apart

You awoke the next morning as you always did. The warm sun filtering in, the birds screaming. The only difference was that today was a new day – and each new day brought different things.

Sunday was a day you loved. It was yours. Nobody bothered you either because Sunday for everyone, was theirs. And you liked it that way.

It was yours to relax. It was yours to sleep in to ungodly hours of the afternoon – or to watch TV, or to drink coffee on your balcony and watch the people in the city go by. You really loved Sundays.

You decided to catch up on some work so you could go home earlier this week, it seemed like a fitting sacrifice because work felt much better in the comfort of your own home in underwear and a baggy t-shirt, rather than in the tight fitting blouses and pencil skirts you were used to in the office.

You eased into the couch and set your laptop on your thighs, a bowl of fruit and nuts on your small table to the side in case you felt hungry while you worked and got started, letting the day pass by as you typed away.

After a few hours of catching up on work you decided it was time to relax and spent the rest of your day nestled in a blanket watching films.

It was early into the night when Jungkook arrived at his local bar. He spotted 6 familiar figures on their usual table and made his way over, laughing gently at their howling antics when he came to sit down.

They ordered their usual drinks and fell quickly into conversation about anything and everything that had happened to each of them since they’d last met.

Jungkook loved Sundays, they were his, they were his friends - they were warm, happy days spent with people he held dear.

Deeper into the night filled with idle chatter and warm laughter, it was then Yoongi turned to Jungkook,

"So who was that pretty little number I saw you talking with the other night?" He laughed, bringing a bottle of soju to his lips.

His inquisition had the boys nodding and humming between each other, all eager to listen because they'd all seen it that night. Jungkook never approached patrons; he just wandered around his own galleries out of mild interest. So what had made her different?

Jungkook thought about the question for a moment. Anyone with eyes could see that she was pretty, but he couldn't answer the question of who she was. He himself didn’t know the answer.

He settled with a reply and placed his glass down after taking a sip. "Her name is Y/N."

He scanned his friends for a response, and after they realised he wasn't saying anything else, Jin was the first to speak. "She has a pretty name."  The boys hummed in unison, agreeing.

"Oh, cut the bullshit" Yoongi finished, grinning a little “Who is she? What was it about her that made you want to talk to her?"

Jimin and Taehyung who were off to the side snorted a little in laughter at Yoongi’s bluntness, but still turned their eyes to Jungkook, hoping for an answer.  

"She was just..." Jungkook bit his lip "She was staring at the painting of Min-Ji for so long. It's not one of my most popular paintings so I just wanted to know why, is all."

Taehyung nodded and fell back into his seat, after leaning forward unintentionally.

"So..." Namjoon spoke up, "Why was she looking at it for so long?" he looked genuinely interested so Jungkook felt compelled to answer properly.

He found himself lost in thought for a moment. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to do her answer justice, he spoke anyway.

“Well, for starters she didn’t know I was the artist – she just said she thought whoever painted it was in pain, like he was trying to capture the beauty of this person so desperately but all the while being too busy harbouring ugly feelings to do so. It was like…” His tone fell off the end, he ruffled the back of his hair in wonder “Shit, Hyung I don’t even know, she worded it better than the way I felt myself. It was so weird.”

Namjoon smiled gently “Wow. She sounds like some girl to have our usually calm Jungkookie so flustered like this.”

Yoongi raised his eyebrow “I’ll drink to that.” And so they all did.

Taehyung leaned his head forward over the table again, "Did you get her number?"

Jungkook shook his head, "No, but I gave her my card, and she came over to my studio yesterday...”

"HUH?" Hoseok piped up after listening to this whole conversation intently, eyes wide and lively "What did you do with her?"

At this Jungkook cracked a smile, the boys around the table erupting into hushed laughter.

"She drank, we talked," He paused, a soft smile gracing his features "you guys would like her, she's straightforward."

He decided to forgo divulging the information that she'd almost taken her clothes off and could go from being cute to a minx in a matter of seconds, because they'd take it entirely out of context and never let him live it down - he was known for being a gentleman. 

At this Jimin sighed, "It's been a while since you've had that, other than from us of course."

Jin raised an eyebrow at Jimin, knowing that even implicating at Min-Ji’s existence might be treading on dangerous territory, but for some reason Jungkook wasn't affected by it at all.

“Yeah.” Jungkook nodded “It has.”

The topic of Y/N then faded into the background as more discussions were brought to the table, and the night continued the way it had begun, warmly, and in the company of wonderful friends.

When Monday rolled around Jungkook found himself at an impasse.

Sitting in front of his canvas with a brush dipped in half-drying paint from lack of movement - Jungkook thought about Y/N and the things that she'd said.

Her words danced around his head like a melancholy tune.

 'Just burn them'

The fact that a tipsy woman who he'd known for so little time had said the things he'd needed to hear for months was an odd revelation. She was an odd revelation, really.

Maybe he should just fucking burn them and be done with it. As he was now, he didn't even like them, he wanted to start anew.

