Chapter 2 - T W O

There was once a time, a young little boy around 7 years old and his mother visited the park on their way back home. The cool breeze and warm weather was perfect for this typical day.

However, the park is a place for children of all ages to play, run around, and to have fun right?

Well, this young little boy sat against an old weathered down oak tree while his mother pitifully looked at him from a distance. She wanted her son to get his mind off of school and to relieve his stress but it was no use. To be fair, he wasn't much of an outdoors person, but he also didn't like staying inside his own house because of personal reasons.

He sighed out deeply as he wrapped his frail arms around his legs and rested his head on his knees. He thought about school, home, his dad, just life in general.

In the distance, a young little girl around the same age as him was walking down the sidewalk with her mother. She was telling her mother about what she did at school today and how much fun she had with her friends but then the figure of the boy made her stop her rambling and stare at him. Halting in her tracks, she turned her head to her mother to ask her if she can play in the park for a while. She actually didn't feel like playing, she just curious and wanted to talk to that mysterious person.

Her mother felt confused at first. Why did her daughter want to suddenly play at the park? But eventually, she agreed. Jumping around and squealing in excitement, she jogged over to him.

This caught the attention of her mother, as well as the mother of the boy.

Hesitantly walking up to him, she tapped on his shoulder. She thought to herself, 'Why am I doing this?' But it was too late to back down now.

He lifted up his head, thinking that it was his mother but he never expected to see a random stranger he never seen before.

"Hey!" She exclaimed, giving off a small wave as she crouched down in front of him.

The boy felt perplexed. Was this girl actually talking to him?

Pointing his index finger to himself he asked her, "A-Are you talking to me?"

She gave out a soft giggle, making him blush at the spot. Was she making fun of him? Why is she laughing?

"Of course you dummy! You're the only one here." She smiled brightly, followed by another fit of laughter.

"O-oh..." The boy covered his blushing face with his hands. He wasn't used to having a conversation with someone so he felt very uncomfortable and awkward. Nobody really acknowledged him at school and he was constantly ignored by his classmates. At home, he felt invisible. Both of his parents would never talk to each other or even make eye contact so it was a very awkward and quiet household.

He felt lonely.

"Anyways, what's your name? My name is (Y/N)."

He hesitated.

"Jimin. Park Jimin."

.

.

.

"(Y/N)..."

"(Y/N)!"

"(Y/N)!!!!"

"AHHH Y-Yes??!"

(Y/N) looked around her surroundings in confusion.

'Where am I?'

She thought to herself, blinking the blurriness from her eyes rapidly to gain back her vision. That was when reality hit her, she had fallen asleep at work.

Widening her eyes in horror, she immediately sat up straight and raked her fingers through her (H/C) messy hair to make herself more presentable. Unfortunately, the person who caught her in the act was the manager.

And he didn't look so thrilled about it.

"If I catch you doing this idiotic behavior again, I'll not hesitate to fire you on the spot. Do I make myself clear?!" He yelled, pointing his index finger at her.

The booming outburst from the manager caught the attention of her nearby co workers. They all silently watched the scene, immensely intrigued at the drama unfolding in front of them. People who were walking by even stopped to just stare at the helpless girl and the strict manager. The girl's (E/C) eyes quivered around in embarrassment as she held her head down and sheepishly nodded.

He rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue in annoyance, later on yelling at everyone who witnessed the scene to go back to work. The stares that were still on her died down one by one.

'You idiot! Why did you have to fall asleep! And why here of all places?!'

Repeatedly slapping her forehead, she groaned out and internally cringed at herself. She breathed in and out to calm herself down but it was no use, the embarrassment wouldn't fade away. Suddenly, she remembered her dream.

'That dream...'

She sighed. Not only did she slept at the wrong place at the wrong time, she even dreamed about her childhood friend. Her dream was about that time when she met Jimin for the first time back when they were younger.

Yes, Park Jimin.

The fifth oldest member who's part of the world's most famous k-pop group, BTS. Deeply biting down on her bottom lip, she tightly balled her hand into a fist as she thought about those numerous rumors and scandals circulating around the internet about him.

Especially the most recent one that happened a couple of days ago.

A picture floated around the internet that showcased what appeared to be Jimin and someone from another group fist fighting each other. Of course, they haven't confirmed that it was him but people have been pinpointing that it was. (Y/N) however knew that it was him.

It had to be.

