try. I clapped and hollered for him as he made his way back over to our bench giving an over-exaggerated bow before taking a seat beside me, “you’re turn,” he said as he bounced on the seat.
I walked up towards the aisle with my ball in hand, trying to focus my aim down the center of the aisle, i was feeling it. I took a deep breath before swinging my arm back with a bit too force which caused me to lose a bit of balance and let the ball go prematurely which led to said ball rolling straight towards Jungkook.
“Woah, woah,” Jungkook said as he picked up the ball from the ground, “easy there, tiger,” he walked up to me with my ball in hand, “that was certainly exciting, but let’s try to roll the ball FORWARD this time.” He chuckled as he handed the ball back to me and ruffled my hair before making his way back to his seat.
I stuck my tongue out at him childishly which caused him to throw his head back in roarous laughter. I took another deep breath and focused my aim to the center of the aisle and threw the ball correctly this time around and to my surprise, I knocked down all of the pins. I turned around towards Jungkook and motioned towards what just happened, “did you see that?!” I shouted as I flailed
my arms around excitedly. Jungkook’s jaw was on the ground but he quickly recuperated himself as he hopped up from his seat and ran towards me, encasing me in his warmth as he swept me off my feet and twirled me around, “you did it! That’s my girl, I knew you could do it!”
I giggled delightedly as he brought me back down, we held each other’s gazes as wide smiles were exchanged, “I did it!” I said again and Jungkook nodded, “you did.”
“I want to do it again,” I said which caused Jungkook to laugh, his dark eyes disappearing from smiling so hard and my heart doubled its rate at the endearing sight.Between playful banter and competitive flare our evening dwindled down to Jungkook parking Namjoon’s car in front of my house, the good atmosphere from earlier still lingering between us as we chatted away; neither one of us making a move to open the car doors.
“This was so much fun,” I said as i glanced at him, “thank you for today, Jungkook.”He smiled widely back at me, “I had a great time too, we should definitely do this again.”
“Definitely,” i reaffirmed as I leaned over the glove compartment, “and next time, I am so going to beat your score.”
“I can’t wait to see you try,” he responded as he mirrored my actions and leaned closer to me, our faces near centimeters from one another. Without intending to, it seemed that we had landed ourselves in quite the predicament as i somehow managed to lose myself in his gaze; his breath ghosting over my lips, smelling like temptation wrapped up in the cherry cola he drank earlier. All I had to do was move in slightly and our lips would touch and thus rendering Jungkook my first kiss, “Mily,” Jungkook called my name, his voice nearly a whisper, his eyes trailed down to my lips and mine did the same to his, “yes?” I asked as I brought my gaze back up to his eyes, my insides squeezing in anticipation while the kaleidoscope of butterflies flew freely throughout my entire body, for the first time in my entire life, I felt inebriated without any alcohol in my system.
“Mily, I,” Jungkook paused momentarily before glancing back up at me, “I really, really want to kiss you right now.” His eyes pleading with mine in an unspoken question as he nuzzled his nose against mine. I let out a shaky breath as my nose followed his actions, “then do it,” I responded and within an instant i felt a pair of plush lips pressed against my own, the feeling so foreign to me but yet all so thrilling. Jungkook slowly parted his lips and gently sucked in my lower lip with a tenderness that left me breathless while i tried my best to follow his actions, enjoying this moment while it lasted.All too soon, the kiss ended as he pulled away, his breath just as shaky as mine was as he pressed his forehead against mine, “it’s getting late,” he said, nuzzling his nose against mine once again with his lips ghosting over mine, “you should probably head inside.”I didn’t notice when my eyes closed but I opened them
to glance up at him, “walk me to the door?” I asked hopeful because i didn’t want the night or this moment to end.Jungkook shook his head, “that’s not a good idea,” he murmured as he planted a chaste kiss on the corner of my mouth, “if I walk you up to that door, i won’t be able to let you go inside alone and i don’t want to rush whatever there is between us and I know you aren’t ready yet. Any other night, I would gladly walk you up to that door, but i can’t do it tonight.”I nodded in understanding, “okay,” i whispered as i slowly pulled away from him, my hand already opening the car door however my eyes were glued on him, “good night, Jungkook.”
