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Are You Sure? - Part 6, Final Chapter

Genre: Exes to Lovers, Fluff, AU

Pairing: Jungshin x You (Female!Reader)

Warnings: None

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Epilogue | Words: 3,644

Mere seconds after hearing the door lock, you hoisted your armload of napkins into the washer and dashed over there. You grabbed the door handle with both hands, shaking and jiggling it to make sure you'd heard what you thought you'd heard.

And, yes. You had. The door was locked.

Since neither you nor Jungshin had yet found the light switch, you felt around the handle to see if there was a thumb turn or a keyhole or anything.

Of course, there wasn't.

So, you slid your hands along the door itself, trying to feel for something you could use to unlock the door from the inside.

Nothing.

You decided it was now time to resort to desperate measures: you balled your hand up into a fist and banged on the door.

"Hello?" you called out, pressing as close to the door as you could in an attempt to get anyone outside to hear you better. "Hello?!"

Suddenly, the closet filled with a somewhat dim light, and you lifted your gaze to see Jungshin standing right behind you, lowering his hand from the short chain attached to a lightbulb on the ceiling.

Well, at least you weren't in almost total darkness anymore.

Jungshin then reached over you and began knocking on the door. "Is anyone out there?" he asked, his voice raised.

"Hello?" you repeated, continuing your own knocking. But when it became clear no one could hear you, you paused and tilted your head up to make eye contact with Jungshin. "Do you have your phone? Mine's in my bag at my table."

Jungshin raised his eyebrows and immediately reached into his back pocket. "Yeah, right here."

You turned around, leaning your back against the door as you watched him clicking around the screen, presumably calling Yonghwa. And in the few seconds of silence, you couldn't help but lift your hand to your mouth to anxiously chew at your cuticles.

"It doesn't make sense," you whispered to yourself. Why would someone have locked the door? It almost felt --

"Hey, can you come unlock that supply closet?" Jungshin's voice rang out suddenly, and you almost jumped.

Your gaze nervously flew to his face, and your heart skipped a beat when you saw his forehead wrinkle.

"Wait, what? No, Yonghwa, wait --"

Jungshin let out a sigh as the hand holding his phone fell away from his face. He looked entirely defeated, and you were almost too scared to ask. But you knew you had to.

"What?" you breathed.

Jungshin just barely glanced at you, and... wait, were his cheeks turning pink, or was the lighting in here just weird?

"I... I think..." he began. "I think we're being set up."

Your head jerked back in surprise. "Set up?" you asked. "What do you mean?"

"Yonghwa said they wouldn't unlock the door until we've had time to talk."

You wanted to laugh, but all the air in your lungs had suddenly vanished.

What was he talking about? Who was 'they'? Until you had time to talk? About what?

"So, I'm guessing Emily asked you to help clean up and take those," Jungshin nodded toward the open washer with your napkins inside, "in here?"

You simply nodded.

Jungshin nodded, too. "Yonghwa got me to do the same thing with the tablecloths."

With a small shake of your head, you were finally able to take a breath and say something. "So, you're saying that Emily and Yonghwa... locked us in here together on purpose?"

"Yep."

Sure, that's what you'd been about to think not even a minute ago. It almost felt intentional. But to hear it said out loud? And have Jungshin confirm it? This was crazy!

"...But why? Talk about what?"

Deep down, you knew exactly what you needed to talk about. You just wouldn't admit it unless Jungshin did first.

Instead of answering you, though, Jungshin let out a deep sigh and turned on his heel, walking toward the other end of the closet.

You watched as he ran his hands over his face before turning around once he got to the wall opposite you.

"Talk about what?" you repeated shakily. He was only making you more and more nervous!

His gaze met yours then, and you held your breath.

"Talk about us," he answered.

Your first instinct was to play dumb, so that's what you did. "What about us?"

A wry but also embarrassed smile tugged at Jungshin's lips, and he chuckled dryly. "Okay, maybe just me then."

"What are you talking about?" you asked. Guilt crept into you as you heard the impatience in your voice, but you really needed him to be straightforward right now! Something was holding you back from telling him the truth (that 'something' being 'fear and anxiety'), and if he just told you how he felt, you were confident you could be honest with him, too.

"I still have feelings for you, okay?!" Jungshin snapped. It was obvious he had also heard the impatience in your voice and was only feeding off your anxious energy.