The fact that it went trending #1 in Korea made her even more anxious than she already is.

It made her think that if he wasn't an idol, any of this wouldn't be happening.

Before her lip could draw any blood, she quickly grabbed her phone that was inside her bag. With shaking hands, she scrolled down her contacts to Jimin's number.

As she was about to press the call button, something inside of her made her hand stop.

'Jimin... you idiot... why aren't you doing anything about this?'

Thumb still hovering over the call button, she recalled back to when she last visited the man.

How long has it been? A week?

The last time she visited, it went horribly wrong.

'Should I visit him again?'

"What are you doing?"

"AHHH!!" Frantically turning off her phone, which almost caused her to drop it on the floor, she looked up at the person who interrupted her thoughts in shock. If she had turned off her phone just a second later, who knows what would happen if they saw his name.

"Woah, no need to yell. It's just me."

'Ugh, I could recognize that voice from a mile away...'

"I'm sorry Subin* but I'm leaving early today. I don't have time for a small chat."

Subin deadpanned at her, "Leaving early again? The manager isn't going to be happy about that." She however ignored the guy and continued to pack all her documents and necessities. But deep down inside, she felt agitated. She couldn't count how many days she had left early from work and she knew that she was super close to getting fired at any moment. However, she didn't mind, her friend's mental state was more important

Right?

The man sighed, taking a sip of his coffee as he eyed her movements.

'What a pervert.'

With everything packed and ready to go, she pushed him away and headed towards the elevator doors.

Time to pay a visit to a certain celebrity.

The peaceful stroll to Jimin's apartment was awfully quiet. Too quiet to be exact. Usually, cars would be roaring down through the streets and groups of pedestrians would be walking down the sidewalk with their friends but today felt very empty. It was as if she stumbled upon an abandoned part of the city.

'Weird'

As she was getting closer and closer to the apartment complex, she could feel her heart beating out of her chest at a rapid pace. The sounds of her heart beat kept ringing in her ears. She couldn't help but feel extremely nervous but she didn't know why.

Was it because she hasn't visited the celebrity in a while?

Or was it because she didn't want to be pushed away and get hurt again?

Gulping down in fear, she took in deep breaths as the building came in to view. Her steps that were originally going in a tremendously fast pace immediately slowed down. Wrapping her arms around her body to keep herself warm from the cold winter breeze, her eye caught a figure dressed in black standing in front of the building. She waited for that person to go in but they didn't do a single movement.

Taking a few steps closer, she examined who this mysterious person was. Black cap, black hoodie, black jeans, but the most noticeable part was his boots. That could only mean...

"Jungkook?"

'Oh my god, I didn't mean to say that outloud!'

She quickly covered her mouth to stop her gasp but it was no use, that person heard her voice.

They immediately turned around, their eyes landing onto her figure.

"(Y/N)?"

Sighing in relief that it was him and not some random stranger, she walked over to him with a small smile on her face. Jungkook however, dropped his head low as his mind recalled back to the fight that recently happened between him and Jimin.

He still felt guilty about mentioning her. But most importantly, why was she here?

"Hey... are you going to go in?" She asked, looking at the building in front of her.

Shaking his head in response, he turned his head to face her. The facial expression on her face turned to sadness, making Jungkook's heart break into more pieces. Why? Why did she have to be here at this time?

She turned her head around to face him as well, "Did you talk to him?" She asked in a quiet whisper, empathizing on the word 'him'. Twiddling her thumbs together nervously, she gazed down at her black shoes.

A hand grasped onto her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" He asked, ignoring the question.

"W-Why do you ask?" A nervous laugh erupted from her mouth as she tried so desperately not to make eye contact with him. She knew how Jungkook gets when she mentions anything revolving around Jimin. Sure, she really appreciated his help but it made her feel bad at the same time.

Jungkook was hurting because of her.

"Your hands are shaking a lot..."

The hand that was rested on her shoulder blade slid down her arm, causing goosebumps to form all over her body.

Despite the unexpected move coming from the younger man, she didn't want to admit it but...

It felt comforting.

"W-wha-"

His hand grasped onto hers. The anxiety built up inside of her skyrocketed. A deep red blush making it's way to both of their faces. The sudden contact lasted for a few seconds until Jungkook widened his eyes in shock.

He was so surprised by his own hand that he quickly yanked it away from hers, the warmth eventually fading away from his palm.

"I-I'm fine... just a little nervous, that's all."

