Friday Fix

♚ | fourteen

“WHY are we here?” I asked, looking at Jungkook warily.

He didn’t reply for a long moment. Then, “You’ll find out.”

My eyebrows drew together. He’d been acting odd since I came back to my room. I had arrived with Haru, ready to pack up my things and leave . . . maybe even try to persuade – my pride didn’t allow me to use the word beg – Jungkook to let me stay one last time.

But when I had made a move for my bag, he’d stood up and told me to stop.

“How much do you want to stay?” he’d asked.

I’d stared at him, wondering what game he was going to play now. I really wasn’t in the mood, and so I hadn’t answered, not at first.

Then he had said, “If I gave you a chance to prove to me how much you want to stay, will you take it?”

I couldn’t believe my ears. “Yes,” I whispered.

So I’d bid Haru a hasty goodbye, and Jungkook had led me out of our room. It was a little past 3 in the evening. It was also Wednesday, and Wednesday meant we had the afternoon free, so this practice room would be empty until tomorrow’s first class.

Now I looked at him, and he looked at me. There was something in his gaze, a brittle hardness that seemed to glint with something that could have been mistaken with hesitation. It made me hold back. Finally, when I was about to open my mouth and repeat my question, he pulled out his phone.

Handing it to me he instructed, “Watch this.”

More than a little confused, I took the phone. It was a dance video, and as the fast-paced song played I completely forgot about Jungkook and had my eyes glued to the screen. The dance moves on display were beyond wicked, with such precision and technicality that my mouth fell open and almost hit the floor.

One of the dancers, a muscular boy with a cap and a sleeveless shirt, took centre stage.

“Pay careful attention to this one,” Jungkook said, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I hadn’t realized he had moved closer to stand beside me.

I watched.

“Hell’s bells,” I breathed, as the boy all but flew into the air and executed a series of complicated kicks.

Jungkook’s index finger reached out and tapped the screen, making the video come to a pause.

“Do that.”

I looked at him, not comprehending. “I’m sorry?”

“His move. Do his move for me, do it well, and I’ll let you stay.”

I felt my heart sink. With the video paused, the boy looked like an angel frozen in mid-flight, limbs outstretched. I knew what I had just seen him do was beyond anything I had learned; I was good, but I wasn’t that good. That’s freaking godlike skills.

I swallowed down the trepidation bubbling in my throat. “How long do I have?”

“Until” – Jungkook glanced at his watch – “8 am tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” I exclaimed. “I can’t freaking do that! That’s – that’s only 17 hours away!”

Jungkook looked almost bored. “I guess I’ve given you 17 more hours on this campus then.”

Taking his phone from my suddenly strengthless fingers – only 17 hours to learn how to freaking fly – Jungkook walked out of the room, not once bothering to look back.

“8 am tomorrow, Lee Haneul. Shape up or ship out.”

♚

Jungkook sighed, leaning back in his chair as the game ended and cracked his knuckles. Finally, a win. The clock was showing 5 pm, and idly his mind turned to how the girl was doing. Annoyed at the fact that he had even thought about her, he got up and shook his head.

“There’s no way she can do it,” he muttered to himself, grabbing a pair of tracksuit bottoms from his wardrobe. “No way in hell she can pull off that move.”

With music in his ears and running shoes on his feet, Jungkook left the room.

♚

After analysing the dance video a hundred times, I’d broken down the boy’s part to seven stages. Four, five and six were the hardest, the three moves that I had to execute while simultaneously keeping my body in the air, as well as ensuring the moves were clear enough to be seen and appreciated, instead of being just a blur of motion.

I looked at the clock and bit my lip nervously. It was already 5 pm. Only 15 hours left.

Gritting my teeth, I set my shoulders. Let’s do this.

♚

Jungkook rubbed his hands in expectation as he looked at the bulgogi stew and rice in front of him. The one-hour jog had stimulated his appetite, and now he was as ravenous as could be. He eyed the cafeteria counter; they were having red velvet cake today, perhaps he could go for dessert? Though that was completely against his diet. And his cheat day wasn’t here yet.

