Chapter I | Walls
❈ One ❈
Music Companion: Walls - Bridge
“Beer, over here!”
“Gin and tonic with six tequila shots for table five.”
“Vodka. Straight.”
“Daiquiri. Make it a double.”
The orders for drinks just keep on coming. You have been tossing and filling up glasses, sending them out left and right at the bar with almost no chance for having any quick breaks in between. With you handling the position as the head bartender tonight and with only the cute looking newbie, Ten, helping you at the other side of the bar, it sure feels like a whole marathon to serve for these feisty ladies currently taking over the club.
The club is still up and running as the night is getting late. With two groups of birthday bunches, one huge group of ladies having a bachelorette party, and medical school graduates dominating the patrons tonight among the regulars, the club roars as if it is the New Year’s eve instead of any other weekend.
There is not an empty space seen on sight from where you are standing, with new patrons coming in the later the night becomes while the earlier patrons seem to have decided to stay even after hours of partying and hollering for the dancing men on stage.
You should be thankful for Jungkook on the latter one.
Thanks to the impromptu stunt he did on his set earlier, where he pulled a female guest on stage to perform together with him before ending it by having Jimin drenching his taut body with a bucket of water, right in front of everyone, every single one of the guests instantly lost every inhibition they may ever had and things started getting even more rowdy since. The ladies covering the front row had no more shame in flirting with the male dancers, hoping that they would be the next lucky one to be pulled up on stage to have a one-on-one session with any performing dancer and to have a chance of mauling them up close and personal.
Judging from the shaky looks on some of the newest dancers as they looked upon the wild cougars trying to reach for them, they may have tons of different murder scenarios aimed for Jungkook for putting them up on the spot. Though nothing could go wrong with the club’s bouncers all set up and ready with their sharp eyes watching over the crowd. Your pretty manager had specifically ordered them to not only protect the women in uniforms waiting the tables but also every single one of the staffs involved, including all the hunky dancers.
The safety of the dancers aside, you see no signs of the performance having an encore anytime soon, with or without Jungkook. Deep down, you know that the performance was a special one. Though exactly for who, you really have no idea.
How do you know this?
Because you had watched Jungkook rehearsing that set for the past two days to know that the plus one on stage was never a part of his dance. Add that to the fact that the boy had been off his game for the past week, both in dancing and with women, after the night he went off to take the special additional job and coming back the next day as if he had lost a marble. After witnessing him going through all of that, only to have one woman breaking down his walls, you know that there was something else going on.
Speaking of Jungkook and his mystery woman—
You finally get a chance for a break after sending out a whole tray of tequila shots for the medical graduates who are about to end their night. As you lean back against the back counter, your eyes wander off beyond the bar, stopping briefly to watch the dancer who is performing on stage before you finally see her.
You had grown curious about her since the moment Jungkook pulled her up to the stage. There was something different about them when you saw them together. From the way they looked at each other and interacted on stage, you instantly knew that there was something unwritten between them. You even believe you had seen something more than just lust in their eyes.
She had made a quick stop at the bar about an hour ago, not too long after she had gotten off the stage, then disappeared down the hall where the private rooms are located. If she looked a bit skittish before, she now carries a different shade of shine all over her face. With the way she keeps pressing her palms down her skirt and the way she walks stiffly through the moving crowd, you could only guess what had happened while she was in those rooms.
And with who.
You keep watching her as she walks along the bar, looking around like she is searching for something. She tries to slide in between a couple of ladies sitting on the stool chairs before changing her mind and turns to walk away, but you manage to call out to her before she could get anywhere far from the bar.
“Hey, you’re here for a drink?” you lean forward across the bar to gain her attention against the loud music and roaring crowd, and she looks at you with wide eyes.
“Uh, no—not really,” she says. “I’m supposed to—” her eyes dart between the front door and back to the hall where she came from, and something tugs at your heartstring.
Call it a hunch, or perhaps your steel heart is craving for some romance. To witness it, more like, instead of getting involved in one. So you tilt your head, pointing at the side of the counter where the waitresses are usually lining up for trays, and she timidly follows.
“Come here,” you call out to her again, seeing how she is ready to flee from the place, and wait until she leans closer just so you could avoid having these exuberant guests around you from eavesdropping. As you lean closer and find her eyes looking both insecure and hopeful, you instantly know that the romantic side in you is winning and you want nothing more than to help her.
At least, you can only hope that you are doing the right thing.
