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nethskelie · 2 years ago

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15. Pearl III

(n) things that are known or proved to be true

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trigger warnings: lung disease, an unhealthy amount of Barbie movies

word count: 2558

a.n.: don't hesitate to tell me if you notice mistakes so I could correct them :]

Enjoy!

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Today was one of those days where your lungs decided to annoy you. You had a terrible night, unable to sleep due to the lack of air coming in, and you had to keep the breathing assistance for half of your morning. You might be used to it but it was still a complete nuisance. You hated having to count on the help of a machine to do such a thing as breathing – it was supposed to be easy, a thing you do without thinking, but your lungs apparently didn’t have the memo.

Even walking was too difficult, so much that your roommate had to carry you to the couch – lucky for you, he’s strong enough to do it without much of a struggle – and bring things to you when he woke up so you wouldn’t tire yourself unnecessarily. You told him that it was going to be ok if you rested for the rest of the morning, that he didn’t have to cancel his plans for the day to take care of you, it wouldn’t last anyway. So, he left to do what he was supposed to with his friends, and you stayed on your couch, observing your blurry reflect on the black screen of the TV.

You were supposed to join Jungkook for lunch, but your situation made it unreasonable for you to go. You sent him a quick text resuming your little issue, asking if it wouldn’t bother him to reschedule instead, to which he responded quickly that he understood and that you should indeed rest.

And that’s what you did.

Once your breathing has stabilized, the lack of sleep couldn’t be ignored anymore and you started dozing off. It’s a knock on your front door that woke you up, maybe an hour after you left for Morpheus’ kingdom. You wanted to stay on your couch for a moment longer, but your instinct told you to gather your strength and answer the door.

“Hello Noona!” Jungkook happily greeted you as soon as your eyes met. You weren’t exactly surprised to see him here; you should have expected it when you cancelled your plans that it wouldn’t be his last word.

“You’re unbelievable” is the only thing you said before you opened the door wider so he could enter.

Giggling, he made his way to the kitchen. “But you love me nonetheless.”

“Unfortunately,” you snorted while closing the door. It’s only then that you noticed the bags he previously had in his hands, now put on the kitchen table. “What’s that?” you curiously asked pointing at them.

“I didn’t know what you have on your fridge so I bought what to make us some kimchi bokkeumbap,” he casually announce, not even looking up at you while taking everything out of the bags.

You knew arguing with him would be pointless, so you sighed in surrender, maybe not woken enough to fight back at the moment. “Don’t worry,” he started when you didn’t answer, “I’ll cook by myself. Go back to sleep or whatever you were doing before and I’ll call you when it’s ready, okay?”

After a while of evaluating the pros and cons, watching Jungkook’s smile he gave you, you silently nodded and went back on the couch. You closed your eyes for a few seconds, only to open them again at the sweet smell of your favorite dish.

“Come on sleepyhead, it’s time to eat!” was the first thing you heard after you woke up for the fifth time today. The second thing your heard was Jungkook’s laugh – a small one with a bit of awkwardness in it. “I thought it would take longer to cook. Sorry I have to wake you up that early.”

It didn’t surprise you to see everything already set on the kitchen table once you stood up, and you thanked him for doing this.

“Don’t you dare tell me I didn’t have to, Noona,” Jungkook cut you off before you even had the time to open your mouth, reading you like an open book.

You sighed, sitting in front of your bowl. “But you truly didn’t have to, buddy.”

“Tch, and letting you alone when you could be in a life-threatening situation? No way.” His voice was serious, not leaving place for an argument.

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After that, the conversation got lighter. You asked him about his week, about his friends, and he did the same, also wanting to know how your aunt was doing. You ate your kimchi bokkeumbap in peace – or almost in peace, because the two of you were near to chocking with rice because of a lame joke Jungkook did.

Once you finished eating, and because it was now a tradition every time Jungkook went to your dorm, you settled on the couch and decided to watch a movie on the tv. As always, it took you two some time to choose the movie, finding pros and cons to every proposition there were, until Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper appeared on the screen.

Together, you spent the whole movie lip-syncing almost every scene, singing all the songs and mocking the sometime poor scenario, dialogs, and animation. You were reminiscing your childhood, when Junghyun, Jungkook and you were spending afternoons and weekends watching silly children movies together.

