Chapter 12.

Ephemeral

Hey guys, sorry I took a while! I've just been super super busy haha >.>

Shout out to one of my best friends on AFF HeadToToesLove, thanks for sending me daily memes and making me laugh <3 
Here's a story of hers called
Let Me Know Where Your Heart Belongs. It's a Yoongi x OC fic, and I think it's amazing, with the story and the way it's written *-* It would be amazing if you check it out ;)
There is also another story of hers called
 너 지금 위험해 || You're In Danger Right Now, which is a Hoseok X OC fic and it's really good so far so go read them asdfghjkl

This song <3


Friday, 10th October 2014

It was nearly lunch break when she got back to school.

She came to school late that day, as she didn’t have a class in the morning. But she was still late for English Literature. 

Sighing heavily, she walked knocked at the door and slid it open. Mrs. Joo looked at her in surprise, and slowly smiled.

“Hello, Junghwa.” She smiled kindly.
“Junghwa, you’re back!”
“Hey!” Junghwa smiled weakly at Junhong. “How are you?”
“I’m fine.” He smiled nervously. “Hey, Mrs. Joo told us about what happened… I’m sorry.”
“Mm.” Junghwa smiled sadly.
“I’m sure he was a great man, your father.”
“He was.” She smiled. “Thanks, Junhong.”

The whole class spoke to her, offering their condolences. She nodded and smiled forcefully, when she really wanted to stay at home in her bed, and not face these people.

“Hey, I need to use the washroom.” She mumbled when the feeling of not wanting to be in the classroom grew stronger, and escaped from her classmates, dashing down the hallway past the lavatories. She dashed up the stairs to the terrace.

She opened the door and stepped out, exhaling with relief as the cool wind blew across her face and through her hair. The numbness and heavy feeling that weighed upon her had vanished momentarily, as she inhaled again, feeling light.
Her panic, however, had immediately come crashing back down on to her, and she let out a heavy gasp, before her hands went into her pocket, rummaging around for something amongst the masses of objects that were there.

“Thought you’d come here.”

She looked around, surprised at hearing a voice coming from behind her. Yoongi gave her a small smile, as he closed the door to the terrace.

“Yoongi-!” She ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Miss me?” He chuckled.
“Loads.” She nodded. 
He smiled a little, wrapping his own arms around her waist.

Junghwa had to admit, it was very comforting to be in his embrace; all her panic had vanished immediately. All the horrible feelings from the past week waned significantly. How was it that the presence of one person had affected her so greatly?

Junghwa didn't want to let go, for it felt like letting go would bring back the unpleasant memories. She just wanted to stay in Yoongi's arms, where she felt... safe. But she knew she couldn't stay like this for long, so she stepped out of his embrace, forcing a smile as she looked up at him again.

"I missed you too, Junghwa." Yoongi grinned. "Class was really boring without you."
"I can imagine. What did I miss?" She sat down on the hard ground. 
"Well, not much." He shrugged, sitting down next to her. He looked up at the white clouds above them, before smiling a little. "Oh, just so you know, I had to help Kwon Jiae with Shakespeare in class."
"Oh, really?" She gasped. "You talked to other people?"
"What was I supposed to do, talk to my table?" He retorted. 
"Since when have you started talking back to people?" She arched her eyebrows. "And now you mingle with other people too! What gives?"

Yoongi turned pink as he struggled to find the right words for a comeback. Junghwa laughed as he leaned against the wall, giving her a defeated pout. 

"So cute." Junghwa snickered. "Yoongi's blushing."
“S-Shouldn’t we go down?” Yoongi flustered. “The others are dying to meet you and Jungkook after so long.”
“I’d rather be alone…” She shrugged. “For a while, anyway.”
“Oh, okay.” He nodded slowly. Of course she'd want to be alone. “Guess I’ll go then.”
“No!” She shouted, and immediately turned red as he looked at her with a bewildered expression on his face.
“I mean, it’s okay if you stay…” She mumbled, looking away.
“Is that really okay?”
"Yeah, please. Stay."

She looked at him pleadingly. He nodded, leaning against the wall again. She gave him a grateful smile, before looking into the distance. The pair sat in silence for a while, after which Yoongi opened his backpack and took out a small box. Junghwa looked at him in surprise as he handed her a pair of chopsticks, before lifting the lid of the small box to reveal assorted Korean and Japanese delicacies like sushi, kimbap and such. 

