The Love Experiment
Experiment AU!
WoozixReader!
Word Count:+2.8K
Warnings: Cursing
A/N: I should be finishing my final papers but instead I did this... send help.
Everyone sat in the auditorium, eagerly waiting for the presenter to take the stage. Jihun was known for the most exciting speeches. This year was no different. They knew he wasn’t going to fail them this time. Soon the room lights as dimmed down as the stage lights were all focused on him. His stage presence was so... dominating. It didn’t need to beg for attention, instead is naturally grabbed the eyes of everyone.
That’s all Jihun needed. He walked down to the middle of the stage and looked behind to make sure his powerpoint wasn’t on yet. He believed in the element of surprise was more important.
Here goes nothing, he thought.
“Love. It makes people happy and crazy. It has the birds singing and the people grasping for it at every moment. However, is it really a magical moment that happens like the movies?” He paused, adding effect. “No, it’s fucking not.”
Everyone jumped at his accusation.
Jihun smiled, he hoped for that very reaction. He continued, “Well you all know that the process of falling in love is simple. It’s the series of chemicals that have us feeling euphoric and... well other things. What I’m here to talk about in this series is about an experiment that I conducted last year. With the social experiment, I used thousands of volunteers but I’m going to only explain 1 case tonight. It’s the very special case of a close somebody.”
-1 year ago-
The clock was ticking. It was the only thing making noise in the otherwise silent room. Jihun was watching how you reacted to the silent, since it scared most future patients away. This experiment needed the best of the best, Jihun thought.
However, you were still comfortable as ever.
If anything, it worried him on how unfazed you were acting.
“So, when are you going to interview for this?” You asked, suppressing all the anxiousness that was building up inside. The only thing that kept you from completely breaking down was the only thing that college students are thinking of...
Money.
This whole thing was paying you enough to stay financially stable until the next experiment science has to offer. You needed it since recently your roommate had hit you with the moving out card, leaving you with not enough time to find a new roommate and left you instead with a new found debt. It was a terrible move from their part, but luckily you saw the flyer for this project and decided that you were healthy, young, and ready for anything crazy.
Jihun shifted in his seat and nodded, beginning the interview. He watched as you answered everything quickly, creating a rhythm in how everything was going. He was interest on how quickly you took control of everything. Your answers were unpredictable and show
Surprisingly, he liked it.
So much that decided to do something crazy.
“Well, Miss (y/n), you seem to be a perfect candidate for our project. I will email you later tonight and explain what you will be doing as a patient.” The both of you stood up and Jihun led you over to the exit of the office. He explained that you wouldn’t end up with any psychological problem and that it’s a simple process. Before he let you completely leave, he pulled out his hand. You were a bit taken aback from this but shook his hand. You looked at him and that’s when it happened.
The sparks.
You suppressed the feeling and continued to act unfazed. All you could think was about how you are connecting with the experimenter and how wrong this was. You searched for any reaction from his part, but he remained just as calm.
Before the any of you realized, you both were still holding each others hand. You quickly let go and apologized to Jihun, who in turn was smiling. It was going according to plan, he thought.
He watched as you walked out of the building, almost too fast.
-Present time-
“See, I introduced the patient with their new found partner. They both had completely opposite type personalities in every way. From the MBTI to their intelligences. The question was, how was science going to prove that only a few steps need to be followed to trigger the chemical change to have them believe their falling in love?” Jihun stated. He smiled, glancing at everyone and watched as his eyes fell on you. He visually tensed up, choking a bit on the suffocating hair.
He tried to pull himself back together, he was still in front of an audience.
“It’s a simple process really, when you first meet someone. You want hold their hand longer than expected and maintain eye contact. While that seems simple, there’s a specific time your suppose to maintain it for before it completely makes the situation awkward. Can anyone guess-”
“3 seconds.” Your voice announced. All eyes soon fell on you and you watched as Jihun struggled to maintain his cool and collected persona. It was your time for a rebuttal. “3 seconds is how long your suppose to maintain in physical and eye contact.”
“Yes that’s correct, thank you miss...”
“(y/n).” You replied, but quietly added, “but you already knew that.”
