Jungkook and Jiah were lying on the grass in the backyard of her house. Ji Young had gone to sleep, so it was just the two of them left in the garden. The pair had decided to make it a rule; to spend the dead of nights like this so they could catch up with their best friend.
Today they were lying there in silence, however, Jiah's head resting on Jungkook's chest as he traced the stars with his finger.
"What do you think he's doing?" he asked.
"Probably making whoever else up there laugh," she replied dreamily.
"I miss him so much, Shadow," Jungkook voice became stifled, and Jiah nodded.
"I miss him too, Jungkook," they continued to stare into the night sky as if any moment his face would dissolve into view, and he'd say 'Hey guys!'.
"Do you know what the last thing I said to him was?"
"What?"
"Fuck off," he muttered under his breath.
"What?" she asked again, turning around and looking up at him.
"Well, the idiot said 'Don't forget to smile!' when I was about to hang up, I just said it on instinct."
"Of course you did."
"He was going on and on about how we only live once; I didn't need to hear that from him, I already know all that stuff."
"What else did he say?" She asked, a soft smile playing on her lips, it was nice to remember him like this with Jungkook.
"Well after that, he went 'At least buy me dinner first', literally the oldest joke in the book."
"That's true, he needed to get a new joke book," she nodded with him, "But I guess that's what made him special."
"Something is bothering me, though," Jungkook started, "He said he needed to tell us something urgently."
"Oh, that's right, I wonder what it was," Jiah sat up, "Hey, did we ever find his phone after he died?'
"No," Jungkook sighed, "Those assholes probably took it."
"I think we'll have to go through his computer, Jungkook. He's gotta have something in there that we need, and possibly whatever that was got him killed."
--
"You're going back to work today?" Jungkook asked in the morning through Jiah's door as she was changing.
"Yeah," she replied, pulling her top over her head before opening the door.
"Are you sure you'll be okay? It's only been a week since... since it happened and you haven't been okay at all this week."
"I'll be okay, Jungkook," she forced a smile for her best friend, "It's been a week, I've got so much to catch up on at work."
"I knew it!" he jumped up and ran around the counter, taking Jiah by the shoulders, "It's Diamond, isn't it! He's making you go in even when you're not ready! I swear to God, I'm gonna-"
"No Jungkook," she was laughing now, who knew to see him all riled up like this would make her smile, let alone laugh this much, "He doesn't even know I'm going to go in today. Actually he might not be very happy with me going."
"What?"
"Uhm," she thought for a second, before taking a deep breath and deciding to tell him what happened. They were best friends and if it was anything else she would have already told him. But this was different.
"Sit down," she guided him to the dining table, "I have to tell you something."
"Oh God, what?" he groaned, "What went wrong this time?"
"Okay, I don't know what's happening," she told him, taking the seat next to him, "But I think him and I... we... aren't really just..."
"Shadow," he coughed awkwardly, "If I didn't know any better I'd think you were trying to tell me you two fucked or something," he laughed and when Jiah's eyes shot up at his words, his eyes widened, standing up and pushing the seat back as he did so. "You two fucked?!"
"No!" she stood up too, bringing a finger to her lips, "Shut up, you idiot!"
"What the hell are you trying to tell me?"
"Jungkook, stop overreact-"
"He's our mission!" he exclaimed again, and she slumped into the chair.
"I've been there for three months, Jungkook," sighing, he joined on the seat again, "I don't even know why I'm there, for all I know I'll be doing this secretary work for the rest of my life. How can I even say he's my mission when I don't even know what my mission is?"
"So... what happened?"
"He kissed me..." she tried to recall it all from the beginning, "And I let him? He comforted me after Hoseok passed. Honestly, I didn't know how much I needed it unti-"
Much to her surprise, Jungkook didn't say anything when she spoke. Instead, he silently stood up, in the middle of her sentence, and started to walk to his bedroom, still not saying a word. The confusion was evident in Jiah's voice when she spun around to talk.
"Jungkook? Where are you going? I was talking-"
"Our best friend just died, and you're out doing all this with the enemy?"