“Here.” He smiled slowly. 
“Bentou?” She arched her eyebrows, breaking apart her pair of chopsticks.
“Made it myself.” He mumbled shyly, looking away.
"Didn't know you cooked." 
"No one does-" He turned pink as he avoided her eyes. Junghwa giggled, before taking a bit of the food and putting it in .
“It's good... Reminds me of how mom made it…” She smiled a bit sadly.
“This is my mother’s recipe…” He said quietly. “I’ll take you Daegu one day, you can have some for yourself.”
“I’d like that.” Junghwa grinned. The two ate from the bentou box happily, talking about their childhood.
“Hey.” He mumbled. She nodded, looking at him, and was surprised to see him smile so deviously.
“Let’s play hooky.” He smirked.
“You’re getting me in trouble before I even got back!” She rolled her eyes. “Plus, I want to meet the others!”
“I’ll call them over.” He shrugged. “So are you coming, or not?”
“Okay.” She nodded. “But how are we gonna get out?”
“I know a way.”


"Yo, Jungkook."

Jungkook looked up at the voice in surprise, before his stunned expression melted into a small smile. 

"Hi, May." He smiled sheepishly. "How'd you find me?"
"Well, I followed you. I mean-" She flustered. "I saw you slink away from Taehyung and the rest of the group, so I went after you." 
"Oh, alright." He shrugged, looking around the inhabited classroom before smiling wistfully. 
"Why are you here, May?" He whispered. 
"I figured you could use some company." May shrugged. "Sitting in the unused drama classroom, and being alone with your thoughts doesn't exactly sound like a lot of fun."
"Wow, you talk a lot!" Jungkook grinned. "But I like to be alone sometimes, and you know, just think."
"About bad things?" She asked incredulously.
"Yeah, that too." Jungkook chuckled. "May... I think you should look for Junghwa. She needs you more than I do."
"Jungkook, she's with Yoongi right now. So I'm not worried about her at the moment. But I am worried about you."
"You are?" He looked, his eyes widened with surprise... but she could see a small glow of happiness flicker in his eyes.
"May I sit down?" She asked quietly. He slowly nodded, giving her a grateful smile. 
"Sure. Like you said, I could do with the company, anyway."

May sat down next to Jungkook, before taking out her lunch. She glanced over at Jungkook, who was looking at the wall in front of him emotionlessly. She gently tapped his shoulder, making him look at her out the corner of his eye.

"Haven't you any lunch?"
"Ah, no-" He smiled sheepishly. "But it's okay, I'm not that hungry."
"That won't do." May rolled her eyes, taking the second sandwich in her hand. "Chicken or beef?"
"It's okay." Jungkook shook his head. "You have all of it, I'll be fine."
"Shut up." May stuck her tongue out, before taking the beef sandwich in both her hands. She tried to break them into two, but horribly failed, as the beef patty fell apart in her lunch box. May let out a loud laugh. 

"Ugh, I at this." She pouted. 
"Okay, you can have the chicken sandwich, I'll take the messy sandwich." Jungkook laughed with her, taking the box from her hands. "This was intentional, wasn't it?"
"No way! Don't come to conclusions like that!" She shouted. Jungkook laughed as he ruffled her hair, before dropping his head onto her shoulder. May looked at him in surprise, turning red with the sudden contact. 

"Thanks, May..." He croaked. 
"I didn't do anything..." She replied quietly. Jungkook shook his head, as he looked at the lunchbox in front of him.
 

"You're here, May. That's doing more than enough, you know?" He tapped his fingers on hers, almost as if they were the keys of a piano. 

May slowly nodded, her fingers entwining themselves with his as she held his hand.

The classroom was now filled with the dull sounds of ecstatic children during their lunch break, only just audible over Jungkook's sniffles.


“Are you sure no one’s going to see?” Junghwa hissed as they edged along the wall.

“Will you relax?!” Yoongi hissed back. “No one will see!”
“And what if they do, huh?!” She snapped as they knelt down behind the bushes.
“Relax. No one else knows about this place.” He grinned. “Not even the other guys.”
“Am I supposed to feel honoured or some ?!” She growled.
“Yes.” He rolled his eyes. “Come on.”

He pointed at a hole in the wall, smirking evilly.

“Just crawl out.”
“Why am I even doing this, Jesus…” Junghwa knelt down and crawled out of the huge hole in the wall. She found herself behind a huge dumpster.
“EW!” She yelled.
“Shut the up! You’ll give us away!” He snapped.
“There’s a ing dumpster.” She retched.
“Oh god, can you please hold it in?” He groaned. Junghwa squeezed through the gap between the dumpster and the wall.
“I’m out!” She whispered. Yoongi soon came out through the wall, grinning broadly.
“Nice.” He took off his yellow sweater and pulled on a black hoodie.
“Our uniform can be recognized a mile away.” He explained. Junghwa didn’t have the same problem – she rarely wore her yellow blazer or her sweater.

