Please Love Me | JJK

Part 1

He looks good.

The thought crosses your mind as you glance towards the front of the reception venue where Jungkook is happily chatting with your sister and his brother, laughing like old times, with your older sister pinching his cheeks like she always did.

He must be blushing, you think, imagining 10-year old Jungkook and his flushed face when your then 17-year old sister called him cute after finally noticing his dimples.

He might still be blushing, if his smile that reaches his eyes is anything to go by. Maybe it's the innocent crush he may still be harboring on Seoyeon; maybe it's the fact that Seokjin, your brother and a man he looks up to, is finally married. Maybe he's just happy to be home.

Junghyun, his brother, calls out to you. You excuse yourself from the ladies who have been gushing about how you look and asking when it's going to be your turn, and walk up to the group – your sister Seoyeon and her husband, Min-jun, your childhood friend Junghyun and his wife, Yeri, and right in the middle is Jungkook, with his parted hair, dressed in an immaculate black suit. You bite the insides of your cheek to try and control your facial expression and don your practiced smile as you near them.

"How are you busy and your sister isn't?" Junghyun asks as he pulls you in for a hug.

You return his affection, constantly thanking the stars for gifting you with another brother in the form of this man.

"It's because I'm married, and she isn't. You know how these people are, especially now with Seokjin getting hitched. Eyes are on her now as the only remaining unmarried Kim," Seoyeon responds with raised eyebrows and a cheeky grin. "How many proposals have you received, huh?" she continues. 

"Six too many," you respond with a sigh.

You should be used to it by now. As the youngest (and remaining single one) of the Kims, your father's friends and affiliates lose all self-respect when it comes to presenting their own sons for you to consider as your husband, and they'd take every chance they can get, too. Of course, they'd think doing that during your brother's wedding is a sound plan.  

"No one interesting enough?" Jungkook pipes in. You turn to him and will yourself not to have a change in demeanor, as if how he looks does not affect you one bit.

"They're all too rich for me," you shrug, causing laughter from everyone.

"Says the child of the CEO," he quips.

You let out a laugh, which he returns with a smile, the smile that's had the same effect on you all these years.

"You're home," you finally say. "It's been a while."

It's been 5 years actually. The last time he was home, you were both just starting junior year of college - you in Seoul and him in the U.S. He came home to attend his brother's wedding, and then returned 4 months later to attend your sister's. You barely talked then, not that you were surprised. Ironically, between the Jeon and Kim siblings, you were the only ones of the same age who also attended all the same classes up until he was shipped off across the world, yet you two never really developed the kind of friendship that was similar to what you share with his brother, who is 4 years your senior. Jungkook was definitely close with Seokjin, 3 years older than both of you and who completed their trio of rascals whose favorite pastime growing up was pulling pranks on Seoyeon. Her being older did not hold them back at all and instead, made it that much more exciting for the 3 boys.

You alternated your time between the Jeon and the Kim estates growing up in Busan – playing tag or catch in the garden, trying to beat each other at Street Fighter, watching horror movies, and all the other fun things that young (wealthy) kids enjoyed doing. You spent most summers and holidays together and kept each other company during those boring social events you were required to go to.