Awkwardly scratching the back of his neck, he placed his hands inside his hoodie pocket and cleared his throat.

"You left work early again, didn't you?" He asked.

"Yeah..." She answered, giving out a defeated sigh. Jungkook would always get worked up about her work schedule. He would always remind her to just stay at her job but that would never work out because she would eventually leave early.

Of course, she would always explain to her boss about the reasons why she needed to leave early and they would believe her but as time went pass with the same repetitive responses, they grew suspicious of her.

Jungkook had the right to be worried about her maintaining her job, after all, she had been fired countless of times before.

"Shouldn't you be practicing your choreography with the members right now?" She asked, "Is it even safe for you to be here by yourself?"

"It's fine, we have the day off today."

The both became silent after that. None of them made a single movement or sound.

'C'mon (Y/N)... say something!'

She glanced at the man from the corner of her eye but what she didn't expect was his brown eyes staring directly at her. Before she could get embarrassed and crumble up into a ball, Jungkook broke the silent atmosphere.

"Can I be honest with you?" He asked in a monotone voice.

She looked up at the man in a confused manner. Why did he suddenly get so serious?

"What's wrong?"

Furrowing his eyebrows in frustration, he turned his body around to see the view of the empty streets. She did the same.

"I'm tired... I'm tired of him."

"Jungkook-"

"I'm so sick and tired of the way he's been behaving. Just months ago, he was acting fine but then he just suddenly started to change..." Tears began to form on the corners of his eyes. "The fact that he won't tell us, the members, about his problems gets me on my nerves..." His voice trembled.

"The group has known each other for almost a decade... a decade... but he hasn't told shit to us. How unfortunate isn't it?"

A single tear slid down his cheek.

"Does he not trust us?" He asked himself, "We would always tell each other about our issues and help each other out but he's facing his problems by himself... (Y/N) do you know how frustrating it is? The members tried to do something about it but after a while they have completely gone quiet around him... no one even talks about him."

"It's as if they don't acknowledge him as a member of the group anymore."

Everything became silent. It was as if time had stopped between the both of them.

"I'm an idiot aren't I?"

Jungkook couldn't take it anymore. A waterfall of tears poured out from his eye sockets. The emotions that he dwelled deep inside of him finally came out and it felt relieving to him.

"I'm such a fucking idiot for trying to help him out. I'm such an idiot for thinking that I could help him get back to the way he was. But I can't give up... in the end of the day he's still my friend. I just wish he could have just fucking said something to the members so that would try to help him as well... Not just me..." He clenched his fists, making his knuckles turn super pale.

He began to turn furious.

"Park Jimin... he's so stubborn, selfish, and ignorant. All he does is go to this stupid apartment and do absolutely nothing but get drunk. Who knows what other kinds of stuff he does there. But most importantly, he gets you involved..."

He stopped, giving himself a few seconds to take in a breath.

"For so long, you've tried to comfort and help him but all he does is push you away... Why can't you just leave him alone? Why do you always get caught up in his business? Why are you so nice to him after all the things he did to you? Just why?..."

He hesitated.

"I could see how much you're suffering because of him... I could see the pain you hide behind your smile... It hurts... It fucking hurts... I hate how Jimin doesn't acknowledge your feelings at all."

He then remembered the question she asked him a while ago.

'Did you talk to him?'

"I talked to him a while ago. We just had a stupid arguement, that's all..." Jungkook didn't want to bring up the fact that he mentioned her in their argument.

If he did, she would definitely feel more depressed than she already is.

"I hate him but I can't bring myself to hate him. I just... I don't know..."

That was when he realized, (Y/N) hasn't responded to literally anything about his small rant. He gulped down and turned his head to face her.

"(Y/N) are you-"

Tears.

A waterfall of tears were pouring out of her eye sockets, it was even more tears than his.

She couldn't even speak. If she did, it would be more painful to handle.

"(Y/N)-... W-What- I... W-Why are you crying?"

He cupped her face, gently wiping away the fallen tears from her cheeks with his thumbs.

"...Jungkook... you idiot..." She sniffed and hiccuped, making the younger male even more anxious.

"I'm sorry- I- I didn't think that I would make you cry-"

"... You idiot... I hate that I'm the reason why you're suffering like this..."

Heart aching from the feeling of guilt, she tightly shut her eyes close to try and lessen the pain from her chest.

"... I hate it... so much..."

It hurts.

It hurts so bad.

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