Present Time
(Seoyeon's POV)
My eyes stared at the entrance to the cupcake shop, waiting for a brown-haired boy to walk in and buy red velvet cupcakes. My eyes darted towards the red velvet cupcakes which were sitting perfectly untouched, waiting for a specific someone to come and buy them.
Hm, this feels so familiar, doesn't it?
I tapped my fingers onto the counter, looking around the shop as if I were going to find something to do before the shop opens. Suddenly, a faint 'ding' sounded from the kitchen, immediately sending me towards the oven filled with chocolate chunk cupcakes.
It's been like this for a week. Waiting for Jungkook to stop by, but it would just end up with my hoping that he would at the last minute before we close. But he never showed up.
For a week. How the tables have turned this time around.
Was this how it felt when I left him hanging without any explanation? Was this the patience that killed him and forced him to talk to me on that very night where I pushed him away?
Will he ever come back to talk to me?
I sighed, shutting my eyes as I put the cupcakes onto the table. I covered my head with my hands, as if the frustration would somehow ooze from the top of my head in a form of air. Opening my eyes again, I turned towards all of my utensils to grab a wooden spoon and a bowl to start making some cupcake batter.
As I gathered all my materials, I started to put them into the bowl, one by one. As I finished, I started to mix all of the ingredients together as fast as I could so that they'll be done by the time the store opens.
"Knew I would find you here," I turned around only to feel my grip grow tight around my wooden spoon that was in my bowl filled with cupcake batter.
It was early in the morning, the store hasn't opened just yet, and Chanwoo and Bora haven't arrived yet either. The door to the store was open, yet the sign still was on the "closed" side.
But what mattered was the woman who was standing right before me.
And that was Haeun.
"So.. you're successful now," she bit her lip, her eyes wandering throughout the kitchen. "Congrats."
"How did you get in here?" I asked her and she burst out into laughter. I raised an eyebrow, watching her walk around the whole kitchen.
"Still stupid," she smirked. "You're still stupid, aren't you? I got in through the front door. If you're going to leave your door open, at least turn the sign."
"It clearly said we're still closed, Haeun." I pursed my lips, releasing my tight grip on my wooden spoon. "Do you know how to read?"
"Fuck that, this is not what I'm here for." She rolled her eyes as she started to walk around the corner, her back facing me. "What I'm here for is to take Jungkook back."
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and anger, "excuse me?"
"I want him back, do you need me to spell it out for you?" She questioned me as I shook my head to refuse.
"You can't." I replied softly as she turned around and squinted her eyes at me.
"I can't?" She chuckled bitterly. "Since when was he, yours?"
I fell silent. She was right. I was never Jungkook's girlfriend. I was never in a relationship with him. But what mattered at this point right now was that I knew that he's in love with me. Does that make me his?
"But is he, yours?" I fired back at her as her eyes widened. "Last time I remember, you laughed at him for wanting you back."
"Mistakes happen, I just want him back.. all to myself." Haeun shook her head. "Is that so hard to ask for?"
"You're married." I pointed towards her ring as she hid it with her other hand. "Don't even dare try to hide it from me, Haeun. Jungkook told me everything, he told me that he found out that you were getting married when he was trying to chase after you and get you back."
"But too bad, because he's stupidly in love with you!" She yelled. "And being the stupid person you are, you started all of this shit!"
"How is this my fault?!" I screamed as she started to walk closer to me. "What did I do?!"
"You agreed to this fake relationship with him." She muttered. "You.. fell in love with him."
"Since when did falling in love become wrong and a choice?" I whispered. "You're committed to someone else, Haeun.. just like how Jungkook is committed to me. When will you accept that?"
"Never," she smiled.
She walked over to me, taking the wooden spoon and putting some batter into her mouth. She swished it through her mouth and just before I knew it, she spat it onto my shoes.
I gasped, looking at her with disbelief. She then took a cupcake from one of the cupcake holders, chewing on it and once she was done, she spat it on top of the batter that was also on top of my shoes.
"Jungkook ran after you, Haeun." I started to explain, trying to calm down knowing that she was being extremely rude. "But you broke his heart. He's moved on, and you clearly got left behind."
