It was rare for him to have a vacation and if he was being totally honest with himself, he wasn't quite sure he enjoyed all the free time. Used to the guidance of his managers and his hyungs, lack of structure made him feel restless and a little bored. That said, Geojedo, the small island off the Southern coast, was a perfect spot to relax, and he had a few friends vacationing on the island too. When Yoon Gun-yong texted him one night to meet up for karaoke, he jumped at the chance.
He wasn't expecting to see LM at the karaoke bar. He'd met her once before, since she worked at the tattoo shop in Seoul where he'd looked into having some work done. He hadn't gone through with it — tattoos were still very controversial in Korea, and Seijin had suggested it might hurt his image if he got the highly visible tattoos he was interested in. But every time he saw someone with ink, his interest was piqued once again. And on the right person, he found them incredibly sexy. Like on LM. They were reintroduced and her eyes lingered on him as he bowed at her before she turned back to her friend.
She looked different than the last time he'd seen her. Although her blonde bangs covered most of her forehead, after looking closely he noticed a small tattoo above her eyebrow. She was almost entirely covered, the sleeves of her sweatshirt going past her wrists but he could still see letters tattooed on her knuckles as they peeked out from beneath her sleeves. They were Latin, not Hangul, and he loved the way this looked, N I C E spelled out with a letter on each knuckle and fire illustrated behind the letters.
She wore a ring on each side of her full lower lip. Jungkook couldn't recall ever seeing a double lip piercing like this before and it struck him that she must enjoy standing out in a crowd to present to the world this way. She wore a long, baggy white shirt and a matching face mask. Her blonde hair was cut short, shorter than his now that he was growing it long, and she wore it with confidence. It made her neck look long and graceful and was a bit at odds with her loose, casual outfit.
Karaoke was a good time and after a few beers he felt quite relaxed. He mostly stayed quiet and let others do the talking. His eyes often fell on LM, trying to assess if she was interested in any of his friends, if she had a boyfriend or girlfriend. She was friendly towards him, but didn't seem particularly interested in BTS or his fame.
As the night drew on and the group continued chatting, drinking, singing, he was more and more drawn to her. They spoke a bit about this and that, music, Seoul, their jobs, and it felt like she was his opposite. The structure of his life, the importance placed on his outward appearance and the rigid constricts of idol beauty couldn't be in higher contrast with her artistic lifestyle and her ambiguity toward traditional Korean gender norms. She was quite different from all the other women he knew.
When it got late and things began to wind down for the night someone suggested they take a group photo and as everyone gathered together he found himself right behind her. He threw his arms around her on whim. It was a gesture he'd done countless times for photos with his hyungs, a little way to show his affection. But he was immediately struck by how different this was — she felt so petite, her delicate frame a counter to her bold personality. The feel of her back against his chest had a thrill running through him and he pulled her closer, locking her in his embrace. He heard her sharp intake of breath as he pulled her closer and she briefly leaned back against him. As she pulled away she turned to say goodbye and gave him a sly smile that had his heart racing.
He was still thinking of her when he woke the next day and was surprised to see she had DMed him early in the morning. "Want to have dinner tonight?"
He met her at a quiet restaurant near the coast for a late dinner, both of them a little irritated that he had to bring security with him. As they sat cross legged beneath a low table in the corner of the restaurant he could feel her smooth, warm leg next to his. He looked down and immediately regretted it as the sight of her creamy skin against his black pants filled him with the urge to reach down and stroke her there, where her knee turned into her thigh.
