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It's September 2018. A stadium is filled with screams, on stage stands seven boys, the boys of 방탄소년단.

But Jungkook stands still and looks into the audience with his eyes wide, in absolute awe of the view, several thousand ARMY bombs light up the stadium. To his right are s, his brothers, they're drenched in sweat but they're smiling. Jungkook takes a deep breath, he can hear his heart pounding alongside the cheering of fans. He closes his eyes and is met with darkness, and for a moment his heart is full. His eyes don't open even when someone grabs his hand; he knows the concert is coming to an end. He bows and as he comes up, opens his eyes to see the the bright lights of ARMY bombs that fill his heart once again. Everyone's already left the stage, but he can't seem to leave. Only when the lights turn off does he turn his back to the audience.

As they drive away from the stadium, Jungkook looks through the window to catch one last glimpse of the fans for the night. Head resting on his arm, he stares at them endlessly, even when he can no longer see them.

Exhausted from the concert, they arrive to the hotel without a word. "Good work and goodnight," Jungkook says to his brothers as he watches them enter their hotel rooms. He opens the door to his hotel room and is met with darkness. He flips on a light switch, and though the light fills up the room, it cannot fill his heart.

As he lies on the bed, he opens up Twitter on his phone. He scrolls through the tweets about tonight's concert, stopping at one with his photo. The photo shows him looking out into the audience and reads:

"He's got the whole world in his hands."

He closes the app, sighs, and thinks to himself, "That's what they think."

It's April 2011 and Jungkook sits in class waiting patiently for his best friend to relay a message. He smiles when he sees her and waves. She smiles at him as she takes her seat beside him. "She always looks pretty when she smiles," Jungkook thinks.

"Guess what?" Jungkook says excitedly, "I've signed with a company!" Her eyes widen and jaw drops, baffled by the news she can only hug him. As she pulls away, she tells him, "That's amazing, I'm so happy for you! I can just imagine you onstage, you're going to be amazing! The world won't be able to take their eyes off you."

"You have to watch me when I'm onstage then," he says bringing up his pinky finger. She laughs and intertwines her pinky with his as a promise.

 

It's June 2013, Jungkook becomes busier as BTS has debuted. Unable to attend school as often, he can't see her as much as he used to. It makes him unhappy; he misses her smile. They continue to text one another and she does her best to update him about her life. But, Jungkook keeps forgetting to text her back and when he does remember, he feels it's too late to text back, so he doesn't.

 

It's May 2015. Life feels to be going at such a fast pace for Jungkook, he's doing his best to keep up and he's learnt that he does it well. Seoul moves quickly compared to his hometown, Busan. One moment he's on stage with the first trophy he and his brothers have won and the next moment he's holding a trophy that seemed to have lost its significance the same moment he left the stage. The win seems surreal and burdensome when he's not on stage. Jungkook picks up his phone and for the first time in two years he texts his best friend: We won today. You're the first person I wanted to tell personally.

He's worried she won't text back. He goes through the old text messages and realized once again just how fast Seoul moves. The last message she sent was over a year ago: Today's a slow day, but it probably isn't for you! I saw you on TV, which reminds me...I should probably fulfill my promise to watch you onstage soon, huh?

But to his dismay, he receives a text quite quickly: Wow, you waited until you won to text me just to rub it in my face, didn't you?! But seriously, congratulations, good job! You're gonna text me back at least once right? lol

He chuckled and breathed a sigh of relief. Before he could reply, he gets another text: I wasn't going to tell you but since you texted me today, I feel like I should...I'm moving abroad soon. Sorry, I don't think I'll be able to keep my promise to you. Don't hate me.

In disbelief, Jungkook mumbled, "Can I go home?" He looked up from his phone, no one seemed to hear him. "Busan," he said loudly, "Can I go to home to Busan, for just this weekend?"

So home he went. After seeing his parents, he excused himself and walked to his best friend's house. Jungkook was nervous walking to her house. He hadn't seen her in years, nevertheless he realized he didn't even text her back once again. He took a deep breath before finding the courage to ring the doorbell to her house. The door opened and he saw his best friend's face, a face he hadn't seen in a long time, a face he hadn't realized he'd been wanting to see in so long. Her eyes pierced his for just a moment until he lost the courage he just gained and looked to the floor. "Long time no see. This is a nice surprise considering you don't ever text back," Jungkook heard her say. When he rose his head to look at her again, she was smiling that pretty smile of hers.

She invited him in to the backyard and they spent the next couple of hours together like they used to, as if the fact that he hadn't texted her back for years wasn't true. Jungkook studied her face more carefully as they talked. He noticed things he hadn't noticed before. Like the way her eyebrows furrowed when she spoke passionately, how she pursed her lips when listening, how beautiful her deep brown eyes looked when it was golden hour. The sun had set and for the first time, Busan felt like it was moving too quickly. Before leaving, he wanted to tell her to stay. But Jungkook knows that would be selfish of him to expect that from her. So he leaves her with, "Have a safe flight. Take care."

It's September 2018. Jungkook receives a text as he lies on his bed, his arms are sore so he grabs his phone with much effort. Jungkook gets up immediately as he sees the text is from her: Hey, I'm fulfilling my promise tomorrow!

Wait, tomorrow as in the concert tomorrow? Jungkook replies.

I'll see you tomorrow at the concert. I know you're going to do amazing. She responds.