"If he ran after me, then why didn't he talk to me?" She looked hurt. "Why didn't he show up? Why didn't I see him?"
"Because he got tired of chasing after you, Haeun." I said softly. "You were too busy with your new upgrade and it hurt Jungkook so much that he gave up on you."
"This isn't fair—"
"It's fair, Haeun." I cut her off, tears starting to flow down my cheeks. "Jungkook has moved on, why would you stop him if you're the only one still hanging?"
She smirked, turning away from me to hide herself. "Funny how he told me the same exact thing."
"What?" I whispered, only to see her smirk falter into a frown. "He did?"
"He never told you that we spoke?" She looked at me with a questioning look. "I figured that he would've told you, which is the reason why I'm here."
"Does it matter?" I asked her as she started to frown, noticing that I was practically crying right in front of her. "Will that change the fact that I'm in love with your ex? Will it change the fact that I am stupidly in love with someone whom you hurt badly?"
"Would things have changed if I took him back?" She whispered.
I slowly nodded my head, giving her a sad look as she began to tear up right in front of me. She played with her wedding ring, wiping her tears as she looked at me with a smile that was surprisingly.. sincere?
"Things would've been different if you gave him another chance," I replied in a soft mumble, "but you're forever taken, fully committed to someone else, Haeun."
Her head hung low, and I hesitated to reach out to her, "look, I'm sorry—"
"No, don't be." She cut me off, avoiding my gestures as she shook her head. "You have no right to be sorry, I should. I'm really sorry, Seoyeon."
"You don't need to be sorry, Haeun." I smiled, "I think it's just a matter of accepting the love that your husband is giving you, and a matter of noticing how much he's doing just for your relationship."
She smiled, before heading over to grab some tissues, damping them with water as she bent down to my shoes to clean them. I gasped, only to move away from her, shaking my head.
"Your shoes look pretty, I feel bad for being so disgusting. What the hell was I thinking?" She chuckled, giving me an apologetic look. "I can buy you new ones, when's your birthday?"
I shook my head, "you don't need to, these shoes are almost worn out anyway."
"I'm really sorry, Seoyeon. God, I made you cry.. goodness." She sighed, looking at me as we both stared at each other, only to burst out into laughter.
"This is really awkward.. do you want some cupcakes?" I asked her in a weird tone as she giggled, nodding her head.. only to shake it.
I furrowed my eyebrows as she grabbed my arms, squeezing them tightly. She looked into my eyes and pursed her lips into a line, mustering up a sigh. "I would buy cupcakes, but there's something more important that I want you to do."
"What? Make more cupcakes?" I asked as she chuckled, shaking her head.
"I want you to take care of Jungkook," she smiled sadly, "and to love him.. because I'll never love him the way you do."
(Narrator's POV)
You'll never know how Seoyeon managed to show up right in front of Jungkook's door. It could've been her courageous self on the inside that was screaming for her to make a move and talk to him. Or it could've just been her heart that was pushing her feet to pedal right to his house as fast as she could.
But what mattered was that she was there.
And she was ready to talk to him, after missing him terribly.
She softly knocked on the door, fighting the urge to hug him the moment he opens the door. But she hears shuffling coming near the door, and she sees an eye looking through the peephole.
On the other hand, Jungkook was in the middle of fixing the "room" in which he had all of her pictures hung up. He wondered who would come at this ungodly hour of night, but he had a feeling in his heart that was telling him to go check who it was. Once he saw her standing there, he second-mindedly opened the door almost immediately.
Once the door opened, the two of them crushed each other into a tight embrace, extremely tight that the two of them couldn't breathe properly. She could hear his heartbeat speed up as she snuggled closer to him, and the emptiness of her heart was finally revived back to it's full state.
She missed him. And he missed her. The two of them found themselves smiling from ear to ear.
As they pulled away from the hug, she playfully smacked him in the arm, receiving a groan from him. She kept hitting him playfully, until the two of them found themselves already inside his office slash house. As she went in for another hit, he caught her arm and brought her closer to him making her come into contact with his muscular chest.
