"Y/n! Sugar baby!" Yongsun, the boy that Jungkook hates and mentioned last night, runs up to me as soon as he notices me among the other students. "Hey," he steps before me to block my way. "Who's that? I never saw you in that car."
"That's none of your business, leave me alone," I roll my eyes and step to the side, but he does the same. "Do you have a new sugar daddy?"
"He's not my sugar daddy, for fuck's sake," I look up into his eyes with some anger, not standing his words once he talks about Jungkook. "Whatever," he finally ceases. "I talked with Minjae yesterday when we were playing to Overwatch, but he told me he still has feelings for you. Do you know you're breaking his heart?"
"I talked about it with him already...he knows I already have someone..." I do not appreciate to talk about this with him, knowing how hurt Minjae still is already and not needing those comments. "Hm. Alrighty then," his cringy words escape his lips.
"Goodbye," I move away from him and get in the building. "How's your daddy doing?" he doesn't leave me alone but keeps walking by my side. I don't answer anything but walk up the stairs. The silence coming from me doesn't please him, he gives a kind tug on my skirt and asks for my attention. "Hey."
"Stop, Yongsun. I'm serious..." I sigh heavily and reach the top of the stairs. "I was just asking..." he drops it, to my greatest relief. "But you seem sad lately, and Minjae told me your man left the country, so I guess that's the reason why you act like that."
"That's exactly the reason why I act and feel like that," I confirm his words and stands before the classroom. "Do you know what he told me?"
"What?" I ask to know only to not be rude, and I lean back on the wall, looking at him. "He said he would like to hug you to comfort you."
I glance away, unable to say something. "He told me he met a girl, did he lie to me?" I try to mention since I cannot answer after what he said. "He met a girl, but he said she's annoying and not as pretty as you are. I mean, he said you're pretty, don't think I did."
"Shut up," I shoot back, hating him and his remarks that I didn't want to hear. "I'm pretty sure he told you not to say that to me."
"You're right, but I can't keep it to myself," he reveals, shamelessly. "You're the worst friend ever. I'll tell him about that just so he doesn't talk to the jerk you are anymore."
"You know this will make him feel embarrassed if he knows that you know about it..." he states the facts, but I shrug. "I don't care. I'll tell him not to feel like that. I understand him."
"You do you," he pretends not to be concerned and smirks. He really only cares about himself.
•••
1 pm.
[ Midnight in New York. ]
I type on my keyboard to write the detail of the device I created since I have a presentation to present all my work to the other employees and my superior. My eyes have been fixed on my laptop screen for more than six hours, I've been on my bed for that long, but my back is still full of cramps, and my head is aching even with the painkiller I swallowed more than one hour ago.
I work even more than when I was with y/n in Korea, I have nothing else to do here, so I only focus on my work, and my baby is not even here to distract or comfort me when I need it. Being single was easier for me than being with y/n but far away from her.
The sound of my phone ringing next to me grasps my attention, I take hold of it but the number displayed astonishes me and makes my heart stop for short seconds.
I ignore the call coming from y/n's father, not ready to talk to him. However, since this just caused some anxiousness, I call my dad to check if y/n is all right. He answers in only a few seconds. "Hello?"
"Hey, I wanted to ask you if y/n is okay. Nothing happened, right?" I question him, nervous about this call. "No, she's fine. I drove her to school this morning, and she sent me a message to thank me for the sandwich I made for her to eat at this hour."
"All right," I feel relieved, even happy to hear he takes care of her more than I hoped for him to do. "Why do you ask?"
"Uhm..." I scratch my forehead nervously, not knowing how to tell him that. "You're going to find this odd, but her father called me just one minute ago. That surprised me, and I thought something serious happened."
"Her father? Why would he call you?" he expresses the same astonishment as I did and I shrug. "I have no idea."
"You should maybe talk about it with y/n once he's back. She hasn't mentioned him lately, so I doubt something happened between them," he replies to help me to understand this. I think she would have talked about it with me as well. "Yeah. I'll tell her."
