[ JUNG HOSEOK ]
Our bodies melded together, chests rising and falling in unity. His eyes poured into mine longingly, desperately, yet the distance between us remained unconquerable.
"Please, just take it off," came my broken whisper as my fingertip...
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My brain was a scattered mess as I walked into my room, letting out an exhausted sigh. I rested my back against the door, unsure of how to even begin navigating everything that happened that night. Thinking of Seokjin's reaction was already enough to make my head twinge in pain. Then to relive the nightmarish encounter with The Hood, as I'd chosen to uncreatively name him for the time being, was enough to make my stomach flip with nausea.
There were too many details of the night to consider: Jin's behavior, Taehyung's acts of concern, the supposed forgotten past I had with the stalker.
And Hoseok.
In his presence, my mind was fogged. Not a confused, fearful kind of fog, but a blissfully ignorant one. He had opened up just a fraction to me, and in return, I'd dropped my guard more than I ever intended. While a concerningly large part of me wished to trust him, no longer having him beside me helped clear some of the mist. I reminded myself that he had taken an inexplicable interest in me since the moment I'd arrived. That he'd asked me to be his dancer without a true explanation. I had to learn his reasons before I kept allowing his mysterious magnetism to further attract me to him.
But did I even stand a chance at that?
My mind wanted only to bombard me with questions, doubts, and suspicions, but my body won out over my head and dragged me to the sink. I brushed my teeth then quickly changed clothes before sleepily scuffling towards my bed, burrowing beneath the covers.
I was just starting to doze when the temporary peace I so longed to reach was torn from my fingertips. An image of black - his cloak, his gloves, his veiled face - forced itself to the forefront of my thoughts. My eyes snapped open and I took an unstable inhale, trying to calm my nerves.
The process repeated more times than I could count. My night was one of misery as my own brain worked against me. Even when he wasn't actively trying, his leather-covered hands still kept their constrictive grip on me.
I barely managed to get an hour of sleep. Every time I began to fall away into slumber, I was jolted awake by the flashes of him or the sound of his voice. My alarm went off far too early, signaling that I needed to get ready for the lesson.
Hoseok was already there waiting for me as soon as I arrived, though surprisingly, he stood by the door rather than inside. I stepped closer and lifted my gaze to his, only to stop short at the annoyance that weighed his brows down and set his eyes on fire.
"Took you long enough," he said impatiently, immediately closing in on me. I watched him, heart accelerating as he was suddenly a foot away. He held out his phone and I looked down at it in bafflement.
"Put your number in. I wanted to change where we met today but I couldn't tell you. I had to come here and wait for you and now we've lost time since we still need to go there."
Hesitantly, I took his phone from him and began entering my number, pausing briefly as I noticed the name of the new contact. My cheeks warmed. Rather than 'Jangmi', he had simply entered a sun icon.
