Jungkook stood far, giving the time and space for Chaeyoung to be with Taehyung for a while. He watched as Chaeyoung pulled Taehyung into a tight hug, which caused the male to break down. Jungkook looked away then, not because of jealousy or any raging feeling that he’d feel whenever he saw the two. But he, too, a total stranger to Taehyung and his family, felt the sadness and sorrow.

He knew that feeling very well. He knew what it felt to lose a precious family member to death. As he looked around, all the people he could see were drowned in an extreme feeling of sorrow. But this person who had just left the world must be a very great and warm person, because the weather on that funeral day wasn’t hot and humid nor was it gloomy and dull. There wasn’t any rain, yet it wasn’t hot at all.

He glanced around and saw Jennie. She wasn’t crying anymore, but she sure cried a hell lot, her eyes showed it all. Namjoon was holding her protectively, and he too looked like he was in deep sorrow. From what he observed, Taehyung’s mother must have treated them really well like they were her own children as well and if only Jungkook was one of them, he knew he’d be as sad as them, if not more.

As time passed, people were leaving and both Namjoon and Jennie approached Taehyung and Chaeyoung who were now sitting on the ground. Jennie said something to the both of them before Jungkook noticed Chaeyoung turning to look at his direction. Taehyung and her nodded at what Namjoon said next before Taehyung pulled her into his embrace, and they hugged tightly for a few moments.

Jungkook straightened up as Chaeyoung made her way towards him and as soon as she reached him, his words disappeared before he could ask if she was ready to go home when he saw how swollen her face looked after those times she had cried.

“Let’s go,” she said weakly, her voice breaking.

He didn’t say a word as he helped her to open the door for her and as soon as she got inside, he noticed that she just leaned her head to the headrest, not bothering to buckle her seatbelt. Jungkook settled himself in the driver’s seat, and leaned towards her to help her fasten it. Before he started to drive, he gave her a long stare and hoped that the color that had gone from her face would resurface and although it would be truly impossible to lead life exactly like before now that someone precious to her had left, she needed to keep on living.

*

Chaeyoung leaned her head against the wall inside the elevator, her hand held the railing just in case she’d get down by gravity when she felt her knees went weak. It still felt unreal that earlier on that day, she along with her friends went to send off Taehyung’s mother for her new journey. It was unbelievable how this could happen.

Life has always been paired with death, that fact is known to everyone including her. But it didn’t feel real at all when death did come to replace life. She felt like it was too soon. She was angered that miracle did not happen upon the precious lady.

The elevator stopped and it was time for Jungkook to exit it. But he took the time to stare at her, and as much as she wanted to look back at him, she didn’t have the strength to even do that.

“Are you going to be okay?” Jungkook asked her, pressing the button to keep the door opened.

Her lips separated to let out a simple ‘Yeah’ but it didn’t come out. Instead, she nodded once softly with her eyes boring holes into the floor as she kept her head low.

“If you need anything, please tell me,” he said, her head softly and when his hand was absent from her head, she began to long for it.

But even when she needed him so much, her words were trapped within her that the only thing she could let out was the sound of her sniffles.

*

His eyes were glued to the text message Chaeyoung had sent to him as a reply.

- I am fine.

Trusting her would be the last thing he needed to do after what had happened. From his instincts alone he could feel that she was lying to him when she told him she was fine. He knew he shouldn’t doubt her, but he couldn’t help it. There was a voice within him that was telling him that Chaeyoung didn’t have a single bite of the food he had delivered to her hours ago.

He counted, it was the fifth time his thumb pressed on the doorbell that the door finally swung open only wide enough for her frame. Jungkook frowned heavily upon seeing her. There were dark circles around her eyes, her nose was red, and her cheeks were plastered with drying tears.

“Is this what you meant by ‘fine’?” he asked, disappointed albeit knowing what to expect.

She met his eyes with her own frown, furrowing her brows deeply at him and sighed sharply before replying, “I am fine. Don’t worry about me. Go back.” She looked down then, and Jungkook noticed the door was moving to close on him but it was really slow. He placed a palm against the door, stopping it from moving and Chaeyoung didn’t push further, but her hand never left the door handle until Jungkook gently pushed the door wider while at the same time, stepping his foot inside.

Chaeyoung stepped back slowly, her hand falling to her side with her head still facing the floor. Jungkook closed the door behind him, and his hand went to under her chin, his fingers holding it. Jungkook lifted her chin but she still had her eyes lowered, avoiding his gaze. “You call this ‘fine’, Chaeyoung?” he asked not with a tone to chastise but a tone that showed concern. It didn’t take long for her to finally lift her eyes and settle on his. And as soon as that happened, her lips began to pout, tremble, and Jungkook’s heart clenched upon seeing it.

He removed his hand from her chin then, pulling her arms softly towards him to which she instantly moved forward, her head landed on his shoulder and she breathed out heavily then as Jungkook put his arms around her. Within seconds, Jungkook felt her body shook and his shoulder wet. When he tightened his arms, pressing her closer to him, she wound her arms around his torso and finally the sound of her sobs broke free.

