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Seoul is nothing like Busan. Seoul is neon lights and loud traffic, nothing like home, nothing like family. He's a little starstruck, a little scared.
Yugyeom had shown him around the college campus just the other day, but Jungkook still gets lost. College was hard, and huge, he had no idea where he was going. He gives up trying to find his way around and just wanders, when he comes across someone singing. The voice is soft, and he can just barely hear it, but the longer he listens the louder it beckons, so he follows the sound until he's standing outside a practice room. He doesn't feel like intruding, to stop the singing, so instead he merely leans against the door, hoping to catch as much of the song as he can. The girl's voice is beautiful, unlike anything's he's ever heard before. He's on the wrong side of the door but he can still hear her voice so clear, so strong, as if she was singing to him, for him.
He falls in love for the first time then, behind a closed door, before he had even attached a face to the voice.
"The practice room near the cafeteria? Mm, lately I've been seeing Yerin coming in and out of that room quite often-"
"Yerin?"
"Yeah, Baek Yerin, in our year, she's a pretty popular girl, has everyone wrapped around her finger. Haven't heard of her before?"
"No... not really."
"Ah, well, just your luck, she happens to be sitting at that table right over there."
Jungkook's eyes sweep across the table opposite from them. Before he can find Yerin he's caught by long brown hair and a wide smile. She distracts him for a moment, but then he shifts his eyes to where Yugyeom had directed him to and he finds black hair and pretty eyes. He smiles, a beautiful face to match a beautiful voice. He observes for a while, her quietness, her calm, the way she laughs behind her hand. It's hard to see just her though, when there's loud laughter coming from right beside her. The one with the brown hair, laughing with her entire body and smiling with all her strength. The two of them are a clear contrast to each other, but seem to work well together.
"Who's that? The girl next to her?"
"Oh." Yugyeom smiles just a notch wider, Jungkook notes. "That's Park Jimin. Knows pretty much everyone on campus, has men dying at her feet."
That surprises him a little, but as he turns back around he watches a freshman trips over his own two feet, Yerin immediately asking if he's okay with tenderness and concern. The freshman nods, stuttering a little, and then Jimin directs a smile so bright it blinds as she laughs, a nice sound, soft. His face flushes red. Maybe not so surprising after all.
Yerin, the moon, elegant and alluring. Jimin, the sun, brazen and enchanting.
Jungkook thinks maybe, if he tried to capture the moon, it might be a challenge he would not win.
"I think you dropped this."
Jungkook turns, only to find Yerin, hand outstretched, his pen in her palm.
"Oh!" He says, blushing. "Thank you."
"No problem." She smiles a little, his heart beats a little faster.
She's about to walk away, but he can't let an opportunity like this just pass by him so he stops her as he clears his throat.
"Do you happen to sing, maybe?"
At the question she looks a bit confused, but doesn't stop smiling. "I do, how'd you know?"
"Yugyeom... mentioned it." A lie.
"Ah, I see. I perform at the cafe a couple blocks down the road from here sometimes. You're free to come listen any time, I'm usually there Thursdays and Fridays."
Jungkook beams, and bows a little as Yerin walks away.
He makes a mental note of it, and walks off to his next class with a little spring in his step.
It turns out that he shares a class with Jimin, Yerin's best friend, Yugyeom's child hood best friend, and apparently the most popular girl around campus. He'd heard her name mentioned so many times by so many different people that he couldn't keep count. She had a pretty big presence in the classroom, and everyone seemed to just flock to her naturally. She was different from Jungkook. He kept to himself mostly, no reputation to account for.
Halfway through the lecture, he's shaken from his thoughts when there's a finger poking at his arm. He turns to see Jimin leaning over her seat to get closer to his.
"Hey," She whispers, "do you have a pen I could borrow? I forgot mine."
"Uh, yeah." Jungkook hands her the one in his hand, and takes out another one from inside his bag.
The smile she shoots him in thanks catches him a bit off guard, so genuine and welcoming that he thought it was strange. It was a smile for a friend, surely they weren't anywhere near friends yet, were they?
"What's your name?" She asks, though she's facing the front of the class now.
"Jungkook." He replies, but as he says this his voice is drowned out by someone on Jimin's other side, and then Jimin and whoever had spoken are both giggling under their breaths.
