Between Truths ║Dahkook║K.DH J.JK

breaking midnight spells

VI

What he had not expected though was the sweet promise of 'no practice for the weekend.' A first since the semester started six weeks ago.

Jungkook heard the other boys excitedly making plans for the evening as they rushed for the showers. Jungkook knew that they had more than deserved the break. But the running was what he needed. With the chaos settling, he found that he was at loss. It was why he had sent Yein that message.

'Are you free?'

The message was an oddity. Once, they had been comfortable enough for him to see her anytime he wanted. He would know her schedule like they were his. He would know who her friends were and where they liked to hang out. Now, he did not seem to know anything about her. It was a little wistful that after all those years, they had gotten here.

Jungkook stared at his reflection in the mirror intently. He barely minded the ruckus of rough guffaws and callous jokes from the other boys as they washed.

"You're not showering?" Jaehyun asked casually. His hair wet; his scent clean, his mood refreshed. Jungkook wanted to be him. Instead, he glanced at his phone on the countertop. It remained decidedly black. No incoming message.

"Later."

"You're not joining us for drinks later?"

He doubted she would reply soon. Yet, Jungkook could not convince himself that she would reject him.

"No, I've already got plans." he said.

Jaehyun nodded. "Knowing the boys, we'll be there till morning. Feel free to join us after."

"I will."

The sound of pattering water against the tiles eased then. Jungkook knew that the boys were finishing with their showers. Swiftly, he grabbed his towel headed to the nearest shower. Call him a coward. He did not want a repeat of similar questions.

He shivered from the icy cold spray. Still, he stood under the assault long. Longer than his usual quick lather and rinse. Too long that the temperature almost became comforting. He finally turned it off when the only sound he heard was the jet of his own shower. The sudden quiet lonely.

He hummed softly to the same staccato as the overhead lights, the drips of a faraway tap clumsily turned off filled in between. He pulled out a clean white shirt quick, slipped it on easily. It soon stained with blotchy droplets from his wet hair. It was the last of his worries, focused as he was to make it to the exit.

His phone buzzed in his hands. A message. From Yein.

'Sorry...I already have plans.'

Soon after, it dinged with another message, 'Next time?'

He did not know why he felt disappointed when he expected her answer anyway. Jaehyun's offer—he had no excuse now. Jungkook knew him well enough, but most of the others were uncomfortable acquaintances. They were probably already drunk and making a ruckus. It never took them long to sink into that nonchalance. It was a luxury he did not envy. Alas, his slow steps were set towards them. At the usual meat place on the corner street right outside of campus.

Until he veered. Towards the vending machine not far from the stadium. She stood in front of it. He did not know her name, but he remembered her from the time he saw her in the courtyard. Shadows were dancing so close around her now. But they would not touch her. In the dark, her dress was like clouds lacing a mid-day sky: intricate white lace gentle on blue.

It was curiosity that bid him to trail after her. She took the stairs behind some wall: hidden and dismal. He had walked this length countless of times, but it was his first time seeing them there. He paused at the bottom. Looked up the drab square tower. It stretched upwards to levels he could not count accurately, but they were not endless.

There was nothing to the place except function. A simple idea even fools could conjure: concrete stairs and landings in its original grey, rough stone walls not sanded down boxing them in. There was not a draft of air. Even the tiniest sound ricocheted. Her footsteps echoed loudly in that vent-like space. It reminded him of the dark alleyway by his house he would avoid. The pathetic lighting barely did anything to ease his shivers.

When he reached the top, it was not much better. But at least the air moved freely here.

A large balcony of sort, with a ceiling overhead. That was all that stood between the space and the night air. Rows and rows of benches, and no one to occupy them except her.

She was on one nearest to the stairs, her back against him. She had her laptop opened, papers and notes scattered all over the table. She must have left them while she went away to get herself some coffee. A girl who leashed nothing; confident as the Sun who knew things would gravitate back towards her.

The Sun Girl.

He had seen her from far away. Then, she was in front of him, and it was even harder to walk away. The name was apt for someone like her even as he wondered, about reasons she wound up at such a lonely place.

Jungkook saw her pen stilling. So, he walked towards the table in front of her where she could see him. As though he had hit a 'play' button, her shoulders relaxed and she resumed her fastidious scrawling on the paper. It was easy to sense her relief.

Unlike her, he was sucked into his woes. Waited for that repeated stumble of his heart, terse.

One beat. Two beats. It pulsed strong. There was nothing. The breeze against his cheeks soothing. Relief was in his breathe; his smile too.

She was only nothing he had ever seen before. Alas, as that novelty wore off, there was nothing else there to be in awe with. It was nice to know that he was not someone to fall easily for a pretty girl without knowing her.

Jungkook unpacked his bag.

The thought of crashing the party midway seemed even more uninviting now. It would not hurt to catch up on his work, and there was nothing else to think of.

Until some hours later when the midnight chill came, and waited for them to leave. She packed slow, slower than he did. As if offering to stand between him and the terrible dark. He could be a gentleman, but it was not a rule he clung to needlessly. So, he went ahead, down those stairs. She followed, and he imagined the shadows loom close behind her. He hastened; hoping to bring them out to the light quicker.