A little bit of you

PART III

"Mmh, this is good!"

"Don't lie to me, Chae"

"Okay, it's terrible, but A+ for effort." Chaeyoung pats Tae's hunched back for comfort. He's been trying to cook an edible meal for two hours now and truth be told, he's failing hard. "Seriously, Tae just let me cook today, I don't want you cutting any more fingers." She glances at his faint bruises that he desperately tried to hide throughout the process, but nothing goes unnoticed by Chae. He pouts and heads towards the bathroom to put band-aids on his cuts. Just then, Jungkook comes out of his room, hair disheveled and eyes struggling to open as he waddles to the kitchen. Chaeyoung smiles upon seeing him and gets the urge to go and smooth his hair but decides it's best not to. For now.

It's been two weeks since the night Jungkook opened up to her and she can confidently say that things have been better since then. They're comfortable enough to have meals together, do laundry together, go grocery shopping together, even playing overwatch together. Jungkook was hesitant at first, a little afraid that Chaeyoung will judge him for playing video games, but when she invited herself to play, he knew he was being ridiculous. Chaeyoung is a very chill and understanding person, he knows that better than anyone, but his trauma still makes him insecure about his likes and dislikes around girls. Still, he's slowly becoming accustomed to having Chaeyoung in his life. She's an ethereal ray of sunshine, even rivaling Taehyung's lively personality, and Jungkook likes that about her. Sometimes, when he doesn't feel like talking and there's no words left to exchange between them, she'd start sending him memes and funny videos that leave him breathless with laughter. She understands him, respects his space and his hobbies. However, there is one thing that still bothers him and that's Chaeyoung's prudence around him. She's too careful to touch him, too wary about saying something that may not be to his liking, too cautious of what she does and how she does it when they're together. At first, he appreciated it, but now it's getting too out of hand and he hates it. He can tell she hates it too. Chaeyoung is naturally touchy (if her skin ship with Tae isn't the biggest proof of that.) and the fact that she has to restrain herself around him does bother him. He wants her to just be herself.

"Morning, sleepy head. You realize it's 2 PM now, right?" she glances at his sleepy figure as she cleans the mess Taehyung left behind. She's never letting him into the kitchen ever again.

"Mmh." He hums tiredly and stretches with a yawn. "was working on a paper late last night." He mutters drowsily and Chae nods in reply.

"Want me to make you something?" he shakes his head as he watches her clean the kitchen island. Something tells him Taehyung is responsible for all this mess and he has no doubt about it. He once got a knife stuck at the ceiling. Anything is possible with Tae. Speaking of the devil, Taehyung comes in, hands coated in all kinds of band-aids and bandages and beams when he sees Jungkook.

"Aww you look so cute." He ruffles his hair and takes a seat next to him. Jungkook catches Chaeyoung's soft smile directed at him and he quickly looks elsewhere. For some reason, looking her in the eyes makes him nervous, and not the bad kind of nervous, just..weird. Like there's a hoard of butterflies fluttering in his stomach fighting to escape and oddly enough, he doesn't hate it. "Oh right! Jimin said he's coming tonight with Yoongi for movie night!" Taehyung says. "Just a warning though," he looks at Chae "They can be extremely gross and mushy so you might want to prepare yourself for what's coming." She chuckles at his choice of words.

"Don't say that. I love seeing Minie in love." She replies and the two boys exchange a look.

"Minie?" Taehyung tilts his head "You call him Minie? That's awfully adorable."

"Yeah, although he says he hates it but I know deep down he loves it."

"I never asked," Tae starts "but, how do you know Jimin?" he asks and Chaeyoung puts down the dishes she washed to come join them. She leans on the kitchen island separating them, standing straight across Jungkook, who's currently losing it because her face is close enough for him to openly fawn over her beauty. He hopes she doesn't notice.