A tense cloud filled the space between the two of you. You could hear Jungshin breathing heavily, and your heart hammered inside your chest.

Words kept forming on your tongue, but every time you opened your mouth to say something, you lost your nerve.

So, finally, after probably two or three minutes, you said, "Can you turn around?"

Jungshin, god bless him, granted your request with no further questions. He turned around to face the wall, and you found yourself following suit, turning to face the door.

You took a deep breath, resting your forehead against the cool wood of the door. "I think I have feelings for you, too, I just don't know if getting back together is a good idea."

You squeezed your eyes shut, anticipating the sound of Jungshin turning back around and walking toward you.

But he didn't. His voice was a bit muffled when he asked, "Why not?" so it was obvious he was still facing away from you.

"I don't know," you told him truthfully. "I think I'm just scared of breaking up again. I don't want to go through that a second time."

You hadn't ever said this out loud, not even to Emily (though she knew, anyway), but the past few months had been rough. You'd known your decision had been fully justified and was a totally valid reason to break up with someone. You'd known it was the right decision in the long run for your mental health. But your heart had still been absolutely shattered.

I mean, you'd changed your flight so you wouldn't have to be on the same airplane as him, for goodness sake! Yes, you'd wanted to avoid as much awkwardness as you could, but you also just hadn't been ready to be in the same space!

"Do you remember," Jungshin began, "when I said that I would regret losing you for the rest of my life?"

Your throat tightened with emotion. "Yes," you croaked.

"Does that sound like I would ever let us break up again?"

...Well. He had you there!

You heard him moving, so you turned your head to the side to glance at him. He had, indeed, turned around to face you, the most earnest and adorable expression on his face.

"I meant everything I said at dinner last night," he assured you. "All of the things you said when you left, I took them to heart. I'm learning from my mistakes. And when I said I was working on becoming a better partner... I meant for you."

You had also turned to face him as he'd been speaking, your forehead wrinkling deeper and deeper the more he said.

Jungshin took a couple of steps forward before continuing. "I didn't come here to try and get back together with you," he clarified. "But I figured I would just let the chips fall where they may and see what happened."

"And the chips fell on the airplane," you muttered.

"Yeah," Jungshin chuckled. "I saw you, by the way. But I could tell you were trying to hide from me, so I pretended I didn't."

You rolled your eyes as you breathed out a laugh and shook your head gently at yourself. "But then I physically ran into you, and you couldn't ignore me any longer."

"No," he corrected, eyebrows raised. "I wasn't ignoring you. I was trying to be considerate of your feelings."

Your gaze fell, landing on your feet because you weren't sure you could look him in the eye when you said, "You're right. I was the one ignoring you."

You heard shuffling footsteps, and you saw the tips of Jungshin's shoes come into view.

"And you had every right to ignore me," he acknowledged, his voice soft. "In fact, you could ignore me forever if that's what you really wanted."

A fleet of manic butterflies had taken up residence in your stomach, and you still couldn't quite bring yourself to look at him.

"Is it?" he asked. "Is that what you want? Because if it is, just tell me, and I'll --"

This got you to raise your head, your gaze snapping to meet his. Wordlessly, you shook your head.

Before now, you hadn't been sure what you really wanted. Had you known you'd definitely fallen for him again? Yes. Had you admitted that maybe you hadn't actually ever stopped loving him? Pretty much, yes. But the idea of getting back together had, as you'd told him just a few minutes ago, been too scary.

As soon as Jungshin had suggested you could ignore him forever, you realized that would be impossible. Even if you wanted to -- which you didn't -- you couldn't ignore him. You couldn't ignore the connection the two of you had and would always have.

You felt all of your emotions bubbling up, your eyes welling with tears. Happy tears, frustrated tears, sad tears.

"Come here," Jungshin whispered, reaching out and pulling you to him. He lifted one hand to cradle the back of your head while the other slid around your back, holding you firmly.

And just like that, your thoughts from earlier today of curling up against his chest and burying your face in his neck and feeling his arms around you and being overwhelmed by his scent became reality.

Honestly, 'overwhelmed' was the best word to use because that's exactly what you were at the moment. It was overwhelming to be in Jungshin's arms again -- so much so that the tears which had welled up in your eyes were now spilling over.

