It was already midnight when Himchan appeared right through the doors, looking exhausted.

“Sohee?” He spotted the girl sleeping at the dining table with only a slip of paper next to her. He was about to wake her up but his attention was then diverted to the letter that had its content exposed. The fancy font attracted him and it was also the material of the royal paper that captured his eyes.

Himchan took his time to read it and he felt utterly depressed. He thought his sister would feel worse than him. Putting the letter back at its right place, he woke her up; pretending the letter never existed.

Sora woke up at her brother’s light touch.

“Oh, you’re back?” Her tone, fine. Mood, okay. Smile, still there. Eyes, nope, not puffed. Himchan did a quick check on her. It was… surprising. He expected her to have cried over this or something but this girl could still ask whether he already had supper and even laughed at the odd sticker on his blouse.

He thought he couldn’t understand women’s mood well. Wouldn’t you have cried when someone you love makes it official that he’ll be marrying someone else? Himchan stared on, not wanting to see more surprises from her.

“Kim Sohee… are you okay?” He questioned.

“Yeah, why shouldn’t I be?”

“Because I’m a guy and I felt extremely butthurt over that letter.”

Sora turned her head to the forgotten letter beside her. But she didn’t know how to explain it. She knew this day would come and she was long prepared for it. “Ah… it’s nothing. He’s just making it official but we’ve talked about this before. Chill, brother.” She laughed again. Himchan thought that she’s completely out of her mind but at least the real deal is that she’s capable of holding it in. He knew somewhere, she’s still hurt over it.

“Did Daehyun ever tell you how often he texts me?”

And Sora shook her head.

“He does that almost every night and I bet right now there’s a message waiting for me,” He shone an exhausted, soft smile at her.

“All we ever talked about was you. What he said is true… He really loves you, Sohee. Daehyun isn’t going to fall for his fiance and that simply means that their marriage would mean nothing. He promised that you’ll forever be in his heart and I am completely sure that he meant it well.” He said as he squeezed her shoulder.

“Thank you, that made me feel better.” She was teary-eyed by the end of it.

-

Jimin took a can of soft drink from the mini fridge to serve it to his guest.

“You served me this the other time when I came here too.” Youngjae said.

“, we’re not as rich as you okay.” Jimin rolled his eyes on him but then they chortled at their pointless argument.

Within three years, many things had happened and that included a new friendship between Jimin and Youngjae. They didn’t even know how that happened, it just worked out between them. Youngjae found that the both of them went along really well with each other, and their friendship progressed even more as the years pass.

“Everyone’s okay? I heard Taehyung’s back.” Youngjae went around to look at the wall graffiti in detail.

“Hoseok’s been checking him out, I think he’s fine. We still haven’t met.” He sounded a little concerned. Youngjae turned around and slapped his back.

“Just be thankful he’s still alive.”

Jimin smiled gratefully at him and nodded. “What’s this smell? Have you guys cleaned this place ever since you moved in?” Youngjae was just full of questions and Jimin gave him an answer that he thought would have pleased the other guy. “No.”

Youngjae pretended to look disgusted and he took a seat opposite of Jimin. They kept their silence for a while as Youngjae was checking out the messages he received but then Jimin felt a little stuffed all of a sudden. “Youngjae…”

The latter looked up at him to see his eyes getting a little teary and slowly, he could feel a surge of suffocation crawling in him as the polluted air went through his nose. Youngjae knew what it was. He used this weapon before, he could guess what exactly it is.

“Get up,” He pulled Jimin and the two briskly walked up the stairs to reach the door. Youngjae turned the knob viciously but it failed to open. Locked.

He noticed Jimin’s eyes became droopy and he relied on the railing for support. Youngjae took a cloth that laid next to him and threw it at him. Jimin hastily grabbed it and pressed it on his nose.

“No other way out?!” Youngjae yelled as a gush of gas seeped in and he didn’t know what else he could do. Jimin leaned against the wall and soon sat on the floor as he was slowly losing consciousness. Youngjae felt weak too but he limped around looking for tools to break the door.

Panicking, he poured all the other tools that they kept in a box but he still couldn’t find any that could bring them out. The tip of his ears were red and he felt that his head was close to exploding as he held in his breath. Letting go of his breath, the strong pungent smell welcomed him.

