Seung Hee didn't know how to react at first – this was too sudden. But at her mother's words, a terrible rage that she had never before felt gripped her and it came from the depths of her heart.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded harshly, and even in this kind of situation, she remarked that she was copying Yoongi's angry tone.

The woman gave a watery smile. “I came back for you-”

"Then you can just go back.”

"You're my daughter -”

"DON'T!” screamed Seung Hee, her hands over her ears – how could that woman still say that? “I was fine just a second ago!”

Seung Hee couldn't breathe, she couldn't think – all she saw was red, and the overpowering urge to hit someone.

The woman began to cry. “You're not fine! You're married now, it's all my fault-”

Seung Hee was not moved – just like her mother had not been moved by her heart-broken tears six years ago. “From the second you turned your back on me, I turned my back on you.”

"Don't say that, Seung Hee – I came back, you can leave this place now-”

Seung Hee was about to scream again, but someone turned her around and held her against their chest. She could recognize those arms, and that scent, in an instant – it was Yoongi.

"You have no right,” he said, in a tone that made Seung Hee want to run for cover. “Who do you think you are to suddenly appear like this?”

Mrs Min tugged his arm. “Yoongi! Apologize, this is no way to speak to your mother-in-law!”

Seung Hee turned her face. “I have no mother.”

"Seung Hee," said Mrs Min. “Do you have any idea how much she missed you?”
“She has no reason to be nice to that woman," said Yoongi. "You call yourself her mother?”
“Min Yoongi!”

"Come on, kid, let's go-”

"No,” said Seung Hee.

"What?”

"No," she repeated. “I want to eat dinner with Eomoni – I missed her.”

"No, kid, let's go home, ok?”

  Seung Hee went and sat down on one of the chairs. Yoongi sat opposite her, and the two mothers sat down, too. That was when Mr Min finally made an appearance.

"Seung Hee," he said, concerned. “What happened?”

She tried to smile. “Nothing, Abonim.”

Mr Min saw Mrs Lee, who stood up to shake his hand. “Thank you for looking after my Seung Hee.”

"Oh,” said Mr Min. “No need to thank us, she's like a daughter to us, you know. Have you come to Korea for a visit?”

"I recently moved to Seoul.”

"That's nice.” Mr Min clearly had no idea what to say, and he looked nervously at his wife, who was serving soup, before taking his place at the table.

The Min couple and Mrs Lee made small talk, and the other two said nothing.

Yoongi watched her keep her eyes on her soup, determinedly swallowing one spoonful at a time to keep from crying.

Finally, the attention was turned to them when Mrs Min said, “Don't they make a good couple?”

"Well,” said Mrs Lee hesitantly. “I'm very grateful that your son is taking such good care of her… but she is very young, and he is a fully grown man...”

Yoongi knew an intended insult when he heard one. “What's that supposed to mean?” he demanded.

Mrs Lee tried to explain, but she just aggravated him. “I mean… that she is too young for you two to, um...”

"I'm not an animal,” he said sharply. “I can control myself – I'm not like my father.”

Mr Min choked, and Yoongi looked him right in the eye when he said, “Did you know that I'm the result of my father's affair?”

Mrs Min flinched as though she had been hit, and Mr Min banged his fist on the table. “That's enough!”

But Yoongi went on. “You're like him – he abandoned his child, too, so you should get along well.”

Seung Hee was glad that Yoongi wasn't near Mr Park; he seemed ready to strangle his son. She knew that her 'mother' didn't approve of Yoongi, so she said, “I live with him.”

This was the first thing she had said throughout the entire meal, and in the silence that followed you could hear a pin drop – or a spoon, Mrs Lee's spoon to be exact.

Yoongi's heart did this odd jump of joy to hear her say that – even though it was to annoy her mother.

Mrs Lee's face paled. “You… live all alone… with a man?”

Seung Hee smiled. “I live in Yoongi's apartment.”

