<OST: Winter Flower - Younha ft. RM>
"Ya-" Jieun chased after Jungkook out into the backyard, grabbing him by the wrist. "Jungkook, wait-"
Jungkook stopped abruptly, turning around to face Jieun. "What?"
"I saw everything-" Jieun pursed her lips, glancing up at Jungkook cautiously. "I know it's difficult for you... but you promised me-"
"Screw that freaking promise, I can't do it-" Jungkook swallowed hard as he looked away. "I'm so tired of having to do this, I just wanna give up. Every time I see his stupid face smiling at me, I just recall the old times when we both trained together... It was that same damn smile, Lee Jieun - that same smile he had back then, as he stepped all over me to achieve his dreams."
Jieun hesitantly reached out and placed a hand on Jungkook's shoulder. "Look... I know it's difficult for you, but can't you try? Forgiving someone is hard, but you promised you'd try... Are you really trying your best...?"
"What do you know?" Jungkook glanced at Jieun. "You don't even know what it feels like..."
"I do, everyone does. Everyone has had to learn to forgive someone at one point in their life."
"That's different-"
"I know someone who has had very similar experiences to you," Jieun said calmly, gesturing towards Joohyun who could be seen through the window, chatting happily with Jennie. "But just look at her."
Jungkook shifted his eyes to look at the two girls. "Jennie?"
"No, Joohyun-unnie-" Jieun pursed her lips as she sat on the grass patch overlooking the river. "Joohyun-unnie has experienced the same pain you have before, but she learnt to forgive and not let it stop her from living her life."
Jungkook raised his eyebrows skeptically as he took a seat next to Jieun by the river bank. "She did?"
"Mm, she did-" Jieun nodded slowly, recalling the past. "I met Joohyun-unnie in university - I was in Year 1 and she was in Year 3 when we met. I still remember that we met at some art interest club. We became friends almost immediately, because of how similar our personalities were.
"Back then, she introduced me to two other people - her then boyfriend of 4 years and her childhood best friend of more than 20 years. I always remember seeing her with the both of them whenever I saw her around school - the three of them soon went on into their final year and from start to end, they were inseparable.
"They soon graduated, and I lost contact with Joohyun-unnie. I saw her debut with Red Velvet on television, and messaged her on Instagram to congratulate her, and that's how we started talking again. We met up a while after that to catch up on life, and that's how I found out that she and her best friend of more than 20 years had fallen out."
Jungkook raised his eyebrows in surprise. "How?"
Jieun pursed her lips as she glanced over at Joohyun, who giggled as she spoke to Jennie like they had been best friends for a long time. "Her best friend cheated on her with her boyfriend."
Jungkook's jaw dropped. "No way."
"I can tell you this because she has long gotten over it-" Jieun nodded slowly, shifting her attention back onto Jungkook once more. "I know, because she has shared this on a variety programme before... On the show, she said that she was hurt for quite a while, but eventually let go because she realised that she was over there hurting, while her now ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend were probably out there living their best lives."
"They're trash humans, I see."
"They're not even worthy of being called humans," Jieun agreed. "But Joohyun-unnie was so strong - instead of letting the incident bring her down and wallowing in self-pity, she picked herself up again and used this incident as a driving force that motivated her to make the cut to her debut team."
"Wow."
Jieun nodded in agreement. "And now, she's now on good terms with both her best friend and her ex-boyfriend again - the two of which, have now broken up. I know the number of years of a friendship is just a number, but can you imagine - Taehyung-ssi was just a friend of yours for 2 years, while Joohyun-unnie lost both her boyfriend of 5 years and her best friend of 20 years in the span of a day. Look at her now - all smiling and happily making friends."
Jungkook shifted his eyes to observe Joohyun who slapped Jennie in the shoulder, laughing as if she had just told a really funny joke.
