STRONG LANGUAGE USED WARNING

Taehyung:

           He was about to smack the person who decided to ring his doorbell at three in the morning. Taehyung had fallen asleep about four hours ago, exhausted. He stayed way too long behind and helping Irene edit. She did buy him dinner and then talked about her family life a little bit. She still kept a lot of it hidden to herself. What surprised him was hearing that Irene had actually seen and talked to Joy briefly the day before. When she told him why, he was not too happy and was ready to go murder Jennie Kim the next time he saw her.

Jennie had asked Irene previously to model—before she asked him. Somehow, she twisted his words and approached Irene again saying he would only do it if Joy said it was okay for him and if she had no issues with them modeling together. He knew for a fact; Joy would see no problem. After all, she thought he liked Irene. He was disappointed they had not spoken about anything else since it turned out Joy was with Jungkook, who was walking her to work.

Groggy and wanting to just sleep—he opened the door so the person could stop the damn ringing. Annoyed he looked at the man in front of him, looking haggard and like he ran miles to get to his place—was Yook Sungjae.

Taehyung scoffed at the gall of Sungjae coming to him. In the middle of the night, no less. Sungjae didn't wait to be let in but pushed past him. He was holding something, and Taehyung was about to ask him what he was holding but Sungjae dropped it on his coffee table. It was a gun. It made Taehyung shut the door and walked up to the man, holding him by the collar.

“What the Sungjae?”

“Where's Joy?”

“I should be asking you why you are here and with a gun at three in the ing morning!”

Sungjae pushed him back and pointed a finger. “You, I heard about what happened when I left. You saved her. Why would you save her if you were just using her?”

Taehyung was confused and even more so when Sungjae started to cry, sitting on his couch. He watched the haggard man grip his hair. Something in him told him to get him water—he did and placed it in front of the person he despised the most in the world. Sungjae looked broken and almost a visual representation of how he was feeling with everything around him. And how much easier life would have been if he had only admitted to his feelings sooner.

“I don’t know what kind of drug you’re on, but you're not making sense.” His pity only lasted for a few seconds. His anger from being awoken, took over.

Sungjae looked at him, took the water and drained in one go. “What is Park Sooyoung to you?”

Flabbergasted, Taehyung laughed in a non-amused way. “Is this some sick joke? You know. I’m pretty sure you’ve always known and that is why you only made a move once I was out of the way. Or not?”

Sungjae smirked at him. “I guess you’re finally admitting that you like her and have all along? Wasn’t it hard? Knowing why she even came into your life? It doesn’t matter. You have to keep her safe. You have to promise to keep her safe. You owe her that much.”

He watched as Sungjae stood up to leave. He was confused. Everything Sungjae said made no sense. All that made sense was that yes, he did like Joy but even then, he couldn’t recall the specific memory in where he took care of her. At least, not more than usual. What had he been talking about? Did he do something grand for Joy—that he just forgot about? He did take care of her because Namjoon asked him to and then he wanted to out of his own free will. Is that what Sungjae had meant?

Sungjae left and he left the gun. Taehyung got up, opened his door, and called out to the man walking away. “You forgot—your thing!”

“I don’t need it anymore Kim Taehyung. I found out the information needed. I’m of no use. It’s pointless to keep prolonging it. It’s yours. Keep it, you’ll need it soon. It’s not like you haven’t seen one before.”

He wanted to protest but something was off with Sungjae. He shivered—everything about the meeting was making his skin crawl. He closed the door and looked at the gun. He had never seen one before, let alone use one. What was Sungjae talking about? He fell on his couch and looked at the ceiling. It didn’t matter. He needed to stay away from Joy to keep her safe. Why would Sungjae say the opposite? Yoongi told him to stay put and so he was going to stay put. He also was not going to interfere with Joy and Jin. He would be a good friend. A friend that dearly missed her and liked her.

