Buy me flowers| PJM

F. 29

We end up going to the same local I went with Danbi on Friday. The memories of that day come rushing back to me and I force myself to step forward, despite the bitter feeling of meeting Seulgi.

Jimin's girlfriend.

I suddenly feel rage for some reason. Why did he place that stupid bet with me in the first place if he had a girlfriend? Moreover, why didn't he tell me about her? Why did he hide it from me? And why has he acted like nothing had happened after that day in this local? Does he really think I'm stupid?

You are.

JungKook and I sit near the wide windows and I can't help but admire how the bright light of the day falls on the nice wooden table. We order some food and I try to act lightly, even though I guess both of us know I'm faking it. I can't help but feel JungKook's eyes on me. I try to ignore him, but at some point I start to feel uneasy so I look at him with curiosity.

"What?" I ask.

He drifts his gaze away from me and slightly shakes his head, as if he wanted to say "nothing".

"Why were you staring at me?" I ask a slight bit amused by the situation.

I see his cheeks redden a bit, then he furrows his eyebrows in a way I can't help but find cute.

"I wasn't staring at you." He says.

I smile.

"You were." I insist.

He lowers his head but I can see a little grin on his lips and I can't help but smile wider. That's exactly what I've been missing.

"Okay, maybe I was." He finally admits and looks at me with a cute smile on his lips. "So what?"

"So nothing." I say and I flip my hair ironically. "I know you can't resist my beauty."

JungKook laughs and I listen to the bright sound of his laughter, feeling somehow relieved, feeling like in the old times, when we were just careless kids, having the time of our lives. This beautiful sound makes me so happy and right at that moment, I know I love him.

Right at that moment, I guess I understand love. And I feel happy.

*

"So, what were you talking about with mrs. Hwang earlier?" I ask JungKook while I blow in my kimchi soup to chill it down a bit.

"Oh." He says, struggling to chew some hot noodles.

He swallows the food and rushes to his glass of water, drinking half of it. I chuckle.

"She told me that there's this huge competition at the end of the year, organized by some fancy producer from America, which offers the winner the chance to sign a contract with his record house." He says before blowing in his noodles.

I look at him surprised, waiting for him to continue. If what he's saying is heading to the way I think it is, than this is a huge deal.

"She told me I should participate." He continues and my assumptions are right.

"You definitely should!" I say excitedly. "This is a great deal!"

He gives me a small smile, before returning to his noodles. Those have to be really hot, don't they?

"What do you have to do for this competition?" I ask, genuinely curious.

"Well..." he sighs. "That's kind of the problem. I have to produce a song and sing it live in the night of the event."

He takes another bite of food, staring blankly at some random point on the table.

"I don't have producing equipment, there's no way I can produce anything at this point."

He stops as if he wanted to say something more. But he doesn't. I don't push him. Even though I really want to know what he had to say.

"You should ask somebody who has something of this kind, then." I suggest but the next instant I feel dumb for doing it.

I doubt he hadn't thought about this option.

"I should, but I don't know anybody from the music industry." He sighs again. "I will tell mrs. Hwang that I can't participate..."

But what if...

"No, don't do that." I say and he stops his chopsticks in the air, looking at me with curiosity.

I stop for a second to make sure the idea I have in mind isn't stupid and I smile to myself when I realize it can't be. It has to work in some way.

"Okay so look, Jimin's friend, Taehyung, invited Hobi and I to his brother's birthday party which will be on Sunday. He asked me to invite you as well because he said he'd love to meet you and that he wants to have quality people at that party." I say, miming quotations during the last part, showing that's exactly what he said.

"Alright...? That's... nice of him." He says, looking at me even more confused than before. "I guess I can... come? Maybe? But I don't understand what it has to do with the producing equipment."

I smile.

"Taehyung is a student at University of Arts, in the music department. I'm sure he has some kind of producing equipment or that at least he knows somebody who does." I tell him excitedly.

His eyes sparkle for a second and I see how important it is for him that he actually has a chance with this contest.

But it all disappears in a matter of seconds.

"Wait, no. I can't do that." He says and I feel a knot of panic rising in me.

"Why not?" I ask confused.

He sighs.

"I can't just... ask this guy that I don't know to help me so much... I don't want to seem like I'm meeting him with this certain purpose." He says in a serious tone.

I roll my eyes.

"Yah, don't say that." I say. "Of course you're not meeting him with a certain interest, it's just that it happens that he's somebody you'll need help from. In plus, I bet Taehyung would be extremely happy to help you. And you'll agree with me as soon as you'll meet him, he's a very nice person."

JungKook's shoulders sink in and I see how much he hopes I'm right. I can see he tries to make himself believe I'm right. He'll be so happy when he'll see I am.

"I don't know, Yuna..."

"Trust me." I say. "Please, pretty please..."

JungKook sighs wearily. But then, he lifts his gaze towards me and gives me a small smile.

"Okay." He whispers.