“Good night, Mily,” he replied, his voice soft as though it were a dream but every sensation in my body that was brought to life by his kiss told me otherwise. I walked towards my front door and once i unlocked it, I turned around and gave him a small wave good bye before walking into my house and just like that, our night out together ended and had experienced my first kiss at the tender age of twenty three.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The sun made its blissful ascent through the sky, it’s light slowly trickling through the curtains as a new day began. It had been the first time in a while since I’ve gotten to enjoy a sunrise since my days as a university student; my mornings in recent years had been filled with hurried steps and busied schedules that small ideals like witnessing the ethereal beauty of a sunrise were always taken for granted. It indeed was a new day and in sort, a new beginning of what, I, myself still seem to be unsure of; this was uncharted territory, a first kiss which would then lead to an uncertain flurry of emotions and insecurities. It had been seven hours since the kiss occurred and had quickly occupied the majority of my thoughts, leaving sleep behind in trade of what if’s and maybe’s that plagued my mind. Maybe he was just carried away in the moment, what if he kissed me out of sympathy because I’ve never been kissed before? What if it was a mistake? Maybe this was a mistake. What if he regrets it when he wakes up in the morning? Do I regret it? All these questions and more held me hostage as I sat staring out the window at the dawn of a new day. I knew for certain, I didn’t regret that kiss; it was everything I hoped for in a first kiss and the sentiments behind it were genuine. It was time for me accept that maybe the warm and fuzzy feelings Jungkook had been responsible for bringing out in me were feelings of truly liking someone. I like Jungkook, it’s a simple exclamation in a complexed situation. Jungkook was young and just starting university, and to make matters even worst he was here in the United States on a study program which meant that after a certain time he would undoubtedly head back to South Korea once his visa expired or finished studying. In other words, whatever was to transpire between myself and Jungkook would inevitably end, it was foreseeable. To add insult to injury, Jungkook and I are in two different places in our lives; I’m a professor and no doubt I would eventually be his professor if he decides to satisfy his literature requirement with one of my courses. It was forbidden, it would damage my reputation as a respected writer and professor and it would ruin any chances he had of making his dreams come true as a film director. It was in this moment that I realized the odds would be against us if there ever was to be an “us.”Taking a sip of coffee from my warm mug, fingers pressed tightly against the smooth porcelain; the warmth from the mug acting as a silent comfort as the realization occurs. Whatever Jungkook and I have cannot be had. I sit silently and stare out the window watching the golden rays of light bring a new awakening to all it touches, wondering if, like the flowers, my life would come to full bloom with just a simple touch of the sun. I close my eyes and bask in the tingling sensation of warmth spreading around my exposed skin, hoping the sun would gift me with a revelation of what to do.
My phone vibrates just beside me, a notification that selfishly demanded my attention in a moment of deep thought and inner peace. I sighed as I placed my mug on the coffee table to retrieve the device and slide the lock screen, my breathing hitched at the notification that awaited me. “Good morning, Mily.” The message from Jungkook read, “get dressed and meet me outside.”Another kind of warmth spread through me, awakening all the nerves in my body from their restless slumber and the irony was not lost on me. I wondered if the sun would bring me to full bloom with it’s rays of light but it was Jungkook who seemed to be doing the job with his rays of warmth that jolted me back to life.
I stood up from my place on the couch, glancing at the time displayed on my phone; it was only 7:30 and Jungkook was already wide awake as it seems and probably wanting to discuss the events of our previous encounter. I make my way towards the stairs to change out of my night gown, in exchange for more suitable attire; blue jeans and a white tee-shirt that offered the comfort needed for what awaited me.
Opening the front door, I was met by a glorious Louisiana morning which consisted of due glossed over grass and the slightest glimpse of an early morning fog; the golden skies fitting for a scene from a Jane Austen film adaption. “Mily!” Jungkook called from across the lawn, an audible gasp left my parted lips as he walked with a confident stride towards me; dressed in thin white tee-shirt that was tucked into a pair black skinny jeans, accentuating all of his finer physical aspects; looking all the more like a modern Mr. Darcy through the romantic mist. He paused as he stood before me keeping a respectable distance that was both admirable torturous as I was granted a closer look at his unfairly enchanting early morning look; his hair was just washed and swept back but a few strands of his fringe were left perfectly placed on his forehead like a happy accident, his lips glossed as though he were blessed by the morning due, and looking ever so tempting to kiss. “Hi,” I replied shakily, cursing myself internally for not sounding indifferent or even the slightest bit unaffected by his presence. Jungkook smiled down at me albeit nervously, with his hands in his pockets “would you, um,” Jungkook sunk his teeth into his bottom lip with his brows furrowed, “w-would you like to go have breakfast with me this morning?” At the sight of him like this my heart had nearly melted into a puddle at our feet, how young man could be so undeniably attractive and yet so endearing was beyond my understanding. “I would like that,” I blurted out embarrassingly which caused Jungkook to chuckle, the low baritone in it stirred unwarranted feelings in the pit of my stomach, reminiscent of the butterflies from last night. “Great!,” he perked up instantly, a smile spreading across his handsome face as he made to put his hand behind by back to lead me towards Namjoon’s car, “have you ever been to Telly’s before? I hear they make brisket on toast with a sunny side egg on top and I have been dying to try it since I heard about it.” “You’re in luck, Jeon, Telly’s just happens to be one of my favorite