Dayoung’s laptop rang with the familiar call tone from Skype, causing her heart to race. His username, Avengers_97, appeared on the screen and she quickly picked up the call. His brunette hair was still wet from his shower and he had a towel around his neck as he dried his hair. His messy look was complemented by his plain white t-shirt and striped pajama pants. As he sat in front of his computer screen a child-like smile graced his lips when he saw her. Dayoung couldn’t help but smile back at the boy.

“Hey Kook-ah. Long time no see,” she greeted him softly.

“It’s been too long Young-ah.”

“Well aren’t you guys so cute? I’m here too you know,” Taeyeon, Dayoung’s best friend, added from behind her.

“It’s nice to see you too Taeyeon,” Jungkook responded, returning the eye roll.

     Taeyeon mocked offense and bantered with Jungkook for a bit as Dayoung watched them go at it and laughed. Once she got bored of bickering, Taeyeon went off screen to go text her boyfriend which allowed Dayoung to talk to hers. They just started to catch up when Dayoung heard the house door unlock.

“I’m sorry, can you hold on for a second?” I asked, giving him a half hearted smile.

“Yeah no problem.”

     She sat there and listened for a moment... her mom was home. Dayoung’s face fell and when she looked at Jungkook he had that knowing look. She shot a heartbroken look at Taeyeon and she stepped in.

“Give us one second,” Taeyeon said before hitting the ‘end call’ button.

     Dayoung quickly closed the skype window just as her mom walked into the room, greeting the girls and asking if they’ve eaten. They had a short conversation before Dayong’s mom left and she reopened the window to apologize.

bluerose19: I’m sorry, my mom came home...

Avenger_97: It’s fine.

bluerose19: I’ll text you?

Avenger_97: Yeah

     Dayoung felt a weight drop on her chest as she lied on her bed beside Taeyeon. She hated doing that to him, having to abruptly end calls like that, it isn’t fair but she couldn’t do anything. If her parents found out, they would end everything and that would break both their hearts. Even though Jungkook understood the situation it didn’t stop her from feeling bad. Dayoung felt even worse since she couldn’t even talk to him alone because she feared that the conversation would die or he would get bored. That’s why Taeyeon was always there, Dayoung practically begged her to be part of the conversation. She would be there regardless since they were practically at each other’s houses every day. When Taeyeon’s there, Dayoung found it easier to talk and Taeyeon would help fill the spaces where things started to quiet down.

“You okay?” Taeyeon worriedly asked.

“Yeah… I just hate doing that,” Dayoung answered giving a half hearted smile.

“It’s alright, he understands your circumstances,” she comforted resting a hand on Dayoung’s shoulder.

“I know… but still.”

“Hey, cheer up! You got to talk to him for the first time in a while.”

“... I guess you’re right,” she said, feeling a bit better. Before they could talk anymore there was a chime from Taeyeon’s phone.

“Oh, I have to go now my boyfriend is here to pick me up. Don't let this get you down got it?” She lectured as she collected her stuff.

“Yes yes. Hurry before your boyfriend gets impatient,” Dayoung shooed. Once she was gone, Dayoung closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.

“JK? What’s up I thought you were talking to Dayoung?” Jin asked as he wandered passed the maknae’s room and saw him silently looking at his phone.

“I was until her mom came home,” he replied with a sigh.

“Again? It’s like she’s the idol here,” he joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“I guess… it’s just I barely get to talk to her as is because she’s always trying to dodge her parents but when I do get to call, Taeyeon is always there. I spend more time arguing with her than actually getting to talk to Dayoung,” Jungkook complained.

“Well the other members and I don’t really know her yet so we can’t say anything about what’s going on but haven’t you guys been dating for 4 months already? She should tell her parents sooner rather than later because the longer you hide it the more trouble you’ll both get into later,” Jin advised as he leaned on the door frame.

“... Thanks for the advice hyung,” Jungkook replied before turning over his phone and falling onto his bed to think things over.

     A week past since either of them spoke to each other, both busy with their own lives. Jungkook was promoting BTS’s new song “DNA” and Dayoung had classes to attend. It was Friday when Jungkook finally had time to text Dayoung who was in class.

