31

“I’m not going.”

Taehyung blinks in surprise and throws Hoseok a quick frown over his shoulder before turning back towards Hara, expression dumbfounded.  “But-but Hara, this whole thing is for you, it’s to honor-”

“And reward,” Hoseok pipes in, stepping closer to the couch, “it’s to honor and reward you for your amazing-”

“Selfless-”

“Heart-touching-”

“Reckless,” Jungkook adds from the bathroom down the hall, but the boys ignore him.

“And inspirational actions from that night. You literally risked your life to save someone else. There is no way we’re letting you sit this out.”

Hara groans and turns onto her side so her back is facing the boys. “But I’m too tired, I barely got any sleep last night and the physiotherapist told me I should get good sleep to help my body heal faster and-”

“Jungkook said you slept for eight hours,” Hoseok says. Hara stares at the pillow in front of her and grimaces. Damn Jungkook and his obsessive urge to have full control over anything and everything.

“Eight hours and twenty seven minutes to be exact.” Jungkook enters room and walks over to the couch. He gently nudges Hara’s shoulder with his knee. “Come on, sleeping beauty, you have an award to receive.”

“I don’t wanna.” 

“You don’t really have a choice,” Jungkook says, “the press is gonna be there, too.” 

Hara flips onto her back and glares up at the ceiling, stubbornly crossing her arms over her chest. 

“I thought this was about me, no?”

“It is,” Jungkook agrees, nodding. 

“Then you should all respect my decision and let me stay here. I’m gonna wallow in self-pity and watch reruns of Supernatural until my eyeballs fall out of their sockets” 

“You’re gonna what?” 

Everyone turns to look in the direction of the voice.

Hara bites her lip and grimaces, but she throws Yoongi a quick glance and then instantly regrets it, because Yoongi is wearing a suit, just like the rest of the boys. Even his hair has been smoothed out in contrast with the usual unruly look.

“She’s trying to ditch the ceremony,” Taehyung tells on Hara as he rushes over to Yoongi and grabs onto his arm, “she even lied and said she hasn’t had enough sleep when Jungkook clearly told us she slept for eight hours and a half.” 

“Eight hours and twenty seven minutes,” Hara corrects but then averts her gaze because Yoongi has arched an eyebrow in disbelief. 

“What am I hearing, Hara? You do realize this whole thing is for you, right?” 

“I know,” Hara mumbles as Yoongi walks over to the couch. 

“They’ve cancelled classes and lectures so that all the students and teachers can be present for the ceremony,” Yoongi continues. 

“I’ve heard.” Hara’s voice is barely above a murmur, and she feels a little guilty for causing such a ruckus. But it’s not like she asked them to do this, what the hell. 

“I’ve even dressed up for this, Hara.” Yoongi comes to a stop next to the couch and crouches down, face directly in front of Hara’s. “Hey, what’s the real issue here? Wanna tell me? I’ll make the boys haul so we can be alone, if you want.”

Hara stares at Yoongi for a moment, feeling warmth spread through her chest at his concern, but guilt is a stronger emotion and so she averts her gaze, not able to handle his worried eyes for much longer. 

Yoongi is observant.

He stares at Hara in question, waiting for the girl to tell the truth about why she doesn't wanna attend the ceremony created specifically to honor her not only in front of the college, but the whole town if the press does their job correctly.

He seems to finally have put two and two together and makes a sound of realization. Hara looks back at him, taking in his frown, and she feels her heart drop to her belly when she notices the slight disappointment in his eyes. 

“We’ll tell them you fell sick on the way there, had to detour to the hospital,” Yoongi says, loud enough for the boys to hear. 

“What?” Hoseok sputters, and Taehyung also blinks in shock. Jungkook’s brows furrow deeply and he catches Yoongi’s eyes, silently asking for some sort of an explanation.

Yoongi stares for a moment, hard, and Jungkook’s lips part slightly in realization when his brain catches on. 

Yeah, Hara doesn’t really understand how the boys so easily forgot about the fact that she’s leaving. In 18 days. She cannot make it harder for herself by accepting this award, by becoming one of the faces hung up on the walls of the grand college. She wants to leave without a trace left behind. 

