The Matchmaker (6/??)
Theme : Cubism isn’t about precise forms and textures. It defies space and gives a new reality to the subjects, shown under geometrical forms. The meaning is the one we want to give it. The art student as Pablo Picasso.
Credit to the owners for all the pictures!
Title : The Matchmaker
Pairing : Jaebum x Reader x Jinyoung
Genre : Fluff, Romance, Angst
Author : Me
Summary : You love Jaebum, with all your heart. There is no way he would love you back though, considering you’re too scared to even say hello to him. One day, your friend tells you about the Matchmaker, a man who can help you get the love of your life and you decide you need this person in your life. This is the only way to make Jaebum and you a whole.
/ Teaser / Part I / Part II / Part III / Part IV / Part V /
Part VI
“You look awful.”
It was one of these days, again. Jinyoung opened his mouth to speak but decided not to answer to his friend’s provocation.
“How sweet of you to invite me for this. Good Thing I’ll have to go soon.” He snorted before planting his fork into his fancy quinoa salad.
“I’m just saying you look like you got rolled over by a damn truck.” His friend added.
Yugyeom laughed so hard he almost dislocated his jaw. “You’re brilliant, Bambam.”
Jinyoung rolled his eyes. “It’s my natural face. You’re lucky the food is free or else I would have broken one or two bones.
Bambam shrugged. “You’re breaking my heart.”
The three of them were eating lunch at Bambam’s restaurant. The atmosphere was peaceful, marked with some witty comments and threats. Jinyoung’s lack of sleep was making him react like a nagging grandfather, which seemed to be very amusing to his friends.
“How’s the Love Industry by the way?” Bambam asked, leaning on his chair while holding a huge glass.
“Loaded with fools, as usual.” Jinyoung answered. It was true, love was foolish after all.
“Look at him being sour!” Yugyeom accused and nodded at Bambam who made a face.
“You need to get some, buddy.” He explained and Yugyeom squealed.
“Told you! Told you! Bambam agrees!” He jumped and tapped Jinyoung’s shoulder.
The latter didn’t flinch. “I’m managing my libido just fine, thank you for your concern.”
“Tcheeh, you look nothing but frustrated, now.” Bambam concluded before approaching an annoyed Jinyoung “I’ll help you get some nice chicks.” He whispered with a wink.
“No thanks. I’m far from being interested in your weird tastes concerning hook-ups. Also, you’re both way too young to know shit about how this works. You sound like horny puppies and it’s quite disgusting.” He took a napkin and wiped his mouth carefully.
“Horny pup- what?” Bambam looked shocked as Yugyeom patted his friend’s back.
“He is always like this.” Yugyeom said and Bambam nodded, unimpressed.
“is he sick?” He whispered to Yugyeom who genuinely shrugged.
Jinyoung sighed loudly and they both stopped midway, blinking at him. “I am perfectly fine. Now can we please talk about something else and enjoy this lunch? I have to go in less than 30 minutes.” He took his fork again and concentrated on his food.
“A date?” Bambam mouthed to Yugyeom who shook his head.
“Client. A girl, cute one.” He mouthed back and Bambam’s mouth turned into a small o.
“So he IS gonna get some.” He wriggled his brows and Jinyoung put the fork a bit too loudly on the table, glaring at his friends.
“I can hear you!”
---
“You are awesome.”
Jinyoung didn’t expect her to be this blunt just as he took a seat in front of her, at the usual café.
“I mean. It’s awesome. It feels like the stars connected. Everything’s great. I LOVE IM JAEBUM.” You said next.
Your coach made a face. “I just had lunch, don’t make me throw up, please.” His hand went to his chest.
You brushed his comment off. “He kissed me. HE.KISSED.ME.” You giggled and tapped your feet on the ground like a child.
“It’s not surprising.” The waiter put a mug in front of him and he nodded at her.