Jieun pursed her lips as she tentatively placed a hand on Jungkook's shoulder once more. "Being backstabbed doesn't feel good, especially when it's by someone you really trusted. I know it hurts even more to think that the person was someone you thought you'd be spending the rest of your life with - in your case, debuting with him and in Joohyun-unnie's case, she probably thought her best friend was going to be the one walking her down the aisle with her then boyfriend. I know it's really hard, but for all you know - it might be the best decision you'd ever make. Look at the two of them - don't they look happy?"
Through the window, Jungkook watched the two girls for a while in silence. Jungkook could see that Jennie was starting to open up to Joohyun as well, holding on tight to her whenever she flung her entire body onto her when laughing. Jungkook knew what Jennie had gone through as well - the two actresses who had bullied her on set happened to be Joohyun's bandmates, but that didn't stop Jennie from resisting Joohyun's apologies.
Why was he the only one, holding on so tight to the past, not willing to let go? Why did he act so entitled, like he was the only one in the world who had ever gotten hurt? It was as if right then, right there - by the river, under the shade of an oak tree - Jungkook had an epiphany.
Wasn't there more to life, than just holding on to the past and refusing to let go?
-•-•-
"So I was like-" Sandeul laughed and took a sip of his coffee. "What should I do? Should I just get up and leave? Or like stay there and try not to fall asleep?"
Byulyi laughed. She was having a great time catching up with Sandeul. And despite finding out that they both used to have crushes on each other, it wasn't awkward at all - not one single bit.
"Was she really that boring?"
"Yeah, for most of them though..." Sandeul carried on about all the blind date stories he had collected over the years. "I think the main problem was that I just couldn't click with them at all. Like... at all."
"I mean, at least you tried-" Byulyi chuckled and took a sip of her coffee. "I've been too busy with work to go on a blind date."
"But yet you made time out of your schedule to meet me today..." Sandeul grinned. "Moon Byulyi, should I feel honoured?"
The corners of Byulyi's lips twitched a little as she looked into Sandeul's smirking face.
Ring! Ring!
"Oh-" Byulyi gasped as she picked up her phone. "I'm so sorry, this is so rude of me-"
"No, it's alright-" Sandeul gestured understandingly. "Go ahead, answer the phone - it might be urgent."
Byulyi glanced down into her phone and chuckled as she looked up at Sandeul once more. "Oh, it's not urgent."
"Who is it?"
"Hm?" Byulyi laughed nervously. "Just... this rude guy. You don't need to know him."
"Oh, it's a guy?" Sandeul leaned forward with a teasing smirk. "You're making me curious now."
"Ya-" Byulyi shook her head, letting out an awkward chuckle and taking a sip of her coffee. "Nah, he's not that important - he's probably calling about something completely unimportant, anyway. Just ignore it."
Ring! Ring!
Sandeul glanced at the phone that kept on ringing. "Are you sure it isn't important? If it really isn't something urgent, I'm sure he would have put down the phone by now though...?"
"Yeah, he's always like that-" Byulyi assured Sandeul as she herself glanced at the phone uncertainly. "Don't worry about it, Sandeul-ah."
Her phone finally dropped ringing.
"There, you see?" Byulyi laughed nervously as she pointed at her phone. "I said not to worry about it, see? It stopped ringing now-"
Ring! Ring!
Byulyi and Sandeul exchanged awkward smiles as the phone began ringing once more.
"You better pick it up, Byul-ah-" Sandeul leaned back in his seat and folded his arms. "I don't wanna be responsible for anything later on."
"It's really alright though..."
"Pick it up."
Byulyi pursed her lips as she picked up her phone slowly, watching Sandeul's expression carefully. "Alright then... Also, I'm really sorry for not turning off my phone-"
Sandeul laughed. "Don't worry about it and just pick it up. Before your phone explodes or something."
Byulyi let out yet another awkward chuckle before finally answering the call and lifting the phone to her ears. "Hello...?"
"Ya! Why did you take so long to pick up?"
"Huh?" Byulyi glanced at Sandeul, who watched her intently. She turned away, covering her mouth as she whispered. "Ya- I'm on a date, if it's nothing important, I'm gonna hang up first-"
"Huh? W-Who says it's not important?" Seokjin stammered. "It's... It's important!"