“Good, so in doing that. He was asked to add moments between him and the patient, creating a longer time. With this, he establish a relationship and created a process where the further increase each moment longer and longer. In turn, the patient believed that they were falling deep in love.”
-7 months ago-
You were sitting across Jihun.
He decided to meet up at a nearby coffee shop since he was a master student at your university. It was quite odd, because he kept finding time to meet up with you. He asked about how you were and seemed to be trying to get to know you.
It felt oddly nice.
He was funny and seemed awkward at first, but after some time with you, the chemistry from before began to happen. Jihun was relieved for two reasons. One, because he needed to have this experiment work. Two, because he wanted to know you.
He just couldn’t believe that you wanted to meet him again after the first time. One coffee date turned into 10 and soon found yourself meeting with him more often than you thought.
Although, you still wondered when the experiment would start.
He talked about things that were going on, and kept you interested in the conversation. It felt like you were a couple, but you weren’t complaining about it. You like spending time with him, because he would hold your hand constantly and refuse to let it go. It was adorable really because he was surprisingly touchy.
He said he loved knowing you were there.
The dates became more intimate, and that’s when he finally gathered up the courage to kiss you.
It was after one of your dinner dates. Everything seemed to be going well and you were getting a little impatient for him to finally kiss. Jihun decided to drop you off at your front door. He noticed how often you were not so subtly glancing down at his lips. It made him smile, because of how impatient you were getting. That’s when he decided to finally break wall he had built and kissed you.
It felt so... beautiful. It wasn’t a magical moment nor something like the daydreams of high schoolers, but it felt like it was moment you wouldn’t forget.
The indimating man was so sweet and kind to you. There wasn’t a moment that you didn’t love being with him. Sure, he was very work-oriented and more serious but you knew that he had his ways of showing affection. Whether it be working in the same room with you or reading to you the stuff he was working on and asking your opinion.
You loved him for it.
His small little smiles when you were teasing him about being serious were so gorgeous. He also loved it when you ran your fingers through his hair after a long day, telling him that he worked hard and that he did a good job.
He was so soft sometimes, but it was something only you knew. it was a secret you kept to yourself.
A memorable moment was a small one. It was a time where Jihun had come from work a decided to visit you at night. A patient was causing him a hard time and all he wanted to do was get away from them. He seemed frustrated and stress, so you helped him destress by forcing him to watch an emotional movie with you. At first, he didn’t want to, but by the end the both you were holding each other and complaining about all the shit of life.
It was just your way of making him feel comfortable.
-Present time-
Jihun glanced at the slide that was on the screen, feeling his heart break a bit as he felt the anger radiating from you. What if he hadn’t lied? What if he had stopped the project and allowed himself to feel what he felt. Would it be worth it? Would you still feel the hurt of the experiment?
He wished he could back.
He shook himself out of his thoughts, “It wasn’t until the end that the actor had to reveal the truth, and in it we had them take a questionnaire, revealing their feelings and how they believed they fell in love.”
A hand soon was raised and both you and Jihun were surprised. It was a classmate of your. You recognized her from some of your classes as the one always asking some of the craziest questions. For whatever reason, you were glad she was going to ask a question.
“What happened after? I mean feeling were clearly involve. If the patient fell in love and it seemed that method worked. That must have meant that the actor also fell in love,” she stated.
Jihun tensed up at the unexpected question. Why hadn’t he thought of an ending to the story? Given that students want closure, he forgot.
“Uh... well... to be honest that’s a part of the story that I don’t have. When the experiment ended, they had a choice to make things work out. Love may not be a magical moment like the movies, but it does give us the choice to make it feel magical. Ever patient that was a part of the experiment realized that, and learned that it’s a choice and not a feeling. Feeling can come and go but choosing to love some past those feelings is real love.”
You watched as his eyes fell on you, “I figured that feeling out when I met that certain someone as well. A very close person, whom I love dearly despite everything.” He smiled. His eyes fell back on the audience. They searched around for you, but you stayed hidden away. How would they react if they knew that a student stole the heart of their speaker?
-3 months ago-
Jihun was a serious man, and had a cold side that hurt anyone who felt it, including you.