You shook your head. “I’m sorry. I was wrong. You’re just…it’s like…you’re a real-life cupid!” you were too excited to see his bewildered face. “Anyways! I still need you, coach.” You clapped your hands. “I need to be irresistible now. I want to keep him!” You whispered with a weird voice.
“He likes you. I don’t think you need my help anymore. You simply wanted me to help you have him and honestly, I didn’t do much since he is as weird as you.” Jinyoung took a sip from his coffee.
“No but…advices. I need to know one or two things about relationships. I’m clueless.” You mumbled, feeling embarrassed.
Jinyoung tilted his head. Was she even for real? Until now he had helped a lot of people in the mating field. Meeting this person had been a challenge from the beginning, because number one, he didn’t help girls usually, and second, she was way too weird for his liking.
But again, he was acting a lot different from his usual self.
“What do I need to do, then?” Jinyoung inquired and you stopped moving.
“I have a date next Monday. It’s going to be at the movie theatre.” He looked like he understood right away.
“Based on what kind of movie he wants to see; you’ll know what he truly means.” Jinyoung explained and you took your notepad again, nodding.
The coach lifted his fingers one after another “Horror: He wants you all over him. Comedy: He wants to charm you with humour. Action: He wants to come off as manly. Art movie: he wants to show you he cares. Romance: he wants to show you his affectionate side.”
“I see I see. Do I need to…get some fancy clothes or something?” You stopped writing to look at him.
Jinyoung shrugged “Stay casual.” The memory of the colourful dress almost sent shivers down his spine.
You nodded “and if he gets…intimate? I mean. Do I need to…?”
Jinyoung raised a hand to stop you. “This is up to you. There’s nothing you need to do unless you want to do it. What you do with your body is up to you BUT, don’t feel obliged to do anything because you want him to love you. Dating shouldn’t be about that.”
He didn’t know why he was digging too much into the subject. He saw you write some more on your notepad and wondered if you were really writing this down. You closed your notepad, smiled cheekily at him and he got up, hoping to get some sleep for the day.
---
A date.
You were panicking. Clothes were flying down your room, along with your sanity. Jaebum was supposed to arrive in less than 5 minutes and you barely had put on your bra, almost falling with excitement.
Casual was supposed to be comfy and nice, yet you were fighting inwardly. The weather was supposed to be warm, and this whole date was probably going to set your face on fire until you’d come back home.
If you come back home alone.
You jumped, yelling. No, no, let’s not think about that. Jaebum was a gentleman with manners. He will probably simply kiss you goodnight after a nice evening full of cuddles in front of some romantic movie. You threw on some pair of jeans and took a grey tee-shirt. This will do.
The doorbell rang and you pulled on your messy bun so hard you almost ripped some hair. You shook your head and let the bangs fall, wild. You looked at your jean’s zipper then blew on your hand, smelling it. Minty. With one last breath you glanced at your replica of Pieter Bruegel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.
You whispered, eyes panicked “Wish me good luck, Icarus.” and opened the door.
Jaebum was dressed in a plain white tee-shirt with heavily ripped jeans. He waved at you and you waved back, probably as embarrassed as him. You didn’t notice this, too caught up in trying to keep your messy stance.
“Ready?” He said simply and you acquiesced.
“Yes, let me grab my bag.” You rushed back inside and grabbed your keys in the process. If anything, you needed some courage, now.
Your coach was going to be so proud of you.
“Here, all set.” You wriggled the keys in front of him and he chuckled.
“So, about the movie…” Jaebum started. You were both walking awkwardly to downtown. Jaebum had done nothing to initiate a sort of contact, but you were glad he was keeping a distance.
You wouldn’t be able to bear holding his hand without fainting.
“There’s this comedy Jackson saw last week and he told me it was quite good; how does it sound?” He tried carefully and you looked at him.
Comedy: He wants to charm you with humour.
“Sure, I’d love to see it. I don’t know much about cinema.” You admitted. It’s not like you didn’t like cinema or movie theatres, you just never really thought about it. Jaebum beamed sweetly and your heart made backflips in your chest.