You sometimes miss these simpler times, when it was the Jeons and you against the rest of the world, living peacefully without a stupid lung disease to screw everything up. It was nice days you spent with them, going to the playground together, watching movies, drawing… Drawing!

“I just remember something I need to show you!” you suddenly exclaimed with a wide smile, standing up from the couch quickly.

Jungkook looked up at you confused by your unexpected excitement. “What’s that?”

“Move your ass and you’ll see,” you playfully said, taking him by the arm to make him stand him more rapidly.

“You’re scaring me right now, Noona,” he laughed. You gently punched him in the arm, whining. The way to your bedroom wasn’t too long – the dorms being rather small – and as soon as you opened its door, a few old drawings were seen pinned on your foam above your desk.

You let Jungkook’s arm go to proudly show the drawings to him. “Aunty found them not long ago and thought it would be nice if I had them, so I took them here last weekend.” You took one of the drawings out of its pin for your friend, who was now sitting on the side of your bed, so he could see it more clearly. “Here, look at this one!”

After a quick look at the drawing, Jungkook started to laugh hysterically. “Is this supposed to be us?” You joined him in his laughter, because the drawing was as terrible as a three-years-old Jungkook could make.

“You’ve always been into abstract as it seems.”

“This is absolutely terrible!” he stood up to put the drawing back in the foam board and stopped in his track when his eyes fell on something on your desk. “Hey, Noona?”

“Yep?” you exhaled while you lied down on your bed.

“Can I ask you a question?” his back was still facing you, but you didn’t mind.

You looked up at him and questioned him with a raised eyebrow. “You just did, but please, go on?”

He slowly turned so he could face you, a note you recognized on sight in between his fingers. “Is that the mysterious friend you talk to?”

“No. This, buddy, is in fact a piece of paper,” you casually joked. You weren’t one with a particular sense of humor – not like you couldn’t understand when other people would make puns and all, but it felt sometimes forced when you tried to make a joke – however you somehow got more natural at it the more you texted said mysterious friend. “Okay, okay,” you finally said when you started to feel threatened by his look, “The phone number written on the piece of paper is indeed my friend’s number. Why?”

“You texted a random number like that?” he almost screamed. “It could have been a scam! A murderer! Or worse, a sexual predator!!” His doe eyes were wider than usual – if that was even possible.

You sat up, now more serious than before. “I understand your concern, Kook, I thought about it too. I’m not dead yet though, so everything’s fine, no?”

“Still! You never know what to expect with strangers!”

Last time you mentioned this mysterious friend, Jungkook didn’t reacted that way even knowing it was only through text, so seeing him like that now surprised and confused you. “Yah! It’s not like I sent them my credit card number or home address,” you scoffed.

“Yeah, you better not!”

You silently sighted, giving Jungkook a small and content smile. “Don’t worry Kookie, really. They’ve been nothing but really nice to me. And I already told you we didn’t share any information about ourselves.”

He looked at you with wide eyes. “They answered you?”

You couldn’t help but laugh at the obvious. “Well, yeah!” You sat up. “How else would I been able to talk to them otherwise?”

He said something you couldn’t quite understand, so – not sure this “bastard” you heard wasn’t just your imagination – you asked him to repeat himself.

“What? Oh, nothing! It was nothing,” he stuttered with an awkward smile. He quickly cleared his throat to add “Tell me if he– if they do something weird or if you want to get rid of them, okay?”

“I will,” you assured him sincerely, “but I’m sure they won’t cause any trouble.”You paused for a second, biting your lips, before you went on with your thoughts. “To be honest, I hesitated a lot at the beginning, you know how I am with strangers,” you added with a light scoff, “but my roommate told me a lot of people got the same note so I knew it was a kind of prank, nothing too harmful, I guess.” You sent him a glance to see if he was still focused, and to your great surprise, Jungkook was listening to you with an unusual attention. “So I sent a text. Apparently, I’m the only one they texted back. We didn’t ask each other anything about our identity, I know a few things about them but I don’t know who they are. But I like talking to them, I feel like I’m not judged behind. It’s enjoyable.”

