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Amanda's POV

"Since your mom won't be home this weekend, can we go to your place today? You have a rooftop too, right?" Taehyung asked me as we were walking down towards the library.

Although my heart was leaning heavily in favor of his proposal, my bipolar ass also told me that I needed to pay more attention to my studies.

"Taehyung, we have our pharmacology viva voce on Monday, and I haven't prepared anything for it. I don't think we can do it this weekend." I turned down his request as I was suddenly starting to worry about the exams which were scheduled for the month end, as the professor had informed us today.

"That's not a problem. We can study together..." he replied casually and shoulder bumped me. "And take a break now and then..." he winked and flashed his big square smile, making me giggle.

I hummed and smiled although internally I was blushing red and fully hyped up about this plan.
"Doesn't sound so bad." My mouth betrayed my mind. "But if I fail my exams, then I'm calling this quits." I pointed to the space between us. "Okay?"

"I'll make sure you don't fail." He firmly wrapped his arm around my shoulder and walked us towards his car.

'But every time we have sex, he makes me lose my memories for a while, and I highly doubt it if I would remember anything at all if he spends the weekend with me.'

And given my feelings for him that had strongly taken root inside my heart, I was pretty sure about the outcome of the combined study session.

However, we went over to my place and settled down on the floor of the living room, with our books spread out in the space between us. I took out a pencil and began twirling it in my hair out of habit as I read through the pharmacology notes and kept glancing at Taehyung who was totally immersed in his notes, occasionally reading out something loudly. My weakest areas were the para-clinical subjects, yet Taehyung was somehow brilliant in every subject — he even topped the class in our first year. My mind was wandering wildly, and I forced myself to focus on studying.

After about thirty minutes of diligently reading through the notes, my head hurt.
"God! How do we even memorize all these structures of the NSAIDs? This is so tough," I whined and slammed the pencil down.

Taehyung, who was silently reading all this while, chuckled and came to my side and picked up the pencil and my notebook.
"Look here. There are 12 NSAIDs that we learn about. Are you thorough with their names?" He looked at me, and I couldn't help but stare at the attractive mole on his lower lip.

"Yeah" I nodded and sat up cross-legged next to him.

"Would you be majoring in pharmacology by any chance?" He quirked his brow and put forward a rhetoric question to which I vigorously shook my head.

Taehyung laughed and flipped his hair with his long fingers, and my eyes followed his hands while my dirty mind began thinking of everything those masterpieces are capable of doing, and I swallowed hard to control my thirst.

"Alright. Then I'll teach you a hack to remember their names by seeing the structure. That's what they'll ask in the viva voce." He declared confidently.

I leaned towards him, intentionally letting our exposed knees come into contact.

However, as he started explaining, I sat up attentively and listened to his fun ways of remembering the structures and bonds for each NSAID, and I was thoroughly impressed by his sexy brain.
"Wow... this is super easy now. Ask me something. I'll get it right." I clapped and bounced excitedly.

He shabbily drew a structure in my notebook, and I was quick to answer.
"That's ibuprofen." And we high-fived.

"See, it's not difficult at all. You need to do smart work and not just hard work, ramen" he pulled a loose curl down and let it spring back up, and I chuckled.

"I need to learn so much from you..." I patted his thigh and purposely let my hand rest there while I got back to reading my notes.

After a while, there were loud roars of thunders and intense lightning flashes outside, and it also got extremely dark although it was just about 4 in the evening. I turned on the lights in the living room and decided to take a break with some tea and snacks.

"Hey, do you know to make hot chocolate?" Taehyung followed me into the kitchen and stood close by, and his scent — one that I could even recognize in my deepest sleep — infiltrated my senses, and my heart began racing a mile a minute.

"I do... but it won't taste amazing. Just an average one." I pulled my hair into a top bun. "Do you want hot chocolate now?" I checked with him and walked up to the refrigerator, trying to calm down my tingling nerves.

