𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐔𝐒 [𝐓.𝐊]

Chapter 53

Pellem Albam

The White Pavilion

Jungkook woke up an hour later, smiling.

It was unbelievable and yet it was right there, the little twist upwards on the corner of his lips. He opened his eyes, blinking away the brightness until he could focus on the ceiling, and noticed the strange occurrence with an astonishing little chuckle. It was so bizarre to feel his head so... light.

He sat up, pushing the covers off himself, but the moment he remembered who had put those on him, he nearly flinched. He thought all the memories of today would hit him hard and mercilessly like they had when he had been in Taehyung's room, but... it didn't happen. He remembered it was Garrett who had placed him on the bed, remembered the conversation that they had, remembered why he had cried his eyes out in the bathroom before the latter came here to help him take the pain away, and felt nothing but understanding.

He was understanding something he had been denying since that same morning and wasn't cringing at the weirdness of it all, instead, he blinked and nodded. Now that his head felt lighter than it had ever been in his life, he couldn't deny the fact that these people existed.

His shoulders did hang a bit, however, when he tried thinking over the possibilities of what he might mean to them, so he stopped it right there, not denying it, but also not wanting to ruin what felt like what was going to be an amazing evening with Taehyung.

The moment his name appeared in his mind, his heart rate accelerated excitedly and he jumped out of bed to organize it. When had been the last time he felt so excited about anything that didn't involve his friends? It felt so lovely to look forward to something that will happen to him. He'll have a date for the first time in his life as he has a picnic for the first time in his life with the first person he had ever loved and then later... he'll have his first time. Truly and fully.

It brought color to his cheeks as he took off his clothes in the bathroom and he giggled shyly to the floor. He felt so nervous and yet so excited like he couldn't wait for it to finally happen. He didn't feel put on the spot or rushed to do anything, instead, he felt like the time was just right. It's the first week anniversary of their meeting, after all.

As he showered, he thought yet again about how fast his life had changed. In merely a week, he changed from being a depressed and lonely child depending on his two only friends to being a grown young adult in love with a man who has been trying to be found by a clan of magical people. He had merely come here to this university to start over, end the fighting, find new friends, and roam all he wanted thru the beautiful and ancient university side by side with Emily and Leo, and instead, he fights more, lies more, hides more, and loves more than he had ever done in his life. He came here not believing anything outside the ordinary, and the first day he got here he was pulled towards the woods by an invisible string that led him through the dark until he got to the white pavilion where he met the first person he had ever felt completely free to talk to.

The white pavilion of the woods was guarded by a spirit, according to Garrett; the second floor to the right where the encyclopedias were kept was hunted, according to Namjoon; and Jungkook and Taehyung have always been able to get in and out of the two places without ever being disturbed. They had found sanctuary in those places where other people would easily be frightened of or get lost in, and Jungkook had always kept that information in the back of his head all this time he had been denying the signs. The signs that something was way more different than it could be for both of them.