She pulled her arms away from him and pouted her lips, "you're such an idiot, and an asshole."
He gave her a funny look as she was trying to cover a smile that was so hard to hide from him. He tilted his head to the side as she felt her knees go weak for his innocent face. "Me? What did I do?"
"You leave me for one week," one hit to the arm, "never come over to eat some cupcakes," another hit, but this time much more harder, "you don't even send me a text," she pushes him playfully as she gets her frustration out of herself, "and you made me worry about you! For a week!"
He stares at her, only to burst out into loud laughter. She frowns, hitting him again. "Ouch! Would you stop?!"
"You're an idiot, you made me worry about you." She pursed her lips into a line as he finds himself starting to smile at how adorable she looked. "Are you even listening to me?!"
"I am!" He exclaimed, only to stifle some laughs, "you just sound really funny right now."
"I'm being serious, Jeon Jungkook!" She exclaimed. "You left for a week, and I missed you."
He froze, his eyes slightly widening as he heard those three words escape from her lips. He tilts his head to the side as she finally realizes that she just told him that she missed him, something that she wasn't supposed to say at all. She looks away from him almost quickly as possible, fiddling with her fingers nervously.
He glances down to see her fiddling with her fingers and he starts to grin. "You.. what?"
"I said nothing. I said that you left for a week, and I was wondering where you were." She muttered underneath her breath, so fast that he only grinned even more.
"Hm, I didn't hear that." He smiles, "I kind of heard something along the lines of.. I missed you."
"Godammnit, Jungkook. I missed you, alright?" She let out a sigh, shutting her eyes as she turned away from him. "Don't leave me again, please."
"Oh, I will never leave you again, trust me." He chuckles and she looks at him with a questioning look. "This all was just.. acting. You're pretty gullible, Seoyeon. What happened a week ago, the whole 'I'll-stay-away-from-you' act, was just a test to see how much I mean to you."
Her face turns blank, and she feels herself almost bubbling up inside. She reaches out and hits him even more and he lets out more chuckles, the two of them chasing each other around the whole office. "Get back here, you asshole! You made me worry for a week and tell me that this is all a fucking act?!"
He stops running, moving back as he turns around to see her coming at him with full speed. She bumps into him and he's accidentally pushed against the wall. The two of them are breathless, and he suddenly had the urge to just kiss her hard.
"I should go work out, this is definitely not my thing anymore." She huffed out a huge pocket of air as he giggles. "What are you laughing at?"
"You missed me," he blushes and she finds herself starting to smile. "And I definitely missed you, Seoyeon."
~~~~
"She did, what?!" Jungkook yelled as he sets down his cup of coffee.
The two of them are seated on his couch, drinking coffee at one in the morning. Call them crazy, but they were definitely crazy for each other. Somehow they started catching up on each other almost after a week of being apart.
"She chewed my cupcakes and spat it onto my shoes, crazy, huh?" She chuckled as he shook his head.
"That's rude, why didn't you call me?" Jungkook looked at her seriously as she glanced at him. "Because after she came over here, I was worried that she could've came over to see you and have the same talk."
"She did tell me that she came over to your office just to talk to you," she explained. "But she never really told me why she spoke to you."
"She just simply told me that she was still in love with me, and wanted me back." Jungkook rolled his eyes. "She's such a bitch, and she's married!"
"But what really matters to me is that you told her that you're not in love with her," she mutters to herself, barely a whisper.
"What?"
"Nothing," she flashes him a smile as he purses his lips into a line. "How did you start her engine? Like did you flip her off or something?"
He shook his head, "I just simply told her that I'm in love with someone else, and that it's not her."
"Mm," she nodded her head as she takes a sip from her cup. "How did she take it?"
"She flipped out, she got pretty touchy, I might say." He shrugs his shoulders as she raised an eyebrow. "But trust me, I'm in love with someone else.. I didn't let her do anything too much."
"Did she kiss you?" She mumbled as he looks at her with a teasing smile. "What?"
