single by twenty five x jeon jungkook

three

a week later ..

i am becoming a stripper, i have to! i look at my reflection in the mirror, dressed in lace lingerie—i am obsessed with lace— and can't help but feel impressed at how clean-eating and regular exercise had toned my body.

"chaeyoung! let me see!" my friend, eunbi says from outside of the dressing room. i pull the curtain of the dressing room and twirl, revealing the look to eunbi.

"you know, i think i am going to seriously throw away my accounting degree and become a stripper. like honestly, i heard they make heaps of money and this bra is equivalent to me working my entire ass off on the weekends!" but before i can laugh, every vocal dies on my tongue.

"a stripper?" a familiar, deep and creamy voice calls just metres away, and my gaze quickly shoots to the direction, only to reveal the last person i wanted to ever see in my life again, jung-freaking-kook. he raises his eyebrows at me however he doesn't seem to look impressed; not that i care anyways.

"oh, it's you." i deadpan, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning against the changeroom wall. what in the world was he doing in this lingerie store? i avert my gaze back to eunbi, who is blushing like a mad tomato with clenched teeth. "so? what do you think?"

"definitely not worth it." jungkook says as he lifts himself off the plush cushion and strides towards me so comfortably. "if you're working your ass off for a bra like that, you should have kept your ass."

i scoff at him and drag the lower part of the curtain to cover myself. "i am sorry, but do i know you?" it kills me to hear those words coming from my mouth, but i hide the pain behind a tight smile.

"jeon jungkook." he says, pulling out his hand for me to shake. there is a feeling of nostalgia that accompanied it, i start to remember that day, when we were still strangers with no history between us, we were still so raw and vulnerable. i was so unaware of the role he would some day play in my life. the nostalgia is soon replaced with shame because now he is gone and we are strangers again. it used to be us against the world, and now it hurts to breathe.

"we're leaving, eunbi." i mutter, squinting my eyes at him and pulling the curtain so that it would cover the dressing room. "and i'm totally buying this set." a quick scenario in my head imagined a life where jungkook was actually helping me choose my lingerie, and was sitting in this dressing room with me showering me with compliments as i took it off. a life that would never exist.

after i got dressed back into my casual clothing, and start to walk down the aisle of dressing rooms, i pass one particular room that intrigues me. i hold eunbi's arm to hold her still and try to listen to the weird sounds coming from the dressing room.

"yes, right there, fuck yes jungkook!"