places to go eat,” I replied as I got in the car and buckled my seat belt, “but don’t be surprised if we have to wait an hour for a table, that place is always crowded, it’s Louisiana’s hidden gem afterall.”The conversation in the car was light and refreshing as Jungkook asked questions about other local restaurants in town and asking me to rank them in comparison to Jaguar since it was the only restaurant he was familiar with because he worked there.The wait at Telly’s wasn’t as bad as expected for a Saturday, as we were instantly sat in a booth with a window view of the parking lot, one of the down-sides of a mom and pop diner like this one was it’s lack of romantic appeal which certainly helped ease things between Jungkook and I, though the atmosphere did become a bit awkward once we sat down and ordered our food. “Did you sleep well last night?” He asked, twiddling with the wrapper from his straw.My eyes widened as I glanced up at him, his focus lost in the wrapper between his fingers, I didn’t know if I should be honest with him or just concede to the social protocol of small talk which seemed a safe route “I slept well, how about you?”He blinked up at me, through his eyes I could see the wheels of his head turning as he faced a struggle similar to mine, “I couldn’t sleep at all last night,” he confessed, his eyes taking a renewed interest in the now very tattered and distressed wrapper. My heart both fluttered and fell at his confession, wondering if his cause for insomnia has something to do with last night. “Was it your nerves about the fall semester starting soon?” I asked in attempt to redirect the conversation onto something else. “Uh, yes-well, no,uh,” he stumbled and stuttered, “I was just thinking about- about you,” he huffed in exasperation, “n-not in a creepy pervert way or anything but, yeah, I couldn’t sleep because I was up thinking of you in the ‘I had a lot of fun last night and it was an incredible time’ kind of way, and also the ‘I want to go out again soon with you’ kind of way.” “You know” I began both flustered and annoyed, “for being so awkward, you are one sly son of a gun,” I said while crossing my arms over my chest with a smirk finding its way up my lips. The boy was a complete contradiction and a beautiful disaster all of his own, he wouldn’t know it yet but it brought me even closer to the edge of this unknown feeling I was developing, with his flaws and all, I was about to dive head first in an unexplored sea of emotions that I wasn’t sure I could handle if he kept looking at me the way he did. His eyes twinkled as the natural light fled through the window catching his ember eyes and turning them into a pool of honey, his smile so wide and bright that it could be measured in kilowatts. I take a moment to reflect and realize how incredibly lucky I am to have given my first kiss to this ethereal being that was also a dork. “You think I’m sly?” he asked as he cocked a suggestive brow. “You overlooked the part where I think your awkward,” I rebutted. “But it doesn’t change the fact that you think I’m sly.” He teased in a sing-song manner which caused me to huff in indignance.Jungkook chuckled again before resuming the conversation, “I really did have an incredible with you last night, he said more seriously, “I would love to do it again sometime and,” he paused taking a deep breath to collect his thoughts, “I hope I’m not coming on too strong but, I like you, Mily, and I want to get to know you more.” “Jungkook, I-“As if on cue, the waiter plopped in giddily as she placed the food on the table, her hazel eyes wandering over to Jungkook as she slides him the infamous brisket over toast dish he couldn’t stop talking about in the car. “Thank you,” I replied to her as she slide the omelet over to me, while Jungkook being the animal he was took a giant bite of his brisket toast and hummed in approval, “Oh god this is amazing,” he commented through a mouth full of food seemingly forgetting the heaviness of the discussion we were having before, “You’ve got to try this!”The rest of breakfast goes off without a hitch and Jungkook being the perfect gentlemen that he is fought me for the check when it came, stating that since he was the one to invite me out he should pay the bill which I reluctantly allowed with the promise that next time breakfast was on me. The ride home was nice and light as we talked out our food and various other items Jungkook wanted to try off of the breakfast menu next time we went. When Jungkook pulled up the drive way to my house he turned to me with a warm smile, “I had fun today,” Jungkook said, memories from last night flooding my mind as he said the exact same thing. “I did, too, thank you for inviting me out, I should really get going though, I have to prepare for a conference call with a reporter from the Ilemy Post,” I replied as I collected my bag and opened the door, not expecting Jungkook to join me on my quest to the front door. “The Ilemy Post?” Jungkook questioned as he turned off his car and exited it to my dismay. “It’s Ilemy University’s magazine for students, Landon had the idea to promote LTP1793 through them to get the word out on campus. Hopefully we can draw in a lot of enrollments for our course,” I explained as we both made our way to my front door, the dreaded good bye was coming far too soon for my liking. “Well look at you being all important,” Jungkook teased, “I’ll be sure to ask you for your autograph when I pick up a copy at the university.I snorted, “It’s not that big a deal, Jungkook, they are probably going to take one snip of my interview which would probably be a sentence long.”Jungkook shrugged as he leaned against the doorframe, “still, it’s a pretty big deal, Mily, and I’m proud of you. You really are paving the way for students like me who want to break into the entertainment industry, it’s a game changer, Mily, you’re going to help open doors for aspiring actors, directors, screen writers and even authors. I really respect you for that, you know.”I glanced back at Jungkook, his eyes focused on mine with a look of admiration plastered on his face, “you’re giving me too much credit, it was Anna’s idea not mine, I just jumped on it because it was a good idea and I wanted to help.” “All the same, I still think you’re incredible, a wonder woman in your own right with all of the things you’ve accomplished at such a young age,” he replied, pulling himself off of the doorframe to stand before me, “I look forward to your excerpt in the post!” Then headed down the steps. “Jungkook, wait,” I called out, he turned around on the last step, “about what you