Arcane | J.J.K | L.M

Chapter Ten: Too Late

Author's PoV :

A Month Later:-

Lisa never realized how fast a month had passed, and how she was more than comfortable in the mansion.

Maybe it was because they all were welcoming and homely, or maybe it was because she was just too careless about being away from her real home and having fun here.

She hadn't really thought about going back anytime soon, the reason being that she felt free for once in her life and she found a month being too early to let her freedom go.

It didn't even feel like she wasn't one of them, she fitted with them like a missing puzzle piece that they had found.

Taehyung and Jimin had found great distractions, since Lisa always pushed Chaeyoung towards him and even when they refused, they ended up together.

And as Taehyung helped her in doing so, he came closer to her more than anyone in the house, and her hatred towards him had vanished quite quicker than he had expected it to.

Somewhere in between, Taehyung felt it was neither a friendship nor a relationship with Lisa. It was something else, which he couldn't seem to explain.

The two boys flirted with the two girls almost all the time, but it was all just talk, they never crossed a line.

Lisa found it rather funny how they talked about every possible thing they could do to the girls and yet, they never even touched them.

The Princess had her daily entertainment like that.

The boys would go on missions, if won, they would celebrate, and if lost - which rarely ever happened - they would get yelled at by Jungkook or the worst thing was them getting into an argument.

Whenever Taehyung and Jimin came back wounded, Lisa and Chaeyoung aided them.

But ever since Lisa had gained everyone's attention in the mansion, Jungkook had become even more distant from them.

No one noticed.

But Taehyung did.

He had this feeling deep down inside that it was because of himself that Jungkook had stopped showing up to the mansion or was only seen once in a week, but he couldn't seem to understand why.

The leader avoided them, didn't eat with them, always locked himself in his room and never let either girls' help him with his wounds whenever he had any.

Jimin, Lisa or Chaeyoung might've not noticed his ignorance and absence, but they definitely noticed his change of attitude since Lisa had come.

Jungkook was always too angry and snappy for their liking. The old kookie that they knew seemed to be lost, and all they saw instead was the cold-hearted leader of Sapphire Rebels, Jeon Jungkook.

Not Kookie. Not their soft, sweet, bestie, Kookie.

Taehyung and Jimin were older, but Chaeyoung was the only one who seemed to be mature enough and have a doubt that she knew why Jungkook had changed so drastically.

"Jungkook." Chaeyoung called out to the boy in a serious tone, finally deciding to talk it out with him.

Jungkook --  who was mindlessly gazing at the vast desert and huge mountains before him, from the only balcony that was located at the back of the mansion -- turned around to face her with a piercing stare that shocked Chaeyoung.

"What?" It came out colder than ever, and Chaeyoung could now only wonder what was wrong with him.

A moment of silence passed, she walked over to him.

"What's with you and Lisa? Why don't you like her?" Chaeyoung went straight to the point, not wanting to beat around the bush because she knew it was only going to annoy him more.

"Tsk, we're talking after days, and look at how useless our topic is." Jungkook scoffed, avoiding her eyes.

"No, tell me, Jungkook. Whenever you see her and Taehyung together, you just shut us all out as if we never even existed. Why is that?" She hid her suspicion under the mask of pretense, as if she was innocent to not know the reason.

"Are you jealous that Taehyung gets her attention and you don't? You kept her here because you wanted her, but Taehyung stole your chance?" 

The anger that was taking control over his senses as the conversation was turning into an argument, was enough to block out the thought that he had never told Chaeyoung about the reason he had kept Lisa here. Only Jimin had known it. 

"Of course not," Jungkook quickly snapped, his hands tightening around the railings.

"Taehyung will get her, you'll get Jimin, isn't that great? You guys go live your life happily, forget about me." The bitterness could be heard from miles away, and it wasn't helping Chaeyoung in any way.

She really wanted her guesses to be wrong, she really didn't want Lisa to be stuck with Jungkook out of some feelings that shouldn't even be there, because as far as she knew Jungkook, he wasn't the type to commit.

And he was never going to, either.

"They still aren't together, though" She added, however,  hoping that maybe, if somewhere deep inside he was real with how he felt, then he might break down his walls for Lisa and become how he used to way back then.

"Does it look like I care?" Jungkook wanted nothing but for Chaeyoung to drop the topic, and she could tell that by the way he was being too aggressive with his words.

Chaeyoung sighed, putting a hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner before she spoke up again.

"It's not too late yet, Jungkook."

With that, she exited the balcony, allowing him some time to think about her words.

"Huh, not too late? For what? It's not like I even like the sight of her or something," He mumbled to himself, more like convinced himself

As he kept on staring into nothingness, his eyes roamed around the place. But what he saw after it, he even regretted coming here.

Gaze locking at the two figures sitting at the back porch of the mansion, Jungkook couldn't seem to deny the way his heart ached at the sight of Taehyung and Lisa holding hands as Taehyung was talking to her about something - that Jungkook would never actually want to know about.

Maybe Chaeyoung had been right.

But maybe it really was too late now.