It was almost midnight and Soo Jin hadn’t returned home. Yoongi sat with his laptop balanced on his legs, a cup of coffee in hand as he waited for her to come back. He checked his phone every few minutes to see if Soo Jin had messaged him. It wasn’t like her not to come home.

At twelve thirty, his phone beeped with a message.

Staying with a friend. Don’t wait up.

He growled at the message. “What the hell?” he mumbled. His finger hovered over the phone, half of him wanting to tell her to come back home. He had grown used to her presence around the apartment. He looked around the familiar space and sighed. “It’s not the same without her here.” He said as he locked his phone, the screen turning black. “It’s too quiet without her here.” He muttered as he turned up the volume of his music, not caring that his neighbours were likely to complain to him in the morning. The music helped fill the void left behind by her absence.

Early the next morning, Soo Jin crept back into Yoongi’s apartment. She knew that Yoongi wasn’t an early riser, but if she made too much noise, he would wake up, and she wasn’t ready to face him. She quickly made her way into her room and stripped off her uniform. She grabbed a large handbag, making sure to put in an extra change of clothes. She had spent the night before at a sauna. She hadn’t planned on it, but once her shift had ended, she hadn’t been able to make herself return to Yoongi’s apartment.

Finding out that her mark meant that she was his mate had thrown her for a loop. She would be lying if she had said that she had never thought of Yoongi as more than a friend, but as a mate? It was just too confusing. So after walking around aimlessly for hours, she finally decided to spend the night at a sauna. She had sent Yoongi a message, not sure why she felt the need to tell him she wasn’t coming home, but a part of her knew that he would be worried about her if she didn’t turn up without contacting him.

She didn’t know if she would spend another night at the sauna, but she wanted to be prepared, just in case. She quickly put her spare uniform into her bag so that she wouldn’t need to return during the day. She slipped back out of the apartment, leaving Yoongi unware of her visit.

Yoongi woke up a couple of hours after Soo Jin had returned to the apartment. He groaned as he sat up, a headache already fully formed from his awful sleep. He slipped his feet into his slippers and headed out to the bathroom. As soon as he opened his bedroom door he could smell it. “Spring flowers.” He mumbled, realization hitting him that it was Soo Jin’s scent. “Soo Jin?” he called as he rushed towards her room, her door lying open. “Soo Jin?” he called as he looked around her room. The scent was fresh, but there was no sign of her.

He cursed as he slammed his fist against the door in anger. He quickly checked the bathroom and kitchen, but they were both empty, the lingering scent of spring flowers in the air the only indication that she had been home at all. “Why didn’t she stay longer?” he asked himself as he paced the length of the kitchen over and over again. His mark began to throb, which made him curse again as he rubbed at it, even though he knew that it would do little to alleviate the uncomfortable feeling in both his chest and wrist.

“Something must be wrong. It’s not like her to act like this.” He muttered as he returned to his room and grabbed his phone. He picked up his phone and pulled up her number, but he froze before he called her. “What am I supposed to say?” he mumbled as he sank down onto his bed. “’Hey, I just wanted to call and say I miss you’” he scoffed at his own words. “She’ll think I'm crazy.” He said as he locked his phone, Soo Jin’s face disappearing from the screen. “Is she working today?” he wondered aloud. He racked his brains as he tried to remember her schedule. She often told him her shifts mainly so that he would remind her to get to work if she was running late.

“. I can’t remember.” He mumbled. He checked the time. “If she was working, she’d probably just be starting her shift now.” He sat and thought about his options before making a decision. He had a quick shower and got ready before heading out to the area where she used to live. He knew the name of the café that she worked for, what he hadn’t been prepared for was the number of cafes with that name in the area where she used to live.

“Why does she have to work for the biggest café chain in Korea?” he muttered as he drove by the fifth café of the same name. He found somewhere to park and went into each café one by one, hoping that he would see Soo Jin. After the fifth café, and no sign of Soo Jin, he decided to give up.

He got into his car and slammed his door shut. “I don’t even know if she's working today.” He mumbled as he pulled his phone out from his pocket. He had tried calling her before he had visited the first café, but she hadn’t answered. He tried calling her again, his fingers nervously tapping against his thigh as he waited for her to answer.

When the voicemail service kicked in, he cursed and ended the call. He wanted to talk to her, not to her voicemail. He checked the time, thankful to notice that it was a little later than he had thought it was. “I might as well head to the club. I can help with the deliveries or something. Anything to get my mind off her.” he said as he started the engine and took off down the road.

Once her shift ended, Soo Jin made her way to a small park near her work. She had spent more than half of her shift in the back of the café doing an inventory check. It wasn’t the most exciting part of her job, but it had kept her busy. She looked at the notification on her phone signalling that she had two missed calls from Yoongi. She sighed and cleared the notification away before plugging in her headphones, finding somewhere to sit. It was just a little too cool to be comfortable sitting outside, but that meant that the park was relatively quiet, which was exactly what she needed.

“I’m being ridiculous.” She said to herself. In the cold, hard light of day, the things that she had read on the internet just seemed ridiculous. Yoongi wasn’t like the demons from novels. He didn’t have horns and wouldn’t be the type to seduce young girls into his bed. She felt a little guilty for getting herself so worked up over what she had read. “Yoongi is a really decent person. And he’s done so much for me.” she said as she thought about all of the things Yoongi had done for her.

“He gave me a job, he helped me move, he gave me home, he drove me all the way home and was so nice to my family… he's not a bad person.” She said to herself. Although, despite all of those thoughts, there was still one thing that bothered her. “I need to know what this claiming thing is all about.” She muttered to herself. She had been tempted to look it up online, but after her last disastrous attempt at looking things up online, she decided against it.