"Yeah. I'd love it..." he winked and sat on the kitchen counter, swinging his legs beneath him. His eyes were glued on to me, and I couldn't stop myself from getting tangled in his magnetic gaze. He seemed to be staring directly into my soul, and the tension in the air between us was so thick that one could have sliced through it with a knife. We hadn't had sex since that day where he confessed, yet I had been feeling shivers whenever he was around me. And even his casual moves like holding my hands or stroking my shoulders didn't seem so casual to me anymore. Taehyung didn't speak about what happened that day, and I hadn't yet brought it up too. But I really wished we did.

I picked out the ingredients and put the pot on the stove with the cocoa and sugar and began stirring it when all of a sudden all the lights went out, casting the entire house into pitch darkness with the only source of light being the flame in the stove.

"Oh man!" I sighed in disappointment — mainly because I couldn't see his face.

"Hold on. I'll bring us a flashlight." I heard him jump down from the counter and walk out of the kitchen. He came back with the mobile flashlight in his hand, flashing it directly at my face. I squinted and frowned, and he began laughing.

Despite his proximity, my attacked senses, and my pounding heart, I somehow managed to make two large cups of hot chocolate for us, and we headed to the living room, backed by the sounds of the heavy downpour outside. Settling down on the couch beside each other, Taehyung placed the flashlight facing the ceiling on the coffee table and picked up his beverage while I had already begun sipping on mine.

"It tastes good..." he remarked after taking a few sips, and I thanked him.

"We can't study now... until the power is back" Taehyung said and threw his arm around my shoulder and I reflexively curled up next to him when he began stroking my shoulders gently. My breathing intensified.

"Do you like to get wet in the rain?" He asked softly, and I could feel the vibrations of his baritone from his chest, and his smell was already hypnotizing me.

"I do...but my hair becomes hideous." I chuckled, and he laughed too.

"I don't mind. You would still look amazing." He pulled away and turned his head to look at me. "Rooftop?"

He looked so ethereal in the soft glow of the flashlight that reflected on the ceiling and spread over the room, and I made up my mind that my hair wouldn't stop me from enjoying the rain this evening with him.

I unlocked the door to the rooftop and Taehyung, and I stepped out into the open. It was as if the skies had decided to empty themselves, and just when we stepped out, there was a bright spike of lightning that momentarily illuminated our figures, followed closely by a loud and menacing clap of thunder that made me flinch a bit. Taehyung's cold fingers slipped through mine as a chilling wind cut through the sheets of pouring rain. We stood in the middle of the almost empty rooftop, drenched to the bone, hands tightly clasped together — everything felt perfect.

I closed my eyes and tried to take in all the smells and sounds around me — the invigorating smell of wet ground wafting heavily through the downpour, the distant roars of crashing thunder, the swishing sounds of the cold wind and the sizzling symphony of billions of fat raindrops lashing down on us.

I opened my eyes and turned to look at the boy next to me — the boy I gave myself to, the one I called a friend but someone clearly more than that to me — and he was already looking at me, with droplets of water hanging from the ends of his flickering eyelashes and from the tip of his mathematically perfect nose. Kim Taehyung held my hand tighter and turned to stand facing me, and although the surroundings were grayish, I could clearly make out every detail on his face and body.

"Do you like it here?" He asked loud enough to overpower the sounds of the rain, and I nodded.

"I love it." I replied; the volume of my reply matching his from earlier.

He pulled me closer and leaned forward, resting his forehead on mine and wrapped his arms around my waist. My hands locked around his neck as another bolt of lightning struck at a distance and momentarily illuminated the darkening sky.

Taehyung's POV

I looked into Amanda's eyes and felt my chest constricting and my insides clenching, and every nerve ending in my body tingled with excitement.

'I love her.'

I decided that confessing my feelings to her and putting our friendship at stake was a risk that I was ready to take. It was now or never. As the rain increased in intensity, and another wave of cold wind gushed past us, we moved closer to each other than we already were.

"Can I tell you something?" I leaned in close to her ear and spoke.

