Afterglow | K.TH

Deep Breaths

RIEUL

"Hey, Jungkook! Slow down!"

"I can't believe I'm meeting the Kim Taehyung!" He yelps. He'd already spread out his entire closet on the floor, choosing with a happy smile on his face. "And I talked to him! I talked to him!"

He holds up a white sweatshirt to his chest, staring at himself in front of the mirror.

And then he tosses it aside.

"What?" I protest when he quickly picks up another shirt— a navy-colored short sleeve. "I thought that one looked the best!"

He shakes his head, lips squeezed together in concentration as he looks back at the mirror, shirt held up to his chest.

"Too basic. And this one— this one's too informal, informal."

Before he can mess up the house even more, I hurriedly grab a dark sweatshirt and present it to him. He looks down at it curiously, before taking it and placing it to his body.

He smiles.

"Perfect!"

"Good." I say, patting at his fluffy brown hair as I shrug a jacket over my shoulders. "Let's get going. We don't want to be late, right?"

"Right." He nods firmly at himself, and rushes out the door in front of me. And I quickly follow, locking the door behind and calling after him.

"Hey, Kook! I told you to slow down!"

__________________________

"Wow wow." He says, looking up at the skyscraper buildings. "Everything's so big and tall here. They're like giants."

I smile. "We're almost there. Remember not to get distracted— keep your eyes on the road."

Then the traffic sign comes onto green, and Jungkook raises his hand above his head as he walks along with the crowd of people crossing.

"Always look left and right..." I hear him murmur under his breath, and stifle a giggle when he raises his hand higher. "No running outside. No running."

But then my eyes go wide when he whips around to look at me in the middle of the road.

"Noona.... I forgot." He murmurs, voice shaking. "I forgot. How could I— how could I forget—"

"What? Jungkook, what are you talking about?" I say, but then I start to get urgent when the seconds tick down. And we were still in the middle of the road.

"I forgot the drawing." He whimpers, and I push gently at his back, whispering soothing words. There were only five seconds left on the time now.

"Jungkook, it's alright. It's alright. We need to cross the road, though. The cars will come. Remember—"

But he won't budge no matter how hard I push, doe eyes filling with tears.

"I can't believe I still forgot." He whispers, and I grip his wrist. "It was my only chance to show him, and I blew it off like that."

The cars start to beep at us, and Jungkook looks up in fear at the crashing headlights.

He grips the hem of my shirt.

"Noona...? Why are they making scary noises at us? Did we do something wrong?" He asks, and I quickly yelp out. We needed to cross. Right now.

The time had already run out a long time ago.