The Void [JJKxOC] AU

Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Bigger Picture

Raine smoothed the black dress down over her hips for the hundredth time. She had been talking herself into leaving the house for the past thirty minutes but was glued to the same spot in front of the mirror. Practicing what she would say when she saw him again and how to exude as much nonchalance as possible. Getting over Jungkook wasn't something she believed she could do, but she could learn to live without him. She couldn't help how her heart felt, but she could control how she allowed those feelings to affect her. Raine refused to let her heartache hold her hostage any longer. It was time to move forward and accept that although her relationship with Jungkook was a special time in her life, it was now in the past. 

School had been over for a couple of weeks, but before then, she sometimes sat outside before her first class, hoping she could catch Jungkook leaving. In the last week of school, she decided to come by early and drop off some late work for her statistics professor. It could've probably waited until her class time, but the risk of possibly running into Jungkook enticed her too much to wait. She missed him so much. Even if they didn't speak, even if they pretended not to know each other, she would at least get to see him.

Much to her dismay, she didn't run into him, but someone she was hoping to avoid for the rest of her life. Day and night statistics classes were held in the same room, but a different professor taught her classes. Raine swore Daehyun would be gone as he only taught morning classes, but there he was, sitting behind a desk grading papers when she entered the classroom. 

She froze at the door. Daehyun raised his head slightly, looking past his horn-rimmed glasses at her. He instantly sat up straight, eyes full of hope at the possibility of her visit. 

"Uh, I didn't know anyone was here." She spoke cautiously, afraid to antagonize him. "I'll come back later." 

"No!" Daehyun stood up too quickly, clumsily knocking his knees on the bottom of the desk. It was the first time Raine had seen him be anything other than calm, cool, and collected. "I mean," He gestured towards the paper in her hand. "Is that for Professor Kim? I can get it to him."

Raine looked down at the paper and wondered if it was a good idea. After all, a leopard didn't change its spots, and he would attempt to sabotage her out of spite. "It's fine." She started to leave, but he spoke up again. 

"C'mon, princess." The pet name almost brought her lunch back up, and it was apparent she hadn't hidden her disgust because he quickly backtracked. "Raine. Raine, I wouldn't do anything to harm your grades." He held his hand out for the paper. 

"Right," she scoffed. As if he hadn't done everything he had to the grade of one of his students. 

"I was harming Jeon's grade, not yours," Daehyun spoke like it had been a humor-filled memory between the two, but his smile faded when he realized she wasn't laughing. "Seriously, I'll give it to him." 

Raine thought about it and figured she might as well leave it and get the hell out of there. If he did try anything, she had a copy on her computer. So she took a couple of steps in, still keeping enough distance between them to the point that she had to stretch her arm out as far as possible to get it to touch his fingertips. After he took it, everything told her to walk out, but curiosity and worry got the best of her. "You quit fucking with his grades, right?"

Daehyun couldn't contain his eye-roll at her questioning. "Yes," He dragged on in annoyance. "Though, I didn't really have to do much once you transferred out. He fucked up all on his own. What happened between you two anyway?" 

Raine could have laughed. He had already gotten all his information from Yuri. The girl would give him her social security number if he asked. "Don't act so coy, Daehyun. Innocence doesn't suit the devil."