Secretary Jeon [Jungkook x Reader]

♡ 6

CHAPTER 6

~Jungkook's POV~

Somewhere along the line, my goals of proving Y/N wrong, proving that I would be the best secretary she'd ever had, became muddled. Not that I was abandoning my mission, but I guess I'd realized that maybe the things she'd said came from a place of hurt. Maybe they weren't her true feelings. I was no stranger to saying things you didn't mean, so it felt wrong to hold it against her.

I could see her fighting every urge to open herself up to me. Getting her to smile was like pulling teeth, but when she did, I could feel how genuine it was. Her sassy and sometimes cold remarks were her way of defending herself. I couldn't blame her for that. I could only imagine how difficult it must be to be in her position, unable to trust anyone.

I'd seen how people treated her at the company- like she walked on water. Yet behind her back, they called her names and spoke poorly of her. Sure, some of it she may have been oblivious to, but I was certain that some of it she was perfectly aware of. And how horrible that must be, to watch as people smiled in your face before driving a knife in your back.

Stuck in this hotel room with her, I felt the desire to be her reprieve from all that toxicity, if only for a moment. I don't know why I it was that I felt that way. What was it about her that stirred something up inside of me? And what was it that she was stirring up? Whatever it was, it was something that I had to force deep down inside of me and ignore- it had no place existing between CEO and secretary.

"Are you ready to sleep?" I questioned. It was still quite early, but I could tell that she was exhausted from travelling. She was fighting back yawns, small tears pooling in her eyes.

Even so, she shook her head in protest. "No, let's order some food and watch something." Digging through the drawers, she eventually located a menu for room service and began to scan through the pages.

I scooted closer and peeked over her shoulder, browsing the options. "Whatever you'd like, I'm not picky."

"Uhm, okay," she responded, seemingly a bit flustered. I wasn't sure why, but her cheeks had grown red. Cute.

A ridiculous, absolutely excessive amount of delicious, sizzling food was delivered to our door. Steak, pizza, noodles, everything you could think of, was placed before us. The thought of the bill was enough to give me a heart attack. She was living in a whole other world than me. A world where something like this didn't give her a second thought.

"Are you sure this is alright?" I looked between her and the food.

"Just eat, Jungkook," she giggled, grabbing a fork, and starting to dig in. "You'll have to get used to this- I love food."

The savory scent of the dishes was filling the enclosed room, causing my stomach to rumble. "That's hardly the issue, but sure, fine."

"The money?" She raised a brow, humored by my protest. "Just let me spoil you for a bit. I don't mind, plus, we just promised we'd act more naturally around each other."

"You're still my boss- it doesn't feel right." Maybe this was natural for her, but it wasn't for me. Accepting gifts was...difficult. I'd grown up poor, and I'd had to work for everything I owned. All my successes were a result of my own struggle. No one had ever given me a hand along the way. Even coming from her, and I knew she meant well, it felt strange. Especially, considering the fact that she really shouldn't be treating me so kindly. That made things even stranger.

"Don't think of me as your boss, then," she chuckled, taking another bite of her food.

My eyes widened at her comment, and I tilted my head, wondering what she meant. "What do you suggest that I think of you as, then?"

"Your friend," she smiled sweetly.

Friends, hm? Why was she continuing to blur the line between us? The line I was so desperately trying to maintain. The more I learned about her, the more I interacted with her, the more difficult it was to keep that boundary. She was amazing. Whether she realized it or not, she was kind, passionate, strong, beautiful. Without even noticing it, I found myself enraptured by her.

My response may have been something that I'd come to regret, but I couldn't stop myself from uttering the words. "Friends," I nodded.

With one word, that invisible line, that boundary, the thing that held me as nothing more than her secretary, was swept away like dust in the wind. It may have been in that moment that my goal changed. I didn't want to prove her wrong about me, I just wanted to protect her. To be there for her in anything she needed. Perhaps that was what a good secretary did, after all. But, no, I knew this was different.

"In exchange for all of this, you're taking the bed," I shot a glare at her, daring her to argue. "Do not fight me on this."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she whined, waving me off. "Since I am slowly going into a food coma and I don't have the energy to be feisty, I won't argue."

I watched as she struggled to rise from the table, slowly making her way over to the bedroom door. She looked back at me and gave me a soft smile. A 'thank you' left her lips in a whisper.

"Get some sleep, Y/N."

"Good night, Jungkook."