Jiyoo woke up from the sound of her alarm and was wide awake, but she didn’t leave her bed. Her body refused to move as if she ran a marathon, yet all she did yesterday after taking a shower was lay in bed.

She didn’t have the urge to do homework, nor did she do any house chores. Jiyoo glared at the overflowing laundry basket that sat next to her washing machine. Due to the problems arising recently, she wasn’t able to do any laundry, or rather, she just didn’t have the will to. Once school was finished, she would just go home and shower before laying down on her bed to catch her breath.

Which was the reason why she was forced to wear an old pair of shorts from elementary school and an oversized shirt that she found after searching around her house for something to wear. The shirt wasn’t hers, swallowing her small frame and making it look like she wasn’t wearing shorts to begin with. The shirt had a faint smell of cologne mixed with the Jeon family’s laundry detergent, so she figured it was probably either Jungkook’s or his dad’s old shirt.

Jiyoo was confused by her own feelings, but recognized the uncomfortable burn that made her body overheat. Was she angry at Yugyeom for the kiss? There was a bitter feeling in her stomach when she thought about it, but her mind couldn’t help but drift to how Jungkook protected Jungah. He used to protect her like that and now that he wasn’t around, Jiyoo was getting pulled into these situations.

Maybe Jungah was right that she relied on Jungkook too much. It must’ve been her own fault that she wasn’t independent enough.

She didn’t want to rely on the others anymore, which is why she made the executive decision to not go to school and avoid taking advantage of their kindness.

In the back of her mind, Jiyoo knew that her reasoning didn’t make any sense, rather using it as an excuse so she just wouldn’t have to see any of them at all. She just laid in bed staring up at the ceiling while she let her train of thought go off the rails.

She managed to fall back asleep for a few hours before waking up to the sound of her phone buzzing. When she managed to rub the sleep out of her eyes, she unlocked her phone to find three messages.

One was from Jimin while two were from an unknown number. Jiyoo decided to check Jimin’s message first.

From Jimin:

Did you get sick?

She types a quick message back just saying she didn’t feel too well and left it at that. Tapping on the second message, she wasn’t going to lie, she was kind of excited to see who would text her out of the blue.

From unknown:

Hey Jiyoo, it’s Yugyeom. Jimin let me have your number

Can I drop by and drop off the homework you missed for stats?

Before Jiyoo could reply, she felt her heart jump a little too fast for her liking. She was pretty sure she didn’t like Yugyeom in the way he liked her, especially since she was much more comfortable around the others like Jimin and Taehyung.

Though, it didn’t seem right to leave him on read either, right?

She messages back that it was okay and puts her phone aside. All she did today was reply to messages on her phone and she was already exhausted again.

Jiyoo woke up for the third time that day to the sound of knocking on her door. She checks the time and knows school was already over, making her heart jump once more. The beating of her heart made her feel anxious because she knew who would be at the door.

Unlocking and opening the front door, Jiyoo’s eyes squint at the bright light shining into her house.

“Hey Jiyoo.” Yugyeom smiles, his grin growing in size as he stares down at her attire. “Is that… My shirt?”

Jiyoo tilts her head and looks down. She didn’t know how Yugyeom’s shirt had gotten into her house.

“Sorry, I uh.. I don’t know how I got a hold of it.” She mutters, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Jiyoo could feel a headache coming on and she didn’t know how or why these unexplainable things kept happening to her recently. “I’ll wash it and return it to you.”

“No, no! It’s okay!” Yugyeom waves his hands. “It looks good on you.”

She fights the blush from appearing on her cheeks, but could feel the warmth creeping up the back of her neck to her ears. Jiyoo didn’t want to feel embarrassed around Yugyeom, knowing that it gave him the wrong idea about their relationship.

“Did you just wake up?” Yugyeom looks at her face more now.

His happy expression was replaced by a much more concerned one and all embarrassment Jiyoo felt was wiped away. Her stomach churned. It was the same look that Jimin gave her whenever he worried about her.

She cleared the phlegm from , not wanting to be pitied yet again. “Yeah, but I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? You look sick?”

Yugyeom was persistent and Jiyoo was getting annoyed, not wanting to be interrogated. She wasn’t allowed to make her own decisions before, but any time she did, it was as if she were making the wrong choices. Jiyoo wanted to think that this was the reason why she just let everyone else make the decisions for her, but she knew that was just her trying to be dependent again.