Oh well. Jungkook turns back to the face the front of the classroom and continues to take notes as usual.
At the end of the lecture, Jimin goes up to him, smiling already.
"Jungkook! I'll see you around, yeah?"
He nods. She grins, and then she locks an arm with the friend nearest to her and skips out of the classroom.
Strange. His palms feel a bit clammy, he feels a bit warm.
He forgot to ask for his pen back.
He knows it's a bit early to cash in a favour from a friend he's only known for about two weeks, but he was getting nowhere with Yerin and simply listening to her sing behind a closed door and watching as she walks past him in the hallways is not enough anymore.
"You want to sit at their table?"
Jungkook nods, eyes looking anywhere but at Yugyeom's.
"Why? Do you have a little crush?" He asks, laughing.
Jungkook chokes, punches Yugyeom's arm a little too hard. "Shut up."
Yugyeom whines about the bruise that's bound to form on his arm, but leads Jungkook to their table anyway. Yugyeom slides in next to Jimin, who shoves his face away when he goes in for a hug, laughing. Jungkook seats himself next to Yugyeom, across from Yerin, who smiles and bows her head in greeting. He does the same, cheeks pink. He notices now that outside of Yerin and Jimin there are a few other people at the table too. BamBam, Yugyeom introduces, grins as he offers a hand out for Jungkook to shake. In the middle of BamBam and Yerin is Jaebum, he learns, who has him arm resting somewhere on Yerin's waist. Jungkook tenses.
Conversation flows easily, he finds he can fit himself in it if he tried, but he was too busy burning holes into the arm that was resting against Yerin's waist.
"Jungkook!" Jimin calls out suddenly.
He snaps his head up to her, and she doesn't say anything and instead offers her hand out to him. He hesitates, but then takes the hand, eyes questioning.
"I feel like juice, you're buying." Is all she says before she's dragging him off his seat and to the vending machines.
BamBam's laughing as they leave, saying something like "Looks like Jimin's found her next victim."
He's still confused, but pays for her juice anyway, and watches as she sips her juice box happily.
"You don't hate Jaebum, do you?" She asks suddenly, eyes trained on his.
Shit.
"Um, no. I just met him today."
She takes a long, drawn out sip and then nods. "If it's not Jaebum, then it's Yerin, isn't it?"
Shit, shit, shit.
"Uh- I don't-"
"It's okay." Her lips curl into a small smile, and just the expression eases the little bit of anxiousness that had surfaced. "I won't tell anyone."
And then she's skipping back to the lunch table, as if the previous conversation hadn't just happened. He follows behind, still a bit puzzled, he hadn't been that obvious, had he?
Yugyeom gives him a pat on the back when he takes his seat. "Now that she's asked you to buy one thing, she's never gonna stop, you know."
"Hey!" Jimin nudges Yugyeom with her elbow. "I get stuff for you all the time too!"
"Only because you're the one who made me so broke that I couldn't get stuff for myself anymore."
Jimin huffs, Yugyeom guffaws and the whole table is sent into laughter.
"Good luck, Jungkook." Yerin says, grinning ever so slightly.
He almost chokes on air. "Uh, it's okay, I don't really mind."
At those words Jimin turns to him and beams. He chances a small smile back.
He really can't find it in himself to mind, especially not if Jimin kept shooting those smiles at him.
It's been the third Thursday since Yerin had told Jungkook about the cafe that she sings in sometimes. On this third Thursday Jungkook decides maybe he'll actually go this time, but he makes sure to text Yugyeom if he can come with him before hand.
Yugyeom: the cafe yerin performs at?
Jungkook: yeah
Yugyeom: why do u wna go there?
Jungkook: just felt like it
Yugyeom: ok... well, i guess i can take u since i don't have anything to do today
Jungkook: thanks
He's dressed up a little more than usual, and if Yugyeom notices, he doesn't say anything about it.
When they get there the place is already packed. There's not enough seats so people are mostly just standing around, chatting amongst themselves. Jungkook scans the room until his eyes land on someone familiar. Jimin's near the front of the stage, talking and laughing with Jaebum and someone he doesn't know. She looked a bit dressed up too, wearing long dangling earrings and a sweater, though it's long enough to serve as a dress on its own. She's wearing lipstick, he notes, giving her lips a pink shine.