She sighed and sat back, her hands out behind her to support her as it started to rain lightly. “I need to talk to him about it, but I don’t know how. What if he's only been nice to me because of this mate mark thing?” the thought made her feel kind of hollow. Although she had never said it out loud, her feelings for Yoongi extended past friendship. He was so reliable, warm, kind, caring… despite the cool outer exterior that he often had in place.

She sat in the rain, long after every inch of her was soaking wet. She weighed up all of her options and finally made her decision. She headed home, ready to talk to Yoongi about what she had found out.

When she arrived home, she was disappointed to find the apartment empty. She had spent the entire walk home mentally prepping herself for the conversation that she now knew that she needed to have with him. “Bloody typical that the one day he decides to go into the club early is the one day that I need him to not be early.” She muttered. She bit her lip as she stood shivering in the living room. “I have no idea when he’s going to come back… screw it.” She said as she made her way into the bathroom to shower.

She quickly showered, thankful to once again regain the feeling in her fingers and toes. She had been frozen from being soaked in the rain. She quickly got ready and called a taxi to pick her up. She had psyched herself up for the conversation with Yoongi, and she didn’t want to do it over the phone, it had to be face to face.

During the ride to the club, her nerves tripled. She couldn’t stop twisting the material of her dress between her fingers. The ride to the club felt like only seconds but an eternity at the same time. She handed the driver his money with shaking hands. She got out of the taxi, her stomach doing somersaults as she walked up to the door, bypassing the long queue to get in because of her status as a member of staff. She made a beeline for Jungkook who smiled brightly as her as she approached. “Hey, nuna. How are you?” he asked, his trademark smile in place. She smiled back at him despite her nerves. “I’m good, Jungkook. How are you?” she asked.

“All good, all good. What can I get you? The usual?” he asked, his hands already reaching out for a glass. “Yeah, and a shot of tequila.” She said, her fingers tapping on the top of the bar. Jungkook raised an eyebrow at her. “Tequila?” he asked curiously. She nodded. “It’s been a rough couple of days.” She said in way of explanation as he put a shot glass in front of her and filled it. He turned around to grab her a slice of lemon but by the time he turned around, she had already drained the glass. “Wow… a rough couple of days, huh?” he said as he filled the glass again, balancing the slice of lemon on top. “Want to talk about it?” he asked.

She shook her head and grabbed the glass, draining it before making a face at the strong taste. “Ugh, I don’t know why I drink this stuff.” She muttered. Jungkook chuckled as he quickly made up her usual drink. “Pace yourself.” He said as he slid the glass over to her. She gave him a smile before sipping on the drink. “Perfect as always. Thanks, Jungkook.” He smiled back at her. “Just remember, if you need to talk…” he said, giving her one last look before moving to start serving the long line of customers waiting for his attention.

Soo Jin sat at the bar for over an hour. She had seen Seokjin a few times, but she hadn’t seen Yoongi. She knew he was there, as Jungkook had mentioned to her that he had been there usually early that afternoon. Part of her was desperate to see him, to tell him what was on her mind and ask her all of the questions that were burning away inside of her, but part of her was scared to see him. What if the sole reason he had done all those nice things for her, if every nice word he had ever said to her was because of some stupid mark on their wrists? She wanted to believe that Yoongi was in charge of his own thoughts and feelings, and that he had acted so kind towards her because he wanted to, and not because of some stupid mark.

She could feel her head start to spin slightly from the amount of alcohol she had consumed, combined with her lack of dinner. She didn’t notice as Yoongi finally made an appearance on the club floor. Jungkook spotted the older man and signalled him over to the bar, the opposite side from where Soo Jin was sitting. “Hey, what’s up?” Yoongi asked as he approached the younger man. “Soo Jin nuna is here.” Jungkook shouted over the loud music. “I don’t know what’s wrong, but there's obviously something bothering her, she's already half cut.” He said pointing over his shoulder.

Yoongi looked in the direction Jungkook pointed and cursed. Soo Jin was trying to see something on her phone, but even from across the bar, he could tell that she was having trouble focusing. “I’ll take her home. Just put her drinks on my tab, I’ll sort it later.” Jungkook nodded as Yoongi headed towards Soo Jin.

Soo Jin squinted as she tried to make sense of what was on her screen. “What the hell is this?” she mumbled before dropping the device onto the bar. A tall, handsome stranger appeared by her side. “Hey, surely a gorgeous creature like you isn’t here all alone?” he said, his voice smooth and seductive as silk. Soo Jin looked up at the tall guy beside her, disappointed that it wasn’t Yoongi beside her before she scoffed and turned away from the stranger. His smile didn’t falter, “How about I buy you a drink and you tell me your name?” he offered, unfazed by her lack of interest.

“How about you back off?” Soo Jin and the stranger both turned around at the new voice. Yoongi stood behind the stranger, his hands balled into fists. The stranger smiled, “You know its rude to interrupt people when they're talking.” He said, giving Yoongi a hard look. Yoongi took a step closer to the stranger. “Do not make me repeat myself; walk away.” He said, his voice low and threatening. The stranger looked down at Yoongi, who was radiating anger at this point. He held his hands up, “Okay, okay.” he said as he backed off, heading over to a busty brunette a few seats away.

Yoongi took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down before stepping up to Soo Jin’s side. She turned to face him, her fuzziness from a moment ago completely gone as she looked into his warm, brown eyes.

“We need to talk.”