"Let's go there! Let's go!"
Taehyung looked down. Jisoo had grabbed his hand and was dragging him along. They had literally spent the entire afternoon together after lunch, shopping, talking, eating some more, then shopping again, and now Jisoo wanted to go to the arcade.
"Wait, wait, wait-" Taehyung pointed at his hand. "Hold up."
"Oh, sorry-" Jisoo let go immediately.
"I'm starting to suspect something," Taehyung folded his arms across his chest. "We've literally spent the entire afternoon out. Do you happen to have a motive?"
"Motive?" Jisoo scoffed. "Yeah, right- my motive's to have fun! What else!"
"Are you sure?" Taehyung narrowed his eyes, circling Jisoo as he pointed at her. "Are you sure you aren't lying?"
"Why would I lie to you?" Jisoo laughed absurdly. "Have you been lied to your entire life or what?"
"Are you sure it's not because... you're avoiding your parents?"
"What?" Jisoo scoffed, stifling a laugh. "No!"
Taehyung raised his eyebrows.
Jisoo sighed. "Okay, fine."
"Why?" Taehyung frowned. "I thought I managed to convince you earlier during lunch. What's wrong?"
"Yeah, you did!" Jisoo sat down on a nearby bench, gesturing for Taehyung to sit down as well. "I was convinced- no, I am convinced."
"Then what are you afraid of?" Taehyung frowned, taking his seat next to Jisoo.
"Well-" Jisoo sighed. "I know I'm gonna have to do it and I'm kinda afraid it won't go well..."
"Come on," Taehyung laughed. "What's the worst that could happen? You guys are barely even talking right now, let's say they ignore you - then nothing will change. But if they respond back, which I am 99% sure of, then you guys settle things and save this relationship you never had! Isn't that great?"
"Something about the way you put things... makes you sound reliable," Jisoo laughed. "Why do you have to speak so well?"
Taehyung smirked, proudly adjusting his shirt slightly. "I guess, I was born with that talent."
"You're right, I guess," Jisoo pursed her lips. "Maybe I should go home now... it's kinda getting late."
Taehyung watched Jisoo's worried expression carefully. "You know what? I'll follow you home."
"What?" Jisoo turned to face Taehyung. "You will? Why?"
"I can tell you're nervous," Taehyung chuckled. "I'll do you a favour and accompany you when you're confronting them. That is, if you want me arou-"
"Of course I do!" Jisoo's eyes sparkled with gratitude. "That would be literally the best thing anyone could do for me. Oh my god, Taehyung, I love you so much. Thank you."
"Y-you love me?" Taehyung froze.
Jisoo almost immediately realised her mistake as she froze too, but skilfully camouflaged her embarrassment with an awkward chuckle. "Yeah! I mean, like, of course I don't mean love love. You know, it's kinda like an expression to say I'm really grateful to you and I really appreciate you a lot, you know, as a friend."
"Ah," Taehyung laughed, the tension in his face immediately disappearing into thin air. "I thought you meant-"
"Meant what?" Jisoo raised her eyebrows.
"Nothing, haha. So that's settled," Taehyung got up from his seat, grinning at Jisoo, an attempt to change the topic. "I'll follow you home later."
"Later?"
"Before we go," Taehyung smiled. "There's a place I wanna bring you."
~~~
"I'm home!"
Byulyi arrived home later that day, locking the door behind her. Seokjin was seated on the sofa with her grandma, a common sight in the past few days. Because of how much her grandma's health had deteriorated, Seokjin had offered to come over everyday to help take care of her when Byulyi was at work.
Byulyi had wanted to quit her job to take care of her own grandma, but her grandma had stopped her from doing so, saying that she wanted to spend time with Seokjin, which Byulyi didn't doubt at all. The two of them had always gotten along so well that when the three of them hung out together, Byulyi often felt like the outsider.
"Thanks for taking care of granny, Jin-ah," Byulyi smiled at Seokjin. "I had so much to do at work today."
"You must be tired, aren't you?" Seokjin smiled, standing up and steering Byulyi by her shoulders to sit down on the sofa. "Why don't you rest? I'll go prepare dinner."
"No, it's alright," Byulyi laughed. "I'm alright - I can prepare dinner."
"Go talk to your grandma," Seokjin gave Byulyi's grandma a meaningful smile. "I'll cook up a good dinner. You know how good I am at cooking."
"I don't doubt that," Byulyi chuckled, glancing at her grandma. "But you must be tired too, let me do it."
"Just take it as I'm begging you to let me cook, alright?" Seokjin laughed. "Stop being so considerate towards others and start learning to take care of yourself, Byul-ah. You're gonna overwork yourself."
"But-"
"No 'but's," Seokjin chided. "Talk to your grandma, Byulyi. Treasure the time you have with her while you still can."
"Well-" Byulyi pursed her lips. "Alright then. Thank you, Seokjin."
"Don't thank me," Seokjin flashed her a meaningful smile. "Anything for you, Byulyi."
Byulyi watched in silence as Seokjin's tall slim figure disappeared into the kitchen.
"How was work today?"
Byulyi's attention turned back to her grandma, as she snuggled up closer to her and smiled contentedly. "It was great."
"I heard from Jin," Byulyi's grandma smiled a little. "You guys are dating?"
Byulyi sat up all of a sudden. "He told you?"
