NOBODY | jenkai.

Sunflower 🌻pt.2 ✒

Narration

Upon ordering their meals, Kai briefly excused himself to the restroom - to wash his hands and to mentally prepare himself for his confession. He didn't know how to approach the subject without surprising or scaring her off. He never confessed to anyone before, girls (and some boys but mostly girls) usually came flocking to him to ask him out and not the other way around.

To say that he was afraid of rejection was a reach, he wasn't scared of the rejection itself, but the consequences of it.

Several questions popped up in his mind: "What if she already likes someone else?"; "What if she secretly hates me and just doesn't dare to say it?"; "What if she walks out of my life and never step back in again?" and so on.

He slapped himself and reminded it that he must get his thoughts together. She was waiting for her outside and no matter what the results were, he should have no regrets.

On the way out of the restroom, he stumbled upon Chaeyoung, who was coming out of the ladies' room. She still hadn't noticed his presence as she was busy reading messages on her phone. Feeling a presence near her, she lifted her head and froze when she met his eyes. Kai couldn't decipher the expression on her face. There were too many emotions showing up at the same time, he didn't know with which one to start.

There was an awkward silence between them, and he couldn't bear it anymore. "Uhm... hi?" Kai hesitantly raised his hand, not so sure if he should just wave his hand or shake her hand.

She flashed him a tight-lipped smile and quickly looked away. "What are you doing here?" He said, putting his hands in his pocket. She whipped her head towards him and put her thumb between her front teeth, "I'm waiting for Jae, we're on a date."

He nodded, "Well, I gotta go, Jen's waiting for me. Can't keep her waiting or else she'll go back to being mad at me. So... bye?"

"Yeah, have fun!" Chaeyoung said almost running away from him.

He tilted his head wondering what was wrong with her.

He headed back to their table and before sitting down, he contented himself by observing his date from afar, how adorable she looked with the small iPhone 4s that fit perfectly her hands. And how her brows would furrow from time to time while scrolling through whichever social media she was on. At that moment, Kai just wanted to end it all and confess so that he could give her the happiness she deserved. But he couldn't, he had a plan in his head, and he would stick to it. He had to keep pretending to be the man he was before she came into his life, Narcissus.

He put on his usual smug face and approached her with his right in his pocket while the other brushing his hair back. Jennie seemed to have noticed that he was getting closer and put her old phone on the table. He hadn't even sat down when she spoke, "Where's my phone?"

He let out a soft chuckle. "Why are you in such a hurry? We have all the time of the world before we get to that part." Adding a small wink, when he said part. Jennie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "What do you really want, Kim Jongin?"

He leaned up on the table approaching his lips to her ear, he could feel her breath against his jaw, and he wondered if she could hear his fastening heartbeat as well. "I want you."

He pulled away and watched her flushed cheeks with a smirk. He had an effect on her after all. She looked everywhere but him, knowing that the next time their eyes meet, she would fall for him all over again, but Jongin didn't know that.

Much to his disappointment, the food had arrived. Jennie's focus was now on the pasta dish in front of her. She dug in the food, completely forgetting his existence. She would pause a few times to drink some wine, still not looking at her companion.

However, when she finally lifted her head entirely, her forehead creased. One of her best friends had just walked in, with a man, holding her hands. What's more surprising is the man wasn't a stranger, it was one of her date's best friends, Kim Junmyeon.

She followed the both of them with her eyes and the small of gesture of him pulling out a chair for her didn't escape her eyes, as well as the small twinkle in her best friend's eyes while looking at him. Her best friend was in love, and she didn't know.

Kai tapped her on the hand slightly to bring her soul back from wherever it drifted to. "Hey, everything okay?"

She slowly nodded in response. "Did you know that Suho and Jisoo were dating?" She asked, the sadness in her voice wasn't left unnoticed.

"What? What are you talking about?" Jennie noticed that Kai wasn't aware and felt slightly relieved. She wasn't the only one left in the dark.

She signaled him with her head to look on his left and when he did, he saw the lovey-dovey couple deep in their conversation while holding hands. He whipped his phone out of his pocket to send a message in the group chat when his rich best friend stood up and got down on one knee. Kai heard Jennie choke on her drink and quickly glanced to her direction. Her jaw was almost dropping to the floor.

He turned his attention back to the couple. Suho was now opening the velvet box with a diamond ring shining under the chandelier lights of the restaurant. Needless to say, his jaw dropped as well as his phone.

Cheers and applause erupted in the hall; the other clients were also watching the fiasco. The newly engaged couple bowed and left the restaurant shyly, maybe for a little private celebration, or that's what they thought.

As soon as the cheers died down, Jennie let out a few giggles. "I can't believe that just happened." Kai sighed and chuckled, "I know right. What a show that was. So much for a quiet date." Kai watched Jennie play with her wine glass and she looked so beautiful to him at that moment.

It was at that moment or never.

"Jen." His voice low and a bit shaky. Jennie looked up only to meet his beautiful orbs that were holding so much emotions. Her breath hitched when he grabbed her hand, holding it ever so softly like he was afraid to break her.

"Jongin, what's wrong?" She wasn't used to him being like this.

"I... I like you." He confessed. Her heartbeat spiked and she felt like her heart was gonna jump out of ribcage. I mean who wouldn't feel that way when your longtime crush just confessed to you?

"W-what? I'm not sure I'm following." Jennie stuttered, avoiding eye contact.

"I like you Kim Jennie. I admit I never imagined myself saying these words to you. But here we are." He chuckled nervously. "You have changed me and I know you might think that my feelings aren't real but trust me when I say that this is the first time my heart has beaten for someone other than myself."

The last sentence made Jennie chuckle and her angelic laugh eased his tightened chest a bit. He was relieved that she hadn't walked out on him the moment he spouted those words.

"Since we're already spilling out everything, fine, I admit I had a crush on you before and maybe a little spark revived it recently." Jennie confessed, hiding her face in her hands right after.

"You did? How and why?" Jongin was more than excited after hearing her sudden little confession. He was curious of how he got the attention of someone as amazing as her, although it was given that he was very attractive to the opposite gender.

"I just told you that I did!" Her cheeks were now flushed red and she just looked so adorable in his eyes. He wanted to kiss her right there and right then but all confidence he possessed seemed to have vanished into thin air. And so, he contented himself with basking under the radiance she emitted the same way a sunflower would bask under the rays of sunshine. Jennie was from then on, his source of sunlight and he was her sunflower.

"Do you want to see my secret place?" Jongin took a step out of his comfort zone and the way her eyes lit up at the mention of a hidden place made it worth it.

The new couple exited the restaurant, hand in hand, ready for a new journey

"Wait a minute. You still haven't given me my phone."