"Would it matter if she did?" Her eyes slightly widened along with her mouth slightly parting open. "What if she did kiss me? Would you care about it?"
"Well.. yeah, of course. You told me that you didn't love her anymore.. so.." She trailed off, looking away from his intense stare as he grins. "I'm just looking out for you."
"She kissed me, Seoyeon." He saw her slightly frown and he grinned even more.
"S-She did?" She stuttered as he nodded his head.
"In her dreams," he chuckled as Seoyeon looked at him with a blank expression. "Did you really think that she would kiss me?"
"Of course! I mean, she told me that she was still in love with him and more bullshit.." She whispered.
"These lips are only meant for one person, and her only." He makes sure that she's looking at him intently.
A pregnant silence fills the air as the two of them stare at each other, not feeling shy to do so. He found himself slowly leaning in and closing the gap. She was watching him lean closer towards her, her heartbeat starting to pick up its pace. If only she knew that his heartbeat was just as fast as hers.
"Would you mind if I kissed you?" He whispered, as she felt herself begin to get lost in his beautiful orbs.
"I—well—" She was at a loss for words as he was almost an inch away from her plump lips.
"Can I?" He whispered. "Can I kiss you?"
She bit her lip, trying to hide a smile at how shy he was that he had to ask her for permission. She slowly nodded her head, whispering, "go ahead."
Without hesitation, he crushes his lips onto hers, wrapping his arms around her waist as she pulls him closer with her arms around his neck. The kiss was full of passion, almost like a kiss of hunger, something that expressed how much they love each other and was desiring to show that love.. physically.
Ever since they met again, after a year, their encounters only consisted of admiring each other from afar, hesitating to approach one another, and being extremely shy to make the first move.
But it was funny how one kiss could mean millions and millions of things. From love to desire, and from care to just showing how much you miss someone, a kiss could express ten billion things at the same exact time.
He pulls away from the kiss first, almost enough that their foreheads are still touching. The two of them are breathless from the intense and passionate kiss that took their breaths away.
If only they could read each other's minds.
If only they could feel what they both felt for each other at this very moment.
If only they could both just confess right then and there.
But something didn't feel right. And Jungkook knew it.
The time is almost near, almost closer than I thought it would. He thought to himself as she pulls him into a hug. Good thing I have all of it packed into boxes.
Jungkook gently pushes her away from him as his phone rings. He looks at the caller ID, and he excuses himself, running into a random room and shutting the door behind him.
"Hello?" He mumbles.
"Jungkook-ssi, have you made your mind already?" Jungkook scratches the nape of his head.
"Well, things have gone faster than I thought they would. I'm just glad that I packed everything into a few boxes." Jungkook lowly chuckles as the guy on the other line does the exact same thing.
"So.. is everything already planned out?" The guy asks as Jungkook sighs.
"Well, the plan has to be set soon." Jungkook says softly, "soon as in.. Saturday night."
"Saturday night?!" The guy exclaims as Jungkook runs fingers through his hair.
"Yes, Saturday night. I'll be there just in time, I just need to finish packing and make sure I don't forget anything." Jungkook says as the guy smiles.
"Alright, this is all on you." The guy says, "I trust you on this one, Jungkook."
He hangs up on the phone call and glances around the room to see boxes surrounded by him. Glancing out the window, he could see Seoyeon staring off into space, noticing a box sitting right in front of her.
You're definitely going to hate me for this.. He thought to himself, shaking his head.
~~~~
"Why are you so happy today? It's kind of weird.." Bora glanced at Seoyeon who was humming cheerfully to herself as she skipped around the shop. "Would you stop it? This is so.. not you."
"I'm just happy because I just am." Seoyeon smiles and Bora rolls her eyes, walking over to the counter to drop a huge envelope that felt somewhat heavy for an ordinary envelope. "What is this?"
"I don't know, I found it in the mailbox, it's for you." Seoyeon opens the envelope and furrows her eyebrows in confusion.
Dear Seoyeon,
Once upon a time, a prince fell in love with his fake princess.
With love,
A hopeless romantic
Seoyeon looks up from the letter and looks at Bora. Bora grins to herself, snatching the letter out of her hands to read the letter. Bora smiles, only to shake her head.