You grimaced as soon as he looked away. There was no way you’d survive this.
The place wasn’t crowded, considering it was Monday. Jaebum insisted on paying for the both of you and you thanked him a lot of times. Six times exactly. Most of the people seated looked like couples. There were only a few group of friends and it made you panic. Pressure.
“Is here good for you?” he pointed at an empty raw of seats a bit far from the centre. “not too far?”
You violently shook your head. Honestly, he could ask you to watch from the toilets and you would agree nonetheless. You both sat down and he handed you the small popcorn box he had been holding until now. You gripped it tightly and refused to let it go. At least it would occupy your hands.
The trailers started and the lights softly went off, subduing the whole room. People stopped talking and you were left with a silent Jaebum and a crazy mind. You leant on your seat and shivered. The air conditioner was at full blast and you regretted not taking a jacket with you. This was going to be a long evening.
When the movies started, you relaxed a bit and refused to look to your side. Your hand was jumping into the popcorn box from time to time, carefully avoiding Jaebum’s hand. It was way too cliché for your liking, no matter how much you secretly enjoyed the thought. The movie was enjoyable; people were laughing from time to time and you were forcing out a laugh when you didn’t get it. Jaebum looked concentrated, head leaning on his arm and eyes serious. He looked so handsome and mysterious when you glanced at him with what you thought was discretion.
You looked at the movie again and it suddenly hit you. Movie theatres were like moving paintings. Images were coming on and off, each and every time different. Some scenes were beautiful, with oceans and birds. You tilted your head and smiled at the thought of painting such a scenery, in the middle of nowhere.
You felt Jaebum move and loved at him. His lips were moving but didn’t hear a thing as a motorcycle was driving at a distance in the movie. He looked like he noticed because he leaned and softly breathed his question into your now burning ear.
“Do you like it so far?” You could only nod, silent.
He smiled warmly and stopped a minute to look at your face. He looked deep in thoughts and you blinked, not knowing what to do. His lips started moving…
…and people started laughing so hard it made you both jump with surprise. Jaebum looked at the movie again and you sighed, closing your eyes. You didn’t know if you should thank or curse them for being so loud.
But a minute later you heard his voice again whispering against your face. “You’re beautiful” he breathed, before pecking your cheek softly. You could feel your hands going moist with embarrassment and you coughed, not daring enough to face him. He chuckled and took your hand, pulling him between his.
You forgot how to breathe.
From that point on, you concluded it would be impossible to concentrate on the movie, and certainly not when he was drawing small patterns on the back of your hand with a delicate touch. He looked so chill about it, even amused at times. You were struggling with the popcorn box and decided not to eat anymore. You’d be able to choke on the food if he were to be even softer anyways.
You were glad though, because it felt good. Apart from feeling totally helpless, you loved the attention he was giving you. It was unbelievable, you were with Jaebum, alone, at the movie theatre, and he was being lovey-dovey.
Wait, you were dating Im Jaebum.
You giggled at the thought and saw Jaebum look at you from the corner of your eyes just before feeling a light squeeze on your hand. If this was a dream, your mind was way too imaginative and you didn’t want to wake up from such wonderful thoughts. Credits appeared at some point, but you were too smug to notice. Your eyes were staring blankly at the list of names on the screen, thinking about how lucky you were to be with such a wonderful human being.
“It’s over, Y/N” His voice made you blink and you landed back on earth with the same smug smile on your face. He didn’t say much and simply shook his head, pulling on your hand still trapped in his to make you stand up.
“I’m freezing, let’s get out of here.” You noticed your arms were cold and shivered, as if you were slowly entering your body after a long non-attendance.
He was a calm person, enjoying a peaceful walk around town. You didn’t mind because you knew how he was. All these moments of adoration had helped in pinpointing his personality, after all. He didn’t let go of your hand, not even when you arrived in front of your doorstep. You found yourself feeling shy again and glanced up and down, from the deep green grass to the dark clouds.
