CHAPTER XXXVII

**YERIN**

The car screeched to a stop and I found myself staring at the familiar sight of Namjoon-oppa’s mansion. The two hours and more worth of sitting inside the van made my feel cramped and my back just want to lie down in bed.

“Do you guys want to head inside and have something to eat?” I heard Jin-oppa ask. He isn’t even the owner of the house, yet he talks like he is.

“We’re good,” Jungkook said with the others immediately agreeing.

“Suit yourself but I think Sowon and I will be staying for a while. I heard Namjoon talking on the phone last night about a newly-delivered package of KitKats from Japan. They have the weirdest yet tastiest flavors. You guys will miss half of your lives if you go now.”

My head automatically rotated a hundred and eight degrees toward where Jin-oppa was. If I’m not mistaken, he just mentioned KitKat⸺ one of the best comfort food life could offer. I may not be in that much of a conflict right now, but I could definitely use some good old KitKat to brighten my mood.

“Do you want to stay?”

Taehyung caught me by surprise as he appeared behind me all of a sudden, leaning closer to whisper near my ear. As expected, his warm breath sent these electric waves down my spine that I wish he had not noticed.

“KitKat…”

He chuckled, “I actually want to go home now.”

I turned to him and pouted. Is me being cute enough for him to give in?

“I’m tired.”

Who am I kidding?

“You’re a jerk.”

My shoulders slumped, somehow dejected. I stuck my tongue out at him and he responded with a laugh. I wasn’t joking in case he didn’t get the idea. I’m sulking. If only I don’t need him to drive me back to my place, I would have already run inside Namjoon-oppa’s mansion, but it turns out I ran out of cash after buying this cute porcelain doll for my mom. It honestly sapped all the money I brought with me for the trip. On the bright side though, I could make my mom happy. She’s a er for dolls after all but lately, she hasn’t been purchasing new ones due to the constraint in our family’s finances. I wonder if she’ll cry tears of joy once she sees the doll. Probably not.

“I’m your jerk.”

“What was that?” I widened my eyes at him and made this weird face that looks like I’m lost but my lips threatened to form smile. I’m sure I heard right. I just want to know if he is willing to repeat his words or not. Yeah, I’m desperate but I’m also just testing on whether Taehyung is still this ‘I hate the world’ Taehyung or he has actually began softening his attitude toward me. Well, the teeny weeny romantic part of it is a bonus that I wouldn’t mind on taking.

“I’m not repeating myself,” he said, leaning his face to the side to hide the redness that’s growing on his cheek.

So much for getting my hopes up…

“But since I’m robbing you off of the chance to eat KitKat, I’ll consider your request this time. I said, ‘I’m your jerk.’ There. Happy?”

After he finished talking, he quickly turned his back on me and began walking toward the familiar black car that’s parked not far from where I stood.

I grinned. Somehow, I feel so accomplished and…flustered. In fact, I may even be blushing more than Taehyung.

Does this mean I’m a step further in my mission? I just hope so.

**JUNGKOOK**

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yuju, I’m a hundred percent positive. I’m fine, really.”

“We could⸺”

Eunha put a hand over Yuna’s lips to shut her up. I beamed. Looking at how alright everything is between the three of us now that we got our relationship issues all sorted out, I feel like our friendship⸺ Eunha, Yuna and I⸺ just got a lot stronger.

“Don’t say another word please. I told you for the nth time now. I’m okay. You don’t have to drop me off at my house. I already called my driver. He said he’ll be here in less than fifteen minutes.”

Yuna still looked hesitant so I walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Eunha will be fine. Besides, we need to leave now or else you won’t make it in time for your vocal lessons.”

She sighed. “Okay but call me when you get home,” she said, looking seriously at Eunha who immediately gave a playful salute.

“Yes, ma’am.”

*****

“You act like you’re more of Eunha’s mother rather than her best friend,” I commented as soon as we both stepped inside the car.

“I just want to show her how much I care about her.”

“You don’t have to,” I said while starting the engine, “She already knows that you do care.”

She didn’t bother giving me a reply. I glanced and saw that she was staring straight ahead, looking unsure of herself. And here I thought we were done with these anxieties.

