Chapter 19

 

Yoongi paces his room back and forth. Namjoon is already there, watching Yoongi pace the room frantically.

“Are you going to tell me what happened or not?” Namjoon asks.

“When Jennie gets here,” Yoongi snaps, feeling frustrated.

Namjoon nods in defeat but still looks concerned for his friend. He is sitting on Yoongi’s bed, his back against the headboard and his arms folded. Yoongi checks his phone for the umpteenth time and looks out of the window. He continues pacing, repeating this pattern over and over again. Pace the room, check the phone, and look out the window. Namjoon is starting to get dizzy from all the movement.

 

All of a sudden, Yoongi spots Jennie’s car arriving.

“She’s here,” Yoongi murmurs, rushing from his bedroom. Namjoon follows apprehensively.

Yoongi swings the front door open as Jennie closes and locks her car.

“What’s up, Yoongi?” Jennie beams as she approaches the gate.

Namjoon shakes his head, warning her of Yoongi’s approaching anger.

“Inside,” Yoongi breathes, unable to voice his words properly, “Inside now,”

Jennie frowns and does as she is told. As she enters the house first, Namjoon turns to glare at Yoongi, as if warning him to not be too angry with her.

Yoongi ignores him as he pushes past him into the house. He leads both Namjoon and Jennie up the stairs and into Yoongi’s room. He closes the door behind him and sits on his computer chair, facing Jennie and Namjoon. They sit down side-by-side on Yoongi’s bed, looking worried.

Yoongi takes a few deep breaths, calming himself and wondering how to ask Jennie what he needs to ask.

 

He saw Sumi and Jungkook just over an hour ago. As soon as he got home, he called Namjoon over and messaged Jennie. He hasn’t mentioned anything, besides the fact that it’s important and they need to hurry over.

“What’s up, Yoongi?” Jennie asks, a little confused.

“Sumi… is she dating anyone?” He decides to first see if Jennie would lie to him.

Jennie freezes up and stares at Yoongi’s impassive expression. Namjoon watches her as well, unsure of what Yoongi is talking about.

Jennie nods.

“Who?” Namjoon asks immediately, but Yoongi interrupts him.

“Why?” Yoongi murmurs emotionally. As much as he doesn’t want to take it out on Jennie, he can’t control his anger, “Why is she doing this to me?”

Jennie doesn’t respond straight away. She looks down at her shaking fingers, trying to find the right words to explain what happened to Yoongi. After Namjoon places his arm over her shoulders, she speaks.

“They started dating 2 years ago,” Jennie begins, “I was too busy with all my studies. I can’t do it as easily as Jungkook does. Hoseok was off at his police academy after a few months so… it went from our weekly meet-up to just Sumi and Jungkook,”

“Jungkook?” Namjoon looks to Yoongi, the realization dawning on him, “Jungkook and Sumi are together?”

Yoongi nods curtly, unable to say the words allowed.

“Why did they continue then?” Yoongi leans forward, “Why did they continue to see each other? Just the two of them?”

“I’m not sure…” Jennie shrugs, “I thought it was just that they were feeling lonely because they were the only ones left, but when I told Jungkook I could make the next one, he told me not to bother,”

“Why?” Yoongi snaps.

“I don’t know, do I?” Jennie retorts, “They both started shutting me out. Especially Jungkook. He stopped helping me study. Honestly, he wouldn’t talk to me at all after you guys left,”

Namjoon smirks a little. Yoongi and Namjoon both know the reason why Jungkook stopped talking to her.

 

“It doesn’t make any sense to me…” Yoongi frowns, “Jungkook liked you, why is he with Sumi?”

“Huh?” Jennie’s eyes go wide, “Jungkook… liked me?”

Namjoon and Yoongi both roll their eyes. It is well known in their friend group that Jennie is oblivious to all the flirting made against her. She notices nothing.

“Yes, he did,” Yoongi says impatiently, “He was really upset when you and Namjoon finally confessed to each other,”

Jennie blushes but doesn’t say anything more. She must be feeling pretty stupid at this point.

