Jungkook closes the manga he’s reading and sighs. “These characters , I don’t wanna read about them anymore.”

“mhm.”

“They’re all so clichéd, like the girl is so painfully dumb and the guy is a straight up , there’s no way this relationship between them would last.”

“mhm.”

“You’re not listening, are you?.”

“mhm.”

“The weather is nice today.”

“mhm.”

“I think I’m gonna get a tattoo.”

“mhm- wait, what??” Chaeyoung turns her head in the speed of light to stare at her boyfriend, who’s grinning victoriously.

“I finally got your attention.”

It was the second week of summer vacation and naturally, Chaeyoung decided to stay with Jungkook till the start of the new semester. The thought of going back home crossed her mind but things were still rocky between her and her parents and she didn’t want to deal with their cold treatment anymore, so here she was, comfortably sitting on the sofa with her boyfriend’s head nestled on her lap, aggressively refreshing the school’s website because her grades are supposed to be out any day now and she’s been stressing about them since her finals were over. Jungkook has told her one too many times not to fret over them, but old habits die hard, and the fear of underperforming is still there, eating at her every microsecond.

“Were you serious about the tattoos?” she asks, her worry over the grades completely forgotten.

He smirks. “You seem to be into the idea.”

“Well..” she looks away. “I’m not opposed.”

“Where would you like me to get them?”

Her answer comes faster than lightning “Arms.” she nods as she thoroughly checks his biceps. “Definitely the arms.”

Jungkook shakes his head with a smug smile. “Didn’t know you had a thing for my arms.”

Chaeyoung quirks a brow. “Do you not see me ogling at them every two seconds?”

“No, ‘cause I’m too busy staring at your beautiful face.” he gets up and drops a quick kiss to her lips before he steals her phone from her hand and puts it in his back pocket.

“Hey!” she protests. “Give it back, my grades could be out any minute now!”

“baby,” he holds her by the shoulders. “You’ve been glued to your phone since you woke up, you barely ate anything today. That’s not good.” he says and Chaeyoung could only pout. He is right afterall. She can’t remember the last time she put food in , and she loves food! stress turns her into a completely different person.

“So, how about we busy ourselves by cooking something? what do you wanna eat?” he asks and the answer comes to them both at the same time.

“Japchae!” they say in union and smile at each other. “You know me so well.” she looks at him adoringly.

“I’d be a bad boyfriend if I didn’t.” he pulls her off the couch by the hands and drags her to the kitchen. Chaeyoung has never been fond of cooking, in fact, she used to think it was useless. Why spend hours of your day cooking a meal just to finish it in 10 minutes? and then you have to wash the dishes and clean the kitchen. That’s a lot of wasted time. But she came to realize the importance of home cooked meals once she left home for uni and managed to survive a total of ten days on packed ramens and takeouts before she gave up and started cooking for herself and Lisa, who unfortunately turned out to be evern worse than Chaeyoung at cooking. She can’t even boil an egg to save her life.

As she’s washing her hands, she hears Jungkook cursing under his breath. “What’s wrong?”

“Ah, we don’t have any meat.” he closes the fridge with a dejected sigh.

“I can go buy some.” she offers. “The supermarket is close. It won’t take more than ten minutes.”

“Okay. I’ll start on the vegetables then.'' He puts the carrots and bell peppers in a plastic basket and thoroughly washes them. As he’s doing so, he feels Chaeyoung’s eyes intensily staring at him. Without turning his head, he asks. “what?”

“My phone. You still have it.”

“Yes I do.”

She groans. “Give it back, Jungkook.” he gives her an unimpressed look. she stares at him with her best pleading eyes. “I promise on the Reputation stadium tour that I won’t check the school website! I just want my phone back for safety reasons! What if I get attacked by a wild bear and run away and succeed in losing it but then I get lost in a cursed forest and don’t know my way back home? my phone could save me!”

His face betrays him and cracks a smile. “Just for coming up with that ridiculous scenario, I’ll let you have it back.”

“Thank you!” She kisses his cheek and takes her phone from his pocket.

“Don’t be late.”

“I won’t!” she shouts before she leaves the apartment. 

