Enhanced || JJK

June 8th 2075

"Moon, you could at least say hi in the corridors! I know we're not in school anymore, but we still take the same classes. Why does it feel like you're avoiding me? I don't know, maybe I deserve it. Whatever... it's me, Jungkook... from uni."

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Ever since our talk about his parents, another month had gone by. We were both always busy working on our thesis and most of the time that we spent together, we always ended up comparing notes and helping each other with the dissertation. There were also a few occasions in which he told me about how it was going with his parents. He didn't feel like confronting them right away, he wanted to try to build back a relationship with them first. So he had put his pride aside and tried to reach out to them, propose a family dinner, cook for everyone, trying to bring back the harmony in the family. He had talked to Lia and Jin first, to get their approval. Lia still had a nice relationship with them so she was supportive, Jin was a bit more hesitant but he cared about his little brother so he agreed to try and fix the family.
The support of his siblings made him even more confident and, seeing how their kids were talking to them more, his parents were happy. As long as the talks didn't get as deep as the one Jungkook had with them that day. That one didn't go so well.

"What happened? Come in!" I said as soon as I opened the door and saw Jungkook standing under the pouring rain without an umbrella. His hoodie was completely drenched and so were the rest of his clothes.
He came in hesitantly, trying not to get the floor wet, but I told him not to worry about that. I was more worried about him catching a cold, so I rushed him in the bathroom and I gave him some towels to dry himself up, while I went to get some clean clothes out of my dad's closet. My parents were at work so the house was empty. He remained quiet, while changing his clothes. I helped him getting the wet ones off and I put them in the washing machine. Then I took the blow-dryer and I started drying his hair. He didn't say a word while I passed my fingers through his wet hair and I was starting to get worried about what could've possibly happened that made him so shaken up, but I was glad that he had come to me instead of hurting alone. At least I could take care of him, which brought me a lot of comfort.

Once the hair was all dry, I led him into my room and told him he could lay down on my bed. He did, but then he reached out his hand to me, so I understood that he wanted me to lay next to him. My bed wasn't as big as his, so we had to spoon. My back was pressed against his torso, as he hugged me tightly. I could tell he really needed it, so I just stayed silent, to let him recharge through the physical touch.

In the meanwhile, I realised that Jungkook had never come into my room. My parents still had that rule of 'no guys in the house when we're not there, except for Tae' and I wanted to be respectful to their rules, so I never invited him when my parents weren't at the house and, if they were, it felt weird to show him my room, so that was his first time there. I also realised that I was indeed breaking my parents' rule, but I was sure they would've agreed that I couldn't just leave him outside like that. But I was gonna think about how to tell them later, because now my focus was solely on my boyfriend and how to make him feel better.

"I shouldn't have expected much", he said in a whisper after what felt like an hour.
"Your parents?" I tried to guess, he just nodded then hugged me even tighter, squeezing his face against mine, cheek to cheek. I raised my arm to pat his head and stroke his hair, because I knew this type of touch relaxed him.
"I thought it was going well", I commented, trying to get more information.
"Me too, but it was just wishful thinking. I'm so stupid!" He huffed, frustrated.
"You're not! You're just human, like everybody else, so you had expectations that-"
He then interrupted me. "Can you please tell them? Can you tell them that I'm just like everybody else? That I'm not their perfect little machine... I'm not a fucking machine, I'm just human..." I could hear his voice break and I could tell he was trying to hold back his tears.

"Should I?" I turned around, so that I could see his face. "I'll do it, I don't care!" I said with a cheeky smile, I couldn't stand seeing him sad, so I was trying to be funny. "I'll go up to them and I'll say: Mrs Jeon, Mr Jeon, very pleased to meet you! I just wanted to inform you that your son is indeed human. Unfortunately, after further analysis, we found an actual heart in his body and also a brain of his own. I don't really know how that could've happened, we were sure he was just a robot, I'm really sorry for the mix-up. I hope you accept my sincerest apologies, if you would like a refund, here's the form!"

With each sentence, the corner of his lips started to go up more and more, until I could see a smile and then finally a laugh. "You're so silly!" He said.
My little comic show had worked and, even though I was joking, part of me was serious. I really thought that maybe if they met me, they would change their minds. Maybe they just wanted the best for their son, like any other parents, and they thought that the best was another GM kid, but maybe if they met me, if they saw how happy Jungkook and I were together, maybe they would change their minds. I decided to keep that idea to myself, I didn't want him to lose his smile again, so I chose to change the subject, just for a while.

"Hey, jokes aside, isn't it already been a month? Shouldn't I read another one of your texts?"
"Oh no, I was hoping you'd forget", he covered his face with his hands.
"Why? It can't be worse than the other three", I laughed.
"Ah. Ah. Ah. Very funny. Well, for those at least I had the excuse of just being an immature teenager, for this next one I don't... It was our first year of university", he admitted.
"I'm sure it's fine, come on, let me read it! You promised!" He couldn't really refuse, so he grabbed his phone and opened the text.

I was sure it was going to make me laugh like all the others. His goofy and awkward way to try to contact me had always had that effect, but this time it was different, maybe it was partly because of what had just happened. Reading how disappointed he was that I wouldn't even acknowledge his presence made me feel terrible, especially now that I knew how much he was struggling for his opinion to be acknowledged by his parents.

"You didn't deserve it, I'm sorry..." I said then, feeling guilty.
"Oh come on, don't get sad! It doesn't matter! Plus, you already explained to me why you were acting that way, so it's all in the past..." His sweet reaction was comforting but at the same time it made me even sadder. After getting to know him better and better every day for the previous four months, there was one thing I knew for sure: he just wanted to be loved and cared for. And it wasn't too much to ask, considering how he would give it back ten times more.
I was ready to do everything for him, even fight his parents' judgment, as long as that made him happy, but luckily I wasn't the only one. Luckily he had other people who cared for him.

I was still holding his phone, when he got a notification. I noticed it was from his socials and I saw his brother's name.
"Oh, your brother must've posted something. Is he working on a new movie?"
"Not that I know of... That's weird, he usually only posts about that stuff", Jungkook was as surprised as me.
He opened it and I monitored his expression while reading it. He seemed both confused and shocked, then somewhat of a smile appeared on his face, so I became curious and I took his phone. "What is it?"

Then I read Jin's post out loud. "Just a random thought: don't you guys think that this feud between Naturals and GMs that they're trying to sell us is absolute bullsh*t? People who think that there's any type of difference that makes one group better than the other should really take a good look in the mirror, 'cause the only difference I see is the one between people with empathy and people without it. If you're in a mixed relationship, you have my support! I think you guys out there are making the world a better place! Don't give up!"

I could feel my eyes tear up. I had talked to Jin so many times already, but he's usually the type to use sarcasm and just slide over the serious stuff, but I could already tell that it wasn't because he hadn't deep feelings, but because maybe he was too sensitive to talk about that stuff. So, seeing him take a public stance on something that was affecting his little brother so much, only to show him support and probably also to get on his parents nerves, was such an emotional moment.

"He must've heard our fight", Jungkook then said, trying to guess the reason why his brother had posted something like that. "He's gone completely crazy! Why would he do something like that? What about his public image?! People are going to unfollow him! He's gonna get so much backlash!" He kept complaining, but in reality he couldn't contain his smile. He knew exactly why Jin had done it and it made him really happy to know that his brother was willing to put his career at risk only to support him.

Soon after, his phone rang. It was his mom, telling him to come home and have a family discussion. So I hugged my boyfriend and told him to go, because I was sure that this time the conversation was going to be different.