lucky to have found you.

part xvii. answered prayers.

Jeon Jungkook feels safe around her. 

Scarily enough, he'd felt safe around her since the first time he'd laid eyes on her when she was being bombarded by fans in the game. Kim Namjoon used to always tell him that he hopes he could find love, and for so long, he never understood, never understanding what the feeling was that was described in songs and movies. 

But he knew it the minute she'd come into his life.

It wasn't even something that had to be learned— he found himself wanting to look after her, wanting to take care of her, wanting to be with her at every free moment he had, almost like it was a natural instinct. 

Falling in love was truly amazing, and he's grateful especially when he thinks about how his life would feel so meaningless, had he not found her. 

She was the first person he'd ever truly opened up to, about his parents and the tense relationship he had with them in recent years. 

He hadn't planned on telling her so early on, but seeing all the effort that she was putting into their relationship, from surprising him in Europe, buying lemonade for his team and befriending the staff at his home, he simply knew he wanted to lay out all of his burdens early on.

She deserved to know, and as much as it would hurt him, she deserved the right to walk away, if the dysfunction was too much.

In his head, he planned for the worst-case scenario, especially after hearing about her own story— her two loving parents who died tragically. But she surprised him, as she always did. 

He opened his whole heart to her, about how his parents were arranged to be married as two heirs to old money, and how through it all, they were madly unhappy. There was no screaming, there was no fighting— but there was a clear absence of love. He tells her about how his father would never come home and be always on business trips and how his mother didn't even know the small details— his father's birthday, their anniversary, and events at his company.

In many ways, they were two separate strangers living in one home and he was simply a product of the pressures of producing an "heir." 

He didn't want that life, and as much as he fought them— he swore he'd never get married or have children. Jeon Jungkook was so insistent on allowing the generational wealth and name to die when he did. 

Park Chaeyoung understood his trauma, she told him that for a long time she didn't want to get married too— in fact, she wasn't sure either.

She asked him about how his relationship with them was now.

He told her about how his parents separated and how his mother has a new boyfriend and when he found out, his heart broke— he cut contact with her for a while. Looking back, he knew that it was childish— his parents were only connected on paper, but perhaps deep down, he had hoped that they could play the role of a happy family. 

Jeon Jungkook tells her about how he reached out to her the night he learned the story about her parents, a wake-up call for him that he needed to make amends before he regretted it.

But it was hard.

They met for coffee and it was difficult for him to see her even though in his heart, he knew he had to let go. 

"She deserves a love too," Park Chaeyoung told him, "... a love similar to what we have. But— if you need time to accept it, then that's okay too— you have emotions too, and that's what makes you human."

The pair finish their wine before she gets up and intertwines their fingers, "... let's do something before we head to bed."

Jeon Jungkook has a wide smile, thinking that he knows where it's going. He feels the most connected to her when it's just the two of them in his room, not even necessarily sexual, but the way he can feel the warmth of her body against his own.