It takes her less than 3 minutes to reach the supermarket. She steps in and sighs in content as the air conditioner hits her sweaty limbs. She doesn’t waste any time and heads straight to the meat section, making sure to pick the freshest packet. A tiny voice in her head screams at her to check the website again, but she shuts it down quickly. She promised Jungkook, and she’d hate to break the promise. As she walks to the cashier, she passes by the dairy section, her eyes scanning the selection casually until they spot banana milk. She smiles, opening the fridge to fetch some. Jungkook has this weird obsession with banana milk but refuses to admit it. He keeps insisting that he’s a soju lover, but the stack of mini banana milk bottles hidden at the back of the fridge behind the vegetables say otherwise.

“Park Chaeyoung..?” 

She doesn’t recognize the voice so she turns around and immediately stiffens, her eyes widening in alarm, because three feet away from her, stands her ex-boyfriend Jungho.

He still looks the same as she remembers, except he’s more buff now and his voice is much deeper. Guess puberty hit him pretty late.

“You’re Park Chaeyoung, right?” She wishes she wasn’t.

She forces herself to smile and nods. “Jungho. Good to see you.” her voice comes out tight but that’s the best she could do at the moment.

“It’s been so long, I almost didn’t recognize you!” he exclaims with an excitement that she has no idea where it’s coming from. This is the guy who broke her heart in the ugliest way possible and left her to mend the pieces together alone, so why is he smiling at her like he did nothing wrong?

“It really is great to see you! Are you busy right now? we can go grab coffee and catch up!” he leans closer and she takes a step back. 

She has no energy to deal with him right now, or ever, so she smiles politely and says “I’m getting groceries for dinner so I need to get back home..”

“I won’t take much of your time.”

“But-”

“It’ll be quick. 5 minutes max!” he insists, his eyes commanding

She sighs, knowing there’s no way out of this. Jungkook’s gonna have to forgive her for being late. “Sure.” she says, mustering another fake smile.

-------------------

Chaeyoung wishes she was raised by wolves. Her parents may seem vicious but they’re super uptight about manners and social etiquette. They’d drag someone’s name to filth behind their back but treat them with utmost warmth and hospitality if they come to their home. Chaeyoung, thankfully, never inherited her parents’ two faced attitude, but she did become a people pleaser who avoids conflict at all costs. She can take the worst jabs at herself and still smile and be kind in return. Unfortunately, life is cruel to those kind of people. So here she is, sitting in a poorly lit coffee shop, the meat and banana milk resting comfortably on her lap in a plastic bag, praying to God that her previous fantasy of a bear showing up becomes true so she can flee back to her home and never speak to her ex ever again.

Jungho left earlier to place their orders and in the few excruciating seconds she was left alone, she thought of calling Jungkook, but immediately pushed it away. That would only cause drama and she does not want to make a scene. Jungkook is the opposite of her. He gets super defensive and brutal when it comes to the people he cares for most. Besides, an angry Jungkook is not a pretty sight.

Sighing, she takes out her phone and decides to complain to her friend instead.

I am in the most vexing conundrum

THEE LALISA

Speak normal you weirdo

I’m in a sticky situation

THEE LALISA

What’s the situash?

I’m having coffee with Jungho.

THEE LALISA

JUNGHO?? THE MOTHERING PLANKTON??? THE GAPTOOTHED CHEATER ?????

He never had a gap tooth 

and I have no idea what a plankton is

but yes, that Jungho

THEE LALISA

WTF CHAENG WHY ARE U WITH HIM???????

It just happened?

THEE LALISA

that doesnt explain anything??????

I was out to buy meat

he spotted me and said we should catch up.

I tried saying no but he kept insisting

so here i am

THEE LALISA

Chaeng you’re waaaaay too nice for your own good

does Jungkook know???

uhm no, it happened so suddenly

I didnt plan this!

THEE LALISA

oh my god

where are u? I’d come spit on him

motherfuker dares to walk around Seoul! free!! The nerve!!

He’s not a prisoner Lis..

THEE LALISA

Cheaters do not deserve to walk among us!!

ELECTRIC CHAIR!!

GUILLOTINE!!

“There you go.” he sets her peach iced tea in front of her. She locks her phone screen and puts it down on the table.

“Thanks.” she says.

“So,” he gets comfortable in the chair across from her “where have you been all this time? I never see you around.”

“Uhm, Busan. I’m studying there.”

He leans back in his seat. “Must be nice. I wanted to leave Seoul too but things didn’t work out.” he holds the straw to his mouth and that’s when Chaeyoung notices something she wishes she didn’t.

“You’re..married?” she asks tentatively. 

He glances at the silver ring adorning his finger and smiles. “Engaged. We’re planning to get married once we graduate and find stable jobs.”