Mrs Min hurriedly added, “He lives at the dorm, and this is a temporary arrangement until-”

"No,” said Seung Hee, still smiling. “I'm going to live there all the time, and Yoongi comes all the time, too."

All eyes turned to Yoongi.

"What?” he demanded. “You really expect me to leave a kid all alone?”

"Move out immediately,” said Mrs Lee.

Seumg Hee stuck her chin out stubbornly. “You can't make me. No one can make me do anything anymore. I will never leave Yoongi.”

Yoongi knew that she was just saying that to infuriate her mother – and it was working. He knew it, but that didn't stop him from feeling touched. He was such an idiot…

  Seung Hee suddenly turned to him, her eyes full of suppressed pain. "Yoongi," she said. “Can we go home? Please?”

He didn't need telling twice. He stood up and went to take her hand. They bowed, excused themselves, and went to get their coats. Yoongi helped Seung Hee put hers on – the kid's hands were shaking – and in the corner of his eye he could see his mother watching, pleased but puzzled. He knew the question that she was surely dying to ask: when had they gotten so close?

He felt a pang of guilt for bringing up his father's affair like that in front of her, but right now he needed to take care of Seung Hee.

On the way home, Seung Hee leaned against the window again, her eyes screwed shut. Yoongi left her alone. If she wanted to talk about what just happened, she would, but she didn't move a single muscle for the entire journey.

That made him more worried than if she had been sobbing. He hated tears, but he hated this even more. Plus, she was a crybaby, but why wasn't she crying now? It was so unnatural. And even Yoongi felt like bawling his eyes out – how dare that woman order Seung Hee to move out and say that he was some kind of... beast?

  Seung Hee followed him stiffly into the elevator, walking like a robot. And without a word, she watched him enter the code and went to sit on the couch. He sat next to her, feeling lost. What should he do? Should he say something? Probably – but what? Finally, he said something really intelligent: “Um… do you want to watch your drama?”

She nodded, and he switched the TV on and found the channel. He kept glancing over at her; she was looking at the screen, but didn't really see what was going on. This was the right drama, he had seen that her watch that… was the episode boring? About half-way through the episode, he cracked: “Say something.” he whispered. “Do something.”

"What should I do?” she asked.

"I don't know – scream, yell, cry, just do something,” he begged.

She shook her head. “You told me to never cry in front of you.”

A flood of guilt attacked Yoongi– she was suppressing herself because of what he had said.

"You idiot,” he whispered. “Since when do you do as I say?” Then, gentler, he said, “Is that why you're like this? Listen, this is a special occasion – so just cry if you want to.”

She took a deep, shuddering breath, and his words let free all the unshed bitterness. He was caught off guard when she suddenly buried her face in his chest, but after a while he put his arms around her small body. He felt her tears through his shirt, and held her even tighter.

"I-I wanted her so much,” said Seung Hee's muffled voice. “I missed her so much… but now, I wish she hadn't come...”

For the first time in... a long time, Yoongi actually really ached for another person - her tears were washing her pain away, but they also instilled something inside Yoongi – protectiveness. He was going to protect that kid, he wasn't going to let her cry like that again.

"I know,” he whispered. “I know...”

 

* * * *

 

 Seung Hee woke up all alone – so Yoongi left after she had fallen asleep. Smiling for no reason, she rolled over to his side.

Something had changed in their relationship, he wasn't just tolerating her anymore, and though she wouldn't go as far to say that he liked her or anything, he did care about her now – just like she cared about him.

Last night, Yoongi had received a phone call, and told her that he had to go. Seung Hee had clung to him.

"Don't go,” she had begged, and he called back to say that he couldn't make it.

"It's nothing much,” he had said in reply to her question of whether it was important that he leave. “I'll have to go at some point, but I'll wait till you're asleep, ok?”
She had nodded, still clinging to him.

They had watched a drama together, and he brought out some chocolate chip cookies. By the time she had to go to bed, she was feeling infinitely better. Especially after crying – it was as though her tears had washed away her pain.

