Way Back Home

Run

Yoongi swallowed painfully. "No one."

"Come on. Did you have a brother, a sister, a girlfriend? There had to be somebody."

The other guys stayed quiet as Jimin worked to pry the information out of their friend. Namjoon, who had know Yoongi the longest, could see the slight tick in his jaw and the way his fists tightened. It wasn't because he was getting angry, it was because Yoongi was trying to hold something back, something that was obviously close to his heart.

"...She wasn't my girlfriend."

It was like time stopped when Yoongi spoke those words. He'd done it. He'd broken the floodgates. Memories of Chaerin stormed his head and even when he looked around at the familiar faces of his friends all he could see was her big, beautiful eyes and the little smile that she reserved especially for him.

"Who was she?" Jin curiously invoked.

Yoongi's eyes squeezed shut as he felt the slight pressure that was brought on by tears.

"...Chaerin."

"Who's Chaerin?"

He couldn't cry. Yoongi couldn't cry. She wouldn't want him to be sad. Of course the handful of times that Yoongi had cried in front of Chaerin, she'd never said that. She always just hugged him and let him rest his pain on her shoulders. But deep down, he knew how much it hurt her when he cried. Chaerin's heart was too big for her own good, and when the people around her felt pain, so did she.

"She was my best friend—my only friend. Chaerin was the one person who took me for what I was, cold personality and all, and never tried to change me."

"What was she like?" Jungkook spoke softly.

Hearing Yoongi talk about this girl was like hearing a deep secret that had never before been told. They were finally learning something about his life, so Jungkook didn't want to pry too much and cause Yoongi to stop talking. Because judging by the look on his face, this Chaerin was pretty damn important to him, and they guys were all beyond curious about her. 

The corner of Yoongi's lips twitched upwards just barely at the inquiry. What was Chaerin like? That was a loaded question, whose answer was no shorter in length than the Oxford English Dictionary.

Yoongi smiled.

"She was...perfect. In the completely annoying, wake you too early, convince you to do things you hate, and hog the blankets sort of way," he chucked slightly as stopped fighting against the memories and allowed them to overtake him.

"Chaerin was...Chaerin. There's no other name or title that could do her justice. She was there for me when no one else was. The first day that I moved in with my grandmother Chaerin was there. She made it her mission to befriend the messed up kid next door—eventually she did. She wore me down." The image of a shy little girl with a messy ponytail and a big smile popped into his mind.

"The first time I played piano for her she sat right beside me and smiled the whole time. And when I told her I wanted to be a musician she didn't call me an idiot or tell me I was stupid, she just said that she'd support me the whole way. It was actually kind of annoying how excited she would get every time I told her I'd written a new song. She would yank me out of bed and drag me downstairs so I could play it for her on that old piano..." Yoongi let out a strained chuckle and rubbed his hands over his face.