"Okay, then hurry and say your peace-" Byulyi clucked her tongue agitatedly, glancing at Sandeul once more. "He's waiting for me."
"The guy in your profile photo? That childhood friend of yours?" Seokjin yelled, sounding annoyed. "Let him wait then! I already said I have something important to tell you! Unless... nothing is as important as him?! You just met him and he's already more important than anything else?! Is that what you're saying, Moon Byulyi?!"
"When did I even say that?" Byulyi rolled her eyes, trying not to lose her temper in front of her childhood sweetheart. "Can you hurry up, please? You're wasting my time."
"I'm wasting your time?!" Seokjin gasped dramatically. "Is your time the only thing that matters? What about my time? I'm busy on set too, yet I'm still calling to give you updates about Jeon Jungkook and Lee Jieun because I know how important it is to you. Yet... I'm wasting your time?!"
"Stop yelling! I can hear you loud and clear-"
"I'm yelling because there's a lot of people around me, okay?!"
"I hear nothing around you-" Byulyi frowned, now clearly displeased. "Also, it's not just your volume but also your tone. Why do you need to sound so angry!"
Sandeul watched on, intrigued.
"I'm not angry!"
"You are!"
"I'm not!"
"You are!" Byulyi noticed Sandeul's amused expression and hurriedly lowered her voice once more, trying her best to calm down. "Anyway, you said it was about work, didn't you? Hurry up, don't make it sound like you just called to get on my nerves."
"Oh, so I'm getting on your nerves now? Very good, Moon Byulyi. I call you out of kindness yet I get accused of getting on your nerves?"
"Why are you so easily annoyed?" Byulyi furrowed her eyebrows. "Are you on your PMS or something?"
"PMS?! You-"
"Forget it, I don't wanna argue with you right now-" Byulyi finally gave up. "If it's about work, we can talk about it when we both go back to Seoul, alright? I don't have time to work on it right now, anyway. I'm going to enjoy my date now, goodbye-"
"Moon Byulyi, you-"
"Goodbye."
Byulyi put down the phone, still grumbling to herself about what an annoying, stupid guy he was-
"I see that the two of you share a very... interesting relationship, don't you?"
Byulyi looked up quickly, raising her eyebrows in surprise as she saw Sandeul staring directly at her. "Hm? Oh - no, no, no! It's actually not interesting at all, we actually fight all the time, he's just a housemate of mine-"
"Y'all are housemates too...?" Sandeul raised his eyebrows. "Wow, that just makes things even more interesting."
"No-" Byulyi scratched her head frustratedly. "I mean, yeah but- it's now how you imagine it to be. It's just because of some circumstances that we were forced to be roommates for a month and by chance, he began helping me with my stories. We're just housemates and business partners at best."
"Housemates and business partners don't quarrel the way you do, for sure-" Sandeul added with a small chuckle and reached forward to take a sip of coffee. "That guy is lucky."
Byulyi frowned. "Lucky? For what?"
"I wish I could be like that with you too-" Sandeul laughed as he looked Byulyi in the eye. "I wanna be close to you like before and be able to bicker the way the two of you do. Moon Byulyi, you'll allow that, won't you?"
Byulyi's cheeks felt hot and she forced a smile before taking a quick sip of iced coffee to cool herself down.
"Y-Yeah, of course."
-•-•-
"Times up! Please present your dishes!"
Finally, Jungkook had returned to the kitchen to resume filming after some persuasion, and managed to complete his dish without any more conflict with Taehyung. He tried his best to comment more on his dish as well, surprising all the camera crew who had been waiting patiently for him to return. The two completed dishes were then brought out into the garden and placed on the wooden table, and the girls were invited out for a blind taste test.
"Wah, daebak!" Jennie exclaimed as she spotted the dishes. "These look amazing! Don't you think, unnie?"
"Mmhmm!" Joohyun smiled. "How are we supposed to guess who cooked each dish? I don't think I'll be able to, though?"
