who are you?

You felt yourself awaken when the dappled sunlight filtered through the blinds and painted your room yellow like it always did. The birds that found habit chirping directly on your balcony also helped indicate that morning had arrived.

You could feel the warmth of the morning sun on your face as you slowly eased out of sleep, sitting up gently and rubbing the corners of your eyes – before reaching your arms up in a stretch.

Settling down, it was then your mind began to replay the events of last night, and you could’ve sworn the top of your hand began to tingle at the thought of K.J’s soft lips being on them.

‘Jungkook’ you reminded yourself, fingers lightly tracing the area where he’d kissed, ‘his name is Jungkook.’

You let out a soft yawn and slid out of bed, shivering when your bare feet touched the wooden floor of your apartment. Trotting over to your bathroom groggily you leaned over the sink and splashed your face with cold water before getting ready for the day.

You sat with your bowl of cereal (which was going soggy) as you stared into nothingness when your phone started buzzing and snapped you out of your momentary daze.

You looked at the text and pursed your lips together.

Erica: Lunch?

You paused and fiddled with your phone, thinking over it a little – knowing that one wrong move, or text, in this matter, would result in a barrage of follow ups.

‘Can’t, I have a date’

You blinked twice and erased it without another moment’s thought.

‘Can’t, I have a prior arrangement’ you edited.

Hitting send you eased back into your seat, happy knowing that the onslaught of questions surrounding such a simple word, had been avoided successfully.

Erica: What prior arrangement?

****.

You hadn’t thought she’d be so devilish – questioning her own best friend of all things. You scoffed at the phone in disbelief, and then pulled a face at yourself knowing you brought it on yourself.

‘Business propositions’ you replied, biting your lip – hoping that would be the end all of the conversation.

You heard your phone buzz and picked it up at lightning speed,

Erica: Is the “business proposition” tall dark and handsome? What’s his name?

You buried your face in your free palm, laughing into it. Did she have an antenna sticking out of her head? Was it connected to your pulse?

You left her on read and put the phone back on the table.

As you were getting ready to go out, filtering through your wardrobe, your thoughts wandered back to the art gallery. The place had been packed, there were cameras indicating an obvious media presence, and yet the man responsible for creating such tumultuous waves in the art world was hiding from them all, hiding from it all. Why?

Shaking your head free of thoughts you decided to keep your outfit simple and pretty – you we’re visiting an art studio you didn’t want to dress to the nines or seem like you were trying too hard.

Your curiosity bubbled in your system, never quite settling in your stomach. It fluttered in juvenile excitement thinking about what the place would look like, what he would look like – what he would get you to do while you were there. This whole experience would be new for you, and although you were young it had been a while since anything unusual had happened, something that would break you out of your comfort zone.

Once you left the apartment you reached into your bag and pulled out Jungkook’s business card, recognizing the address instantly – a dot you’d failed to connect last night when you’d first looked at it. Most likely because your mind had been preoccupied by other things.

The studio was close, it was barely a few blocks away. Rather than waste time and gas you started walking.

--

Around 25 minutes later and after severely underestimating the warm weather, you arrived at an old, large scale building a little ways south from your apartment block in the city. It was white stone and the outdoor entrance had tall archways and automatic doors which didn’t seem to be operating.

The area around the building was beautiful and lush with a surrounding park, vibrant and full of nature with the soft sound of laughing children and families leisurely enjoying their time. You’d never realised an area this magical had been so close to where you’d been living all the while.

You walked up the stone steps and pressed the buzzer to the side of the doors, hoping you’d get a response.

It was only a moment later when you heard his soft voice pour out of the speaker – warm and inviting. “Y/N, right?”

You were taken aback by his knowing, and hesitantly pressed the button to speak back. “Yes, but how did you know?” You looked around in bewilderment, trying to spot a camera but found nothing.

“Intuition” He chuckled softly, and even through an electronic box his low voice made you suck in a breath. “Top floor.” He followed, and the static noise from the speaker stopped.  

You heard a buzzing noise soon after and the doors slid open, and you walked in with wide eyes assessing the building. The foyer was spacious and wide, with cream marble flooring and huge windows that scaled the walls. The single most beautiful thing however was the stained glass piece that filtered the sun from the windows and directed it to the center of the foyer.

It glittered and sparkled in a myriad of colours and you felt compelled to walk up to it, placing your hand into the beam. You moved your hand around, watching as the colours danced along your skin. It was nothing short of magic and you couldn’t stop the smile that ghosted its way to your lips.

The building was dead silent until quiet footsteps broke you from your trance. Your gaze moved to the direction of the noise, and there he was.

Jungkook stood in the middle of the staircase, a sweet smile on his face. “You like the building I see.” He noted, smile never leaving his lips.

You took your hand away from the shimmering light and put them behind your back. A nervous laugh escaped you “Yeah.”

Why were you so nervous? You’d been fine last night until he’d – oh

His lips had done that. His lips had been the sole reason for your nervousness, if only he hadn’t put them on your hand.  And his lips, oh, there they were now. Smiling.

You took a moment to look at him as he made his way down the rest of the steps. He was wearing an airy white long sleeved shirt that was spattered in paint and a pair of black trousers– you choked back a giggle. He was so beautiful in all his cliché.

But ****, he really was handsome.

You pointed at his shirt as he came to stand in front of you, “You’ve been painting I see.” you murmured, smiling up at him.

“Yes but, nothing of importance,” he wiped his forehead with his shirt sleeve “I was waiting for you.”

The way he said it made your blood run hot. “Me?” you looked up at him in question

“You.” His gaze met yours, eyes dark and unfaltering.

