Jaehee was looking forward to getting home and enjoying a night of total relaxation, but the minute she walked through the front door she knew that wouldn’t be possible. She sighed and dumped her bag in the same place she’d slipped her shoes off. Maybe she could somehow tiptoe up to the bathroom and have a quiet bath at least, but another frustrated scream from her daughter was telling her that wasn’t an option either.

“Open this goddamn door, Jungkook!”  she could hear Jaera shriek upstairs.

What are they fighting about this time? Jaehee took a detour to the kitchen to put some leftovers in the oven before hesitantly trudging upstairs to see what was going on. Jaera’s shouts and obviously ignored demands guided her mother straight to the bathroom she had been hoping to escape to.

Jaera didn’t notice her mother watching her as she leaned against the bathroom door, her face flat against the cream-white surface.

“Jungkook,” she half-mumbled, half-groaned. “I need to use the bathroom.”

Jungkook didn’t respond. It was completely silent on the other side of the door. Jaehee finally cleared , making Jaera almost fall backwards in fright.

“Mom.” She reached a hand up to calm her heart. “What are you doing?”

Jaehee raised an eyebrow. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“This idiot.” Jaera kicked the bathroom door and it shook slightly with the impact. “Won’t let me in the bathroom. He’s been in there for, like, forty-five minutes now. He’s being such an ! ” She yelled the last word so Jungkook could hear.

Jaehee inched her way closer to Jaera. “Hmm. Do you have any idea what he’s doing in there?”

“No,” she replied in a way that suggested she’d really meant to say, how the hell would I know?

“Jungkook?” Jaehee gently knocked on the door. “Are you alright in there, honey?”

Jaera rolled her eyes at her mother’s kind words but waited just as eagerly for a reply.

“Jungkook?” she tried again.

A few moments of silence passed when they heard the click of the door unlocking. Jungkook kept his eyes to the ground and passed through the two like an invisible wind, heading straight for his bedroom. Jaehee trailed him with her eyes until his bedroom door slammed shut.

She glanced at Jaera and they shared the same confused and questioning look. Jaera then shrugged nonchalantly. “Finally, I can shower after a long day’s work.”

“You only do three hour shifts, Jaera. I wouldn’t even call that a proper work day.”

Jaera rolled her eyes again and grabbed a towel from the linen closet. “Don’t forget, I also had a whole eight hours of school before that.”

With that, she shut the door, leaving Jaehee to laugh quietly at her daughter’s oh-so-positive outlook on life. Almost instantly, her thoughts wandered back to Jungkook. It was fair to say she was worried about him. He was like a son to her, so seeing him act like that triggered all the maternal, protective instincts inside her. But she knew him well, and barging into his room to try and help him would only end badly. He liked to keep to himself most of the time, especially when he was stressed. She’d noticed that when he was younger. She’d also noticed there was only one person that could wind him up so bad.

Jaehee took a glimpse at the closed bathroom door, shaking her head and wondering how on Earth the two would ever get along.

***

Jungkook didn’t mean to be an . He didn’t mean to be so void of emotion. He didn’t mean to zone out so deeply that he couldn’t even hear people call his own name. But sometimes he’d get so lost in his thoughts that he couldn’t help it. Ever since he was little, if his parents had an argument, if he got a bad grade or if Jaera really stressed him out, he’d just shut himself in his room, out of the world, until all the depressing feelings went away. He hated the way his emotions took over him, like threatening storm clouds that he had to quickly run and find shelter from.

He knew what had triggered his sudden need for isolation. As soon as Yoongi mentioned Jin’s name he felt everything inside him flip upside down. He was still losing the race against his past. He just wanted everything to go back to the way it was, when all his friends were happy and they could dance when they wanted to and do as they pleased. They had no worries, no stresses. They were free.

Dance. That’s what he needed. He mindlessly snatched a jacket from his closet and exited his room after being in there for what felt like hours. Judging by the absence of sunlight outside, it was late. He hoped Jaera and her mom were already asleep so he wouldn’t have to deal with a lecture about sneaking out at night. Making sure the key was safe in the pocket of his jeans, he slipped out of the front door and into the chilly evening air.

What if he got caught at school so late? What if it led to all of Mr. Kim’s threats becoming reality? Or what if he got mugged on the side of the road?

None of those questions even bothered Jungkook. His mind was fully intent on what he needed to do, all the consequences thrown to the back of his head like unnecessary trash. Who cares what happens to me?

Nothing but a calm breeze and the glowing moon answered his silent question.

Exactly. Nobody.

The journey to school was short-lived. Jungkook hadn’t realized how fast he’d been walking the whole time and before he knew it he was creeping past the wiry fences that scaled the back field. He spotted the abandoned building, thoroughly scoped out his surroundings and hurried over to it. A rough wind swept past him. He shivered as he unlocked the door to the dance room. It was completely dark inside and eerily quiet. He found the light switch by memory and the room was suddenly filled with a bleak fluorescent glow. He was momentarily reminded of the room that he dreamed about a few nights ago and another shudder ran down his spine. He shook the feeling away, remembering why he was there.