"Wah, y'all look close all of a sudden-" Taehyung added with a chuckle, as an adlib. "You must have done a lot of talking while waiting for us, didn't you?"
"We did-" Jennie smiled as she linked arms with Joohyun. "We're besties now."
Joohyun giggled. "Yeah, we're besties now."
Jungkook watched the two, quietly reflecting about his actions in the past few years. Maybe, he really had been so self-absorbed he hadn't noticed how much of a prick he had been. People must have been totally afraid of him, huh? They probably didn't know how to act, or what to say, or what to do around him, huh? No wonder his makeup artists never spoke to him - he never allowed them to. They had worked with him for over five years now yet he hardly knew anything about them.
Unlike Joohyun who did not let one single incident shape the way she viewed the world for the rest of her life, Jungkook had formed a protective shell around him, not allowing anyone to come close at all. Forget about what happened with Taehyung - he had been such a total jerk to the rest of the people around him.
"In that case, shall we try the food, unnie?" Jennie offered as she took a seat at the table. "I'm hungry."
"Mm! Let's eat!"
The four of them took a seat at the table, with Jennie and Jungkook sitting on one side, and Joohyun and Taehyung sitting on the opposite side. Taehyung took the initiative to hand them a fork each, before gesturing excitedly towards the food.
"Let's try the curry first!" Jennie suggested. "It looks good."
The two girls dug in.
"Mm!" Joohyun exclaimed. "Beef curry! I can taste a hint of vegetables too, which I don't usually fancy - but it isn't too strong, so I can deal with it! It's really good, I give it like... a 8/10."
"I'll give it a 10/10!" Jennie said, putting two thumbs up. "It's completely up my alley. I usually don't eat such greasy food because of my diet, but this curry tastes... really healthy. The vegetables are a nice source of fibre, the beef tastes really lean... and I like the fact that the person who cooked this used brown rice too! It's perfect for me."
Taehyung pursed his lips, trying not to smile. "Okay, try the tteokbokki next then!"
The two girls attacked the other dish.
"Mm!" Jennie's eyes lit up. "This is really nice too... but it's a bit too sweet and greasy for my liking... and I don't eat tteokbokki too often either... but it's still good for people who enjoy eating tteokbokki! I give it... like a 7/10!"
"I give it a 10/10 for a tteokbokki!" Joohyun contended. "It's one of the best I've ever eaten, as a tteokbokki fan. I love it, I think whoever made this can even start up a tteokbokki stall - I'm not kidding, it's that good."
"Wah... that's quite high praise," Taehyung said with a chuckle. "But whether it's good or not doesn't matter. What matters is who you think cooked each dish. Joohyun-ssi, what do you think?"
Joohyun thought for a while. "If you ask me... I'd say that Taehyung-ssi, you cooked the curry while Jungkook-ssi cooked the tteokbokki. Because based on my knowledge of you, you're a very detail-oriented person and to me, I feel like the person who cooked the curry put in more thought into formulating the dish."
Taehyung grinned. "I see. Jennie-ssi, what do you think?"
"I beg to differ," Jennie said, frowning a little uncertainly as she exchanged glances with Jungkook. "I feel like... Jungkook-ssi made the curry. He knows how much of a health freak I am, just like him - so there's no way he'll make tteokbokki unless he made it with absolutely no thought at all. So... I'm pretty sure he made the curry."
"Are you sure?"
Jennie glanced at Jungkook, who gave her absolutely no clues because he was spaced out. "Yeah, 100% sure."
"Joohyun-ssi, are you sure?"
"Yup, I'm very sure!"
"Okay! Your answers are locked in!" Taehyung drummed at the table dramatically. "And the winner is... Kim Taehyung and Bae Joohyun! Whoo!"
As Joohyun and Taehyung got up from their seats and started cheering, Jennie turned to Jungkook with a small frown on her face. But he didn't even show any sign of regret - he just sat there, stoning, completely out of it.