Enhanced || JJK

XXIX. Your Brother Hates Me

In the mean time we had reached my house, or better the street that led to my house.
"You want me to stop here?" He asked, halting, while I was still thinking about our previous conversation and trying to find the right thing to say.
"Uh?" I asked, snapping back from my trance.
"I said, do you want me to stop here, so that you don't risk your parents seeing me? Or are they not home?"
"Oh, no, they aren't home..." I answered without thinking, then realised how it sounded. "I mean, not that I.. not that you should.. I wasn't trying to.. I wasn't inviting you inside!" I hastily tried to explain myself.
"Oh no, yeah, of course... I know you didn't mean that... after all, Taehyung is the only man allowed in your house, am I right?" He said, his tone sounding playful but his expression looking irritated.
"Well, yeah technically... What is it that you have against him exactly?" I asked, taking that chance to understand what it was that made him not like my best friend.
"Nothing, never mind..." He tried to change subject.
"Come on! I want to know! If we're going to be.. I mean if we are.. whatever! I want to know why you're always so hostile with him!" I still couldn't manage to say out loud that we were a couple or that he was my boyfriend.
"He's the one who's always been hostile!" He countered.
"Well, yeah, of course... Because of how you treated me! But what reason did you have?"
"I don't know, I just... I mean, you guys were constantly together, ever since 6th grade, it was annoying... I thought you liked him... and I just wanted it to be me..." He answered, struggling to get the words out and not making eye contact.
That confession made me smile. Had he really been jealous of Tae? And was he still? I mean, it was funny to me, because I know we're best friends, but I could imagine how it looked from the outside and how he must've felt.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, it was always you... Tae is honestly a brother to me..." I said, trying to put in the same effort in being honest as he was, even if it was totally embarrassing to say.
He smiled.
"It does make me feel better", he said then, getting closer. He caressed my cheek before closing the distance between our lips. I closed my eyes and let the moment flow. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been thinking about kissing him ever since the day before and that I hadn't been impatient to do it again.

"However... the fact that your brother hates me doesn't really make me feel better", he added right after breaking that sweet kiss.
"He doesn't hate you.. per se.. he simply doesn't know you that much except as the guy who's always been making fun of me", I explained.
"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make fun of you. All those things I would make fun of, they were actually the things I liked about you, but I had no idea how to express it, especially in elementary school. So I started making fun of them and then I just continued, because I thought I couldn't get your attention in any other way. I love when you're wearing your glasses, even when they keep getting tilted..." He said, while fixing them on me. "And I loved your weird snorting laugh and how you held your pen like you were going to stab someone, back in 2nd grade", he added, holding my hands.
I blushed. It was absolutely twisted but somehow sweet that it had been his way of complimenting me this whole time.

"Will you forgive me?" He finally asked, resting his forehead on mine and kissing the tip of my nose.
"Mmmh, I'll think about it... Maybe you'll have to do something to get my forgiveness..." I bargained, since now I had the upper hand. It was only a joke, though, I could forgive him, I already had, because I understood where he was coming from.
"I knew you were meaner than me!" He commented, shaking his head.
"Me?!" I exclaimed, faking shock.
We both laughed and then walked up to my front door.
"So... I guess I'll see you tomorrow... and every day after that... ugh, what a curse!" He said jokingly and I liked the fact that I wasn't gonna get rid of those jokes and him teasing me, because it reminded me of the time when I started liking him and I still wanted that part of him with me, now that I knew what it really meant.
We shared a quick kiss, which turned out to be slightly longer than expected because none of us wanted to let go, and then he left.

After closing the door behind me, I could only feel happiness and my first thought was to share it with Tae, but I knew he wasn't super on board with all of this, even though he had said he was going to support me. But supporting someone when you think they're doing the wrong thing is different from supporting them because you know they're doing the right thing. And I wanted Tae to feel the latter. I wasn't sure how I was going to change his mind, so for the time being I decided to not share with him too much of my situation with Jungkook.

The next afternoon, after another day of work, I exited the building with Jungkook. He hadn't asked me to walk me home, but I was hoping he would, because I wanted to spend more time with him. At the Lab, we were both too focused on our projects to talk and if we did, it would be conversations about science and ideas on our projects, which I only felt like I could share with him, because I didn't feel judged, not anymore. He would try to convince me that my ideas were good and that I should tell Dr. Jung about them, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was still too insecure about my scientific identity, but I felt like with him I could be confident and find my voice. Now that I felt like we weren't competing anymore, I could share my thoughts on so many ongoing scientific debates and his opinions were always interesting, like the one he had told me the previous day about purpose.

We took a few steps, when I felt the presence of a bundle of bright colors at the end of the sidewalk. Tae's car.
"Hey Lulu!" He greeted me, while getting out of the driver's seat.
I suddenly stiffened, worried about how this second encounter between Tae and Jungkook was going to go, considering the last one.
"I called him here, Moon", Jungkook whispered to me, while Tae was getting closer.
I looked at him with a questioning look. What was he thinking?!
"Hey, Jeon, so what is this about?" Tae asked him once he was close enough.
"You mind we get her home first? Then we can go to my house and talk".
"Wait, wait, can someone explain to me what's going on?" I asked, with a demanding tone, since I felt completely lost.
"I don't know, he called me to talk", Tae justified himself.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but after our conversation yesterday, I thought that me and Taehyung needed to have a chat", Jungkook explained.
"Without me? Why?" I inquired.
"It's just, you know, I want to resolve any misunderstanding between us and I don't think it's strictly necessary for you to be there. But if you want you can still come along, Lia is back at the house and she'll be thrilled to see you. Do you mind if I already told her about us? She has the power to turn any room in an interrogation room".
I laughed at that comment and I found it sweet. So I accepted to come along and I was excited to see Lia again.