They walked out of the alley, avoiding eye contact with anyone else on the street as they walked down the road.

“Let’s get… hamburgers!” He slowly grinned. Junghwa blinked, seeing how he was so carefree and excited at playing hooky from school. It was almost as if he had changed into another person - Yoongi had never been this excited before. At least, not as intensely. She tugged at his sleeve.
“Mm?” He glanced at her.
“How come you’re so outgoing and carefree now?” She murmured. “I mean, it’s so sudden-

The smile on his face fell, as he looked up at the sky, smiling wistfully.

“Being with you reminds me of being in middle school.”

She looked at him in surprise. Yoongi didn’t talk about middle school often. She listened attentively.

He sighed, looking down at the ground as he walked.

“Whenever my friends were sad…” He said quietly. “I would act like this weird- happy little piece of just to make my friends smile again.”
He paused again, looking at her silently. The road was nearly deserted now – it was the hottest part of the day, after all.
“But after the accident, I just… shut off.” He whispered. “I felt like I never deserved happiness after that.”
“But…” He continued. “It’s like, I can’t describe it – if I can’t be happy, let me try to make others happy…”
“So, you’re not happy when you hang out with any of us?”

Yoongi stopped to think. Could it be-

“There’s a weird feeling in my heart… He murmured. “When we’re all together, or even when I’m with just the other guys…”
“I think that’s you being happy, Yoongi.” Junghwa smiled kindly. “I know the feeling! It’s like when you eat something delicious, or when you get a present from your mother-

Junghwa smiled wryly, avoiding his gaze. “Or when your dad praises you for helping him build his new machine-”

The tears had formed in Junghwa’s eyes, and she couldn’t stop them from flowing down her cheeks. She hastily made to wipe them away, but Yoongi stopped her.

“Don’t hold them in.” He nodded, standing in front of her. “I’ll make sure that no one else sees.”
“Dammit, I always cry in front of you!” Junghwa punched his chest weakly as her breathing became more irregular and erratic. He ran his fingers through her hair gently, before pulling her close to him.

“Just let it all out.” He murmured. “I’m here, so it’ll be alright.”

“Damn you, Min Yoongi-” Junghwa choked out a sob, holding onto his jacket tightly. Yoongi patted her head consolingly, as he murmured comforting words that only she could hear. 


“Oh, where were you, Junghwa?”

Jungkook looked at his sister as she walked into the house.

“Somewhere…” She avoided his gaze.
“Well, it’s alright, as long as you were with someone.” Jungkook shrugged, going back to reading his book.

Junghwa blinked in surprise. She’d expected her brother to be a bit angrier, for some reason. But he simply shrugged her off, not really caring about her coming back home at 11 PM. She looked at him worriedly, and noticed that he hadn’t been sleeping well. The bags under his eyes had become more pronounced over the last few days.

Junghwa's heart, already filled with sadness, suddenly hurt to see her brother like this. She knew how close him and Jungho were to their father. She knew that Jungkook was holding in all his pain and sadness for her sake. She could feel him suffer, despite him not making it obvious on his face or through his body language. 

She reached out to pat his shoulder in an act of hopeful reassurance, but withdrew her hand, sighing heavily as she walked back to her room.

If she was broken herself, how could she help her brother?

She walked into her room dejectedly, flopping down on the bed face first.

Geez, Dad, why’d you have to leave us, too…

Hours later, Junghwa sat up, not being able to sleep. She grabbed her jacket from the bedstead – the nights were starting to become chilly. She slipped it on, and stood up. She looked at her WhatsApp feed, and saw that Taehyung was online.

Maybe I’ll talk to Taehyung… oh wait, I’m thirsty.

Junghwa sighed as she sat up, feeling parched. She jumped off her bed and walked out of her room, and silently walked towards the kitchen, so as not to wake Jungkook up.

However, she stopped by his door, when she heard heavy breathing coming from his room. He was taking hoarse breaths, and Junghwa had a bad feeling about what it was.

Junghwa slowly opened the door, and found her brother in a hunched position, taking deep, shuddering breaths into his hands.

An asthma attack…

Junghwa immediately walked over, and sat down on the bed in front of him.

“Kookie, where’s your medicine?” She asked, as he gasped into his palms again. She looked around in panic – his inhaler was nowhere to be seen.
“Jungkook, breathe…” She held his face in her hands, looking straight into his scared eyes. Their father was the one who knew how to properly deal with Jungkook whenever he had an attack. Junghwa had only seen her father comfort him – never had she done it herself.

Jungkook looked at her, his eyes filled with fear.

He’s panicking…

She held him close, running her fingers through his sweaty hair.

