The bus ride was too quick, so he slowed his remaining walk towards the address so much that his muscles were vibrating impatiently. Even his practised apologies got sloppier because of it.

But he was in front of the club not too long after. Screw it, he would just have to do it as best as the situation allowed. First, he had to find Yugyeom. Jungkook flashed his identification and entered with not much other thought. It was his good luck that the bouncer had little thoughts too. He knew how much pain in the arse they could get.

He briskly filed the faces as he weaved through the bodies in the main crowd. He even got close enough to see those preferring to hide away under the cloak of darkness. Jungkook felt for them, this was not his usual scene either, yet still, he had been at such places far more than he cared to be. Enough that he knew how these establishments worked. So, he walked on, away from the noise, until the floors and walls shined with opulence. Even the air smelled different here. Cleaner, more inviting.

Jungkook stared down the long hallway with the many doors on both his sides. Must he open each one to find the man? Or could he risk being booted out by asking, but giving the wrong name?

It was not that hard of a choice. Jungkook decided that he would just have to apologise for more than what he had come to do. It was not the worst thing he had to do, anyways. 'Sorry, wrong room,' he said when he saw that Yugyeom was not among them. Once, then twice and then thrice, he said them. Each time he had shut the door quick, not waiting for their attention and less their reply.

As he purposefully moved to the next one on the opposite wall, a door a little further from him opened. A figure stepped out, eyes focused on his phone, and Jungkook's ridiculous search ended in relief.

"Yugyeom!" He called out and the man looked up and nodded in greeting.

When Jungkook was nearer, Yugyeom said in reply, "Jungkook," with the door held open still, "Go on in, they're all here."

"Who?" Jungkook asked.

Yugyeom furrowed his brow at the question but answered anyway, "Jaehyun. You've seen Mingyu before. And some other boys that made it into the sixteen. Moonbin? Junhoe?"

Jungkook nodded. Conversations with them were few and far between but he had seen them so often the past month he knew to match those names to their faces.

"And you?" Jungkook asked.

"Me?" Yugyeom echoed the question.

Jungkook realised he was skirting a slippery slope, so he clarified his question, "Where are you going?"

Yugyeom nodded, "I was just leaving."

"Why?" He asked.

"I need to be home soon," Yugyeom explained. When Jungkook made no move to enter, he gestured at the opened door again. Jungkook saw their curious eyes, but they did not move or stop to listen in.

"I'm not part of the team," he told Yugyeom, "I'm not going in."

Yugyeom let the door go and sighed. It clicked shut.

"I'm not either," Yugyeom said.

"And no one invited me here," Jungkook said, again.

Pause.

"So, why are you here?" Yugyeom asked.

"Someone told me you'd be here," he explained.

"Dahyun." Understanding settled on Yugyeom's face, "That was you?"

Jungkook nodded, then, "Hey, listen," Jungkook started but faltered. His practised apologies had not felt enough in his desperation to keep the friendship, "I'm sorry...for everything."

For a while, the other boy kept his silence. In contemplation that made Jungkook mad with uncertainty. It felt like he was teetering over the edge and holding his breath to see if Yugyeom would give him his hand or let him fall down the rocky cliff.

"Are we strangers?" Yugyeom said seriously.

Jungkook considered his words.

"No." He answered.

"Are we friends?" He asked again.

"We are," Jungkook quickly said.

"Then, why are you apologising?"

A silent understanding passed between the boys. They were friends. It was an oath. Once made, never broken. Not with someone like Kim Yugyeom. Someone that would run into a crumbling building for him just so they both had a chance to walk out together.

"Thank you," Jungkook told him, meaningfully.

Yugyeom nodded and said, "You still owe me an explanation."

"I saw the message about practice. I didn't know what the coaches were up to, but I was going to be there. I didn't plan to skip; you know I never skip, but I got a call from a friend before I got there. There was an accident with her mother, she needed me to help, she was falling apart."

"I see," was all Yugyeom said.

"Even if she hadn't, I'd still come running," Jungkook smiled, self-deprecating, more resigned than disappointed at the recent realisation, "I couldn't say no to her; I never said no," Jungkook explained.