Finally. He was alone in peace. All he could hear was the slight creaking of the walls, the soft rattling of the window and his own footsteps making their way to the mirrors. He took in his appearance and almost didn’t recognize himself. His skin was dull, his eyes lifeless. It was like he had aged ten years in the last twenty four hours.

Only one way to liven up, he thought, plugging his phone into the sound system.

He warily glanced at the window; an empty, black sky peeked back at him and he started the music. He kept the volume low, stepping back to let the music take him away. His movements were sloppy at first, restrained by fatigue, but once he was more comfortable they flowed just as smoothly as always. Jungkook danced until his muscles ached, his lungs burned and every inch of his body was soaked in sweat. He danced until he didn’t even have enough energy to think, to remember, to move. He collapsed onto the floor, staring up at the ceiling, his chest rising and falling rapidly. The floor was cold against his back. His eyes followed the crisscrossed lines decorating the ceiling above him until they blurred and his eyes fell shut. He was just conscious enough to hear faint rustling outside the door and a muffled voice, but he was asleep before he could be sure.

***

“Why is the light on?”

“I don’t know. What if somebody’s in there?”

“Nobody else has a key except for us.”

“Well, hurry up and unlock it so we can check it out.”

Jimin, Taehyung and Hyesoon huddled outside the door of the dance studio, curiosity provoking them. It was morning, the sun was high above them already and school was starting in an hour. They thought they’d have enough time to meet up in the studio quickly, but they weren’t expecting to find someone lying on the floor.

“What the hell?” Hyesoon gasped, eyeing the curled up body. “Is that Jungkook?”

“Yep.” Taehyung bent down beside him and stuck a finger under his nose to see if he was breathing. “Oh phew. He’s just sleeping.”

“Why is he sleeping here?”

Taehyung looked up, clueless, and shrugged. Jimin walked over and nudged Jungkook’s arm gently. He knew he was a heavy sleeper so it took a few tries before he finally began to wake. His eyes fluttered open.

“Jimin?” Jungkook’s voice was thick with exhaustion.

“What happened? Did you get kicked out?”

Jungkook’s eyebrows furrowed as he struggled to make sense of his surroundings.

“Jungkook.” Jimin attempted to bring the boy back to reality. “Why are you here?”

Realization finally hit him. He brushed the legs of his jeans off, straightened his jacket and stood up. “I just needed to relieve some stress last night,” Jungkook explained casually. “I danced for a while and then I must’ve fallen asleep.”

Taehyung and Hyesoon only stared while Jimin shook his head. “You came here at night? That’s pretty risky,” Jimin commented. “And why were you so stressed? Was it because of Jaera?”

Jungkook glanced at Hyesoon then back at Jimin. “No.”

It only took Jimin one look to figure it out. “It’s Jin, isn’t it?”

Jungkook stayed silent, struggling to protest. Instead, he nodded slowly.

Jimin sighed. “Why do you always feel like you have to deal with these things alone?”

Jungkook shrugged and focused on the ground like a little kid getting scolded.

“You know we’re here for you. We always have been. If you’re pissed off, all you gotta do is call us.” Jimin stepped forward to lay a reassuring hand on Jungkook’s back. “I know you don’t wanna hear it because you don’t believe it, but Jin isn’t here for you. I just know it. You’re only being paranoid when the reality is you have nothing to worry about. Whatever Jin is doing here probably has nothing at all to do with you. Okay?”

Jungkook glanced up at Jimin’s face. He wanted to believe him, he really did, but there always doubt hanging in the back of his mind tugging him back to his negative thoughts. Instead of causing more worry, he gave Jimin a convincing smile. “You’re probably right. What time is it anyways?” he asked, changing the subject.

“It’s just after seven. We needed somewhere private to talk about the break-in.”

“Oh, right. I was wondering why she was here.” Jungkook tilted his head in Hyesoon’s direction. “I thought there was a ‘no outsiders’ rule.”

“Well, you kinda ed that up when Jaera followed you here, so I guess we can start making exceptions.”

Hyesoon cleared extra loudly to remind everybody she was still standing there. “Sorry to interrupt, but I’ve got a club meeting in about fifteen minutes so we better make this quick. Are you gonna be joining us, Jungkook?”

“Sure.” He shrugged. “I did tell Jaera I wanted to help you guys.”

“Cool.” Hyesoon scooted over to a clear spot on the floor, signaling for the rest of them to sit down as well. They formed a slightly messy circle and Taehyung pulled his laptop out of his bag.

