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She played the chorus through one more time as her voice haunted him.  He wanted to hold her in his arms again.  If only he had some clothes on!  He would crawl across this bed and slip to the floor and draw her into his embrace once more.  He would cover her lovely complexion in a rain of gentle kisses.  He would find her luscious lips again and play his own melodies on them.

But he was held prisoner in her bed.  Captive to a towel and a blanket.  To protect her from his beauty.  And him from hers.  He had already pledged in his heart that he would marry her before he took her to his bed.  Ironic that he was now stuck in hers.

He cleared his throat as she played the ending bars of her captivating melody.  

“Your song is beautiful,” he murmured.

Her eyes lifted to meet his.  Something flashed in their depths.  Drawing him in.  He patted the bed next to him.  Without thinking about the consequences.  Then he spoke.  Again without forethought.

“Come.  Sit by me.”  She looked like a deer caught in the headlights, so he softened his intention, “I want to hold your hand.”

Her wide, innocent eyes stared up at him as she swallowed.  She longed to believe that’s all he wanted.  But it couldn’t possibly be true.  And setting even one foot in that bed would be dangerous enough if he wasn’t naked under all those layers.  But now!  She’d be a fool to go anywhere near him.  

She leaned forward and set her guitar in its case.  Then she shut the lid and locked it.  She jumped up and moved towards the corner of her room.  She set her guitar there, nestled in the junction of two walls.

“I’m going to check on your laundry,” she informed him coolly.  

Which was absurd.  She’d just begun washing it fifteen minutes ago.  

But she had to get out of this room.  There wasn’t enough space between them.  Every time he exhaled, she inhaled his breath.  She wasn’t trying to build this connection between them.  It simply existed.  And the expression in his eyes was drawing her towards him.  Again.

“No,” he whispered roughly.  “You’re going to come here.”

She gaped at him.

“I stood outside your apartment for six hours tonight.  Every muscle in my feet hurts.  I stood in the cold, pouring rain for an hour and a half.  I’m still shivering.  You’re going to come sit with me and tell me why you broke up with me.  You owe me that much.  A simple explanation is all I ask for.”

“Oh!  A simple explanation, is it?  That’s all you’re asking for?”  His words had lit the tinderbox of her anger.  She was boiling now.  “I have a simple explanation.  But you won’t like it.  And it won’t change things.  We’re still broken up.  I just couldn’t leave you to die in the cold rain.  I know how stubborn you are.”

He grinned.  She had never been this talkative before.

“Then you know I won’t leave until I get what I came for tonight.”  

In any other man’s mouth, such words would have been quite provocative.  But not in Jungkook’s.  She knew he meant that he wasn’t leaving until she gave him an explanation.

So she gave him one.

“I don’t want you anymore.  It’s that simple.  You’re not enough for me anymore!” After she’d uttered that outrageous lie, she ran from the room.  She’d be safe now.  She headed for her kitchen.  But she’d calculated incorrectly.  Jungkook was not opposed to walking around her apartment in only a towel and a sweatshirt.  Even if he was still shivering.

He backed her into a corner in her kitchen.  The shaking of his body was hurting her.

“Go back to my bed!  Get warm.”

“Come here and warm me yourself.  I’m not climbing back into your bed without you.”  

Why was he torturing her?  And himself?  Because he was angry.  He was hurting.  

This whole situation made no sense.  She had melted in his arms a half hour ago.  She clearly still loved him.  He stalked towards her.  But he stopped when his toes hit hers.  

He stood nose to nose with her.  But his eyes were soft as they grazed hers.  And she leaned towards him.  Without meaning to.  He grinned suddenly, repulsing her.  She stood up straight.

“What do you want from me?” she whispered desperately.

He decided that a demonstration would be better than any words he could give her.  He reached out and slid his arms around her.  He pulled her close.  Then he bent his head and kissed her cheek.

Involuntarily, her eyes closed.  His lips brushed along her jawline.  Then they tickled her ear before blazing a trail towards her mouth.  When they reached the corner of her mouth, they stopped to rest against her skin.  She was panting for his kiss now.  But he didn’t give it to her.  Instead, he straightened himself and gazed down into her eyes.

“I want the truth now.  You’ve lied to me tonight.  But you’re not going to do that anymore, or I will never leave your apartment.  You’ll be stuck with me forever.”

He saw fear blaze in her eyes.  He furrowed his brow.  What was this?  She didn’t really fear him, did she?  He had never done anything to make her fear him.

“What’s scaring you?” he queried softly as his arms tightened about her as though his body was her strong fortress keeping out the evil world and all its arrows.  Then his next words were just a mournful breath.  “Do you really not love me anymore?  Remember: only truth, Bora.”

She suddenly cried out passionately in her hoarse voice, “You don’t understand!  You are everything to me!  But they’ll hurt you!  You’ll be wounded.  And it will be all my fault!” 

She burst into tears.