said earlier at the restaurant, I-“Jungkook shook his head, “I know you’re not ready to take on anything with me yet, but I wanted to let you know how I felt so that you wouldn’t have a doubt in your mind about it. I really like you, Mily but I don’t want to rush things with you, especially when you’ve got so much going on now. I’ll wait for you but until then I would like to court you, take you out on dates and hold your hand, tell you how beautiful you look whenever I see you,” he stated climbing up a step as my body automatically went to meet him half way, his right hand coming up to cup my cheek. “Jungkook,” I replied breathily, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to be doing this, eventually I’ll be your professor if word gets out that we are together that’s it for the both us, our reputations our ruined and you’ll probably be sent back to South Korea earlier than anticipated, and it’s just not worth all the trouble you’ll go through. It’s not worth it.”There it was, I said it, it’s out in the open now and I can’t take it back. Jungkook pulled his hand back as if he were burned by a wild flame, his face morphing from a smile to a sour expression, his tongue prodding his cheek as he glanced off to the side, “it might not be worth it to you, but it’s worth a shot for me. I don’t care about any consequences I’ll face if there are any to begin with. We are two consenting adults, Mily, last I checked that isn’t against any rules, and my visa is intact just as long as I study at a University and even then there is nothing that clearly states I cant date someone. I understand that compared to you, I am nothing, just a kid with a dream to make movies who in reality might not even make it in the industry because that’s how life is! At least I tried to do something, at least I am willing to try even though I know my success rate isn’t that high. I’m willing to try, Mily, but I don’t think you are and that’s ok, I won’t force you to.” “Jungko-“ “I guess I’ll see you around, I’ve got to go,” Jungkook then turns on his heel and walks away while I stood rooted in my spot at the current shock I was experiencing. It felt wrong just watching him walk away like that, maybe I was a bit harsh on him for saying what I did, but I’m doing the right thing; for his own good and for mine. I held onto that thought as I made my way inside the house though I couldn’t help the pang of guilt that I felt sinking into my stomach.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
"You, my dear friend, are an idiot,” Audrina groaned, a perfectly manicured hand pinching the bridge of her nose while nursing a glass of milk and Jack Daniel’s in the other. As ritual, it was Wednesday night which means its girl’s night with Audrina and Tina. I found myself sitting haphazardly on the carpeted floor of Tina’s house across the way from a disapproving Audrina and a slack jawed Tina after explaining my reasons for why I had been seemly avoiding Jaguar and Jungkook’s noticeable absence from my life for the last five days. I haven’t seen Jungkook since Saturday nor have I heard from him since, no text messages, no random movie nights, and worst of all whenever a ball flies over to my side of the fence, it has been Hoseok who would come and retrieve the ball. It was all quite odd; the days were filled with productivity, turning out three chapters for my novel but there was still a notable void that was slowly growing larger. I missed Jungkook and that was a notion that frightened me greatly. I had always found solace in being alone before meeting Jungkook and his friends, yet these days I have come to find the solitude unbearable and uninviting.
“I don’t think I did anything wrong, Audrina,” I defended, “I only stated the reality of the situation, I was saving us both from the heartache.”Tina snorted into her glass, “are you sure about that, Mily? Because it sounds like you broke the poor boy’s heart.”
“He seemed fine when I told him, maybe he was just a bit caught off guard but he took it well! He even said he would see me around!” I nearly shouted in my own defense.
“What other choice did he have,” Audrina objected, “you basically told him he was worthless to you and you weren’t even going to bother giving him a chance. He’s a man who was just stripped of his pride by the girl he fancied, he wasn’t going to cry or argue with you, you made yourself very clear to him, Mily.”A tense pause came over the once jovial evening, drawing it to a crashing end. My heart sank into the pit of my stomach as Audrina’s words were digested, leaving a bitter taste of harsh reality in my mouth. I hadn’t imagined that in so few words I might have told Jungkook he meant so little to me when the reality was the exact opposite, Jungkook was my first kiss, the first boy to take me out on a date, and the first boy to actually take interest in a boring bookworm like myself. Jungkook was the sun who woke every restless nerve in my body with just a single word and I was just a pale, fragile flower in a garden full of vibrant, prettier ones who the sun would -no doubt- take more interest in them eventually. Finding myself facing the similar maybe and what if questions; maybe I was a bit too harsh on him, what if he hates me now? Maybe I should apologize to him.
“We’re just worried about you, Mily,” Tina inserted, reaching her hand across the glass coffee table to place it over my forearm, “we only want to see you happy.”I glanced back at her, giving my best attempt of a smile but falling short as the unshed tears stung my eyes, “I think I better go,” I stated, wiping off a rogue tear that slipped through the barrier while I stood from my spot.
“No, Mily,” Tina said, “Don’t go, not like this,” she pleaded sending a harsh glare to Audrina in the process, “you know Audrina can be an ass when she drinks whiskey, she didn’t mean what she said, right, Audrina?”Pulling my bag and car keys, I headed towards the front door, “she’s right, T, I’ve got to go, I’ve got a lot on my mind right now and I don’t think it’s best for me to be here.”
“Mily,” Audrina called running up from behind me and taking my hand in hers, “I’m sorry, Mils I didn’t mean for that to come out as harshly as it did. Please don’t go, we haven’t even started karaoke yet.”
I shook my head, gently removing my hand from her grasp, “I’m not mad at you, Audrina, I’m more disgusted with myself. I wouldn’t exactly be the best company tonight, so I find it best if I just have a moment to myself and clear my head.”Audrina pulled back and nodded in the acknowledgement that asking me to stay was a lost cause, “drive safe, Mily.”
