paper hearts (jeon jungkook)

My Time

"...The caterpillar was left frustrated."

"What? F-Frus—...?"

Smiling gently, you took out a familiar notebook, flopping it quietly on top of the children's book you were reading.

"Frustrated." you repeated audibly as you wrote it below the numerous words jotted down on the page.

"Trusfrated?" asked Jungkook, clearly bemused as his lips formed into a pout and his eyebrows raised in inquiry.

A soft giggle uncontrollably left your lips, shaking your head in amusement. Clicking your pen closed, you flipped the notebook and slid it across the cafe table. Jungkook looked down intently as you pointed towards the new word on his "English Vocabulary" notebook.

"Frus-tra-ted." you enunciated patiently to help him understand.

After all, that was your purpose. For the past months, Jungkook met you in the same cafe between the outskirts of Anam and Songdo. You tutored him in English once a week while balancing it with your cashiering job and academic responsibilities.

"Frustrated!" Jungkook exclaimed in comprehension and ebullience, his eyes smiling along the quirked corners of his mouth.

You nodded your head, "Yes, it's quite synonymous to 'feeling annoyed.'" you continued to explain before clicking your pen again.

Jungkook watched you write on his notebook once more, the words on the pages lost somewhere in his head as his gaze drifted off to the way your eyelashes casted light shadows over your cheeks. Again, Jungkook found himself taking in all your features with his eyes and remembering the fond memories he had with you when both of you were much younger.

Surely, a lot has changed in the present; but in the mundane afternoons Jungkook spent studying with you, were the small crevices of the past— something he tried so hard to forget as his life demanded him to grow quickly.

However, in every moment you were with him, Jungkook would feel the whole world slow down. It seemed like time was almost non-existent, as you turned the page of the English children's book and resumed into telling him the story about a peckish caterpillar. He couldn't help but stare and wallow in his dream-like state colliding with his unuttered feelings; much like the thorough confrontation of your teenage years apart.

Both of you wanted to catch up with the world as much as you tried to catch up with each other.

"Then, he nibbled a hole through the cocoon, pushed his way out, and—"

You noticed Jungkook was spacing out on your story-telling, his knuckles pressed up to his cheek and elbow propped up the table. He had his chin on his palm for support as he gazed with the same soft brown eyes that remained picturesque in your mind. Despite being older, you caught the way Jungkook would still communicate through his unwavering gaze.

He sure loved to stare; but this time, he seemed to be foregone. You were convinced that your words were entering one ear and out the other. In a split second, your lips tugged into a subtle smirk as an idea decided to light the cloudy Friday afternoon.

"—Pop!" you loudly mimicked the onomatopoeic scenario, your body jolting on your seat as you grabbed onto Jungkook's arm to shake him out of his thoughts. 

He was barely surprised, with a calm composure and tightly pressed lips. Nonetheless, Jungkook's eyes still went wide as he saw you waiting for his flabbergasted reaction. Once you remembered Jungkook didn't scare easily, and your attempted jumpscare was a failure, a pout formed on your face while you playfully glared at him.