“I felt a little under the weather, so that’s why I couldn’t come to school today.” Jiyoo says more firmly, her line of sight meeting Yugyeom’s to keep her stance.

Yugyeom looks as though he wants to say more, but doesn’t. Instead, he goes into his backpack and pulls out a few sheets of paper.

“We went over some new stuff today and I can teach you when you start feeling better.” He hands over the homework and Jiyoo nods, taking it gratefully.

While she was trying to skim over the work, she heard noises coming from behind Yugyeom. Since he was so tall, she hadn’t seen the group of people waiting by the street near her house. All were familiar faces, but they seemed to be too preoccupied by each other to see her looking over.

--

“You’re going to her house?” Jaebum raises an eyebrow, looking at Yugyeom who had a giddy smile on his face.

“Yeah. I’m just gonna stop by and drop off some of our classwork.” Yugyeom grins.

He’d just received the okay from Jiyoo and relayed the message to the rest of his friends. Jiyoo’s house was the closest to the school, therefore the plan was made for everyone to stop there for a bit while he dropped off the homework assignments.

Yugyeom feels a bit of animosity directed his way and looks up, only to find Jungkook and his friends waiting by the gate as well. Yugyeom’s eyes steel over, not losing to the other Alpha’s pheromones.

Unfortunately it meant that they would all head in the same direction for the time being.

“Where is she?” Taehyung whines, shifting from his right foot to his left out of boredom.

“She said she’s almost here.” Jungkook mutters, not liking the way Yugyeom was glaring right back at him.

“At least Jiyoo never made us wait before.” Jimin grumbles, though he kept his voice low so only Taehyung and Hoseok could hear him.

Taehyung’s eyes widen and sighs, the boy’s eyes drifting off into space while Hoseok’s eyes dart warily from Jimin to Jungkook. Hoseok was aware of the sudden rift between Jimin and Jungkook, also knowing the likely reason why; he cared for Jiyoo too and felt bad that he hadn’t asked about what she thought when Jungah came along. He’d gotten so swept up in her Alpha pheromones that it felt like they were all one big group of friends. Hoseok didn’t realize Jiyoo was suffering as much as Jimin worried her to be and because he only realized it now, the guilt ate away at him.

He couldn’t talk to her comfortably like Jimin could because in a sense, Hoseok had abandoned Jiyoo due to his sudden interest in Jungah.

By the time Jungah had met them at the front gate, Yugyeom and his friends had already started setting out. It pissed Jungkook off to no end that they walked ahead of his own group of friends. He sped up his walking speed, urging everyone else to walk faster as well so they could overtake the group.

“Stop walking so fast!” Jungah groans, “It’s not a race Jungkook.”

Jungkook had slowed down his pace, but seeing Yugyeom walk ahead of him still irritated him, especially when the latter glanced back every once in a while as if he were taunting him. Jungkook felt inferior and didn’t like that one bit.

With Jungkook’s house in sight, he was almost relieved when suddenly, the group in front of them stopped and Yugyeom made a left turn to walk towards one of the houses. To Jiyoo’s house to be exact.

“What the hell are you doing?” Jungkook yells at Yugyeom.

“Dropping off homework?” Yugyeom shrugs, “why is it any of your business?”

“Because that’s not your house!”

Jungkook’s blood was boiling now. He watched as Yugyeom shrugged his shoulders again, brushing him off without an ounce of care.

“And it’s not your house either.”

Jungkook watched as Yugyeom knocked on Jiyoo’s door and when the door opened, his vision almost went white. Not only did it look like she wasn’t wearing any pants, but Jungkook recognized that shirt instantly. That was Yugyeom’s shirt; it was the shirt that he’d specifically taken off Jiyoo when they fought and Jiyoo had fallen sick.

He could hear cooing from Yugyeom’s friends, all of them teasing their friend about “meeting with the girl he liked”.

“Aw she’s wearing his shirt, how cute.” Bambam says loudly, watching Jungkook’s reaction from the corner of his eye with a smirk on his face. “It’s almost as if they’ve already become mates.”

“Why does she look so skinny?” Jaebum squints, trying to get a closer look at Jiyoo.

“Stop looking at her!” Jungkook shouts.

