chapter moodboard made by me exclusively for this story *:.✧｡* pls don't steal

"I still want to be with you. As more than friends. Even more than 'friends with benefits.'"

Min Jung felt a ringing in her ears. Did she even hear Taehyung correctly? Further, what did he mean, exactly?

"What do you mean, exactly?" She asked him, raising a brow. 

Taehyung looked like he was going to choke on the next few words to come out of his mouth. "I mean... well..." 

Min Jung was half a glass away from being at a good level of drunkenness. Coincidentally, her glass was still half full - of which she immediately downed. She was on a roll: nothing was going to stop her from bombarding poor Taehyung from the next set of inquiries.

"Do you mean, like best friends? Or like lovers? If you meant like best friends, then you have some big shoes to fill. Soo Yeong's my best friend and I'm hers and we have high expectations of each other. Can you handle that? Can you handle my expectations? I like best friends who I can laugh and joke with – "

"– we laugh and joke with each other. We even share memes –" Taehyung tried to interject, but Min Jung - in her drunken roll - was still speaking.

"– and my best friends are always up to do things, even at the weirdest hours of the evening. Can you do that?"

"– I already do that with my own friends –"

"– and my best friends can easily tell if I've had a good or bad day, and also know how to act accordingly..."

Taehyung watched as Min Jung continued to list the remarkable traits her best friends portrayed, and while he ought to be listening, he couldn't help but fall in love with the girl in front of her. She was so animated and passionate about her own friendships with the faintest blush on her cheeks from the alcohol she had just consumed. She was so cute. He wanted to kiss her.

"I want to kiss you," he blurted out. 

Min Jung stopped talking. Finally, Taehyung thought, rather cynically. That shut her up.

He heaved out a sigh. "I want to be around you often. I want to see you. I want to talk to you from the minute I wake up to the second I go to sleep. I like you, Min Jung. A lot. I want to be serious about you and me and I am willing to do whatever it takes to prove it. So that's what I mean by being more than friends."

Meanwhile, Soo Yeong and Jin stood outside the boutique, watching one of the attendants unlock the entrance doors. The sign on the door was flipped to 'CLOSED'.

"Did you really call them to keep the place closed?" Soo Yeong asked Jin, who was wearing a black cap and face mask, just as Soo Yeong instructed. 

He nodded, pulling his mask down slightly to speak. "Yeah. I told you, my brother's girlfriend owns this place. She told her workers to close it up as soon as I asked her to."

Soo Yeong and Jin stepped inside when the worker opened the door for them. "Of course," Jin told her, "she's losing business by closing the shop early so I had to promise her I'd buy something." The two of them looked around at the women's boutique. "So, whatever you want: it's on me."

She smiled to herself, pleased she made a wise decision on letting Jin tag along with her.

"Good afternoon, Kim Seokjin-ssi," the workers said, bowing to him as he and Soo Yeong entered the shop. "Do let us know if you need any assistance."

One of the workers locked the front doors again, and Jin heaved a sigh of relief as he took off his mask and cap. He ruffled his hair a little bit and Soo Yeong couldn't help but stare at this tall figure next to her. Despite all his annoying shortcomings of proclaiming himself as a handsome son of a gun, there was a little bit of truth to that. 

Soo Yeong moved towards the dress rack before Jin could notice her staring at him. As she rummaged through the inventory, Jin followed suit. 

"Wow, these are incredibly inexpensive," he commented as he looked at the tags on the dresses. 

Soo Yeong scoffed. While she herself was not a stranger to wealth, she could only imagine that someone like Jin shopped at foreign designer brand stores. 

"Well," she said. "We are in Hongdae... which isn't exactly UN Village or Gangnam-gu, so of course these clothes will be affordable to the average shopper."

Jin pulled out a yellow dress from the rack and held it up. "This would look good on you."

"How would you know?" Soo Yeong asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Jin sheepishly put the dress back on the rack. "Nothing... I just think that yellow would look good on you."

He walked towards the accessories display and Soo Yeong had to stifle a smile. Remembering her reason on agreeing to have him tag along, she followed after him. 

"So," she spoke, almost making Jin jump at her sudden appearance by her side. "How long have you known Taehyung-ssi?"

"Hm," Jin had to think about that for a second. It's definitely been a long time since he first joined Big Hit, so the trainees that he met while he was one definitely was muddled. "Probably 7 years now? Maybe 8? It's been a long time."

Soo Yeong nodded. "Ah, I see. So was he always like this?"

"No way," Jin was quick to answer, knowing fully well what Soo Yeong was referring to. "He was always a nice kid. I'm not exactly sure how this all happened, but it definitely started to show once he started seeing Min Jung more often."

Soo Yeong glared at him. "Are you saying Min Jung made him like this?"

Jin stepped back. "No, no, no. I didn't meant it like that!" 

"What were you trying to say, then?!" Soo Yeong challenged. She was shorter than Jin but she angled her head up almost as if to fight him. Jin didn't know whether to be scared or . 

"I just meant to say that, I think he put up this weird, bad- front just to impress her."

"So, you're still saying it's Min Jung's fault."

"What?! No..."

"Yes, it just sounds like you're saying he wouldn't be this way if it weren't for her!"

"No, no," Jin waved his hands in front of him, as Soo Yeong moved even closer to him, her chest barely touching his. "I-I meant to say that he's in the wrong for thinking that being a different person would be attractive."

Soo Yeong finally backed down, internally admitting that Jin probably had a point. 

"So this is all Taehyung's fault that he's been acting like a ?"

"I..." Jin looked at her, carefully choosing his words so as not to implicate his own friend but also not to anger the pretty girl in front of him even more. "I'm just saying, Taehyung is normally not like this. And it's not Min Jung's fault. He's probably just trying to grow up and figure out who he is right now." 

"'Grow up'?" Soo Yeong repeated, incredulously. 

Jin c