Enhanced || JJK

XXVII. Proofs And Drafts

After also having dinner with us, because my mom wouldn't let him go otherwise, Tae left.
An hour or so later, I was in my bed, left alone with my thoughts which weren't allowing me to enjoy the new episode of Next World Gen, that had just been released.
A notification from my phone interrupted the darkness of my bedroom. I stretched out my hand to grab my tiny earpiece.
"Hey Rosalind, what is it?" I asked my beloved AI, after putting the earbud in.
The sweet feminine voice I had chosen answered right away.
"You have a text message from an unknown number. Do you want me to read it?"
"Yep" I answered, curious to know who the unknown number could belong to.
"'Hey Moon, I bet you're watching the new episode of Next World Gen. I will catch up with you sooner than you think!' ... Do you want to reply to the message?"
It had to be Jungkook. I knew it was him. But I had mixed feelings about answering him. I mean, I wanted to see where things would go, but I was also very scared of getting hurt and I knew that if it was him, it would've hurt ten times more.
"Do you want to reply to the message?" Rosalind repeated after a minute.
"Uhm, yeah..." I answered, still unsure. "'Is this you, Jeon?'"
"Sent". The voice in my ear confirmed.

The Next World Gen episode was still playing on the i-wall next to my bed, but for the first time I couldn't focus on it, so I hit pause. The sound of a new notification rang in my ear and I asked Rosalind to read it for me again.
"'Oh, right, you don't have my number. I think I stole yours years ago from someone, in one of my moments.'"
The last part of the message confused me, so, thinking it was Rosalind's fault, I got out of bed to go and get my phone that I had left on my desk.
I went back to bed and opened the text to read it myself, but it was exactly how Rosalind had read it.

"What do you mean by 'one of your moments'?" I typed into the phone.
A few minutes passed before I received a new notification.
"Well, one of those moments when I thought I would've gathered up my courage and asked you out".
That revelation took me completely by surprise. I wasn't sure if he was joking or telling the truth. Although he did have my number and I was sure I had never given it to him.
"Ah ah yeah right.. come on, what's the truth?" I tried to investigate further.
After a couple of minutes, his answer arrived.
"September 1st 2069, January 23rd 2071, October 17th 2073, June 8th 2075, December 31st 2076... I have draft texts written on these dates that were meant for you but I never sent".

I read that text over and over again and I was automatically smiling. Then I shook my head and tried to analyse the situation rationally. Think, Luna! Could all that be true? September 1st 2069, the day of his 13th birthday. And then I remembered. He came to school the next day being thrilled because his parents had gotten him his first cellphone and I could remember him showing it to his friends. Could I really have been the first person he wanted to text?
"I feel like I need tangible proof", I answered then. I didn't want to be cold, because his texts had only melted me more than he already did, but I was still on the fence about everything and I really didn't want to get hurt. Not if it was him.
"Wow, have you always been this mistrusting? I don't think I want to show them to you, you'll make fun of me!" His text arrived soon after.
A smile escaped my lips, I really couldn't do much about it.
"Anyway, tomorrow at lunch break I can show you the proof you need, deal?" He texted again before I could answer.
In all of this I had almost forgot I was going to see him the next day and all the following days at the Lab. I blushed thinking about it, then tried to quickly recompose myself.
"Deal. Good night"

The next morning I was walking towards the Lab building, lost in my thoughts, when I saw him waiting at the front door. He still hadn't spotted me, so I instinctively fixed my hair and then kept walking in his direction.
"Moon! Finally! You're so late! I've been waiting for hours!" He started nagging as soon as he saw me. It felt like the usual but something about his smile was different. It was as if he was saying 'whatever happened yesterday remains our little secret' and I was so thankful for that. It still wasn't clear to me what we were and my feelings were still very mixed up, so if he had started acting differently all of a sudden I would've probably been weirded out. While walking towards the elevator he slightly touched my hand with his pinky and that simple and secretive touch made the butterflies in my stomach go wild. It was everything I needed. Anything more than that would've made me uncomfortable, since we were at our workplace, but that tiny gesture made me feel like the feelings he expressed to me the previous day weren't changed and deep down I needed that reassurance.

We spent the morning working as usual. Our mentors, Dr. Min and Dr. Jung, came to check on us and see how everything was going. They told us we were going to have a meeting in the afternoon to discuss what we had done up until that moment and what the plans for that week were. Then lunchtime arrived.
"So, were are my proofs?" I asked while we were in line at the cafeteria.
"I was hoping you had forgotten. Okay, look, I'll show you my phone but you can't read them!" He said setting his boundaries, even though that only managed to make me more curious.
We sat at the table and while the rest of the people from the Lab were distracted talking, I poked his leg. He rolled his eyes then took his phone.

I saw him open a chat where the recipient had no name, just an emoji of a full moon. I soon realised that was our chat. Then I saw him click on the draft folder and I saw some texts appear. Some seemed longer, others shorter, but I didn't have the time to read any of them because he rapidly covered the phone with his hand. He only showed me the date of the first draft. September 1st 2069.
"Happy?" He asked then, putting his phone away.
"Not really. Why can't I read them?" I whispered, trying not to make everyone else at the table aware of our conversation.
"You have your reasons not to trust me, I have my reasons not to trust you", he answered, taking a bite out of his sandwich.
"What are you talking about? I'm extremely trustworthy!" I said in shock.
"Well, you never take me seriously, so you'll just laugh when you read them and it's not going to be fun for me".
I took a second to try and understand his point of view. He was right, I never once thought that he was serious anytime he would say something that sounded too good to be true, because I thought that it was just that. Too good to be true. Maybe the only way for him to trust me was if I trusted him first. The question was if I was ready to take that leap of faith. After all, he had tried to show me that his affection for me was genuine and that the things he was saying were true. I just needed to believe that someone like him could want to be with someone like me. But our society had always shown me the opposite.