"You like her," Yugyeom concluded.

Jungkook had never said it aloud before, has never confessed that to anyone before, had wanted it to mean so much that if he ever were to utter it, the first person to hear it would be Yein, but Yugyeom deserved his honesty so, he said, "Something like that."

Yugyeom smiled, amused at the grudging concession as if he had not worn his heart on a sleeve talking about her a little while ago. So, he said, drily, "Yes; you like me less that's why I'll always be second to her. I'll try to remember that."

"I wasn't choosing over friends," Jungkook said.

"Then, say it like it is," Yugyeom said, serious, "You'll be surprised at the things people can forgive you for your truths."

Pause.

"I like her." Jungkook tried again, "I didn't mean for you to have your back for me, but I had mine for someone else's..."

"I mean it when I said I don't want your apology," Yugyeom said, hearing the thoughts in his head, "Don't wonder if I regret it. I don't; not my style. Not for something I did that felt right at the moment. And I don't blame you, not for something I did by myself but, it made me think. That maybe people were right about me being bad at picking people to care about."

"Jaehyun?" Jungkook said, knowingly.

"Among them," he conceded, "Actually the ones to tell me that are all my friends. Seeing how they are my friends, and they care, I don't think they know what they're talking about."

"I was frustrated. I don't know what I was saying."

"You got so good at talking and I think it's thanks to me. I should get angry at you more often," Yugyeom said, then, in a show of exaggerated pride, patted his shoulder exuberantly.

The door creaked open. Jungkook turned to find Jaehyun standing there, "Why are you taking credit alone? It was my idea."

Jungkook looked between both of them, confused. 'His idea?' 'The fight was a set-up?'

"I was actually angry; you pretended to be angry," Yugyeom reminded him.

"Who told you that? I got angry too; Mingyu even had to intervene," Jaehyun said, recalling the uncomfortable incident too fondly.

"If you were going to do something stupid, at least let me in on it," Mingyu appeared, saying, "I don't enjoy panicking for nothing."

"You agreed to skip practice and a whole day of class for this?" Jungkook questioned Yugyeom.

"I had good reasons this time," Yugyeom said, "Plus I was trying to prove a point to Jaehyun."

"And you were right," Jaehyun looked meaningfully at Yugyeom, words vague but Jungkook had an idea that it had been something him, and he had passed some kind of test with how they were treating him familiarly.

A few doors away, Jungkook saw a flutter of movement of a server girl, hands full of a serving tray, at the corner of his eyes. His breath was slow, in anticipation, his brain comprehending an impending doom faster than his eyes could. In his next breath, the door next to her opened and a figure rushed out, knocking everything in her path. A loud clang of metals against something hard and glass breaking made him jump, even if he had seen it coming. The other boys did too.

"What the—" Mingyu said, whirled around to see a mess of a girl on her knees amidst shards of broken glass pieces and puddle of spilt beverages. She was the server and luck was bad to her. Jungkook felt as bad for her, he knew how wretched she must have felt.

Jungkook's attention shifted to the dark-haired girl that stood over her and saw her mouthed a 'sorry' after a momentary length of shock and confusion. But, she had walked briskly away, then, without helping or even pretending to help, not meaning her apology or acting it.

Jungkook's eyes followed her.

Dahyun. He knew her now.

The same way she must have known her. But she had not graced a glance at him, even if she had been walking close enough for him to catch the subtle whiff of her perfume. Soft. Like a fragrant tea. He was running into her too many times that day. He did not like how she unsettled him. Jungkook tore his gaze away, head turned, from her retreating back and moved to help the other girl.

But Yugyeom was faster. Already, he had gently dropped his jacket around her shoulders, and asked, concerned, "Are you hurt?"

Jungkook paused when he had better look at the girl huddling in his friend's jacket.

'Yein. What was she doing here?'

A figure appeared from the door behind Yein then, frantic.

"Kim Dahyun!" She called out and Jungkook winced at the name. It had meant something different than this discomfort this girl was swirling in him.

Jungkook recognised her as Dahyun's teasing friend from earlier. She sidestepped the mess unapologetically to chase after her friend, hands full of paper bags.

