SMITTEN || J.JK

22| Intentions

7:30 P.M.

"Can you pass me the spring onions?",I follow the instructions on cue and pass my dad the bowl of chopped onions and retrieve fresh coriander from the refrigerator to put on the chopping board and prepare it for dinner.The rich aroma of the mixture flares in the hall, reminding me how lucky is to have my father cook for us."The girls are having fun, aren't they?",He steals a glance in the living room and despite talking about three women, his eyes are hooked on only one, his wife.

"No doubt, I can hear their giggles being the background music for our cooking session.",He chuckles at my comment and I put my eyes on the ladies who have occupied the couch facing the kitchen.My gaze travels to the girl who wears a wide grin on her lips, tucking her bangs behind her ear as strands of hair unfurl from her the bun tied roughly.Her pupils crease at my sister and mother as they laugh about a discreet topic that is incoherent but I couldn't care about it any less, I'm satiated alone by rejoicing her face gleaming with happiness.

My mind is filled with every look, every word and every blush she exchanged with me a few hours before, consuming every fibre of my body. I've never felt under such influence where every emotion I feel is blessed by someone else because nothing is more desolating than giving someone else the power to make you vulnerable but I love doing this with her. It's like she enforces a belief that I had long forgotten, kindles the emotions that I had started despising, which I'm supposed to counter with my control but at this moment, when I absorb the sight of pure joy on her face, everything seems insignificant.

She steals a look at me, smiling at me as if she caught me prancing my attention so I own my actions and wink at her, causing her to flush in her cheeks.I love this.

"You like her.",A deep voice retracts me to focus at the person next to me, catching me off guard so I pick the broth to pour in the pan, averting the eye-contact."What makes you think so?",I quip, his words still reverberating in my ears to my amusement. There's no possible way I'm slipping into the same thrall. I can't afford that, not with her.

"I'm your dad, jungkook. I see the way you look at her when she isn't looking at you and it's way more than some platonic friendship.",He doesn't stamp his assumption hard but enunciates his thoughts which I'm afraid to contemplate. I don't want to learn what he saw between us and I definitely don't want to turn out in the way he's phrasing. I'm desperate to occupy myself with some chores but we're nearing to plating the food so I stand at the counter, forcing my gaze on the ignition and notice him setting his vision at me.

"I know that you've changed after what happened with Soorin, jungkook.",He brings a name that I've buried underneath my composure, causing my calm to disrupt, a knot forming in my chest at her name but I don't put a stop on this conversation and listen him intently,"We've talked about this alot of times before and I trust that you've moved forward and started afresh on a new page. You were never at fault, you deserve someone who can understand how you're just a normal person who cares for his loved ones. I don't know what is the relationship between you and y/n but I do know that she is a sweetheart. If you ever start to feel about her or even someone else, don't suppress those feelings because of your fear. It's almost torturing yourself and the other person in the process.",He puts his hand on the back of my palm to give an assuring squeeze, leaving me speechless with a storm of thoughts conquering my mind.

I don't know how he perceived the exact thoughts in my heart, either I'm obvious enough or his father's instinct really read me transparently.I had promised myself to not ever let myself fell prey to those feelings that bring ruin and helplessness after the last girl I bared myself to tore a giant part of me and crumpled it like some filthy paper. It's not supposed to happen after we've mutually decided to not let our feelings come in the way of this new relationship between us but I can't help being curious about the need to discover her that arouses in my mind.