Catch, 22!

Chapter 2: Twenty-two

Jungkook walked to the park near their home. It was a beautiful summer day, a bit cooler than usual. It felt like autumn, and he was thoroughly enjoying it. But he had one more reason to be happy today. He'd been taking walks to this park for the last week, and six days ago he'd met someone. A beautiful girl. Truth was he saw a lot of pretty girls in his line of work. Normally, he wouldn't have noticed. Well, he might have noticed, but she wouldn't have moved him, but this girl had been different right from the start.

Jungkook had been walking along a path that, in the spring was covered in cherry blossoms but on that particular, summer day, was simply lit by bright sunshine. In fact, when he'd heard the girl cry out, he'd looked up quickly and been temporarily blinded by that brilliant light shining out of a cloudless sky. Then he'd been knocked flat by a large, furry animal. Right before a gigantic, wet tongue had begun to lick his face. Lying on his back facing the cerulean sky, Jungkook had cautiously opened his eyes. Just in time to see the saliva dripping off that huge tongue as it slid its way up his cheek toward his open eyes. Quickly, he sealed them shut again.

"Twenty-two!" shouted an irate, feminine voice. "You leave that nice boy alone. Get off of him right now!"

Then Jungkook, his face dripping canine slobber, had reached up and wiped his cheek with his sleeve before taking a peek through slightly opened eyelids.

This must be what it's like for Jimin when he's laughing. I can only see the midsection of the person standing in front of me.

But he could tell the dog was being dragged away as he felt its paws leaving his body, so he opened his eyes completely and stared at the girl standing in front of him. She was glorious. The sun was framing her head, lending its rays to her satiny, raven hair. She had an unearthly glow from that bright star surrounding her. His eyes followed the glossy waves of her hair all the way down...down...down. Wow. Her hair descended all the way down to her mid-thigh. It was the most magnificent hair he had ever seen. It gleamed in the sunlight. The ends were slightly curled. She was wearing it loose, and half of it had fallen forward to cover her chest and slide over her belly to deposit itself below her waist. Far below her waist.

Then his eyes had met her own. And something inside of him had shifted. He felt like he was at the top of that crazy, vertical waterslide that he and the other guys had slid down in a competition that had pitted three of them against the other four. He was freefalling forward into those midnight pools. And he was loving it. He craved adventure, and he sure had found one! He continued to gaze into her stunning eyes for several moments.

Her voice broke his reverie. "Are you all right?"

Hyejin looked at the boy lying on the ground. He was the most striking young man she had ever seen. Her mouth fell open as she gaped at him. She watched as he sat up, jostling his long, dark locks into his eyes. His pink lips puckered as he blew a steady stream of air upward to dislodge that inky, wavy fringe from where it had become intertwined with his raven eyelashes. Once the hair was out of the way, he gazed up at her out of the most beautiful, round eyes she'd ever seen.

Her heart began to thud heavily in her chest. Was she having a heart attack? She was feeling dizzy and short of breath. Those were the beginning symptoms, right? She placed her free hand over her chest, feeling the steady beat of her heart. She felt no pain, just an odd sense in her head, like she was falling through time and space, uncertain of where she would land. She closed her eyes for a moment but was instantly disappointed to have broken contact with that pair of stunning eyes. Her eyes flew open again.

Unfortunately, her dog had moved forward again, and the gorgeous guy was leaning towards Twenty-two, petting the puppy now, and he was grinning. She felt light-headed again. He had the most dazzling smile she'd ever seen. Then he laughed, and when he did, he stole her breath yet again. He wrinkled his nose up in the cutest manner possible. And she found herself staring at his chubby, white teeth, all set in two perfect rows. She closed her eyes to regain her equilibrium before she landed in a pile at his feet.

Jungkook glanced up at the beautiful girl now towering over him. Was she all right? She was standing still with her eyes closed.

"Are YOU all right?" he asked in response to her earlier question.

Those magnificent eyes reappeared. Then she blinked, and she nodded her head. But she still looked dazed. Of course, he was feeling a little dazed himself. Then he smirked as a thought flitted through his mind. Was he having a similar effect on her? Was he not the only one falling headlong into something new and exciting?

Hyejin narrowed her eyes. Why was he smiling smugly at her? Now he looked like one of those overly made up K-pop artists who knew he was hot stuff and believed every girl would just melt into a puddle at his feet! She was beginning to feel decidedly uncomfortable.

"I'm fine." It came out of her mouth a little more harshly than she'd intended. "Twenty-two, leave this guy alone." She turned her attention back to the young man for a moment. "I'm sorry my dog jumped on you. Are you really ok?" Why was she asking him that? She could tell he'd been unharmed by her overly enthusiastic puppy. Who was the size of a small house.

Jungkook grinned at her and jumped to his feet in a graceful maneuver that was almost like watching a ballet dancer move. She was sighing internally again.

Snap out of it, Hyejin! This guy is hot, and he's totally aware of it.

In self-preservation, she backed up. Several feet. Running her back smack into a tree trunk. Her dog, the traitor, was panting after the young guy. Who seemed to be following them.

Now it was his turn to talk. "Are you ok now?" She had to give him some points. He looked truly concerned about her now.

"I'm fine," she snapped again. When had she become so rude?

But Jungkook was not put off by her icy demeanor. Smiling sweetly at her, he continued to approach her until he had invaded her personal space. Standing a scant six inches from her, he stopped to bare his teeth at her again. That was probably supposed to be a grin, but she suddenly felt in danger. He was several inches taller than her, so he bent his head toward her own. A crazy thought entered her mind.

Is he going to kiss me?

Her heart began to thud in anticipation. Her eyes widened.

This beautiful creature was staring up at him with the strangest look in her eyes. Was she afraid of him? Why? Jungkook was stumped. What had he done to so freak her out?

Suddenly, his right hand shot out toward her head. She ducked.

What on earth was she doing? Did she think he was going to hit her?

Nonplussed, his hand continued moving until his fingers had closed around the tiny branch that had fallen onto her head when she'd backed up into the tree. He pulled the stick out of her hair and held it in front of her nose.

"You didn't actually think I was going to hurt you, did you?" he asked her in stupefaction.

Now she just felt stupid, but to cover her embarrassment, she retorted tartly, "I didn't know what you were going to do! I don't know you!"

He stood staring at her, clearly in shock. "You don't know who I am?"

Was it even possible? Was there actually a girl in all of South Korea who didn't know who he was?

"Should I know who you are?" She squinted at him suspiciously.

"Nope. I guess not. It's ok. Sometimes people think they recognize me. But it's kind of refreshing to find someone who doesn't think they already know everything there is to know about me."

Then he reached out and brushed her left cheek with his fingertips, and fire exploded throughout her face and began to run the length of every single nerve ending in her body. She stood, frozen, staring up at the most beautiful boy on the planet.

Why had he touched her? She was pretty sure there was no recovering from that miniscule contact of his skin with her own.