Whatever. He’d think about it later. Dipping a metal spoon into the soup almost reverentially, he scooped out a spoonful of meat and took a moment to appreciate it in all its holiness. Then gently, he took a bite.

He felt like moaning at the taste. God. It’s so f*****g good.

A spoonful of rice with the soup disappeared into his mouth. Just as he was going after the egg, two boys walked past.

“Isn’t Haneul eating with us today? He always does.”

“He said he had something on,” Yugi replied. “I think he’s skipping dinner.”

“Are you serious? Haneul never skips a meal.” The curly-haired boy laughed. “If he wasn’t so in love with dancing, he’d be a professional food taster.”

“I second that. Must be something really important, then.”

The boys left. Jungkook stared at their backs, spoon frozen in its entry to the earthenware pot. Unbidden, his eyes flicked to the round clock on the cafeteria wall. 7:47 pm.

He looked down at his dinner, trying to conceal his irritation – and perhaps a twinge of guilt.

“It’s not like I told her not to eat anyway,” he grumbled to himself. “She made that choice.”

The bulgogi stew looked dull and less vivid in the glare of the fluorescent lights. Even the smell seemed to be less inviting than it had first been.

Jungkook threw down his spoon in frustration. “f**k! I’ve lost my appetite.”

♚

It was 8 pm and my stomach was protesting like crazy. But I couldn’t stop.

My future was on the line.

For the umpteenth time I attempted the backflip and for the umpteenth time I failed. Landing heavily, I winced. Well. Look at the bright side. At least you’ve gotten two steps down.

Only five more to go.

Breaths heavy and chest heaving, I pulled myself to my feet.

Again!

♚

It was now 10:33 pm and Jungkook was busy on his bed pretending he didn’t care the girl had not returned.

He scrolled through f*******:. He played two games. He did fifteen push-ups, twenty crunches and had a shower. He played another game.

But his mind kept wandering. It wandered so much that by the time Jungkook managed to drag it back to reality it was twenty minutes to two and he had unknowingly watched eight cat videos.

Letting out a wordless scream, Jungkook pushed back his chair angrily and stood up, arms crossed as he stared at Haneul’s side of the room. He had a class tomorrow. And since they were in the same course, it meant by default that she also had a class tomorrow. 9 am at that.

“Doesn’t she know sleep is essential to being an excellent dancer?” he complained to no one in particular.

♚

The world around me spun. My palm pressed hard against the wall as I tried to steady myself. My feet felt like lead and my shirt was completely soaked with sweat, sticking it to skin. My heart pounded painfully, my stomach had lost its voice from all the grumbling, and my head was beginning to hurt.

Too much. It was too much.

As I’d expected, steps four, five and six were the ones that would be my downfall. For the past three hours I had been working on them to no avail. I simply couldn’t keep my body in the air long enough for me to execute all three moves, and they just weren’t clean and perfect enough.

I looked at myself in the mirror and saw how pale I was.

But I couldn’t give up. I just couldn’t.

When my breathing had calmed and I decided I’d rest enough, I got up again on wobbly footing. I can do this. I can do this. I had to believe I could.

Readying myself, I took off at a run, did a backflip and jumped, pushing myself forcefully off the floor. In the air I tried to twist into step four, and as the muscles in my body contorted I had a horrible premonition that something was going to go wrong.

Something in my ankle that wasn’t supposed to bend bent as I landed.

Crying out in pain, I collapsed on the floor.

♚

The familiar buzzing of his alarm clock woke Jungkook the next morning. Habitually he hit the snooze button and dozed off, until it rang again five minutes later, and he reluctantly sat up. Yawning, he ran his fingers through his hair and stretched. Class was due in half hour. He had just enough time to shower, change and take breakfast.

