Between The Bars | A Lizkook AU

13.

Jungkook cursed under his breath upon losing another parking spot. He's been circling around the street for close to half an hour now but to no avail, he's always one car behind. It's close to 6pm now and it's making him nervous. He's late!

His initial plan to cut the meeting short had failed when Lee Hi kept going about the sounds and notes she had in mind. Her excitement was palpable and he couldn't simply say no when he knew he had been postponing the submission. 

To be honest, he was a little excited as well! He shared what he wrote a few days ago - admitting that it's not fully done yet - and she already loved it. He played the tune on the piano and they exchanged ideas on the continuation. 

It was a really productive and inspiring meeting and he would've been more excited to work on it for longer if it wasn't because of Lisa, constantly being on his mind! By the time he left the building, the traffic's already building up. And now that he's finally in Bukchon Hanok Village, all the parking spots are full! 

He made another turn close around the first gallery and just then, a car drove out. Yes! He speeds up and secured his car. Jungkook leaps out and jogs to the place, about a hundred metres away.

He huffs out when he reached, clutching his knees in front of the lot. He could see some paintings hanged and sculptures stood around, but the lights are off. Is it closed? He tried pushing on the glass door but it's locked. Fuck - I'm too late!!

Okay...okay - it's okay! There's another one...

His feet took over fast, doubling its pace while he focused on the direction displaying on the screen of his phone. He almost ran into a couple of people and muttered 'sorry' while they gave him weird looks but he couldn't care. The chant in his mind is loud as it kept repeating 'please be open' over and over again.

He got to the place just in time! The much older man was just about to lock the door  from inside when Jungkook stopped him in heavy breaths. 

"I - I'm sorry! I know you're closing - but I need to ask - do you happen to - give painting lessons?" He asked in between breaths.

The man scanned him from top to toe before nodding. "We have two sessions - one in the morning, and one at noon. Would you like to book for a slot?"

"I um..." He stretched his neck a little, to glimpse into the gallery. It doesn't look anything like the first one...in fact, it doesn't look like a gallery at all! "I'm actually trying to find someone. I think she may have visited your um...your gallery. She has long hair and she's about this height - she has big, round eyes -" He gestured animatedly with his hands.

The man looked a bit surprised. "Today?"

"I don't know,"

"Oh...I uh..." The man scratches his head a little. He looks older than Jungkook's father - is he the fine artiste Lisa was talking about? "I have a lot of visitors every day...I don't know if I can help you,"

Jungkook takes in a big gulp of air, still feeling a little dazed and out of breath from his earlier rush and nerves. The old man's right - damn, what was he thinking?? How could he tell by just the short and unhelpful description??

He took out his wallet and pulls out Lisa's picture. "This is her. Have you seen her?"

The man took it from his hand and stares at it closely. After a second, he smiled. "Ahh...I remember her! Really hard to forget her face!"

Jungkook froze. He's not sure if it's just his luck or if the universe is really on his side that he ended up at the right place, at just the right time, with just the right person at this moment! She was here! She really came here! She didn't lie when she said he's already close to finding her!