You sniffled, and Jungshin began patting your back. He nestled his cheek against your hair, murmuring into your ear that it was okay.

"Cry if you need to, baby," he said in a soothing voice. "It's all right, you're safe here."

His words made you lift your head just enough to look at him, your eyebrows knit together in confusion.

"Who are you?" you asked with a watery chuckle.

Jungshin smiled as he tucked some hair behind your ear. "I'm me but better."

That was certainly the truth. The Jungshin of old wouldn't have said those words out loud. He had comforted you when you'd needed it, of course, but never like this.

...And you weren't going to lie. Hearing him call you 'baby' again made you feel as if flowers and rainbows were bursting out of your heart.

So, you pressed your face back into his neck, sliding your arms around his waist and clutching his shirt tightly in your fists.

Who knows how many minutes later, once you'd emptied your emotional reserve, Jungshin leaned back and searched your face.

(You really didn't want to know what you looked like at the moment, even though you knew Jungshin had seen you in much worse situations.)

"You good?" he murmured as he cupped your cheek gently, swiping his thumb under your eye and across your cheekbone.

"Yeah," you whispered with a tiny nod.

Jungshin leaned in and pressed a soft but quick kiss on your forehead before reaching into his pocket to retrieve his phone. As he called Yonghwa, you took the opportunity to cuddle against him once more. You felt him wrap his free arm around you, his hand coming up and gripping your shoulder.

How did this still feel so familiar? You hadn't hugged or cuddled him in what felt like so long, and yet, now that you were, it felt as if no time at all had passed.

"Hey, come unlock the door," Jungshin muttered. You felt the vibration of his voice in his chest against your cheek, and it sent a shiver down your spine.

"Yup," he continued. And then, with a single hum, he hung up. "He's coming. And you don't have to tell him anything. Actually, you just go get your bag and go back to your room. I'll handle Yonghwa."

You simply nodded, though you could feel your cheeks already starting to warm at the thought of seeing Yonghwa -- or Emily -- or anyone -- after what had just happened. Normally, you wouldn't appreciate someone telling you what to do like Jungshin just had, but in this case, going to get your bag and then going back to your room was exactly what you needed.

Not even a minute later, you heard the telltale sounds of keys unlocking the door. Instinctively, you stepped away from Jungshin, not wanting Yonghwa (or Emily, or anyone!) to make any assumptions about what had happened in this closet. You had nothing to be ashamed of, of course, but still. You didn't like being the center of attention in any situation!

As soon as the door opened, Jungshin gently put a hand on the small of your back and made sure you were able to leave first. You quickened your pace, feeling his hand fall away from you before you heard him say, "Dude. That was not cool."

You couldn't help but chuckle softly to yourself as you made your way over to the table where you'd been seated for dinner, snatching up your bag and then making a beeline to the elevator.

A hot shower and a plush bathrobe sounded so good right now.

A very long, deep sigh escaped your lips as you flopped back onto your bed about half an hour later. You were clean, refreshed, and cozy after showering and changing into your pajamas -- now it was time to get even cozier under the luxuriously soft covers of your hotel bed while you watched a fluffy rom-com on TV.

Just as you reached for the remote, your phone lit up with a text.

From Jungshin.

Are you still awake?

You quickly replied that you were, and then you anticipated his phone call. This had been a regular occurrence during your relationship: he would text you to make sure you weren't sleeping, and then he would call you for a nightly debrief to talk about your days.

But instead of a phone call, you just got another text.

Can I come to your room?

Oh. He wanted to talk in person.

It totally made sense because the two of you had admitted to having feelings for each other, but you hadn't actually decided verbally to get back together. Since tomorrow was the wedding, it did kind of feel like 'Now or Never.'

So, you sent back a message saying he absolutely could and included your room number.

As soon as he sent you a thumbs-up, your immediate instinct was to get out of bed, put on actual clothes, and take your hair out of the messy bun you'd thrown it into before your shower.

But you stopped yourself because this was Jungshin we're talking about. He'd seen you with and without makeup, hair done and not done, dressed up and dressed down, healthy and sick. If he cared what you looked like, then he definitely would've broken up with you a long time ago!

So, you simply stayed snuggled under the covers until you heard a knock on your door.

You shuffled over, letting out a deep exhale before opening it.

Jungshin barely gave you any time to process his arrival before he stepped inside and slid his arms around your waist, pulling you tightly to him.

