In the dark

67

Peri came up behind Jin. Her hands had started at his narrow waist but snaked around to his chest as her forehead rested between his scapulas. Peri breathed in slowly, taking in the comfort that he was standing in the kitchen with a cup of coffee waiting for her. He always was. Every morning, Peri would arise, and the first person she would look for was Jin. She loved the reliability of Jin. He would always be there for her. Whether for giving her her morning cup of coffee or a silly joke to make her smile. He cared for her; she knew that, and Peri was grateful. Peri wanted to take this moment to appreciate him. 

Peri hummed softly against his back as she pressed herself a little more onto his body. "Absolutely not! You will not fall asleep on me! You've slept enough! You are spending way too much time with Yoongi!" he gruffed

"I'm not sleepy. I only wanted to hug you," she mumbled into his back.

"A hug?" he asked, surprised, then turned his body in a one-eighty. His chest now pressed against Peri's nose, where she could find the stronger scent of lavender on him. "A hug. Yeah, I can do a hug," he told her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and resting his cheek on the top of her head. "Oh, Oh, This is nice. I like hugs," he hummed. He could feel Peri's shoulders shaking as her deep chuckle vibrated in his chest. Just knowing she was laughing made him laugh, too. 

"I never seen you this cuddly. Don't get me wrong, I like it. Jungkook really did a number on you, huh?" Jin stated after a moment of silence. 

"Mmm." Peri's answer was brief. She wasn't going to tell Jin about Jungkook's fuck 'em and leave 'em habit. Nope, she was going to focus on being here with him. She had shed her tears and slept it off. Today was a new day, and she would no longer dwell on it. 

"You want some coffee?" Peri lifted her head and gave it a shake. She lifted onto her toes and slowly kissed his lips, savoring the taste of his morning coffee. That's the pick-me-up she needed. 

"As much as I enjoy this, I wanted to talk for a second." Peri curled her lip like Elvis in disgust. What came after the suggestion of "talking" was never pleasant. She would instead go back to what they were doing. 

"Do you want the good or the bad first?" he asked, giving her the option to choose. It looked like there was no getting out of it. She might as well get the worst of the conversation they were about to have over now. 

"Bad first. The good will be better," she told him.

"There is a contract that you need to sign today. It's sitting on the table." Peri curled her lip again. From the corner of her eye, she could make out the silhouette of the manilla folder on the table. She had been avoiding it. It looks like it was time to sign her contract and get it over with. 

"What's the other thing? The good thing?" she asked, trying to move on quickly away from the manilla envelope and its contents. 

"Well, I have been thinking about your fear of crowds, and since you are going to be working with us soon, I thought you and I could do a little ex-Peri-ment."

"An experiment?" she questioned with a tilt, wishing she could read his mind and see what exactly he had planned. 

"I would like to go on a date."

"An experimental date?"

"More like an immersive date." Jin could hear the pull of air into her lungs through her nose, taking a deep breath. That told him she was thinking about it. Dropping his eyes to her hands, he saw her fingers fluttering about. That told him she was nervous. "It won't be anything crazy. I'm not going to drop you off in the middle of a Coldplay concert and expect you to do a duet with Chris Martin."