"Did you actually mean what you said the other day?" She spoke close to my ear, and my heart began booming. Her hands stroked the back of my neck, and every hair fibre in my body stood on its end.

"I did..." I leaned back and looked into her beautiful eyes. "I would say it again a million times." I cupped her jaw in my right hand and held her waist tight in my left hand. "I love you, Amanda"

Her grip on the back of my neck tightened, and I felt her pulling me closer to her face, and the next thing I knew....for the first time, our lips touched ever so gently, and the sensation of her soaking wet, tender lips brushing against mine sent fireworks shooting within my veins.

"Are you sure you want this?" I whispered against her soft lips, and she nodded in response, pressing her lips onto mine. I didn't need to hear anything more. It was her way of saying that she loved me too, and my eyes closed as I parted my lips and captured her baby soft lips in mine, tasting them along with the droplets of rain water dripping down our faces. She kissed me back as our bodies collided, and I pulled her in tighter, not wanting to let anything come between us.

I wanted to open my eyes and look at the girl I loved to bits, but I was spellbound and afraid that just like a beautiful dream, it would all be over if I opened my eyes. Her cold hand stroked my jaw and cheek delicately as she slowly pulled away, and I finally opened my eyes to meet her alluring ones. It wasn't a dream.

"I love you, Taehyung" she hugged me tight, resting her head on my chest, and I smiled joyously as I wrapped my arms tight around her, our fully drenched bodies stuck together, wanting to always keep her only to myself; the rain efficiently masking my tears.

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Amanda's POV

I wiped away my happy tears.
"Yeah, Sooya. Mom and your dad truly deserve each other. Can I invite him for the ceremony tomorrow? 8 people are allowed per invite and there's just 7 of us now. What do you say?"

"I am all in, Mandy. But talk to your mom first. We don't want to take her by surprise." Sooya explained, and I nodded and hummed in agreement.

"Okay then. I'll talk to mom first. But before that, I'll pick up Kook." I took a sharp left onto the highway. "You take care, Sooya. We'll see you tomorrow." I said and ended the call with her. She and Jimin were supposed to accompany me to the airport today, but Jimin had an emergency to attend to, and Sooya wasn't feeling well either. So I would be picking up Jungkook on my own.

After a fifty-minute silent drive, I arrived at the airport and parked my car. Taking long bouncy strides, I jogged up to the arrival area where there were mostly some chauffeurs holding placards, and a few tour guides eagerly waiting for their clients to arrive. Jungkook had texted me some time back that his flight had landed, and, by my estimates, he would be here any minute now.

I leaned forward on the railing, craning my neck, and even among the numerous other heads, the tall and muscular frame of Jungkook stood out distinctly. My lips stretched into the widest smile possible as I was seeing him after three whole years, although we spoke on Skype every now and then. I ambled forward and waved to him, and his big bambi eyes spotted me at once, and he came jogging up to me with his adorable bunny smile and dragging his huge suitcases with both his hands.

"Jungkookieee" I pounced on him, and he let go of his luggage and enveloped me in a bone-crushing hug, effortlessly lifting me and twirling me around, before he set me down.

"So good to see you after so long" I grabbed one of his huge suitcases, and we began advancing in the direction of our car.

"Yeah. So good to see you, Mandy. You look just the same... no one else is here?" He pouted sadly.

"I'm afraid not. Jimin and Taehyung had emergency surgeries, and Sooya isn't feeling well. But I'm never too busy for Kookie." I scrunched my nose and smiled at him, and he giggled at that.

After arranging his luggage in the trunk, Jungkook settled down in the passenger seat, and I took over the wheels. He fell asleep in less than five minutes, and so the drive back home was silent, as I chose to turn off the stereo so that he could sleep in peace.

"Kook... wake up. We're here" I unbuckled my seat belt, and he opened his eyes with great difficulty and got out of the car.

I showed him to the room opposite to ours and set his luggage down in a corner.