“When you’re out at the parking lot, keep walking until the furthest corner to the west side of the building—” as her eyes sparkle brighter, you continue to identify Jungkook’s black car; what type of car he drives, the dent on its side that he had talked about a lot but had yet to fix, and add a few clues to how she would be able to find it, since the boy always chooses to park his beloved car at a specific spot at the guest parking lot instead of using the staff parking area at the back.
Once you are done, she sends you a brief, “Thank you,” and a grateful nod, before rushing out towards the front door. You could only watch her until right before she blends in with the crowd, since your break suddenly ends as a waitress comes in with new drink orders.
As if on cue, the moment you continue to engage in dealing with the drinks, the orders come rolling in even faster that you could barely catch up. From the corner of your eyes, you can see Ten getting even more flustered when his orders keep coming in with some extra flirting and touching from the patrons on his part.
The boy is easy to look at, after all. You can even hear a couple of the patrons asking him why he isn’t dancing, making his shy smile grow even wider.
“Need some help?”
The voice coming from behind you makes your heartbeat jump. Startled, you instantly turn around to see who it is, and find Jimin standing there behind the bar with a bright smile. You openly breathe a sigh of relief at his arrival, even if your heartbeat starts pacing at a wild pace.
Forcing a smile, you try to even out your voice as you speak. “Please, I’m completely swamped.”
“Is he not helping?” Jimin asks you, glancing quickly at Ten playfully.
Waving your hand at him, you answer him with a scoff. “Oh, he’s doing a great job for someone who had no experience tending the bar. But things are really getting out of hand at the moment. I don’t think anyone is planning on going home anytime soon,” you tell him while your eyes wander off around the club, looking at the excitement that is still going strong while all the screaming seems to be getting even louder.
Once your eyes make their way to the stage, you finally understand the reason why.
The beefy dancer who is the club’s favourite, Wonho, is now taking over the stage. Down in only his tight briefs, the man is dancing with his back facing the audience. His ripped muscles are accentuated more as he has both of his arms up, his hands crossed at the back of his head while he is rolling his hips to the rhythm of the music.
“Alright then,” Jimin pulls your attention back to him by clapping his hand before he starts folding the long sleeves of his top and moves to your side. “I don’t have any more sets to do tonight, might as well give you guys a hand to waste some time.”
Before you could respond, he has already accepted his first round of order from the flighty women welcoming him with bright smiles, leaving you to tend the ones lining up at your corner. Within the next minute, you find yourselves falling into a rhythm as you work side by side, and the drinks continue to flow.
The extra pair of hands certainly helps a lot in making your work feels a whole lot easier. And his presence is even capable of creating a whole new mood at the bar. Jimin has always been known for his playfulness and he is good at flirting with the women without being too much. He has a strong charm which is able to pull everyone in, one which he uses when he is doing his job, just like how he is utilising it right at this moment. Even if it means more patrons are coming up to the bar just to grab his attention.
With more patrons visiting the bar, comes more orders. And you are glad that you had taken Jimin’s offer of taking the stress off of your shoulders.
As he finds his rhythm to work alongside you, Jimin instantly looks like he is in his element, even if tending the bar does not normally come with his job description.
He serves every patron that tries to start a conversation with him, answering their questions patiently and subtly brushing off their flirty advances while serving their drink orders, all while throwing a smile here and a wink there to please everyone who are openly staring at him. He even throws in a few little dancing in between, without pulling off his clothes this time, as a little extra entertainment for his overzealous fans.
The only thing that keeps throwing you off balance would be the fact that as much as he is doing all of those things to please his audience at the bar, he also keeps openly making advances your way.
From throwing a wink at you when you catch him staring, bumping his hips against yours or brushing against you so deliberately yet still as subtle as he could when he moves around, to dancing so close, too close, that your body burns hot because of him.
It has always been easy for him to ignite this feeling in you.
Out of all the dancers, he had always been the one to draw you in when he dances on the stage. The way he moves to the music, how he is lost in his own moment during his sets, how he glides along the stage as if he owns it, everything about him has always been so easy to catch your attention. You have no idea exactly when you started admiring him as a performer, how he had managed to win your attention among the beautifully build men taking turns in dancing every single night, but your eyes will always find him, and they always stay with him until he finishes his routines.
You had never thought you would grow past from admiring him from afar, until at one night, you did.
It was the night of his birthday when he presented a special set for the audience.
