“Dinner’s ready!”

Jaera jolted up from her bed at the sound of her mother’s voice. She rubbed the weariness from her eyes. After her and Jungkook’s altercation earlier, she just wanted to be alone. She felt like crying every time she thought about him. Regret and disappointment filled her when she remembered the way she had treated him over the years. Now she found herself thinking, did he really deserve it?

Pushing those thoughts away, she left her room to greet Jungkook’s parents. Jungkook was leaving his room at the same time and they shared a sort of embarrassed look before quietly shuffling down to the kitchen.

“Son!” Jungkook’s dad, Junghan, was the first to greet him, bringing him in for a stern handshake. He then shifted his attention to Jaera who was standing around awkwardly. “My goodness. Look at you, Jaera. So grown up!”

She politely gave him a hug, and when Haeri was finished smothering her son with kisses she offered her a quick embrace as well. “Is it just me, or does this feel like the first time I’ve seen you in weeks, Jungkook?”

Jungkook cleared his throat. “Yeah, sorry Mom. I really meant to visit but I’ve been caught up.”

“That’s okay. You can fill me in over this delicious dinner Jaehee’s prepared for us.”

Seeing the same familiar faces surrounding the kitchen table, Jaera and Jungkook were sharply reminded of that night four years ago. Awkwardly, they filled the only empty chairs, right next to each other just like last time. It was clear they were both thinking the same thing as they fidgeted in their seats, not really focusing on the conversation being held by their parents.

Their plates were quickly covered with a variety of meats and side dishes. Everyone eagerly ate, apart from the two teenagers who barely nibbled at their food. Jaera had severely lost her appetite.

“So Jungkook, Jaera,” Haeri began. “How’s school going? Anything interesting happening.”

“Not really,” Jungkook mumbled, eyeing a piece of pork clutched between his chopsticks.

“I heard the school was broken into,” Jaehee added. “Do you two know anything about that?”

Jungkook and Jaera shook their heads. The three parents exchanged looks of uncertainty noting their children’s behavior.

“Well, that’s still kinda exciting, right?” Haeri tried.

Silence.

Junghan cleared his throat, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “How’s basketball going? You started practice last week I heard.”

“It’s good.”

“Just good?”

“Yeah. What else?”

Jaera’s mother cringed, trying to think of a way to diffuse the tension in the room. “Ah, if you eat up really quickly, there’s some caramel cheesecake waiting in the fridge. That’s your favorite, right Jungkook?”

Jungkook nodded and forced a smile, which she kindly returned. She sighed. It seemed like all her effort was going to waste. She thought Jungkook would be over the moon to see his parents, especially with all the food she’d prepared for them, but he looked anything but happy.

Jaera noticed her mom’s sullen expression. She stuffed a big clump of the marinated meat into , cursing her lost appetite. She swallowed. “Mmm, this food is amazing,” she said, smiling. “Don’t you think, Jungkook?”

She nudged him a little too roughly. He frowned at her but managed a small nod. “Yeah, thanks Jaehee.”

“You’re very welcome.” Jaehee grinned to herself and continued eating.

Jaera nudged Jungkook again. He looked at her boredly and she scoffed. “Why do you look so depressed?” she mouthed.

“I’m not depressed,” he quietly replied.

“Tell that to your face,” she whispered back.

Jungkook watched her eat for a while and decided he was being a bit of a . He just couldn’t get what had happened out of his head. He hugged Jaera. He hugged the girl he was supposed to hate. He cried in front of her. He cried for her. Yet here she was acting like none of it had happened. Did it not affect her as much as it affected him? Or was she just hiding it from him?

Seeing Jaera enjoying her food, he finally began eating properly. The atmosphere started to lighten and the teenagers immersed themselves in a lively conversation with their parents, much to Jaehee’s pleasure. After their meal, Jaera and Jungkook gathered the dishes while their parents enjoyed a small glass of wine on the front porch.

“Do you wanna wash or dry?” Jungkook asked.

Jaera snatched the towel from beside the counter. “I’ll dry.”

They did the dishes at a fairly calm pace. Neither were in a rush to face more embarrassing talk with their parents, even if they had good intentions. Jungkook had to admit his mood was incredibly better than it was a few hours ago. He had somewhat cleared the air with Jaera and shared an amazing meal with his parents. The only major thing on his mind now was the fact that he had no idea how to act with Jaera now. Were they suddenly friends? Were they supposed to treat each other differently now? He had grown so comfortable with treating her like for so long that now he was embarking on unknown territory with her.

