Prompt By: @kireitenshi

-Title: By Chance

-Ship: BTS' Jungkook x IU

Characters: [MAIN] IU/Lee Jieun (soloist), Jungkook/Jeon Jungkook (BTS)

Word Count: 1508

Warnings: Medium language

Summary: In which Lee Jieun believes that fate is what brought her and Jungkook together.

Everything happens for a reason.

Everything passes.

Everything will be alright in the end.

To Lee Jieun, these were words to live by, a mantra, a motto, a yearbook quote.

She fully believed them, especially when it came to Jeon Jungkook.

Jieun first met Jungkook on the Internet. It was a group chat a friend had added her into, for a show they both liked. Jungkook happened to be in that group chat as well, and he and Jieun’s friend were mutuals.

Everyone in the group chat was quite close, and so it was only natural that Jieun and Jungkook became fast friends. It was no surprise when they were the only two on in the chat, discussing whatever came to their minds, and whatever that conversation lead to. It wasn’t rare for them to move that chat to a private message, and then other messaging apps.
 

The two found out that they lived close to each other, 20 minutes to be exact. However, neither was old enough to be able to drive themselves over, and whenever Jieun was in Jungkook’s town, the notably bigger one, Jungkook was busy or also out of town for them to be able to meet up.

So for the first few months, their relationship was strictly online. It continued that way for much longer, but their relationship continued to strengthen.

“Is it normal to have feelings for someone you’ve never met?” Jieun asked her friend one day at school over lunch, picking at her untouched food. “I only know what he looks like because of pictures. I only text him; I’ve video-chatted with him once or twice. Yet when I talk to him, when I log on and see he’s also online, my hands shake as my heartbeat quickens and I get this weird feeling in my stomach. Not quite dread, a nervous excitement of sorts.”

Jieun’s friend was a sneaky little , and without Jieun’s knowing, she was working behind the scenes, talking to the boy she often heard so much about.

“She says she gets excited when she talks to you.”

“Be careful how you phrase that.”

“Do you?”

“I’m not going to say excited, because that’d make me sound like a . But yeah, I get a little ‘butterfly-y’ when I talk to her, yeah.”

“You should ask her out. She likes you.”

“Really?”

“If she didn’t, I wouldn’t be talking to you, now would I?”

“True.”

“.”

“How do I do it?”

“Doesn’t matter. She’ll say yes pretty much any way you say it.”

After Jieun’s friend hung up with Jungkook, Jieun received a frantic text from her, saying nothing else but “JUNGSOOK SI ASKJNB YOUR OUT SAY YES OIXK IO ANDEER”. Jieun barely understood what she was trying to say, which made Jieun grow even more nervous than she should’ve been.

Sure enough, a text notification from Jungkook popped up on her phone. A few text messages later, Jungkook had asked her out using some cheesy reference to the show they both enjoyed, and, smiling like an idiot, Jieun happily obliged.

They still hadn’t met up in person, but they made it work. They managed.

They started dating at the beginning of the year, the first few days into January. Their relationship was purely digital, and if you asked them, worked better than a physical one. They didn’t have to put up with any annoying sounds or smells, and it was easy for one to set aside a small habit that was annoying to the other for the small amount of time each day they were on a video call with one another.

They video called constantly. In the morning, when they were getting ready for school. At lunch, the one part of the school day they could talk ‘face-to-face’. When Jungkook, who arrived home from school later than Jieun returned, up until one of them was called for dinner. Sometimes, they would video chat late into the night, usually when one couldn’t sleep.

When they weren’t on a video call, they texted. Having your significant other quite literally in your back pocket was so convenient, and made their relationship progress quickly. They were telling each other “I love you,” by the beginning of February, and in May, Jieun told him, “I’m in love with you,” and meant it. Every single time.

They had a good run. They really did. Jungkook would learn songs on his newly bought guitar for her, and she would draw him pretty pictures. She would always point out how his technique was improving and how every time she heard him, he was a better singer. He would always tell her she, too, was improving, her shading bettering and her sketches becoming more realistic.

They would have date nights through the screen, watching movies and having dinner dates.

They would drag each other into things, Jungkook getting Jieun to watch another show he loved, an anime this time, and Jieun showed him new music upon new music. Jieun, who always excelled in her English class, even helped him with his English, which was easily his worst class.

For them, it was perfect. It was everything they needed. Their own perfect little world.

They had an open policy with one another, always being able to tell each other everything.

They knew everything about each other.

Like how Jieun had a younger brother and Jungkook an older one, and that Jieun’s home was very small. Jungkook eventually opened up about his parent’s divorce, and how is aunt and younger cousins moved in with them, and how it stressed him out and placed strain on the family.

“My mother says it’s for the best. It’ll help us.” Jungkook said one night.

“No offence, hon, but I don’t think it’s helping.” Jieun told him.

He sighed. “Tell me about it.”

After that, the video calls became scarce.

“I’m sorry, babe. There’s too many people here now to video chat.”

The texts eventually died out, too. To the point where he no longer logged onto the group chat, and no one had heard from him for days on end.

“Is he dead?” one asked.

“Where did he go?”

“I haven’t heard from nor seen him in like, forever.”

People started turning to Jieun, and she had no choice but to shrug her shoulders and say, “I’m not sure. I haven’t heard from him in awhile either.”

Still, Jieun held on. Held onto Jungkook, everything the two had been through over the course of half a year. She held onto the pieces of their perfect little world, holding it together.

A week later, Jieun heard from Jungkook, but only briefly.

“Sorry I haven’t talked to you lately, hon. I’ve been really busy and caught up with family. I’ve missed a few days of school, even. Sorry I didn’t talk to you. I’ll try and be better for you, babe.”

He did try. He really did. And Jieun understood. Everything. She understood that he was trying, and she understood how hard it was for him, and she understood how much this not only hurt him, but them.

“Jungkookie, my love,” she started, messaging him one day. “You know I love you. I care so much for you. It hurts me to see you like this, and I truly want what’s best for you. You’ve been amazing to me, and you’ve taught me so much. You’ve made me a better person. I’m so happy I met you, that I’ve been able to have this experience with you. I’m so incredibly grateful that fate brought us together. I don’t need to do what’s best for me, or what’s best for you, but what’s best for us. And as much as I will always treasure our time together, our relationship, everything we’ve been through, us, you, I need to end things between us, Kookie. Perhaps we can work it out again later, down the road in life. But for now, our communication is way too off and I don’t want to see us get any worse.”

It was three days before Jieun heard back from Jungkook.

That was the last time she heard from him.

After that, it was the odd, occasional post.

Jieun still believes everything happens for a reason. Jungkook entered and exited her life for a reason, albeit a small period of time in her life.

She still believes everything passes. Like stars, like the wind, everything shines and dies and burns and blows away. Everything is temporary, and everything changes.

Everything will be alright in the end. It always is. It seems rough at first, almost like the end of the world as we know it, but here we are, with everything being alright in the end.

Jieun also believes everything happens by chance. That she needs to leave things up to fate.

Jungkook happened for a reason. Jungkook came and passed. Jungkook was alright in the end. Jungkook was a chance, a fate.

Everything comes full circle. Just as we are born, we die, and are reborn again.

FIN

Part 2: [One Step Forward, Two Steps Back]