Dressed as a sexy biker, with his black leather jacket on top of his bare skin, tight black pants and sparkling boots, he managed to wreck havoc at the whole club, swooning all the ladies with his fluid moves. Even if you weren’t screaming his name along with the crowd that night, your whole body did.
As his hands slid up and down his own skin, the heat in your body risen to the top as if it was your skin that he touched. With every single hip thrust he did on stage, the untouched area between your legs pulsed in the same rhythm, your arousal came out soaking your panties until it clung tightly against your hot cunt that you could barely move without it getting pulled. Although it wasn’t like you would be able to move anyway, when your legs had grown into jelly with needs.
Then his eyes found yours, his smug grin grew to let you know that he knew exactly what he was doing to your body without touching you. Everything that came next happened in mere seconds, as he kept his gaze on yours the moment he pulled his pants off, leaving the tight, barely-there thong covering his manhood as the last barrier securing his body from every single hungry gaze falling on him. Then as he dropped down on the floor, humping fiercely against the stage beneath him, your whole body shuddered to the point that you almost came to pieces while standing there at the bar.
That night extended into a gathering for the dancers and a few of the staffs, and after a few coaxing from both the manager and Jimin himself, you decided to join them. Started with a huge dinner at the nearest BBQ restaurant, the event ended with a few rounds of drinking that lasted for hours. Until people started leaving, and only you and Jimin remained.
The alcohol running in your system was not enough to make you lose every bit of sanity you still had left when you finally stepped out of the place, but it was enough to break down your walls that you accepted his invitation to come home with him.
Even though your memory had grown fuzzy during the trip from the last bar to his home, you were already close to sobering up when he laid you down on his bed.
Your mind and body memorised everything perfectly beyond the haze that had taken over control. His searing kiss that had awakened every nerve ending, his touches that felt right on your skin, and his sweet words that made you feel wanted, something that you had never felt before. Everything he did felt like an enchantment, as he tuned your body to life.
Then suddenly, you were beneath him, he was inside you, and when your body intertwined with each other, everything felt so perfect. He was perfect. Not only for the wild, carnal sex that sent you to bliss more than once until the morning came, but also for the way he made you feel, how he treated you, how he had made sure that he had sent you to your pleasure before he went for his own.
And then everything else became even better when he woke you up for an encore before you were both sated and spent, enough to fall into a deep slumber.
You remember sleeping in pure bliss, tucked in his warmth with his strong arms holding you close. Then you woke up the next day with him still deep in his sleep right next to you, completely oblivious to the turmoil happening in your head.
What was supposed to be a hangover turned into a massive breakdown when various thoughts came through your head while he was peacefully sleeping. And the more you felt all the sparks and tingles on all over our body which he had ignited on the heated lovemaking the night before, the faster the walls you had built around you to protect your heart came back up, stronger than ever.
Without waiting for him to wake up, you slipped out of his bed and out the front door, and you rushed back home, back to where you believed you truly belonged. What had waited for you back home that day only added to your guilt that you promised yourself to never again fall into his charms. Or anyone’s charms, for that matter. And you had made it clear to him and everyone else who tried to come closer ever since.
“You’re staring,” Jimin’s voice breaks you out of your reverie, and you are back in the middle of the rowdy bar with bottles of liquors surrounding you. The moment you are back in the present, you find that you have indeed been openly staring at him.
“Oh—” you jump a step back to add a distance between you and Jimin, once you come to aware that he is standing a little too close for comfort. Flustered from being caught staring, even if you had never intended to, you force a smile and look away. “Sorry, I might be getting tired and lost it. Not to mention, you are quite distracting.”
Jimin only chuckles, then he suddenly leans closer, eliminating the short distance between you which you had just created in your state of shock and whispers, “I always know that I can be quite distracting when I want to. But it pleases me to know that I still have that effect on you.”
You can only stare at him with your jaw falling as he walks away. Jimin does this a lot, you remind yourself, sending you subtle hints which would tell you that you are not the only one who keeps thinking about that night whenever your memory allows you to.
But just like how you deal with it every single time he does it to you, you remind yourself not to give in to temptation. You have always known that these boys you are working with are excellent in pleasing the ladies, both on stage and off stage, and you keep telling yourself that no matter how you felt after that night ended, you had been nothing but a fling for him, a part of his wondrous escapades.