It was silent for a moment after your small monologue, as Jungkook was processing all you said. “… I understand. I’m sorry for reacting that way.” He gently smiled at you, taking your hand in his.“Thank you for telling me how you feel.”

You mirrored his smile and then shrugged. “And you know, they asked me why I did it too, and they told me they could have been a bad person as well,” you laughed, founding it funny how your two friends had the same train of thoughts there.

“What did you send them anyway? If you’re the only one they texted back, there might be a good reason, right?” he asked while sitting next to you, the number still in his other hand.

You pinched your lips together in a line before answering his question in a wince. “Would you believe me if I told you I sent a fact about the Girl with the Pearl Earring?”

“Of course you would do that.” He lightheartedly laughed at this new piece of information. Everybody in your close surrounding knew your love for this tronie, and Vermeer’s work in general. When you discovered this painting, you fell in love hard with it and went to the Jeons’ house a minute after – this is how Junghyun established Pearl as your special nickname.

“And... I don’t regret it,” you added. “I feel like Life is going easier on me since I started to talk to them. I’m finally letting people in, as scary as it sounds.” You put your head on Jungkook’s shoulder, feeling much better now that you said all of it. This wasn’t where you imagined showing him old drawing would lead, but you were glad it went that way because you didn’t realize how much you needed to talk about your mysterious friend to someone. Of course, your roommate knew bits of what was happening as he saw the change in your mood rather quickly, but it was different with your childhood friend.

He looked at you with fond eyes, but you didn’t notice with how you were sitting. “I’m proud of you, you know that?” he smiled. “Junghyun would be too.”

You couldn’t help but laugh, out of a bit of nervosity perhaps – still not used to receive such praise. “I’m not ready to get emotional over this, god.”

“Okay, let’s not continue then,” he mirrored your laugh. “Do you want to watch another Barbie movie?”

Your lips expended in a wide smile and you stood up without wasting any second. “I can’t express enough how much I love you, buddy.”

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A few minutes later, the two of you were already back on the couch with a bunch of snacks Jungkook forgot he bought when he ran errands for the kimbap, and of course, Barbie as Rapunzel in front of you. You shared good laughs once again, cringing from time to time in front of this masterpiece just like you did earlier at the first round, both forgetting about the rest of the world during these simple moments.

As soon as the movie ended, Jungkook thought that putting Barbie as the Island Princess right away was a good idea. The thing was that he was already falling asleep even if it wasn’t that late. It was probably the unhealthy amount of snacks he ate that put him in this sleepy state. You laughed at him for that, but scolded him for not showing respect to this chef-d'oeuvre nonetheless.

However, you couldn’t say no to the cuddle it gave you, and you embraced your proximity, stroking his hair gently with your fingers.

Jungkook was a blessing in disguise since the day you went to your parents’. He was the unexpected shake you needed to come back to life, for real this time. He did so much for in a so short period of time, and you weren’t even sure he understood the impact he had on you.

Seeing him that peaceful could only sooth you.

Your sleep schedule has been messed up in the matter of a day, but you didn’t mind – it’s not like you were that much strict over it anyway, and it wasn’t something your lungs really care about either. Besides, the calmness of your dorm after such a noisy afternoon was enjoyable.

So, it wasn’t surprising that you fell asleep quite easily at the end of the movie, your hand not leaving your friend’s hair, a gentle smile on your lips. Nothing could disturb this tender state you two were in.

Or nothing could have disturbed you if you didn’t forget to let your roommate know that Jungkook was coming over when you were supposed to be out for the day as well. Which led to the front door opening, a muttered “shit” from your roommate followed by a “what the fuck?” you couldn’t hear from dreamland.

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taglist: @alpacaseoks, @secretlycrazyhummingbird, @chieftoadturkeynickel, love <3

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Hi everyone! I won’t say that I’m back for sure, but I’m here at least today with the chapter which took me way too long to write than it should have…

College is awful, so it has been hard to focus on Facts for a moment. Chapter 16 will be there soon but I can’t promise anything for the rest. However, thanks for reading the chapter after I disappeared for too long, I’ll try my best to update quickly than what it took me between Chap 14 & 15.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and feel free to guess who OC’s roommate is!

It was Neth talking to you, take care :]