Before you disappear

Chapter 75

Nervously, Jungkook paced his hotel room. Well, her hotel room. The members and several of their staff had just left to go the interview at a big radio station, Hye-Jin being one of them.

It was weird not being part of that group, and having to sit this interview out. But he wasn't too worried about the interview itself. In his experience members were rarely given more than two questions to answer, and if there were more questions, you could just brush it off with a simple, short answer.

Jungkook was sure he'd instructed her to do well as him. And her being ARMY sure helped. She already knew a lot about him and the other members, so he was sure she could fake her way through the interview. If her anxiety wouldn't take a toll, that is.

He had seen her progressively getting paler as their make up was done. At one point even one of the staff members came by to ask if everything was alright. She had brushed it off, just like he himself would've done, but the question had alerted Jin who had been sitting in the seat next to her.

If Jin would take her aside later and ask about how's she's doing, Jungkook hoped she could remain as calm and collected as how she'd given her answer to the staff member. Knowing Jin, Jungkook was sure that would happen sooner rather than later. The eldest member had always been very focused on him. Being the youngest, he'd always made sure that Jungkook was doing okay, which in return had made Jungkook see him as a second big brother next to his own big brother Jung-Hyun.

He swallowed. Thinking about his older brother made him miss home. He glanced at his phone. Normally, he would've called home just to talk to his brother, but right now, he couldn't. He didn't have his number stored on that phone. Since that was her phone.

Jungkook sighed. Being cooped up in this hotel room didn't do him much good. And why would he stay here anyway? He wasn't Jungkook right now. If he'd leave the hotel to go for a walk outside, no one would give him a second glance.

He smiled at the realization and then walked up to the closet to grab a jacket and his phone on his way out.

Walking outside was such a brand new experience for Jungkook. No one looked at him. There were no excited whispers or people pointing at him, while talking to each other. No flashes of pictures being taken. A complete silence and serene experience.

Still, Jungkook had only started relaxing after about an hour of walking around and after he'd went into a few stores, browse around and left again. Only then he seemed convinced that everything was fine and no one had recognized him.

It was a weird experience though. At one point he'd been walking around in a men's store, browsing through their clothes and holding a few items he wanted to try on. It wasn't until someone from the staff came up to him, and asked: "Are you looking for clothes for your boyfriend, miss?" that he realized he was actually perceived as a woman.

It had been a bit awkward at that point and Jungkook ended up, giving all the items to the person and rushing out of the store.

He'd gone into a coffee shop, ordered a cup of coffee and sat at a window seat to collect his thoughts. I'm her right now. I have to act the part.

Instantly, he pressed his legs together, just like he'd seen her do so many times. He grabbed a nearby leaflet and started going through it. It wasn't per se an interesting leaflet, but it seemed to help him calm down.

"Are you waiting for someone?"

The dark voice made him look up. Beside him stood a blonde haired, tall man with bright blue eyes and a smile on his face.

"No," Jungkook said and before he could say anything else, the man had taken the seat next to him.

"In that case, I'd love to join you. What are you doing?"

Jungkook frowned at the brashness of the man. "I'm sorry but I'm not interested in company," he said.

The man tsk-ed. "Come on, don't be like that. We can at least have a civil conversation, right?" He pointed at Jungkook's coffee. "What are you drinking?"

Jungkook was a bit taken back by the attitude of this man. Was this something she had dealt with earlier? Men who didn't take no for an answer? He had never dealt with something like this before, and now that he was her, he wasn't sure how to respond either.

"It's just coffee," he said, sounding a bit irritated. "Now, could you please just leave me alone?"

"People who sit here by themselves aren't usually so hostile," the man said with a sneer, then pointed at Jungkook's hands. "There's no ring on your finger, and I'm started to see why. You're the play-hard-to-get type of girl aren't you?"

Jungkook looked at his hands. Her fingers were slender, her nails neatly painted, but there were indeed no rings on them. He couldn't help but feel annoyed by the fact that he used the absence of a ring to stereotype her, and part of him wanted to defend her and say that she did have a boyfriend. But the truth was, they hadn't made anything official. They were still in the getting to know each other phase.

Perhaps it's best to just ignore him. Maybe he'll get the message and leave me alone.

Jungkook purposefully turned his back towards the man and took a sip from his coffee. That ought to give the right impression that he wasn't interested. The man should get the message clearly right?

A hand grabbed his arm, yanking him to turn back. "You know it's very rude to just ignore someone."

Jungkook instantly grabbed his wrist, but her strength wasn't as high as his, so he couldn't get him to let go. "Stop it," he said instead. "Let me go."

The man leaned in, his eyes darkened as they pierced into his and his mouth opened to speak, until...

"There you are! I'm sorry I kept you waiting."

A dark skinned man came up to them with a huge smile on his face. "Babe, who's this?" He looked at the blonde haired man, sizing him up and down and then gazed questioningly at Jungkook. "Are you already finding another boyfriend since I kept you waiting?" he said teasingly, then laughed.

"Who are you?" the blonde haired guy said, letting Jungkook go.

"Her boyfriend. Who are you?" he fired back, placing his hands on his hips and flexing his arm muscles in the process.

Jungkook looked from one to the other, too stunned to respond.

The blonde haired guy held up his hands. "I'm just going," he said, then stood up and quickly left the coffee shop.

"I'm sorry for that. Are you okay, love?" The voice of the guy had changed from a dark, masculine to a softer tone. His whole demeanor seemed different as well. "I was there having a coffee with my boyfriend when I saw that ass coming on to you. I hope you don't mind I intervened."

Jungkook slowly shook his head. "Thank you," he whispered.

The man smiled, pointing at Jungkook's coffee. "Enjoy your coffee," he said, then left to go back to his boyfriend who applauded at his partner's heroic actions.

Jungkook's mouth went dry. Was this something she had to deal with? Random guys just coming on to her like that? The thought was instantly followed by a determination. I have to make sure she never goes through something like that again.