As you look over at Jimin, just as he is leaning over the bar counter and whispers something to a pretty woman who is now laughing to whatever he had just said to her, you are starting to be convinced to how true those sweet reminders are. And you are back to face reality where you and him do not belong together.
“Hey,” Jimin playfully nudges at your side with his elbow just when the orders have started slowing down.
There is only less than an hour left before closing time. The patrons have started dwindling to none, with most of the guests who had come in big groups have left the club after the final act, leaving only a few patrons left who are still dancing with the spent dancers on the dance floor.
Coming to his side, you nudge him back with your hip. “Hey, you. Thanks for coming into the rescue. I honestly don’t know how we could’ve gotten through it without you.”
“Anytime,” he says, smiling. “But are you thankful enough to pay me back?”
Rolling your eyes, you merely laugh at him. “Fine. What do you want me to do for you in return? Are you asking me for extra hourly tips? You have to ask the manager lady for that one.”
Jimin falls silent for a moment, the music and laughter from the people who are still having fun at the center of the room pull your attention away from him, until he hesitantly speaks, “Go out with me.”
You are thankful that you are standing close to him, enough to be able to hear his voice against the music. It takes you a moment before you finally look at him, probably with your eyes wide open in shock, and it takes another brief moment before you can finally ask, “What—?”
“Go out with me,” he says, a bit louder and with a little more confidence compared to how he spoke it before.
“Like—a date?”
Whatever it is that Jimin is seeing on your face when you gave him that question, it has him smiling so sweetly with pure amusement on his face. “Yeah, we didn’t exactly start things off properly the last time, did we?”
The last time. You cannot deny the way your tummy flutter at those words, when he is unintentionally letting you know that he does think about that night. “Uhm—”
Your words fail you, and it feels like even your body is failing to hide your emotions when your cheeks start heating up. Thankfully, Jimin chooses not to bring it up, and continues to explain, as if he knows that you would need some more reassurance to know that he means what he said.
“This Friday would be my day off. And I know that you will be off at the same time. How about we go watch some movies, grab a bite to eat, and see how it goes from there?”
Oh yes, that does sound like a date, alright. A normal, your average kind of date, even if the man who had asked you to it is a free-spirited stripper who would probably have way more experience in wooing a woman.
While your mind is reeling, trying to figure out if there is anything else hidden behind his appealing offer, you wonder if there is something else that he wants out of it. Yes, you get that he had made it as a form of gratitude for his aide tonight, but is that all he wants from you? Or does he want an encore, to get into your pants—or, in this case, your mini skirt, since you are still wearing one as a part of your bartender set up—or is it only because he had grown curious after you left him so abruptly the next morning?
A part of you is screaming at you to question it to the man himself, wanting an immediate answer before plunging head first into—whatever it is he is offering. Yet as you look up to him and meet his eyes, all you can give him is silence.
You remember seeing a glimpse of Jungkook passing by while you were busy tending the bar, not too long after his girl had walked out. You had no chance of calling him or letting him know about the one waiting for him outside, but you had a chance to look at his expression as he was rushing through the club, completely unaware of all the attention he had gained just by being there. You saw how his eyes were bright with hope before they sparkled with despair after looking around the bar and not finding what he was looking for, and you could swear you felt another tug in your heart at the sight.
Once, there was a time in the past where you had wished you would have someone looking at you with the same look he had in his eyes, or to draw that expression when they think about you. Until the day you learned that fairy tales don’t exist in the real world.
But when you look deep into Jimin’s eyes, you can see a glimpse of that same look in them as the one Jungkook carried as he chased for his girl, before it disappears almost too quickly. Was it only your imagination? Will he still have that look in his eyes once he loses his interest on you?
Shaking your head, you decide that it might be just your mind playing tricks on you, as you had hoped that maybe there is something there between you and Jimin. But it is now time to face reality and not give in to dreams.
Because there is every possibility of you wanting more than just a one night fling while he wants nothing more than just to woo you back into his bed. And it is something that you simply cannot afford to deal with, when you have other things to worry about.
“Jimin—” you start, ready to refuse him for the umpteenth time ever since he had tried to ask you out after the night you left his bed. “I don’t know—”
Jimin gives you no chance to finish that sentence, however, as if he already knows what you are about to say. He pulls you close by your waist to cut you off from talking, then leans down to gently kiss your cheek. You look up to him, speechless and dumbfounded, while he only smiles.
“Think about it, will you?” is all that he says to you, before he slowly walks away without waiting for your answer.