The drive back to the house was swift and silent as I turned into the cemented driveway of my home but dreading the thought of another lonely night. Glancing at the time on my watch, the night was still young; seven minutes shy of being eleven which meant nearly all the decent places were closing for the night leaving the only viable options of bars and night clubs which I always found to be unappealing. With a restless sigh I exited my car glancing momentarily at the house next door; noticing the absence of Namjoon’s car which meant Jungkook probably took it to work since he was always scheduled to work on Wednesday nights. I hastily ran up the steps and unlocked the front door before my thoughts could linger any further on the starry-eyed boy. It would do me no good to think of him and sulk, my attention was needed elsewhere which was why I currently sat before my laptop typing away as the fourth chapter of my novel came underway.
“She felt like she was living in a romance novel as every so often he would twirl her around then quickly pulling her back into his arms that felt like a protective barrier between her and the rest of the world.” I paused as I reread the first sentence then on to the rest of the paragraph.
“At first she was uncomfortable with their proximity, assuming the closer he held her the clearer he could hear her heart pounding against her chest and the symphony of butterflies fluttering about in her stomach. Staring into his warm eyes gave her the reassurance and confidence she needed that he too felt similarly and thus allowing herself to rest her head against the crook of his neck. Instantaneously, Jungkook-” I froze in place as I read his name aloud, shocked with the realization that I had mistakenly written Jungkook’s name instead of the love interest’s name which was Jonathan. I furious tapped the delete button and corrected the mistake making sure to proof read the rest of my draft to guarantee there were no more Jungkook sightings.
I pinched the bridge of my nose as I leaned back against my desk chair willing away what just happened. I was thankfully roused out of my self-pity thanks to the buzzing of my cellphone against the mahogany desk, but cursing internally at the name displayed across the screen.
“Jungkook?” I answered, glancing at the time on the upper right corner of my laptop, wondering what on earth the boy could possibly want at 1:00 in the morning.
“Noona” the boy spoke, dragging out the last vowel like a long note in a song, “bogoshipda,” he slurred in what I assumed to be Korean, the words he spoke unknown to me.
“I can’t understand what you’re saying,” I replied, worry seeping into me as he spoke again.
“Noona, saranghaeyeo~” he giggled, but it did little to subside my concern when the reality of the situation dawned on me.
“Jungkook, are you drunk?” I questioned, listening to the thumping music that was playing in the background, was Jungkook in a club?
Another chuckle was heard followed by an overly enthusiastic reply “yes!”I scrambled from my seat and bounded for the door, my sole mission was to recruit the rest of the boys while I continued to talk to an inebriated Jungkook, “do you know where you are?” I asked making my way to the neighbor’s front door and assaulting it with violent knocks.
“I am at” he paused for a moment, “Heaven, but it feels like hell without you,” he cooed and though as cheesy as the line was, it set my insides aflutter.
I continued pounding on the front door until there was finally an answer from a sleep ridden Namjoon who looked worse for wear as his hair was a disheveled nest and his makeshift pajamas hanging askew from his right shoulder, “What is it?” he grumbled sleepily, his eyes struggling to stay open as he glanced at me.
“Jungkook is very drunk and in a very popular night club,” I respond, my phone still pressed to my ear as Jungkook continued to coo in Korean.
“What?!” The boy shouted, his eyes widening at the news, “is that him on the phone with you now?”
I nodded my head as I passed the phone over to Namjoon, “Jungkookie, where are you?” he asked into the phone but frowned when he didn’t get the response he wanted saying something to the younger in Korean before rolling his eyes and passing the phone back to me, “he only wants to talk to you,” he stated blandly, “wait here and keep him on the line, I’m going to change and grab Jin’s keys so we could go get him.”
I continued to talk to Jungkook over the phone, amused with how in his drunken stupor he reverted to speaking Korean and doing so in a timbre lower than he speaks English, it was cute to listen to but alluring all at the same time, a contradiction that only Jungkook knew how to pull off, “what on earth possessed you to go to Heaven?” I asked, pacing the front porch while awaiting Namjoon’s return.
“I lub-u dis song!” he shouted gleefully while there was some rustling on the line, presumably Jungkook waving his arms in the air and dancing to the beat of the song.
“Namjoon, you better hurry,” I called into the house, “I think we’re losing him!”Quick footsteps patted down the stairs as Namjoon adjusted his dress shirt, “let’s move.”
The nightlife in front of Club Heaven was in full swing with the bass dropping and sweaty bodies grinding against one another to the grimy beat of the song playing. The lights dimmed down low and casting a blue shadow on party-goers adding on to the unique “heavenly” effect that was associated with the club. Namjoon and I made our way through the crowd slowly our eyes roaming the expanse of the room in hopes of finding the familiar figure of Jungkook Jeon. I stuck close behind Namjoon not wanting to end up lost in this sea of people, keeping my eyes on the bar area, hoping he would help us out and stick to one place. My phone was still pressed to my ear listening to Jungkook sing along with the song playing, “Jungkook, are you still by the bar?” I shouted into the phone hoping he would be able to hear me.
“Ye, I see you!” he replied and as if by an act of fate my eyes landed on Jungkook waving his hands in the air enthusiastically to the beat of the song while flagging us over.I grabbed Namjoon’s arm and pointed him over to Jungkook, he parted through the crowd with me just behind him until we came face to face with a flushed Jungkook who immediately wrapped his arms around my torso, “Noona!” he cried into my neck, “Bogoshipda, nae sarang.”
“Alright, enough,” Namjoon said as he pulled him off of me, “hajiman.”Jungkook released me reluctantly but still maintained physical contact by taking my hand, I glanced up at him in surprised as he gave my hand an affectionate squeeze with a drunken smile on his face.