“Anyway, it doesn’t explain why he gave up so quickly…” Yoongi frowns, “You said they’ve been together for 2 years? What happened in the first year we were away?”

“For the first few months we all met up often at the same bar each week,” Jennie explains, “Once Hoseok went away it wasn’t as fun, but we kept it going for another couple of months. But I was falling behind in my studies, so I had to stop coming,”

“Did Jungkook encourage you not to come?” Yoongi asks.

“Yeah… I guess,” Jennie shuffles uncomfortably, “He persuaded me to focus on my studies, so I’m not kicked out,”

“Alright,” Yoongi begins pacing again, “So Jungkook started falling for Sumi because of the meetups,”

“I guess,” Jennie shrugs, “I’m not sure… Sumi doesn’t talk to me much these days,”

“What?” Namjoon and Yoongi say at the same time.

“Yeah…” Jennie frowns, “She didn’t talk to me about Jungkook, and then just over a year ago we stopped talking completely. I only found out they were dating a year ago,”

Yoongi sits down again, contemplating.

He knows Sumi and Jennie were really close. He saw what it did to her to not talk to Jennie during high school. Why isn’t she talking to her anymore?

 

“But… how could Sumi do this?” Yoongi mumbles. Namjoon and Jennie watch Yoongi quietly, waiting for him to burst.

“Well… you guys did break up…” Jennie explains, “It’s only fair that she moved on,”

Namjoon nods in agreement. Yoongi, however, glares up at Jennie.

“I wonder why she decided to break up with me…” Yoongi growls, “I wonder who could have been filling her head with bull advice that made her end it?”

“My advice was good!” Jennie admits, “I was only trying to…”

Yoongi stands up, shoving his chair into his desk with a loud bang. He moves closer to Jennie, fury in his normally calm eyes.

“I was going to propose to her when I returned!” Yoongi bellows, “The break wasn’t for us to move on, it was for us to become better people and return to loving each other!”

“Oh yeah?” Jennie stands, pointing at Yoongi, “Her head wouldn’t have been filled with so much doubt if you didn’t make it seem like you didn’t want to be with her anymore!”

Yoongi steps back, his face shocked. Jennie has never been a very defensive person. Usually, she would just bow and apologize whilst trying to hold in her tears. Yoongi has never seen this side of her.

“I didn’t… mean to,” Yoongi stammers before groaning with frustration, “You’re the one who pushed her to end it!”

“No! I only told her to be happy! Because you two were slowly killing each other!”

“ENOUGH!” Namjoon stands up and gets in between them, pushing them gently aside, “Enough, alright?”

 

Jennie returns to the bed and Yoongi sits down on his computer chair. They both look defeated.

“Now,” Namjoon starts, “It doesn’t matter who pushed Sumi to move on. That was 3 years ago,”

“But…”

“I don’t care, Yoongi,” Namjoon snaps, “At the end of the day, it’s all in the past. Now!”

Namjoon sits next to Jennie and turns to Yoongi, his eyes narrowed.

“What do you want?”

Yoongi stares at Namjoon for a moment, completely bewildered.

“I don’t… understand,”

“Why are you asking us this?” Namjoon asks, “What are you trying to do here?”

“I…”

“Do you want us to break them up? Do you want us to reverse time and stop them?” Namjoon splutters, “She’s your ex and you have known that for 3 years. What are you trying to get out of abusing my girlfriend?”

“I’m not abusing her!” Yoongi snaps, “I just… I was hoping Jennie would tell me it’s not true…” he admits, looking down at his clasped hands.

Namjoon nods understandingly.

“Alright, now that you know it’s true, what are you going to do?” Namjoon asks, “Break them up? Attack Jungkook? Confront them? Because I am not getting involved in any of that,”

“I know,” Yoongi mumbles, “I don’t know what I want to do… I just needed someone to blame,” He looks up at Jennie apologetically.