He yawned again. Sliding down the bunk bed ladder the first thing his eyes landed on was the girl’s empty bed.

All traces of sleep fled him in a second.

No. f*****g. Way.

♚

Jungkook tried not to run, but his body wasn’t listening. It propelled him down the corridors, making him take left turns and sharp corners, until ultimately he came to a stop in front of the practice room, panting lightly. The door was ajar, and Jungkook stalled for a heartbeat before pushing it open.

The practice room was empty.

Something like relief bloomed on his face. Called it, I knew she f*****g couldn’t –

There was a slight movement in the corner, and a whimper. Jungkook stepped fully inside.

“Lee Haneul?” His eyes widened. “What the f**k - ?”

Steps long and quick at first, he eventually broke into a run, nearly skinning his knees as he slid into a crouch in front of Haneul. She was twitching, body trembling non-stop, eyes closed with her head lolling from side to side. The frown etched on her lips made it look as if she was in great pain, and her chest struggled with rising.

“Haneul? Baby girl, can you hear me?” Jungkook touched her arm lightly. Her skin felt like it was on fire. “f**k, you’ve gotten a fever.”

Her lips strived hard to part and form words. “More . . . give me more time.”

Jungkook stared.

Her eyes opened fully, and they blinked as if in pain from the morning light. “I can do it,” she croaked. “Just give me more time. Let me – let me prove it to you.”

Jungkook’s eyes took on the texture of flint. “No,” he bit out the single word. Taking hold of her by the wrist, he made to pull her up.

She resisted. “Please! Just give me more time, just one more day, I’m so close to getting it – ”

“You can’t be close to getting it!” Jungkook exploded. “There’s no f*****g way you can be close to getting it!”

Even through her exhaustion, he could see the defiance in her eyes. “You can’t be sure of that.”

“I’m as f*****g sure of that as my name is Ahn Jungkook,” he snarled back.

Dropping her arm, he ran his palm over his scalp, as if wrestling for a decision. Finally he dropped his hand, letting it hit his thigh with an audible slap.

“They did it with wires, alright?” he grudgingly admitted, exasperated but also partly ashamed. “It went viral because of its impossible stunt, so they researched on it and found out it was all a f*****g hoax – the boy did it with wires. It’s 100 percent unachievable. The human body just can’t do it. It was a f*****g lie, okay?”

Silence fell like a heavy blanket in the room.

“You were messing with me?” she asked, and the way her voice had gone all quiet made him feel ten times worse.

“Yes,” he grounded out through gritted teeth, mentally bracing himself for a full eruption of fury.

Instead, all he got was a weak chuckle that morphed into a wheezing cough. “s**t, that is so you.”

Jungkook looked down at her, saying nothing. Something in his expression flickered.

“Come on,” he said softly. “Let’s get you to the sanitorium.”

Haneul shook her head violently. “No. I’ll be found out.”

It took a moment for him to grasp the meaning. “Then let’s at least get you back into the room.”

When she didn’t respond, he sighed, held her arm and hauled her up. Haneul cried out immediately.

“What? What is it?”

“Ankle . . .”

He let her sit back down, and then almost tenderly lifted her foot. Jungkook’s jaw clenched as he saw the way the skin had bulged and reddened and swelled.

“You were dancing with this?”

Haneul’s eyelids fluttered. “Only two hours. I couldn’t stand the pain.”

Without a word, he swiftly reached under her with both arms and lifted her up, bridal style. Her objections lasted only half a minute before her voice turned weak and faded.

Jungkook strode out of the room, looking nowhere but dead ahead, eyes focused. The muscles in his arm flexed as they carried Haneul.

The girl drew closer, nuzzling his neck, and he tried not to shiver.

“Thank you, Jungkook,” was all she managed to murmur, before she lost consciousness.

❈

In all honesty it was predictable of Jungkook to pull such a stunt, though no less painful. Will this finally convince the bad boy that the good girl is worth staying?

Yours in seduction,

Lady Godiva.