They had the same sleeping arrangements as last night, except when the lights were turned off, Seung Hee was feeling bad again. She wanted Yoongi's comfort, so she slowly inched her way across the wide space between them.

"What are you doing?” he had demanded.

She froze, then blew on him. “I came to annoy you.”

"Aish, stop it!”

She giggled, and blew again.

"Your breath stinks!”

"Yoongi," she had said, suddenly serious. “I….”

He had snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"There,” he had said. “That's a magic spell. When you wake up, you'll be really, really happy.”

"Really?”

"Yep, so sleep quickly.”

She had sighed, and nestled closer to him – not close that they were touching, just enough so that she knew he was there.

Now, Seung Hee smiled at the memory. Yoongi had been so warm and familiar – and, well, sweet. He was so different from how he sometimes was….

Her phone rang, and her heart leaped – maybe it was Yoongi!

"Hello?"
"Seung Hee!" cried Jungkook.
 

Even though it wasn't Yoongi, she was just as happy, and found herself telling him about her mother.

"She even told me to move out!” she finished indignantly. “I mean, who does she think she is to tell me that?”
“You know, that's not a bad idea,” said Jungkook. "Why don't you go live with the Mins again?"

"What makes you say that?”

"Honestly, I would feel more at ease if you weren't alone with him. He's…. well, kind of uncontrollable...”

Seung Hee didn't have to ask to understand what Jungkook meant. But why did everyone think that Yoongi would do anything to her? True, just a few days ago, she had been afraid of him, but now she knew that he would never do anything to her.

 No one had to worry about a thing – and what Jungkook worried about was ridiculous, because Yoongi thought of her as a kid, that's even what he called her – never 'Seung Hee', always 'kid.'

"He won't,” she told Jungkook.

"You trust him that much?”

"Yes,” she said certainly.

Jungkook didn't say anything for a long time. She even thought that he had left and had forgotten to hang up, but he said, “Meet me after school today.”

"Where?”

"Come to the dorm. You promised.”

"I have to ask Yoo-”

"Does that guy own you?” demanded Jungkook, and for the first time, Seung Hee could hear a trace of anger in his voice. “Can't you just come for me?”

Her resolve cracked. “Ok...”

"Great!" Jungkook suddenly sounded like his normal sunny self. “I'll come get you, ok? Around six – today's Friday, so do you have school tomorrow?”

"No...”

"Good, so then – oh, Seung He, the broadcast is about to start. Bye!”

"Bye...”

Even though she had prohibitions about the whole thing, she still couldn't wait until this evening – she would see Jungkook! And maybe Yoongi– she crossed her fingers for that last part.

 

* * * *

 

Manager Woo slammed the headphones onto the table. “Are you kidding me?” he growled. “The deadline is next week! What the hell have you been doing?”
“I'm sorry,” said Yoongi. “I'll have a better song ready soon.”

"Don't give me trash like this again, write a better one, you hear me?” He sighed, then remembered something. “Oh, yeah. Where you last night, Min?”

"I had a family issue.”

"You sure?” asked Woo suspiciously. “Well, I can't stop you from going home in your spare time, but if I ever catch you in a hotel with some model again-”

"You won't.”

"I had such a hard time cleaning that up. You better be careful, because K Entertainment will not stand a bad image. And that includes one-night stands, and marrying high-schoolers – both of which, incidentally, applies to you.”

"I'll be careful.”

"You better be – one mistake and you're out.”

Manager Woo left the studio, and Yoongi sank down onto one of the chairs. He had worked so hard on that song – yet it was thrown away like trash. And now he had to write a new one. The agency was already planning their next album, scheduled to release in seven months.

He jammed his headphones on and switched on the computer. He would work all night if he had to – he would write a song that would take Asia, no, the world, by storm.

 

* * * *

 

Jungkook picked Seung Hee up at seven – he was late because of an unexpected schedule – and since there was no traffic, they reached the dorm in record time. Jimin shrieked and ran from the living room in his boxers and Taehyung rushed in to see what was going on.