Jennie smirks and turns her head, holding her hand up to her ear.

“Hm? Was that an apology?”

Namjoon snickers as Yoongi smirks at Jennie’s attempt at lightening the atmosphere.

“I’m sorry,” Yoongi smiles, “It’s not your fault I’m just…”

“Hurt,” Namjoon supplies, “We understand…”

“Why don’t you ask Sumi about it?” Jennie suggests, “Maybe you guys can still be friends,”

Yoongi scoffs. He knows he couldn’t just be friends with her. After dating her for so long he couldn’t see her as anything else.

 

Yoongi, Namjoon and Jennie spend the rest of the afternoon together. Jennie and Namjoon attempt to cheer Yoongi up and take his mind off of Sumi, but he has only one thought at this point.

 

Why?

 

 

2 YEARS AGO…

 

“Oh! Sumi!” Jungkook waves to Sumi as she enters the restaurant. She beams and rushes over to him.

“You’re here?” Sumi sits down opposite Jungkook and looks at the empty spaces around them, “No one else could come?”

“Nah,” Jungkook smiles, “Jennie says she’s worried about being kicked out,”

“Ahh, again?” Sumi sighs, “I haven’t seen her in months. Whenever I message her she replies at 2 in the morning with an apology!”

“Really?” Jungkook laughs, “She must be studying late,”

“Yeah,” Sumi shakes her head and beams at him, “So, how was the tour?”

“Pretty good,” Jungkook smirks, “I can’t wait to be a resident medical student! Seeing all the doctors at the hospital was really cool!”

“That’s amazing,” Sumi agrees.

“What about you?” Jungkook eyes her seriously, “Are they still not accepting that manuscript?”

“Yeah,” Sumi pouts, “They keep telling me it needs more drama,”

“Drama? Wow,” Jungkook tsks, “That’s all anyone cares about these days,”

“Yeah,” Sumi grins, “But they accepted my other manuscript!”

“Really? Congratulations!” Jungkook cheers, clapping happily for her. Sumi sighs.

“Ahh, I’m so glad you’re not too busy to hang out,” Sumi admits, “I’d feel pretty down if I couldn’t tell anyone about my manuscripts,”

“It’s okay, I enjoy being able to let go after studying so much,”

“Liar!” Sumi smacks his hand playfully, “Like you need to study,”

“It’s true!” Jungkook giggles.

Sumi turns to the servers and calls out their food order. Pork, beef, beer and Soju, as usual.

 

Jungkook watches Sumi talk about her day with the publishing company excitedly. He has been seeing her alone for quite a few months now. They even spent Valentine's Day together, which still makes his heart beat fast.

After their first drink alone together, Jungkook found himself watching her carefully. Her bubbling laughter, her cheeky grin when she’s teasing him, her long dark brown hair falling over her shoulder. The way her eyes light up when she talks about her stories. The way she rests her head on her entwined fingers when he’s talking about his day. All these little things built up inside his heart.

When Jennie said she could make one of their meetups and Jungkook told her not to come, that was the day he knew. He is slowly falling in love with her.

He wanted to tell her on Valentine's Day. He had everything planned. He was going to bring a teddy bear and a huge bouquet of roses to her house in the morning. But… the night before, Sumi called him to the bar a day early. She promised to see him again the next day, so he went.

She spent the night crying… talking about him. Min Yoongi.

He couldn’t tell her that day. He couldn’t bring himself to confess to her when his heart was breaking so much. Her words were like cuts on his heart, shaving him away.

But that’s all in the past now. Today is the day. Jungkook will confess to her tonight no matter what.

 

When their food arrives, Sumi starts cooking the meat. Whilst Sumi cooks, Jungkook starts pouring their drinks and organizing their sides.

Sumi smirks as she watches him place her chopsticks on her right and her spoon on the left. After he slides the kimchi next to her chopsticks, she sighs.

“Wow… you know me too well,” Sumi grins, “How are you able to remember these little things when you have to remember all that important medical stuff?”

