A groan of relief slipped past my lips as I threw myself onto the beige couch in the living area; my day had been a rather tiresome one with Molly rambling on about how fantastic her life was while degrading mine. Upon arrival at my home, not only did Molly manage to insult my “poor housekeeping” –which is complete absurdity- she also went onto to insult my appearance, my romantic life, my “dry” personality, and to top it all off, even poor Jungkook-who she had only seen for a fleeting second became a target of her scrutiny. I was having none of it however, I wasn’t about to put up with my sister bringing me down just to glorify herself; I had had enough of that when I was younger. I was especially livid at her comment about Jungkook being Asian and probably having unsatisfactory performance in the bedroom for the lack of length in his trousers. Let it been known, I have little to no tolerance for remarks of the sort towards race, gender, ual orientation, and the likes; so it should come as no surprise when I escorted Molly out the door after lunch –which she found to be too salty- and told her to call me when which ever demon was currently possessing her left her form. This was followed by her calling out, “You see how difficult you are? That’s exactly why you are in your twenties and have yet to experience your first love and if you keep going on like that you never will!”

     “Good!” I had called back.

I was just glad I had my house back to myself and not being polluted with the negative remarks thrown at me by my sister; it took a long time for me to grow thick skinned and I credit it all to her. I rose from my seated position and headed towards the bar area in the kitchen; I was rewarding myself a glass of Whiskey after the events of today. I took a sip as I made my way through the house into my study, it was a rather dull room in the house; the paint on the wall a warm tone of hunter green filled with bookshelves decorated with what I would probably consider my most prized possessions; books. I have adoration for the written word, if it wasn’t obvious enough from the fact of my small collection then one would know from the fact that I teach Shakespearian Literature at the University. My study was the heart of my home, although the room was small and only allowed two armchairs and coffee table; it was still my pride and joy. If I could compare my affection for books, I would say I was the equivalent to Ariel from “The Little Mermaid” where she flutters about her treasure trove singing “Part of your World.” Although the room was certainly nothing out of the ordinary, it was just right for me and –although I will never admit this aloud- one day I hope my future husband will enjoy reading novels as much as I do and we could spend our lazy days in this room, or in another study room in our future home reading as we cozy up to each other.

I sighed heavily at the thought, I have never been one to be involved in romance as my sister so kindly pointed out, but I’ve always been a bit of a hopeless romantic. Though I doubt that I could be blamed when I have the works of Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, and more who have no doubt spoiled me rotten with their ideas of romance.

I took another sip of my Whiskey, the smooth burn bringing me an odd form of comfort as I strolled around the room; my fingers running along the spines of the novels on the third shelf until I found the tale I knew would lift my spirits; “Pride & Prejudice.” It was one of my favorites and it never went unnoticed how much Lizzie Bennet and I had in common, we were two “difficult” women with similar ideals.

Before I could even sit down in my reading chair the sound of the doorbell chimed throughout the house. I muttered a few curses at the noisy perpetrator until I reached the door, praying to the heavens above that it wasn’t Molly coming to put a damper on the rest of my day. I opened the door and yet again had been pleasantly surprised; at my doorstep for the second time that day was Jungkook. He had changed out of his sweaty attire and looked just as refreshed, probably just out of the shower; he scratched the nape of his neck shyly as he glanced across the lawn towards his house.

        “Jungkook, hello again,” I said mustering a smile despite the slight annoyance of never getting the chance to crack my favorite novel open, “did you lose your ball again?” I asked, opening the door wider for him to come in should that have been his reason.

Jungkook shook his head guiltily, probably because the only reason he had ever knocked on my door was to retrieve their basketball. A small, nervous smile found its way on his lips as his gaze landed on mine, “I actually came by to you to our house for movie night,” he stated, trying his best to not let his confidence waiver though it was clearly obvious it was, “I mean, unless you don’t want to come, which is alright, we would all understand if you didn’t want to join us sinc-“

I cut him off his rambling by grabbing my house keys, walking out the door and locking it behind me; I turned around to face him again with a smile on my face and a slight flush on my cheeks which couldn’t be helped since I found his actions to be quite adorable. “It’s very sweet of you to me although I live just next door,” I said, hoping he picked up on both the tease and the gratitude towards the gesture although I was sure his friends had forced him to retrieve me.

     “It’s my pleasure,” Jungkook responded as we began the short walk between our homes. He was silent for a moment- pensive- from my deduction since he would take a glance at me and acted like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how.

      “Ask,” I kindly demanded as we were already on the lawn of his home, about to walk onto the front porch.

Jungkook glanced down at me, his eyes slightly bewildered, “what?” he questioned in turn.

     “Whatever it is you wanted to ask me since I just about opened my front door,” I responded, an amused smile finding its way on my face as I watched the younger boy flush at the cheeks and fumble for words until he sighed and decided on his truth.

     “I-I just wanted to know if you were okay, I was at the side of our yard moving our basketball hoop a while ago when I heard some shouting coming from your house,” Jungkook recanted softly, although he seemed to have been terribly shy before asking, his eyes now held the soften look of concern, his plump lips slightly parted as his tongue nervously swiped at his bottom lip.

The warmth that emanated earlier from the incident found itself nestled in the pit of my stomach, I felt an odd sort of elation in my chest as though there was someone inside my body blowing up a warm balloon and –somehow- it felt nice. I smiled up at Jungkook as I spoke my next words, “my sister and I had a disagreement, no big deal.” I played it off, not having any intention to tell him the topic of our disagreement as it would clearly make him uncomfortable; though I did hope he hadn’t heard what Molly said outside which to my dismay he probably did.

It seemed Jungkook arrived at the conclusion that I wasn’t going to let on much about the argument that unfolded and thankfully didn’t pry for the entire story, he simply shrugged his shoulders and carried onto his front door, opening it wide without even using the key.

         “Guys, we’ve got company!” Jungkook shouted throughout the house and all that could be heard afterwards were the sound of scattered galloping footsteps barreling down the stairs. I was curious as to how they maintained a horse in the household but at the end of the staircase instead of being greeted by the equestrian animal, I found Taehyun and Jimin smiling like a pair of buffoons.

        “Mily!” Taehyun was the first of the two to approach me, wrapping me in his arms in a friendly display of affection, “I haven’t seen you in years, I’ve missed you so much!” Taehyun continued dramatically while I waited in his arms for his monologue to come to an end. I chuckled delightedly as I returned his embrace, the sound of my voice muffled as he held my face against his sinewy chest, “but I live next door to you! I wave hello every time I go get the mail out of the mailbox!” I exclaimed, clearly baffled by his statement. Although I only met taehyun a few weeks ago, he already felt like one of my best friends.

     “Alright, alright, knock it off Taehyun you don’t want to step on anyone’s toes here,” Jimin stated cryptically as he pulled Taehyun off of me, “besides, it’s my turn!” Jimin then threw himself at me it a tight embrace that quite literally took my breath away.

    “Hi, Jimin, I can’t really breathe right now.” I muttered out breathlessly but Jimin didn’t seem to take the hint, offering up a cheesy line of self-praise instead, “I know, I’m breath-taking.”

In a flash Jimin was pried away from me thanks to the help of Jungkook who looked rather displeased with a highly amused Jimin, “enough,” demanded the youngest, his voice firm as he exchanged glances with his friends; his body language tense as he held Jimin at arm’s length. A silent conversation passing through their eyes which I desperately wanted to understand to h