Jaera’s mind was also buried with confusion. After all, it was Jungkook who had made the first move when it came to the hug earlier. She was still trying to figure out what that action meant. It was like she was thirteen all over again, with no knowledge of how the opposite behaved or thought. She was awkwardly drying the dishes whilst avoiding getting too close to Jungkook.

A cheery laugh travelled from the front porch into the kitchen, momentarily breaking the silence. Jungkook looked up with an unexpected smile across his face.

“They seem to be having fun,” he commented.

“I’d say. Meanwhile, here we are cleaning up after everybody. Unfair much.”

Jungkook chuckled in agreement and washed the last plate, placing it on the counter for Jaera to dry. While she turned to put it away, Jungkook slipped out of the kitchen for a second. She wiped down the bench and sighed, realizing that Jungkook had disappeared.

He re-entered a moment later with his hands behind his back and a cheeky grin on his face.

She crossed her arms, leaning back against the counter. “What is it?”

“Seeing that our parents are having a good time, I don’t see why we can’t as well,” he stated, revealing a bottle of wine he’d grabbed from the liquor cabinet.

“What the hell, Jungkook! My mom would kill you if she knew you took that!”

“She’ll never know,” he reasoned, grabbing a couple of glasses from her cupboard. “Come on.”

Jaera reluctantly followed Jungkook to the backyard where, just like last time, the moon bathed everything in a glowing white light. The stars were out as well, bright and glinting. She took in a deep breath and savored the moment. It was a beautiful night. Their parents voices sailed towards them from the distance, making the two laugh with how mischievous they were being.

Jungkook sat down on the grass while Jaera opted to sit one of the swings. Nervousness lined her stomach as she watched him effortlessly fill the two glasses, passing one to her trembling hand.

“What? Is this your first time drinking?” he asked, taking a long sip.

“Of course not.” She sniffed the glass, scrunching her face up when the bitter scent hit her nose.

“It’s only white wine, tastes way better than red in my opinion.” He threw the rest of his glass into his mouth, swallowing it in one go, and poured himself another.

“Slow down, Speedy Gonzales. I haven’t even started on my first.”

“Well, hurry up.”

Eyeing the pale amber liquid, she finally took a sip. Weirdly, it tasted better than it smelt. When she was certain she could hold it down, she took another sip and another, and soon her glass was empty.

“, it actually tastes good,” she whispered, holding her glass out for a refill.

“Told you,” he said. “So this is your first time drinking?”

She brought the glass to her lips and nodded, gulping down almost half the liquid.

“Then I suggest you take it easy. I don’t want you falling all over the place and blowing our cover.”

“I won’t,” she replied calmly, placing the glass safely between her legs.

“Just try to act sober when we go back in there, okay?”

He laughed watching Jaera’s head nod back and forth gently. Her body felt relaxed. She closed her eyes as her head starting to float.

“Am I supposed to feel dizzy?” she asked, gripping the chain of the swing tighter.

“Woah.” Jungkook jumped up, slipped into the other swing and held the chain on the other side of her to keep her balance. “That’s enough for you,” he said, putting her almost empty glass on the grass.

She hummed, leaning back against his arm. “Just give me a minute. I’m feeling a little faint, but I’m sure it’ll pass.”

“It’s called getting drunk, Jaera. I wouldn’t have let you drink if I knew you were such a lightweight.”

“I’m serious, it’s just a temporary dizzy spell.” Her words weren’t slurred but her body was going limp, so he guessed she would be okay.

They sat in silence. Jungkook spent a while staring at Jaera’s half-shut eyes, her face radiant beneath the moonlight, wondering if he should take her back inside. He heard their parents explode into another round of laughter, and decided against it. Sighing, he averted his eyes to the sky, admiring the stars.

This is how that night was supposed to be, he thought.

Jaera started laughing, making him jump from the sudden vibration. She sat up straight and took in a deep breath. “Okay. I’m good now, but I will not be partaking in the consumption of any more wine. I feel a headache coming on.”

Jungkook’s eyes widened. “You’re such a weird drunk, but alright. More for me,” he laughed.