But then his thoughts wandered to how she'd called it 'pretty'. Like her words alone acted as a salve to the wound she'd inflicted on him. If one of the prettiest girls he'd ever seen thought his art was pretty perhaps they were worth a second glance over, maybe he could find beauty within them again after all.

But those pieces, that lay scattered over his studio were an afterthought, the most important one was the piece that lay beneath a silk cover in the back, the one he'd started the night Y/N came over and breathed life into his dying creativity.

She'd asked him what he would do with it. He didn't know, he wanted to finish it so badly, just to prove to her that sometimes his feelings weren't fickle and short-sighted, but at the same time he didn't want to touch it.

He wanted to use it as an excuse to see her, to see her over and over and leave it unfinished till the end of his days so she could keep coming back.

His heart thumped steadily, quickly at the thought of her gaze on him under the dim lights of the studio he sat in now. How could he wait a week to see her when the curiosity and desperation burned in him after only a day of not doing so.

He breathed in gently, his mind replaying thoughts of her smile, her wit and almost every other physical aspect of her,

And he brought his brush to the canvas. 

“Y/N!”

You stopped typing and looked up to see your work partner Eleanor hovering over your desk, dishevelled papers in hand “Sweetheart, hi. Can you get these scanned and faxed over to editing? I’d have you look over them yourself since you’re better than all those idiots down there but you seem busy enough.”

You noticed the slight dark hue beneath her eyes and reached up, pulling the stack from her hand. You decided this was what you worked over Sunday’s for, to leave space for helping the higher ups who looked so damn tired all the time. “Leave it to me Ellie.”

She mouthed a quick ‘thank you’ before skittering off and out of the office to god knows where. Poor thing must be swamped.

You saved the article document you’d been writing and stood up, papers in hand – and found your way into the photocopier room and set them all down and started scanning everything page by page.

As you did the mundane task, your mind wandered to thoughts of Jungkook. You itched to see him, which might seem odd to some considering the length of time you’d been acquainted with one another, but you couldn’t help it. The heart and mind was a wild thing.

His laughter was so contagious, and he brought this aura of mystery and intrigue to your life. God you wanted to know who he was so badly, a little afraid too, but mostly desperate.

You were a pretty odd person, full of so many ideas and passions, that’s why you took to writing for a magazine – you could research and read so much and then write about all of it to quench all of your curiosities and let them out of your system like steam. You loved your job, but you decided you’d started to like weekends just that little bit more, maybe.  

The photocopier had faxed out the last article to the editing team, so you grabbed the stack of papers given to you by Eleanor and started making your way out of the room but you were interrupted by a tall figure.

His signature smell of old cigarettes was unmistakable and you fought back a gag. Robert.

He leaned his hand on the door frame, stopping you effectively from leaving the room. You could feel his lecherous gaze on you even without making eye-contact, you refused to give him the satisfaction of meeting your gaze. Old freak.

“Hello, Miss Y/N – I read your latest article last week it was very interesting.” He dragged almost every syllable out as if his life depended on postponing your departure.

“Thank you Robert.” You deadpanned “I have to get back to work now, to continue working on the next one.”

The man had been flirting with you since day one, which might have been flattering if he wasn’t decrepit and more than half way to the grave. 

You stood there, waiting for him to move, keeping your eyes fixated past him. After a few moments of pointless prolonging and hesitation, he moved to the side but you knew his gaze was on you the entire time you walked back to your desk, and the thought of it made your blood run cold. It felt awful, and to nobody but yourself it was humiliating.

Sure, you were young and bright-eyed but you had so much to offer for this Magazine and for this old man to reduce you to nothing more than a piece of meat through his gaze alone made you feel worthless.

You sat back at your desk, reopening all of the documents and let your mind fall back to Jungkook. He was like a disinfectant for your brain. You thought of his warm gaze, his soft smiles and gentle laughter and suddenly it was as if Robert didn’t exist – that there were people in this world who could make you feel lovely with just one look, and not disgusted. Your mood picked up – and you started typing away, all distasteful thoughts had faded off into nothingness and you let yourself do your best at the job you loved.

The week went by slowly and without hitch, but it wasn’t until work had finished on Friday that you realized just how pleased you were.

You could go home, relax – do your beauty routine, maybe write some ideas down onto a notepad with a glass of wine and then sleep; knowing that you’d be able to awaken and see the man that had preoccupied your mind all week – though to be fair the thoughts of him had gotten you through some pretty rubbish situations, most of which involved an old man with a far too wandering gaze.

You did exactly what you’d planned once you arrived home; you poured yourself a glass of wine and sat down at the table, pen and paper at hand and began to think up anything and everything you could for inspiration for next month’s publication.

After about an hour of brainstorming the ‘fuck it’ side of your brain kicked into overdrive, and suddenly the remote sitting on your side table looked far too tempting to ignore. You gave into it and settled into the couch, a smile on your face.

The rest of your Friday night was spent with good company – a glass of wine, a television, and ceaseless thoughts of Jungkook.  

The promise of what tomorrow would bring excited you to no end. 

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***