Youngjae knelt on the floor and covered his face, about to face the same fate as the unconscious guy but then he could hear some banging on the door.

“Jimin-ah!” It was probably Suga’s voice, Youngjae sensed.

His eyes closed by the time he saw the bright light breaking into the dusky space with a group of familiar guys rushing to their aid.

-

“Youngjae, Youngj-“

“Oh, guys.” Jungkook called out.

“I’m still here?” Youngjae slowly got up and felt the sides of his head pounding. He clutched a fistful of his hair to even out the pain. “Are you okay?” Hoseok asked. The guy shook his head and threw himself back onto the couch. He really wanted to close his eyes and sleep like before but he definitely couldn’t. “Jimin… is he awake?” Youngjae murmured a question but he learned that he was still sleeping.

Namjoon passed him a round object and Youngjae knew it very well.

“You know what it is right? What is this thing doing here?” Namjoon was the least interested in the reconcilement. While everyone took this chance to get over the past, Namjoon still had little trust in the other group.

“Are you saying I brought this here? To kill myself and Jimin? Why the hell would I do that?” Youngjae sat up even though his physical health was a worry. Namjoon scoffed and threw the gas shell on the table. Youngjae picked it up and inspected it.

“We may have used this on you, but trust me, this doesn’t belong to us. We don’t produce this thing, we don’t own it. The day before we tricked you into getting into the warehouse, Yongguk made a trip with Jongup to purchase this weapon. We bought them.”

Namjoon lifted his head in interest. “Look at the back there, there’re initials written on it.” He thought that maybe Youngjae might know something about it.

“J.K?”

Jungkook sniggered. “Just kidding?”

The conscious guys glared at the playful boy and he apologised.

“Junki.” Youngjae uttered.

-

A housemaid went to the living room to notify Taehyung that someone had arrived. He switched off the television and walked down the hallway, towards the porch. “Sohee?” He went speechless just by looking at the girl standing a few feet away from him.

“Why? Am I not allowed in here?” She asked.

Taehyung shook his head and invited her in. They sat at the living room as the housemaid served her a drink.

“What are you doing here? How did you find out our address?”

Sora smirked. “I was playing around with oppa’s phone last night.” Taehyung felt content just by seeing her sweet smile once again. He had to be careful around her now as he didn’t want to break her bridge of trust once again. He promised himself that he’s going to be what she wanted him to be – Kim Taehyung.

“I wanted to see how you’re surviving now. I didn’t expect this place to be that big…” She was still marvelling the simplicity and the complete tidiness of the house. Everywhere is mainly white and if not, grey. Sora smiled as she saw a few photo frames that were hanged on the wall.

“This is your father?” She pointed at a photo of Ryu. Taehyung couldn’t ignore the warm feeling of hearing the word ‘father’. He nodded and looked on as Sora was viewing the other photo frames. He thought he couldn’t fix their relationship like before but he was relieved that it was Sora who kept on coming for him.

Sora finally took a seat back again on the couch and Taehyung pushed the served drink towards her.

“You should’ve given me a call. We could’ve went out to somewhere.”

“It’s fine, I don’t feel like walking around anyway.” She took a sip of her drink. Taehyung could see that her nervousness around him was slowly fading away, he guessed that she wasn’t seeing him as V anymore but rather, Taehyung.

“Have you accepted me back?” He asked.

But she got lost in his eyes, as though evaluating whatever wrong he did to her before. She didn’t know if he could be forgiven that easily but it’s not as if she hated him either. She could lie all she want, saying that she hated him for his mistake but she’d be a really bad liar.

Everyone knew how much the two of them loved each other. They’d find some ways to see each other again and for Sora’s case, she had had enough of being separated from him. That day when he begged for a chance, she gave in just like that. Every minute and every single second that they wasted three years ago made her want to stay with him now that he’s back.

“I’ve always had.”

Taehyung broke into a wider smile when he heard her. Although it was a pity that he should no longer look at her as Kim Sohee, at least he’d somehow get to see her often now as Kim Sora. He didn’t mind that if that’s what it takes to make her smile for having her ‘Taehyung oppa’ around.

“Actually… I came here with a proposal.” Sora nervously played with her fingers.

“What is it?”

“Um… I came to ask whether you’d want to shift back to our previous apartment… with me.”