To: Young <3

Hey I’m on break right now, can we talk for a bit?

To: Kook ’3’

Of course give me a minute first okay?

     Dayoung excused herself from class and walked to the main hall so that she could speak at a normal volume. Just as she passed the last classroom, her phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hey… It’s been awhile.”

“Yeah but that’s because you’re working so hard. How’s practice and promoting?”

“It’s good but we need to talk,” That ending phrase was enough to make her stop.

“Of course what’s up?” She asked, concerned.

“Nothing… It’s just… don’t you think we should tell your parents about… us?” He asked carefully.

“Kook-ah… I would love to but once they find out they wouldn’t have it. My parents would make me cut all contact with you and they’ll make sure of it.”

     It was a risk Dayoung wasn’t willing to take. She liked Jungkook a lot and it was already hard as is.  She feared the thought that he would just get tired of her circumstances and decided to dump her.

“I could always go down there to talk to your parents with you. We can work through the problems together but I just think it would be easier for us if they knew so we wouldn’t have to cut calls short.”

“It wouldn’t work. They believe that I should focus on my studies, boys aren’t even part of the equation. I can try to stay on call while my parents are home, if I put in headphones and keep them from looking at the screen-”

“But what’s the point if I end up talking to Taeyeon in the end?” He spat.

     He didn’t mean to but he felt frustrated. He really liked Dayoung but she never really vocalized her feelings, did she really like him or did she just say yes for the sake of saying it? She won’t tell her parents and she doesn’t even speak with him one on one… he couldn’t help but reach those conclusions.

“What?” She was taken back by the remark.

“I spend all my time talking to Taeyeon but the reason I call is because I want to talk to you. We barely get to talk face to face and texting isn’t enough. What’s the point if you keep holding yourself at a distance like this?” The words spilled from his mouth quicker than his brain could react.

“What’s the point? Jungkook, I’m terrified. You’re an idol for god’s sake! I’m just an awkward university student who would rather have her nose in a book rather than speak to other people. You're my first boyfriend, I don't know how things work and I'm just taking things at my pace,” she hissed. The anger dispelling her filter and let a few of her insecurities fall out.

“Dayoung, I-”

“Jungkook come on, times up. Let’s go,” Namjoon's voice was heard on the other line.

“We’ll talk about this later okay?”

“...I guess,” She replied weakly.

     Somehow Dayoung ended back in class but as the professor lectured, her mind was elsewhere. That “later” never ended up coming and secretly she was glad. There was so much they needed to talk about but where does one begin? On the other hand Jungkook was in turmoil. He was constantly lost in thought as they went through their schedule thinking about all that Dayoung said before the call had to end. Things started to make sense but more questions began to arise. He continually tried to find time to call her but there just wasn’t any and he knew for a fact that they couldn’t have this conversation over text. Throughout their radio silence, both thought “Where did it go wrong?”

     It was summer when they first met. Their first encounter had both of them mentally freaking out, Dayoung because she was meeting BTS and Jungkook because the new barista was cute. She calmly took their order which contrasted the screaming she did in her head. She flashed them a warm smile with an embarrassed, “I like your music,” before rushing to make their coffee. With that Jungkook thought, “Could she get any cuter?” The boys began to notice that Jungkook was more willing to go on coffee runs and figured out the reason why. Once his crush was discovered, the boys found every chance to poke fun at him. As he chatted with her, while she made his coffee, he started falling for her. It took a week, and the other members egging him on, to give Jungkook the courage to confess. His planned out confession was thrown out the window once the words accidentally fell from his lips one night. As the blush burned across his cheeks, a light smile played on her lips and she accepted.They did their best to go on dates but with their busy schedules, the only time they could meet was when she made his order. They got to know more about each other through constant texting rather than meeting in person, since it lasted longer than ten minutes. With the passing breeze summer quickly ended which meant the two had to say goodbye.

     It was all too quick. Time went on and they adjusted to this new change, but with the gowing distance their insecurities and fears grew as well. Am I boring him? Does she really like me? There are prettier girls around him… She never texts first… Both their minds were flooded with negative thoughts but neither of them could face the other. These insecurities festered inside them to become the problem they’re facing now.