"The enemy?" she asked incredulously, "Jungkook, please listen to me," she pleaded, "I know you're hurt, I am too. You need to understand it's okay to be hurt, you don't need to put up a front and pretend like everything's okay."
Walking up to him, she took his hands in hers, "Jungkook, I've been doing that for my entire life," she searched for his eyes behind his hair, and he finally obliged, looking back at her, "I could finally breathe for a moment with him. I didn't know I was holding my breath for twenty-four years, but when I was with him, I was breathing."
The darkness in his eyes was slowly clearing up, "I want to do that for you too, Jungkook, I'll help you breathe. Like he helped me."
"No-"
"It's what Hoseok would have wanted," tears brimmed her eyes, "Don't you think so?"
--
"Have you forgotten about our mission, though, Shadow?"
Jiah looked up at him over her breakfast; they were eating leftover cold pizza from a few nights back when Ji Young had ordered it for dinner.
"How could I?" she said dejectedly, "I just don't know what to do, Jungkook. My heart's telling me one thing, and my brain is telling me another, but for some reason, I keep listening to my heart."
"You didn't know?"
"Huh?"
"You didn't know that you follow your heart?"
"What do you mean?"
"You never follow what your mind tells you, Shadow; you always follow your heart."
"No, I don-"
"You're kidding," disbelief filled his tone, "Tell me you already knew that. Everything you've ever done was your heart impulse, Shadow; you don't ever listen to your mind."
"How do you know that?"
"I know you, Shadow, I know you right down to your fingertips," he sighed, "Which is why I'm so mad I didn't pick up on you and Diamond earlier, literally what the fuck?"
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah! Like there were all these telltale signs, it was only a few months ago when you told me to even forget the idea of being human again," he narrowed his eyes at his best friend, "But a couple of weeks ago you were buying movies and cooking ingredients like a totally normal person? Like you were going to cook and watch movies? I guess at the time I had just thought it was Hoseok's influence, maybe not."
"That's... that's not what I meant," she coughed, "Is it really not a surprise that I couldn't-"
"Stay away from him?"
"Uhm, yeah."
"Yeah, Jiah," he didn't use her code name, and it unnerved her, "As I said, everything you've done was because you wanted to do so. Fighting, drinking, hell, you don't even think twice when you speak," smiling a little, he continued, "Just because you've convinced yourself and everyone around you that you don't have a heart, doesn't mean you're actually heartless. This is the first time your mind and your heart aren't aligned, so you didn't know, and you're confused. But I know you, I know your heart, and I know you can't stop yourself, no matter how hard you try. Because that's just not you."
She blinked once, twice, she couldn't speak. He knew her so well it made her want to just prove it all wrong. But everything he said made so much sense, and she felt like throwing her food in his face because of it. Why was he always right?
"Anyway, you should probably get going, you don't want to be late."
--
Jiah walked to her desk, putting her back over the seat and looking into the window to see Taehyung sitting at his desk looking like he was in a call by the way he was talking to the space in front of him. His eyes met hers, and they widened, almost popping out of their sockets.
She silently walked to the doors and opened them, slipping into the office and waiting for him to finish his call. Their eyes never left the others', and she could watch how thunder clouds grew over this, darkening ever so quickly.
"Yeah, if you could just print those out for me and have them on my secretary's desk by midday, that'll be sweet, thank you."
He reached for the button to hang up, the person on the other line starting to say something but he cut him off, ending the call.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"I mean, good morning to you too," she replied.
"I said you could have at least three weeks off, Jiah, why are you here?" he hopped out of his seat and walked over to her, placing his hands softly on either side of her, "Are you alright? Did you have breakfast?"
"I'm okay," she started, "Do you always ask whoever you're with all these questions?"
"No," his reply was firm, eyes glued to her own.
She was not expecting that.
"Anyway," looking to the ground to break the intense gaze he had held her in, she continued, "I thought enough work would have piled up by now, besides work might help me get on with life, God knows I'm going to need to... I can't stay holed up in my bed for any longer; I'm going to go insane."
"It's only been a week, Jiah," he whispered, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"A week and a half," she corrected him, "I'm getting better, and I'm almost certain work will help me."
