Jungkook was only on his 3rd glass of wine, watching everyone else in amusement as they practically tripped over each other by the bonfire. After the football game, Lisa forced them to eat dinner in the form of a barbeque and mingle session. Although the tension between the two groups had dropped remarkably, they still weren’t in the place to casually have dinner and long conversations together. To remedy that, Bambam and Lisa had brought a trunk full of alcohol with them, and to say the group was making the most of it would be an understatement.

Everyone had breathed a collective sigh of relief upon seeing the alcohol which was more proof of how tense they’d all been these past two days. Three hours later and beer cans, empty glasses of vodka, tequila, whiskey, and Soju were scattered all over the woodchips and earthy ground surrounding the Parks’ lake-house. Mark and Jackson had already passed out near the front door of the house, Namjoon was freestyle rapping in the corner with Jin’s wiper-screeching laugh to motivate him to continue. Hoseok and Yoongi were trying to play a game on their phones, but kept dropping the phone and chasing it further and further away from the group until they weren’t even on the premises anymore. By far the most troublesome Phoenix member of all, though, was Yugyeom who was constantly trying to call his ex – an action Jungkook made his responsibility to prevent.

The Griffins were no better, with the majority of them fast asleep either inside, on the couches, or leaning against a tree by the campsite. One of them, Chanyeol, had been playing guitar for the past two hours, the sound becoming increasingly irritating with every glass of alcohol he ingested.

Jungkook was one of the only people still conscious and alert. He was consuming about one glass per hour to avoid becoming drunk, only using the alcohol as a distraction while he waited for Chaeyoung to join them.

As soon as they’d reached the house, Chaeyoung had accompanied Taehyung to his room, and his mind was going haywire as he thought of all the possible reasons she was taking so long to come back down. A part of him hoped she was simply taking care of him, like the kind-hearted nurse and friend that she was – but another part of him wanted to stomp up there and demand to know what was taking so long.

The emotions behind such thoughts surprised and concerned him because they were completely new. He’d never experienced jealousy, and was under the impression that it was an emotion for those that weren’t confident enough in their own abilities to make others love them – but now, he was beginning to understand it much better. Seeing the way Chaeyoung treated and interacted with Taehyung in such a purely loving way ignited such a forceful emotion in him that, for a second, he thought he could palpably feel his heart being crushed. That jealousy was what caused him to tackle Taehyung so roughly in the first place – but of course, that worked against him as Chaeyoung’s attention completely shifted to healing Taehyung and tending to his needs, leaving Jungkook alone to fume about her whereabouts amongst a group of drunken gangsters. Karma was a real .

The only other, semi-conscious people to keep Jungkook company were Lisa, Bambam, Jennie, and Jimin. But, that was mostly because the two couples were too busy making out to consume too much alcohol. Jungkook was no where near drunk, but seeing the sight of their PDA caused so much annoyance that he wished he were. That’s why – well, that and his confusing thoughts regarding Chaeyoung – he eventually gave up on the wine to pour himself a much more potent glass of vodka.

Just as he finished his first sip of the drink, he heard the front door open and looked towards it in anticipation. Not to disappoint, Chaeyoung was standing there in a mixture of horror and shock as she absorbed the wild party that had occurred without her knowledge. Seeing her expression that was so Chaeyoung-like, Jungkook’s face lifted in a half-smile only she could invoke – the kind that he really tried to fight back but couldn’t. How was he supposed to survive when just seeing her was enough to make him feel fireworks?

She stomped down towards the campsite, practically yelling, “Lisa! What the hell!”

Jungkook bit back a laugh as he leaned back on the tree stump he was currently sitting on, watching Lisa tear herself away from Bambam’s lips with a startled jump and turn towards Chaeyoung. Thankfully, her arrival also motivated Jennie and Jimin to spring away from each other too.

“Chaeng!” Lisa said with a semi-nervous laugh, “nice of you to join us!”

“Lisa,” Chaeyoung said sternly, “I leave for a couple hours and this is what happens?”

Jennie straightened out her hair before clearing and saying, “relax, Chaeyoung, we’re just having a bit of fun.”

Chaeyoung turned her dagger-like eyes towards Jennie, “you don’t have to trash the place to ‘have fun’.”

“We’ll clean it, tomorrow morning,” Jimin said nonchalantly, Jennie’s lipstick stained all over his face and neck.

“Oppa,” Chaeyoung made a grossed-out face and threw him a napkin, “you have lipstick all over you.”

Jimin only looked slightly embarrassed, but mostly satisfied as he wiped his mouth.

The entire time Chaeyoung was talking, Chanyeol was still sitting in a corner, playing his guitar with deafeningly screechy strums that eventually set her off the edge. With a groan, she marched towards him and snatched the guitar away, causing him to look up at her in confusion.

“Go to sleep, Chanyeol,” she pleaded, “you’re going to ruin this precious guitar.”

With a pout, Chanyeol stood up and stomped clumsily to the tent that had already been set up for the losing team of the football game. That left only Jungkook, Chaeyoung, Bambam, Lisa, Jimin and Jennie to gather around the firepit.

Chaeyoung took a seat next to Jungkook and ran a frustrated hand through her hair, tuning the guitar as if it was her duty to do so.

“Play something for us, Chaeyoung-ah!” Jimin requested, trying extra-hard to be cheerful.

“If I can ever tune it back to life,” Chaeyoung muttered while expertly adjusting the tuners, her hair slowly falling to frame her face perfectly. It was beautiful – she was beautiful.

The gentle sound of guitar strings filled the otherwise silent night, creating a relaxing atmosphere. After a few more minutes, Chaeyoung had successfully tuned the guitar and began playing a gentle melody.

Jungkook immediately recognized it as Ed Sheeran’s dive and attentively watched the way her eyelashed framed her eyes as she bent her head slightly to focus on her finger placements and the distant expression in her eyes as she became engrossed in the music. Her voice complimented the gentle acoustic sound like drips of honey in warm tea, making it impossible to do anything but focus completely on her.

“So, don’t call me baby,” she sang, locking eyes with him for a fleeting second to send a message, “unless you mean it.”

Jungkook’s jaw hardened and his eyes bore into hers at that line. She was singing to him – telling him the emotions that she hadn’t revealed in words before.

“Don’t tell me you need me,

if you don’t believe it.

So, let me know the truth

Before I dive right into you.

You’re a mystery

I have travelled the world

And there’s no other boy like you

What’s your history?

Do you have a tendency to lead some people on?

Cause, I heard you do.”

Jungkook’s eyes remained focused on her throughout the song, his mind wandering to the hidden parts of his brain, called: feelings. He knew she was holding back her feelings for him, and that was  understandable. He also knew she harboured strong feelings for Taehyung, and that they were good together. They fit well with each other and she was perfectly happy without Jungkook. And now, she was asking him not to play with her heart and make her waver if he wasn’t serious – if she was just another notch in his player belt. On one hand, he understood why she had doubts about him, but on the other, he couldn’t believe she hadn’t felt his genuineness based on the way he treated her, the way he talked to her, the way he kissed her, the way he even looked at her. He thought his feelings were on full-display, and yet she was still uncertain.

Did she want a confession? Would that even do any of them any good? What would come after that? Their families would disown them if they ever formed a romantic relationship. Perhaps it was time to walk awa