Blood was rushing like adrenaline through Hyunsoo’s whole body. She didn’t know where she was walking to exactly, even though she knew at the back of her mind she had to find her dad and speak to him about some of the guests here…

New questions kept popping up in her mind the further she walked away from Darcy and Jay. How did Jungkook and Darcy meet? How did Jungkook work out Hyunsoo’s family background? Why did they both team up? And how in the world did they know she was with Jimin? At that thought, it was like a brick hit her on the back of her head with a new question, did Jungkook get her phone number from Darcy?

The text! Hyunsoo thought frantically, it came before she met with Jimin. How was this all connected? She was so sure there was a connection between everything, but tying the dots was the hard part.

“Hyunsoo,” said a stern voice, “Finally you’re here. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you to turn up?”

Hyunsoo put her train of thoughts to a halt and looked to her side where her mum had called her. “Sorry, I was talking to uncle Seokjin.”

“You should know by know that you are to report here as soon as you arrive. How else are we supposed to continue as a family if you don’t even make yourself present in front of your parents?” said her mum in a strong and hard tone. She was looking at Hyunsoo up and down, as if checking whether her daughter looked good enough to stand with her. “Alright, now go greet your father. He’s talking to Seokjin now.”

Hyunsoo nodded silently and walked towards where she thought her dad would be. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, like she knew something bad was happening, or was about to happen. However, there was also the fact that she always felt bad for the way she turned out to be whenever she was near her parents. They treated her like such a disappointment.

“Hello dad,” said Hyunsoo quietly, “How are you doing?”

“Oh, Hyunsoo,” he replied looking satisfied upon seeing his daughter, “Now that you’re here we can really start this event. Seokjin, thanks again for coming I appreciate it. I need to get on stage and make an announcement with my family now so I’ll be with you shortly after.”

“No problem,” said Seokjin smiling, and nodded at Hyunsoo kindly.

After the family of three and the bodyguard Kenny made their presence known on stage, Hyunsoo’s dad cleared his throat and beamed at his audience.

“I’d like to start off by thanking every single family member, friends and my business partners for coming to celebrate a new chapter with me today. Not many of you know yet but today we are celebrating a special knot I’ve recently tied with an especially close business partner. As you all know my company will not be passed down to anyone, with no son to give it to, instead I have made the decision to merge my business with a good friend of mine.”

People in the audience were nodding and looked around frantically trying to figure out who the lucky business partner was. Hyunsoo’s dad’s business was huge. It was a big deal. The fact that it was merging was an even bigger deal.

“Once we begin to work together, we hope to achieve bigger and better things. Now the most important announcement of all. Our kids are growing, and we’re getting older… the world is growing and getting older in its own way too. We need fresh ideas, and for that, we need fresh minds. My business partner has a son at university, who has the opportunity to take over the business we have created and will expand. I sincerely wish the boy all the best and I can’t wait to meet him so we can teach him the ropes of this new world. I hope you all continue to support us as well so we may become worldwide. On that note, let me welcome my friend and partner on stage, the man who will make us worldwide! Kim Seokjin, come on up!”

The crowd burst into claps of joy, with a touch of elegance to their attitudes. Hyunsoo’s mum was also clapping but kept her straight face, though her daughter knew her well enough to understand that this was her mum’s way of being pleased. Hyunsoo herself stood there feeling stunned in front of everyone, not that anyone paid attention to her, they were all too busy looking out for Seokjin as he made his way on stage.

“Thank you so much!” he was saying as he came to give Hyunsoo’s dad a big man-hug. “And thanks to our years of friendship, the opportunity came to me without warning! You don’t know how happy I am to finally be able to open my mouth about it now. I do hope my son becomes suitable enough for the business to be taken over.” Seokjin shook hands with Hyunsoo’s dad multiple times for photos to be taken.

Hyunsoo didn’t know, but suddenly there were swarms of photographers coming forward to take pictures of this moment. She had to back away and escape to not be caught in the film. She had to leave the stage entirely to be able to breathe.

For some reason, there was a weird sensation in her stomach (or was it just in her head?), like some kind of warning or reminder. There was a puzzle piece missing from all of this, something that Hyunsoo should’ve known.

It was way too late by the time Kenny dropped Hyunsoo back to her house. There was a bit of arguing before she left, because her mum had tried to convince her once again to drop out of university and get married to someone rich, most likely to benefit her dad’s company. And once again, Hyunsoo had refused her mum straight away.

Seeing her parents, spending time with them and listening to whatever they had to say constantly exhausted her. They never cared when she was younger, and now that she’s suddenly old enough to make her decisions and get married, they wanted to control her even more. Just thinking about it made her angry.

Out of anger, Hyunsoo growled silently and kicked the black bin outside the house. Kenny hadn’t left yet and was watching her unlock the front door. It was at that moment when she heard the voice.

“You alright sassy?”

Hyunsoo turned around in shock and froze when she saw the most unexpected person she could find outside her house at 4am in the morning. It was her douchebag. Correction: Just a douchebag.

“What are you doing here?” asked Hyunsoo, “At this time? You realise it’s 4am right?”

Hyunsoo turned to find that Kenny hadn’t left, he was still in the driver’s seat watching them. Probably concerned but not sure if it was a friend or not.

“Darcy texted me that you’re coming back. Listen, I don’t care how sudden this is to you and what you think, or about any questions you probably have swimming in that tiny head of yours. What I need to know is, was Seokjin’s wife there?” asked Jungkook, he looked a little tired, like he had just woken up. Maybe he had actually been sleeping before but woke… just to ask about Seokjin’s wife?”

“What’s it to you? And how do you even know Darcy?” she asked. This was the time to ask, she thought, the curiosity was killing her.

“I already said, no questions, but… I’ll answer this one,” he said, sighing. He looked different than usual. His tone of voice and attitude was the same rude and arrogant Jungkook, but his appearance looked somehow… worn out, tired and just, sad. “Darcy and I met way before university. We’re old friends, but not in the way Yoongi is my friend. Darcy is different. He’s like a family friend.”

“But… how did you know I was with Jimin?” asked Hyunsoo, and her face instantly felt hot. “I mean, did you get my number off of Darcy?”

Jungkook’s eyebrow was raised. “I’m surprised by your choice of questions. I would’ve thought you’d ask about how I know your background suddenly.” He looked at her some more and answered, “Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, I got your number from Darcy.”

“Well, what were you saying sorry for? I didn’t understand what you were trying to get at.”

“I would have told you by now, but You were too busy with your precious Jimin.” Jungkook made a face as he said this. “I couldn’t be bothered anymore.”

“But.”

Before Hyunsoo could continue her questions, Jungkook stopped her and said, “This is where I’ll stop you now. I’ll see you in a few hours I guess, for the lecture.”

Hyunsoo was at a loss of words, while Jungkook started taking steps back from Hyunsoo in a slow kind of back walk before he turned around lazily and put his hand up in a wave. “Don’t be late.”