“Let’s get you home,” I shouted over the music and he nodded his head, “could you walk on your own or do you need help?”There was no answer needed as he swayed slightly while taking a step forward and nearly toppling over me. Namjoon and I shared a look as we both took hold of him by the arms and led him through the exit and towards the car with a few stumbles along the way. Gently, Namjoon coaxed him into the car, making sure he wouldn’t hit his head but the youngest whined regardless, “Noona! I want-u Mily Noona!”
“Relax, Jungkookie, she’s right here,” Namjoon grumbled as he fastened the seatbelt across Jungkook’s torso.
“Should I go in the back with him?” I asked Namjoon as Jungkook continued to pout and complain.Namjoon ran his fingers through his tousled hair in attempt to tame the wild locks, “would you be comfortable with that?”I glanced back at Jungkook who hand his arms crossed and prominent pout on his lips looking like an oversized toddler, “it’s Jungkook of course I’m comfortable, besides what if he needs to throw up and can’t get the window down on his own?”
“You raise a good point,” Namjoon agreed before holding the door open for me to get in, “if he tries to get frisky just let me know.”Jungkook gasped when he saw me lower myself into the seat beside him and instantly pulled me into another embrace, resting his head on my shoulder while he muttered in Korean.
“What is he saying?” I asked Namjoon as he started the car.
“He says you’re his favorite pillow,” Namjoon translated as he drove us home.The ride home was peaceful with the occasional yawn escaping someone every once in a while as the hour continued to grow late. Jungkook had calmed down significantly stirring every now and then to nuzzle his face further into my neck the action making me giggle.
“Saranghae, Noona,” Jungkook sighed into my neck, the warm breath causing goosebumps to form up my arms.
“What does that mean?” I asked Namjoon as he glanced back at us through the rearview mirror.Namjoon shrugged his shoulders, “I think you should ask him in the morning, it’s not something that I should interpret for him when he can say it on his own.”This made my stomach sink momentarily, “is it a bad thing?” I asked.Namjoon shrugged his shoulders yet again, “that depends on you.”
“Spoken like a true poet, Namjoon,” I responded drily which caused the male to chuckle tiredly.
When we finally pulled up to their house, Jungkook was out cold as light snores passed his lips and onto my skin. Namjoon exited the car and opened the back door on Jungkook’s side, maneuvering the youngest’s weight off of my body and shaking him slightly, “wake up, Jungkookie, we’re home.”Jungkook stirred with a whimper, “Noona.”
“She’s right here, buddy, but we need your help to get you inside the house and to your room, do you think you can do it?” Namjoon asked as he wrapped Jungkook’s left arm over his shoulder.
“S’kay I can do it.” Jungkook replied drowsily as he leaned against Namjoon.
“I’ll get the door for you,” I volunteered, taking the keys out of Namjoon’s other hand and heading towards the door waiting patiently as the boys slowly made their way up the front porch.
“Thanks, Mily,” Namjoon stated with a tired smile, “would you mind helping me bring him to our room? I don’t think I’ll be able to do it on my own, not with how much he is stumbling.”I quickly grabbed hold of Jungkook’s other arm and together we led him up the stairs in a slight angle due to the narrow staircase, “Pivot!” Jungkook called out when he accidentally bumped into the wall, “Pivot!”
“Shh!” Namjoon chastised him, “I knew letting you watch ‘Friends’ was a bad idea.”I chuckled at the scene, saving it for later on when I wanted to tease Jungkook about this night before realizing that we aren’t exactly on the best terms at the moment. When we were finally in front of their shared room, Namjoon opened the door and led us in.
“Okay, let’s put him down,” Namjoon said as he brought us to the side of Jungkook’s bed and unwinding the nearly unconscious boy’s body off of him which accidentally led to more of Jungkooks weight shifting onto me which in turn led to the both of us tumbling onto the bed with Jungkook clinging onto me for dear life. To say the position was awkward was an understatement, both of our torsos were laying flat on the bed with our feet dangling off to the side and not to mention Jungkooks tight grip around my arms rendering my top half immobile.
“Oh shit,” Namjoon muttered as he quickly tried to right the situation by pulling up Jungkook’s legs to rest comfortably in hopes that he would let go of me on his own.
“Jungkookie, let Mily go,” Namjoon demanded as he shook the boy’s arm.
“No.” The boy whined over the top of my head that was now firmly pressed against his chest.
“Jungkookie, Mily needs to go home and rest, let her go so she could go home.” Namjoon reasoned but the youngest was having none of it.
“I’ll never let Noona go,” Jungkook replied his voice carrying a certain determination that had my heart fluttering the all too familiar tingles returning to my body after their noticeable absence during the last five days.Namjoon tried to pry Jungkook’s hold on me but came to no avail when the youngest was fast asleep with me wrapped up in his arms.
“It’s okay Namjoon, I’ll just crash here for the night,” I reasoned watching the boy let out a defeated sigh, exhaustion taking hold of his form.
“That’s not appropriate though, what if he tries to make a pass at you?” Namjoon asked which caused me to snort.
