i'm so glad how many positive comments the previous chapter got HAHA i was so worried y'all would bash me
and did y'all even notice that the date in the previous chapter is actually wonwoo's birthday 🌚
+
July 18, 2018, 7 a.m.
Though the next day is a Tuesday, the university gave the students a day off so we all can finish our humongous stack of papers to complete. Having already finished all my homework, I wake Taehyung up just before the crack of dawn so we can wash up together before heading off to the graveyard to celebrate my dead mother's birthday.
Taehyung groans at first, but immediately awakes without complaints when he registers the stern look on my face.
We quickly brush our teeth, before changing into casual summer clothes and heading out of the frat house. I'm clad in a simple white singlet and denim shorts, while Taehyung is wearing his clothes from yesterday.
The sun is already starting to rise by the time we're safely in his van. Taehyung stops by a florist so we can get some flowers for Mom, before proceeding to drive up the hill towards the cemetery, just at the edge of Seoul.
It's already 7 in the morning when he stops by the road in front of the front gates of the graveyard, and we clamber out of the car softly, as if afraid that any sudden noise would wake the dead from their coffins.
We find Mom's grave in no time, since we've both been here plenty of times. I come here whenever I'm bored or don't have deadlines to rush, and most of the time, Taehyung is the one driving me.
"Hey guys," I greet my parents the moment I stop in front of their tombs. "Happy birthday, Mom," I grin, placing a bouquet of lilies onto the soil in front of her grave. "I got you your favourite lilies!"
"Happy birthday, Mrs. Park!" Taehyung exclaims beside me. "You remember me, don't you? I'm Taehyung!"
I roll my eyes, biting back a smile. "Of course they remember you, you repeat your name every single time you come here with me."
"And also because who could forget such a beautiful name, am I right?" he winks, before placing his bouquet of wildflowers beside mine. "Jiyoung says you would prefer lilies better, but the Internet says wildflowers are perfect for pretty girls, so here you go!"
"Are you flirting with my mother?" I raise an eyebrow.
"Are you jealous?" he turns to me with another wink.
I roll my eyes. "Just go wet the cloths so we can clean the tombstones," I snap, pulling out two dry pieces of cloth from my back pocket and handing them to Taehyung.
Taehyung silently complies, knowing that I probably want to be alone with my dead parents for a few minutes. Talking to the air is what I do every time I come here.
I wait till he's out of earshot before I begin to speak again. "Mom, Dad, please bless Yoongi and make sure he's safe, happy, and healthy," I repeat the same prayer I say every time I come here. "Please bless Jimin too and make sure his girlfriend isn't a bitch," I add on with a small smile, secretly pissed off at my brother for prioritizing his girlfriend over his own sister. "And please bless that Taehyung's internship will go smoothly at that hospital he's always wanted to work at," I put my hands together in prayer position.
"I really hope that him and I can still be friends, no matter how this turns out," I continue with my eyes hopefully squeezed shut, referring to his sudden confession. I wish my mother was still alive to give me relationship advice like all other moms do.
"Do I even like him?" I mumble to myself, not even sure of my own feelings. Then, a soft breeze blows past the tombstones, as if my mother were giving me the answer to my own question.
I'm about to make another prayer, when a cloth is suddenly shoved in front of my face, and I turn to see Taehyung dangling the wet piece of fabric above my head.
"Stop slacking, start cleaning," he nags with a small smile, and I roll my eyes in reply, but take the cloth anyways.
We get onto our knees and start wiping the thin layers of dust off the headstones, with Taehyung cleaning my mother's grave while I clean Dad's. He's never once touched my father's grave before, claiming that it's because Mom seems like a much nicer person than Dad.
"Mrs. Park?" Taehyung starts to speak in the midst of cleaning, calling for my mother as if about to make a request. "In exchange for me keeping your grave neat and tidy, will you grant me a wish?"
A small smile forms on my face. "No nonsense in front of my mother," I order, already predicting what my brown-haired friend has to say.
"Psh, since when have I ever said nonsense in front of your mother?" he laughs sheepishly, but goes serious a moment later. "Mrs. Park, please bless that Jiyoung will pass her teachers' training course with flying colors and that her application will be granted into Seoul's top college as an internee," he says while placing his cloth on the ground beside him, Mom's tombstone already clean and shiny. "And also bless that she will stay happy and healthy for a very very long time," he gazes hopefully at Mom's grave, hands put together in prayer.
"You're supposed to make wishes for yourself, not for me," I tell him with a tiny beam, though my heart is already on the verge of melting.
He needs to stop being so sweet.
"For myself?" he widens his eyes as if he's never even thought of wishing for himself.
I roll my eyes. "Duh."