He doesn't realise how long he gets caught up in just looking at Jimin when she notices him staring and they lock eyes. His heart stops for a moment, and then she's waving him over. He pushes the feeling of confusion down and walks over to her.
"Jungkook, hey! Wasn't expecting you here today, and wow, you've managed to drag Yugyeom out of bed as well!"
Jimin snickers and Yugyeom rolls his eyes, shoving her with his shoulder.
The guy that Jungkook's never met before is giving him weird looks, as if he's trying to assess whether Jungkook's a threat or not. He doesn't really know why, but he does see that he's sticking oddly close to Jimin's side. He doesn't get much time to dwell on it though, because at that moment someone's speaking into the mic and he hears "Baek Yerin is going to be up in five minutes and she'll be performing two original songs tonight."
He cheers, and so do his friends, along with half of the crowd, it seemed most of them were here for Yerin too.
He's buzzing, leaning back and forth on the heels of his feet, a little too excited. Yugyeom looks to him, expression amused and knowing. Jungkook ignores him, and instead watches the empty stage in anticipation.
It wasn't long now.
"Hey, where'd Jimin go?"
At Jaebum's question, Jungkook looks around the room to see if he can find her, but he comes up empty, until he sees a familiar head of brown hair walking out the front door, hurried. The guy that was hanging around her earlier follows after, hot on her heels. His stomach twists, something feels wrong. Yugyeom's calling after him but he doesn't hear it, he's making it out the door as fast as he can.
"I told you, I don't want this, I thought we were fri-"
"That's a lie. You've been leading me on this whole time, how can you say we're just friends?"
The guy has his hand wrapped around Jimin's wrist, tight. Jimin's uncomfortable, desperately wants to leave, but he isn't letting her. Jungkook feels sick.
"Hey!" Jungkook says, a little bit out of breath as he catches up to the both of them. Jimin looks to him, eyes a bit wide, but relieved, so relieved. Jungkook looks to the guy. "I think you should let go of her."
He snarls, spits at Jungkook's feet. "This isn't any of your business, fuck off."
Jimin tenses. Jungkook is about to step in properly, do something drastic, like punch the guy in the face, but before he can even move someone else's fist is already connecting with the guy's jaw. Jungkook steps back, surprised, only to find Yugyeom suddenly in front of him, arm outstretched. The guy falls back, swearing, before he picks himself back up again and runs away.
"Shit." Yugyeom curses silently, shaking the hand that had come in contact with the guy.
Jimin rushes over to Yugyeom, fussing over his now bleeding knuckles.
"What did I say about hanging out with shady guys?"
Jimin pouts, a little embarrassed. "I thought he was cool, really!"
Yugyeom scoffs. "You say that every time."
Jungkook feels like he's intruding on some sort of intimate moment, with the way Jimin's placing one of her disney princess bandaids over Yugyeom's hand, and the way he laughs at the childish design.
"You're lucky Jungkook found you, or else you would've been in real trouble, dumbass."
Jimin looks up at Jungkook, as if suddenly remembering that he was there, and smiles, something small and sad. "Thank you."
He hates that she has to show that kind of smile, it looked completely out of place.
"It's fine. You're... okay?"
Jimin nods, obviously still shaken up, but her eyes have gained that same sparkle they usually do, so Jungkook breathes a little easier.
When they get back inside the cafe Yerin's already finished performing, and Jungkook knows he should be a little disappointed that he'd missed out on it, but he found himself too tired to care much, so he just bids everyone a goodbye and sets off back to his apartment. Before he's gone, he looks to Jimin one last time. She's laughing now, seemingly like usual, but her shoulders were still a bit stiff. He frowns, just how often did she have to deal with that kind of stuff?
He falls asleep that night thinking of Jimin, stomach twisted in knots.
Jimin: do u have free now?
Jungkook: yeah, y?
Jimin: me 2!!! can u buy me a juice box n meet me outside the library?
Jungkook: ok... apple?
Jimin: ofc!!
"What do you mean you want to repay me?" Jungkook asks, blinking in question as Jimin takes sips from her juice box.
"For helping me out the other day at the cafe. I bet you really wanted to see Yerin perform, right?"
Jungkook doesn't blush this time, but nods a little shyly.
"Here." Jimin takes out a milk box from her bag and offers it to him, smiling. This kind of smile, the small but warm ones, these were the kind of smiles he liked to see on her.