“This is Jungkook we’re talking about, besides this is your room too, so if anything does happen I can call out to you if I need help.” I responded settling into my space against Jungkook.Namjoon hesitated as he checked the time on his watch then resigned to his bed just across the way, “shout if you need me,” he replied as he crashed down into his bed and wrapped himself up in his covers finding sleep in no time at all.I glanced up at the wall just over Jungkook’s shoulder with all of his movie posters hoping that sleep would overtake me soon enough as my breaths fell into a steady rhythm along with Jungkook’s. A flush found it’s way around my face as a certain thought crossed my mind, this would be the first time I’ve ever slept in a bed with someone of the opposite sex. It seemed like Jungkook was single handedly claiming all of my firsts even when unconscious. I nuzzled my head deeper into his chest and closed my eyes, allowing Jungkook to occupy all my senses as I finally fell asleep.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The harmonious sound of birds chirping their morning tune was what awakened me the next morning along with the calming sound of the early morning breeze rustling the palms of the trees. A small sliver of light came peaking in through curtains, blessing the room with it’s golden light. It was a glorious morning on Kensington Avenue the kind of morning that, despite the uneventful evening that came before it, made the dawn worth the dusk. It was an odd feeling, nearly every morning on Kensington Avenue held this much value however, this morning felt a bit different. I let out a peaceful exhale as I allowed the warmth of the blankets invite me back into the stillness of sleep with a pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist and welcome the tingles brought by the shallow breaths of a sleeping Jungkook, tickle the nape of my neck. It was impossible to feel so at home and so safe in an unfamiliar situation like this. How was it possible that I didn’t entirely lose my wits this morning waking up in Jungkook’s room tangled in his embrace? I have yet to discover the answer however, I have a sneaking suspicion that it had to do with the sight of Jungkook sleeping so soundly, cuddled up against me like a child with a teddy bear. I turned slightly, taking a peek of his face in all its early morning glory despite his disheveled pink hair and dark circles under his eyes, he was entirely ethereal and unattainable, like a star in the night sky. A long breath slipped past my lips, drinking in what was left of this morning’s unexpected bliss before reality set in. I had done wrong by him, if he awoken to me like this, he would surely send me away in all his bewilderment and he had every right to do so. We cant have an encounter like this, it wouldn’t exactly help our situation, in fact it would probably worsen the problem. I had to leave, but leaving was a problem within itself; not because Jungkook held me, but because I simply didn’t want to though I knew it was the right thing to do. Slowly, and ever so carefully, I unwound myself from the protective cocoon that was Jungkook, regretting every moment of it as I lost his warmth. It was for the best, I told myself, this wouldn’t be how we resolved our situation, it was better to find another way. As I brought myself to the edge of the bed, I glanced back at Jungkook, taking in what would probably be the first and last stolen moment of the early morning. I don’t know what it was in that moment that propelled me to lean forward, but in an instant, I found my lips placing a lingering kiss on his cheek, “I’m sorry,” I whisper into the wind knowing far too well how cowardly of me it was to apologize when he couldn’t even hear me to accept or deny my apology. It was true, I still had some things I needed to figure out, and they were mostly things that had to do with my self-esteem. I honestly couldn’t tell what he saw in me, but if someone as kind and genuine and Jungkook could find something in me so wonderful, then maybe, just maybe, I could find it within myself too. I rose from the bed slowly, ensuring that I didn’t disturb either of the boys sleeping before slipping through the door and into the hallway. “Mily?” the groggy voice of Seokjin caught my attention as I slowly closed the door to Jungkook and Namjoon’s room, “what are you doing here?” he quipped, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes while a yawn passed his lips. “I-I,” I had no thought as to how I was going to explain this predicament to the eldest of the group, but gave it my best shot anyways, “Jungkook, he drunk dialed me last night from a club so Namjoon and I went to get him and he unintentionally clung to me like a koala when he went down so I had no choice but to stay the night. Sorry I startled you.” Seokjin shrugged, “I wasn’t startled, I was happy to see you,” he stated, “are you staying for breakfast? I know it would mean a lot to the guys if you did.” A brief pause came between us, usually I would never deny an offer like this, these boys had become a part of my family however, things between Jungkook and I weren’t exactly out of the woods. “Seokjin, I don’t think that’s a-“ I tried to reply however Seokjin cut in, “he’s been going to a tough time this week, I think he would greatly appreciate it if you stayed.” “You don’t understand, Jin,” I nearly grunted in frustration, “the last time we saw each other things didn’t go so well, I don’t think it’s a good idea to be here when he wakes up,” I replied crossing my arms over my chest as I felt small prickles in both my eyes, a sure indicator that tears were soon to follow, “besides, I’m the last person he’d want to see right now.” A small sniffle left me and as soon as Jin took his first step towards me, the tears came flooding down faster than I had liked. “Hey, it’s okay,” Seokjin cooed as he hugged me, “it’s all going to be okay between you guys, I know it will,” he comforted me as he swayed me from side to side. I shook my head in denial, “no it won’t, I pushed him away, Jin, I don’t think he’ll want to see me again or let alone talk to me after what I said to him last time. I just don’t know what to do in a situation like this.” “Love isn’t easy, if it were, then we would all be in love right now,” Jin stated, “its okay to be confused and not know what to do, truth be told that’s how it usually works.”Another pause overcame us as his words resonated within my head, overwhelming thoughts flooding the canals of logic and reason while a