UNDER HIS SKIN || JungKook

29

Seoul, Korea. 2016

Things with Areum don't seem to be going anywhere. I keep trying to talk to her, but for some reason it just never goes further than any other greeting.

She always offers me a gentle bow, making her hair move all the way to the front with the way her body bends over slightly, before she goes back to focus on her laptop and gets ready for all the notes she'll be taking.

Maybe I shouldn't have confessed to her, it just made things weird between us -and it also seems like it made some space grow between us. Or maybe I should've been more original than just telling her I liked her. Maybe if I had been more creative, she'd be feeling the same way I did? Or, at least, she'd have thought about giving me a chance.

I let out a soft sigh, before I sense someone taking the empty spot next to me. At first, I'm not bothered to look at the person, it's not like I'm curious enough. But a pair of fingers gently pulling the sleeve of my jacket get my attention.

I get completely blocked when I see those familiar black eyes staring right into me. I'm not able to move until I realize she's been talking to me for a few seconds already -well, probably the time it took my eyes to go from hers to her lips.

—I didn't do the mandatory task for today —she starts speaking—. If I don't do it, I'll fail the subject and be forced to take it again next year.

—And what do you want me to do?

—I'm sure you did it.

And, in fact, she's right. There's no way I'd leave a subject pending for no reason, when it's as easy and simple as doing it.

—You want to copy my work?

—I'll just take a look at your research, and I promise you I'll change the wording. It's the same questions for everybody, so I'm sure he expects some answers to be similar.

—Similar, but not the exact same.

After that answer, she rolls her eyes and huffs, and she attempts to leave. But before Areum is able to stand up, I hold her wrist. She looks at me annoyed, something that only encourages me more to give in.

—I'll let you copy them.

—Thank you —a smile instantly brightens her face—. I owe you one.

And maybe it was the way she said that while looking at me like that, or it could be that I'm too into her to think straight, but those words have given me an idea.

—You do —I assure her—. And I'll let you copy them in exchange for something.

Her eyebrows frown momentarily, before her eyes turn to me completely curious about what I have to say.

—If I give you my work, you'll date me —she scoffs, looking away—. I'm risking my ass on failing the subject by helping you, and I'll be saving yours if it turns out well. I'm just asking you to give me a chance, for one month.

✸ ✸ ✸

Something that started that day, and that'd only last a month, turned into half a year of relationship. With every date we had, Areum was able to see parts of me she'd have refused to see in any other circumstance. Slowly, with patience, she learned to treasure every single bit of me and everything I was willing to give her.

I'd always pick her up from her place to walk her to college, and then walk her back home from it; we'd always sit together in class, and have lunch with our friends in common; on the weekend we'd spend it either with her parents or mine, and later we'd go out for a walk -until one of those days we decided to take it a bit further when her parents weren't home. She was the first girl I ever really loved, and I was also the first guy she fell in love with.