He doesn't like drinking milk on its own, but takes the box anyway, drinks the entire thing anyway.
"On Saturdays Yerin likes to perform at a bar downtown. No one else knows, she likes to think it's a well hidden secret. But it's not, not really."
Jungkook hums, and jots down the address that she gives him.
He doesn't really plan on going. He's twenty now but still hasn't gone to an actual bar yet, the whole idea seems a bit daunting.
Jimin doesn't say anything more, and neither does Jungkook, but the silence they settle into is comfortable. Jimin continues to take sips from her juice box, legs swinging underneath her. Her entire aura seemed carefree and childlike, a stark difference to Jungkook's own. He'd always thought that people like Jimin would be hard to get along with, someone who's friends with everyone, open and bright and loud. It wasn't hard at all though, Jimin had made it so easy for him. In hindsight it makes sense, Jimin has so many friends because she makes them all feel special in some way, made them all feel at home with her.
Now that he's sitting here with Jimin, his friend, with an address to a bar scrawled on the back of his hand, and the sensation of butterflies in his stomach, he feels that coming to Seoul had been the right choice after all.
Jungkook: what do u wear to a bar
Hoseok: o my god
Hoseok: jungkookie are u going to a bar???? to go drinking????????
Jungkook: what else do u do at bars hyung
Hoseok: noooooooo ur growing up too fast
Jungkook: hyung i'm 20 i'm already an adult
Yoongi: are u going with ur friends
Jungkook: i'm going by myself
Hoseok: ur drinking by urself????? why??? don't u hav friends to go with u????
Jungkook: i have friends oh my god
Jungkook: they're just busy
Yoongi: ur not there to go drinking are u ....
Jungkook: ...maybe not
Hoseok: whAT
Hoseok: what does this mean kook-ah ...
Jungkook: there's just this girl performing at the bar tonight n i wanted to go see her... that's all
Hoseok: jungkookie has a crush! how cute!
Jungkook: shut up hyung, god
Yoongi: use protection
Jungkook: fuck off skldjf
Hoseok: good luck kook-ah!!!
Jungkook hasn't even stepped foot into the bar and he's already a bright shade of red. In the end he had wound up just staying in the clothes he was already wearing, his hyungs being of no help as usual. He probably should've left his backpack at his apartment though, he's asked for ID almost as soon as the bartender spots him. He's already sweating a little, but makes it in and takes a seat towards the back. The stage is empty, so he scans the crowd to see if he can find Yerin. He finds her nestled into a corner, smiling prettily, glass of wine in her hand. He smiles, almost instinctively upon spotting her, but then he realises that she isn't alone, that someone's arm is wrapped around her shoulder. He doesn't recognise the man, he looks older though, and he's leaning in uncomfortably close to Yerin that it makes Jungkook's stiffen.
He forces his eyes away, and orders himself a round of shots, he refuses to admit that there's any meaning towards the arm around her shoulder but his stomach is already protesting the denial, clenching uncomfortably. He downs three shots in two seconds, and then orders another round. His throat burns. Someone coughs into the mic, and then he turns and there she is, Yerin, up on stage, looking ethereal as ever, lips painted ruby red.
"Tonight I'll be singing something a little different, it's a favourite of mine. No greater love, by Amy Winehouse."
A love song.
He takes another shot.
"There is no greater love,
than what I feel for you.
No sweeter song,
no heart so true."
She's looking right at him, at the guy who had his arm around her shoulder. She's smiling ever so slightly, blushing ever so slightly.
Jungkook's shot glass is halfway to his mouth before he freezes suddenly. He was so busy wallowing in the shattered pieces of his heart that he hadn't even noticed. This wasn't the voice. This wasn't the voice he's been listening to since his first day on campus, this wasn't the voice he had fallen in love with, this wasn't the girl he had fallen in love with. Jungkook's entire world seems to fall around him, everything he'd thought he had known turned out to be nothing at all. If it wasn't her, if it wasn't Yerin, then who was it? Just who was Jungkook in love with?
In the end, he takes the shot anyway, and many more after that. Yerin's voice slowly melts together with the chatter, and Jungkook's head starts to spin.