But Hara isn’t stupid, she knows that’s not possible. 

She has tried to be careful during her stay here, but she still managed to leave behind splashes of colour on each and every one of the boys, on her mom, on Yunho, on Leeteuk and Heechul and Siwon - Hara has left behind enough traces to cause multiple broken hearts when she escapes this place.

Hara stills.

Is it still considered an escape now? Isn't she leaving a place she now calls home to run out into the unknown? 

“I’ll leave early,” Jungkook mumbles, a distant look on his face, “I’ll say that I need to check up on you, it’ll make it more believable.” 

“Are you two serious right now?” Taehyung all but yells, throwing his hands up. “This is an important fricking event, guys, you’re supposed to convince her to go-”

“But instead you’re telling her to stay,” Hoseok finishes, frowning, “I don’t understand, what’s going on, guys? Did something happen? Is it something about her wound? Are you in pain, Ha-”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

Hara tries sitting up, and both Jungkook and Yoongi reach over to help pull her up. She flushes, refrains from snapping at them both for being too worried about a wound that is almost fully healed before looking over at Hoseok and Taehyung.

“I’m not good with these kinds of situations. I-I don’t want this to be about me. I don’t want the spotlight on me for even one second.”

“Is it social anxiety? Cause if it is, I’ll dress up as snow white and stand next to you throughout the whole thing,” Taehyung says, looking confused but also determined, and Hara chuckles tiredly and shakes her head. 

“It’s difficult to explain.” Jungkook’s jaw clenches, Hara pretends not to notice. “It is a long story, but I’ll tell you guys soon.” 

They know nothing about Hara being Jungkook’s stepsister, they don’t know that her room is two floors up, they don’t know that she lied when she said she had to stay here with Jungkook, Yunho and his fiance because her own family is on an important business trip overseas. 

Only god knows how the two boys haven’t put the pieces together and figured it out by now, what with Yunho and Sora checking up on her so many times throughout her hospital stay, but Hara knows Jungkook has had a hand in covering for her and she mentally thanks him, once more, for everything he has done for her. 

Hara doesn’t know for the life of her how she will ever be able to tell Taehyung and Hoseok the truth, but she knows deep down that she shouldn’t worry about that because once she leaves - she’ll be out of their lives for good. 

There’s no point in them knowing what could have been and what briefly was. 

“Will you, though?” Hara startles and looks up at Jungkook. His expression is hard. He’s angry. “Will you tell them, Hara?”

Hara stares up at him with widened eyes, feeling her heartbeat pick up because this is the first time in a long, long while Jungkook has confronted her in such an angry way. It’s not really that bad, but Hara has developed feelings for the boy, and so naturally she feels a knot start to form in at his sudden display of anger.

The room has also gone quiet, obviously because no one expected this type of tension to exist between the two of them, but also because Jungkook clearly seems to know more than the rest. 

“What-what are you saying?” Hara whispers, feeling her eyes gloss over, and Jungkook’s jaw ticks when he notices the tears, a brief flash of guilt crossing his features. 

“I just- you shouldn’t do this, Hara, you’re lyi-”

“It’s nine a.m.,” Yoongi suddenly interrupts, moving to his feet. 

Jungkook takes the hint and looks away in defeat, arms crossed over his chest, and Hara drags in a shaky breath and moves so she’s sitting a little sideways, face hidden from the boys. 

She subtly wipes the tears that have escaped and runs a hand through her hair before turning to smile at Taehyung who has walked up to her. 

“Promise me you'll explain everything later," he says, and Hara hates herself in that moment, more than ever. 

“I promise, Tae,” she whispers, not trusting her voice yet, and forces a smile onto her face.

Thankfully, her act is convincing enough, and Taehyung sighs and nods before bending down to tightly hug her. Hoseok also gives her a hug before telling her to make sure she has her phone on her at all times in case something happens, and Yoongi gives her a tight lipped smile before following the boys out of the living room area. 

Jungkook hasn’t left yet, still standing next to the coffee table in front of the couch Hara is sitting on, and he stares at his feet for a moment before clearing his throat. 

“That was out of line. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Hara whispers, but it clearly isn’t for Jungkook who gives her an angry frown. 