“I’m sorry I had to practice again today. I wish we could have spent more time together.” He looked disappointed in himself so you shook your head violently at him.
“No, it’s fine! I’m happy we could have a… date.” You spoke too fast and it was messy, you didn’t know if he was going to acknowledge the word “date” and it made you nervous but at some point, you were sweating too much to care.
“Yes! I’m happy too. I hope you had a good time. I’ll do better next time.”
He looked so adorable.
“oh, um, yes.” He said next time. He.said.next.time. He didn’t want to escape after one date. You swore you could feel some goblin dancing inside your stomach. The feeling was overwhelming.
So you got ahead of yourself spoke again, because it didn’t make sense at all. “I just…don’t understand how I am able to date you. It feels unreal.” You wanted to tell him he was too perfect for you, but you knew your coach was going to roast you alive for being such a fool.
“What?” Jaebum grinned. “I didn’t know how to ask you out. I’ve been bugging Jackson for the past weeks about that. I’m not good with these things actually.” He brought his hand to the back of his head and scratched his scalp, the same smile never leaving his lips.
So he did liked you.
You smiled just as he approached you, quickly grabbing your face to kiss you and it felt like heaven. You almost let your bag fall on the ground when you felt his body against yours, demanding but soft. Jaebum was indeed passionate. You kissed him back, finally pouring out all these untold feelings while your arms circled his shoulders like claws. You didn’t want to let go but at some point he parted from you, lips wet and a bit more pink than usual. His eyes stayed closed, and you saw his tongue graze over his lips.
“I think I’ll head back now.” Jaebum was also all over the place, breath heavy and shaky and it hit you suddenly. He was actually as shook as you right now. You wanted to invite him inside, because his presence was like a secret energy you needed to function, but at the same time, it was best to let him go. You didn’t want things to happen this way. Maybe you were being too romantic or old-fashioned, but you needed things to be right and mesmerizing. You wanted everything to be perfect.
Jaebum seemed to agree “Next time you’ll come over and I’ll cook or you.” You knew he was planning on doing things in the right order, and it made him even more amazing than he already was.
“Sure, I’ll look forward to it.” You answered. Jaebum kissed you again before putting a strand of hair back behind your ear, the same adorable same lighting up the whole city.
You opened your door when he disappeared in your alley and leaned against it as soon as it was closed.
Icarus was almost smiling at you.
---
Life was good. Studying was great. Everything was just amazing. This was pretty much your state all day long. The cute texts you were receiving from Jaebum were making you dance with joy, even in the middle of the street. Mark blinked at you for the whole day while you were singing, whistling and giggling.
You saw Jaebum before he had to practice and in the middle of all the busy students he strolled to you, fancy and cool in his black sweatpants and tank top to steal a kiss before going back to a teasing Jackson who received a slap behind the head for being so childish.
You closed your eyes and clutched your heart while Mark laughed at you. He was glad you were finally getting somewhere with your long-time crush.
The same night you had to go to your parent’s gallery. They had organized a private viewing and needed you to be one of the host. It wasn’t easy though, considering your body was sore and you had a terrible cough. Maybe the air conditioner yesterday evening had been a bit too much for you. You decided to go anyways, because it wasn’t that bad, and also because you loved talking about art.
Your wiped your nose and stood in the middle of the gallery, greeting the people gathering. They all looked posh, with suits and wrapped in luxury brands. Your father had prepared champagne for the occasion, and you wondered when did this became such a fancy place.
“You look sick.” You mother said before handing you a tissue, worried. You were both standing in a corner while your father was busy talking with a bunch of old people.
“I am sick. I’m okay, don’t worry.” You assure her. She nodded at you and you heard a woman, with long combed hair and deep red nail polish.
You mother took her sweetest voice and went to her, kissing both her cheeks.