"Anyway, isn't it late in New York?" he changes the subject, and I place my glasses over my head since the talk is going to be longer than planned. "Well," I take a look at the time. "It's midnight here, but I need to work on my first presentation for tomorrow."
"Y/n would scold you if she knew," he states, making me chuckle but agree. "I know. Is she all right though? Like, regarding her mood and all? She tells me she's fine every day, but I always fear she might lie to not let me know she's feeling down or something."
"She...She's a bit down these days, when I talk with her, she tells me she's happy to have us otherwise she would be feeling even more sad, but she told us she will leave the house tomorrow, she doesn't want to stay for too long here, even though I made it clear she could stay as much as she wants with us," he answers me with the truth, to my greatest relief. "Oh, and...I know I shouldn't tell you this, but when I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, I can hear her sob, or I see her in the kitchen, eating something or drinking, but this often happens, so I wondered if this is usual of her to do this."
"That's not usual..." I shake my head and sigh, hurt to know she isn't as fine as she claimed to be. "Have you tried to know if she already sobbed at night, or...you kept quiet about it?"
"I tried, you know, I asked if she had a good night because I thought I heard her cry or go out her bedroom, but she always denies it and tells me she slept all night long," he explains what I was scared to hear, this is totally y/n, lying to not let anyone know once she's not okay at all. "All right...thank you for telling me. I'm going to talk to her later."
"All right," he doesn't say more. "Have a good lunch, love you," I put my eyes back on my laptop. "Have a good night, love you too," he puts an end to the call, so I hang up. I exit the contacts, feeling even less good than some minutes earlier given the things I've got to know.
I rub my eyes but put my glasses back on the bridge of my nose, exhaling heavily, brushing my long hair back. I'm exhausted and feeling broken.
I glance down at my bracelet and touch it, I give three taps on it since they're the most meaningful ones, and I keep my eyes fixed on it to see if she's going to respond. A pink light appears on it, and it vibrates three times, making me smile at the thought of her touching it to answer me. That always flutters my heart.
•••
4 pm.
[ 3 am in New York. ]
'YOUR P.O.V'
I enter the car after texting my best friend, telling Jungho hello again. He smiles at me and starts the car once I put my seat belt on. "Can you drop me off at the park near Jungkook's old house, please? I'm going to spend some time with a friend there."
"Oh, okay," he accepts. "Is he a friend you know well?"
"Yes, he's my best friend. No need to worry," I smile at him to make sure he doesn't fear something could happen, and he trusts me. "All right then. Let's go there."
Since this is Minjae I don't mind being with him. He wants to talk with me about something serious, so I cannot ignore or pretend that I'm too busy. I check my texts to see if Minjae sent me one but don't read any, I don't send anything to Jungkook since he's sleeping at this hour, and I just wait.
"Did you have a good day?" he ends the silence that was keeping us calm. "Well, not good, not bad. Let's call it a day at school. What about you?"
"I had a good day. Do you know when I will have to pick you up at the park?" he asks, not even thinking about making me do the whole way back to his house all by myself. "I don't know yet, but you don't have to come back. It's fine, you will have to dine with your wife," I smile at him. "No, we'll wait for you. Don't worry about her, she won't eat until you're here anyway."
"Are you sure? I don't know what time it will be, I wouldn't want you to eat late," I insist for him to not waste his time driving again since he should rest at his house and not anything bothering. "I'm sure," he grins. "Okay then."
10 minutes later...
"Here you are," he stops the car right in front of the entry, so I thank him but leave my bag on the car to go out. "See you," I wave at him and close the door. I walk away to enter the park, and I head to the small lake where I am supposed to meet Minjae.
Once I catch sight of a boy standing before a bench and giant tree, wearing a black bomber jacket, with tight jeans, I know it's him, so I move closer.
"Hey," I lean to the side to grasp his attention, and once I have it, a smile turns his lips up. "Hey," he beams and turns towards me. "How are you?" he moves his hands but keeps them in his pockets. "I'm fine..." I lie. "And you?"