The word was final and he signalled you with his finger to follow him up the steps, and you did so quietly, one step behind him the whole way. He lead you up two floors until you were in front of a large mahogany door, almost double the size of yourself. He opened the door and the sight inside left you in awe – it was as if you’d stepped into another planet.

It was a large open space studio, floors and walls built entirely of dark rosewood. There was a huge window at the far end of it and bookcases on either side. The ceiling was far higher than it needed to be, and the walls and floors were decorated with scattered, half finished paintings. Gorgeous potted plants dotted the room to garnish. In all, it was the most beautiful studio you had ever seen, it felt straight out of a novel.

Jungkook watched you in his peripheral vision and grinned.

When Y/N had taken too long to come up, Jungkook had grown impatient and went down to see himself what was keeping her when they’d just spoken, only to find her in the middle of the foyer playing with her hand in the light reflections, flittering from the stained glass.

He ran his tongue along his lower lip and watched her for a moment. But the moment she started smiling he couldn’t take watching from afar. He had to be near her. Had to be closer as if his livelihood depended on it.

He descended to the middle of the steps, “You like the building I see.”

Like a deer caught in headlights she retracted her hand from the light and feigned indifference to it as she looked up at him. Jungkook wanted to tease her so much that she’d break, but he held back.

 “Yeah.” Y/N replied, a small laugh escaping her lips.

‘Please don’t feel awkward around me’ Thought Jungkook, walking down the rest of the steps to meet her at the bottom.

When he looked at her again, she was watching him. “You’ve been painting I see.” She pointed to his shirt, smiling up at him as she did.

“Yes but nothing of importance,” Jungkook wiped his forehead with his sleeve. He was telling the truth too, his paintings had been devoid of inspiration, he was doing it out of necessity just in case she never showed up. “I was waiting for you.”

The words he believed to be nothing more than nonchalant and truthful set an embarrassed look to her features.

“Me?” She questioned, looking up at him beneath her eyelashes.

God.

“You.” Jungkook finished. Refusing to let go of her gaze – he wanted to look at her for as long as possible. Yet, afraid of what he might do if he held it for a second longer – he turned away and led her up the stairs, signalling with his finger.

The two of them went inside the studio and for a moment he watched her from the corner of his eye, noticing her awestruck expression. He loved his studio, but it was the first time he’d seen someone so blatantly in love with it as he was.

“Come in.” Jungkook whispered, placing his hand on the small of Y/N’s back, ushering her in so she wasn’t standing in the doorway. “Please sit” He gestured towards a comfy looking chair.

Y/N nodded and went to sit down, and Jungkook went in front of his canvas and started preparing his paint palette among things. He took a seat and there they sat opposite each other, a little too far away for Jungkook’s liking.

They shared a moment of concordant silence, before Jungkook broke it.

“Take off your clothes.” He whispered. So quiet and slow, before flicking his gaze to meet hers.

She looked so beautifully flushed when he said it, eyes wide and welcoming. She was breathtaking.

‘She looks like a painting.’ Thought Jungkook ‘and I haven’t even brought my brush to the canvas.’

Y/N pursed her lips in thought, before taking her fingers to the top button of her blouse, getting ready to start undoing it.

Jungkook almost choked on his own breath as his palette clattered to the floor, he stood up walking over to Y/N before clasping her hands in his, preventing her from unbuttoning her shirt “It was a joke, Y/N.”

She let out a breath then, as if she’d been holding it in “Oh.” She said simply.

He let go of her and ran a hand through his hair, laughing in disbelief “You-“

He shook his head “You’re too much. You’re so naïve! – What if I was someone else? What if I took advantage of you?"

Y/N giggled and cut Jungkook off “We’re both adults. Besides, this is your job, right? You wanted a muse and I agreed. If deriving inspiration meant seeing my nude form why would that bother me, I didn’t come here thinking it would be entirely virtuous.”   

Jungkook didn’t say anything, he just stood above her and watched her with a curious expression on his face.

“I’ve read enough history books, Jungkook. About famous artists and their muses. Besides…” She trailed off, leaning back into her chair “When did I ever say you couldn’t take advantage of me?”

Jungkook’s eyes went wide as saucers. Is this girl even real? Maybe she’s a succubus, and if so she’s doing a fantastic job, because if she keeps talking like that he really might die.

“I don’t want that.” His voice was low and soft, almost fragile.

Jungkook walked back to his seat in front of the canvas, sitting down and picking up the fallen palette.

“Then what do you want from me, Jungkook?” The question was simple, but her tone was gentle and understanding.

“I want you to tell me about your week. I want you to ask me to pour you a glass of wine; tell me your favourite colour, your favourite songs, your favourite films. The things you love, the things you hate. Do you have pets? Why? Why not?” Jungkook found solace in her eyes as he met her gaze once more, knowing she was listening.

“I want to know about you. Not for you to take off your clothes. Only then will I feel satisfied enough to paint.”

You watched Jungkook with pure attentiveness, watched the every rise and fall of his chest when he spoke. You tried your very best to wrap your head around the man sitting behind the canvas. His inner workings were an enigma, his method of finding inspiration was fresh and new, but it made you wonder, where had he found it all before if he was so desperate to find inspiration within you.

You decided to leave those questions unanswered for now, coming to the conclusion that spending your weekends with this man would be worthwhile – therefore giving you all the time in the world to find out about him, too.

“Well then,” You breathed slowly, “Can you pour me a glass of wine, Jungkook? I think we have a lot to talk about.”

He stood up, watching you – and his face broke into a beautiful, soft smile – almost undetectable.

You watched him walk over to the end of the studio, his gorgeous broad figure pouring a bottle of wine into a glass - and you couldn't help but let your thoughts wander.

'Jungkook, who are you?'

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