Taking out his phone he had picked up from the moment he woke up—he texted Jin. The sooner they met the better. He would see what his friend would say and maybe, debate whether he would back down because the more he thought about it and the more he dwelled on it, he didn’t like Joy. No—it was most likely that he was very much in love with her. He loves her and he wants to be with her.

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Jungkook:

It was his birthday, and he got a text from Jimin telling him to meet him at a restaurant. He knew why. They were going to have a birthday dinner. He wasn’t hungry—his other friends had already taken him out, but Joy was going to be there. He was going to see her tomorrow, already having made the reservations and maybe today he would find out what her favorite flowers were.

Jungkook wasn’t hoping for much. He just wanted a chance. He wanted a chance of winning Joy’s heart. She was not the first woman he found beautiful. No. There were many beautiful women out there. He had a few girlfriends here and there but Joy, she was the first to catch his attention the moment he entered the university. He really did think meeting her was fate. He really did think that her being friends with Jimin, his neighbor and new friend, was fate. His fate ran out the moment he saw her interacting with Taehyung—another one of his new friends.

Still, he would have given up had she told him, he did not have a chance. She said the opposite. He had a chance, and he was going to take it. He knew his rivalry. He knew it was Kim Seokjin, the doctor and Kim Taehyung, the high school friend and neighbor. What was he? Jeon Jungkook and he was determined. He was determined to have a chance with a campus beauty like her. The more he knew her, the more he liked her.

He was walking to catch the bus, a smile on his face. All his friends would be there. He paused, he hadn’t heard from Yerim and that was annoying him. Yerim said she would be there and all day he had not seen her. The last time he saw her was the day before when they had a very short study session. She was too preoccupied on the idea of going on a date with the guy who had initially stood her up to even teach him properly. Now, since it was his birthday, they weren’t going to hold a study session. The next time he would meet with her to go over chemistry was going to be on Joy’s actual birthday.

Kim Yerim was naïve and young—but she was smart and had a kind heart. Kind enough to give him a second chance after their disastrous first meeting and then being paired up for chemistry because they were both late. That whole day was a disaster. She avoided him and he knew he was screwed. He didn’t understand anything—she did—but she was ignoring him. Jungkook was not going to give up. He apologized right after class and to pass the class, she needed to help him. They put their differences aside, but they still bickered. She was a savage and throughout their sessions, they slowly became friends.

As a friend, he wanted her there for his birthday and he was starting to be ticked at the fact she was ignoring his calls and text. He was going to make that little midget pay. He was already thinking of a way to annoy her or prank her. Kim Yerim was going to get it for ignoring him . . . on his birthday.

He slapped his hands together, rubbing them up and down with a smirk when he looked ahead of him. His smirk automatically died. There he was again. That guy. The guy Yerim liked. He couldn’t remember his name. It started with Tae-something or other. Lowering his gaze, he watched him flirt with a girl near the entrance of the school. What was he doing? This was a different girl then the one he saw him with in the Han River and yesterday. Was he a playboy and just playing with his friend? He grew angry, watching the guy in front of him.

“Lee Taeyong, stop it. We’re in public.”

He heard the girl giggle. So, Taeyong was the name of the guy. He took a mental note of it. He was playing with his friend. Lee Taeyong was going to be greeted with a punch.

“Jeon Jungkook!”

He froze. That was Yerim’s voice behind him. He spun around at the same time he saw Taeyong, and the girl look up. Jungkook watched as she was smiling at him. She was holding something, a bag that looked like a present. His heart ached for her. She was too naïve and pure to be treated the way Taeyong was treating her.

Jungkook ran. He ran up to her—watching her smiling face turn into a quizzical one. Watched as she stopped running forward and took a step back from him—almost turning to run away but he caught her. Pulling her towards him and not allowing her to look past him.

“Kim Yerim! Where have you been all day?!” he asked like he was mad, feeling her squirm and try to push him away. He ended up putting her in a headlock and it must have looked odd because she was wearing a skirt and crop top. Not something, he had ever seen her wear before. She looked . . . good.

“Kook, what the hell? I told you my classes were cancelled. Last night!”