The bus ride felt like an eternity.
Jungkook had countless thoughts running through his mind. It was normal, especially for days like these. He looked down, raising his hand up to his chest where his necklace rested. He wrapped his fingers slowly around his treasured possession, bringing it up and pressing it firmly to his lips, closing his eyes as he tried to calm the storm inside him.
"It's okay, Kook," Taehyung placed his hand on Jungkook's other hand, interlacing his fingers around his. Jungkook's eyes fluttered open from the sudden gesture. He wasn't used to Taehyung being this supportive of him, but such a warm gesture was definitely welcome during a time like this. Taehyung smiled reassuringly, and the corners of Jungkook's mouth curled slightly, as his eyes fluttered back shut.
After what felt like forever, Taehyung finally let go of Jungkook's hand, announcing that they had finally reached. The four of them clamoured down the bus and walked towards the unfamiliar, yet all too familiar, white building.
"We're here."
~
Seokjin finally pulled away, his eyes glassy and wide-open. "Did you just...?"
"I-" Byulyi bit her lip nervously, unable to make eye contact with him. "I did."
"But why..." Seokjin gazed up slowly at Byulyi, trying to meet her eyes. "I thought-"
"I feel bad, Seokjin," Byulyi finally looked up into his eyes. "I feel bad for Jisoo, that when she told me she liked you, I didn't confess too. I feel bad that I agreed to help her, but ended up being a wimp because of my feelings for you. I had my own fair share of faults. And I feel horrible, too. Towards you, towards Jisoo."
Seokjin pursed his lips. "So you're saying..."
"But-" Byulyi continued. "I don't think I could ever go back to being friends with you either, Jin. So... call me horrible, call me selfish, but I'm gonna date you, I'm gonna be happy with you, I'm gonna love you more than I could for the past few months. And I'll find a way to repay Jisoo as best as I can."
"You're gonna what again?" Seokjin was stunned. "Does that mean..."
"Seokjin," Byulyi smiled, taking Seokjin's hand in hers. "Let's date, officially."
Seokjin didn't know how to process what was going on. He squeezed Byulyi's hand in his, smiling from ear to ear. "This all feels like a dream."
"It's not," Byulyi chuckled. "We're here, Jin. We're finally here."
"I'm so happy right now, I-" Seokjin, overwhelmed with happiness, let go of Byulyi's hand at once, only to grab her shoulders and pull her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her small frame. "Byulie..."
Byulyi let out a small giggle. "I'm happy too, but we've wasted too much time, haven't we."
Seokjin wrapped his arms tighter around her, squeezing her tight. "We sure have, now I don't want to let go."
The two of them sat there for a couple of minutes, sharing an embrace, with Seokjin not wanting to let go, while Byulyi now also had her hands wrapped around Seokjin's waist.
"Wait-" Byulyi let go of Seokjin all of a sudden, pulling back, but with her hands still on Seokjin's waist.
Seokjin, startled, pulled back as well, his arms resting on Byulyi's shoulders. He smiled sweetly down at her. "What?"
But Byulyi was frowning. "I heard... you kissed Jisoo? What was that all about?"
"I kissed Jisoo?" Seokjin frowned, looking bewildered. "Wait, I did?"
"Mmhmm."
"I don't think I did?" Seokjin scratched the back of his head. "I-"
"Don't lie, Jisoo told me herself-"
Then it hit Seokjin.
"Oh..." Seokjin laughed nervously, biting his lower lip. "That."
The bathroom kiss.
"You're finally admitting it," Byulyi pouted. "Why did you do that? I thought you said you didn't have feelings for her, did you lie-"
"No!" Seokjin interrupted, letting out a small laugh. "No, not at all. Look, I can explain-"
"Then you just kissed her because you felt like it?" Byulyi narrowed her eyes, pulling away from Seokjin some more as her hands slid off his waist. "Because she's pretty isn't it? Jisoo's really pretty, right? Is she your type? Did she make you fall for her-"
"Stop!" Seokjin laughed, cupping his hand to Byulyi's mouth. Byulyi narrowed her eyes at him, but didn't struggle as he did so. "Let me explain. I never once did fall for her and I can swear to that." Seokjin let go of Byulyi's mouth and put three fingers in the air, before putting it down slowly and placing it back down on Byulyi's shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "Trust me."
"Then why did you do it?" Byulyi frowned at him, this time looking slightly disappointed, instead of her initial anger. "Not that I have a right to be angry, I just-"
"No, you do," Seokjin said fairly. "You do, but before you do, just hear me out first."
Seokjin sighed and took a deep breath, as Byulyi watched him quietly.
