➪ꏳꀍꍏᖘ 043

Arielle steadily busy lounging on her softest sofa,munching to caramelized popcorn while watching love Island,when she hears the rapid knocking to her front door.

It's with another small hand full of popcorn hovering near her mouth that she glances back to the hallway, internally contemplating if she should stand to open the door or keep wallowing in her regrets.

But then there's a brief image of when Jungkook had once stood in front of her door,and she feels the hope blooming in her chest.
Unintentedly, of course.

With the unintended, she continued to ponder over the possibility that it might actually be Jungkook,which turned her contemplating into into slight fear mixed with anxiety,and it's with abit vigour that she is immediately up,pushing the last of the caramelised popcorn into her mouth,hastily chewing them to bits as she uses her sweater paw to rid the corners of her mouth that undoubtedly had lingering crumbs attached to them.

The sound of her wooled socks against the carpet is inaudible,the taddest bit hastened with the the underlying anxiety and tension that stretches her nerves.

The air castles she'd been steadfastly building,deflates rather when her door is opened,and she comes to sight with Seokjin in front of her.

The down turn of her mood must be palpable,because it's not long before Jin offendedly calls her out on it.

"I'm too handsome to be looked at,like that."
He remarks,a tilt of his lips in a smirk as he crosses his arms and leans against her door frame.

What he does reminds her of Jungkook doing the exact same thing not too long ago,and suddenly there's a little bit more than annoyance attached to her reaction to Kim Seokjin's presence.

Reminiscing sadness.

Fuck.

"Oh come on.
I'm not actually that good looking that it makes you want to cry,does it?"
He whines aloud,and it brings an amused smile to her lips.

"Oh,so my suffering is amusing to you now?"

There exists a pause as she watchedls him for a bit,gaze lingering on how he fidgets abit before seeming to snap out of it, realising what he was busy doing.

"How does it feel conversing with yourself,Seokjin?"
She hums softly, chuckling at his incredulous expression before turning to enter the deeper parts of her home again.

"I was sent here to comfort,not handle yo shit,so please miss madam.
Indulge me."
He huffs as he closes the door behind him,te subtle click of it locking automatically echoing in the hallway.

Arielle turns to look at him while he hangs his coat near the rack by the door, removing his shoes to reveal his white socks.

"Ain't comforting someone supposed to entail handling their shit, though?"
She hums audible enough for Seokjin to hear, placing an manicured mail to her pouty lower lip as she pretends to ponder it.

"Positive shit, negative shit,sad shit.
Any other shit than this."

Must've been too much shit for him as well,ha.

The thought filters through her head and a small smile lingers n her lips,amusing really that she could find humour in her ongoing situation when it hurts her so much.

She isn't aware of Seokjin's gaze softening as he watches her,the concern marring the skin between his brows subtly as he sees the faraway look in her eyes,the slump of her shoulders accompanied by the tensity that lay in her face.

It was odd,being so used to the mocking smile that always sat on her lips,the little sadistic glint that never failed to sparkle in her eye,her posture always exuding confidence.

It worried him,how much her attitude has changed since a month ago.

Worried him abit too much.
Which was why he was here,to figure some things out and of course,on command of Amori since she wasn't currently out of the country.

"What are you doing here, anyway?"
She asks, seeming to snap out of whatever faraway trance she had been in.

"I wouldn't have to be here would you just pick up Amori's calls and answer her.Be glad she's etched on the other side of the Pacific Ocean,that woman sounded mad."
Seokjin answers her, ignoring the hinted jab that lingers in her question.

Gently,he ushers her deeper into her home,a warm hold on both her arms as he steers her in the direction of her kitchen.

"When's the last time you ate?"
He asks,sparing a glance to her lounge that sat etched on the other side of her island,the open plan of the room letting him see the opened packet of Caramelised popcorn.

"Well,I was busy eating that,until you-"

"First of all,Butter popping Corps isn't a meal,I need specifics.
Specifics being, the last time you ate something other than treats,or feeding that unhealthy cracker addiction of yours?
Now,when?"
He says, seating her on a stool before moving to the other side of the island, moving to her kitchen to search through her thoroughly filled fridge.

Just at the sight of how fully equipped it still is,is much prove how much it stays closed.

The only absence being the tray of milky ways that only chanced one small bottle left.

Banana flavoured.

"Seokjin.."
Arielle sighs, leaning her head down on her arms to watch him with a tired gaze.

It showed quite acutely how close their friendship ran when she dared to let out a loud whine when he turned to her with a scolding gaze,reminding Arielle of her mother when she'd forget to take the chicken out of the freezer before she clocked out of work.

"Don't look at me like that.
In my defense,I didn't know how good cheddar flavoured crackers would go with milky way Banana milk."
She waves with her hand as she tries to explain her situation, trying to ignore the way Seokjin closed both doors of her fridge in favour to lean against them and watch her with an soft gaze.

