Chapter Text
Jungkook promised he’d come back before the cicadas stopped screaming.
I remember that clearly—how we lay side by side on the cracked concrete of the school rooftop, summer heat sinking into our skin, our fingers tangled like it was the most natural thing in the world. He smelled like detergent and cheap peach soap, his hair still damp from the shower he took before sneaking out.
“I’ll be back,” he said, staring at the sky instead of me.
He always did that when he was lying—or when he was afraid.
“How long?” I asked, already hating the tremor in my voice.
“Not long,” Jungkook replied. “Just… trust me.”
Trust.
I trusted him with everything I was.
Jungkook had always been the brave one between us. The boy who ran faster, jumped higher, dreamed bigger. I was the one who planned, who calculated, who already knew my future had been written the moment I was born Park Jimin, only heir to a conglomerate that owned half of Seoul’s skyline.
But Jungkook?
Jungkook wanted the stars.
When he told me he’d auditioned for an entertainment company, I smiled for him. I kissed his knuckles and told him I was proud. I told him we’d figure it out together.
I didn’t know “together” wasn’t part of his plan anymore.
He left that night with a backpack slung over his shoulder and his hoodie zipped all the way up despite the heat. He hugged me tightly—too tightly, like he was afraid I’d vanish—and whispered my name into my hair like it was a prayer.
“I love you,” I said.
He hesitated. Just for half a second.
“I know,” he replied.
That should’ve been my first warning.
Days passed.
Then weeks.
I told myself he was busy. Training was intense, idols worked hard—everyone knew that. I ignored the ache in my chest every time my phone stayed silent, the messages unread, the calls unanswered.
My parents thought I was distracted because of university preparations. The company board started involving me in meetings early, praising my composure, my discipline.
No one noticed I slept with Jungkook’s hoodie clutched to my chest like it was the only thing keeping me alive.
The cicadas stopped screaming.
Jungkook didn’t come back.
I found out I was pregnant on a rainy Thursday.
I remember because I had just thrown up in the executive bathroom of my father’s office building, knees shaking against marble floors that cost more than most people’s homes. I thought it was stress. Or grief. Or my body finally giving in after weeks of pretending I was fine.
The doctor was gentle when she told me.
“Twins,” she said softly, smiling like it was good news.
I stared at the ultrasound screen, at two tiny heartbeats flickering stubbornly against all odds.
Twins.
Jungkook’s twins.
My hands trembled as I thanked her, bowed automatically, walked out into the rain without an umbrella.
I called him.
Again.
Still nothing.
That was the day something inside me broke beyond repair.
I didn’t cry the way people expect heartbreak to look like.
I went numb.
I learned how to breathe through pain so sharp it felt like my ribs were splintering. I learned how to smile in boardrooms while my world collapsed quietly inside my chest. I signed documents, attended meetings, took responsibility for a future I never wanted—because now, it wasn’t just mine.
I had two lives growing inside me.
I would not let them feel unwanted.
I told myself Jungkook had his reasons. I told myself he must’ve been forced, that contracts were cruel, that dreams demanded sacrifices.
But on the nights when the nausea was unbearable and my bed felt too big, all I could hear was his voice promising to come back.
He never did.
Seven years later, people call me CEO Park.
They say I’m calm. Collected. Untouchable.
They don’t see the way my daughter’s laughter sounds exactly like his, or how my son furrows his brows in concentration the same way Jungkook used to when he was determined to prove the world wrong.
They don’t know that every achievement tastes bittersweet because the boy I loved isn’t there to see it.
I’m happy.
That’s what I tell myself.
I have everything I need.
So when my assistant casually mentions a school event featuring a special guest idol, I don’t expect my heart to stop beating.
I don’t expect my children’s eyes to light up.
I don’t expect to hear his name spoken so easily—so carelessly—after I buried it for seven years.
Jeon Jungkook is back in my life.
And he can never know what he left behind.