She began to swing so he let her go and picked his drink up again. He glanced at the liquid swirling around in the glass and decided he didn’t feel like drinking anymore either. Instead, he followed Jaera’s lead and started swinging, too. The gentle rocking of the swings soon turned into a full on competition of who could swing the highest. Laughter spun into the night air. Playful insults were thrown back and forth. Jungkook hadn’t felt that elated since Jimin had broken into the dance studio. Not even the visit from his parents could compare.

Seeing as the swing set was ancient, it wasn’t long before the chains couldn’t hold their weight and they were flung against the ground, the stars flying past their faces in a dizzying swirl.

“!” Jaera groaned, rubbing her head.

“I know right. Why did we even think that was a good idea?”

They laughed and when they opened their eyes the night sky was staring back at them. The grass was cold against their backs, cool enough to sober Jaera up completely. She turned to look beside her and saw Jungkook lying there with the same dazed expression. A lazy smile crossed his lips as he gazed at the stars.

“Do you remember that time it was snowing, and my parents dumped me here because they had work? And your mom made the best hot chocolate I’ve ever tasted. It was so good we begged her to make more and we drank so much we laughed for twenty minutes straight. Talk about a sugar rush.”

He laughed deeply, and Jaera found herself joining in. The air felt perfect against her skin; not too cold and not too hot.

“What about that time we snuck into your dad’s office and pasted newspaper all over his windows and hid in the closet. His face when he saw it was priceless!” she giggled. “What kids in their right mind think of gluing newspaper over windows?”

He chuckled again. “No, remember it was because we went through that phase when we thought he was a vampire, so we wanted to protect him from the sun.”

“Oh yeah!” she exclaimed. “’Cause he’d always drink red wine after dinner, and we thought it was blood. Oh my God, we were so stupid.”

Jungkook sighed. “I’d forgotten all about that until now. I’m surprised you still remember.”

“Like I said, there were some good things about you. You didn’t exactly try to ruin my life every second of the day.”

“Mmm…”

His smile faded as a not-so-happy memory entered his mind.

“Jaera?” He propped himself up on one elbow so he could see her properly. “I never got to say it that night, but I’m really sorry about what I did. I actually am.”

She smiled, seeing nothing but sincerity in his eyes. “It’s okay, Jungkook. I forgive you.”

An adoring smile danced on his lips. He was about to say something else when his mother’s voice interrupted him.

“Honey! We’re going home!”

Jungkook helped Jaera to her feet. “I’ll quickly say bye, you get rid of the evidence.”

“Okay,” she laughed, watching him run back inside the house.

A surge of emotions travelled through her body as she pondered on what had just happened. Her head hurt from the wine. Her face hurt from smiling. Her stomach hurt from laughing. She’d actually had a good time with Jungkook and she couldn’t believe it. She dashed inside with the glasses and wine cradled in her arms. She managed to sneak the bottle back into its cabinet, then quickly washed and dried the glasses. Jungkook was right, her mom would never know.

She smiled to herself and walked out onto the front porch to bid Jungkook’s parents goodbye. Her grin slightly wavered, however, when she sensed the shift in atmosphere outside. Jungkook’s face was a complete contrast to the cheeky grin he had on moments earlier.

“What’s going on?” she asked, noticing her mom’s strange silence.

“We were just reminding Jungkook about the conditions of him staying here with you guys,” Haeri explained. “The plan was that he move in until you two stop fighting. Now that it seems you’re on good terms, I want Jungkook to come back home.”

“Oh,” Jaera said quietly. “Um, yeah. I forgot all about that. So when will he be leaving?”

“His parents think that tonight would be best,” Jaehee added. “Do you want to help him pack?”

She glanced at Jungkook who hadn’t said anything since. “Alright. Come on.”

They silently made their way upstairs, leaving their parents to raise eyebrows at their unusual attitude.

Jaera’s mother frowned. “I was expecting her to be jumping all over the place with relief that he’s finally moving out…”

“Maybe our plan worked better than we thought,” Haeri said with a small smile.

Jungkook switched on his bedside lamp. Everything lit up softly and the memory of what happened in his room earlier invaded Jaera’s mind.

“So where should I start?” she asked, ignoring her thoughts.

“Umm,” he glanced around. “Most of my stuff’s still in those boxes in the closet. I never really bothered to unpack everything.”

“Okay,” she mumbled, wandering over to his closet. There were only about three boxes filled with books and other random things. She dragged them out into the middle of the room. A silver card caught her eye.