“Oh.” she sips from her drink. “Who’s the lucky lady?” she really doesn’t want to know, and she sure as hell doesn’t think of the girl as lucky.

“It’s Yoohyung. Remember? She was my girlfriend back in middle school.”

Chaeyoung feels the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach grow even bigger. How could she forget? Yoohyung made her middle school life hell, all because of him. She refused to believe Jungho was two timing them and made Chaeyoung the villain of the story. Or in Yoohyung’s words, the ‘desperate ’. 

She holds her hands together tightly and musters a fake smile. “Oh really? That's great.”

“Yeah, it’s crazy how we remained together for all these years but never got bored of each other.” he pauses and smiles gently. “I really think she’s my one and only.”

Since when was Jungho’s smile so gentle? When has he ever said anything genuine in his life? And those eyes of his, when have they ever been so soft? 

The man in front of her right now is not the same Jungho she knew. He’s far more mature and thoughtful than his old self. He’s truly in love, she can see it, but she has a hard time believing it.

“I actually wanted to thank you.” he says.

Chaeyoung blinks, confused. “Thank me for what?”

“Dating you at that time made me realize how important she was to me.” 

Chaeyoung wants to throw up. 

“Don’t get me wrong, I don't think dating you was a mistake!” he continues. “But it opened my eyes to the truth. I was an arrogant back then, I fooled around a lot and thought dating Yoohyung was like winning a prize. I mean, she was the most popular girl in our grade, it was obvious that we should get together. But I got greedy and layed eyes on you, and I ended up hurting her.” he clenches his fists on the table, a regretful expression on his face, for all the wrong reasons. “Only then did I realize that the feelings I had for her were beyond shallow. I really liked her and I could never forgive myself for what I did to her. It’s a miracle enough that she forgave me.”

But you could forgive yourself for what you did to me? she wants to scream, but clenches her teeth to not let it slip.

“So, yeah, that’s what I wanted to say. Thanks to you, I found the love of my life.”

Chaeyoung abruptly stands up, the chair screeching loudly behind her. She can’t hear anymore of this. There’s only so much self-restreint a person could have, and she has reached her limit.

She grabs her phone and the plastic bag and hurriedly exits the coffee shop before he can get a word out.

---------------------

She doesn’t utter a word as she steps into the apartment. She lets the door close by itself and leans back against it, hoping she could shut her brain.

“You’re late.” Jungkook sticks his head from the kitchen to shout. He puts down the pot he’s holding and walks up to her. “I called just in case but you didn’t answer.” He smiles. “I guess you kept your promise of not checking your phone.” his smile drops once he sees the sullen look on her face. “Chaeng, you okay?”

“Huh?” she blinks, her mind a foggy mess. She then realizes that she’s back home and that Jungkook is looking at her with a concerned frown on his face.

“Did something happen?” he carefully approaches her and places his hands on her arms. “Is it your grades?”

She shakes her head.

“What is it then?”

She looks him in the eyes and she exhales loudly. “I met Jungho. My ex.”

Jungkook, shockingly, remains calm, but his hands tighten around her. “Did he say something to you?” his eyes are sharp, his jaw clenched in contained contempt. He’s holding himself back for her, and it makes her heart ache.

Jungkook, sensing her discomfort with the topic of her ex, holds her hands and leads her into the living room. “Let’s sit down for now.” he takes the plastic bag from her once she’s seated and goes back to the kitchen.

Chaeyoung leans back into the couch, propping her legs up and pulling them to her chest. Jungkook comes back soon enough and sits right in front of her on the coffee table. He doesn’t say anything, he just grabs her hand and starts playing with her fingers, humming a familiar Taylor Swift song that she forgot the name of, and she couldn’t be more grateful.

Before, whenever she felt down or on the verge of a breakdown, Jungkook would always ask her if she needed a moment to be alone and for the longest time she said yes, but the more time she spent with herself, the worse her thought process got. It became clear then that her mind was not a safe place for her to be in, especially in moments of stress. Jungkook, of course, noticed and stopped asking. Instead, he’d come sit near her, close enough to touch, with no words exchanged between them, just the gentle touch of his presence next to her, enough to make her momentarily forget the worries of tomorrow.

If Jungkook wasn’t in her life, she would’ve been in a much darker place.

She puts her legs back on the floor. “You know, ever since we met, the thought of him never crossed my mind. I was busy falling for you to care about anything else.”