"Hm, I'm fine too. I mean...I know it's difficult for you, so you can tell me if you're not all right," he softens his smile, aware of what is happening with me since Jungkook left. "Yeah...It's just hard...but whatever. I came here to talk about you. What's wrong?"
"It's...about my mom and dad...I hope you don't mind if I talk about it, this is a bit long, but you're the only one with you I can talk about it," he tilts his head to the side, nervously. "We can talk about it. My day is done anyway, I have all the time you need," I smile at him.
"Thank you," he gets his hand out of his pocket to scratch his head, but he sits down on the bench and invites me to do so. I join him on the seat to be more comfortable and let him speak. "So...uhm...my parents kinda fought because of me. I don't know how to say that, but they really blew a fuse today, I don't know what to do anymore."
"What did you do?" I keep my eyes fixed on him. "I...Something happened with a girl a few days ago, and she complained and went to the director to tell some lies about what happened. She twisted everything to act like a victim, so my parents got to know about it...and they really hate me..." he bites his lips, not revealing or explaining the main problem as if this was really important. "Do you feel like the girl is at fault, or you're the one who made a mistake?"
"I don't know, to be honest..." he shakes his head, showing some serious shame and unease. I stare at him but decide to try something that might help him to tell me more about this in order to solve the problem. "Do you want to talk about it at my house? Or you'd rather not tell me the details?"
"Can we get to your house, please?" he nibbles on his lips but gazes up at me, his blushed cheeks exposing his emotions and fear. "I don't want to...I mean, I don't feel comfortable here..."
"Okay, I'm going to call someone," I grab my phone and tell Jungho about it to not go anywhere without letting him know.
"Hello? Is something wrong?" he already worries, being the real father of Jungkook. I smile but answer. "No, I just wanted to ask if it's possible to come back and drive me to your house? I'm going to go back to mine today."
"Oh, already?" he expresses some disappointment. "I mean, you can do what I want, we just don't mind having you with us, but I'm still here. I was waiting in order to not make the way two times."
"Ah, okay. I'm coming with my best friend," I don't tell him more since he's only at some feet away, and I hang up once he replies with a soft 'okay'. "Come with me," I stand up and lead him to Jungho's car.
We both remain silent while heading there, and when we reach it, I open the passenger door to enter the car and make Minjae get in the back. Jungho lays his eyes on him since this is the first time they see each other, and he smiles at him. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," he returns it, making Jungho put his attention back on me. "I drive you to my house, right?"
"Yes," I nod, buckling my seat belt on. "Okay, let's go," he goes back on the road after only some short minutes, but he cannot help being curious. "Why are you going back home earlier?"
"Minjae wants to talk about something important, he didn't comfortable there, so this is better to be at my house. I go back home now like this I don't have to go back to your house afterwards, then pack my stuff for tomorrow and all. This is easier that way," I explain him with the truth since I know he might tell Jungkook about it. "Ah, all right."
•••
5 pm.
[ 4 am in New York. ]
I enter my house after the car ride that Jungho seemed to have made linger. I let Jungho in and close the door behind him to take our shoes and jacket off. I put my slippers on but feel weird to be back here, without Jungkook. This is going to be extremely difficult, but I want to be an adult who can handle this type of situation. "You can get on the sofa," I bring my luggage to the bottom of the stairs, and he walks up to it to sit down.
I leave it there and move to the fridge. "Do you want anything to drink or eat?" I ask him. "Yeah...what do you have?"
"Do you like strawberry milk?" I peek at him, but he nods at me, so I grab two of these for us and join him on the sofa. "Here," I hand him the drink. He takes it and almost gulps it down in once. "Thank you."
I smile at him but sip on my drink at a slower pace. He must have been thirsty or too stressed which caused him to have a dry throat. "You can talk about it, if you still want to," I lean back but grab a blanket to cover my cold body. "I...I'm a bit scared to tell you what happened exactly. I don't want you to hate me or believe I'm a bad person."