“Jungkook! Why are you so upset?” Jungah huffs, “stop yelling. It’s making my ears hurt.”

“She hasn’t been eating...” Suga’s voice hissed out.

That caught the attention of some of the boys. Taehyung’s bored expression suddenly turned serious, while Jimin could only sigh and watch from afar. Jaebum’s teeth clenched, but he made no move to go any closer.

The group just watched as Yugyeom interacted with Jiyoo, some more impatient than others. Jungah tapped her foot, irritated that they were stuck out in the chilly November air.

“Let’s go Jungkook. We’re almost to your house.” Jungah says again.

Jungkook feels his anger slowly seep away as a new, much fluffier feeling envelopes him. Jungah’s pheromones were different from the other Alphas girls at their school. Hers were more, comforting, almost motherly. He liked the feeling he felt around Jungah; it was as if he knew her his whole life. Jungkook nods, beginning to walk back to his house again, but not leaving without shooting Yugyeom another glare.

“Don’t forget to kiss her goodbye!” Bambam teases aloud.

Jungkook lost it.

“What the actual Jiyoo!” Jungkook explodes.

Now all of the attention was on Jungkook. He marched to the street directly in front of Jiyoo’s house, feeling his anger surge even more through his body as he sees Yugyeom standing in front of Jiyoo protectively.

If anything, Jungkook thought that Yugyeom was the last person to be protecting her.

“If you don’t like him being around, just tell him to off!” Jungkook screams, his face beginning to turn red with anger. “Stop just standing around like a ing child!”

“Jungkook, knock it off.” Namjoon warns, grabbing Jungkook by the shoulder, but getting roughly brushed off.

Jungkook wasn’t done. He was pissed and seeing the sad expression on Jiyoo’s face only made him even more upset.

“Why are you yelling at her when you don’t even talk to her anymore?” Yugyeom barks back, not liking how hostile Jungkook was getting.

He could feel Jungkook’s Alpha pheromones pushing towards him and he used his own as well, the two sizing each other up just with Alpha pheromones alone. Jiyoo on the other hand felt sick. She used her hands to grasp the doorframe, holding herself up since her knees felt like they were going to give way any second.

“You stay out of this.” Jungkook argues. “Look at you Jiyoo. You get mad that you’re so small, but you don’t eat. You’re skipping school, for what? To hang out with this guy?”

“I-I only missed one day of classes…” Jiyoo tries to defend herself.

Jiyoo didn’t explain why Yugyeom was at her house and that only made Jungkook more angry.

“Jiyoo, you… You’re such a !” Jungkook roars.

Jiyoo feels it again. It was the same feeling that she was feeling all day, the feeling of her heart jumping except this time instead of jumping, it went up and crashed all the way to the floor. She couldn’t hide the sadness in her eyes, furiously rubbing away the tears that flowed without her permission.

She wasn’t embarrassed about Yugyeom’s kiss. She was embarrassed that Jungkook knew and that he was angry with her.

“Jungkook that’s enough!” Jimin grabs Jungkook and yanks him away from Jiyoo’s house. He was only able to pull him a couple feet away, Jungkook’s strong resolve not moving him very far. “What the is wrong with you?!”

“She’s not a .” Taehyung hisses, his eyes dark as he stares holes into Jungkook’s face.

Jungkook was shocked that such vulgar language could come out of his mouth and to be directed at Jiyoo at that. His mouth opens and closes, no sounds coming out to even begin to make any words. “W-Wait, I-”

“Well, none of this would’ve happened if Jiyoo had just stopped being so childish.” Jungah sighs, staring at her manicured nails.

She brings her eyes up to meet Jiyoo’s. Jiyoo can feel the pity in Jungah’s eyes, but instead of feeling as if she had an incurable disease, it felt as if Jungah only pitied her for getting what she thought Jiyoo deserved.

Jiyoo knew Jungah didn’t like her, but even she didn’t like when others talked badly about Jungah.

“And this is the girl you guys are trying to make your mate?” Jinyoung sneers.

He wasn’t going to try and be nice anymore. Anyone that was rude and self centered was by all means outed in Jinyoung’s book.

“She’s not our mate.” Suga suddenly says, moving around the group. He looks at Taehyung and Jimin, “take them home and trust me.”

