There's a hesitant knock on the door.

Jungkook's too focused on his work to fully register it. He goes about his work, brows furrowed and lips parted in concentration, ignorant of the worried individual on the other side of the door. He hits plays and the studio fills with music, bouncing off every flat surface in the room. Closing his eyes, Jungkook listens to each melody and note carefully noticing how his heart mimics the beats of the song.

It's starting to come around... Finally.

He hears the knock on the door this time when it comes "Come in."

He yawns, stretching his body that has gone stiff from hours of being seated.

The door opens allowing a sliver of light to sneak into the dimly lit studio from the corridor. Jungkook never switches on all the lights in the studio when he works, but has on just enough to provide minimum illumination. He knows who it is even before he turns around. He draws in a deep breath cherishing the fragrance.

Your fragrance always gives it away.

He's grown so used to trying to sense the sweet smell of vanilla whenever he steps into a crowded room of people that he only associates it with one person.

Y/N..

He instantly straightens his posture and turns around to face you.

"What are you doing here?" He watches as the small smile on your face slowly fades. He sighs inwardly at the effect his words have on you. "You're so stubborn you never listen, I told you to go home."

"You're just as stubborn. Why are you working so late?" You immediately counter.

He has no idea what the time is. He's been going at this for a long time, that's all he knows. But if it's late enough for you to come and check on him it must be getting pretty late. He knew this from experience, everytime he'd stay back to work late you'd always come around to check up on him.

"It's none of your concern." His voice no longer sounds angry. "Just go home, Y/N."

He's too tired to keep this act up. Everytime he's nasty to you deep within some part of him breaks seeing the look in your eyes.

Her eyes..

They always give your true feelings away. No matter what your lips say your eyes always betray you with the truth. He wonders if you know that about yourself. Did you know that every time you pretended to be unaffected by his sharp retorts your eyes would speak the truth on behalf of you?

"Have I ever left work before you?" You place your hands on your hips waiting for an answer, challenging him to prove you wrong. When he simply stares at you stoically you go on, "No, I have not. And it won't ever happen. So I'm going to sit here until you're done."

He blows a sigh of frustration and turns around to face the computer.

She's so stubborn!

He hears you moving around behind him as you approach the desk he's seated at to soundlessly place a cup of coffee on it. He finds himself smiling. As the aroma of coffee enters his nostrils he closes his eyes allowing the warmth of it to wash over him.

She always knows exactly what I need.

Jungkook finds it hard to focus with you in the same room. He wants to ask you how your day was.. whether you've had dinner.. but most of all he wants to apologise for being so nasty to you. He wants you to know it's difficult for him to keep this act up.. to keep hurting you and pretending he doesn't care. He tries to shake the thoughts away.

He had no right to care so much for you. You'd made your choice and it's wasn't him.

It was Jimin.

He told himself he couldn't ever be with you.

"H-have you had dinner?" Your voice brings him back to reality.

"If you're going to be in the same room at least keep quite so I can work."

"Answer the question." You're not having his nonsense today.

"I'm not hungry."

"Fine!" You stand up and walk out of the room, to his comfort and... Disappointment.

*****

You eye the two ramen cups in your hand carefully making sure that by the time you go back to Jungkook's studio there still would be something to eat.

You push the door open with you bum and enter the small room a second time that day. Jungkook doesn't bother turning around to acknowledge your presence as he goes on typing on the keyboard. The sound of the clicking keys fill the room.

Placing the steaming ramen cup you inhale the nostalgic smell that is so comforting it feels like home. You are ready to eat. Trapping a few curly noodles between your chop sticks you blow at them and watch the steam sway to the side.

You had been waiting for Jungkook too long and hunger was one thing you could never keep under control. Slurping loudly you look at him sideways and see him stop for a moment before continuing his work.

It's working.

"Hmm.." you hum with pleasure.

The typing stops and he turns around with a sour look on his face. You hurriedly school your expression into one of innocence and look at him with big round eyes.

"Can you keep it down?" He mutters as his eyes fall on the second cup of ramen. "I told you I wasn't hungry."

"That's alright. You don't have to eat," you smile broadly at him. "I'll have more to eat and I'm not complaining."