She hated when he did that.
He only did that when feelings were about to get involved,and she'd learned that she always ended up crying when Seokjin used the soft tone when he asked concerned questions.

"Ari.
Are you okay?"
And just as she'd speculated,his voice softens from the high and squeaky vibrato when he laughed or joked, turning to a deeper gravel that had had her eyes growing misty quicker than she intended.

"I-."
She takes a deep breath and shakes her hands loose, pressing the cold skin of her palms to her eyelids to cool down how suddenly heated they became.

It doesn't matter, because when she removes them it's abundantly clear with how her lashes glow beneath the lights,the subtle pink to her cheekbones and the twitch of her nose.

She stares up at Seokjin who still hasn't moved from his position from the fridge,his expression serious and she knows she won't be able to persuade him,not even with tears,to leave it be.

At least not as easily as she had with Amori.

"I-I miss him."
Another pause,where the stuttering intake of air is audible in the silent space of her kitchen,the subtle vibration that goes through her chest as she struggles to keep a small sob to herself.

"I don't know what-what to do.
I can't sleep Seokjin,it hurts to eat,hurts to breath,hurts so fucking much."
She hiccups,and even as she tries to brush the tears from her cheeks,it' useless with how they continuously topple over her lids, wetting her lashes,the creation of small rivers growing in length down her cheeks.

Still, Seokjin's gaze doesn't waver from its intensity.

"Have you asked yourself why it hurts so much,hmm?"
He at least moves from the fridge, instead coming to seat himself next to her,his bottom planted on the island as she softly sniffles into her hands, hiding red eyes and wet cheeks from Seokjin.

"It's not like I don't know why.
I've been in this same spot countless of times before.
It-it just hasn't hurt as much,with the ot-others.
Damnit Jin."
Her words are muffled again her the skin of her hands,and she wipes at her eyes to rid them of the ongoing tears, profusely trying to get the tears to go away.

It doesn't work,not when she looks up at Seokjin looking down at her with a gaze so soft,and so empathetic.

One could say she was longing for the pity.

"He...
He makes me so happy,I felt so warm when he held me,and then I pushed him away..."
A wracking sniffle makes an presence in her sentences,and it feels as if she's going to drown.

She feels his warmth as Seokjin closes his arms around her,hushing soothing words into her hair as she clutches his shirt while silently crying into it.

"Why does it always happen?
I'm so sick,sick,sick..."
She sways back and forth in his hold, clutching him tighter,so scared he'll let go if she loosens just the tiniest bit.

The pause stretches for a while,as she settles to subtle sniffs that's still muffled into his shirt.
Soaking a tad bit more wetter than before.

"I'm in love with him Jinnie,so fucking in love and all I'll ever be good at is hurting him.
I pushed him away when he needed my reassurance,I opted the easy way out by ignoring him when I started to realise the familiar feelings in my chest.Made him feel like he was only good enough for physical touch,I know I know, and yet I- I don't...

Why?
Oh God why?"

The tears start filling her sockets again and before she knows it,her face is swollen,her lips are sorely bitten,and the ache in her chest has multiplied by tenfold.

"Are you going to try and fix it?"
Seokjin asks, smoothly entertangling his hand in her coils to pull her head back abit,her red rimmed eyes gazing up at his softened irises.

She blinks,once,twice.
Before a small sigh escapes her.

There's a pause as nothing other than her small sniffles muffled into his shirt are audible,or his soothing whispers that are spoken into her hair.

A small shake of her head,a watery smile accompanying it as the possibility of it filters through her head.

And yet.

"It's too late.
I already fucked it up.
Fucked it all up Seokjin."

__

Burrowed in her duvets,Arielle ignores the shuffling of feet as Seokjin reports back to Amori,rolling her eyes at this.

She adored their care though, feeling a bit lighter after letting some of her pent up emotions out.

A notification pops up where she'd been settled on her desktop.

An island against the coast of Greek, surrounded by a threshold of greenery and turquoise blue, only the small village that existed of villas small to big with the remaining houses of the population that stayed there year round.

It looked so peaceful,and she found herself clicking,enticed into what they had to offer, hesitating slightly when seeing who owned the vacation housing villas were owned by.

It was registered to be aligned with the rest of the Jeon's property along the coast of the Greek,but Arielle rathered she'd be safe from Jungkook.

After all,why ever would he come looking for someone as incapable as her?

So she bids the deposit,and the amount of money is transferred from her account so that she has the vacation villa for herself for the whole of two months.

She was promised a break if she succeeded in keeping Jungkook obtained from women,and seeing as she excelled, except in the matter that she's become the victim herself,she oughts herself needed of a break.

Maybe she could create the possibility of this growing ache in her chest to ease into nothing by the time she returns.

And maybe,just maybe.

Jungkook would bother looking in her direction for more than a mere moment.

__

Just a little bit more guys.
Promise the promised happy ending is on its way.