At the end of the night, long after Yerin had disappeared, hand in hand with the man she had dedicated her love song to, Jungkook stumbles out of the bar. He wobbles on his feet, feeling oddly like crying. He manages to walk three blocks before he just collapses against the sidewalk, sobs bubbling up behind his chest. He was pathetic, he didn't even love Yerin, not really, he'd known nothing about her. He was just so, so disappointed. He thought this might've worked, that he might've been able to catch her after she walks off stage, then ask her out on a date. He would've been blushing, stuttering, and then Yerin will tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, suddenly as shy as he is, and give him a yes. But no, none of that had happened, and none of that could ever happen now. Yerin had someone else, and so did Jungkook, he just hadn't known it until now.
He coughs, then chokes, then rolls to his side only to throw up. He can't go home like this.
His hands are unsteady, fumbling around for his phone in his pocket. He goes to his text messages and and blindly clicks open a conversation, whoever it was, he couldn't really see properly right now, would surely be able to pick him up and get him home.
Jungkook: cna u pkic up me
Jimin: what?
Jungkook: up pick pikc up
Jimin: are you okay??
Jungkook: mmmno
Jimin: jungkook are you drunk?
Jungkook: mmmmmmmmmmnyes
Jimin: you went to the bar didn't you?
Jungkook: ws a misteakkkk
Jimin: i'm coming to get you. stay where you are
Jungkook: mmkay
Ten minutes later, or maybe twenty, he's not really sure (he wasn't aware of much outside of his own breathing) he feels a hand on his arm.
He cracks an eye open to see Jimin hovering over him, looking concerned.
"You're a mess." She sighs, and pokes a finger at his forehead.
He groans, swatting her hand away. "I know."
"Where's your house, Jungkook?"
"Dunno."
"Come on, help me out here."
"Can't remember."
"Fine, do you live with anyone then?"
"Mm? Hoseok hyung."
"Hoseok? Who's that?"
"Hoseok hyung is Hoseok hyung."
Jimin huffs, and she knows he's in a bad state but she doesn't hesitate to punch his arm.
"Give me your phone."
He does as she says.
"What's your password?"
He mumbles his birthday under his breath, eyes squeezed shut now to try and chase away the feeling of dizziness.
"Hello? Is this Hoseok-ssi by any chance? Ah! I'm Jungkook's friend, he's in a bit of a situation right now and he told me he was living with you? Oh, is that right? Do you happen to have his current address then? Oh no, it's okay, sorry I had to bother you so late!"
He hears her hang up, and attempts to lift his head, but only to have her flick a finger at his forehead.
"Idiot!"
"Ow! What did I do?"
"You're in Seoul, remember? You and Hoseok-ssi don't live together anymore!"
"Oh."
"Don't 'Oh' me you dumbass."
She continues to mouth off on him, but none of her words are filled with genuine spite. He finds it oddly comforting, having Jimin by his side, even if she was cursing him out. He laughs a little, at how strange the situation is, at how pathetic he is.
Jimin only smacks him again on his arm before she's dialling another number.
"Hao-ah? Aw come on, we've been in the same classes for two years I'm allowed a nickname for you. Anyway! You have a car right? Why are you so suspicious of me? I don't have an ulterior motives just tell me if you do! Great, do you think you could pick me up right now? Please? It's just that my friend is drunk, and he really isn't in a state to walk home, and I can't carry him, so could you pretty please come and pick us up? Yes, I promise! Thank you! I'll text you the address!"
Minghao arrives a bit later, and Jimin sighs in relief. He merely mumbles about how it was bad luck that they'd ever met, before he's helping her lift Jungkook into the back of his car. Jungkook grumbles something unintelligible, before he passes out.
"Where does he live?"
Jimin pauses, offering Minghao a small, sheepish smile. "I don't know, actually."
"What?"
"He just- When I asked he didn't tell me."
"Then where am I supposed to-"
"I know you and Mingyu have a couch, surely you could-"
"No way, Jimin, I'm not just gonna-"
"Please? I promise I won't ask for anything from now on! And I'll pay you back for this, I swear."
Minghao scoffs, but he starts driving in the direction of his and Mingyu's apartment anyway. Jimin gives him a bright smile, and that in itself, is payment enough, but he doesn't tell her that.
