Stirring The Soul

Chapter 22

The next day, you wake up a bit earlier than your usual time of 5:30 am and see that Jungkook is still sleeping soundly. You'd moved him away from you as soon as he fell asleep last night and is now hugging his pillow with one leg hanging over the edge of the bed. You couldn't trust yourself to keep your hands to yourself with him in such close proximity, and neither he with you apparently, when you saw the bulge in his trousers protruding through. You shower and get dressed, and then prepare some food for him as quietly as you can so as not to wake him. You place containers labelled 'breakfast' and 'lunch' on the kitchen counter. Before leaving, you write a note telling him that you've gone to work and that two meals are prepared for him, ready for consumption whenever he wanted. You leave the note on his phone, kiss him tenderly on the forehead and stroke his cheek. You can't help yourself when you lean in to kiss his soft lips. As you lift up your head, you stare at him, marvelling at how well he sleeps.

Everyone in school is usually more relaxed on a Friday and the staff usually bring in treats to celebrate the end of the week. Today, someone suggests going out to the pub and you decide to go as well. You are known for not attending social events with your colleagues outside of school and, remembering what Mr Brown said about Jungkook, you think it's probably a good idea to connect with your peers every now and then. When you're at the pub though, you find yourself thinking of Jungkook often and distracted from the others. You wish he is here with you now, keeping you company. Although your peers are perfectly nice people, you only politely engage in conversation with them, not always being attentive to what they are saying. You reflect on how you'd rather spend time with a K-Pop idol than people your own age. You have never been much of a social butterfly and previously endured going out with people just to avoid being labelled a recluse. But now with Jungkook suddenly thrown into the mix, your life has taken an unexpected turn. After an obligatory couple of hours, you make your excuses to leave and hail a cab. As soon as you get in, you check your phone and see that there are 10 unread messages sent from Jungkook since this morning. Shit! Is he ok?

You read the messages.

/// Noona, thank u for the food! Wot time did you leave? I didn't even hear you go, but I dreamt that I had been kissing you xxx ///

/// Oh man, breakfast was so gooooooood! I shud come to yours for meals from now on 😊 ///

/// Having lunch now and thinking of u.....no my thoughts aren't dirty.......yet :-P ///

/// I saw Mr Brown today and he asked how I was, whether I enjoyed having u as my tutor. I couldn't tell him how xctly how much I was enjoying it... 😉 ///

/// Noona, wot r u doing this eve? ///

/// Shall we meet up 2nite? ///

/// You haven't replied so u must b bz in school ///

/// Noona it's been 3 hrs since school finished, r u ok? ///

///Noona? ///

///Noona, I'm coming over right now! Your fone keeps going 2 vcemail when I call and I'm worried! ///

Holy crap! Is he outside my flat? You check the time now, then the time of the message, and see that it had been sent 30 minutes ago. There must have been no phone reception in the pub which is why you didn't get his call or messages. You ask the cab driver to hurry while you call Jungkook. After one ring, he picks up. "Noona! Where are you? You're not at home and you weren't answering your phone, I was so worried. I was contemplating breaking your door down in case you'd hurt yourself inside." He sounds out of breath.

"Oh my goodness, JK, I'm so, so sorry. I went to the pub with some of the teachers and I didn't realise that I didn't have any phone reception. I've only just seen your messages. I'm on my way home now, please wait for me. I'll be there in 5 minutes," you reply, hoping he's not upset.

"Ok, thank God, you're ok. Sure, I'll see you soon," he says.

You put the phone down, relieved. You were half expecting an irate voice at the other end, demanding why you hadn't answered your phone or messages. Instead of encountering a needy person though, you got a young man so concerned for your safety that he immediately rushed over to check on you. You make it to your apartment block on time and when you reach your floor, you see Jungkook pacing along the corridor. He rushes to hug you when he sees you. "Noona, I was really worried," he says, his eyes looking tired. "I know you'll think I'm over-reacting like a big kid, but I don't know, I just got so scared when you didn't answer your phone. I really thought something bad had happened."

You feel so bad for him. "Jungkook, I don't even know what to say. I am sorry that you had to worry like this. Let's go inside," you say as you let go of him and lead him indoors. You both head straight to the sofa and sit on it cross-legged, facing each other. You start, "I'm sorry I missed your messages, and I'm so touched that you came over like this to check on me. Other than Mia and Layla, I'm not sure who else would have cared this much. Are you sure you're not even a teeny bit angry I didn't answer your messages?" you ask, to be sure.

"Angry? With you? No way! I didn't know why you couldn't answer your phone, what if you'd been hurt? How could I be angry then? And it's not like you need to tell me where you are and what you're doing every minute of the day," he says sadly, looking down.

You hold his face in your hands and say, "Are you sure you're only 21 years old, JK? When did you get so mature, hiding an old soul in that young, fit body of yours?" With every new moment that you spend with Jungkook, you find that your attraction to him is deepening. You go in to kiss him, tenderly at first, which he responds to immediately. You both embrace as you continue to kiss, not with the same animalistic fervour as you did before, but this time, with a different type of sincerity and appreciation of having discovered each other.