Chaeyoung had completely locked herself in her room the next day, refusing to eat or get out of bed. Jimin, Jennie, and Taehyung had given her the space she needed to release her emotions for the majority of the day, but they finally decided to intervene in the evening.

The three of them stood outside Chaeyoung’s room, Jimin pacing back and forth with Jennie and Taehyung taking turns knocking on the door and calling her name. They could hear her sniffling throughout the day and it was stressing them all out.

“We’ve been here for 2 hours,” Jimin whispered in exasperation, “is she seriously not going to let us in?”

Jennie rolled her eyes, “she’s going through a tough time, Chim.”

Jimin groaned, “that’s why we need to go in there and feed her!”

Taehyung ignored both of them and tried knocking on the door again, “Chaeyoungie, open the door please. We’re just trying to help.”

“You’ve got to eat something, Rosie,” Jennie added.

They waited for a response, but received none.

Taehyung sighed, “can you guys leave for a bit? I wanna try talking to her alone.”

Jennie pursed her lips and reluctantly pulled Jimin away, “let us know if she wants to see us.”

When they left, Taehyung grabbed the food he had bought a couple minutes ago and knocked on the door again, “Chaeng, it’s just me. I have jajangmyeon and cookie dough ice cream.”

He was met with silence again for a couple seconds before he heard her footsteps growing closer and the door unlocking. Taehyung grinned, he knew she couldn’t resist the deadly combination of jajangmyeon and her favourite ice cream.

He carefully turned the doorknob while holding the food in his other hand. The door opened for Taehyung to catch a quick glimpse of Chaeyoung in her pink, silk pajama shorts and black t-shirt before she climbed back into her queen-sized bed. There was a trash bin right next to her that was overflowing with crumpled tissues.

“I just wanna be alone,” she muttered, turning away from him as he approached from the left side of the bed, placing the food down on her nightstand.

“We both know that’s not true,” Taehyung replied softly and sat on the edge of the bed. He placed a warm had on her arm, “do you wanna watch funny movies and eat ice cream to feel better?”

That was their routine whenever one or both of them were upset. Movies and ice cream had helped them get through break-ups, fights with friends, and poor exam results since they were teenagers. No matter how much they were hurting, they could count on each other to make them feel better. At the end of the day, they knew they had a shoulder to cry on in one another.

Taehyung thought she would decline but was surprised when she nodded and turned around to face him, “but let’s eat the jajangmyeon first.”

He laughed, glad that she was finally willing to ingest some food. She sat up in bed and ran a hand through her messy, straight hair. Taehyung noticed how bloodshot and swollen her eyes were and his heart ached. The clinic had been one of Chaeyoung’s favourite places and her face lit up every time she left to work there, so her pain over its loss was understandable.

He passed her a bowl of jajangmyeon and chopsticks before taking one for himself and moving to sit beside her on the bed. They ate in a comfortable silence, their backs leaning against the headboard of the bed and their shoulders just barely touching. Taehyung didn’t say anything but constantly glanced at her in concern.

“Taehyung, stop with the sympathetic looks,” Chaeyoung said, without even looking up at him.

Taehyung raised his brows, “it’s called concern, Chaeng, not sympathy.”

Chaeyoung finally glanced at him with a weak smile, “I’ll be fine.”

He grinned playfully, “I know you’ll be fine, I’m more concerned about your eyes. You look like you’ve been stung by a bee on each eye… twice.”

Chaeyoung laughed and kicked his leg, “shut up.”

“Can you even see me right now?” Taehyung continued to tease and waved his hand in her face, “how many fingers am I holding up?”

That earned him another, harder kick which Taehyung used to dramatically throw himself off the bed, pretending it was her fault. She gasped but began laughing even harder as she bent down to look at the floor where Taehyung was writhing in fake pain.

“You’r