Jungkook wakes up to the smell of eggs and ham, which is strange, because he lives alone, so why would he be smelling breakfast if he wasn't the one making it? Slowly, he opens one eye, and then the other, and realises that he's not in his own apartment. Where was he? What happened? He tries to sit up, but then he notices the stinging pain in his head and falls back with a groan. Oh, right, he had gone to the bar last night, got his heart crushed and then got drunk. But what happened after that?
"Hey." A voice cuts through suddenly, too loud. Jungkook rolls over to press his face into the pillow. "Hey. Get up."
Jungkook sighs, but does as he's told anyways, and then he's standing face to face with someone he's pretty sure he hasn't met before.
"What's your name?"
"Uh, Jungkook." He answers, his voice hoarse.
"Right, Jungkook, how much of last night do you remember?"
"Well, I remember getting wasted, but nothing after that."
He gestures for Jungkook to follow him as he walks into the kitchen, so he does, and then he's sat down at a table and breakfast is being handed to him.
"Eat."
Jungkook does, and when he's finished he's handed a glass of water.
"You were pretty much passed out on the sidewalk when I got there, lying next to a puddle of your own vomit, it was gross. Jimin had called me out of nowhere and told me that I had to come pick her and her drunk friend up, but you hadn't told her where you lived and by the time I was there you were already knocked out, so I let you crash on my couch for the night."
Oh. Oh God. Jimin had seen him last night? Drunk off his ass and talking nonsense? He was never going to live this down.
"Sorry about all that, I'll pay you back for this."
"Whatever. Jimin's already buying me smoothies for the next week so don't worry about it."
"Hao, you would've agreed even if she didn't offer to buy you the smoothies." Someone speaks up, and it's really too early for Jungkook to be hearing more than one voice but then there's another guy coming out from what he assumes is the bathroom.
"Shut up, Gyu."
"Everyone knows you have a soft spot for her."
"Like you don't?"
"Everyone does, Hao, you can drop the Tsundere act for a second."
They're bickering back and forth now, and all Jungkook wants to do is go home, and sleep for a long long time, maybe forget that last night had ever happened.
He's about to announce that he'll be going soon when he suddenly feels a vibration in back pocket. Oh right, his phone.
Jimin: kookie, you awake?
Jungkook: kookie?
Jimin: don't remember what happened last night?
Jungkook: no... not really
Jimin: you texted me to come get you, drunk off your ass, n then when i got there you wouldn't tell me where you lived, and i called one of your friends but he didn't know where you lived either
Jungkook: sorry about that ... and about all of last night really .. for whatever i did
Jimin: you got really sad at some point, i think you were about to cry, but you weren't really making any sense all i could decipher was that you wanted me to call you kookie and you wouldn't respond unless i did
Jungkook: oh ...
Jimin: it's cute, the nickname, you don't mind if i keep calling you that, right?
Jungkook: it's fine i guess
Jimin: cool :~)
Jungkook: did i say anything else last night?
Jimin: you told me about what you saw with yerin
Jungkook: oh ...
Jimin: everyone's allowed to be a drunk mess when they've gotten their heart broken
Jungkook: it wasn't even her tho, in the end it wasn't even her
Jimin: hm? what's that supposed to mean?
Jungkook: nothing, nothing, maybe i'm still drunk
Jimin: take it easy today, ok? get some rest
He makes it home a quarter past eleven, and collapses face first into his couch. It was stupid, so ridiculously stupid what he'd done, but he has no idea what to do now. He'd been so focused on just liking Yerin and trying to make things work with her that now he's at a bit of a loss. Just who was it that he had heard singing all those times if it wasn't Yerin? Just who was it that he fell in love with?
He's thinking about his next course of action, maybe just walking into the practice room at some point, maybe asking Yugyeom for help again, when his phone starts to ring.
"Hello?"
"Jungkook! What happened last night?"
"Oh, hi Hoseok hyung."
"Don't hi Hoseok hyung me, just tell me what happened."
"I got a bit drunk last night..."
"Kook-ah you need to take care of yourself."
"I know, I know, sorry hyung."
"So? The girl that called, was she the girl you went to see?"
"No... that was a friend of mine. The girl I went to see... it didn't work out."
"Oh... I'm sorry, Kook-ah. Is that why you got drunk?"
"Maybe..."
"Just make sure not to do anything dumb like that again, okay?"
"Promise. But hyung?"
"Yeah?"
