The second time you saw Jungkook was on the morning of your eleventh birthday.

Your parents had been in shock when you begged them to forget about throwing you a birthday party and you just wanted to spend a day at the park alone. They even questioned if you were feeling sick, in which you vigorously shook your head and told them you were actually feeling better than ever.

It was the honest truth, or at least part of it.

As much as you wanted to at the time, you didn’t tell anyone about the life-changing event that happened on your tenth birthday. No one you knew in the Yin Dimension would even believe you anyways. Being able to come in contact with anything, let alone anyone, from the Yang dimension was blasphemous, and you were not planning on becoming a laughing stalk or have your parents worry about your mental well being at such a young age.

Besides, keeping such a secret just made you feel giddy and excited on the inside, and you figured it was probably the way some kids feel when they had an imaginary friend that only they could see.

You tentatively walk up to the spot in the secluded area of the park where you last saw Jungkook exactly one year ago. The breeze was a little chilly and the morning dew drops in the grass made the ground glisten under the sunlight.

You patiently wait as you snack on the chocolate chip cookies your mom had baked the night before. As the minutes tick by, you start to get an unsettling feeling in your stomach. You didn’t want to think about it, but the worry in the back of your mind was always there, no matter how hard you tried to burry it. You never wanted to admit it, but sometimes you would inevitably question whether Jungkook was even real and whether that day even happened. A year feels a lot longer the younger you are because it takes up a greater portion of your life, and fuzzy memories start to fade a lot quicker.

The sun was high in the sky now, signaling the arrival of midday. You feel the presence of its warmth, more than usual, a heat that normally doesn’t quite make it to the Yin dimension.

And that’s when you know.

“Y/N!” You hear a gentle, husky but familiar voice call from behind you.

You turn to see the man materializing in front of your eyes, and before you could say anything you jump into his strong arms. He picks you up and wraps you in his warm embrace. The fresh scent of honey and flowers lingers on his shirt, and the doubt that was consuming you moments ago completely washes away.

“How long will you be here?” You ask, as Jungkook pushes you on a swing. You vaguely recall his short visit last year and had been desperately praying that he would stay a bit longer this time around.

“I actually don’t know. I can only feel it when it’s the last day, and as far as I’m concerned, the number of days is pretty random.” You hear Jungkook’s voice from behind you, he sounds relaxed but there’s a bit of hesitation tangled in his words.

You jump off the swing and walk back to him. His attire was slightly more casual this year, wearing a dark turtleneck sweater and jeans. His hands are now in his jean pockets and he’s fiddling with the gravel beneath his feet.

“Can you tell me what I’m like when I’m older?” You ask curiously, tilting your head and looking up at the twenty-nine year old, tall and perfectly toned male. Realizing that he’s met the twelve year old you all the way up to the thirty year old you because of the way your timelines run.

“Well, I can’t tell you too much because that could potentially cause a tear in the fabric of time and once those threads realign, the events could get all jumbled.” He explains with a nod, proud that he was able to somewhat simplify it for you.

You look at him confused, mouth slightly open and eyebrow raised. Everything he was saying just sounded like gibberish, and you didn’t know how to respond or begin asking the next question.

Jungkook laughs remembering that you were still only eleven and probably haven’t been exposed to theoretical physics yet.

“Basically a paradox” He tries again, and breaths a sigh of relief as you nod in superficial understanding.

…

As the years go by, your longing for Jungkook only grew stronger. Up until you were seventeen, you had never felt self-conscious when you were with him, but now the butterflies swirling in your stomach were really no joke.

He was twenty-three, and undoubtedly hot as hell, and that’s not an attempt to describe his temperature. He was always handsome, with chiseled features, a tall nose, plump lips, and that pair of dark chocolate doe eyes that you’ve known since the first day you saw him. In all honesty, his appearance hasn’t really changed all that much from the first time you met him seven years ago, but it was your attraction to him that did.

Up until then, he had always been a brotherly figure, a best friend of sorts that came to visit you every year around your birthday. Giving you comfort, consolation, trust and support throughout those hectic and awkward pre-teen transition years, where the rebel inside of you would peak out of its shell ever so often. It’s not that you wanted to scream at your mom for poking her nose into your life, but you had let your anger get the better of you two years ago.

“Hey, we all have to go through that phase” You remember Jungkook saying to the fifteen year old you back then. He had gently rubbed his thumb in circles on the back of your hand as he continued to calm you down with wise words and reassuring gestures. The familiar warmth you had come to know, enveloping your body the same way it always did whenever he was near. He always knew exactly what to say and do to make you feel better, like the first drop of cool rain after centuries of drought or the welcoming warmth of a cozy fireplace during a snowy blizzard.

“So what do you feel like doing today?” the twenty-three year old Jungkook asks when he notices you had fallen silent, getting lost in your thoughts again. He was wearing an oversized sweatshirt paired with distressed blue jeans, and even though his outfit was probably as casual as it can get, you found it hard to look at him for too long without getting overwhelmed by his attractiveness.

Yes, it was normal for girls your age to be attracted to the opposite , but so far no one in the Yin dimension had even come close to making you feel the way Jungkook did. There were a lot of guys at school and several that showed interest in you, but you always managed to find something you disliked about each and every one of them. They were always either too full of themselves, too lazy, emotionally immature, socially awkward, physically unattractive, or simply just “not your style”.

