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WISHING ON A STAR
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Jungkook and I stare at each other in shock. Did I hear wrong? Or was it all in my head?
"What..." said Jungkook and I in unison.
Jungkook's eyes twinkled, his mouth open in shock. He placed his hand over his mouth and laughed while avoiding eye contact with me. I do the same and turn away from him to hide my flustered face. After a moment of silence we finally made eye contact again.
"Jiho wasn't wrong after all," mumbled Jungkook with a giggle.
"Huh?"
I recall back to the other day when Jiho dropped by at our dorm; when he said something to Jungkook, was that it?
"Do you really... feel that way about me?" asked Jungkook with longing eyes.
I can't lie about these kinds of feelings anymore. I shouldn't be worried about his status in society, he's simply a human like me.
I confidently nod my head in response to his question, "I do. You too?"
Jungkook started his nodding his head quickly before grabbing me and hugging me, "You don't know how long I've been wanting to hug you like this."
I return his hug and pat his back. This warm feeling is making me feel happy as if all my worries are gone. The story that we paint, I'll be wishing on a star so that it comes true.
"I really do love you so much Yoonbyul. I'm still on a journey right now as an idol, but I wanna be close to your heart," confessed Jungkook while holding onto my hand, "It's a scene that I only saw in dreams, so just take me to where you are. I don't care for the consequences as long as we're together."
Throbbing heartbeat, it's starting now, this is really happening. I have to accept his feelings, I've already given him mine. I can't just worry about his role as an idol and whether or not it'll become a scandal when people find out. We've already been through that with the whole Yeonseo fiasco. Right, just being myself, just the way I am, I will be fine, Jungkook and I will be fine. He's willing to take on the consequences that we might face in the future, so if he can do that I will too. Even if I have to endure it, I'll continue to move forward. Come on Yoonbyul, do it seriously, there's really no second chance.
"I love you so much Jungkook, I don't know what I would do without you. You're always there whenever I need help, whenever I'm crying, whenever I'm in pain, you're always there for me. I am truly grateful. You've saved me countless times," I confess while tears started to fall from my face again, "That's right, you're the best. I don't know why you'd like a dreamless nobody like me. I have so many scars that are impossible to fix, yet you want to be with me."
Jungkook placed his hands on my cheeks and wiped away my tears with his thumbs again, "You dummy, it doesn't matter if you have past scars. Scars may not be able to be fixed but they can fade. I guarantee that the Yoonbyul I see now compared to the Yoonbyul I met on my first day here is much brighter and happy," smiled Jungkook as he place his hand on my head and gave it a pat, "I know you said before how you've felt conflicted about who you are, you're not dreamless Yoonbyul. Your goal of listening to Hanbyul and finding the most beautiful moment in life can be considered your dream. And as long as you have a dream, you don't have to worry. If you believe, it'll shine. If your heartbeat continues to beat, don't change, continue to have big dreams. You'll shine again, so my baby, don't be scared, just be yourself."
I place my hand onto my chest to feel a steady heartbeat; looks like Hanbyul is enjoying this as well. Hanbyul, thank you for giving me your heart. I think I've found one of the many beautiful moments in life, and it's all right here right now. I grab onto Jungkook's hands again and gave him a reassuring smile, "Thank you Jungkook."
"You can be a star, don't forget that. You will brightly light up what's ahead, like a star. You're name even has the word star in it; you're my star Yoonbyul, you brighten up my universe," said Jungkook as he began to lean in closer to my face.
My eyes close as something warm brushed my lips. It was a real kiss, one that wasn't an accident this time, one that conveyed out feelings for one another.
N A R R A T O R
It was finally the day of the first ever annual camping trip. Although Go Yongsun had sponsored the trip, he was unable to attend despite the wishes from the school staff. He had business to take care after the encounter with Yoonbyul after all.
There were three charter buses that carried the students to the camping location. Everyone was excited after the orientation due to the photos shown during the presentation. It was a lovely place within nature, a sight they were all close to seeing.
Jungkook sat next to Yoonbyul while his hyungs, Seokjin, Namjoon, Yoongi, Taehyung, Jimin and Hoseok sat around them in the corresponding seats. Jiho and Haneul shared a seat in front them while Yeonseo was in a seat a couple rows across from them.
