Way Back Home

Wings

I did things I was told not to do. I wanted things I couldn't want. I got hurt and hurt again

Chaerin sighed and stacked up the last stool on top of the bar. It had been a long day of work, but at least it was over now and she could go home. As she locked up the restaurant doors and began to walk to the little apartment that she had managed to get, her phone began to ring. Chaerin dug around in her massive purse and quickly fished out the phone before whoever was calling her could hang up.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Miss Yah Chaerin?" A husky, female voice spoke over the line.

"Yes, this is she."

"Miss Chaerin, excellent. I'm calling with Seoul Star Talent Agency. We are glad to inform you that your application has come through and we would be happy to pair you up with an agent within the week."

Chaerin was silent. She had stopped walking the second she heard "Seoul Star Talent" and her breathing had halted not a second later. Right now she stood immobile on the lamp-lit sidewalk, her mouth hanging agape in shock.

"Miss Chaerin are you still there?"

"Oh! Oh god, I'm sorry, yes, I'm here," she stumbled over the words in a manner that was completely unbecoming of a potential future actress. "I'm really gonna get an agent?"

"Yes, just give us a call tomorrow and we can set up a meeting at our offices," she woman on the line sounded neither happy not unhappy about Chaerin's breakthrough, in fact she was rather monotonous. But in that moment Chaerin really could not care less.

"That would be amazing! Thank you, thank you!"

"Goodbye Miss Chaerin."

"Goodbye!"

Chaerin hung up the phone and stared at the black screen in front of her. She couldn't believe it. After years of getting nowhere, she was finally going to have a proper agent. And at one of the biggest talent agencies in Seoul, no less. This was incredible!

Chaerin rushed back to her tiny apartment, the grin on her face never slipping for even a second. This was the best news that she'd gotten in years. Then, when the desire to share this amazing news with someone came to her mind, Chaerin realized that there was only one person that she wanted to tell.

But Yoongi wasn't there.

She really wished he was there.

ㄴㅇㄱ

Yoongi sat in the corner of the practice room, holding a pen and notebook on his lap, watching Taehyung and Jimin running around the room like chickens with their heads cut off. They were two new additions to the company, along with Jin, the oldest of them and Jungkook, the youngest of them, and Hoseok, who joined shortly after Yoongi himself, the total number of trainees at Big Hit was up to a whopping seven. Which in retrospect isn't too bad a number for a company that could only afford to employ about ten people.

"Hey! Get off me!" Jimin screamed and squirmed uncontrollably while Taehyung, who had tripped and knocked them both to the ground, was laughing hysterically, not making any move to let Jimin up.

Jin walked into the room with a bag of takeout for everyone and paused. He took in the scene on the floor, sighed, and stepped over them to get to the rest of the guys, who were eagerly rushing forward at the prospect of food. Namjoon helped Jin lay out the food in the middle of the practice room floor and all the guys gathered around and dug in.

Yoongi reluctantly lay down his notebook and also sat in the circle.

The guys ate and talked and joked, all while eagerly stuffing their mouths. Yoongi ate quietly, passing dishes when someone couldn't reach, and listening to the lively chatter of the others. He wasn't a very talkative person to begin with, but these past couple years at the company and being with the guys had brought him out of his antisocial shell just a bit. Socializing was kind of a necessity, especially because it had been announced to them that the seven guys in that practice room would be debuting as a group. But although it was necessary, that's not why Yoongi did it. He did it because, aside from Jin, he was one of the oldest of their group, and he felt that the responsibility of taking care of the younger ones fell upon him.

For nearly a decade of his life the only person he really had around who he felt obligated to take care of was Chaerin. She was younger than him and being the wide-eyed, happy-go-lucky girl that she is, Yoongi wanted nothing more than to protect her from the cruel realities of the world. But he had failed. Yoongi realized that he could never have protected her from the world the moment that her grandmother died. And truly, the past she had with her father dying and her mother in jail, Chaerin was someone who already knew the realities of life, and because of that, she was someone who couldn't be protected. Still, Yoongi had tried.

Something he had realized in the past couple years spent with the guys was that some of them kind of reminded him of Chaerin. Taehyung was always smiling and laughing and Jungkook was quiet and a bit shy when he'd first moved in, and both of them held qualities that Chaerin had in her. That in turn made Yoongi want to take care of them. And he didn't mind one bit, he liked having someone who looked up to him and depended on him just a bit. It made him feel needed, and that was something that he hadn't felt since Chaerin left him.

Over the last two years spent training at the company Yoongi had actually written a lot, and he'd learned a lot. He learned that pushing people away and putting up a cold front wasn't the best way to approach life. He learned that writing his problems down somehow helped him sort through them. And he learned that no matter how abundant these problems were, he was surrounded by people who cared about him and who were willing to listen to him if he needed it.

Yoongi had become happier. Of course it wasn't always obvious, since he rarely voiced this, but he felt it, and so it was true. The feeling that there was a crushing weight sitting on his chest was no longer there. And at times Yoongi even found himself smiling at whatever crazy activity the guys were doing, and occasionally joining in. The fact of the matter was that being with this group of new friends was good for Yoongi. It helped to relieve his depression and for the first time in his life he actually had more than one friend. The fact that they were all good, kind, and genuine people was a fantastic benefit that he thanked the universe for every single day.

But as Yoongi sat there, watching his new friends talking and laughing together, he couldn't help but wish that Chaerin was there also. He knew for a fact that the guys would have loved her. She would joke around with Hoseok and Taehyung. She would want to squish Jimin's cheeks and would trip over herself to take care of Jungkook since he was the youngest in the room. She would listen to Namjoon's deep theories and laugh genuinely at Jin's lame jokes. They would love her, and she would love them, and Yoongi absolutely hated it that she wasn't there.