Jungkook smiles tenderly at her words and holds her hand firmly. “I’m honored.”

“Being with you made me completely forget about him.* she continues, squeezing his hand. “And even though the regrets and insecurities he left me with remained, I was able to overcome them because of you. You love me the way I deserve to be loved, and I couldn’t ask for anything more.” She lifts his hand and kisses it gently.

Jungkook melts at the action, moving from the coffee table to the couch to be closer to her. “You’re praising me too much. I’m sensing a ‘but’ is coming.”

She chuckles, because he’s right. “But, seeing him today and just, listening to the things he said..” she looks down so Jungkook won’t see the hurt in her eyes, but who is she kidding, her boyfriend is too perceptive about her to not notice.

He gently lifts her head up, the concern in his eyes vibrant and clear. “What did he say?”

She can’t say them. It’s too humiliating and painful to even think about. She doesn’t want Jungkook to hear them. She fears for what he’ll do once he knows.

“You deserved my firsts, Jungkook.” she blurts out.

He leans forwards. “What do you mean?”

“I should’ve saved myself for you, I should’ve waited until I met you.” she inhales shakily. “I should’ve given you my first kiss, my first dating experience, my first time, my first everything. They belonged to you, you deserved them all.”

Jungkook’s eyes narrow in alarm. “Chaeng, what are you talking about?”

She continues rambling. “Instead, I gave them all to that who used me.” she laughs bitterly but it hurts that she ends up coughing. “I should’ve never let him touch me, I shouldn’t have allowed myself to fall for him, I should’ve kept myself pure for you, I should’ve-I should’ve-” 

“Hey,” he says gently, rubbing at her arms soothingly. “Don’t say that. It’s all that ’s fault, don’t beat yourself about it.”

“I know,” She shakes her head weakly, a tired smile on her face. “But it still hurts.”

“Gosh,” he whispers hoarsely, pulling her to his chest. “What the hell did he say to you?”

She eagerly climbs into his lap and falls into his embrace. She can tell from his voice he’s overly worried for her and as much as that makes her feel guilty, she doesn’t want things to get worse. This is her battle, she’ll get through it. “You don’t have to know.” she circles her arms around his neck, hiding her face in the crook of his neck. “Just keep loving me and I’ll be okay.”

“That’s easy.” he mumbles against her temple and kisses it. “I was meant to love you.”

Chaeyoung bites back a fond smile. “You’re so cheesy.”

“It’s true!” he replies defensively. “You have no idea how lucky I am that I met you.”

Chaeyoung just hums, thankful that he can’t see her flaming cheeks.

“When Jaehyun got sick that day and asked me to cover for him, I honestly wasn’t expecting anything.” he brushes his fingers through her long hair and it makes her shiver. She loves having his hands in her hair. “Girls weren’t exactly lining up to get my attention, especially when you put me next to Jaehyun. I was the scrawny unathletic nerd who wore clothes double his size and he was the hot sporty nerd, so, you know, bit of a difference there.”

She giggles, her lips brushing against his neck. “Not much has changed.” she mutters as she tugs at the oversized white T-shirt he’s currently wearing. 

“And now, oversized shirts are all the rage so you can say I was the trendsetter. You’re welcome, fashion industry.” he says smugly, earning another fit of giggles from Chaeyoung. “Anyway that didn’t stop me from trying to go on dates, so I had Jae hook me up with a couple of girls from his class but they all ended up in epic failure. None of the girls were the least interested in me and the more I talked, the more they pushed me away.”

“They didn’t deserve you anyway.” she says, feeling offended on his behalf. Who in their right mind would ever refuse The Jeon Jungkook? clearly, none of them had good taste in men.

“Honestly, I didn’t feel bad about it. I wasn’t interested in them either so the feeling was mutual. I didn’t want to date for the sake of dating. I wanted to find a connection, and eventually, I did.” he kisses her hair. “In the most unexpected way.”

“We never really talked about this before.” she says, intrigued. “Did you like me at first sight?”

“Well, I didn’t really have any hopes to begin with. You were Jae’s date after all so I came in knowing you’ll be disappointed anyway. Whatever, I thought. Might as well just get it over with.”

“And then?” she’s grinning, too giddy to know everything. Oddly enough, they never really talked about the first night they met in detail, not even when Jungkook’s mom asked about it, so getting to hear Jungkook’s side of the story feels so exciting to her.

