Laureen sighed as she rolled over in her hotel bed. Jungkook was boarding a plane for LA now. She wished she could go with him. But at least, she’d gotten to see him perform Euphoria.
She recalled yesterday. The best breakfast she’d ever eaten. Though, honestly, she hadn’t tasted a single bite of those pancakes or their chocolate chips. She’d been living on Jungkook’s smile. And his words. And his beautiful face.
When they had finished their breakfast, he had asked if he could walk her home. She had agreed. She was staying a block away from the restaurant in a high-rise apartment building. As they began their walk, she glanced sideways at Jungkook out of the corner of her eye. He had such an adorable profile. She still could hardly believe that she had just spent nearly an hour with him. She had no evidence either. She turned towards him.
“I don’t suppose you’d want to take a selfie with me?”
“Why not?” he smiled.
“Really?!”
He stopped walking. “We’ll take two. One on my phone and one on yours.” He finally unveiled his shining, raven hair by pulling his hood back. All the air in her lungs evaporated. The boy was breathtaking!
She let him hold her phone and take the first selca. It turned out beautifully. She had a picture of her and Jungkook! And he looked absolutely gorgeous in it.
He glanced at it. “Look how cute you are!” he exclaimed, a grin lighting up his face.
“I could say the same about you,” she murmured.
He smiled down at her. She was so much shorter than him!
“Let’s take one with my phone now. Smile!”
She looked up at him for a moment. He snapped the picture. Then he grinned again. This picture was priceless. She was gazing up at him with something akin to awe in her eyes. It made him yearn for something he couldn’t name. He stood staring at it for several moments. She saw the vulnerable look on his face. She was captured by that look. She stood looking up at him while he intently studied her face in the selfie. After a little while, she whispered very quietly, “Jungkook, what is it?”
He locked eyes with her then, and she felt his gaze all the way down to her toes. “The look on your face – it’s precious. I don’t know. It grabbed me. I —” he gazed into her eyes and lost himself again for a little while. “I feel like I could look at you forever. I want what I see in your eyes. Do you know what it is?”
She shook her head. She was baffled. What was he talking about? She looked down at the phone in his hand. She just looked like her normal self in that photo. She was just gazing adoringly up at him. It was a cute picture, but she couldn’t see whatever it was that had captivated him.
“It’s like you’re glowing. Like you have a light inside your eyes. And it’s drawing me in.” He just kept staring into her eyes. She could get used to this. She was sighing inwardly. His eyes were so beautiful. She let him look his fill.
Then suddenly, he exclaimed, “Wait! One more picture where we are both looking at my camera.”
He held the phone up above their heads again. This time she resisted the urge to look at him again. He snapped the selfie.
Another perfect shot!
Then, without warning, he took one more picture as he bent and kissed her on the cheek. Laurenn melted into the sidewalk right then and there. Jungkook’s lips lingered on her skin for a moment as their kiss burned a hole all the way down to her heart. After he pulled away from her, she turned to look up at him.
“Can I see that picture?”
He smiled at her and held his phone out to her. She glanced down at it. Jungkook’s lips were pressed gently against her cheek, and she had a surprised look on her face, but he was smiling into that kiss.
Oh! What an adorable picture!
She met his eyes. “You took it on your phone.”
She sounded so forlorn. “I can send it to you. Or —” his eyes started twinkling as a mischievous grin spread across his face, “I could kiss your other cheek and take another picture.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.
She laughed. “Or – both!”
He took her phone out of her hand and asked her to unlock it. Then he held it above them. He bent slowly and kissed her other cheek, this time looking at the camera as he took the picture, a half-smile sitting on his lips. And that gorgeous shine in his eyes. He glanced at the picture after he’d removed his lips from her cheek.
She stood dazed, wondering if he’d felt that kiss down to his knees too. She felt like she was going to crumple into a pile on the sidewalk at any moment.
“Man! This picture’s really good too!” He glanced down at her with a big grin splitting his face. “I think you’re just really photogenic, Laurenn!”
“Well, everyone knows you are!” she retorted.
“I want this picture too,” he murmured. Then without thinking about it anymore, he texted her his pictures and responded to his own text by sending her pictures back to his phone.
Could he just pack this cute girl in his suitcase and take her home with him? His question reminded him that she wouldn’t be with him in LA and had missed his concert here. Which jogged his memory. He recalled that she’d been disappointed she’d never heard him sing Euphoria live. He pocketed his phone but held onto hers. He opened the video camera.
He smiled down at her. “I want to give you a gift before we have to say goodbye.”
For a moment, his smile wavered, and she realized he didn’t want to leave her either. Her heart began to warm up.
She smiled sadly up at him. “At least we got an hour together.”
He nodded, swallowing the sudden lump in his throat. Then he smiled ever so sweetly at her as he turned on the video camera, held it over their heads, and began to sing Euphoria to her.
It was official. Laurenn had just melted into a puddle on a Chicago sidewalk in broad daylight, BTS’s Jungkook standing next to her, serenading her with the sweetest voice she’d ever heard.