Jungkook rubbed her back gently, trying to offer comfort as much as he could before they both moved to take a seat on the couch, and there, he rocked her a few moments more. He took the time to wait for her to finally calm down and he knew he didn’t need to let any words out for her to tell him anything that might have happened. She would tell him.

While at that, Jungkook’s eyes caught the untouched food on the table across him. He knew it because of how it was still nicely wrapped in that plastic bag, still looking like how it looked like when he delivered it to her. Jungkook sighed softly, shaking his head at the same time Chaeyoung shifted on the couch, pressing closer to his side and Jungkook let a soft hum out as he turned to look at her, his arm around her shoulder tightened a little.

She was staring back, with those beautiful eyes welling up in tears and she pressed her palms against them, ridding the tears away. Chaeyoung dropped her head again to his shoulder. She slipped her arms to around his waist, hugging him close as she asked, “Has it ever happened to you before? That you had a dream of something but when you wake up, you can’t recall anything about it. It’s the kind of dream that you really want to recall, that you want to know, that makes you curious, not the kind that you won’t care about, but no matter how hard you try to recall it, you just can’t. And it stays that way for the whole day of you trying, you keep failing. But then a few days later, when you totally forgot about trying to recall it, all of sudden, out of nowhere, your mind gives you all these images or clips in your head and you think you’re just imagining something but then it hits you, you start to remember that it is the dream that you tried to recall before. Has it ever happened to you, Jungkook?”

He breathed in deep, thought about it for a moment and nodded his head. “Yeah, I guess. I think I experienced that before. Why? What was your dream about?”

Her voice was soft when she answered, it was soft that if there were any other sounds at all during that time, he would have to ask her to repeat everything. “I dreamed of Taehyung’s mom…” She stopped then, and Jungkook thought she really would just stop at that when she stayed silent. Chaeyoung’s sigh after those silent seconds was shaky. And then, she continued, “She was smiling at me, waving her hand and her smile was warm. But at the same time, she had tears in her eyes. It was a brief dream actually. She was gone after that.”

“Did she say anything to you?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Just a few seconds before she disappeared, she told me to help her watch over Taehyung, to take care of him.”

It probably became a habit of him that grew over time, that whenever that name was mentioned especially by Chaeyoung, the rivalry between him and that man would be alive in his head. But Jungkook made sure that it was short-lived this time, kicking those thoughts away in an instant because what Chaeyoung needed at the moment was definitely not to get reminded of their love life.

Jungkook wanted to say at least something, maybe make a comment on that, or perhaps ask her a question, but he just had no idea what to say. So he figured that the only thing he could do was to be silent, because maybe, Chaeyoung didn’t need him to say anything at all, maybe the only thing to do was just to be there for her and that was probably enough.

His eyes settled on the food then, thinking of how she had ignored his plea and advice to take good care of her health the other day. Apart from being extremely sad over the loss of a precious someone, skipping her meals would be the reason why she had looked so fragile, vulnerable, weak and lifeless. Jungkook knew that it could have been for the appetite that didn’t exist within her for her to not take at least a bite, but that was no reason for her to continuously skip every meal.

“Life must go on, you know,” he stated, staring at the food in front of him. “You are grieving, I understand that. But life must go on. Maybe it’s insensitive of me to say this at this time,” he said, and even while he was at that, he was a bit unsure if he should tell her but his mouth wasn’t as hesitant as he was when he continued, “but don’t let yourself go just because someone or something precious to you left. Don’t punish yourself like this.”

Chaeyoung must have felt confused by what he was saying all of a sudden that she finally lifted her head off of him, leaning backwards and Jungkook didn’t need to turn to look at her to know that she was staring intently at him.

He removed his arm from her and slowly, she unwound her own arms around him. Jungkook leaned forward and took off the lid of the lunch box, placed the lid onto the table carefully before he took the spoon and placed it on the food. He turned to her and pushed forward his hand that was holding the lunch box.

When Chaeyoung didn’t move, Jungkook sighed heavily again. “I don’t mean that you can’t mourn over her, but you have to take care of yourself. If you can’t do that, tell me. But then you have to let me take care of you.”

Her eyes downcast and it didn’t take long before she slowly grabbed a hold of the lunch box and started to feed herself. When she looked like she was full and couldn’t finish the whole thing, Jungkook placed a palm on her back. “If you can’t finish it, then you don’t have to. Don’t force yourself, you’ll throw up.”

Jungkook didn’t stop her when she went to handle everything else on her own. He had to admit that he was surprised himself that Chaeyoung didn’t suggest for him to go home since she was handling it well now that he had sort of reprimanded her. After she was done with everything, even went to brush her teeth and washed her face, she went into the living room again not to tell him that she was fine like how he suspected she’d do. Instead, she cuddled next to him, getting into her previous position when she cried earlier in his embrace and Jungkook gladly accepted her in his arms again.

While at that, she suddenly asked him, “Do you think Taehyung is holding up okay?” And Jungkook honestly had no idea for that question as well, because it wasn’t like he’d been getting updates regarding the other male. So he answered with “I don’t know” without any intention of it to sound rude o