BEHIND THE SCENES

chapter 34: personal sleeping pill

<OST: eight - IU PROD. & ft. SUGA>

Jieun pushed away a stray strand of hair from Jungkook's face as she admired his face that looked like pure porcelain in the dimly lit practice room.

Jieun rested her chin on her palms, as she observed a sleeping Jungkook with a smile playing at her lips. "You actually look pretty okay when you're asleep."

Jieun couldn't believe it either - the fact that she actually made him fall asleep again. Was this all a coincidence? Or really, like what Jungkook had said, was she really his cure? But how? And why?

Ring! Ding! Dong! Ding! Ring! Ding!

Jungkook stirred in his sleep as his phone alarm went off. He groaned and stretched his arms as he sat up, and his eyes fluttered open slowly and landed on Jieun.

"I did it-" Jieun said with a small smile. "You slept like a baby."

As Jungkook's eyes came into focus, he spotted Jieun and a small smile formed at his lips. "I did... I haven't slept this well in a long while - just plain dreamless, nightmareless, disturbless sleep. And I did it once again, thanks to you, Lee Jieun."

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Jieun freaked out at the feeling of her heart hammering rapidly against her chest. Why on earth was her heart doing that? It's not like she liked him or anything. It was simply because she had been deprived of love for so long, her heart probably couldn't stand it. Staying in a huge quiet and empty room with a good-looking man for half an hour? That was bound to make any girl's heart behave the way her heart was acting.

"Um, well-" Jieun let out a nervous chuckle as she got to her feet quickly, feeling the temperature in the room rise. "Now that you've got some sleep, why don't you show me around the company? I haven't seen much of the company after all, since I'm a new employee here-"

"Not so fast-" Jungkook smiled as he reached our and grabbed Jieun by the wrist. "I'm not done yet."

"Woah-"

Jieun's eyes widened in surprise as Jungkook tugged her back down to the ground next to him with one swift flick of his wrist. As she steadied herself, she found herself looking up into his eyes.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

"W- What-" Jieun stuttered, her throat feeling dry all of a sudden as she found herself struggling to maintain eye contact with him. "What else do you need?"

"You," Jungkook replied simply. "I need you by my side from now, my little sleeping pill."

Jieun's eyes widened.

-•-•-

'I've never killed anyone before, if that's what you're asking. And I would never kill someone.'

That itself was enough for Jennie.

Somehow, she trusted him. The desperation in his voice, the fear in his eyes, those were things that cannot be made up. Things like news articles, or wherever Jimin got that information from, they could be made up. Min Yoongi, the person whom she had just gotten to know but already trusted so deeply, could not.

'You're lonely, I'm lonely too. We can rely on each other from now. Here's my number.'

Later that day, Jennie sat on her couch in the middle of the living room, looking down at her phone, waiting for her phone to ring, or beep - just a message, even a fullstop from him will do. He was her first friend she had made on her own accord in a long time - not one of those celebrity friends she barely contacted. He was someone she found an emotional connection with, and someone whom she truly felt... could relate to how lonely and empty she felt all the time.