"Eunbi," Mingyu spat the name and the hustling girl halted in the midst of their company. The name was familiar, and he had an inkling that he was supposed to know her or at least heard about her, but his gaze was fixated on Yein.

'What was she doing here dressed like that?'

"Don't pretend to know me. That's not my name," The girl said, harsh.

"No? Changed them, did you? Sinbi now? That wouldn't be enough. I would change face if I were you." Mingyu dripped mirth at the chance to have a dig at her.

"And yet you couldn't stop being an , which is easier. Try to have smaller dreams next time. I don't think you're meant for big ones. Even your coaches think so and don't want you in their team," she smiled back, cruel.

"I'm the ?!" He laughed, incredulous, then said, "I'm not the one going around ruining people's life!"

"Did I hurt you? I'm sorry. Oh, poor baby~" She cooed.

He saw Mingyu's muscle twitch, and the others cringed in dismay at her choice of words. Anyone could see that they had an ugly history and Jungkook knew without needing anyone to tell him that she must be involved in the big mess with Mingyu the year before.

"Hey, let's not start a fight here," Jaehyun was quick to placate, a mediator. Jungkook could feel it: the anxious concern of the other boys for Mingyu, as if not trusting him not to do something stupid like ending in a physical brawl with a girl. She looked like she would jump at the chance too.

"You're a ," Mingyu said low, vicious. Even that, Jungkook thought, was mild compared to what he wanted to do, to say, with how his entire body was vibrating with restrained fury.

"Just yours," she said lightly, provoking, "But you sure you want to remind everyone here about that? The last time wasn't pretty for you."

"Are you sure you want to start a fight with me?" Mingyu said, ominous. It was a clear warning.

Jaehyun jumped at him hearing those words, but Mingyu was quicker to hold him away, "I won't do anything stupid. Not for her," hard eyes on hers still, straight and unwavering, "She's dirty and a liar, she's not worth for even the dirt under my shoes."

Sinbi raised her chin in defiance, a sure bluster to her hurt at the insults, "I'm not one to stand arms open and let you drag me down through the mud. I'm not that nice. Or that stupid. I was only giving back what you were serving me. You forgot that you started it first. If you hadn't, I would have kept my words and helped you get what you wanted so bad," she said sombre and vague, but her words had so much room for assumptions. Jungkook wondered what other secret they had between the both of them. Then, he wondered if that meant their fight was unfinished.

But Sinbi decided that she had wasted enough time on useless run-ins. She looked down the hallway Dahyun had disappeared to worriedly, then at Yein, already pulled up to her feet, looking worried about something entirely else.

Sinbi quickly shuffled through the bags, pulled one out and placed it onto Yein's hand, "An apology for your trouble. The dress should fit you but if it doesn't get it exchanged or refunded or whatever; there's a receipt in there. Besides, I think it turned out rather well for you. You're pretty and these guys love playing heroes. They can be very generous even if they're not perfect gentlemen," she said, kicking in a last insult for the company, then she was running towards the exit, in the same direction as Dahyun did.

Jungkook's trance broke with his bubbling anger like a water boiling. Wild, reckless. He strode towards Yein and wordlessly, took the bag from her hand. But Yein circled her fingers around his cuffs, eyes pleading.

But Jungkook was unmoved, "She insulted you. Let. Go." He stared her down until she dropped her hand, not wanting to make a scene, then he was chasing after the disappeared figures.

"Jungkook!" He heard them call after him, but it spurned him faster. He took a few wrong turns but made it outside of the low building not too long after, winded.

He scanned the open-air parking lot for the bright red sedan he knew she was driving and saw it a dozen yards away; saw Sinbi next to it as she nodded defeatedly at the window. Sinbi took a few steps back and the car moved out of its lot sharp and quick, accelerated abruptly and zoomed past him clearly over the speed limit towards the exit, red and arrogant, even more, bright and dazzling in the night light. Jungkook got a very quick glimpse of Dahyun's side profile before her tinted window winded shut, her straight face equally impenetrable. Disgust rolled into him then, like the sudden ebb of the high tide would a foreshore.