“You look sick.” You jumped when your father spoke and nodded again, sniffing for the umpteenth time.
“I am sick.” You repeated.
“Take care of yourself and come check this amazing painting I did yesterday. Your mother says it’s awful and wanted to burn it.” He stopped you in front of a white canvas covered in the small black dots.
“This is…?” No matter how much you loved art, some things were still hard to catch up.
“Pointillism, sweetheart.” He explained. His goofy smile made you scoff.
“Isn’t pointillism supposed to be dots creating an image? I mean, these are black dots. Just, dots.” You tried, going to the painting to examine it.
“I can’t believe- You’re like your mother!” He looked shocked but his pout made you laugh. Your parents could be so extra sometimes.
“Told you so.” You both heard your mother whisper and turned around to see her walk toward another group of person, waving at them.
“When I’ll be famous, I’ll tell everyone I have no family.” Your father mumbled, but he suddenly lifted a hand toward the door, cheeks up and smile wide.
“Come, I’ll introduce you to someone.” He was too fast and you tried to catch up, weaving between bodies. You coughed a couple of times and apologized but what you saw made you stop, dead in tracks.
Your father had his arm around your coach.
“See? This gentleman here understands me.” His arm was moving around Jinyoung who was blinking at you. “Here is Park Jinyoung. He regularly comes and bought a couple of our paintings.” He explained. You didn’t know if you were more shocked over the fact that your father knew him, or because your coach was actually interested in art.
“He likes figurative art, so we often talk- oh wait, I’ll be back. Show him around sweetie, and please, knock some sense into my daughter’s head, she knows nothing about art.” He tapped Jinyoung on the shoulder and suddenly, you’re left alone with him.
It felt awkward.
“This place belongs to your parents.”
You nodded. “I didn’t know you were interested in art.” It was the first thing that came to your mind.
Jinyoung looked surprised “I figured we were meeting to talk about you and not me.”
His statement made you flinch, because his tone was icy, like he barely met you. You could only nod, feeling somewhat grateful that you didn’t had to actually talk to him on such a weird context.
So you casually walked away to show him around. You explained a couple of paintings and saw him look at them, concentrated. It seemed like he didn’t need you to have a look around, and you stopped talking after the fourth canvas and he stayed quiet, following you. Your parents were both busy, but you needed them now.
You needed to escape.
“How was your date?” Your coach asked, eyes glued on your father’s pointillist piece.
“Great.” You didn’t feel like talking about this right now, and even less when your parent could appear at any moment.
Jinyoung nodded and walked to the next painting. His attitude was kind of cold, and until now you had never noticed, mostly because your meetings were about your love life.
But it didn’t shock you either, because he had always been like that. It made you feel weird though.
“Nice. I guess you’re both love fools now.” He added, and you didn’t like the tone. Under any other circumstances, you wouldn’t have answered because you knew his thoughts on love, but your body was sore, your throat was on fire and you didn’t want to put up with this bullshit.
You coughed numerous times but still tried to come back at him for being so rude. “Thank you for your concern, coach”
He peeked at you and shook his head before going back to the painting. “Stop calling me coach. It feels weird, even more here.”
“Thank you for your concern-” You sniffed loudly “Park Jinyoung.” His name felt weird in your mouth. You had called him by his name maybe twice, but now it was different. It made him a bit more human.
“So, is this girl giving you a hard time?” Your father was already behind you before he could react and you thanked him silently for saving you.
“I like pointillism.” Jinyoung turned to your father “you’re planning on doing more?” you rolled your eyes. He was actually rather nice with your father.
The latter laughed “Of course! Come back any time so I can show you. I got more in my workshop, but my wife didn’t want me to invade the gallery with these.”
Jinyoung laughed with him.
It was surprising to see him laugh. He never did when he was with you. After a while, you decided your body couldn’t handle more awkward moments for the day.
“I’ll head back home, dad.” You coughed.
“Go and rest.” He quietly said, eyes warm. Jinyoung was already back to the next painting.