     When Jungkook finally had time to call two weeks had already gone by.There was something in her gut telling her that something was wrong but she swallowed her fear and answered.

“... Hey… It’s been a while. How have you been? ” She awkwardly answered as there was no immediate response from the other line.

“Good… I guess.”

“Oh did something happen?”

“...Dayoung I’m sorry I can’t act like everything's okay. This, what we’re doing right now, isn’t good for either of us. I don’t know where you stand but I like you and how we’ve gone about this is leaving us hurt in the end. I’m just too busy to be a proper boyfriend for you so I think it’s best if we just… broke up.”

“Wait. Jungkook we can-”

“Jungkook it's your turn. Go get ready.”

“I’m sorry.”

     The call ended but Dayoung didn’t dare put down her phone in a hopeless prayer that if she didn’t then the call wouldn’t be real… it didn’t happen. Tears built up in her eyes but she fought so hard to hold it in and it worked for a moment but just then Taeyeon came in to the dorm and it was like the floodgates were opened. Taeyeon quickly came over, eyebrows furrowed in worry, as Dayoung tried covering her face. When asked about what happened, Dayoung refused to speak and even Taeyeon’s angry threats or persistent pestering wouldn’t make her tell. She even snapped at Taeyeon, a rare and first time occurrence, which showed Taeyeon that this was something serious. Finally taking a step back, Taeyeon gave Dayoung some space but after a week it was truly becoming a problem. The whole week Dayoung barely left the dorms and didn’t attend her classes. She barely ate or spoke and continually cried.

     On Jungkook’s side it wasn’t any better. He ate but not nearly as much as he needed to with all the vigorous activities he was doing which only increased. Once practice finished Jungkook pushed himself to continue and the first few days the members didn’t mind but after the third day Jin finally had to step in. Jungkook reassured them that he was fine because he convinced himself that this is what she wanted, but it still hurt because it wasn’t what he wanted in the end. He was doing the right thing though… right? It hurt the members, having to watch the youngest act as if everything was fine when they went on various broadcasts. He even had to continue the act in the dorms because of the various vapps scheduled for this week. The only time he could grieve his broken heart was when they were going to sleep, resulting in countless nights of crying himself to sleep, and extra work for the stylists in having to cover his growing eye bags.

     Taeyeon finally had enough and she sat across her best friend, pleading her to talk about what was going on. Nothing could be fixed if she didn’t speak about it. Dayoung knew she was right but she really didn’t want to say it, for it to become any more real than it already felt, but once she saw the pain etched into her best friend’s features she caved. It was an arduous explanation filled with tears, long pauses, and a lot of pent up feelings being released. After everything was let out and explained, Taeyeon asked Dayoung one thing.

“Do you love him?”

“Honestly I think I really do...”

    With that simple response, Taeyeon pushed Dayoung to pack clothes for a few days. She explained to Dayoung that if she wants anything to be fixed it’s best to do it in person, so what better way than to go down to Seoul to confront him? Upon talking to her aunt about the situation, she was perfectly fine with Dayoung coming down for the weekend and even helped with convincing Dayoung’s mom to let her visit. The next day, Taeyeon gave a few words of encouragement before Dayoung was on the next train to Seoul. Once she arrived, her aunt happily received her, a hint of sympathy in her actions. She helped her aunt with the shop for the day hoping to catch them but with no luck. After they closed shop, Dayoung asked her aunt to go out for a bit and she reluctantly agreed although she looked anxiously at the ticking clock. Since it was nearly eleven o’clock, Dayoung reassured her aunt that she will be careful and text her updates to ease her worries.