Jungkook doesn’t respond. He wants to tell her that her needs are very important to him, but he decides on some subtle flirting instead.

“I only remember important things, Sumi,” He smirks as he continues to arrange the sides. Sumi doesn’t reply until she is finished cooking and cutting all the meat.

 

“What other important things do you remember?” Sumi asks curiously.

“Well,” Jungkook pretends to think for a moment, even though he knows exactly what he’s going to say, “I remember the title and publishing date of your first story and the stories after that. I remember your birthday, your favourite meat, your favourite ice cream flavour, and drink combination,” He takes a piece of meat from the plate and dips it in some sauce, “And I remember how you like your Korean BBQ,” He lifts the meat and places it in .

For a moment, Sumi doesn’t say anything. She chews contently, looking at the table lost in thought. At first, Jungkook is scared she has picked up on his not-so-subtle flirting, but then she speaks.

“I wonder if Yoongi knows those things…” She bites her lip, frowning at the food.

No… don’t think about him.

Look at me.

“Sumi,” Jungkook says loudly. She looks up at him, a little startled. His expression softens as he notices her eyes are a little red.

“Yeah?” She murmurs.

“Don’t think about him,” Instinctively, he leans forward and grabs her hand, “Just look at me,”

Sumi frowns down at his hand and up at him.

“I… I don’t understand,” She blushes.

So cute…

“Sumi…” Jungkook starts blushing, the words he’s been longing to say get stuck in his throat. He looks at her hesitantly. He’s going to miss the moment if he doesn’t say anything.

Say it! Just say it!

“I… I think I…” He gulps, but Sumi just smiles at him.

“Do you like me Jungkook?” She says quietly, watching him carefully. He blushes darker still and nods.

Sumi chuckles, pulling out of his grip and folding her arms.

“Hmm…” She smirks, “I don’t believe you,”

“What?” Jungkook murmurs, staring at her in shock, “What do you mean?”

“I think you’re lying so I don’t feel bad about Yoongi,” Sumi smirks.

“No! I really like you! I’ve started liking you ever since we started hanging out, just the two of us!”

Sumi laughs, grinning evilly at him.

“There… was that so hard?”

Then, Jungkook realizes what she just did to him. She made him say the words he wanted to say. He smirks darkly at her.

“Very funny,” Jungkook shoves some food into his mouth, pouting as if he’s upset.

Sumi continues to chuckle as they begin feasting on the food. After a few minutes of silence, Jungkook looks up to find Sumi watching him expectantly.

“What’s up?” he asks. She bats her eyelashes a few times and clears as if waiting for him to say something.

“What?” Jungkook says, “What do you want?”

“Aren’t you going to ask me something?” Sumi says. Jungkook suddenly becomes serious as he realizes what Sumi is waiting for. She wants him to ask her to be his girlfriend.

He should have known Sumi would want him to ask her. All her romance novels point to her cheesy nature.

He clears his throat and leans forward. As Sumi leans forward as well Jungkook grabs her hands gently, holding them to the side of the hot BBQ plate.

He looks into her eyes, expecting to see pity or sadness. What he wasn’t expecting to see was the steady pink spreading across her cheeks, or her eyes to be sparkling expectantly.

As confused as he is about her feelings right now, he’s not going to pass on a chance to ask her.

“Sumi,” Jungkook mumbles seductively, “Will you be my girlfriend?”

After a moment's pause, her face lights up with the most adorable eye smile he has ever seen.

“Sure,” She mutters shyly.

 

Jungkook and Sumi spend the rest of the night holding hands and chatting openly. He confesses how many times he has wanted to tell her and what he likes most about her. He is beyond cheesy, but Sumi seems to love it. She watches him talk shyly with wonderous infatuation as if one of her story heroes has come to life.

She explains how her feelings for Yoongi are dwindling into nothingness. Her comments now are in bitter memory rather than in fond memory. She stopped missing him the night before valentines Day. She stopped loving him a few weeks after that.

 

That night they share their first kiss together.