“Oh… why?” She responds after some seconds of listening, her tone drops and Jungkook can barely catch up with her voice.

“Oh… no… it’s okay.” Jungkook can hear her reassuring voice. “I’m not alone today. No, I’m serious. I’m fine.” Minah hummed seconds later, and she hangs up.

When she goes back to the kitchen and sits down on the chair again, Jungkook spares her a quick glance to check her emotion.

She looks solemn with slight downturned lips corners. Her eyes are already watery regardless of how much she tries to stay cool.

Jungkook stays silent and returns to cooking. After some minutes, he places the hot seaweed soup bowl in front of Minah.

“Eat this first. I make this last because it will taste the best when it's hot.” Jungkook says casually as if nothing happened.

Minah nods and takes a spoon and digs in. She blows the still steaming content on her spoon several times to make sure it will not burn her tongue. She takes it into . With a few chews, she swallows.

Suddenly, she can’t control it anymore. The tears that were previously filled in her eyes start falling in lines. Her shoulders keep shaking as she tries to suppress any sound that would escape . She covers her frowning face under her palms.

Jungkook looks at her in concern.

“Are you so touched by my seaweed soup that you have to cry?” He says, trying to lift her mood up.

She quickly shakes her head, hands down and looks at Jungkook, tears still forming and rolling down her cheeks.

“I-I miss my p-parents. They aren’t h-here with me, on my birthday.” Minah struggles to deliver Jungkook her words. He chuckles at her stutter and nods as an answer.

“Let’s eat first. The food is getting cold.” He says and takes up a pair of chopsticks himself and starts eating normally.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Jungkook asks when he sees her still weeping and wiping her tears.

“I-I can’t stop c-crying!” Minah exclaims. Jungkook looks at her with sympathy. But then, an idea seems to cross his mind.

“But if you wanna cry, cry on my shoulder. If you need someone, who cares for you…” Jungkook sings a part of the song with his smooth, soothing voice. And his plan seems to work, as Minah immediately stops weeping and looks at him with smiley eyes, grinning from ears to ears.

“You are cheesy.” She says and shakes her head at last before eating along.

Their meal ends with Minah placing the chopsticks down. Of course, Jungkook has finished eating earlier than her.

“I’m full. That was a great meal.” Minah compliments and gives Jungkook a thumbs up. Her face has already brightened up, and there is no sign of sadness in her eyes anymore.

In return, Jungkook winks at her, which then makes Minah roll her eyes fondly.

“If you are done now, let’s go.” Jungkook stands up after taking one last gulp from the glass of water.

“Come on! Today I’m a birthday girl. Can’t you just wash them for me this time? You are also the one who came up with this idea, you know?” Minah huffs and crosses her arms.

“No, I don’t mean let’s wash the dishes. I mean let’s go to your parents.” Jungkook says, shrugging at her.

“What?” Minah asks back, her eyes wide open. “Do you know how far it is from here to my hometown? It takes three hours to go using train!”

“It’s just an excuse, isn’t it?” Jungkook asks, sending her a meaningful stare. Minah looks down to avoid eye contact. She bites her lip and refuses to answer.

“Then let’s go. You should visit your parents on this kind of dates.” Jungkook persists and takes Minah’s hand and pulls her along with him.

The pair gets out of her apartment without any protest from Minah. They get on a bus, settle comfortably on a free seat row, and stay silent...

Until Minah speaks up shortly after.

“To be honest, I was touched by your seaweed soup, yes, but I did not cry because of that.”

Jungkook chuckles.

“Of course I know that.”

“You know what?”

“Is Hyeran your close friend? I accidentally, not intently, listened to you talking on the phone. And she somehow can’t make it to your birthday? I bet you guys planned something out today. So because of that, you were upset.” Jungkook explains, looking out to the road.

“You guess it right. Humph, imagine your reaction if I said I would spend time with my best friend today, then you wouldn’t be able to tag with me anymore. And then… you already know what can happen to you next.” Minah says in a joking, bittersweet tone, looking at Jungkook.

Jungkook lets out a small smile.

“Well, lucky me.”

“You are so hard to like.”

“You are right this time.”

Minah gives a smile, but her brows crease in confuse at Jungkook. They keep quiet throughout the time in the bus after that.

When they get off the bus and go to the train station, Minah pulls Jungkook back by his arm, putting his motions to a halt.

“I don’t feel like going.” She looks at Jungkook with somewhat pleading eyes. “It’s embarrassing. I said I would spend my birthday with some friends. But in fact, I only have that one close friend. And in fact, that friend is not able to show up today. I can’t just go to them like this.”

Jungkook observes her sensitive eyes and then holds her hand with his.

“Don’t make things too complicated. All you need now is your family. Or you just want to spend your birthday with a handsome boyfriend?”

“No…” Minah looks down, answering timidly.

“Then let’s go,” Jungkook says, pulling her instead.

They reach to the destination train and get on without saying any word to each other. During the whole two hours, either of them says anything.

When the train completely stops, Minah starts being the one who leads. Jungkook goes behind her for directions. It takes them less than ten minutes to reach a small, old traditional style house.

Before pushing the gate to the house, Minah whirls around to face Jungkook.

“This is my parents’ house.”