“Yuna,” I breathed, reaching out my hand to hers. I casted a short glance at her to make sure she was listening before I continued, “You’re already perfect, both as a friend to others and as my girlfriend. You don’t have to overthink things. We know how good you are, and you don’t have to constantly worry over having to show it to us.”

“But⸺”

I gave her hand a squeeze which cut her off. “No matter what, I’ll still love you anyway.”

**YERIN**

We arrived at my apartment in less than ten as the traffic hasn’t been so bad which means the earlier I can lie in bed and stretch my entire body. The vacation didn’t drain me, but the long ride surely did. I’m not used to sitting on my for more than an hour because my family rarely travel. Finances doesn’t permit after all.

“So, what do you want to do?” Taehyung asked behind me. He carefully placed my bag on the floor once we got in. It was even a miracle that he volunteered to carry my bag for me. This punk usually makes me do the carrying of stuffs even though he’s the man between the two of us.

“Uhhh…sleep?” I answered, “And maybe do some homework after.”

I almost forgot that I still have a load of school works that are due this week.

He choked a little. “Really? You want to do homework today?”

I rolled my eyes while switching on the lights. “It’s a Sunday. Of course, I’m doing homework.”

He followed behind me until we reach the couch where I swiftly slumped my form unto. Now, I was lying still with Taehyung towering over me, a few inches away. He was looking down with a sulky face, like a baby begging for a lollipop.

“We could do better things than sit and work on a paper that some stupid teacher assigned us to do. We could watch a movie if you want. Sungjae recently recommended me this newly-released action movie. He said it’s as good as any James Bond movie.”

I narrowed me eyes. Did he really think he could convince me that way? Do I look like I’m a er for movies with men holding guns and running away from guys in tuxedos? C’mon! I’m a Disney kind of girl.

“Besides,” he said and took the small space by my feet, “It’s still the weekend. Let’s make the most out of it.”

I groaned and sat up. Can’t he see? I’m really in no mood to do anything else but lie down. It may be weird as I often am full of energy but right now, I think I want to just sleep and hopefully, wake up in time to eat and begin with my school works.

“I hate to break it to you but unlike you and your rich , I don’t take school for granted so I really need to rest before I begin working on my homeworks. I’m already grateful that I’ve been given the chance to go to college. I’m not just going to waste it just because you want to watch a movie with me.”

Taehyung was quiet for a while and I thought I got too harsh, but he soon shifted in his seat to better face me and his expression was one that shows a glint of mischief.

“What’s there to strive for?” he asked, “You’re going to marry me anyway. You probably won’t even have to work in the future.”

Okay. Is that how he really sees my opportunity to study? Just an act so that he could get the chance to keep me at bay while we wait for two months before we get married?

I scoffed. “That’s still not certain, idiot,” I wanted to say. I still do have ample amount of time to accomplish my mission. I can still stop the unwanted marriage from happening. Besides, who would want to get married at a young age of twenty-five anyway? Twenty-four in my case.

Instead of being mean with my answer, I decided to say, “If I do end up marrying you, I don’t want to sit around in the house and be the housewife that you want me to be. I also have dreams you know.”

“Like what? Be a food enthusiast?”

I shrugged. “That sound nice too but no. I want to someday run my own pastry shop.”

He snickered in a mocking way which made my eye twitch in annoyance. One should not dare make fun of my ambition.

“You can’t even bake to save your own life.”

I want to badly smack his head, but I reckoned that would not be the right thing to do. Rather, I took a deep breath and composed myself. “I still have time to learn.”

Taehyung must have realized his mistake for he shifted to a less playful and more friendly approach. “If you told me earlier, I would have enrolled you in the Culinary Department,” he said before reaching out to flick my forehead with his finger, “Although I doubt you’d last a week there without setting the whole building on fire.”

**JUNGKOOK**

When we got to the studio where Yuna takes her vocal lessons, after dropping off her things at her house, it was already past two in the afternoon. She was fifteen minutes late. I asked her if she wants to skip instead but she declined and told me that she missed last week’s lessons, so she might as well make up for it today.

“Take care on your way home,” she said after giving me a short hug.