“Jungkook, it’s okay. I’m here. You don’t have to panic.”

He nodded, struggling to take a breath.

“Jungkook… I'm going to need you to breathe with me.” She mumbled. “ So breathe in- Come on, Kookie, you can do it-

Jungkook slowly nodded, breathing in sharply.

“That’s good, Jungkook.” Junghwa smiled sadly. “Now breathe out. Together, okay? One, two, haa~”

Junghwa let out a deep breath. At the same time, Jungkook exhaled shakily, holding on to his sister tightly.

“That’s it, Kookie, now breathe in again, one, two-” She inhaled deeply, and Jungkook immediately took in a deep breath with her. He immediately let it out, his breath a bit more even now. She sighed with relief, as he slowly began to breathe normally.

“Good.” She ruffled his hair. “Where’s your medicine?”

“Here-” He opened his bedside drawer, and took out his medicine for asthma. Smiling at her sheepishly, he brought the inhaler to his mouth.

“Thanks…” He mumbled.
“Bad dream?” She asked sympathetically. He slowly nodded, sighing heavily as he rubbed the nape of his neck.
“Yeah…” He shrugged.
“Want me to stay here until you fall asleep?”
“Okay.” He nodded, immediately putting his head on her lap. She chuckled, patting his head gently. She smiled lightly, and began humming softly.

Just one day, if I can be with you,
Just one day, if I can hold your hands,
Just one day, if I can be with you,
Just one day~

“Dad used to sing that to Mom…” Jungkook muttered quietly. Junghwa felt her shorts becoming wet with Jungkook’s tears, and she sighed.
“Yeah…” She nodded. “This is how she’d used to make us sleep, remember?”
“Yeah…” Jungkook said quietly, his voice slightly muffled.

Junghwa smiled sadly as she patted her brother’s head, unable to stop the tears that rolled down her cheeks.


So this is a very emotional chapter, if not the most emotional chapter I've written. There's a whole mixture of emotions in this chapter, so I think this is one of my favourite chapters, in the way it's written, you feel?
If I made you folks sad with the chapter, here's a GIF of Yoongi to cheer you up?^^
As always, thank you for reading, and don't forget to leave a comment :3

- Haru. (P.S. Yoongi saaah cute :3 hehehe)

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yongharu21
#ephemeral chapter 32 is out IT GOT REAL

Comments

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4dcutie20
#1
Chapter 38: thank u for the story....take care!! luv ya! hugs* when bad times end,thr will be guud days soon... hwaiting!!
Yonghyunism #2
Chapter 38: Thanks for taking it as far as you could :)
exolovesme_xoxo #3
Chapter 38: Aweee thank u for this wonderful story thoughTT and goodluck in your uni life n future! I am struggling with self confidence too rn and it's really funny how i use to be extremely extroverted back when i was 10-12 and since i started high school i started to become afraid of ppl and lose confidence and could not do what i want to do and here i am struggling in my last year of high school SORRY FOR THE SUDDEN RANT btw i love how the story has plenty of medical terms which i learn a lot from tq again!
hoinseok
#4
Chapter 37: I HATE YOU OH MY GOD <3
ljexolove
#5
Oh my god oh my god. I have so much to read! asdfghjkl. I think I did start reading this but don't know where I left. Guess I'll start over. >~<
chuppoppo #6
Chapter 37: i just gonna agree with you, and your readers
ING FINALLYYYYYYYY *fireworks*
omg i need a blanket too ughhhh
hamsterboo
#7
Chapter 37: FINA-ING-LY
THERE YA GO
GOSH THAT ONLY TOOK 40 CHAPTERS
4evrINSPIRIT #8
Chapter 36: KKKKKK NOOOOOO DUDE THAT'S YOUR SISTER'S BOY LIKE YOU DON'T GO LIKING SOMEONE YOUR SISTER ALREADY JAS FEELINGS FORRRR GHAWD
chuppoppo #9
Chapter 36: owwwww
i'm glad now hoseok has got one more shoulder to cry on but jungah coing out to hwa about yoongi? mannnn hwa didn't need any more of this , she is depressed enough with her own turmoils with yoongs
hwa don't relapse! hang in there!!!
chuppoppo #10
Chapter 35: authornim! i just found out this fic!
and i made a huuuuuge mistake reading it in one go (it is 3am here lol), because of the emotional roller coaster throughout the chap! i even cried (no ) twice! wait, maybe even more than that. i lost count ughh
but ity this fic is so ing good authornim!
but what's with jungah omg don't be an jungah ughhh
yoongi, you deserve something good as anyone else! min yoongi you get back in that elevator right now!
you've made me soooooooooooooo emo with this story! and you a/n's too! authornim fighting!!