“Yes. I’ll call you. Mom disappeared in the crowd. Tell her I said bye, I’m too sore to look for her.” You chuckled with difficulty.
“Sure, hurry up.” He cooed.
You fled at the speed of light.
It was hard to go back home. Your bike wasn’t the best place to be on and it took twice the usual time to get back home. You needed so sleep, as soon as possible. It didn’t take long for your body to relax when you hit the mattress and you fell asleep, nose runny and body sore from a cold you definitely could have lived without.
---
“You’re not coming?” Mark’s voice was throwing jolts of pain into your head. You grumbled a couple of times, no finding your voice and heard him hum.
“You’re sick? Do you want me to come or anything?” He sounded worried and if it wasn’t for your sore throat you would have teased him. There was no way you’d let him come though, because who knew how contagious you were. You sneezed and wiped your nose. Mark made a disgusted noise.
“It’s okay. Don’t cobe. I got bedication.” You spoke funnily. Marks chuckled and you heard him agree. You got up and almost crawled to the bathroom to open a deep drown medicine cupboard full of pills and bottles.
“Call a doctor and stay at home. You need to rest.” You heard someone call after Mark and assumed it was his girlfriend because the next thing you heard were some wet sounds and a girly voice.
“Thank you, habe a nice day.” You coughed and let the phone on the cupboard, hurriedly looking for cough syrup.
Your throat was on fire.
You never knew a mere cold could weaken that much. Most of the morning was spent looking at the television, wrapped around a fluffy blanket with a cup of hot chocolate. Jaebum had important classes he couldn’t miss and you didn’t want him to worry about your condition so you didn’t send anything and simply vegetated, half dead on your couch. Lunch was too much of a chore, just as much as bathing and when your body couldn’t handle it anymore, you fell asleep on the same couch, eyelids burnings with exhaustion.
At the same time, someone was waiting, fingers tapping on marble and feet wriggling on the ground.
You were never late for your appointment.
“What can I get you?” A voice made him look up. Jinyoung blinked at the waitress and ordered the usual, not feeling like usual. He remembered one thing from meeting you yesterday, and it wasn’t the fact that you were the daughter of this gallery’s owners.
You were damn sick.
The girl put the iced coffee in front of him with a sly smile which he didn’t even notice. You were 30 minutes late and he didn’t know if he should be angry or worried. That was ridiculous, why would he be worried, it’s not like he cared. He sighed and took a sip, eyes glued on the entrance doors.
But you didn’t come, and after an hour of waiting and two iced coffees, he decided to do something he never thought he would be doing in his entire life.
It was a weird feeling, and Jinyoung knew it wasn’t normal. The fact that a client couldn’t come to an appointment wasn’t something new, and every time it happened, he had charged them an extra fee for bothering him for nothing. But today, today he didn’t care about the money or the time he had lost waiting for somebody who didn’t come. He didn’t care about the fact that he could be resting at home, and it was scaring him more than he would admit it.
Your tired face came a back to his mind so many times he wanted to hit his head against the nearest wall. Maybe you were half dead in your living-room. Maybe you never made it home yesterday. You were so hopeless and oh god, he remembered seeing you go with your bike, maybe you had an accident? He shook his head and rolled his eyes.
He hated himself for being like this. He wasn’t this type of person, he knew better than worry about some lovesick puppy. But it was not ridiculous, after all. It was normal to worry about a client.
He was just too stupid to do it before.
You opened your eyes groggily when a soft knock on the door echoed in your living-room. You checked your phone and your eyes grew wide.
12 missed calls from Jaebum.
You almost fled to the door, body in pain and blanket tight around your shaking form. You coughed, trying to get your voice back. Jaebum must have been so worried.
You opened the door slowly and tilted your head to check who it was. If anything, you needed to be careful so you wouldn’t transmit your cold to your awesome boyfriend. He didn’t need this.