"Okay well," he slowly pushed her to the side, hands still on her arms, allowing her to sit on his couch, "You're staying here," crouching down in front of her, "I'm not letting you out of my sight."
Her shoulders slumped, "I'm not five, Taehyung, I'll be fine-"
"I won't be," he interrupted her, "I won't be fine if I see you out there overworking yourself."
She rolled her eyes, "What am I even going to do sitting here?"
"Oh, don't worry, you've got plenty to do," standing up again, he leaned down and gently placed a kiss on her forehead, one she wasn't expecting, "I'll bring you some work."
--
Work was done in no time, Jiah hadn't been allowed to do much, but the work Taehyung gave her took up all of the day, both of them finishing around six. Looking up at him from the sofa, she watched as he worked. Eyebrows furrowed, hair slightly rumpled and shirt folded up to the elbow, she didn't want to look away.
"Keep staring and you'll start to drool," his voice spoke, however, he never lifted his head, causing Jiah to turn and look around the room to see if there was anyone else who may have said that instead.
But there wasn't.
He closed his laptop, standing up and grabbing his coat, "I guess if you really want me to stop working, I'll stop."
"I literally said nothing."
"If you keep insisting, we might as well go back to my place."
"Still said nothing."
"Fine, fine, we'll go back to my place and order takeout."
"No point in speaking at all I guess," she followed him out the door and to the elevator, a small smile playing on her lips.
--
"You said you have another friend, right? Who also knew Hoseok? How is he holding up?"
"Jungkook?" she asked, and he nodded, "He's alright, he doesn't have anyone else apart from me here, so it's a little rough on him."
"I would love to meet him; if he's your best friend, I want to get to know him too."
"No, you don't," they had ordered from the Korean restaurant Jimin ordered from before, it was now their favourite, "He's not really the social type."
"I bet he's more social than you," he joked, "And you're right, I don't just want to get to know him for the sake of it, I need to know I trust this guy... the amount of time you two spend together... honestly, it makes me anxious."
"Oh, that," she shook her head, "Trust me, he's nothing to be anxious about."
"Okay then," he looked like he wanted to keep talking about it, but was going to wait for another day.
"You know, I've been meaning to ask," she suddenly said, pointing to the corner of Taehyung's room. "What is that?"
"What?"
"That," she wagged her finger, "What is it?"
"This?" he stood up and pointed in the same direction she was.
"Yeah."
"It's a record player," he laughed, "You don't know what a record player looks like?"
"Not a real one," she stood up too, walking over to him, "It's a real one?"
"Yeah, a real one," he couldn't stop smiling at the immense fascination she seemed to have over it.
"Like it plays real records?"
He leaned down, picking up one of the many cases stacked next to the machine, placing the disk on top and starting it up.
"Come," taking a few steps away from the player, he was standing in the empty space of his living room, holding his hand out to Jiah.
"What?"
"Hold my hand."
"What are you going to do-"
"Stop asking questions," he snapped playfully, "Just come."
She finally walked over, taking his hand and he pulled her closer, holding her firmly in his arms, placing his other hand on her waist.
"What are we doing?"
The music started playing now, slowly but surely. The violin dominated the song, a quiet piano in the background, Jiah had never heard music like this before, but for some reason, standing here with Taehyung's arms around her, the music seemed to calm her like nothing else had before.
Leaning down, he craned his neck so that the faintest breath he took tickled her ear, and he replied, "Dancing."
With that, he led her, taking small steps around the living room, circling here and there, the music leading them up and down the space, they shared little smiles and awkward laughs when Jiah would accidentally step on his feet. It was such an unanticipated gesture, but for some reason she found it so perfect.
When the music died down slightly, he spoke, "I'm guessing you've never slow danced before."
"I don't know what you're talking about," she feigned innocence, "I only slow dance."
He shook his head, smiling, before taking his hand off her waist, holding her by the chin as he leaned down. He lightly pressed his lips on hers at first, and when she pulled her hands from his, wrapping them around his neck, he deepened the kiss, hugging his arms around her waist now.
"I hope," he whispered in between breaths, "I hope this cheered you up, at least a little bit."
"Oh, you have no idea."