Jungkook takes a deep breath and falls onto his bed again. He grins from ear to ear and covers his face even though there is no one to see him blush.

It's the next morning and even as Jungkook washes up, he can't stop smiling. As he heads off to meet his brothers for breakfast, he hums a happy tune. Yoongi catches on quickly the moment he sees and hears Jungkook, "What's gotten you so happy this morning?"

Jungkook turns to Yoongi as he lets out a small giggle, "Just that my best friend is coming today."

"Best friend?" Yoongi questions, "Ah, the girl that you've been friends with since middle school?" Yoongi raises his eyebrows at Jungkook. Jungkook, unable to hide his smile, just nods.

Word soon follows amongst the rest of the boys. Throughout the rest of the day up until the concert, they tease Jungkook and he can't help but say, "Stop," as he continues to smile and laugh with them. He's enjoying himself today, more so than usual.

 

It's ten minutes before the concert begins. The boys are checking their earpieces, mic packs, hair, and wardrobe one last time before they head to the stage lifts. The boys do their cheer as they walk onto the stage lift and encourage one another, "Do well today. Good luck. Fighting power!"

Jungkook warms up his vocal cords as he takes off his earpiece. He can hear the crowd cheering and he imagines his best friend cheering him on too. He closes his eyes, breathes deeply, and puts his earpiece on again as the crowd counts down, "3, 2, 1!"

As "IDOL" begins to fill Jungkook's ears, he opens his eyes to see once again, a stadium filled with ARMY bombs and screams as the seven of them stand on stage. The next two hours continue on as the boys perform. Concerts, like Seoul, usually move quickly, but for Jungkook, tonight's concert feels slow. It's nearing the end of the concert and like last night, Jungkook looks at the fans with such awe and can't leave the stage until the lights dim off, this time wondering how he even deserved all this.

As Jungkook walks off stage he checks his phone and sees a text from his best friend: Wow, you really are amazing, Jeon Jungkook.

Jungkook grins: Thanks! I'll see you later!

 

As it's the final night of the concert, the boys and the entire tour team are headed to a restaurant to celebrate. Upon their arrival, Jungkook's face lights up and he spots his best friend waving to him with that smile he loves most. His heart pounds with nervousness and excitement. He wonders how he should greet her, what he should say to her. But as he walks towards her, the only thing he can do is embrace her in his arms and although it's cold outside, his heart is not. Jungkook releases her from his embrace and gazes into her eyes, "Long time no see. It's really good to see you," It's silent as they take a moment toegther until she replies, "Likewise."

Jungkook and his best friend follow everyone else into the restaurant and he seats her next to himself. He introduces her to his brothers, and to his surprise, they aren't completely teasing him in front of her. The atmosphere is good, the night is long, and everyone is laughing to their heart's content. Jungkook excuses himself for a moment as he gasps for air while laughing, "I need - it's too funny! I just - let me calm down for a moment."

Jungkook steps out onto the restaurant's balcony as he tries to calm himself down. He's taking deep breaths but he can't stop himself from laughing. "I'm glad you're having a really good time," he hears her say. He turns around and there she is again, smiling at him. Jungkook chuckles and looks down as he feels his face warm up hoping that she wouldn't see him blush. She walks over to him and as she stares into the night sky, says, "I'm glad I got to keep my promise."

Jungkook looks up at her and doesn't respond until her head turns and their eyes meet, "I'm really glad you got to keep your promise too."

“Oh, that’s right! Happy late birthday! I got you something.” She says as she pulls out a small box from behind her and hands it to him. Jungkook gives her a surprised look and takes the box from her. As he opens the box, his eyes see a simple, thin, leather bracelet that is colored in red, white, and black. The letters “J” and “K” dangle from the bracelet. Jungkook smiles and immediately removes the bracelet from the box and tries to put it on.

“Here,” she says taking his hand and to put the bracelet on. Jungkook studies her face again. Her brows furrow and lips purse not only when she’s passionately talking or listening but when she’s concentrating too, and though he can barely see her eyes at the moment, they are still as piercingly beautiful as they were during golden hour.

“I actually just got the leather bracelet itself a couple years back on a trip and it reminded me of you,” she tells Jungkook as she finishes. “But, I just recently decided to add the letter charms.”

Looking at the bracelet that was now on his wrist, he says “I love it. Thank you for thinking of me when you saw it.”

The night carries on and so does their conversation. This night feels familiar to the one they had in 2015, except this time Jungkook had never been so in love with her. Their conversation is cut short as Namjoon calls out to them, "It's time to head back to the hotel."

Jungkook nods in return and hugs her tighter and longer than he ever has. She pulls herself away and tells him as she stares into his beautiful, doe eyes, "The world really can't take their eyes off of you. You've got the whole world in your hands."

This time, though he knows he can't, Jungkook wants to stay. She hugs him once more. He watches as she returns to the restaurant, picks up her bag, says goodbye to the rest of the boys, and walks towards to exit. She stops when reaching the door and turns around to meet Jungkook's eyes from what feels like across the world and gives him another smile before completely leaving. Jungkook, with longing eyes, stares at her as she leaves, even when he can no longer see her.

He has the whole world in his hands, but not his whole world.

 

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Dec. 13, 2021: Just a little edit, such as changing some words around. Overall story remains the same. Thank you so much for reading <3