“You,” said a woman in a white uniform, “Need to go home and rest. That’s all you need.”

This was the first thing the woman said as soon as Hyunsoo opened her eyes and found herself looking at the ceiling of the wellbeing office at her university. Who brought her here?

Hyunsoo tried to sit up and speak to the woman at the same eye level, rather than have her talk to Hyunsoo as if she was an immobile hospital patient. However, the minute she put her hands to her side to help herself up, pain shot through her head as if a dagger had just gone through there. She couldn’t help but gasp loudly from the pain and quickly laid still.

The woman looked concerned but didn’t move. “You need to stop trying to move and just rest here. I’ll allow you to stay for a few hours so take a nap, but once it’s 5pm I’ll need to get someone to help you home…”

“No,” Hyunsoo cut in, “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an inconvenience. I’ll just text a friend quickly and go home now.”

“Shall I call your friend for you?” asked the woman, smiling now. She probably felt bad for her now that she was leaving sooner.

“Yes,” answered Hyunsoo without thinking.

It hadn’t hit her then but how did the woman know who Hyunsoo’s friends were? Was it the same person who caught her? Maybe it was just a classmate and she assumed they were friends.

It didn’t take long for her ‘friend’ to turn up. In fact, Hyunsoo wished he hadn’t turned up at all. Still, at the same time, she was grateful and figured he at least can still help he… if he’s in the mood.

“Hyunsoo,” Jungkook said nodding at her.

“Jungkook,” said Hyunsoo scowling at him.

Jungkook chuckled. The woman looked from one to the other.

“Well, I’ll leave you two be,” she said, then whispering to Jungkook, “Make sure you get your girlfriend back safe.”

Hyunsoo nearly chocked. What? Out of shock, she looked at Jungkook in disbelief. Did he say something to her over the phone?

“I will,” replied Jungkook smirking, “Thank you.”

No time was wasted from when the door closed to when Hyunsoo opened to say something about the ‘girlfriend’ business, but Jungkook beat her to it.

“I didn’t say anything. Now, get up. I’m tired and hungry so let’s just get this over with.”

Hyunsoo imagined strangling Jungkook but said nothing. She was more worried about the pain coming back. “Fine.”

In contrast to the way he was acting, Jungkook moved closer and helped Hyunsoo up by putting an arm around her.

“Don’t get too excited,” he said, making Hyunsoo scowl at him again. He laughed, “This is your everyday typical face I guess.”

“I’ve reserved it to use only in your presence,” retorted Hyunsoo.

Jungkook scoffed but continued helping her.

The pain was coming back again, making Hyunsoo yelp and crouch down.

“Jesus, what’s up with you?” he asked her, a hint of concern in his tone.

“I… don’t… know…” Hyunsoo gasped.

Without a word, Jungkook bent down and put Hyunsoo’s arms around his neck from the back, before lifting her up and holding on to her legs. “I’ll take you to the hospital instead. You look really unwell.”

“No,” Hyunsoo said, feeling the pain subside again, “It’s coming and going. I’ll manage. Take me home please… I’m sorry for the…” It was hard to say it but she needed to show she was grateful. “Sorry for the trouble.”

Jungkook didn’t say anything in return. Hyunsoo wished she could see his expression at least to be able to read what he might be thinking or feeling. She hoped this wasn’t too weird considering how they basically disliked each other, and now he’s having to carry her home because she was too weak to go alone. Hyunsoo felt bad, but she didn’t want to say anything more.

Jungkook seemed to be fine with carrying Hyunsoo down the stairs and out the building. It was as if he didn’t find her heavy at all. She couldn’t help but notice his arms and shoulders from his back, they were really toned up. It showed how he most likely exercised a lot to get to this point.

“How’s the pain,” he suddenly said.

Hyunsoo was too busy thinking about a lot of things related to Jungkook’s form, the piggyback and the fact that he even showed up that she felt her heart skip a beat from the surprise of him talking to her.

“Uh, it’s fine at the moment,” she answered.

“Can I drop you then?”

Hyunsoo should have known. It’s Jungkook after all. “No! Don’t you dare.”

He was laughing now. “You’re too serious.”

“Just, I would normally tell you to go away but I know the pain will come back. I don’t know where it’s coming from.”

“I won’t leave you, so don’t worry. I’m even walking at a slower pace so you don’t move around too much.”

There was a moments silence, and then Hyunsoo said it. “Thanks. Really, I mean it.”

Jungkook halted for just a second before continuing to walk down the path to get out of campus. “No problem.”

There was another pause, a longer one.

This time Jungkook spoke first. “Seokjin… is my step-dad. I was asking about his wife because she’s my mother.”

“Wait, so does that mean… you’re from a middle class family too?” Hyunsoo was shocked, but had a lingering feeling about something like this coming up ever since he asked about the party.

“Kind of. I guess, the answer is yes, but I’m living with another guardian who are working class. I’m more used to this life, rather than the high end one.”

That made a lot of sense, thought Hyunsoo. “Who are you living with?”

Jungkook didn’t answer straight away. They were crossing the road at this point, which is when Hyunsoo realised there were going the complete wrong way from where Hyunsoo lived. Instead, they were headed to the hospital!

“When I was younger, my father left my mother unexpectedly. It was then when they also decided they couldn’t handle a little kid like me, so my mother put me in the care of some people she knew. To be honest, they never told me who those people were, I had to find out myself, but turns out they were my parents’ old servants who then retired.”

“So if they retired then… why did they take the job?” asked Hyunsoo curiously.

“They had no choice. My mother gave them so much money to simply raise me from when I was just 4 years old, and they really needed the money.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your childhood…”

“Don’t be. I was actually happy with them. They treated me like their own son. I’ve been missing them ever since I started university, but… my mother wants me back. I told her I didn’t want to come back, I wanted to stay where I was. She will never allow it.”

At this point, Hyunsoo could feel Jungkook getting sadder by the second. She could definitely relate to a certain point with how Jungkook felt though.

“My parents,” started Hyunsoo, “Try to control my life for me. They don’t want me to take over the business, because I’m a girl. He’d rather merge with someone and give it all up for his business partner’s son. It makes me feel worthless. I get angry just thinking about the limitations they give me, but then make me do things like try to marry me off to someone for ‘better business’.”

“Damn.” Jungkook sighed.

“I know.”

“No, I mean. This is the first real conversation we’ve ever had.”

Hyunsoo looked amazed. He was right. It was.

“Well,” said Hyunsoo, “I guess it’s not too bad when you know, you have no choice…”

Hyunsoo had no idea what the hell she just said, but Jungkook started snickering anyway.

“You’re so unpredictable, you know that?”

“No, first time I’ve heard that.”

“Well, it’s not a bad thing to me. I quite like that.”

She could feel him smiling as he said this.

“Right,” he said louder this time, “We’re here.”

Hyunsoo looked up and found herself looking at the local hospital A&E. So he was taking her here! The A&E? Really?