"Hm," he hums while pondering, a sly smile entangled in his features. "Then I wish that Park Jiyoung would fall for me and be my girlfriend."
I smack his head with the dirt-covered cloth in my hand, though unable to bite back my laughter. "I said no nonsense in front of my mother!"
"It's not nonsense!" Taehyung complains in pain, hand flying to cup the spot I hit on his skull. "It's a genuine wish!"
I roll my eyes for the millionth time that day, though the huge beam on my face betrays my nonchalance. I grab Taehyung's cloth from the ground, before getting to my feet and proceeding towards the toilet to rinse the two pieces of fabric.
"I'll go wash these," I inform the brown-haired boy before heading off.
"I'll go with you," he offers, getting to his feet and tagging behind me.
It takes only a minute to get to the nearest sink, and another minute to wring the cloths clean and dry. I stuff the fabrics back into my pocket once I'm done, and Taehyung starts leading me back towards his van.
We walk towards the gates of the graveyard in silence, though the quietness is more of comfortable than awkward. Once in the van, he makes sure I'm all buckled up before proceeding to head down the hill and towards the usual cafe where we have our breakfast.
"I was serious," he finally speaks again when we reach the cafe.
"About what?" I prompt while hopping off the passenger's seat and down the vehicle.
Taehyung hesitates for a while, before finally closing the van door and locking the vehicle behind him, as if a cue that he's ending the subject. "Never mind," he mutters, before starting to head towards the cafe.
I pull my bottom lip in between my teeth, contemplating whether or not I should tell him what I'm about to say.
"Hey, Kim Taehyung!" I exclaim. At my call, he stops in his steps and spins to face me, and I jog slowly to his side when I see that I've got his attention.
"Yeah?" he asks, worry on his face. "Look, if you're gonna reject me, then can you do it on another day? I really don't wanna deal with this today and-"
"Wish granted, you idiot," I cut him off with a giggle.
He widens his eyes. "Wh-wha-?"
He's about to ask when I get onto the tips of my toes, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him downwards till his eyes are on the same level as mine. I leave a quick peck on his lips, before pulling away in satisfaction at his stunned reaction.
"I said, wish granted," I grin, before letting go of his neck and allowing him to straighten himself back to his original height.
"A-are you being legit?" his eyes are so wide, they probably can't go any wider. I nod simply, and he exhales deeply, as if he's been holding his breath for a really long time. "Oh my God," he starts to laugh like a maniac, both hands entangling themselves in his brown locks. "Oh my God," he repeats, cupping my face and bending downwards to kiss me again, longer and harder this time. "I can't believe this," he mutters against my lips.
I laugh into the kiss, my hands wrapping around his waist to pull him closer.
We stay like that for a while, before I gently pull away after a few seconds for air. His hands release my flushed face with a wide grin, and his arms lower to entangle his fingers with mine.
"Let's go get breakfast," he says, high with euphoria, and I nod with a small giggle at his ecstasy.
We start heading into the cafe, but a man emerging from the glass doors accidentally bumps into me on his way out, the papers in his hands flying everywhere like a burst feather pillow.
"I'm so sorry!" I exclaim, momentarily letting go of Taehyung's hand and getting down onto one knee to pick the man's papers up from the floor.
"It's no big deal."
I stiffen at his amazingly familiar deep voice. No way.
I lift my head, gaze landing on a muscular boy with fair skin and small cat eyes. His long lashes brush his bottom eyelid as he blinks, and as if sensing my eyes on him, the boy slowly looks up at me, stiffening like I did when I heard his voice.
Though his green hair is now a normal shade of black, and that he's gotten buffer over the years, I recognize him immediately, and apparently, he does too.
"Yoongi?!" Taehyung exclaims from above me, confirming that what I'm seeing is most definitely not a hallucination.
Yoongi's lips pull upwards at the sight of us, and he quickly collates his papers before straightening himself to match Taehyung's pose, and I follow.
"God, it's been so fucking long."
+
one more chapter before i end it off with the epilogue :>
;minghaoburgers
p.s. IM SO FUCKING HAPPY SEVENTEEN IS COMING TO MY COUNTRY AND APPARENTLY I'M GETTING A VIP TICKET WHERE I GET TO SHAKE THEIR HANDS AND STAND IN THE FRONT ROW OMG THIS IS NOT REAL. AND ALSO MUSIC BANK IS IN MY COUNTRY TODAY AND BTS IS PERFORMING AT THIS VERY INSTANT AND IM SO SAD BECAUSE I CANT BE THERE TO SEE THEM BUT YET IM SO HAPPY BECAUSE IM BREATHING THE SAME AIR AS THEM HEHEHEH.