But your eyes met a confused coach with black ripped jeans and a thin deep blue tee-shirt. He blinked softly at you and you opened the door wider.
What the hell was he doing here?
Your eyes narrowed, then grew wide. Damn it, the appointment. Great, he was going to roast you alive for not coming. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I should have-”
“Are you sick?” His voice was still as cold, and it sounded weird, considering he was asking about your health.
“Kind of…” You trailed off.
Jinyoung entered your flat without further delay and you closed the door behind him before reaching for the blanket to wrap yourself deeper into it.
“I waited for long.” Jinyoung’s tone was accusing, but at the same time, it held something different, which went totally unnoticed by your sick state.
“Yes I, um, sorry. I fell asleep…” You coughed again he heard him sigh. He looked angry. You didn’t see his face, he was looking around your living-room, stopping to the numerous paintings and your aching body was following him, like a very tired worm.
He turned around after a while and it startled you. “Did you paint this…?” His finger pointed to one of your first creation. You nodded.
You heard him hum, but he didn’t say much and simply turned around, breathing heavily.
“I’m sorry but…is there something I can help you with…?” You suddenly asked him. It was weird to follow him around in your own house. If he was annoyed, then he should say it and go, right?
“Did you eat?” His tone was a bit less icy when he asked and it startled you. You shook your head before coughing again.
“You should. I’ll do it.” He said next and your mouth fell opened in shock.
“No, it’s okay I can-” Your tired hands started moving awkwardly, trying to stop him but he was quick to walk away, looking for the kitchen.
“Look, you made me lose an entire afternoon. I came all the way here because you didn’t bother coming so go and sit down.” His finger pointed the sofa and once he found the kitchen, he started rummaging everywhere.
After a while he stopped moving to look at you and you understood it was best not to annoy him further with this so you went back to the living-room and sat down, silent. This guy was definitely strange. Your head fell on the couch and started dozing off, no matter how much your body didn’t want to relax in such a weird situation.
When you opened them, your plate was on your small green tray. Noodles, onions, vegetables. All of it came from your fridge. Jinyoung was next to you, waiting for you to get up.
“You made this…?” You voice came out hoarse and you saw him look at you like he was saying “obviously, who else?” so you sighed and sat properly.
His hand on your forehead made you stop moving to peek at him.
He took a washcloth “I looked around your bathroom. You’re burning, put this on.” He didn’t dare putting it on himself. No matter how much he didn’t want to admit it, he was actually taking care of you and the thought only was making him furious.
You took it and pressed it against your forehead, almost moaning at the fresh feeling. You didn’t know you needed it until you felt how cooling it was against your moist skin.
“Thanks.” Was the only word that came out of your mouth and Jinyoung acquiesced, approaching the tray to put it over your lap.
“Eat.” He ordered.
You ate.
It was still as awkward. Jinyoung was silent, arms and legs crossed over your couch. You looked at him from time to time, and noticed he was looking at his feet, deep in thought. It was even scarier.
“I’m done.” You said when you took the last piece of vegetable and he took the tray from your lap to put it back on the table.
“Now lay down, I’ll freshen the washcloth.” He said, taking it from you and getting up. You tried protesting but it was useless and he came back shortly after.
“Lay down.” He said again and you complied. You didn’t know why you did, but at some point, your body needed some rest so you didn’t move and felt him took your blanket to put it over your body.
When he kneeled next to the couch to put the cloth on your forehead, your opened your eyes and met his concentrated stare. He put it slowly and looked back at you, silent. To be honest, you had never noticed how deep his stare was. Except from the moments he had spent being done with everything you did, it was the first time that his eyes had something different than irritation. You didn’t mind his cold behaviour, but preferred the way he was looking at you right now.
For once, he didn’t make you feel like you were a ridiculous girl.
“Better…?” You flinched at his soft tone and nodded. You swore you saw him smile faintly but didn’t have time to look better.
“…Y/N?” Jaebum was standing by the living-room’s door, panting.
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