Alone | Jake Sim x OC

Distance

"So what happened between you and hyung just then?" Niki's shoulder nudged Bella's. She could barely hear his voice over the roar of muffled conversations, the cafe all eight of them were currently sitting in packed.  Apparently, Hybe owned a nearby cafe that all the employees, trainees and idols could go to without worry of recognition.

"Nothing, drop it." Bella distractedly replied, her gaze too focussed on the boy opposite her to come up with an excuse. Jake was chatting to Jay on his left, but every now and then he would glance back at Bella, and she would look away. They'd been playing this little game for the 20 minutes the group had been at the cafe, and the other members had started to notice.

"Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't nothing." Niki poked her before dropping it as she asked. "Ah, I forgot. The markets along the Han River closed yesterday, I should've taken you." He slapped his palm to his forehead before blinking. 

"Oh wait no, you were locked in your room." He threw her a pointed glare which she avoided.

"Ah yeah, sorry." She guiltily offered him some of her brownie as it arrived, the food and hot beverages being placed on the table by a waiter. 

"Enjoy your food." He smiled at them before walking away. Bella turned to thank him before she caught a glimpse of pink hair underneath what she now knew was a black wig.

Omg Yeonjun. Why.

She shook her head in disbelief before turning back to her now half-eaten brownie and glaring back at Niki. 

They spent a few minutes chewing on the delicious food and wondering which 5-star Michelin made it and sipping at the drinks before Niki turned and once again expressed his concern.

"The markets are fun. We should definitely go next year, but you should probably get out of the dorms now too." He frowned. 

"Don't worry, I'll probably head down to the river sometime soon- I haven't been there in almost four years. Last time I went was with Seokjin." She smiled fondly at the memories, not catching the quick look Jake threw her way. Niki nodded in mock seriousness. 

"I bet you fell in." He stood up before she could pinch him, hurriedly gesturing for his hyungs to pay the bill and leave with him. Heesung sighed and grabbed his card, ushering the others out the door at the protests of Sunoo, who hadn't finished his cookie. 

They walked the short distance home, Isabella doing everything in her power to avoid walking next to Jake, which was hard because he kept trying for the opposite. Every time she saw him approaching out of her peripherals, she would quickly swap conversation topics and chat to another member while he was caught talking to the one she just left. It wasn't until she reached Jungwon that someone addressed this.

"So, you're avoiding Jake?" Bella blinked at him.

"Wha- no- huh-?" Jungwon shook his head. 

"Don't deny it, okay? Don't worry, I'll cover for you-" Bella sighed in relief "-If you tell me why." She froze.

"I- Didn't I already tell you this morning-?" The boy smirked.

"Yeah, but you having a crush doesn't mean you avoid him. Well, maybe it does, but you didn't this morning." Bella puffed out a little breath of frustration.

"First Niki and now you? Why are you so interested in what we did this morning." Jungwon's head snapped around faster than he ate breakfast on an average morning.

"What we did? What did you do? Please tell me you didn't-"

"No, no, no, no stop that's not what we did." Bella nervously tapped the back of her hand. "That really didn't sound right. So um, he was using the gym like Sunoo said, and uh, he wasn't wearing... a shirt..." She covered her face, trying to hide the red from Jungwon. 

"Ah. Go on." He was obviously enjoying this, and in that moment she absolutely hated the smug look on his face. But she really needed his help. 

"And h-he, hugged me and yeah and he said that he missed me and then he like, pushed me against couch and stuff-" She broke off, turning to face her friend with wide eyes. "Did you know he has abs?" Jungwon chuckled.

"Okay so you're a hard stan. And Jake flirted with you. And now you're too shy to face him and even though you were staring at him for half an hour at the cafe you don't want to talk to him?" She nodded, confirming his words.

"I'll help you. So anyway, I heard you were going down to the river sometime? When would that be?" Jungwon steered them away from an approaching Jake past Sunghoon, who after one glance at the pair understood the mission and grabbed his hyung.

"Yeah, I was thinking of maybe going tonight. Fresh air after being in that room and all that." Jungwon nodded, spotting the dorm approaching. 

"Oh okay, sounds good. If you're going by yourself be careful of creepy-looking strangers and even saesangs because some might know you're Jin sunbae's sister. She nodded, catching sight of the dorm too. 

"Okay, I'll grab a stick or something to defend myself with. Thanks." She grinned at Jungwon before they reached the door. "I need to go feed and take care of Trixie, is it okay if she wanders around the dorm too?" The boy nodded and they entered the building with the others, Bella dashing upstairs to her room in the hopes of avoiding Jake. 

She successfully closed the door, watching Trixie jump gracefully from the bed to greet her. The cat wound around her legs in a figure eight, meowing at her food bowl as if trying to point out the small amount remaining at the bottom. Isabella laughed, scooping up her companion and skipping over to the food bowl. She let Trixie down onto the floor and refilled it, filling the dark brown, sulking, furball's water bowl with the last of her stockpiled water and stroked Trixie's silky back. Bella changed clothes and without thinking, grabbed Jake's hoodie from the cupboard. She opened the door so Trixie could come and go as she pleased, and walked downstairs to head out for the river. 

Grabbing her phone from her pocket, she sent Heesung and Jungwon a message telling them where she was just in case they freaked out, before putting it back in her pocket and glancing up.

It was getting late by this point, and the pink streaks of dusk were crawling across the sky. Maybe she could sit and watch the sunset on the little hill overlooking the river, that might be nice.

As the steady rhythm of her footfalls carried her down through the city, she wondered why she was so awkward today. It wasn't like she didn't like Jake, or that he hadn't expressed affection for her before- but somehow she had decided somewhere inside to be flustered and shy, without wanting to. It was the effect Jake had on her, he pulled at the strings that attached her heart to her brain and confused them.

Despite the ghost of his arms around her, the distance she had placed between them seemed longer than the course of the Han river. 

I REPEAT, NONE OF THE MEMBERS ARE ALLERGIC TO CATS IN THIS FIC, SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF, PEOPLE

And I see some of you reading/voting on this, feel free to commenttttt

Unedited (Third update today, I'm tired😭)