“Okay,” he said, scrolling through a few documents. “We might as well give you the run down on what we’ve got so far. So… we’ve drafted up a rough map of the office area including the locations of all the security cameras. Hyesoon’s figured out that they rotate every ten seconds into different positions covering almost every inch of the place. Fortunately, we’ve found a blind spot that’ll get us close enough to the security room; unfortunately there’s a camera directly above the entrance. Seeing as it’ll take too long to disable all the cameras, I can find a way to disable that one so we can safely get in.” He took a breath, tapped a few keys and continued. “The second obstacle is the code for the security room. We spoke to Miss Yang and she still has no clue what it is. Mr. Kim’s been keeping it top secret, but she did say she suspects his secretary knows it as well. If that’s the case we can try to lure it out of her, which is both a risk and challenge. If that doesn’t work, our only hope is to try to override it.” He looked back up, happy to see everybody still paying attention. It wasn’t often that his friends listened to him speak for so long without zoning out or telling him to shut up.

“Then, what?” Jungkook suddenly said. “You get the security tape, find out who Mr. Kim was talking to and then what? Hope to get a story out of it?”

Hyesoon was quick to jump to their defense. “You might be doubtful about this, Jungkook, but I know this is something important. I can feel it. I can always feel when there’s a good story, I can always dig up information when it seems like there’s nothing there and I always finish what I start. If you’re not comfortable with all of this, you’re welcome to leave.”

Jungkook wanted to yell at the girl for even speaking to him like that. After all, she was in his  dance studio, but he kind of admired her bravery. “Alright, I get it. Continue.”

“Thank you.” Hyesoon pulled out her tattered notebook, flipping a few pages over. “Now, all we’ve got left to decide is, when are we going to do this?”

Blank stares were exchanged between the group.

“It’ll have to be after school hours, of course,” Taehyung pointed out.  

“Maybe even during the weekend?” Jimin suggested.

Hyesoon quickly jotted down notes. “Right, right. And we’ll have to be absolutely sure that everything goes according to plan when we actually get there. Taehyung, you have to be certain about the camera and the code, and Jimin, you need to be positive that you can find a way to actually get to the main office.”

“Definitely,” Jimin replied. “I know the perfect access point. There’s a window in the roof of the gym we can climb through, and any doors from there to the office are sure to be unlocked. There aren’t many cameras around those particular ‘low-risk’ areas, so it should be fairly easy.”

“Great. And once we’re in there, we’ll find the tape for the date of the conversation, see who was leaving the school around lunch time that day and work from there. Who knows, we might even find something even more interesting in those tapes.”

“It sounds like a plan.” Jimin clasped his hands together. “So how does this weekend sound? I wanna get this out of the way as soon as possible.”

“I’m good with that,” Hyesoon said, sending a questioning look to Taehyung, who nodded in return. “I guess it’s settled, then. This Saturday, we’re going to break into the school’s security room.”

Jungkook didn’t feel like hanging around school after the “top secret” meeting. His body was sore from sleeping on the hard floor of the studio, plus he didn’t even have his uniform. Maybe he was due for a day off school anyways. As long as his parents didn’t find out, or worse, Mr. Kim. Instead of heading back to Jaera’s he hung around a few stores and cafés to clear his mind a bit. By the time he started walking home it was already way past four o’clock. He slunk through the front door, making sure to be extra quiet in case Jaehee was there.

The house was silent, except for the faint ticking of the clock that hangs in the hallway and the gentle hum of the washing machine running. Jungkook stopped by the bathroom before tiptoeing to his room. Whatever peace of mind he had gained throughout his day off school was quickly torn apart when he saw Jaera sitting at his desk.

She didn’t look up at him. He didn’t move.

Slowly, his gaze travelled from the confused expression on her face to the neatly folded piece of paper in her hands. Realization struck him.

“What are you doing?” he finally said, attempting to snatch the paper off her.

She stood up just as quickly and jumped back, holding the paper tight in her grasp.

“Jaera! What the are you doing?”

He lunged at her again but she held the paper out of his reach, turning it over so it was facing him. He felt the blood drain from his face as a mixture of embarrassment and pure rage filled his body.

“What is this?” she half-screamed, half-whispered.

He stared at the paper, trying to pretend he had no idea what it was, trying to think of an excuse or any other story he could feed to her, but he couldn’t. Instead, he stood there just as shocked as her.

“Answer me, Jungkook. What is this?”

He knew exactly what it was, but he couldn’t speak. The picture she was holding in her hand was staring back at him and he couldn’t find the strength to respond when those eyes pierced into him. The picture he had drawn out of sheer stress and frustration, a picture he had long forgotten about until now. At the time he didn’t know why he’d drawn it. He needed to release whatever problems that had built up inside him and that was the result.

A perfect sketch of the one girl he hated, wearing the exact expression that adorned her face when he’d walked into his room a few moments ago.

“Jungkook.” Jaera’s face was calm but her eyes were dense with worry. “Is this me?”

---

 A/N: It’s officially 2016 where I am, so HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody! I hope you all enjoy your year, make the most of it, regret nothing and achieve all your goals. ^_^ Let’s hope it’s another successful year for BTS as well <3 Love always!