“Ummm, how about we go to an art museum?” You suggest, but immediately regret the words you just let out of your mouth due to the stew of nerves bubbling up inside you. Art Museum? Who thinks of going to a boring place like that? You mentally scold yourself for your stupid idea, and the feeling of regret for wasting the limited amount of time you have with Jungkook before he inevitably has to leave again washes over you.

“Uh, yeah ok” Jungkook says, scratching the back of his head and giving you a cheerful smile, completely unaware of the emotional struggle you were dealing with in your head. His skin was glowing warmer than you remembered, probably because he was in the midst of his prime. You had read about the Yin and Yang essences peaking at around age twenty, and seeing it with your own eyes made the fact seem even more real, but it also meant your own Yin essence was gaining in strength too, which made you even more self conscious about your pale cool toned skin.

But it’s too late to change your mind now, so you just go along with it.

“I think there’s a really famous one a couple blocks away.” You say while looking around at the tall buildings of the city. It was a modern looking metropolis, but there were some buildings obviously inspired by ancient architecture. You remembered your mom telling one of her friends who came to visit the city that the museum is a must see, so you were praying to god that Jungkook will find it interesting as well.

It was a cloudy day, and the weather forecast predicted a thunderstorm would sweep across the area, so perhaps the museum wasn’t such a bad idea after all. The museum wasn’t hard to find, since it’s located on top of a hill, which, according to the internet, was the city’s highest point with an elevation of 300 meters.

When the two of you reach the top of the marbled steps of the museum entrance, large ivory pillars surround you. You tentatively walk up to pull open the heavy wooden doors, but find that to be a struggle in and of itself. Jungkook walks up behind you and gives you some much needed help.

“After you” He says as he holds the door open in the most gentlemanly way. You feel a bit of heat rising in your cheeks and hope the flush of color isn’t too obvious against your ghostly pale skin.

“So I’ve noticed that everything in this dimension is almost like a mirror image of the things in the Yang dimension, except with some slight alterations, the obvious one being it’s significantly less warm toned.” He says, as he examines the painting more closely. His eyebrows were furrowed, and he really looked like he was deeply engrossed in the swirl of colorful objects.

You take some time to absorb his words and the information he just revealed to you. You were always cautious when the topic of the Yang dimension or your future came up, because you knew Jungkook had to be careful when it came to the fabric of space-time.

“What do you think the artist is trying to convey to the audience?” You ask, putting the main focus back on the painting itself. You hesitantly peak at the smooth curves of his side profile before quickly whipping your head back towards the painting.

“This painting screams the aftermath of falling into temptations” Jungkook says after a moment of thought. “I think it goes along with the main theme of this entire museum.” He turns around and points at the statue of an angel with black wings that you’ve felt drawn to since walking in. You hadn’t pointed it out right away because you wanted to seem mature, so you refrained from immediately bursting out with curiosity upon seeing the statue.

“Is it just me, or is it hard to take your eyes off of that thing once you look at it?” You ask as you stare at the angel with no face and a pair of wings made up of raven black feathers.

You faintly hear Jungkook chuckle. “Well, that just means the artist did a good job. It’s supposed to be extremely alluring, much like temptations in life.”

You peel your eyes off of the mysterious statue and look at Jungkook. Not nearly as alluring as you. You think to yourself as your eyes gloss over his smooth skin and delicate but manly features. You feel a familiar flush rise up to your cheeks again and quickly turn away before Jungkook makes eye contact with you.

Even though you can’t see his face, you can tell he’s smiling and probably thinking about things you can’t even begin to wrap you head around. There was so much you wanted to ask him, but you didn’t want to burden him with questions he shouldn’t answer.

Suddenly a loud burst of thunder crackles from outside, startling you so much that your first instinct was to grab a hold of Jungkook’s arm. Then you hear the rain pellets hit the glass window, at first slowly like the ticking of a clock, but soon gathering frequency and drowning out all other noise.

“Oh, sorry” You nervously apologize as you let go of Jungkook’s arm, feeling the heat leave the surface of your palm and fingertips.

Jungkook just smiles and reaches over to tuck a piece of stray hair behind your ear. Then he slowly lowers his arm and gently intertwines his fingers with yours. You feel the coziness of your hand fitting perfectly with his, and it was almost like time stopped for a brief moment.

“If I remember correctly, there’s a coffee shop with a killer view up here” He says, as he leads you up the marble staircase to the top floor of the museum.

When you finally reach said coffee shop, Jungkook goes up to the counter to order two overflowing mugs of hot chocolate topped with fluffy white marshmallows. You guys find the shop to be empty since everyone was probably sitting at home avoiding the storm.

“Would you like to sit on the balcony?” Jungkook asks when he walks back to you.

You nod eagerly, seeing that the balcony had a retractable roof so the rain wouldn’t get the nice, expensive looking seating area wet.

Sitting across from Jungkook, you were able to get the clearest most detailed view of his facial features. You noticed the way his eyes disappears and his face scrunched up whenever he laughed too hard, and when his bunny-like teeth would peak out between his soft plump lips, giving him a youthful look that could only be described as utterly adorable. You wanted to memorize it all, to somehow solidify this hard to describe feeling, etch it in your brain so it could never fly away.

You chatted until the rain stopped and both of you had swallowed the last drop of the warm sweet hot chocolate. The sun was beginning to peak through the clouds, and the panoramic view of the city was coming back into view. It was then you could tell it was almost dusk, which meant you and Jungkook had already spent the whole day together. The sky was painted with lavender and baby blue hues; the fresh breeze left the lingering scent of spring in the air.

.......