"This is like your home, Kook. Feel free to use anything anywhere, any time. You don't have to ask us. Okay?" I asked him as he squatted on the floor to open up one of his suitcases.

"Thank you, Mandy. When will Taehyung be back?" He asked me as he picked out some comfortable clothes to change into.

"He usually returns around 6 in the evening. But tonight there's a party. So he said he would come back by 4 or so. You take a shower, and I'll make something for you to eat." I smiled and closed the door behind me and headed to the kitchen to cook some lunch for the two of us.

"Mmm... Pizza? Sounds cool." I made up my mind and took out the frozen pizza dough. I put it in the microwave for thawing and proceeded to prepare the cheese and veggies for the pizza since Jungkook never liked meat on his pizza.

After a while,
"Hey... what's cooking?" Jungkook's voice sounded behind me, and I turned around to see him walking into the kitchen, dressed in a pair of sweatpants and drying his wet hair strands with a towel.

"Pizza... and since when have you stopped wearing a shirt at home?" I asked while I was busily slicing the veggies.

"What's a shirt? I worked hard on my abs." He poked his abs with his index finger. "Why would I want to cover it up?" He sat down on the kitchen counter and popped a few cherry tomatoes into his mouth.

"But I'm sorry. I would be adding some fat into your abs today." I flashed the block of cheese in front of his face, and he laughed.

"That's okay." Jungkook nodded a few times and emptied the bowl of cherry tomatoes, tossing the bowl into the sink thereafter.

"Mandy, this is for you." Jungkook extended his hand with a small paper bag, and I smiled big.

"Wow! Thank you, Kook!" I took the bag from him and pulled out the box from inside. It was a bottle of perfume — one that I was using way back while we were all still in med school. It was one of my all time favorite fragrances and it wasn't available for sale in Korea anymore.

"This is amazing, Jungkook! You still remembered this one?" I asked him, surprised and elated, and he smiled adorably.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I still remember how you were upset and complaining that this fragrance isn't available here anymore. I found it at a small perfume store in Moscow."

I thanked him once again and put the perfume bottle safely inside my dresser. It was Taehyung's favorite on me too, and I decided to wear it tonight, since the fragrance would bring back lots of old memories that were so precious to us.

The pizzas were baked and together Jungkook and I greedily devoured them at the speed of lightning, with me slightly scorching the roof of my mouth in the process. During lunch, I filled him in on the details about the award ceremony tomorrow.

"So tonight it is Namjoon's engagement party, right?" Jungkook's eyes lifted to meet mine, and my eyes widened in shock.

"How did you know?" I asked him as he took our plates to the sink.

"I've been invited. All the medical staff of the Kim medical center at Gangnam-gu have been invited since it is a major property of the Kim Laboratories. And even though I'd be starting work there on Monday, I have been invited too." He perched himself up on the bar stool and took a swig of water.

"Oh, wow. That's amazing. We'll go together then." I jumped down from my seat. "Um, Kook, I'd be going out now to get my nails done. I'll be back in an hour or so. You relax and get some sleep, okay?" I informed him and picked up my wallet and keys.

Jungkook followed me into the living room.
"But I don't want to sleep. I'll watch something on TV. You relax and take your time, Mandy. Don't rush back home just because I'm here." He let himself sink down into the soft couch.

"Hey... since you couldn't attend our wedding, do you want to watch the video and look at the photos?" I checked with him as I wore my shoes.

"Oh yeah. I wanted to ask that myself." He laughed shyly.

"Hold on." I smiled and brought out our laptop from the bedroom and powered it on. Clicking open the wedding video, I cast it on the huge TV screen and Jungkook showed his thumbs up in approval.

"Alright, I'll see you later." I ruffled his hair and left the house.

Jungkook is here!!

Do you have smell memory? Do certain fragrances remind you of a particular time or moment in life?

Also, this is another top favorite chapter of mine. Did you enjoy it?
I have always fantasized a confession and kiss in the rain, and it just fit well in this story!!
❤❤❤

Published on : 10/14/2021