"I never- it wasn't her."
"What do you mean?"
"I just, on my first day, I was walking around and I heard this girl singing, and she had such a nice voice hyung, it was so pretty. So I asked a friend and he told me that the girl that I went to see last night, that she usually used the room I heard the singing from, and so I thought, I thought she would've been the one. I liked her voice so much, hyung, so I thought that naturally I would grow to like the person and then we could I don't know, become something together. But it wasn't her hyung, I found out last night that she wasn't even the one who was singing."
"Kook-ah... you're telling me you fell in love with a girl's voice?"
"I know it sounds weird, but it happened. And I thought it was her, but it's not, it's some other girl, and I don't know who it is."
"I guess it's romantic, in a sense. Are you going to try and find who the girl actually is?"
"I don't know. The girl I thought it was, she ended up having a boyfriend already, what if the real girl has one too? What if I get my heart broken twice?"
"Don't you want to find out who it is? Even if she does have someone already, don't you want to at least know who it is you're in love with?"
"I don't know." I'm scared.
"Relax, you don't have to come to a conclusion just yet. Think about it, get some more sleep."
He doesn't quite know what to do with himself when he's outside the door again on Monday morning. Part of him wants to just open the door, catch a glimpse of whoever it was that was on the other side, the other part of him wants to run and forget, forget there was ever a girl to begin with. He sighs, lets himself drop to the ground, leaning against door. He closes his eyes, lets himself think for a while. He's so lost in his thoughts that he doesn't notice the singing has stopped, and then the door's opening and suddenly, without the support, he's falling backwards. He lands, back against the floor, face looking up at none other than Jimin, who's looking down with an open mouth.
"Wha- Jungkook?"
He's too shocked to reply.
"What are you doing?"
He tries to say something, but no words come out.
She squats down then, and pokes a finger at the crease of his furrowed eyebrows. "You okay?"
He nods, a little too fervently, before he shoots back up into a proper sitting position.
Jimin laughs a little at his quick actions, before they're both standing.
Jungkook has so many things to say. He wants to tell her everything that her voice had made him feel, how ridiculous it was that it had took him this long to figure out that it was her. It all clicks in his head then, that even when he thought it was Yerin, it had been Jimin all along. She was the one who made his stomach tangle in knots, she was the one who had looked after him, she was the one that had made him feel at home. Even if it wasn't Jimin's voice that he had fallen in love with first, even if Yerin had really been the one behind the door the whole time, he's sure he would've fallen for Jimin anyway. He really was an idiot.
"I- You-"
"Hm?"
"I like your voice." Jungkook blurts out, a bit too loud to be considered casual. His cheeks flush.
Jimin's lips curl slowly into a smile, so sweet and soft. "Thanks, Kookie."
His knees wobble. Had she always had such control over him? Now that he thinks about it, she has. Ever since the moment he'd first laid eyes on her, he'd never been able to take them away.
"Doyouwanttogoonadatewithme?"
The words leave his mouth so fast that he isn't sure he'd actually said it, but then her face shifts into something akin to surprise and Jungkook mentally curses himself for being inept around her.
"What was that?"
He thinks about taking it back, telling her not to worry about it, but he figures, since he's already here, why not dig a bigger hole for himself?
"Do you want to go on a date with me?"
He can tell she's not expecting the question at all, because her mouth falls part way open, and her eyebrows raise so high he thinks it might reach her hairline. When what he says actually settles she starts to sputter, cheeks turning a pretty pink colour as her eyes fall to her shoes. She fidgets a little with a strand of her hair, still mumbling incoherent things under her breath, before she chances a gaze back up at him.
"Where's this coming from?"
"I've realised that I've been in love with you for quite a while, actually."
"You're what?" She squeaks, and it's kind of adorable.
He smiles instead of replying, and she goes back to staring down at her shoes.
He gives her time to let what he says sink in.
She has her bottom lip tucked between her teeth, the longer she's silent the more there's anxiousness pooling at his stomach. He thinks that saying all that so soon was probably a mistake, that he really should've thought this through, when suddenly she's looking up at him again, and nods.
"What?" He says, disbelief written all over his features.
"That's a yes, to the date."
"Really?"
"Really."
Jungkook's world keeps spinning and spinning until it stops, and in the middle of it all is Jimin, who'd said yes.