“Kookie! How are you?” Nari nearly shouted as the Skype screen finally loaded, and her boyfriend’s face covered the screen of her laptop.
“Hey, baby!” he exclaimed, a tired smile covering his face as he ran a hand through his messy hair.
“How are you?” Nari asked, taking notice of his tired features.
“I’m okay. We’ve had a long day today. Back-to-back interviews then a photo shoot and the show. Haven’t had a chance to rest at all.”
“I’m sorry, Kookie. Have you been eating enough?” Nari asked, her voice laced with concern as she wished, more than anything, that she could pull him into her arms and cuddle him.
“Yeah, three full meals plus snacks and Starbucks.” He promised, a wide grin on his face. He shot her a quick wink that, despite her having seen it a hundred times previously, still made her melt.
“What about you, baby? How are you?” he asked, suddenly sitting up much straighter, his eyes wide and attentive, hanging on her every word.
“I’m doing fine. I just miss you,” she answered, forming a small pout with her lips.
He chuckled a bit. “I miss you too, Nari. Only two more weeks until I’m home.”
She nodded and gave him a bashful smile, feeling butterflies in her stomach from the tender way he said her name.
When he changed the topic of conversation a moment later, she was thankful, since it meant she didn’t have to tell him about the “little” accident she had today, knowing that he would panic when the words “fell down the stairs” and “broken leg” came out of her mouth.
However, she soon realized that it would have been easier to tell him while he was away. The moment his eyes found hers where she stood at the airport gate awaiting his arrival, he was smiling with glee. That is, until he saw the bright pink cast that she was sporting and the lovely crutches that were supporting her weight.
He broke into a dead sprint, nearly dropping his bag in his attempt to get to her as quickly as possible.
He stopped only inches away from her then pulled her into a tight hug. He buried his head in her neck, holding her close in an attempt to make up for the weeks without her. A few seconds later he pulled away, just enough that he could see her face, and she instantly felt guilty when she saw the worry clouding his features. She swore she could see tears threatening to spill down his cheeks.
“Baby, when did this happen?” he asked.
“A couple of weeks ago,” she replied, “but it’s really nothing! The doctor said it was only a small fracture and should be completely healed within a few weeks.”
“What happened? Why didn’t you tell me?” he queried, reaching up to wipe from her cheeks the tears which she didn’t realize had fallen.
“Because it wasn’t a big deal, Kookie. I was okay, and you had a lot going on. You didn’t need to be worrying about your clumsy girlfriend,” she responded, giving him a small smile.
“What do you mean, it wasn’t a big deal?” he challenged, an exasperated tone in his voice. “You broke your leg! We have like a thousand stairs at the dorm! How have you been getting up them?”
“It’s only twenty-five stairs, Kookie. That’s not that many.”
“And how have you been driving to work?” he probed.
“My boss said I could work from home,” she told him.
“What about food? Geez, I should have been here!”
“Jungkook,” she responded, her voice gentle. “I’m okay. Mrs. Kim and the rest of the cleaning team have been bringing me groceries and helping me with laundry once a week, and when I couldn’t cook, I ordered take out. I’m fine. There was no way you could have prevented what happened, and having you with me, while it would have made the endless hours of sitting more bearable, would have only disappointed millions of girls and your bandmates. I didn’t tell you because I knew you would be upset. And the last thing I wanted was you upset.”
His eyes were dry now but still red-rimmed, the evidence of his tears.
“Nari,” he began, “I know you are fully capable and incredibly strong, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need help sometimes. I should have been here to help you. You should have told me.”
“Kook, there is nothing you could have done. You didn’t need to fly home just to baby me all day,” she repeated.
He sighed. “How many other times have you been sick or injured while I wasn’t here to care for you?” he asked, his voice soft and hesitant, almost as if he didn’t want to know the answer.
She showed no hesitation when she responded, “None,” despite the fact it was a blatant lie.
“Yeah, right,” he scoffed, seeing straight through her facade. “Geez, am I really that bad of a boyfriend? That I don’t notice when my own girlfriend is sick?”
“Kookie-”
“Nari, I’m sorry. Let’s just…go home, okay? We can talk about this later.”
She started to speak again but thought better of it at the last moment. “Okay, Kookie.”
He secured his bag over his shoulder and hovered over her as she slowly hobbled towards the exit, waving goodbye to the other boys who had all decided to stop and grab dinner before returning to the dorms.
He was quiet the whole drive home, and Nari wished more than anything that he would tell her all of the things he was thinking, so that she could put to rest any doubts he was having.
When he finally parked the car after the seemingly never-ending drive, he told her firmly to stay put while he walked around to her side of the car. He insisted on carrying her from the car to the door, declining any protests she made otherwise, so she settled for huffing exasperatedly every few steps.
When he finally managed to unlock the front door, which was quite a task considering he needed both arms to carry her, he walked straight to the couch and plopped her down on it gently.
“Don’t move,” he ordered. “I’m going to get my bags, then I’ll be back.”
When he was still silent twenty minutes later, after bringing in his bags and making a cup of tea, she sighed.
“Jungkook,” she pleaded, “please talk to me. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I promise I will next time. I just didn’t want to bother you. You are always so busy and have so many things to worry about; I didn’t want to burden you with something so insignificant.”
“But what if it had been worse?” he asked, his eyes suddenly capturing hers, an intense and determined look in them. “What if, instead of just breaking a leg, you had seriously injured yourself and needed surgery? Or worse, what if you…” his voice trailed off, the lump in his throat preventing him from uttering the words with which his mind had been tormenting him. “What kind of a boyfriend am I that my girlfriend feels she is burdening me by telling me when something happens to her?”
“Jungkook,” she cried, tears threatening to fall, “you are the best boyfriend I could ask for! Why would you doubt that? How could you ever think you are anything less than perfect for me?”
The tears were now cascading freely down her face, and Jungkook melted at the sight of them, scooting closer to her and pulling her into his arms.
“Please don’t cry, Nari. I’m sorry,” he murmured against her soft skin, his lips pressing gently against her temple. “I just worry that someday you will wake up and realize how much you are sacrificing by being with me.”
“I’m not sacrificing anything, Kook. You are everything I could ever want and more.”
He sighed, wrapping his arms a bit tighter around her waist.
“Just, please, promise me that the next time something happens, no matter how minor, you will call me, okay?”
She nodded then turned to bury her head into the crook of his neck, sighing in contentment when his lips pressed a warm and gentle kiss to her forehead.
“I love you, Nari. Always.”
“I love you, too, Kookie. Always.”