I'm in a state of shock and despair. The moment I opened the door, my brain stopped working and perceived everything around me. If I had thought for forty years, I would never have imagined finding Jungkook outside my door like that. Especially not after such a beautiful evening, fearing something bad might have happened between his friends and him.

What could have happened that someone beat him up so badly that he can't even stand upright, let alone open his eyes? Who has treated him so barbarically?

Jungkook can no longer hold on to the door frame, his strength seems to vanish from all his limbs and he slowly falls forward, but I'm fast enough despite my shock and catch him before his body can collide with the hard floor.

He groans in pain as I put a hand on his chest and the other on his ribs to keep him on his feet. His head is hanging low and his hair covers most of his face. But as I try to reaffirm his arm on my shoulder, the face, which until a few hours ago was lit up with his laughter and had no injuries, comes into view. 

His lip is burst open, his right eye is painted with deep dark shades, the blood flowing from his nose is now almost dry and he has a lacerated wound on his cheek. It breaks my heart to see him like this and I curse the one who did this to him, for no human being treats a living being so cruelly. I try to carry him over to the sofa with all the strength that I have in my body, his minimal help, and his body weight making this task even harder than I had hoped. He drags his feet heavily across the floor and I wonder how he even managed to get all the way from his workshop to my apartment.

At the edge of the sofa, Jungkook takes his arm off my shoulder and literally throws himself on the soft surface. A long groan escapes from his lips and his face distorts due to the painful impact with the sofa. He puts a hand on his stomach while breathing heavily and opens his eyes slowly, the first thing he gets to see is me kneeling next to the sofa.

"What happened to you? Who did this to you?" I ask as I raise my hand to brush the sweaty hair away from his forehead.

"Some guys came into my garage after you all left. Before I could even react, they all started punching me at once," he grunts breathing hard as he looks up at me, me now hovering over him as I flush the pillow under his head.

"What did they want from you?"

"Some kind of revenge, I guess. I didn't know most of them. There were seven or eight guys in all. After they surrounded me and put me on the ground, they started kicking me with their feet. Then they picked me up, two of them held me by the arms. Another guy came and I recognized him. It was the same guy who bothered you with his friend in the evening of the karaoke bar, the one who said I'm going to regret it because I helped you," he coughs and I get up quickly to pour water into a glass that is standing on the small coffee table, which I then bring to his lips so he can take a sip from it. "I don't know how they found my workshop, but he was the one who ruined my face."

I don't know how to react to that. I'm so sorry that he was beaten up because of me, but the guilt that is eating me up inside makes it impossible for me to find the right words. If he hadn't saved me that night, none of this would have happened.

"I'm so sorry. This is all my fault." I lower my head, genuinely sad and angry about all the things I'm to blame for.

He slowly raises his hand and reaches under my chin, lifting my head up and forces me to look at him.

"Hey. Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault they're such assholes and they punch a person outnumbered," he says, trying to convince me.

"I know, but still. If you hadn't interfered that night, this never would have happened."

"Shh. Don't say that. If I hadn't interfered, God knows what those guys would have done to you. Besides, I wouldn't have had the chance to get to know such a great woman like you." he smiles and then winces in pain because of his split lip.

I hurry up and run to the kitchen to get bandages and rubbing alcohol from the first aid kit so I can clean and treat his wounds. I also take out a pack of ice from the freezer, which he can then put on his aching body parts. Running back with hasty steps, I kneel down again next to him in front of the sofa and ask him to sit upright a little.

"Where do you feel pain?" I ask him, whereupon he points to his ribs on the left side and to his face.

"Can you help me take off your shirt so I can have a closer look?" I blush at the thought but put it aside because now is not the time to think inappropriately. I do it to make sure he doesn't have any serious injuries that could have worse consequences.

He grabs the hem of his shirt and slowly pulls it over his head with my help as he seems to have difficulty with it. I help him put his head through the hole without touching his face in any way that could hurt him.

I gasp at the sight of his upper body as I bring shocked a hand to my mouth, my eyes big and not believing what I see before me. A large red bruise covers his soft and fair skin, which runs from his chest down to his waist, located on his left side.

"Jungkook this looks terrible, we have to go to a doctor. Come on!"

He grabs my hand as I'm about to help him up from the sofa and stops me. "No, that's not necessary, really. I'm used to it."

"Don't talk nonsense, how could anyone be used to this." I pull on his arm gently, but despite his condition, he's still stronger than me, so I can't even get him to move an inch.

We compete in a staring contest until I give up because of his stubbornness and take a deep breath. I reach for the pack of ice and carefully place it on his ribs in the hope that this will ease his pain. To be honest I have no idea how to treat something like that, which is why I wanted to see a doctor because I have only treated my own wounds so far. And they came from knife cuts at best. 

I roll my eyes when I see him smiling greasily in victory like a little child. He moves a bit to the side so I can sit next to him on the sofa and start cleaning his wounds well before they get infected.

"You know, I could have easily kicked the shit out of them all if they hadn't attacked me unexpectedly." He grins gloatingly and I carefully dab the cotton pad, which I had dipped in the alcohol, on the wound on his cheek, whereupon he jerkily tries to pull his face out of my reach.

"The last time I checked you were Jungkook and not Bruce Lee?" I tease playfully, pinching a smile, although I know for sure that he has the potential to do it. I've seen it happen before.

"I did Taekwondo in school, who the hell is Bruce Lee?" he rolls his eyes, but we both erupt in a laugh, him wincing after a few seconds because I dab the cotton pad back on his cheek.

