Intimately Enchanted → pjm ✓

Chapter 43

Lorraine stood by the glass window, a cup of coffee in her hand, a cigarette tucked between her lips. She didn't go back to Los Angeles, she came to her apartment in New York since Jimin was here for work. She said she didn't wanna go back to Los Angeles so she came where he was. 

Jimin was yet to know what happened back in her home town. She had been weirdly silent since she came, which was scary but Jimin decided he was just gonna stay by her side until she decided to speak up.

The cup of coffee was empty now and Jimin lost track of time. She had just been standing there since so long. His chest was clenching badly at the sight of her and questions were storming in his mind. Jimin went towards her, staring at her face. The city lights gleamed in her eyes as she stared at the view, her face painted with hues of blue and gold. But her expressions remained a void of emotions, which bothered Jimin.

Jimin gently touched her hand, catching her attention as she flinched and looked at him. He pried the coffee mug away from her hand. The cigarette too, was long forgotten, burnt and ashes falling on the snow white carpet.

Jimin waited. 

"Tom..." She mumbled.

"Did something happen to Tom? Is he alright?"

Lorraine nodded. "He's alright." But then her eyes were welling up with tears. 

"Lorraine..." Jimin whispered. "Can you talk? Talk to me."

She inhaled a deep, breath shaky. 

"Tom, he- he beat up Anna's boyfriend...badly. He burnt him with a cigarette."

"What?" Jimin exclaimed.

"He did it to take revenge for me." She continued. "I couldn't even recognize him. For a second I thought-"

She squinted her eyes close.  

"For a second I thought I saw my father in him." She admitted. "He's not. I know that. I've raised him better. He'll never do anything like that but god, I got so scared for him. I can't lose him like that." 

Something broke badly in Lorraine's resolve and tears finally ran free from her eyes. It seemed as if she'd been keeping all of this bottled up since days now. 

"Hey..." Jimin whispered, cradling her face and pulling her into his chest. "You got scared he might turn out like him...but he's not, Lorraine. Trust me, he's like you. Taehyung tells me how nicely your brother treats him. You've raised him so well...don't ever doubt that." 

"He's just...he's scared he might lose me again."

"Yeah." Jimin said, rubbing her back gently. "He loves you a lot. He loves you the most."

Lorraine shook her head, body trembling, fisting Jimin's shirt in her hand. 

"Jimin- it hurts." She confessed. "I failed. I failed to give him a secure childhood."

"It wasn't yours to give. You were a child yourself. Take it from a brother who's blamed himself for years." 

"But it hurts all the same."

Jimin felt a familiar knot in his throat. "Yeah. I know, baby. I know."

She pulled back to look at him, eyes glistening, 

"Make it stop." She said, leaning closer to his face. Jimin stiffened, looking at her with confused eyes. "Jimin, please make it stop."

"Raine-"

"Please." 

How could Jimin ever refuse to her?

If he could, he's take all her pain and make it his. 

"Are you sure?"

"I need it to stop hurting. Even for a little while. I need something to make sense. You're the only thing in my life that makes sense."

Jimin breathed out, slowly reaching out to cup her face with one hand, wiping the tears with his thumb. He leaned closer and just before their lips met, he whispered,

"I love you, Lorraine." 

Like a prayer. Jimin said it like a prayer, kissed as if he was worshipping her. As if he was drinking elixir from her lips. He always did that. Treasuring her. He inhaled, deepening the kiss, feeling Lorraine go pliant against him and let him do whatever he wanted. As if she was tired and just wanted someone to take care of her. Jimin would do it, over and over again. Without a question, he'd do it. 

He gently laid her down on the bed, never once detaching from her as her hands came to loosely wrap around his neck. Just enough so he their bodies molded in one line, pressed together. Jimin's hands trailed down her body, relearning all her curves and there were gasps, sharing the same air, Lorraine's eyes closed as if she was lost in the feeling of Jimin's touch on her skin. 

Perhaps that's what she needed to focus on and forget everything else.

Her golden skin was covered in a sheer layer of sweat by the time Jimin worked their clothes off, messily discarded on the floor, her back arching into him, asking for more between pants. Jimin felt as if everything was working in slow motion. She looked divine and broken at the same time and Jimin realised how dangerous that is, and how addicted he was. 

And what started off as an infatuation had taken a form of something more protective, something Jimin could hold close and call pure. Someone he could love. Despite everything, he could love her. He loved her. 

Here, everything felt as if it could last. They could last. 

Jimin pressed their foreheads together, lips pressing every time he thrusted into her. His strokes long as her thighs trembled around him. He felt the need to tear their worlds apart, everyone who ever hurt her, and this was the closest to sanity he had ever gotten. 

They basked in each other's warmth as the cold lined goosebumps over their skin, breaths shaky as they chased their high. It was like a labyrinth, where they ran to each other at the end of the day, escaping from their sorrows. Jimin will be stuck here forever, gladly. Because being with her was the most freeing thing he had ever experienced. 

When they reached their climax and dissolved into the bed, Jimin hugged her from behind, kissing her shoulder as the last of tears ran down the bridge of her nose, twinkling in the city lights. The silver silk beneath them splattered as they wrapped themselves under the covers. 

Silent. 

Silent until she turned to face him. 

"I'm going back to my island."