“I said that I wouldn’t force you to stay, Hara.” Jungkook’s hands are clenched into fists by his side.

"I know." Hara is feeling overwhelmed. She doesn't wanna talk about this right now.

"But I still put you in a very tough position, didn't I?" Jungkook roughly runs a hand through his hair and Hara closes her eyes, feeling her heart beating hard against her chest. 

"It's okay, Jungkook-"

"No, it's not! I said I wouldn't force you, and yet I put you on the spot in front of Taehyung and Hoseok hyung, so how about you just call me out on my bull instead of brushing it off like you keep doi-"

“Fine, stop being a and let me do what I wanna do.”

Jungkook obviously wasn’t expecting the response, and his eyes widen for a split second as he watches Hara.

The girl can still feel her heart in , guilt and pain and longing tangled in there somewhere, and she decides to let anger take the wheel because god knows she’ll break down if she even for a second lets any other emotion present itself. 

“You’re so ing annoying,” she continues, glaring up at Jungkook who still looks perplexed because Hara looks like she’s going to cry any moment now but her voice is dripping with pure rage, “you’re obsessive and controlling and you hate not knowing things so you even time my fricking sleeping pattern and-”

“That’s because Seolhyun told me to,” Jungkook says, frowning, “I’m being controlling because that’s literally my task!” 

“Oh, so the only reason you’re doing this is because it’s your task? I’m just your assignment?” Hara laughs humorlessly and Jungkook steps closer to the couch.

“That is not he truth, and you know that, Hara,” he says sternly, but Hara knows the tell-tale signs of a panic attack when it arrives, and even though she hasn’t had one in weeks - she knows something is about to happen now, regardless of how much Jungkook explains himself. 

“Oh, I know the truth, okay, I know the bloody truth, I know what you feel for me, Jungkook, and I am unfortunately aware of what I feel for you-”

“Hara-”

“But I also know that it’s bad! Let's face the elephant in the room, Jungkook, because whatever we have going on right now is not okay. It’s illegal, for god’s sake!”

Jungkook crouches down in front of the couch, a deep frown on his face, “what the hell is going on, why are you suddenly doing th-”

“Our parents are getting married, they’re gonna be a family and we’re gonna be siblings, , Jungkook, this is a mess, I don’t know why I even thought it was a good idea to begin with, no one can know about us-”

“Why?” Jungkook suddenly yells, and Hara flinches, hard, but Jungkook tightly grabs her shoulders and keeps her in place, “why can’t no one know about us? What’s so wrong about falling in love with someo-”

“You’re going to be my brother!” Hara can feel a tear trail down her cheek and she notices how fast her breathing has become. “You’re going to be my brother, only Yoongi knows the truth about our families, but even he doesn’t know what’s going on between us! I can’t do this, I-I can’t lie to them like this, I can’t stay here-”

“Hara, stop it-”

“I have to-I have to get out, I can’t brea-.”

It is a very familiar scene, despite weeks having passed since the last time it happened. 

Hara is just as surprised, her hands pressed against Jungkook’s hard chest, eyes widened. And Jungkook, just like last time, has tightly cupped Hara’s face in his hands, his eyes closed, lips soft and scent everywhere. 

But this time, Hara’s hands move from his chest and up towards his neck where she tightens her grip, pulling Jungkook closer, earning a grunt from the boy. 

Jungkook moves his lips, urging Hara to breathe, and she does, following his lead until her breathing evens out and she can no longer hear screaming in her head, but her heart keeps pounding, hard, and her lips, hands - every part of her that is in contact with Jungkook is positively on fire. 

And she doesn’t want it to stop.

, she doesn’t want it to stop. 

Jungkook notices, instantly, how she doesn’t pull away like last time, and his movements come to a halt, but Hara pulls him closer and gently bites on his lower lip, earning a surprised groan from him.

Jungkook is still hesitant, despite the fire in his belly, and he gives her another chance to pull away, his hands moving from her cheeks, down her shoulders, gently along the curve of her waist until they reach her hips where he squeezes once, twice, quietly asking if she wants to continue.

Hara tugs on the hair at the base of his neck in response and Jungkook growls, finally diving deep, deep in.