Hostage Handbook

Chapter Sixteen | Sparrows in Gutters

YEOREUM

I am once again back in this prison. The elaborate dresses of the finest silk and satin. The tall cream walls with ivory trimmings. The sparrows that occasionally stop on the balcony railing, singing me a plangent melody.

Perhaps the birds are cheering me on like I am some Zoolinguist princess. But these days, the mocking undertone in their chirps is hard to ignore.

I tilt my head to let the crocus-scented breeze brush against my eyes. My vision grows blurry, but I am certain it is not from any misery-laced tears.

Jungkook gently braces his arms around me like I am an object of frailty that needs warning stickers. Frail! Handle With Care! Frankly, that isn't too far from the truth; my abdomen sketches the shape of my rib cage.

"How was your day?" I murmur. "You came back very early."

"It was okay. I missed you a lot, so I ditched a meeting to come home," Jungkook says. He smiles as I lean my cheek against his chest. "The Minister of Finance held a meeting at a gourmet hotpot restaurant today. I think you would like their dishes."

"I probably will. You always seem to know my likes and dislikes."

"Really? I'm glad. I used to be confident with my knowledge of your likings, but I'm always nervous now," Jungkook says. He tightens his grip around me, and a sigh slips from his hesitant mouth. "Yeoreum, it bugs me that we can't experience every second of our lives together."

"Technically, you can bring me around all you want," I say. Jungkook can transform me from a bedtime teddy bear to a daytime show-and-tell figurine any time he wants.

Jungkook pinches my cheek. "My productivity will definitely plummet if I do that."

"Right, Jungkook." I raise my head to act as if I have just recalled something important. "I had a question for you."

"What is it?" Jungkook gulps.

"Why are you trying to hide Yoongi's wedding from me?"

Jungkook slackens his grip around me like a child giving up on the present they were wrongly awarded.

"I didn't want to upset you, and I was scared to see you get jealous."

"Why would I be jealous? Yoongi and I are done. I am genuinely happy for him and Dakyung. Do I seem like a mean ex-girlfriend to you?"

"No," Jungkook cries.

"You better not be lying," I snap. "Fighting my childhood friend over a man is way too makjang for me."

Jungkook's face brightens with relief as he rests his head on my shoulder. "Because you're confident you'll win?" he says.

"Dakyung was more popular than me when we were kids."

"Extroverts are overrated," Jungkook utters.

I kiss him. "Thanks for saying that."

Jungkook lays me on the mahogany lounge, and I reach to unbuckle his belt. My face grows red when I touch his prominent rigidness.

"How are you so hard already?" I brace my arms around his neck. "We haven't even done the foreplay yet."

Jungkook's gruff chuckle grazes through my ear, tickling an itch in my chest. He curls his fingers around my panties.

"I haven't touched you for three days, Yeoreum," Jungkook says. "You also want me, right?"

A soft moan escapes me when Jungkook runs his finger down my clit through the lace fabric. He is calculative, even with sex.