before you love me | jjk

chapter forty-four

━━━༻ ˚✩‧₊ december 2020₊‧✩˚༺━━━

A few minutes after they arrived back at the dorm, Jungkook knocked gently on Narae's door. "Narae, it's me. Open up please."

He heard shuffling before the door opened to reveal Narae. She had already changed out of her earlier clothes into her pyjamas, but her makeup was still on. She didn't open the door fully and spoke tiredly, "What do you want?"

He held up the products in his hands with a hesitant smile, "Skincare time. Can I come in?"

She reluctantly opened up the door and lead him to her bed. On the way, he resisted the urge to turn the cardboard cut-out of Shownu to face the wall like he usually did. He didn't want to push his luck so soon.

Narae sat cross-legged on the bed and clutched one of her many plushies to her chest as closed her eyes expectantly. After big events, the two had gotten into the habit of doing their night time skincare routine together. As Narae could rarely ever be bothered to do it herself, it was less of a shared activity, and more so Jungkook doing all the work for the both of them. He didn't mind though, he liked the peaceful time where they would be able to wind down after a stressful schedule, talk and just be with each other without outside distractions.

Usually, Narae would be sat in his lap as he took off her makeup and applied the products, but he knew today she'd want some distance. Still, he mirrored her position on the bed, and sat closer than he was sure she intended for him.

He quietly got to work, using makeup wipes to remove her makeup first. Narae was one of those people who were blessed with low-maintenance skin. She didn't have to do much and her skin wasn't particularly sensitive, which meant she could use a variety of products with little issue. He needed to do more research to find out her exact skin type, but for now he had matched her skincare routine with his, keeping it simple with just toner and moisturizing night cream.

Once he was done, he moved back to allow Narae to leave the room to wash her face to take off any remaining make-up that he might have missed. She returned five minutes later with two water bottles for them to drink before they went to bed. That was Narae's one role in their entire routine and Jungkook took it as a positive sign that she hadn't forgone doing it tonight.

She handed him the bottle without a word and closed her eyes again so he could apply the toner and moisturiser. Once he was done, he finally decided to address what had been his original goal.

"Are you mad at me?"

Narae opened her eyes and stared at Jungkook openly for the first time the whole evening. She regarded his apprehensive expression and the way he nervously bounced his legs before sighing.

"I'm not mad at you, I never really was. How could I be when you technically weren't lying – we're not actually boyfriend and girlfriend." Narae sighed again, her eyes downcast as she picked at the duvet cover underneath her, "I was more upset at why she had to know that. I know we haven't made things official yet, but you answering like that makes it seem like you're available and I can't lie, I don't like that. Yeah the label isn't there, but it might as well be. I sleep in your room every night, we've said I love you and I'm literally meeting your parents in a few weeks . It didn't feel nice to hear you tell a gorgeous woman that was obviously flirting with you that you're not taken."

Jungkook took her hands in his and willed her to look at him so she could see his sincerity, "I'm sorry Narae. It was honestly never my intention to make you upset. I wasn't trying to encourage her flirting at all. That's not why I said that."