"Sis-in-law!” he cried brightly. “You came to visit us!”

"Hello, oppa,” said Seung Hee, looking around. “Is Yoongi here?”

"Ouch,” said Taehyung, feigning hurt. “You're not happy to see me?”

"Of course I am-”

He grinned. “I know, I'm just teasing. So, what did he do for you to look for him as soon as you get here? Something bad, I bet. I'll help you beat him up.”

 They burst into laughter at Seung Hee's expression, but then she joined them.

"Where is Namjoon oppa?” she asked after everyone had calmed down.

"He's coming soon, he had a show, Seokjin and Hoseok are in China and coming back tomorrow, and your hubby is at the recording studio,” recited Taehyung.

Just then, Namjoon entered, calling, “Guys, I'm back. Oh!” he said, seeing Seung Hee. “You're here?”

She greeted him, then asked about Yoongi.

"Again!” cried Taehyung. “You know, that's the first thing she said to me, too. I'm going to help beat him up.”

"Did he do something?”

"Why else would anyone look for him?”

"He didn't,” said Seung Hee. “That's just Taehyung oppa talking.”

"I see,” said Namjoon, putting his coat away. "By the way, there are quite a few fans outside.”

"Already?” asked Jungkook. “But the other two are only coming back tomorrow.”

"I told them to go home but it looks like they're gonna stake out.”

Namjoon glanced at Seung Hee, who felt her stomach drop.

"I can't go home?”

"We'll see,” said Jungkook. “Maybe they'll go away.”

He didn't sound very sure. She was sure that if Yoongi ever did turn up, he would be furious. What if the fans didn't go away? She would have to sleep here, then. But what if Yoongi didn't come? She would be alone with three – no, four, since Jimin was around here somewhere – people she hardly knew. Sleeping over was something intimate – you did not sleep at a stranger's house.

Just then, Jimin came, grinning and respectably dressed. “You have excellent timing! I was sleeping again,” he explained to Namjoon, who snorted and asked, “In your underpants?”

He nodded, and Namjoon suddenly asked, “Where's your friend?”

"Ha Na? She's at home, I guess. Why?”

"Nothing, I was just wondering… you two are pretty close, right?”

"Yep. Best friends since first grade.”

"Wow, that's a really long time.”

He saw her look anxiously towards the window. While the others talked to distract her, he crept away discreetly, not realizing that Jungkook had followed until he asked, “What are you doing, hyung?”

"You scared me!”

"What are you doing?” repeated Jungkook.

"Even though it really isn't your business, I'm calling Yoongi.”

"He's working – don't bother him.”

"It'll be better if he's here.”

"Why?”
“It's just – everyone will be more comfortable-”

"Everyone is already comfortable!”

"Can't you tell that she's nervous? And she wants to see him.”

"Please, hyung. Don't call him"

"Jungkook-"

"Are you on his side, too?”

"I'm on no one's side, I'm just doing what's right – and you'd better do the same, too.”

"What do you mean?”

"I mean, learn to let go – before it gets harder for you.”

He went into his room and called Yoongi.

"What?” snapped Yoongi as a greeting.

Namjoon winced. “Yah, I didn't do anything!”

"What is it?” asked Yoongi irritably.

"You better come back quickly.”

"I'm busy.”

"Well, if you don't get here now I can't be responsible for what's gonna happen.”

"Is there some kind of trouble?”

"Trouble?” Namjoon tried not to laugh. “Jungkookie brought a visitor.”

"Is it that kid?” demanded Yoongi. “I told her not to go anywhere without telling me! Is he there with her?”

"Of course, and they are getting quite cozy together.”

"WHAT?!”
  Namjoon had to take the phone away a little so Yoongi wouldn't hear him laugh. “Like I said, you better come quickly.”

He cut the connection as Yoongi started yelling something about why should he care if the kid was there or not. Ha, who was he trying to fool? He would come running.