The space between us

TAE POV

I didn’t mean to start depending on him.

It happened slowly.

Like warmth spreading into fingers that had been cold too long.

Jungkook began to feel… steady.

Predictable.

Safe.

And that terrified me.

Because the last time I felt safe with someone, I ended up standing alone in the center of a clearing while everyone watched me fall apart.

I was reorganizing the poetry shelf when I sensed him before I saw him.

His presence didn’t invade a room.

It settled into it.

“You’re here early,” I said, pretending not to notice the way my heart shifted slightly when he walked in.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

His voice was calm, but his eyes were studying me again.

He does that.

Studies me like I’m something he’s trying to understand instead of own.

“Bad dreams?” I asked.

A pause.

“Yes.”

Something in that answer felt heavier than the word itself.

Before I could stop myself, I asked,

“About what?”

His gaze held mine.

“About you.”

My fingers stilled against the book spine.

The air between us changed.

Not loud.

Not explosive.

Just charged.

—

JUNGKOOK POV:

I shouldn’t have said that.

But I don’t lie well.

And the truth was simple.

I dreamed about him standing alone again.

About not stepping forward.

About watching and doing nothing.

The same way I did that night.

He doesn’t know I was there.

I don’t know why I haven’t told him.

Maybe because I don’t want him to associate me with the worst moment of his life.

He looked unsettled.

Not afraid.

Just… aware.

“Why would you dream about me?” he asked quietly.

Because I notice when you pretend you’re fine.

Because I see how you brace yourself before someone gets too close.

Because I don’t like the idea of you breaking alone again.

Instead, I said,

“You think too much.”

He almost smiled.

Almost.

—

TAE

He didn’t answer my question properly.

But I didn’t push.

There’s something about Jungkook — he reveals himself in pieces, not all at once.

That afternoon, Mina cornered me near the counter.

“You like him.”

“I don’t,” I said automatically.

“You do.”

“I don’t.”

She leaned closer.

“You look at him like you’re waiting for him to disappear.”

That hit too close.

Because it was true.

I was waiting.

Waiting for the shift.

The withdrawal.

The moment he would decide I wasn’t enough either.

—

JUNGKOOK

His friends are observant.

I can tell they’re measuring me.

Deciding whether I’m a risk.

They should.

He’s fragile in places he hides well.

When I see him laugh with them, something protective tightens in my chest.

Not possessive.

Protective.

There’s a difference.

He deserves someone who defends his softness.

Not someone who exploits it.

—

TAE

The rain started again that evening.

It’s becoming a pattern.

Storms seem to follow us.

After closing the store, I didn’t rush home.

Neither did he.

We stood beneath the awning, the ocean roaring somewhere beyond the buildings.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” I said.

He nodded once.

“Why haven’t you chosen anyone?”

Direct.

Dangerous.

Honest.

He didn’t look offended.

He looked thoughtful.

“Because I don’t want to claim someone out of instinct,” he said slowly. “I want to choose them.”

The word hit me harder than it should have.

Choose.

“I thought bonds were about fate,” I whispered.

“Maybe,” he replied. “But staying is about decision.”

The space between us felt smaller now.

Not physically.

Emotionally.

—

JUNGKOOK

He thinks he’s not enough.

I can see it in the way he hesitates before speaking too boldly.

In the way he waits for disappointment.

I step closer, just enough for him to feel my presence without cornering him.

“What are you afraid of?” I ask quietly.

His breath catches.

“That if I let myself trust this…” he says, voice barely steady, “I’ll end up in the center of that clearing again.”

There it is.

The wound.

Open.

Unhidden.

I don’t reach for him.

Not yet.

“I’m not him,” I say.

“I know.”

But he sounds unsure.

So I add, firmer now,

“And I don’t walk away.”

—

TAE

My chest tightened.

Not from pain this time.

From something unfamiliar.

Hope.

And hope is dangerous.

“Everyone walks away eventually,” I whispered.

He shook his head once.

“Not if they decide not to.”

Decide.

Choose.

Stay.

Why do his words feel heavier than fate ever did?

The rain softened.

The world quieted.

And for the first time since I left the pack, I realized something terrifying.

If he left…

It would hurt more than the first rejection ever did.

Because this time, I would have chosen him back.

—

JUNGKOOK

He doesn’t understand yet.

I’m not circling him casually.

I’m staying.

And when I stay, it means something.

He looks at me like he’s waiting for proof.

He’ll have it.

But not through force.

Through consistency.

Through patience.

Through choice.

—

TAE

When I finally walked home that night, my heart felt unsteady.

Not broken.

Not shattered.

Just… open.

And I wasn’t sure if that was brave.

Or reckless.

—

End of Episode five

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