Yeonseo finally returned to school a month ago after going through anger management therapy. It turned out that all of her negative actions were powered by her own stress of having to have all the attention because she was spoiled that way growing up. She was still noted as unstable but stable enough to control herself from not doing stuff that was extreme.
Yoonbyul could still feel the pressure of Yeonseo's hands around her every time she made eye contact with her from her seat. She was still traumatized about the fact that she nearly died in her hands. In her heart, however, she had forgiven Yeonseo, she was the type of person that couldn't hold a grudge against anyone, even if the opposition had done many unforgivable things.
Yoonbyul bit her lip with nervousness as her heart started thumping rapidly as if it was another signal from Hanbyul that something was about to go wrong. Jungkook noticed Yoonbyul's uneasy face and held her hand to calm her down. Seokjin looked over from his seat and smiled. He and the members already figured out about the relationship between Jungkook and Yoonbyul. Funny thing was that Jimin had found out first before blurting it out to the rest of the members when the whole crew had met up. Of course Jungkook nearly beat him up for exposing their secret just like the last time when they had that accidental drunken kiss. No one else knew about it, and they all hoped to keep it that way.
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The sun began to set, an orange glow running along the horizon. It was predicted that everyone would arrive at the camping grounds after dark because the drive from the school to the site was a long distance. Despite the long travelling time, the view outside of the bus was worth the distance. Cities passed, historic sites passed and even just the simple beauty of mother nature passed. It was all a mesmerizing view.
As it grew darker, many of the students decided to catch up on some sleep. Out of the group, Yoongi had knocked himself out quite early, falling asleep before it was even dark out. He had shared a seat with Hoseok, which meant that he must've been tired out by Hoseok's bright energy. Taehyung was busy taking pictures of the night view with Jimin. Namjoon had a book in his hand and was fully concentrated on reading. Seokjin had put on a eye mask to soothe the skin around his eyes as he napped.
Jungkook got sleepy and laid his head onto Yoonbyul's shoulder. None of the other students could see it since the members had strategically chose seats that blocked all angles surrounding Yoonbyul and Jungkook's seats.
Haneul and Jiho shared their childhood stories with each other. It was one of the many firsts for Haneul to feel so happy. He always had his other friends but never had he had a proper genuine conversation with someone.
As time passed, Haneul pulled out the photo of his father and Yoonbyul's father and stared at it intently. The photo had his full attention until the buses finally arrived at the camping site. The amount of sighs that left his mouth was almost a sickening amount. Haneul was still bothered about the whole situation regarding his father. In fact, after the orientation held in the auditorium was over, he was watching Yoonbyul interact with his father at the door frame of the exit. He watched as Yoonbyul ran off past him without a greeting and knew something was up. While the final students had exited the auditorium he had ran down to the stage to confront his father.
"What did you say to her?" questioned Haneul with an intense glare.
"I just thanked her for her assistance, then she said she had to excuse herself," replied Mr. Go with a rather evil smirk on his face, "Why are you so concerned about her?"
That was the last conversation Haneul had with his father. He had the question engraved in his head and wondered why he was so concerned about Yoonbyul. It didn't matter to him what the reason was, but he was determined to uncover the truth.
"Hey Haneul, we're here, it's time for us to get off the bus," nudged Jiho, getting Haneul back to his senses.
As all the students got off the charter buses, they were greeted by a fully set-up campsite with a gorgeous view of the mountains and the ocean. The stars twinkled brightly, constellations were even visible with the naked eye.
With the photo still in his hand, Haneul looked over to where Yoonbyul was standing. She was with Jungkook and was looking at the stars with him. He looked up at the stars with a blank look on his face, he knew wishing on a star was superficial, but it didn't stop him from actually doing so. He had always thought that the more you hope, the more it might come true.
Haneul clasped his hands together and wished for all his problems to be solved. He wished for the truth behind his father to be revealed, he wished for Yoonbyul to be safe, he simply just wished for everything to not go wrong.
However, little did he know that this was only the beginning everything.