- Jackie’s POV -

My head throbbed as I woke up from my deep slumber. I can never stay up late without waking up with a major headache. I looked over to my alarm clock to see what time it was.

3 PM

Aishhhh. Did I really sleep that long? I slept through the morning, my favorite time of day. My dad would always wake my siblings and I up in the morning to watch the sun rise. Now it’s just become a habit of mine to do so, and every time the sun rises, I always picture that he's with me.

I reached over onto my bedside table picked up my phone. 

30 text messages and 17 missed calls from Lauren

I tucked away my phone quickly as soon as I saw all of the notifications. 

I can’t talk to her. I won’t. I refuse to. Lauren’s my best friend, but she wouldn’t understand. Plus, I don’t want her to freak out, you know? But then again, she is my best friend, and she deserves to know the truth. Besides, she’ll find out eventually. 

My head ached even more thinking about all of this. My mind is telling me not to tell her, but my heart says otherwise. 

What do I do?

I picked up my phone once again and gave Lauren a call. Surprisingly, she picked up before the phone could even ring once.

“Lauren I-“ I began before she quickly cut me off.

“Open the door,” she sternly said, her voice sounding tense.

“What?”

“I said, open the door,” she repeated. I could tell by the tone of her voice that she wasn’t very happy. Just then, she hung up.

I rolled out of bed, putting my hair in a bun. I slipped lose jogging pants over my shorts and an oversized hoodie over my tank top. Before I opened the door, I took a long, deep breath, preparing for the rage I would encounter.

I opened the door and was welcomed by a red-faced, puffy-eyed Lauren. I could easily tell that she barely got any sleep and it appeared that she was crying. Her face always turns tomato-red when she gets mad, and she’s a crier, especially when she’s angry or upset. Although it seems as if steam is about to come out of her nostrils, I can never take Lauren seriously when she’s mad. She’s just too adorable and tiny. But since she seemed extremely upset, I allowed her to let her anger and frustration out.

“WHY DID YOU CANCEL? YOU ARE SUCH A LIAR! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!” she yelled. Her voice cracked mid-way, and it looks like she was about to burst into tears once again. I still don’t understand why she’s making such a big deal about this. She could literally take anyone else.

“How could you tell?” She glared at me.

“JACKIE, YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE A DOG. NOW, I AM NOT LEAVING UNTIL YOU GIVE ME A VALID REASON WHY YOU CAN’T COME WITH ME.”

“What if I just don’t want to?” I said. 

“That’s a stupid reason. Who would refuse being an assistant for BTS?” she scoffed.

“Me. I don’t get why you’re so mad at me. Just take Hannah. Or Irene. Or Kevin. They’re huge ARMYs too.”

“You don’t get. I didn’t tell you about me entering this contest because I wanted to surprise you. I’ve planned this for months and even got help from our other friends to enter this contest.” I started to feel bad, but I stayed silent and let her continue. “Your birthday’s coming up soon, and I wanted this to be like an advanced birthday present because I knew it was your dream to meet BTS. We’d always talk about how it was either we meet them together or not at all. And this was finally our chance. “ She looked down, a tear rolling down her cheek. 

“Look, Lauren, I really appreciate all of this, truly. Thank you so much for doing this for me, and I’m sorry for declining, but I really can’t go. I want to tell you the reason why, but you just wouldn’t understand,” I tried to explain. I felt my eyes start to water watching her cry.

“Why can’t you just tell me? It’s that simple.” More tears rolled down her cheek, and she angrily wiped them away.

“I really can’t, Lauren. I’m sorry,” I rubbed her shoulder, but she quickly pushed my hand away.

“Fine. I guess we’re not best friends, then.” She swiftly turned around and slammed the front door shut. Warm tears stung my face as they rolled down my cheeks.

I can’t tell her. 

I told myself.

Just not yet.