Taehyung and Jimin look at him confusedly, watching as he walks up to Jiyoo’s door step. Suga made sure to nod his head once to Jaebum as well, the latter not knowing why he was suddenly being involved in Suga’s plan. He looks up at Yugyeom and motions for him to move back towards his friends. Suga doesn’t hesitate to emit his own Alpha pheromones, causing Yugyeom to nod and reluctantly move away, his eyes on Jiyoo the whole time before walking back to his friends and shoving past Jungkook on the way there.

“If you’re going to cry like you don’t have a choice, I’m actually going to make it so you don’t have a choice.” Suga grumbles.

He brings one hand to grab behind Jiyoo’s head before bringing their lips together.

Jiyoo went from feeling so sad that she was about to faint to feeling a different sort of weakness in her knees. Suga’s lips were soft, melding against her own as he took the lead in kissing her. There was something about his smell too; usually when Alphas emitted their pheromones, it made Jiyoo feel sick. With Suga, she felt herself swimming in a haze of aphrodisiacs, her body feeling tingly all over the longer he kissed her.

“I’m going to kill you Suga hyung.” Jungkook grimaces, clenching his hands into fists as he made his way over to the two.

Before he could get any closer, he was held back by not only Jimin, but Taehyung as well. They were pissed to say the least, but instead of directing their anger towards Jungkook, their eyes were locked on Suga who was too busy kissing Jiyoo.

“Let me go!”

Jungkook looks to his left to find Yugyeom in a similar situation, the latter being held back by Jaebum who’s eyes stayed watching Suga and Jiyoo’s heated session. Yugyeom was furious, his pheromones spreading out all over the place and clashing with Jungkook’s own pheromones.

Jungkook tries to shake off the two, “You guys, let go-”

He feels fingers dig into his arms, almost to the point of drawing blood. Jimin was biting his lip, small specks of red appearing near his teeth while Taehyung’s wide eyes looked hollow. They looked like they were holding themselves back more than holding him back.

That’s when Jungkook realized that Jiyoo’s pheromones were surrounding them, possibly wafting out to the whole block.

“He needs to get her to calm down.” Jinyoung coughs.

Since he had been in this predicament before, he doesn’t hesitate to hang onto Jaebum and Yugyeom as well, not wanting this to turn into a fight.

“S-Suga, stop.” Jiyoo huffs, trying to catch her breath.

Every time she pulled away from Suga, his lips pushed forward again, sending shivers down her spine. This kiss was different from the one she had with Yugyeom. The kiss made her feel hot all over, but it didn’t feel bad. In fact, Jiyoo found herself grabbing onto Suga’s shirt to pull him closer, the feeling being too addicting to stop. The only reason why she had told him to stop was because she liked it a little too much; her mind kept telling her to kick him where it hurt while her body desperately clung into him.

When he’d finally stopped, Suga’s eyes were soft. They didn’t pity her, nor were they angry with her. Jiyoo had never seen Suga look at her with such an emotion before that she could only stare back.

She knew who Suga was, but the man in front of her wasn’t the Suga she knew.

Suga moves his hands down, grabbing her waist before hoisting her up and bringing her back inside her house, not hesitating to slam the door shut behind him.

“Suga hyung!” Jungkook managed to break free of Jimin and Taehyung, running up and slamming his fist against Jiyoo’s door. “Open the ing door!”

“Jungkook! You’re being embarrassing!” Jungah’s yells, her irritation easily detectable in her tone of voice.

“We need to take them home.” Jimin says quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear him.

He wipes away the blood on his lips and walks through the cloud of Jiyoo’s pheromones, grabbing Jungkook by the arm and fighting the latter to pull him away from Jiyoo’s home. Being so close to Jiyoo, yet so far away, was agonizing for him, but he didn’t want Jiyoo to see him like this more than she already had. Jimin never wanted her to see him like this again and once again he let himself slip.

“Yugyeom, we have to put some trust in Suga.” Jaebum sighs, though it sounded as if he were trying to convince himself more than convince the latter.

“But-”

“She needs space.” Mark cuts him off.

Yugyeom looks at his friends before looking back at Jungkook, who looked as though his life were on the line. He didn’t want to overreact, but seeing Suga kiss Jiyoo like that made him upset. He could’ve done that, but he didn’t want to make Jiyoo feel uncomfortable. Yet at the same time, she didn’t look frightened by Suga like how she did with him. With his shoulders slumped, he begins the walk home, leaving Jungkook to be dealt with by his own group of friends. Yugyeom makes sure to shoot Jimin once last knowing glance before walking away though, as if silently thanking him for giving him Jiyoo’s number.