     Going out into the cold night, Dayoung pulled up her texts as she waited for the cab. At one point Jungkook sent the address of the dorm in case she ever had time to stop by if she was in the city visiting her aunt so that’s what she was looking for. It hurt to see their cute messages but she pushed herself to look past it all. The cab arrived just when she found the address and she repeated it to the driver as she climbed in. Once Dayoung arrived at the destination, she paid the driver and went to their floor and apartment number. Dayoung rang the bell twice with no reply. She sank to the floor in embarrassment, drawing in her knees and placing her head in her hands. What was she doing right now? She felt like she was crazy to go as far as stand outside his dorm but she didn’t want to regret not trying her best with their relationship, she really loved him. Dayoung had an internal argument about how insane this abrupt plan was and after twenty minutes she got up, deciding against waiting for him. Once the elevator came and the door opened, she froze in both shame and embarrassment.

“Dayoung?”

     Jungkook’s voice came from near the back of the elevator as he pushed passed his hyungs in shock. Heat rushed to her face as Dayoung dropped her head and moved aside allowing them all to pile out of the elevator.

“I’m sorry I just- It wasn’t right for me to- sorry this was… sorry.”

     Her mind was a mess and she couldn’t make a coherent sentence or look him in the eye but Jungkook continued to watch her dejected figure. The other members took it as a hint and left Jungkook to sort things out. His eyes scanned her small frame and worry washed over him, did she lose weight? The familiar light in her eyes was gone and Jungkook had a million other thoughts in his mind. Once the members were out of earshot, Jungkook spoke the first question that came to mind.

“Dayoung what are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you properly. I didn’t even get to say anything when we talked over the phone… but I know me coming here like this was inappropriate and I wasn’t thinking so I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. Since you're here, what did you want to say?” Both shifted awkwardly as Dayoung collected herself.

“I know you put a lot of thought into our break up but I want you to reconsider. After you hear everything and you still want to break up… I’ll agree. I just don’t want to regret not doing anything,” she explained and he nodded in agreement.

“Jungkook, I’m not deluding myself because you are the Golden Maknae of BTS. I really really like you, the sweet boy who accidentally confessed then darted out of the door right after. I have a hard time speaking out so I never properly told you that.You were an amazing boyfriend to me and I couldn’t properly cherish that. The reason I always had Taeyeon around when we video called was because I was scared of boring you. I don’t have much to say and I was scared that over time, you would get tired of me and leave. No one really notices me so I thought no one would ever like me and… I think I’m getting off topic… ”

     Her heart hammered in her chest as she spilled everything, unaccustomed to talking about her feelings. She finally looked up at him as fear settled in her stomach. She only caught a quick glimpse of his face before hers was met with his broad chest and his arms draped over her shoulders. After the slight shock subsided, she returned the gesture and wrapped her arms around his torso.

“This really lifts a weight from my chest… I thought you didn’t like me and just didn’t have the heart to say no so I thought that’s why you always had Taeyeon around. Plus, you didn’t want to tell your parents but,” he pulled away to look at her, his bunny smile spreading across his face, “this the the first time you told me you liked me.”

     Once he pointed it out, her light blush intensifying. Her anxieties about him hating her were subdued simply from his smile and her heart swelled at his words. Needing verbal confirmation of their status, she hesitantly asked him about it.

“So… that means we…?”

“Yes we are a couple. I’m sorry I dropped that on you, I thought that’s what you wanted.”

“No. What I want is to be with you,” It was now Jungkook’s turn to have a blush streak across his features at Dayoung's cheesy words.

“Do you want to come in for a bit? You can meet the guys and it can be like meeting my family,” he asked, half joking as they headed towards the door.

“Do they hate me, Jungkook? If you were anything like me for the past week I would hate me too.”

“Nah, they knew breaking up was my choice and they didn’t want to hate you if they didn’t really know you. Which reminds me, how could you not take care of yourself, Dayoung? You’ve gotten thinner, have you been eating?”

“... no. But the same goes to you! You definitely lost weight and don’t lie to me because I watched your vapps, you weren’t yourself.”

“Fine. We’ll call it even but tomorrow I’m taking you out to eat,” he said, intertwining their hands.

“Deal and when I get back I’ll tell my parents about us. It will be hard in the beginning but we’ll get through it and maybe when you get a break you can properly meet them,” she responded giving his hand a light squeeze.

     He kissed her temple and both had stupid grins plastered on their faces. As they opened the door the rowdiness of the members could be heard and they walked in together, mentally unprepared for the teasing that would befall them.