Prologue 

The patients of Seoul National University Hospital's outpatient mental health center called it "The Plaza" after the Neil Simon play. It was by no means the locale for hilarity and other comic possibilities, but it did present itself with several vignettes of characters and their baggage full of misadventures: there was an older, wealthy widow who was wrought with desperation after realizing that no one lived the swinging lifestyles of the 60s anymore; there was an eccentric computer programmer who, due to allocating his working/waking hours from 10 pm to 5 am, had forgotten what it was like to have any form of basic social skills; there was a neurotic, high-strung thirty-something female account executive who yearned for male companionship but was too busy worrying over the littlest things to even reply back to a text inviting her out to dinner; and then –

And then there was Han Soo Jin. The 20-year-old Korean-American transplant who spent most of her adolescent years practically doing the barest of all bare minimums, skirting through life, drinking and getting high until one day – one fateful evening – had resulted in her parents shipping her off to Korea where she was obligated to attend university far, far away from home. Life, as she knew it, was over. 

Of course, that was her depressive moods interpreting the present circumstances for her. Which is also how she eventually found herself committed to an outpatient program at the Plaza. Despite the disapproval of her parents and despite all she had gone through in America, checking into an outpatient clinic every week wasn't all that bad. It was like going to a weekly tutoring session after school except here, instead of learning how to ace the sooneung, they learned some pretty important life skills like resisting the urge to strangle one's self every night. 

Soo Jin had been a patient at the Plaza for a little over a month before she met Jeon Jungkook. The mundanity of the group sessions and her lack of interest in the other Plaza inhabitants had all of a sudden been ripped out from under her when she fell in love with the country's golden boy superstar who had joined in after a long bout of depression. It didn't take too long for the two to gravitate towards each other, inevitably forming a bond not just because they were closer in age than the others in their group, but also because of something called physical attraction. Their weekly interactions at the Plaza almost immediately turned into daily interactions outside of the hospital. They went on excursions called "dates". It was lovely, and for Soo Jin, it was euphoric. 

But of course, that was her manic moods interpreting the present circumstances for her. Which is also how she eventually found herself committed to a relationship. In the middle of a hypomanic high, she agreed with Jungkook's proposal of being in a serious relationship. Of course, she wasn't in the right state of mind to agree to anything so complex and significant (he was famous for God's sake!), but whenever she was in a high, she grasped at every opportunity that pushed her euphoria further and further. For Soo Jin, Jeon Jungkook was a beautiful face that sparked her frenzies. 

However, what goes up must eventually come down.

Author's notes: Hey there! Several things have inspired this piece of writing some of which include deep emo hours thanks to Jungkook's leaked "Decalomania" and my own personal health issues. Writing fiction has always been my creative outlet, so I am writing this fic as a love letter to myself. So, in no way am I romanticizing mental illnesses or bipolar II for the clicks. I am also not a medical professional so any description of what the characters are going through are just based off of personal experiences. Anyway, I hope you enjoy ♡ and take care of yourself