Still With You | JK ff

Chapter 2: Did you even think about me?

"What, what happened?" a concerned voice demanded of you. "Sir, I'm sorry about that. I just dropped something. Please send me the details, I'll be there tomorrow. Thank you," you replied while fighting back tears, and quickly disconnected the call. Slowly, you sank to the floor, clutching your hand to your chest, and broke down crying. It felt like this was the tipping point, that broke lose everything that you had been bottling up inside of you lately. You let it all out as you lay on the kitchen floor sobbing. It was better to let it out while you were alone instead of having a meltdown around other people – you were always very private about your struggles.

At the University, you met your best friend Sooyoung, who gave you a long hug and pulled out some ointment from her bag. She knew how you refused to take care of yourself, and always tried to make up for it with her own affection. It tortured you to know that you were keeping a big secret from her, but the window had already passed, and it was too late to tell her anything now. 'It's all over anyway, like a dream,' you told yourself.

After the graduation ceremony, the entire class gathered outside, to take pictures, with their families and friends. You sat on a bench under the shade of a tree, and watched everyone celebrate joyfully, bursting with excitement for life. 'It's like the sun shines for them, and they know it,' you thought, feeling unsettled by that unexplainable darkness you knew you held inside of you. You missed your mom, but you knew she couldn't make it to Seoul because she was busy working hard, and you didn't resent it.

Suddenly, some of your classmates came running squealing with excitement, and grabbed Sooyoung by the shoulders. In unison they were all telling her a story, but you couldn't understand what they were saying from where you sat. From Sooyoung's face you could tell that it was clearly news she wanted to hear. She came running to you, "Some girls think they spotted someone who looked like JK, on campus!!" she squealed at you! "Come with me!" she shook your shoulders.

You sat frozen in your place, eyes wide, letting Sooyoung's words settle in. Your heart began to race, and you could feel your palms become cold with sweat, but you couldn't let Sooyoung find out. You grabbed the bouquet from her hands, "You go ahead, I'll wait for you here," you said, trying to act casual with a grin. "Ugh, when did you become such a bore," she replied with a wink before leaving her bag next to you and rushing off with the other girls. "I saw JHope's VLive yesterday, they've finally returned from their tour, haven't they? Could it really be JK, eeee?" you heard her squeal as they ran away.

You sat alone on the bench shivering. After longing to see him for a month, why did you suddenly feel the urge to hide, you thought. Maybe you didn't want to be disappointed to find out that it wasn't him after all. 'But what if it is him? Will he even recognize me?' the questions echoed in your head repeatedly. "I'll find you," his last words to you popped into your head.

Suddenly you stood up and began to walk towards the main exit of the campus, lugging your bag and Sooyoung's things, welcoming the pain from your palm as a distraction. You couldn't sit still anymore and decided to walk to the bar where everyone from the senior batch had decided to gather after the ceremony. It was a long tedious walk and your back was soaked in sweat when you reached. You had already chugged your first two glasses of beer before Sooyoung called, looking for you. She entered the bar a few minutes later holding another very large bouquet but looked disappointed. She slammed the bouquet on the table and took a large gulp of beer from your glass.

"We couldn't find him, we looked everywhere!" she sighed. "I'm so tired."

"Aww too bad, so should I hold the wedding invitations then?" you tried to tease her, acting as natural as you could manage. "How dare you, I would never betray my Tae like that!" she snapped back, laughing.