level 23 / btsvelvet

episode nine

when yerim wakes up nestled safely in jungkook's arms, she finds herself falling farther and farther from any resolve. before she knows it, her finger is reaching out to trace the curve of his jaw to the tip of his chin, skimming the roseate hue of his lips, barely brushing the tip of his nose.

for what seems like an eternity, yerim stares at jungkook's handsome face, which is untroubled while wrought in the unfamiliar depths of slumber. his short, sparse eyelashes cast a straight shadow beneath the bleak rays of the telltale light of morning, and they flutter every few passings of time in accordance with the steady expanse of his lungs.

and in that fraction of a second, yerim feels a selfish twinge inside of her, a feeling of desire she's been suppressing all these years. her thoughts wander to the sappy pop songs about love that used to play on the radio, about wanting to be stuck in a moment, about that aching, yet blissful urge to hand out your heart.

perhaps she finally understands the lyrics she used to sing along to blindly, when jungkook would drive her to campus when he wasn't too busy with the company.

as the fluorescent green letters on his nightstand morph to display six fifty-one a. m., yerim considers asking jungkook when he wakes if he means everything he says, if he really does mean those occasional kisses that would happen here and then, (those kisses that were never brought up again afterward), if he might just really love her like she does him, even if it is just a little bit.

in the end, when jungkook's eyes open, dark sky still cloudy with fragments of his dreams, she doesn't ask. kim yerim is too afraid of the slightest possibility that the answer to her questions would be no.

"hey." he whispers as he stares back at her fondly. "what time is it?"

"almost seven." yerim answers before adding, "a little early, since work starts at eight for me."

the blonde then bites her lip at the thought, inwardly groaning at the reminder of her shitty internship she had worked so hard to keep in the past few months. at least she wouldn't have her shift at the bar until the weekend.

"good," jungkook hums in content as she reaches out to brush away the strands of his dark hair, which dust the apex of his eyebrows. "that means more time for us."

yerim's lips form a small curve when jungkook's arm, which is wrapped protectively around her waist, tightens its hold around the dip of her torso.

"hot." she still grumbles despite thoroughly enjoying it, because jeon jungkook is practically a human oven. for as long as yerim could remember, he was always this warm--his hands were comforting in her own clammy hold, his touch was akin to fire as much as it was gentle.

jungkook, however, takes her protests as a cue to press even closer to her.

"i just miss you too much." he admits sullenly, "things have been on a tight schedule ever since the deadline for our demo was moved up a month. otherwise i'd make it a point to take you home with me every day."

yerim chuckles softly, because she doesn't quite know how to respond. she never has, really--she knows jungkook has a knack for sweet-talking girls, and had always taken it as such.

in short, kim yerim had always assumed that jeon jungkook was either joking around with her, or using her as practice. (she doesn't know why jungkook would go as far as to avoid other girls' advances in front of her, really. once again, she'd simply think of it as an act, because she was pretty sure he was fucking those same girls behind closed doors.)