Fate's Little Bell

Chapter 3

 I made my way over to one of the chairs in the kitchen and climbed onto it, sliding my ice cream closer to me. By now the vanilla and mint chip had become indistinguishable from each other, aside from one creamy white blob having chocolate chips in them.

When the ice cream serving had been in full swing, there'd been some seat migrating, possibly to get away from my grandpa, so now pretty much everyone was in the living room. After a couple minutes of me sitting in peace, eating my ice cream soup, Jungkook walked in with a couple empty bowls and spoons. Before he could open his mouth to say anything, I told him that he could just put those in the sink.

He nodded and placed them gently into the sink. Then, he walked over to the other chair in the kitchen and sat down in it, resting the right side of his jaw bone against his fist as he did. He tilted his head to look at me, and it made the side of his jaw jut out so cleanly it could've cut me like a knife. I swallowed nervously.

"Yoongi-hyung said, ah, you like me," he began. "That um, I'm your bias."

I let my head fall fall forward, smacking into my folded arms which were leaning against the edge of the counter. So much for not doing anything. "Betrayal," I moaned. "I've been betrayed." I let my butt slide off my chair and systematically let my body go limp until I had collapsed into a puddle on the kitchen floor. Jungkook leaned over so he could see me. He looked immensely amused. I covered my red face with my hands and said, "This is the end. Goodbye world."

"You're, uh, traumatic," he said. I could hear the laughter in his voice.

"Do you mean 'dramatic'?" I asked through my hands.

"Ah, yes. Thank you." I heard him moving, and when I finally found the courage to peek through my hands, I saw that he was sitting on the floor, leaning against the oven, next to me. Next to my butt, more specifically, which is why I quickly uncurled myself and sat up myself, bringing my legs close to my chest and wrapping my arms around them.

"Why... are you embarrassed?" he asked, gazing at me intensely.

"Because... I don't know; it just feels so humiliating and silly," I said, bringing my hands back to my face so I could hide again.

He watched me, with his lips slightly pursed. A couple of times he opened his mouth, as if to say something, but he must have thought better of it, because he closed it again right after. Or maybe he just didn't know the words.

"If you have something to say, you should just say it," I told him.

He scowled at me and I saw his tongue poke his right cheek. "I don't... know the words," he said.

"Oh. Sorry...," I mumbled sheepishly, hunching my shoulders more. "Maybe you could ask Namjoon to translate for you?"

Jungkook grimaced. "I... I don't want...." He paused for several seconds. "I don't like... the idea of... of that."

I frowned. "The idea of him helping you?"

He hesitated. "No... the idea... of him... knowing what I want... to say to you."

Huh. What could he possibly want to say to me? I tilted my head to the left. "If... it's not about the help, then could you use an online translator?"

He nodded. "Yeah." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and touched it a few times, then started typing. After a few seconds, he held it out to me. "It might... not be... totally right."

I took his phone in my hand and looked at it. Underneath the Korean was an English translation of what he typed. It said, "Don't be embarrassed. It's not a shame to like someone, especially a pretty girl like you. You're very nice and sweet and you shouldn't be ashamed of how you feel. It's better to tell someone how you feel than wonder what could've happened."