"You're going to have two?" He raises his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Of course!"

His attention moves away from you to the ramen on the table, with a final gulp he turns around. You sigh inwardly in defeat. You were so close. So very close.

The clicking of the keyboard and your embarrassingly loud slurps fill the room. When you've exhausted all courses of action, you desperately try to fan the wafting smell towards him with your hands.

The smell has to get to him.

With a frustrated groan Jungkook pushes the chair away from the desk and springs up. He grabs the second ramen cup from the table and sits next to you on the small sofa. You stare at him, eyes wide. He doesn't look at you as he gets to devouring his frugal dinner. He leans his head back and smiles with satisfaction. You try hard to suppress the smile that's threatening to sneak out but fail.

Mission accomplished!

Seeing him ravishing his meal makes you realise just how much you had missed being around him, so much so that you find comfort in him sitting this close to you.

"Why are you staring at me?" He asks wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I had almost forgotten what it looked like when you smiled." You instantly regret your words when he shifts in his seat trying to get away from you. His eyes suddenly lose their guarded expression to one of vulnerability and pain. The intensity of the emotion behind hit eyes hits you hard.

"Um.. I should get back to work." He says, standing up as quickly as he had sat down but this time with an urgency to distance himself from you.

What changed?

What happened to you, Jungkook?

What did I do?

Jungkook stares at the computer screen blankly before placing a hand over his heart to feel it thud against his chest like a wild animal aggressively throwing itself against its cage to break free. He had been so taken aback by your statement, he couldn't help but let the guilt tighten in his throat. The guilt of causing you so much pain.

Jungkook tries to resume his work but he's somehow lost his motivation and direction. Leaning back against his chair he tires to convince his mind to conjure up the effort to get a move on but fails. He should stop for the day.

"Okay.. I'm done-"

He turns around to see you asleep on the sofa. Your eyes are closed as your head droops forwards in a very uncomfortably painful angle.

Coming to stand beside you Jungkook gently adjusts your position, laying you down on the sofa and supporting it with a rolled up blanket. Having found another blanket he covers you with it and sits on the table watching you. In that moment he feels an unreasonable anger towards Jimin, jealousy even but he's quick to brushes it aside.

"Y/N.." He breathes before brushing your hair away from your face. His eyes soften as he takes in your curled up posture.

He shouldn't work late, he thinks to himself, at least for your sake.

Quietly standing up he makes sure you're tucked in comfortably before switching off the lights and exiting the studio. He didn't want to wake you up, knowing how hard you'd been working lately with the concert just around the corner. Jungkook had spent enough nights in that studio to know it was actually pretty comfortable so he let you rest.

He makes his way to the entrance of the building, hands shoved into his pockets, when his ears pick up the sound of rain getting loud with each step. Even though from within the building the sound is rather muffled he knows instantly that it's more than just a light drizzle.

Great!

He hadn't felt like driving himself to work so he'd instead come with the other members who had already left hours ago. Manager Sejin hadn't come to work today. He glances at the watch around his wrist and and lets out a groan of annoyance, there's no way he'll be able to find a taxi at this time.

He exits the building and the first thing that hits him is the warm air followed but the petrichor emanating from the ground. He simply stands there enjoying the calm view before him. Sticking out his right arm he allows the cold drops of rain to fall against his skin enjoying the light pressure of its touch. He then takes a step forward and another and another until he's allowed the rain to fall on his entire being. The cold is somehow comforting and he finds himself relax against the tension from the past few days. Tilting his head back he closes his eyes.

The rain continues to fall until it doesn't. Jungkook immediately notices the difference: even though his eyes are closed he knows it's got a little darker and the raindrops are no longer falling on him. He opens his eyes to see a bright yellow umbrella sheltering him.

"Jeon Jungkook, this is not the time to be dancing in the rain. Not with a concert around the corner." you stand before him one hand holding the umbrella and the other on your hip to indicate that you mean business.

You're surprised to see a small smile on his face.

"You sound exactly like a manager." the smile is so small but the affect it has on you is incredible.

You had woken up to darkness surrounding you, even though some part of you wanted to just continue sleeping you pulled yourself up, much to your dismay the sofa you had fallen asleep on was extremely comfortable. But your need to know if Jungkook got home fine won over.