I clean all his wounds on his face until only his lip is left at the end. I unconsciously lick my own, leaning closer to his face to have a better view of the wound and now getting a little more nervous so I take a deep breath. With a new and clean cotton pad, I start to rub over his lower lip, carefully not to hurt him. I clear my throat when I notice that Jungkook is staring at me with an intense gaze the whole time I'm doing my work.

He seems to have forgotten all his pain anyway because although I accidentally press too hard on the cut he doesn't even wince in pain. I murmur a faint sorry as I look from his lips up into his eyes, which are now hooded, and stare at me with an almost numb look. He tilts his head to the side and I try with all concentration to finish the treatment, but he makes it hard for me. I force myself to continue despite his incessant staring.

"Can you stop staring at me like that?" I ask almost in a whisper because it seems my voice has decided not to come out as I would have liked.

"Do I make you nervous?" he asks with a cocky smirk on his lips.

"Yes," I admit in a more confident tone. 

"I can't help it. You're drawing all my attention to yourself."

I feel lost in his words and also in his eyes, which are piercing through my soul as deeply as the night. In spite of his condition, they shine as if the whole galaxy lies in them. I don't know what it is about him that keeps me under his spell every time, but there is no way out in sight. 

Maybe I don't want to find a way out at all. Maybe I want to be lost in this new galaxy, where nobody can find me but him. And even though we don't know each other for that long, it still feels like I know every undiscovered corner in his pool of twinkling stars, like I know exactly what I'm getting into.

I didn't notice that he had sat up more upright until I feel his hand touching my cheekbone tenderly and sense his warm breath on my face. His gaze constantly jumps from my eyes to my lips, only to look deep into my eyes afterward. He leans closer and closer to me and I have no way to escape because his arm blocks me from getting anywhere.

"Please let me finish what I've started," he whispers deeply, his sweet breath, which still has a hint of beer, pounding my lips.

His nose is touching mine already and I can feel the tip of his lips on mine causing an electrifying sensation. Without getting an answer from me, because apparently I took too long for that, he places his lips on mine. The warm and soft feeling of them sends a shiver down my spine and I grip on his bicep which flexes under my touch.

He kisses me gently at the beginning as if he wants to slowly approach the hazardous waters, but when he notices that I'm not resisting, on the contrary kissing him back, he moves his lips with a little more pressure on mine. I have closed my eyes a long time ago, but I'm sure he has closed his too, the only thing that gives us orientation in the darkness caused by our eyelids now is the other one's soft lips.

He pulls back a little with a soft smack, teasing me with a tender touch of his lips, which he brushes over mine, only to then capture mine once more. This time he kisses me more eagerly, greedily, but still full of emotion and passion. My hands get lost in his hair on the back of his neck and I pull on them, which makes him moan in approval. His hand, which he had been resting behind me on the sofa to support himself on, finds its way to my waist, which lies flat there and pulls me closer to his body.

We are both breathless, but we stubbornly don't pull back just to avoid ruining this moment. My head is spinning from his kiss, the sweet taste of his tantalizing lips makes me feel addicted like a drug from which I can't get off so easily. I can't remember any man ever kissing me the way he does. A kiss that I will probably never forget.

He asks for entrance by sliding his tongue over my lower lip and I grant it to him with gratitude. His tongue finds mine and we fight for dominance, which he clearly champions. He examines every corner in my mouth and tastes every bit of me. We tilt our heads from side to side kissing harder and harder, almost desperately devouring each other and making us both moan in pleasure.

My taste buds sense an iron taste and I notice that his split lip, which I had cleaned, starts bleeding again. I place a flat hand on his bare chest to push him away, both for his bleeding lip and to get some air so we don't faint and our lungs don't sulk. He pulls away slowly after biting my lower lip with his teeth and we both breathe heavily. Our foreheads are touching, our eyes are still closed, his hand resting on my jawline as we try to regulate our breathing.

Embarrassed, I separate our foreheads and tuck a single strand of hair behind my ear. Ignoring the bulge in his pants, I lick my lips, which still has his sweet taste on them as I slowly lift my gaze. He bites his lower lip as he watches me and my reaction closely. 

"You should rest now. I'll get you a blanket and a pillow," I say as I'm about to get up from the sofa to take the said things from my bedroom as an excuse to get away from an awkward conversation.

Just as I almost get up, he grabs me by the hand which makes me land next to him on the sofa again and he stares at me with confused eyes.

"Tell me. Did I do something wrong?" he asks as he searches for my eyes, his gaze still jumping between my eyes and my lips and licking his own swollen red ones.

Uncertain and embarrassed as to what to answer, I can't take my eyes off him as I shake my head in denial and smile at him. I manage to free myself from his grip and run into my bedroom where I find him a blanket and pillow. Before I leave my room I take a deep breath to bring my hot face back to normal temperature.

When I arrive back in the living room, Jungkook is waiting for me with a searching look like a lost puppy. I ignore his eyes on me and spread the blanket over his whole body and adjust the pillow behind his head. He grabs my hand and pulls me towards him so that I land next to him on the sofa again and reconnects our foreheads. He looks at me intensely and expectantly, with a certain hope reflected in his eyes.

"I can't explain why, but you're driving me crazy, Elaine," he sighs as he closes his eyes.

My heart starts racing at these words, even faster than it did until a few minutes ago when our tongues were dancing around with each other and I gulp when he opens his eyes again. He looks at me with expectant eyes and separates our foreheads from each other, immediately leaving the spot cold and missing his warmth. He looks deep into my eyes and takes a deep breath. 

"Please be mine."

____________________

A/N: just letting you guys know that I love angst