“And then I saw you, and kind of freaked out a bit.”

She chuckles. “Why? was I that different from my tinder pictures?”

“A thousand times better. Those pictures did not do your beauty justice.” he corrects. “I knew I didn’t stand a chance then, so I told myself to just go apologize on behalf of Jaehyun and leave.” he starts laughing suddenly. “But when I sat across from you, you didn’t even notice. You were so busy looking outside and making these funny faces at the window. It was too entertaining not to watch so I didn’t disturb you.”

She groans. “Don’t remind me, it was so embarrassing.” Chaeyoung has this subconscious habit of making weird expressions whenever she daydreams, which is too often, and Jungkook finds it so hilarious that he records her whenever an opportunity presents itself.

“And then you looked my way and I was trying so hard not to laugh at your panicked face.” he laughs again. “At that moment I thought, okay, maybe this date won’t be so bad.” he breathes in. “Biggest understatement of the year!” he screams as if he’s announcing the winner in a boxing match.

“How?” Chaeyoung asks curiously, her heart beating stupidly fast.

“My mom once told me when you meet the person you think is right for you, the lock of your heart suddenly opens up. I never understood what the hell she meant until I met you.”

She lifts her head up to look at him and the sheer adoration b in his eyes makes her heart leap from its place. One of her favourite things about Jungkook is his eyes. They’re so expressive and honest, she can see every emotion he’s feeling in them, and not once has his eyes ever shown anything short of love for her.

“I remember exactly the moment I knew.” he tilts his head with a smile. “You asked me about my job and I started rambling about it and how fun and exciting it is to design games and come up with different story arcs for each character and all that. Anyway, I was so wrapped up in my head that I lost track of time, and when I realized how much I was talking, I thought it was game over for me. But I looked at you and you were smiling.” his hands travel up to her nape, his thumb slowly caressing the juncture of her neck. “You were smiling so sincerely and your eyes were just so beautifully focused on me as if I held all the secrets of the world in me. And that’s when I felt it. Something in my heart just magically opened up and I felt the sudden rush of feelings overflowing. At that moment I knew, I wanted to be your person, and if I failed, it wouldn’t be for lack of trying.” he beams, hands cupping her cheeks now. “And here we are.”

“Here we are.” she repeats more softly, her heart filled to the brim with all the love Jungkook constantly feeds her. “A girl who stresses about everything 24/7,reads Shakespear for fun, and is a tad bit obsessed with true crime shows.”

“And a guy who’s a die hard Taylor Swift fan, loves shoujo manga and anime, enjoys banana milk more than any beverage on the planet, and whose wardrobe is nothing but dark hoodies and plain white shirts.”

“I wouldn’t have you any other way.” she leans down to capture his lips in a slow deep kiss, her hands going up to clutch the back of his hair. “Thank you for loving me.” she whispers between their lips before claiming his mouth again, this time a little more urgently. Jungkook easily complies, opening up to his lover so readily and lets her take control. 

Another thing she absolutely adores about Jungkook is the way he naturally melts into her whenever she kisses him, greedily taking in whatever she gives him.

He breaks the kiss first, panting. “As much as I’m loving this makeout session we’re having right now, we gotta eat first.’

She shrugs, flipping her hair back.“That can wait.”

He raises a brow. “Are you saying no to food?”

“I’m saying,” she presses her lips to his ear, trailing kisses down the expanse of his neck until she reaches his shoulder. “I’m hungry for something else right now.” she mutters before she bites hard on his collarbone.

“,” he groans, throwing his head back, and she smirks. She knows exactly what buttons to push to get him on board. Before her lips could go down any further, she feels herself being lifted by the waist from his lap and thrown onto the couch. She looks at her boyfriend in a mixture of disbelief and arousal. “I can’t even be mad because that was ing hot.”

He rolls his eyes with a teasing smile. “Food first, later.”

“But I want you.” she whines with a pout.

“I want you too.” he squishes her cheeks and pecks her lips. ”But we gotta eat to have enough stamina for tonight. I can’t promise I won’t keep you up all night.

She her lips. “I’d rather you don’t make that promise.” His eyes follow her tongue attentively before he takes in a deep breath and looks away.

“Alright, Miss Park.” he gets up and walks to the kitchen. Once he disappears from her sight she falls back down on the couch, grinning to herself. 

Screw the Japchae, the real treat is Jeon Jungkook. 

And screw Jungho, the real happiness is Jeon Jungkook.