"Oh," you chuckled, your arms instinctively winding around his neck. "Hi."

"Hi," he murmured, squeezing you gently and lifting you just slightly off the ground.

You figured he would put you back down and let go of you after a couple of seconds, but he continued hugging you for what seemed like a minute or two.

"All good?" you finally asked softly.

Jungshin let out a groan as he set you on the floor and unwound his arms, stepping back enough so he could look at you.

"All good," he answered. "I just missed you."

His words made your heart flutter and your cheeks warm; you were too shy to say anything back at the moment, so you simply ushered him over to your bed so you could sit and talk.

Unsurprisingly, Jungshin sat right next to you, though the two of you angled yourselves so you could sit more face-to-face. But Jungshin had always been a pretty affectionate boyfriend, so he made sure his knees were touching yours, and he almost immediately put a hand on your leg.

"So," he began. "I realized that we kind of left things up in the air. I mean, not really, but --"

"Yeah," you agreed.

Jungshin raised his eyebrows a bit and said slowly, "So... are we... back together?"

You bit the inside of your cheek, taking Jungshin's hand off your leg and holding it in both of yours. Your heart flipped at the feel of his fingers grasping yours.

"On the condition that we leave the past in the past, and you never, ever apologize again for why it ended," you told him, your gaze fixed on your hands.

Jungshin squeezed your hand before answering with, "Deal."

"And I promise I won't bring up the way it used to be and use it against you, even if I get really, really upset," you added.

A frown pulled at your lips when Jungshin gently extracted his hand from yours, but then he curled it up into a fist, sticking his pinky out toward you.

Your frown quickly turned upside-down as you did the same with your own hand, hooking your outstretched pinky around his and bringing your thumbs up together to stamp the promise.

As soon as you let go, Jungshin ever so delicately tackled you back onto the bed. You had barely shrieked in surprise before he settled in, cuddling up next to you while still half-pinning you down.

"Okay," you chuckled, pulling one arm out from underneath him so you could comb through his hair with your fingers. "I guess you're staying here tonight?"

Jungshin simply hummed and then pressed his face into your neck. His breath against your skin raised goosebumps all over you, and then when he inhaled quickly, preparing to say something, it made you shiver.

"Is it weird to say that I missed the smell of your soap?" he murmured. "And is it also weird to say that I'm glad you didn't change the soap you use?"

"No," you laughed. "In this situation, I don't think it's weird. It would be if I'd never met you before in my life."

Jungshin's breathy chuckle made you shiver again, but then he promptly lifted his head up to look at you.

"Wait, I got ahead of myself," he stated, his brow furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"We made our pinky promise, and we stamped, but we didn't seal it with a kiss."

A smile burst onto your lips, but you tried to hide it with an astonished gasp. "Oh, my, you're right. That's critical."

You watched as he hoisted himself up onto his elbow, lifting his other arm up so he could cradle your cheek.

And when his lips met yours?

If you'd had any doubts up until now (which you hadn't, of course, but hypothetically), this kiss would have crumpled them up and thrown them out the window.

Remember when Emily asked you on the phone just yesterday if you were sure about coming to the wedding, and you had answered that of course you were sure?

You couldn't help but feel that maybe, deep down, you'd known this would happen. Deep down, you'd known that a part of you missed Jungshin. That a small but essential piece of you had gone missing when you'd left him and hadn't yet been found. And because you knew all of this deep down (deep, deep down, if you were being honest), that's what made you sure you were doing the right thing.

Well, that and because Emily was your best friend, and you would've only missed her wedding in the event of a dire, tragic, and inescapable emergency.

Speaking of Emily...

You were really not looking forward to telling her in the bridal suite tomorrow morning that her little 'Lock Them Together in a Closet' plan had actually worked. She'd never let you forget that she (and Yonghwa) were the reason you and Jungshin were back together! You'd made a pinky promise with your former ex-boyfriend to leave the past in the past, but your best friend certainly wouldn't make such a promise.

But what else are friends for, right? They're for supporting you in your time of need. They're for showing up at one of the most important events in your life.

And they're for locking you in a closet with your ex-boyfriend so the two of you will finally realize you're still meant to be.

Of that, you were sure. Absolutely, positively, completely, and utterly sure.

Epilogue

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