The Growing of Hearts (A BTS & EXO Fanfiction)

Chapter 11: Sudden Depart

~MERCI~

Merci rolls her eyes and scoffs. Turning her back to Kris, she proceeds to swim farther away from him. With a deep sigh, she relaxes her body once more and lets herself float to the surface. With gentle kicks from her feet and smooth slow motions with her arms, Merci closes her eyes and swims around in that position.

Kris watches her, tilting his head to the side like before.

"You need to meet my friends, specifically one" Kris says all of a sudden. Merci opens her eyes and stares at the cloudy sky. It had stopped raining and the clouds were now starting to dissipate.

"Why?" she questions, wanting to hear what he has to say. Kris looks down into the water and lowers himself into it.

"Cause I want them to see you" he answers plainly. Merci frowns. She didn't push or question him any further though.

"Well what do you want to do?" she asks. Kris shrugs his shoulders.

"What do you want to do?" he repeats, looking at the long haired brunette. Snagging her bottom lip in between her teeth, Merci mulls over some ideas in her head.

"How about we go bowling together?" she proposes. Kris thinks about it and then nods.

"Sounds good" he says. "When we get back to the house, I'll shoot them texts and we'll meet up together tomorrow"

"Okay" Merci agrees. She sighs, thinking for a minute to herself. As she looked up at the dark murky sky, she reflected on what had happened today.

It all happened so fast.

This was shocking to her. Merci had been so... Vulnerable today. Confidence that came from who knows where shined through her tonight. Someone that she had barely known... She went over to his house for a DATE.

A DATE.

Before, Merci would've ran away from any guy that was remotely interested in her. She would've been so shy and self-conscious.

What made Kris different?

Thinking all these thoughts... They seemed to match the sky above her~ Murky and unclear. All of a sudden Merci was hit with a wave of fear, fear that was completely familiar to her.

"I have to go" Merci blurted out suddenly. Kris, who was lost in his own thoughts while sitting on the edge of the bank, looked up in surprise.

"What?" he asked, frowning as he watched Merci climb out of the pond. Running over to the pile of clothes that she had stripped off so confidently before, Merci snatched them up, insecurity swelling up in her chest.

"Goodbye Kris" Merci says, looking at the bemused tall blonde before she looked into the forest and ran. Kris's eyes widened, shocked with the girl's sudden departure. Quickly climbing to his feet, he ran in the same direction the brunette had went. He reached the house, but Merci was nowhere to be seen. He ran out to the front yard and looked around frantically.

"MERCEDES!" he called out, using her full name. His eyes shifted back and forth, trying to spot her but to no avail.

It was like she vanished.

Merci watched as Kris dropped his hands in defeat. She was in the neighbor's yard, hiding behind a tree. She clutched the clothes in her hand tighter and felt her heart deflate as she saw Kris drop his head and rub the back of his neck. With one more look around the dark night, Kris made his way back into his house. When she knew that she was safe from Kris's searching eyes, Merci came out from behind the tree and began to make her way back to the apartment.

'What am I doing?' she thought to herself. 'What was going through my mind?'

Merci mentally beat herself up as she continued her way back home. When she reached the apartment, she used her keys to open the door.

That was when she realized she hadn't bothered to put her clothes back on herself. Despite her sullen mood, Merci chuckled at her carelessness. It wasn't the first time she had been so absorbed into her thoughts that she forgot to do simple things, like putting on her clothes just now for example.

That meant she walked home in just her bra and underwear for anyone to see her. Merci contemplated this for a second before shrugging her shoulders.

'I do what I want' she thought simply as she opened the door and made her way inside. Throwing the keys on the coffee table in the living room, she almost screamed out of terror when a soft moan resonated from somewhere in the room. Whipping her head around, Merci clutched her heart and sighed with relief when she spotted that it was just Katie on the couch sleeping.

Wait...

She was on the couch WITH JUNGKOOK. Merci's mouth drops open at the sight in front of her. Katie was cuddled up against Jungkook's chest who had his arms wrapped tightly around the sleeping girl. Their foreheads were rested against one another and the soft sounds of their breathing filled the room.

Merci began silently fangirling as she watched the couple on the couch. She bit her lip to keep herself quiet as she waved her hands around as her mouth was open in silent squealing noises. She jumped up and down a few times, trying to keep quiet in order to not disturb the two younger ones.

'I KNEW THEY WOULD BE A GOOD MATCH!' she thought triumphantly as she nodded with approval and then exited the room.

After taking a quick and silent shower, Merci collapsed onto her bed. Sighing deeply, she had managed to calm her nerves down.

'What do I do now?' she thought to herself. Merci threw an arm over her eyes to cover them. 'What's Kris doing right now? Is he okay?'

Shaking her head, Merci mentally scolded herself. She shouldn't be thinking about him right now! She should sleep on it first and then deal with it tomorrow!

'I'm sorry Kris...'

That was the last thought that floated around in the girl's head before her eyes fell shut with exhaustion and sleepiness and into a dream world where Merci gladly took its hand and let it guide her into its depths.

That's the power of dreams, they always provide an escape from reality.