"That's kinda upsetting," Byulyi's grandma frowned. "To know that you both started dating without even telling me."
"That's not it, granny," Byulyi sighed, lying back down and leaning against her grandma's shoulder. "It's just... It happened just a few days ago. I was afraid that... you know..."
"You guys won't last long?"
She had voiced out the thought in Byulyi's head that had been bugging her since that day. "Yeah."
"Why would you think that?" Byulyi's grandma ran her fingers through her precious granddaughter's hair. "Does he give off the feeling that he isn't reliable?"
Byulyi shook her head. "No, I trust him more than I trust anyone. I guess... it's just my own insecurities."
"Well, let me tell you this then, Byulyi," Byulyi's grandma tilted her head so that she could look directly at her grandchild's face, smiling down with her gentle eyes. "Seokjin, that child, I've known him for two years now and I think I know him well enough. You see, that guy, he wears his heart on his sleeves. What you see... is exactly what you get. And he loves you a lot, Byulyi, I can see that very clearly."
"I know..." Byulyi pursed her lips. What her granny said indeed eased the worries in her heart a little. "And I love him too."
"No, you don't know, Byulyi. You don't know at all."
~~~
"Auntie! Grandma!" Jimin rushed forward, engulfing each and every one of his beloved relatives with a hug.
"Jimin-ah! You've grown so tall!"
"Jimin! It's so nice to see you again, my dear nephew!"
"How have you been? Have you been eating well? You've lost so much weight!"
"How's school? Have you been studying hard?"
Jimin beamed. It had been ages since he'd last seen his relatives - an even longer time since he'd seen his direct family. Because Busan was a big place, they were all scattered around the city and were not able to meet up with him the last time he'd come home. But this time, they'd made special efforts to come welcome him home and for that, he was extremely grateful. "I'm good! How have all of you been?"
Jimin turned behind, only to see Yoojung standing awkwardly at the door, one hand picking nervously at her own clothes - a habit Jimin was familiar with as that was what she had always done whenever she was really anxious - like before an exam, before an important interview, even before she reached the front of the queue for the tonkatsu sold only on Tuesdays in the school canteen.
"Who's that?"
One of Jimin's younger cousins asked innocently, pointing at Yoojung who was cowering in a corner by the door.
"Oh, she?" Jimin swallowed hard, stifling a nervous laugh. "Um-"
"Hi, everyone- I'm Choi Yoojung, Jimin's close friend of 10 years, it's really nice to meet you all."
"Ooh- 10 years-"
"Close friend?"
"They're just friends huh?"
"Hm..."
"Jimin?" A familiar voice came from behind Jimin and he turned around to see the familiar face of an old lady he hadn't seen in literally years.
Jimin couldn't help but smile from ear to ear as he ran towards the old woman, throwing himself into her open arms. "Grandma!"
"Jimin-ah..." Jimin's grandma chuckled, stroking Jimin's head gently as she scanned him from head to toe. "Let grandma take a good look at you - oh golly, you've grown so much since I last saw you."
"Grandma-" Jimin squeezed his grandma tight. "I missed you so much."
"Me too, Jimin, me too," Grandma let out a chuckle. "I thought I wouldn't be able to see you before I die."
"What are you talking about?" Jimin frowned, hugging her even tighter. "Why do you have to say that, Grandma-"
"Ah, okay, alright-" Grandma grinned and wrinkles formed around her eyes. "I'm just joking around."
Jimin frowned, but his gaze shifted as he noticed his grandma's gaze fixed on Yoojung, who was standing not too far away from them. Yoojung seemed to have noticed too, as she made eye contact with Jimin and made her way towards them.
"Hi! My name is Choi Yoojung, Grandma!" Yoojung stepped forward, grabbing Grandma's hands in hers. "It's so nice to finally meet you. Jimin has told me a lot about you."
"Has he?" Grandma looked Yoojung from head to toe, her expression changing. "He sure didn't tell me much about you."
"Oh."
"You must not mean much to him, then?" Grandma said and Yoojung was surprised by how mean she sounded, despite Jimin always speaking of nothing but what an amazingly warm-hearted woman she was.
"Grandma-" Jimin seemed to be equally surprised, his eyebrows furrowing as his lips curled downwards into a frown.
"With all due respect, Grandma-" Yoojung furrowed her eyebrows. "I mean enough to your grandson for him to tell me some secrets he probably didn't even tell you. In fact, I have been by your grandson's side all these years - there is anyone who has a say on how much anything means to him, I believe it's me. No offence though, Grandma, I think you mean a lot to him, but I think I mean a lot to him as well."
Jimin's eyes widened, his eyes darting between Yoojung and his grandma at a rapid speed, his mind shifting from being completely flabbergasted about how confident Yoojung was being around his grandma and being worried about how his grandma was going to react to all that. She never tolerated any form of rudeness and this probably checked off every single criteria on her list. Jimin was dead sure she was gonna explode in Yoojung's face, get a heart attack, ask them both to leave immediately, or all three at the same time. There was no other option.
But she didn't.
Slowly, the corner of her mouth lifted ever so slightly, then her lips parted and a smile spread across her face. He looked at Yoojung, who was still frowning, as if trying to calculate Grandma's every single move. But Grandma was now grinning from ear to ear, as she placed a hand on Yoojung's shoulder.
"Not bad at all, I like you."