My Little Dancer

eleven // butterflies

"Step into this experience with butterflies
in your bones; with a nervous feeling so beautiful,
you know you're doing something right."
D. Antoinette Foy

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Eventually getting up to head back to school, Yein belatedly realised while they didn't contact Taehyung and Sujeong, their two friends didn't do so either. As she wondered how they were, Jungkook brushed it aside, saying they probably were enjoying their own couple time somewhere.

The talk led to the topic about whether they were a couple or not, since the two of them often said they were not attached.

Yein insisted they were but Jungkook stood by his opinion that they were at the stage where they didn't want to commit to any responsibility or unwanted expectations and hence were not a couple.

Noting that he seemed to understand them really well, Jungkook just stated in a as-a-matter-of-fact tone that he had been with them for more than a year after all. "I practically saw them from day one till now," he said.

Squeezing her head into the helmet, Yein successfully fastened the buckle and beamed proudly. With a smile, Jungkook tapped his shoulder and she mounted onto the bike safely.

With her hands placed carefully by the side of his waist, Yein grabbed onto his jacket, scrunching up the fabric. It felt a little difficult to bring her hands back to the previous position because as much as she knew she should, she felt like it was too daring of her to do so.

Jungkook poked her hands with his fingers, causing her to loosen her grasp. And the moment she did, he gently took her hands and brought it around his waist like before.

As I thought. This is a bit too much for me to handle. Yein silently squeezed eyes shut at the situation and squirmed inside her head.

The ride back seemed more therapeutic with the night air feeling more chilly as well. Gazing up to the sky, Yein wondered if it was going to rain. She could faintly smell the chance of a shower.

And as if she was a weather girl, it began to rain down on them.

Thankfully they were off the expressway and Jungkook was able to stop by a cafe. Piling off the bike, they hurried under the shelter there, drenched and slightly dripping.

Jungkook took off his helmet and seeing that Yein was struggling with hers, he decided to give her hand. Removing the helmet, he couldn't help but laugh at her state. The helmet kept part of her hair dry but the ends that weren't, were a tangled mess because of the wind and rain.

Without thinking, he reached out his hand to smoothen her hair while saying, "your hair's a total mess."

Realising what he had just done, Jungkook jerked his hand away, surprised at his actions. Yein, however, didn't notice for she was busy trying to pat the water off her clothes. She was wearing a cotton pullover and therefore with the rain, it had soaked up most of the water that came down. Jungkook was slightly better because he had a waterproof jacket on.

"Sujeong didn't ask me to wear something waterproof," Yein sighed as she tried to untangle her hair, which she gave up after a few attempts.

Chuckling, Jungkook opened his bike's pannier, pulling out a spare windbreaker he kept for emergencies. "Take off that sweater and put this on. If not you'd catch a cold."

"I'm already cold," Yein pouted but still heeded his words and changed out of her soaked sweater. Thanking him, she slipped on his windbreaker.

"The weather was fine just now though. Wonder why it suddenly starting raining," Yein said as she peeked out to see the clouded sky.

Turning behind towards the cafe, Jungkook hummed, "guess we should go in for a hot drink to warm ourselves up."

"Yes, let's."

//

Hands wrapped around the mug, both of them didn't bother sipping on the hot drink but was more concerned about warming their cold hands. Initially intending to order a cup of coffee for himself, Yein refused profusely as she reasoned that it was late and coffee shouldn't be drunk. In the end, she forced her way and ordered two cups of hot chocolate for the both of them.

"How long do you'll think it'll be until the rain lets up?" she asked.

Studying the rain for a moment, Jungkook replied, "by the looks of it, I think another half an hour hopefully?"

Half an hour huh. They both thought simultaneously.

Much too tired from the rather unexpectedly long night, both fell silent as they enjoyed their hot chocolate. The constant pitter-patter of the rain resounded even in the premises, forcing itself to be part of the music at the quiet cafe.

When the rain finally lightened to a tiny drizzle, Jungkook made the call to go and they put on their helmets, mounted up and continued their interrupted journey back to school.

//

Yein watched as Jungkook lightly gave his bike a wipe down after parking it in the hostel's lot. She was holding onto her still damp sweater and her hair was still in a mess. (She had taken a peek using the bike's rear mirror and got a shock of her life.)

Jungkook's hair wasn't exactly in a wonderful state either. His curls were all over the place although he had ruffled it to bring some fringe forward. They were looking somewhat wrinkled from the rain, just as Yein's hands were although they were hiding in the long sleeves of Jungkook's windbreaker. She assumed his hands were just as bad or worse, having been constantly in the rain.

Done, he cradled the helmets, saying he'd let them properly dry off in his room. Offering to carry, Jungkook took a look at her and without batting an eyelid, piled up the two helmets into her opened arms.

"Hang on."

Confused at what he was up to, Yein stood still as he reached both hands around her head and took the hood of his windbreaker. Pulling the hood over her head (and messy hair), he tugged it gently in place and nodded. "At least you won't look like you had a hell of a ride."

After pulling his own hood over, he took the helmets from her hands and walked ahead, leaving a fairly flustered Yein behind.