Jungkook and his plans.. Bora couldn't help but break out into a bigger smile.
"What is this?" Seoyeon takes the letter again to read it over one more time.
"It's a letter, duh." Bora chuckles as she thumps Seoyeon's head.
"Ow!" She exclaimed as purses her lips into a line. "I was thinking of stopping by at the pier today to stroll by some shops and buy some stuff for the shop—"
"No, you aren't." Bora cut her off, trying not to sound so obvious. Seoyeon furrowed her eyebrows, looking at Bora suspiciously. "I mean—I heard there's going to be construction over there and some of the stores are closed."
"Really?" Seoyeon frowned. "How come I was never aware of this?"
"You're in love," Bora giggled, "that's why."
"Well, I'll still go, just to check if they're still open—" Seoyeon began as Bora thought of another excuse.
"I wouldn't go if I were you, I want you to be safe. I'll go instead." Bora insisted as Seoyeon pursed her lips into a line.
"But I wanna go strolling around—"
"No, you don't. You need to take a rest, look at those eyebags!" Bora exclaimed, pointing towards Seoyeon's eyes.
"Fine, maybe you are right." She sighed, fixing her apron. "Do you mind going to the pier tonight and go to one of the deco shops to buy some decorations for the store?"
Bora inwardly sighed with relief, "alright, I'll buy them tonight."
That was close.. She felt herself tense up. The things I do for you.. Jungkook.
~~~~
He arrived at the pier at exactly eight at night, tons of full boxes in hand. He was somehow managing to make his way to the middle of the pier just to set things up. From afar, there was another man standing a few metres away with a huge smile on his face.
As he reached the man, he bowed, "Jungkook-ssi, nice seeing you after a long time."
"It has been a long time, but this time around, I want things to be perfect." Jungkook adds, opening the boxes to reveal loads and loads of pictures.
The man picks up each and every picture, taking a quick glance at them, only to nod his head as if he was starting to get the idea.
"Ah.. Jungkook-ssi, are you in love?"
"Mr. Lee, I'm glad you noticed." Jungkook chuckles, "it's for someone special."
"So, how do you want things to be decorated?" Mr. Lee asks as Jungkook looks around the pier, only to have his eyes lay upon the lamp posts that were perfect to use.
"We could use the lamp posts, all I need are laundry clips, and a piece of string." Jungkook replies, looking around the whole pier, only to nod his head with a final decision.
"Very simple," Jungkook nods.
"Just like her," he smiles and suddenly his phone rings. He picks up the phone and as soon as he did, a loud yell came from the other line.
"Jungkook-ah! Yah! Out of all places, the pier?!" Bora yells, "really?! I almost blew your cover!"
"What?!" Jungkook exclaimed. "What did she say?!"
"She was about to head to the pier tonight to buy some things, but I was smart enough to convince her to get some rest." Bora explained as he sighed with relief.
"Thank god," he chuckled. "Is she home now?"
"Mhm," Bora replied softly. "She's taking rest, I walked her home."
Jungkook smiles, only to feel his phone vibrate from a text message. "I gotta go, Bora. I'll catch up with your later."
"See ya!" Bora exclaimed as she hung up.
He opened his phone to reveal a new text message from Jimin.
8:13 pm — she got the letter, and she looks really confused. what did you even write on that card?
Jungkook chuckled to himself, sending a quick 'thank you' text to Jimin. All of this took some planning, but he knew that all of this will be perfect enough for him and Seoyeon.
~~~~
"What the fuck is this?" Seoyeon opened the envelope as she practically pried it open to find a card sitting inside of it. She pulls it out and starts reading the card.
'And it begins..'
She scrunches her nose in confusion, closing the card and putting it back into it's envelope. She took the card out of the envelope again, only to see something also hidden in the envelope. She pulls it out and as she turns it over, she examines a picture of herself, standing inside the cupcake shop.
She was placing icing on her red velvet cupcakes, with a smile on her face.
On the back of the picture, she found bold writing written at the very middle of it.
Rule number 3.