Chapter 21

Jinhee POV

"So...you good to talk now?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

He merely stared at me blankly, not listening to what I was saying.

I sighed.

"Hey! Bunny!" I snapped my fingers in front of his face.

His eyes flickered to mine in an annoyed expression, "I'm not a bunny."

I shrugged, "At least I got your attention."

"Why did you stop me from hitting that bastard? He almost killed my mom!"

I rubbed my fingers over my temple slowly, trying not to lose patience with this stubborn boy.

"Do you want to catch your father's murderer?"

His eyes flared, "What does that have to do with this?! You'll never understand!"

Ouch.

That comment stung.

Trying to hide my obvious hurt, I said, "It has everything to do with this. Don't you get it? This man was most likely dispatched by the baddies who wanted your father dead. Now, they're going after your mother, who is in a weak and vulnerable position in the hospital."

He kept quiet, thinking hard.

"If you kill him now, you'll never find out what they're after. Your money, your assets? They could be looking for anything! Don't you want to know things? Know the reason why your father died? You need to think straight!"

Jungkook looked down, but when he spoke, his voice was full of pain and regret, "I didn't think of it that way...I'm sorry."

Sobs racked his body again, his cries of anguish and sorrow stabbing my heart like a dagger.

I wrapped my arms around his shaking form, "Everything will be fine. I promised to help you, and I always keep my promise."

He hugged me back, tightening his grip on my waist and burying his face into the crook of my neck.

I felt his breath hitting my skin, automatically rendering me into a pile of human mush.

How does he do this to me?

I swear my heartbeat increased by a few seconds.

I patted his back, waiting for him to calm down.

It seemed like an eternity, him and I standing there in his kitchen, in a tight embrace.

Eventually, my legs turned numb, and I pried his hands off from my waist.

"Come on. We should get back to your mother."

"I can't see her right now, I...I can't take it." he mumbled sadly into my neck, making butterflies flutter in my stomach weirdly.

"Then what do you want to do now?"

He kept his head down, not daring to look up for some reason.

"Can we go eat something? I'm hungry."

I smiled at him, "No problem," and lifted his chin up.

He shook his head and edged away from me.

"What's wrong? Why won't you look at me when I'm speaking to you?"

He peeked me just enough to meet my eyes, the tiniest hint of mischief in those gorgeous dark eyes of his.

"I look like a mess now."

I burst into hysterical laughter, not caring that there was a prisoner upstairs or that Jungkook was bawling his eyes out just moments ago.

"That's my boy."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I watched him slurp up his cup noodles with gusto, silently admiring his side profile.

Look away.

I shifted my gaze just in time.

Jungkook almost caught me staring creepily at him.

He narrowed his eyes at me, "Were you staring?"

I faked an innocent look and widened my eyes, "Any reason why I would?"

He shrugged and returned to his food, "I thought you were a stalker."

I slapped his arm, pouting slightly, "Meanie..."

He laughed, mocking me, "Aw...is my Jinhee mad?"

I turned away huffing angrily, a little flustered.

My Jinhee.

What the heck?

My heart did a couple of somersaults at the thought.

He couldn't possibly like me...right?

"Come on princess..." said boy cooed at me, nudging my chin repeatedly to get my attention, "Don't be mad at me, I'm sowieeee..."

A shy smile tugged at my lips when I heard his babyish apology.

"Kookie is sorryyyy..." he pinched my cheeks mouthed sorry over and over again while stomping his feet on the floor like a toddler.

"Okay, okay fine."

He cheered, and the convenience store cashier looked at him curiously.

Yup, definitely judging.

I poked him in the ribs to tell him to stop, and was surprised when he doubled over in pain.

"Oww...That hurts Jinhee."

Crap.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! Did I hit you too hard?"

He scrunched up his face in agony and stayed hunched over, kneeling on the floor.

I helped him stand upright and almost fainted when he lifted up his shirt to reveal his six pack and a humongous bruise that was turning an ugly shade of blue-black.

Oops.

I forgot about the bruise that I caused when I fell out of the tree earlier today.

I ended up yanking his shirt down to prevent other females in the store from staring too much, blushing furiously and with my heart pounding.

Jungkook didn't seem to notice.

He clung onto my shoulders, seemingly looking for support, saying, "Thanks Jinhee, you're the best."

I feel the same way big boy.

The same way.