"It's hard to explain," Seokjin began, not taking his eyes off her. "But... when you're in that scenario... seeing the way someone is so crazy over you, and realising what you had done to the person... I don't know why I did it, to be honest, but I felt like... she had given me so much, I wanted to give her something back."
Byulyi blinked a few times, in complete silence.
"Really, Byul," Seokjin reached down to grab Byulyi's hands in his. "You should have seen her that day. Remember when I brought her home for my mom's birthday party? She had gotten the same exact muffler you had gotten for my mom last year. Even down to the design, the colour, the brand, everything."
Byulyi's eyes widened.
"Yeah, the day I went shopping for the muffler with her, I got distracted because I kept thinking about you, I didn't even notice she had picked out the same exact thing." Seokjin laughed. "Anyway, my mom kept talking about you the whole time, and made Jisoo feel horrible. She went to the toilet and when I found her, she was sitting on the toilet floor crying, you know?"
Byulyi raised her eyebrows.
"It was a sight to behold," Seokjin sighed. "The way she was crying... I can still remember it. I guess I wanted to just kind of... cheer her up?"
Byulyi fell silent for a while.
Seokjin watched her carefully. "So... you accept my apology? It really didn't mean anything, it was literally the tiniest peck on the lips, it literaly wasn't even a kiss, our lips just brushed against each other, I-"
"So... you kiss people to cheer them up when they cry?" Byulyi furrowed her eyebrows.
"That's not really it, but-"
"Do you know how much tears I've shed because of you?" Byulyi swallowed hard. "It's been so so hard, Seokjin."
Seokjin paused for a while, watching uncomfortably as Byulyi tried to hold back her tears from falling, thinking about all the nights she'd spent tossing and turning in bed, thinking of Seokjin, and crying over him.
A single tear rolled down Byulyi's left cheek and Seokjin instinctively reached up to her face and brushed it away with his thumb.
"From now on, I won't make you cry anymore," Seokjin said softly, cupping her face in his big warm hands, looking into her eyes gently. "And if I ever do, I promise that they will be tears of joy."
Seokjin leaned in, his eyes fluttering shut as he planted the longest kiss on Byulyi's lips once more. No tongue action, no hand movement, just two people breathing in sync, feeling each others physical presence, for a solid minute. Seokjin felt Byulyi's thin hands wrap around his waist once more and smiled, finally pulling away, his forehead still resting against hers and their faces still only inches away from each other.
"But the fact that you care so much, that makes me really happy," Seokjin chuckled softly, smiling into the next kiss that he planted on her lips, this time kissing her with a much greater intensity and so, so much more passion. It was a passionate kiss, unlike the previous apology kiss, and Byulyi could feel how much Seokjin missed her, and longed for her.
And she kissed him right back.
~
Jieun walked down aisle after aisle, trying to search for the correct one. She wasn't new to this place, but at the same time, it gave her a sense of jamais vu - the feeling that she should recognise, but yet felt so unfamiliar it was as if she had never been there.
Perhaps it was because she still couldn't accept it.
Then she finally reached. Aisle 161, a number Jieun could only remember because it was a combination of her favourite numbers - "16" and "1". How could Jieun ever forget?
"I like number 1 because... I don't know, maybe some part of me aspires to be number 1 one day. In all that I do, in everything I want to be good at. Jieun, am I greedy?" She said that one time Jieun asked her about her favourite numbers, with that iconic radiant smile of hers etched across her face.
"Nah, it's good to have high aspirations," Jieun had replied. "Then what about 16?"
"16..." She laughed. "Why don't you guess?"
"It's that the age you had your first crush?" Jieun took a wild swing.
"Wrong! Try again!"
"The age you first..." Jieun frowned. "Urgh, I don't know. You know I'm bad at guessing... just tell me!"
"You give up?" She laughed. "Jieun, you give up too easily! It's so easy..." She smiled as she leaned in to whisper into Jieun's ear.
Jieun blinked rapidly, trying to hold back the tears that had formed in her eyes at the mere thought of her friend she missed so dearly. Now was the time to see her again, she couldn't be crying like that. She grabbed hold of her flowers tightly, wiping away the stray tear that had managed to flow down her cheek.
Get a grip, Jieun.
She took a deep breath and stepped into the aisle. But what she saw, made her let out a silent scream, as she clamped her hand over her mouth and quickly hid herself behind a pillar.
No way. I mean, why would they be here? Was she simply seeing things? There's no reason why-
Jieun peeked around the pillar once more and no, she definitely wasn't seeing things. They were there, standing right in front of where she should have been right now, talking to her. Her four closest friends, they were all there.
Yoojung, Jimin, Taehyung.
And Jungkook.