"Where's your car?"

"I came with the other members today." Jungkook says looking down.

"Let's go," you say still holding the yellow umbrella over him while maintaining a good distance between you two and getting rained on in the process.

"We won't get a taxi now, it's too late."

"I know that's why I'm taking you to the bus stop." You get the reaction you had been expecting when he stares at you with his doe like eyes.

"Bus stop?" he mutters to himself. He had not expected that from you.

"I get it you're all high and mighty-"

"I haven't got into a bus in a long time, this should be fun." You gape at his unexpected reply.

Jungkook notices eventually, as you walk beside him how hard you're trying to maintain a safe distance between your bodies. He sees you wipe away at your not drenched shoulder. Before he knows what he's doing he grabs the umbrella from your hand and pulls you closer.

"Don't get rained on. You'll get sick again." He tries to maintain a steady voice as he takes in your look of sheer shock. Readjusting his hold on you, he wraps his arm around your shoulder.

"Well.. if it means that I get to have that amazing chicken soup you made me once before then I guess it'll be worth it." He's glad you're finding this situation funny because all he can think of is your body pressed against his and his heart that's going mad.

He lets out a breath of relief as you near the bus stop. Fortunately for Jungkook, it wasn't too far. As you come to stand under the shelter of the bus stop, Jungkook reluctantly lets go of your shoulder and focuses on his energy on the mundane activity of closing the umbrella. He hates himself for liking the feeling of having you so close to him. This shouldn't be something he gets used to because when you leave his side it'll hurt him the most and he knows it.

As you sit next to him waiting for the bus to come, Jungkook makes no attempt at conversation. The minutes seem to stretch too long. When you begin to grow impatient you stand and look in the direction the bus is surround be coming from, like that'll make things move along faster. You step onto the street careful not to step into the massive puddle of rain water and stare in the direction of traffic with annoyance.

What is taking so long?

"Y/N!" Your head whips towards Jungkook but even before you can react he pulls you towards his chest while simultaneously turning you away from the road. For the first few seconds you're confused but the minute you hear the loud spray of water from an oncoming car you understand what he's doing.

Even after the car wheezes by he doesn't let go of you. You being to squirm in his hold, "Jungkook, you can let me go now."

"I'm trying.. I'm trying to let you go."

The bus is empty when you get on. You scan your phone twice paying for Jungkook and yourself before you throw yourself onto a seat. You look up to see a very confused Jungkook looking in your direction. If you weren't so shaken up from what had happened only minutes ago you would've most definitively laughed.

"Don't worry I paid for both of us." you say as he takes the seat next to you.

You watch as he squirms uncomfortably next to you and for some reason you know it's not the incredibly small seats that are bothering him.

"You're completely drenched," He pushes his wet hair back, fully exposing his forehead. "You didn't have to do that you know?"

"And let that car splash you with dirty rainwater?"

"Yes. You have a concert coming up. I, on the other hand, can afford to get sick. I'm not that important." You try to joke but Jungkook doesn't take in that way.

"You are important."

You face forward concentrating on the mere motion of inhaling and exhaling. The rest of the ride goes by in silence. After a while Jungkook stops moving uncomfortably next to you and just leans against you. You find comfort in the heat radiating from his body and sit in silence watching your surrounding get drenched in the downpour.

"Okay, that's my stop next. You have to get off at the stop after that-"

"How stupid do you think I am? I know where I live."

"Here," you fish out a black mask from your pocket and hand it over to him. It was pretty late and the chances of Jungkook being spotted by a fan or media reporter was slim but not nonexistent. "Just in case."

When you get off of the bus you realise how empty you hands feel and it's only when you have to dash to you apartment with your hands covering your head that you realise.

You've forgotten your umbrella on the bus.

________________________________

Heyyyyyy!!!!

Finally an update and a pretty long one too!

So what did you think? I know Jungkook's going back and forth but the poor thing is tore between love for you and love for Jimin.

Thank you so much for being patient with me. Updates will be more regular now. :) Don't forget to vote and comment (I sound like a YouTuber haha!).