Please Love Me | JJK

Part 4

You arrive at the restaurant a little flustered, teeth biting your lower lip as if in apology.

"I'm so sorry I'm late. My car wouldn't start so I had to take a cab," you explain, as you take your seat across Jungkook. "And there was traffic at the intersection so I just walked."

Jungkook's eyebrow shoots up. He takes your form clad in a short sleeve satin dress and pumps, barely breaking out in a sweat. How do you look so fresh?

You pull out tissue from your bag and dab it on your forehead. You're human after all, he concludes.

"A cab? Why didn't you just get picked up by your driver?"

You purse your lips. "I would've been more late if I waited," you say, and proceed to order.

The restaurant is in one of your family's hotels and your table is situated in a more private area. Jungkook hasn't said much since that Sunday night at his parent's house. You figure he needed the time to sort things out; so did you.

You'd spent the past few days weighing out the pros and cons with your best friends - Nari, Yeji, and Minhyuk - the 3 people you grew up with and the only other people who know you well.

"Regardless of what we say, you know your decision, and you'll stick with it. But if it helps, Jungkook isn't bad. Behind all that attitude is actually a good guy," Nari said.

Her evidence, you know, is taken from Jimin, her almost-boyfriend-at-one-point and also Jungkook's best friend.

He and Taehyung, on the other hand, were ecstatic at the news. "Holy shit, you get to marry Kim ___?" Taehyung exclaimed. "You don't deserve her."

"I know, right?" Jungkook responded.

"She's too good for you," his friend clarified. "But then again, you're not too bad. You'll do, I guess."

"Excuse me, what?" Jungkook questioned, livid at his friend's statement. "You mean she's lucky she gets to marry me."

"In your dreams, bad boy," Jimin laughed. "___ is one of the kindest people I've ever met. She's smart and talented. I don't know if that's your type though, seeing your list of exes."

Jungkook proceeded to throw a pillow at him, which earned him laughter from the boys. Jimin doesn't take it back, though.

Since when did you have his friends on your side?

"So..." you start, "why did you want to meet?"

It's that smile again, Jungkook observes - the calm and practiced one. If he hasn't been irate this whole week, he would easily fall into your charms. But no, not today, he thinks. There's business to discuss.

"Did you know about their proposition?" Of us getting married, Jungkook doesn't want to say.

"My parents informed me of what our grandparents wanted days before," you respond, just enough to answer the question.

"So I guess I was the only one kept in the dark, huh. No one else seemed surprised," he clicks his tongue, irritation laced in his voice. "So much for shipping me back here to take a big role in the company. Apparently they just wanted to marry me off."

You're not stupid. You saw how affected Jungkook was, still is. If Junghyun hadn't pulled him away during Sunday's dinner, you don't know what would've happened.

But you saw the news from miles away, years ago, in fact, hence why you never let Jungkook's apparent dislike towards you affect you, and why you never let yourself feel even a tiny bit of displeasure towards him. Sure, it's partly because it's not in your nature to harbor negative feelings towards another person, but it's also because of the fondness towards the boy that you've always had.