He knew that this was the hardest on Jiyoo, but she needed someone to rely on. And if that person wasn’t him, then Yugyeom needed someone who could be there for her.

Even after Yugyeom and his friends were long gone, Jungkook refused to leave Jiyoo’s doorstep. It had gotten to the point where he had thrown a punch at Jimin, who’d returned the favor just as happily. The two had begun to fight with one another, only causing more of a ruckus.

“You guys are so immature.” Jungah rolls her eyes, though she doesn’t step in to try and stop them despite the heavy hits they were landing on each other.

“You don’t have any right to say anything since this isn’t your business.” Seokjin finally speaks up.

He was silent the whole way home, mostly because he was thinking. At first, he was upset and justified Jiyoo’s bad behavior as her being immature. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized what Jiyoo was doing. She was distancing herself away from them because of Jungkook’s attitude towards her. Seokjin didn’t hate Jiyoo, nor did he hate Jungah, but after today, he wasn’t so fond of Jungah anymore. To him, the only person that mattered to Jungah was herself, and that meant she could treat others poorly because she didn’t care for them.

Flashbacks of Jungkook practically breaking his fists on the tree to his treehouse flashed through his mind; Seokjin knew the boy was selfish, but since he had Jiyoo to guide him to be better, he didn’t say anything about it, only speaking up when the duo decided to be devilish together. It wasn’t as if Jiyoo wasn’t at fault either; she relied on Jungkook just as much as he relied on her and Seokjin knew this.

Forcing his Alpha pheromones out, he stops Jimin and Jungkook in their tracks. Jungkook had a gash above his eyebrow while Jimin was sporting a puffy lip, both of them having injuries after clashing fists.

“We’re going home.” Seokjin says, not making room for debate. “Suga is with Jiyoo, so she’s fine.”

“It’s not fine, hyung!” Jungkook grimaces, not liking how Seokjin’s pheromones were keeping him from giving Jimin a black eye. “Did you not see how Suga hyung’s tongue was practically-”

“We’re going home now Jungkook.” Seokjin’s voice booms. “If you wanted to talk to Jiyoo, you would’ve done it during one of the many times she’d hurt her ankle.”

Seokjin didn’t lose his temper often, and even when it seemed like it did, he usually just complained or whined. His voice was stable, yet sent chills down the boys’ spines. His sudden character change made it known there was no room for argument.

“She hurt her ankle again?” Jungkook says baffled. “When?”

“You knew she hurt herself, so why didn’t you do anything to help?” Jimin hisses, ignoring the urge he had to punch Jungkook again.

“Because it’s like she said.” Seokjin says simply, “she wanted to be more independent, so I didn’t bother her about it. And I know how to give her space unlike you idiots.”

“So you just ignored her? How is that even right?” Jimin argues again, “did none of you see how sad she was?”

“It’s not our business, so why should we care?” Jungah interjects.

Even if she was supporting his claim, Seokjin didn’t hide the disapproving glance in her direction. If anything, he was irritated that it almost sounded as if she were throwing his words right back in his face.

“He’s right. Suga is with her so we should leave them alone for the time being and talk once we’ve all calmed down.” Namjoon sighs.

Seokjin had to keep his Alpha pheromones spread out over the group the whole way home, not missing the glances that many of the boys threw in the direction of Jiyoo’s house. Once they’d made it back to Jungkook’s house, he sat down in the recliner chair and finally began to relax.

Jimin wasn’t wrong that he should’ve helped Jiyoo out more, but he was too busy getting to know Jungah that he’d completely forgotten to check up on Jiyoo. Seokjin wanted to justify his actions that Jiyoo should’ve known better than to lie that she was okay, but at the same time he couldn’t. Jiyoo was younger than he was, meaning she was still a child while he was already an adult.

When Seokjin feels Jungah’s Alpha pheromones spread out throughout the room, instead of feeling calm, he feels uncomfortable. To think he’d been so taken by a girl he’d just met, especially when there was a much more important one in his life.

Jiyoo might be younger than him in age, but she was beginning to own up to her actions. And that was something Seokjin wasn’t doing very well of right now.