sense of warmth rose within my body, “I think I should go,” I stated as I pulled away quickly wiping away the remaining tears from my eyes. Seokjin seemed disappointed at the decision however obliged, “I’ll walk you out, at least let me give you a granola bar for the walk back.” A snort slipped passed my lips, “you make it sound like I live a mile away and not next door,” I said as we headed down the stairs and towards the front door, “I’ll see you around.” “Don’t be a stranger, Mily,” Seokjin stated as he held the door open for me, “just because you and Jungkook are going through a rough patch, doesn’t mean you can’t come around anymore.” I gave him a subtle smile, “I’ll keep that in mind,” I replied as I walked out into the tranquil masterpiece that was nature, “see you later!” I called back to Jin as I walked away, taking one glance up at the window that belongs to Jungkook’s room, wishing for one last glance of the boy who unknowingly took my heart as his own possession. It was only then that a small realization was bestowed upon me, in truth it was one I should have known from the beginning; I was falling in love with the boy next door. The rest of the day went by in a blur, between finishing up curriculum outlines and my book the day had seem to pass rather quickly and with few interruptions from the outside world. It was best for me to keep my thoughts busy in attempt to ease myself into this morning’s revelation. I needed time for myself, time to honestly reflect on the person I am currently and the person I want to be farther down the road. All my life I’ve wanted to be a successful author, lead a peaceful life and help nurture a love for books in others but never have I really thought beyond that. I’ve always thought about my career and the success it brings but not once did I ever stop to think of love because it seemed so impossible to me. I’ve always been the wallflower, the girl who was always so insignificant she was barely noticed. Boys had never really crossed my mind because they were always so vulgar and insipid and the few that weren’t already had girl on their arm and had only seen me as a friend. It would have been a day of introspection however, there were matters that couldn’t be oppressed, this novel was not going to write itself and neither was the last bit of my curriculum outline.The evening was spent delving deeper into the comfort of my couch with a bottle of Chardonnay as Casablanca played on the television. Watching the iconic pair that was Rick and Ilsa on the screen as they revive their time in Paris, it was both heartwarming and heartbreaking to watch. “The day you left Paris, if you knew what I went through, if you knew how much I loved y-“ one of Ilsa’s most iconic lines in the film was cut off by the sound of knocking on the front door. A scowl quickly found its place on my lips as I glared at the door, willing the intruder away with a single glance which didn’t seem to work. More knocking was heard on the door and begrudgingly I found myself rising from the couch and approaching the door, “coming!” I shouted unthinkingly opening the door without looking through the peephole. “What do yo-“ the words caught in my throat as my glanced held the steady stare of the boy before me, “Jungkook, what are you doing here?” My heart began to race and the sensation of fluttering filled my entire being. It had been quite a few days since Jungkook had swung by and seeing him here now on my front porch in his black T-shirt and matching black sweatpants, it felt oddly nostalgic and yet it stirred within me something new. How many times had he come over for movie nights dressed just like this? Countless, and in none of those times did I ever desire to throw myself into his arms as much as I do now. Like the first time he came knocking on my door, he stood there shyly, his left hand coming up behind the name of his neck as he scratched it, he was nervous. “I just,” he stopped and took a deep breath, the apples of his cheeks beginning to take on a subtle shade of pink, “I wanted to apologize for last night, I’m sorry I called you so late and made you come out to get me. It’s so embarrassing, actually that I put you through that and I promise I won’t do that again.” I smiled up at him as he delivered his apology, watching him struggle to find the right words to say and thanking my stars for aligning just right so that Jungkook and I could meet, “I forgive you Jungkook, I just hope you could forgive me too.” “Mily,“ Jungkook started, taking my hand in his own as he spoke, “I forgave you that same day we had the discussion, I told you I understood what you were going through and I told you I would wait. We have something special between us and I don’t want to rush into anything if it means I’d lose you for good. I don’t want to lose you because I really like you and I think you are the most gorgeous person inside and out. Whatever chance I have with you, no matter how slim, I won’t waste it. I feel strongly for you and I won’t let you go.”The moment we shared was raw, channeling the magnetism into emotion and somehow restraining it from bubbling up to the surface. What we had in this moment was delicate in nature and thus had to be approached gently. “Do you, want to come in?” I questioned as I held the door wider in invitation, “Casablanca is on and I’m pretty sure we’re going to miss the end.” Jungkook smiled in relief with a small laugh passing his lips, “Casablanca, huh? I guess I could stay until the end. After all it is probably the best classic Hollywood film known to this day, how could I not stay and watch the legacy of Michael Curtiz.”I rolled my eyes playfully as he walked through the door and made his way towards the couch, settling into the fortress of pillows as though he belonged there all along with me by his side. It seemed I was right, we had made it to end of the film where Richard gives his final farewell to Ilsa and watches her fly away with Victor Laszlo. Alas it was true, Richard and Ilsa were the iconic movie romance however they don’t end up together in the end. It was in that moment as Jungkook brought his arm around my shoulders to pull me in closer that I asked myself, will we be fated to end up like Rick and Ilsa? Or is there another film waiting to be written and filmed by us and whatever it is we have. For the time being, we have today and right now, whatever story we will create together will unwind as the time goes by. We may not find Paris but we do have Kensington Avenue, and for right now that’s all we need.