At first, Jihun was saying that he was getting busy with work and couldn’t come around more often. Then there were other excuses that followed until the days where he hadn’t answered any text or call.
You didn’t know what you did wrong. Was it something you said or something you did? There wasn’t a moment where you saw him get upset.
It wasn’t until the night he randomly showed up that you finally got a hint of what was going on. At first, you thought it was break-up, but the sad look in his eyes said something else.
The moment Jihun saw you, he wanted to grab you and hug you so tightly as if the world was going to end. This wasn’t something that he wanted to end. Your love was something that he felt was worth it all. However, he knew how hurt you were going to be, so why not avoid the whole talk and cut off ties?
He walked in and sat you down like the first time you met. A silence had fell in the room again, but this time it felt too heavy. There wasn’t any clock that sang to the room, nor any mystery to each other.
It was a painful moment instead of a new beginning.
Jihun had pulled out some paperwork for you and explained that the experiment time was over and that you as the patient had to have a final interview to finish off the final paperwork.
That’s when a harsh reality had set in. Jihun had used you and the whole relationship for the experiment. It made you wonder if anything he felt was real, or was he just that harsh of a person?
Jihun had been waiting for the right time to mention the experiment. How the hell does one do this? It like the cliche moment you see in love stories, but this was real life. His heart was a stake, because you had become something bigger than a project.
He sighed, “I’m sorry... I need you to keep yourself together as I conduct the final interview. Any final comments after can be said after we finish.”
As much as you wanted to argue, you agreed to the terms and held yourself together throughout the interview. He had asked detailed questions about how you felt and when you believed you fell in love with him. It felt to painful to even remember those moments. To think how naive you were to the truth.
Jihun turned off the recording and watched as you collapsed into tears. He tried to comfort you and wanted to tell you the truth but you pushed him away. “Go away, get out! I don’t want to see you anymore!” You lied. You didn’t want him gone, nor did you really hate him.
You wondered how hard it must have been for him to hold this secret for so long. How hurt he must been feeling at the moment. All your thoughts were wondering about him. Even though he hurt you, you still care about him. You didn’t stop loving him for something like this.
You wished he knew how much you wanted him to stay.
However, Jihun never did learn that sometimes you meant the opposite sometimes. You watched as Jihun gathered his things and walked out of the room for what felt like the last time.
-Present time-
All the students applauded Jihun for his presentation and began to make their way out of the auditorium. You sat there, waiting for Jihun to notice you one last time. You swore to yourself that this was going to be the last time before you completely let go of him.
That’s what you wanted to believe.
Jihun finished gathering his things and glanced around the room one last time when his eyes fell on you. Instead of a glare or scowl, you smiled. His heart skipped a beat and he forced himself to face back down. He didn’t want you to see his face becoming flushed.
You walked down to the stage and prepared yourself what you thought was the last time for you and Jihun. You didn’t want it to be. Instead, you wanted to be doting on Jihun for giving a beautiful presentation and laugh with him about his beginning.
“You did really good up there.” You announced. He glanced back up and felt himself become so hopeful. You hadn’t changed much, but you were still so beautiful in his eyes.
“Thank you, I was really excited to talk about it... i guess.” He hated the small talk. He wanted to know how you were doing and so much more, but he was stuck in this hell because of the decisions he made.
He wondered if you still hated him for his actions.
The both of you were stuck standing awkwardly on stage, trying to find something to talk about. However, all you could think of was of him admitting that he still loved you. “You... you uh mentioned earlier something about-”
He blushed, “ah that! Right, I did mention that in front of hundreds of people.”
You smiled. Jihun was never good about talking about his feeling. You knew that, and also knew that sometimes you were the one who was having to push it out of him.
“Jihun... I came up here thinking this was going to be my last time seeing you but you are someone I wanna keep seeing everyday again.” You watched as the shy boy looked over to you with this new found spark. “I know we had this project hurt us, but I want to try again. A new beginning really.”
“As long as I get to prove that I still love you.” He muttered. He reached for you hand and felt your warm hand intertwine with his. It felt so right to him. Maybe Jihun didn’t get the tight hug and passionate kiss like he wanted, but he just glad that he was getting another chance with you.
