Beastly Beauty ✓

24. The Kiss

24 | THE KISS

"Well, I can't," he whispered before he kissed me.

On my forehead.

Feeling his soft lips press onto my skin, all that rushing excitement dwindled into disbelief. I certainly hadn't expected him to kiss me up until a few seconds ago, yet that brief flare of anticipation was enough to leave me wishing for what he didn't give me.

"Did you really just do that?" I asked under my breath as he leaned back, his hands still holding my face.

He bit back a laugh when he saw my expression. "Are you disappointed?"

"Yes," I said, only to sigh right after. My hands went to hold his wrists and guide them away from my face. "I don't know, Jungkook. I don't know if you're serious or just messing with me half the time, and romance is probably the last thing I need right now, but you're... you're just so confusing!"

"Let me be as clear as I can for you," he spoke carefully while his hands slid into mine and interlaced our fingers. "I like you, Jangmi. I know I joke around and tease you a lot, but my feelings for you are real. They have been for a long time."

"Then why didn't you kiss me?" I asked, detecting the faint irritation in my own voice. What bothered me wasn't just the absence of the kiss, but the loss of a chance to better understand my feelings for him.

"I just don't want to do it if you're not ready for it yet. You still have a lot to remember." Jungkook paused, those dark roast eyes searching every sliver of emotion in me. His voice lowered, "Believe me, Red, it just about killed me not to kiss you. It still is killing me."

My eyes followed a raindrop as it fell from a damp strand of his hair and trailed down the smooth skin of his cheek to the corner of his lips. I looked away. "You're not the only one."

Jungkook inhaled and stepped back, dragging a hand down his face with a groan. "Do you not understand the power you have over me by now?" He stared at me through the sheets of rain that separated us. "You saying that only makes it harder."

I scoffed in spite of my fluttering heart. "Well, sorry for being frustrated after you teased me with a kiss and didn't follow through."

He threw his hands up in exasperation and his hood fell back. "I was trying to be considerate by waiting until you remember more about me!"

"Oh, yeah, how considerate of you to go in for a kiss then plant it on my forehead at the last second like a wuss!" I yelled above the rain.

"A wuss?! I was being a gentleman!"

"A gentleman wouldn't have gotten me all excited only to fail to deliver!"

"Stop talking around it and just say it. You wanted me to kiss you and you still do," he said firmly as he closed in on me for the second time.

"In your dreams," I muttered when he came only a step apart from me.

"I'm giving you a chance, Jangmi," he said in a deepened tone as he stared down at me. "Say it and I'll be happy to give it to you. But if you don't, I'm walking away because I can't keep-"

"I want you to kiss me."

My words were all it took for him to go quiet. Our eyes locked with intensity, each waiting, challenging the other to act first. Jungkook's hands slowly found my waist, sliding between my jacket and my shirt. Without looking away, I smoothed my palms over his chest and felt him inhale at my touch. He pulled me into him by the small of my back but made no further move.