Jungkook nods after her information. He takes a thorough look at the surroundings and the house when they get into the front yard. There is nothing much, just a lot of substantial wood pieces.

“Mom! Dad!” Minah hollers even before she gets to the door. She pulls it and peeks in, only to get inside soon after.

“Mom!” She squeaks, hugging her appeared mother. The latter gives her a much welcome embrace.

“Dad!” She greets gleefully as her father gets near them as well. They share a long warm group hug before parting off, looking at each other in loving eyes.

“Happy birthday honey! I thought you wouldn’t come over!” Her mother says, taking her hands and squeezes them gently.

“We called you, but you didn’t answer! Where were you?” Her father asks, but his cheerful tone remains.

“I went out for a while but forgot to bring my phone. I’m sorry for not calling back right away.” Minah explains.

“Didn’t you say…” Her mother asks but gets cut off by Minah as a cat slowly appears into the scene.

“Hello, kitty! Miss me, old man Gongdol?” She quickly pulls her hands of her mother’s to approach the medium-sized black cat. She plays with its paws and brings it to her tight embrace. Then, she stands up and looks back to her parents. “I just rearranged the time. They will meet me tonight. By the way, I have brought someone with me here, too. He’s waiting for us outside.”

“Really?” Her mother asks in surprise; her suspecting eyes immediately turn into bright ones. She looks at Minah in anticipation. “Your boyfriend? That guy you think has a crush on you?”

Minah shyly bites her lip and shakes her head. “He’s a friend, mom.”

“Oh? You never brought a friend over here before, though? And he’s a guy...” Her mother quickly goes out to see Jungkook bowing respectively at her. She suddenly grins when she sees Jungkook’s face. “Oh my! You look handsome!”

“Mom!” Minah hisses quietly behind her mother. Her father also comes out the door to take a look at Jungkook.

“Good afternoon, father and mother. I’m Minah’s friend, Jeon Jungkook.” Jungkook looks at Minah and smiles at her. Minah smiles back.

“Oh, how polite you are! Come inside first!” Her mother says with much enthusiasm.

Jungkook is about to come, but a sound of the gate opening stops him. A grown man, considerably in his late twenties, with messy short hair and dirty clothes comes in.

“Oh, Minah! You have come?” The man happily says, smiling brightly at Minah, sparing Jungkook a quick glance but then decides to concentrate on Minah first.

“Sihyuk!” Minah bends down and drops the cat to the ground, which has been observing Jungkook all the while now.

Minah runs to Sihyuk and hugs him. They exchange a few more welcome words, and then Minah turns to Jungkook.

“This is my friend, Jungkook. Jungkook, this is my older brother, Sihyuk.”

The two men greet each other in a friendly manner. By this time, the cat has already come to Jungkook’s feet, going around them with its head occasionally tilting and leaning on the shin.

“Sihyuk, hurry and finish up the remaining firewood, I’ve prepared a lot of food for dinner so call your wife and children over when you’re done.” Minah’s mother says. “And Jungkook, dear, how about we go inside and have a small talk with you?”

“I want to help Sihyuk with the firewood out here, if you don’t mind, mother,” Jungkook says, making Sihyuk gazes at him gratefully and hopefully. Minah looks to him and receives a meaningful nod from the young man.

“I appreciate your kindness, dear, but…” The mother doesn’t get to finish her sentence this time, again.

“He's just shy to talk to you, mom.” Minah goes to her mother and father, leaving Jungkook and Sihyuk alone. Her mother casts Jungkook a concerned glance but smiles after.

That leaves Jungkook and Sihyuk in the yard alone. If it counts, the cat named Gongdol is there, too. It keeps watching Jungkook talking and splitting the firewood pieces with Sihyuk.

They keep doing it for around forty minutes. Both men have full of sweats on their faces. Jungkook is wearing a hoodie, so the sweats aren’t shown from the outside, but apparently, Jungkook is much hotter than Sihyuk right then.

“You are a very strong city boy, I must say. I think you have done more than I have.” Sihyuk says between his still uneven breaths. “Thanks to you, it’s earlier than expected. Do you want to play kites with my little son? He’s probably in the hill now. It’s nearby. I have to go call him home, too.”

“Sounds nice. But I don’t know how to play it.” Jungkook says, also breathing heavily. He stands on one foot and wipes his sweat on his face with the hoodie hand.

“If you can split them right on the first attempt, then I think you don’t have to be afraid of a kite,” Sihyuk says, chuckling with Jungkook.

“Let’s go then.” Jungkook nods and lets Sihyuk lead the way. The cat follows him right after. Seeing it, Jungkook smiles at the cat warmly. “Gongdol, right? What a manly name. Wanna tag along?”

Right when he (and the cat) walks out of the yard, he looks back as something hit him. He hesitates for a second before closing his eyes with a slight sigh escaping his nostrils.

“She wouldn’t, would she?”

A/N: Bang Sihyuk PD-nim has a role in this story XD little spoiler: [highlight the hidden text to view!] there will be Kim Namjoon later on, guess what role he will take ;)

well as per usual, just hoping that you enjoy what you just read!

a completely irrelevant topic, but I notice (since I'm a Dai5y and ARMY at the same time) Save Me MV was released on Minah's birthday back in 2016!