“Hey, what’s this?” She pulled it out from under a pile of books, recognizing it immediately. “Woah! You actually kept this.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. It was from an old game they used to play. She’d forgotten how it came about in the first place, but when they were really mad at each other, instead of arguing face-to-face they would leave little insults in each other’s mailboxes. Jaera clearly remembered scribbling ‘you look like a dog’s ’ on this particular piece of card, running across the street and stuffing it in the letter box. It was an exciting game because if they were caught putting their insult in, they’d lose the game.

“Oh yeah.” He peeked over her shoulder, chuckling when he read the card. “I remember that one. It so bad, it wasn’t even worth replying.”

She scoffed. “I was just telling the truth, though. Did you keep any of the rest?”

“I think so…” He dropped the clothes he had been folding and went to dig through the box some more. After a few minutes of searching a whole pile of assorted pieces of paper, card and random scraps was formed. They laughed until tears filled their eyes reading each one.

“Oh my God!” Jungkook exclaimed, picking up a crumpled bit of paper. “You always did at comebacks.”

“Shut up! If I’d have kept some of yours, you would not be talking.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He got to his feet and finished putting his clothes into his suitcase while Jaera placed the papers back into the box.

When everything was packed, they started back downstairs. It took two trips to get everything over to Jungkook’s house. Jaera yawned, stacking the last box onto his front doorstep. Haeri emerged from the house, a large smile on her face.

“Thank you, Jaera. Did you want to come inside for a little?”

“Oh, no thanks. I should be getting to sleep now.”

Haeri moved over as Jungkook stepped outside, leaning against the door frame. “Well, goodnight then. Tell your mom I said thank you again for the lovely dinner.”

“Of course, Miss Jeon. Goodnight.”

When his mother was gone, Jungkook shut the door and looked back at Jaera. They had never been in this situation before. When they were children they never said goodbye; one of them would either be storming off or being forced to go home.

“So I’ll see you at school tomorrow?” Jaera tried to smile but it didn’t feel right.

“Yep,” he replied, stepping forward at the same time Jaera stood back. “Uh, I had a good night.”

“Me too, Jungkook. I’ll go now.”

She was about to leap off the doorstep when Jungkook pulled her back, bringing her in for a quick hug. She laughed and pushed him off.

“Okay, please don’t do that again,” she muttered, ignoring the fact that her voice trembled.

“Why not?” he teased, a cheeky grin on his face.

“You’re so stupid.” She finally turned to walk away, skipping towards the gate.

Jungkook chuckled, watching her leave. “Not as stupid as you!” he called back.

She reached her driveway, shaking her head. “And you call my comebacks lame?” she yelled out.

He was about to reply but she was already inside her house. He bit his lip, having the urge to burst out laughing yet again that night. When Jaera woke up the next morning she noticed something sticking out of her letterbox on her way to school. She smiled curiously and pulled the paper out, laughing out loud.

‘It’s funny seeing you blush because of me’

---

The following letter is for anybody who’s ever given this story a chance. Passion started off as a way for me to let out all my Jungkook feels, and I would have never planned for it to be as developed as it is now. All of you, as subscribers and readers, have been a huge help and motivation for me to continue writing this story, so thank you very, very much. I can’t even explain how grateful I am for your support. It seriously brightens my day knowing that my writing is something worth investing your time in.

Now to my next point. Today is my birthday (yaaaaas!) and tomorrow I’ll be beginning another year of studying, so for this reason I’m going on a little hiatus. I promise it won’t be a long one, maybe a month tops. It’s just so that I can get my stuff sorted first, and I also wanted to revamp the story seeing as I now have a better idea of how the storyline is going to go. When I get back (and I will be back, so don’t give up on me) the story will be different. I’m going to do a massive edit on all the chapters (dw, it will still be available to read in the meantime). So please anticipate it with an open heart.

Since today’s my birthday – I’m twenty now (so old -.-) – I wanted to update the last chapter before my hiatus as a present for you guys, and to celebrate a new chapter for me so to speak. I hope you’ll all still be here when I get back, and like I said, please look forward to the rest of the story when I come back.

Thank you again to everyone who has read this, commented, subscribed and voted. I couldn’t have kept the story going this far without you. And for anybody else studying at the moment, I wish you the best of luck with your grades and everything else you may deal with in the coming months! Don’t give up ;^^

Lots of love,

PurpleFreak96 x♥x