An out-of-breath Jungkook dashed in through the doors of the emergency room and hesitated at the sound of chaos around him. Widowed women were wailing in the background, silent children were murmuring words of abhor and death hung low in the air. Yeah, he hated hospitals, especially the emergency rooms. His eyes glazed over as he took a deep breath and continued walking forward to the receptionist desk.

He strained on his words, “where’s the operation room?”

The nonchalant nurse responded with a neutral tone, “who are you here to see?”

“Where. Is. The. Operation room,” he drew in an inpatient breath and narrowed his eyes into a murderous gaze, “I just need to know where it is.”

The nurse’s attention jerked up to meet Jungkook as she shuddered and held her breath in terror, then slowly pointed towards the back of the room, “o-o-over there…”

He let out a low indignant growl and then whispered, “thank you…”

With heavy steps, he swiftly glided to the back and made his way through two more corridors before stopping in front of two large double doors with an overhanging sign that read Operation Room. His breath got caught in the back of his throat and his eyes slightly quivered as he recognized the sobs and pleas of a woman he knew all too well. He took a big gulp and then stepped forward.

“Hyung,” he said in a quiet voice.

As he reached the leather seats near the doors, Namjoon looked up to meet his eyes. Still slightly shaking from the unwanted adrenaline rush in his veins, Namjoon had the most petrified look in his eyes, suggesting that he had just witnessed something too near to death. His blood-covered hands were lazily resting on his thighs as he slouched in his chair.

Namjoon looked into Jungkook’s eyes for another second before finally answering, “oh… J-Jungkook-ah…”

Jungkook didn’t need an explanation for what happened. Whatever the situation was, he had already decided that everything was his fault.

Four hours earlier.

Jungkook stood with a rigid posture up against the wall nearest to Seokjin in the large event room, which was easily filled up with about a hundred guests and over two dozen media journalists. The conference Namjoon had been asked to speak at was a simple gathering of international university students who had been chosen as recipients of scholarships from several million-dollar companies. Though it was quite unorthodox for there to be such an abundance of media coverage for this kind of gathering, this was the first year that several international companies were also participating, which explained why foreign media outlets were also suddenly interested as well. Still, that didn’t explain why so many bodyguards were asked to volunteer, not that he was complaining. The extra hours were always welcomed, but it did irk Jungkook a bit that he was specifically assigned to watch Seokjin.

Seokjin was hardly a threat but he did prove to be quite a nuisance occasionally. As the nonchalant and careless heir to Worldwide Times, Seokjin always had a way of showing indifference to what his father had planned for him. Today, he had arrived at the conference wearing a pair of wrinkled black dress pants and a simple white-collar shirt. He was a handsome son-of-, but with the top two buttons of his shirt undone, and his sleeves sluggishly rolled up to his elbows, he was the perfect example of what insolence looked like. He had really outdone himself this time, appearing to an international conference looking like a hungover salaryman.

He wasn’t ready to grow up yet, but Jungkook knew he would eventually step up if he had to. He rarely ran away from his duties and always took responsibility for his actions. This was just his way of paying his father back for neglecting him as a child, and although his behavior was a bit extra, Jungkook still respected him for showing a tenacity for staying consistent with his cause. He never wanted to be a true barista. He was just hungry for freedom, which Jungkook understood completely.

As soon as the event ended two hours later, Seokjin and Namjoon were quickly ushered by their respective secretaries to move on with the next schedule on their agendas. They were to attend an afternoon press conference and luncheon where they would announce Seokjin’s ascension to the CEO position and Namjoon’s immediate withdrawal from the company. Although Namjoon was grateful towards the previous CEO for providing him with an education, he always felt that he had to fulfill his dream of becoming a war correspondent before permanently dedicating himself to the company.

Jungkook fought to keep himself from smiling just at the thought of Seokjin becoming a CEO. He shook his head ruefully and chuckled at how fake the current Seokjin was. The real him was intelligent, had a knack for business, and, like his father, he could be terrifying when he had to be. If he simply homed in on his better skills, he could be a formidable leader, possibly even better than his old man ever was. So now, to ask the real question, did Namjoon push up his dreams to help Seokjin mature or did Seokjin step up to relieve Namjoon of an unwanted responsibility.

Just before the two powerful men and their entourage left the venue, Jungkook pulled Taehyung aside, “hey, I have a favor to ask.”

Finding it odd that Jungkook would ever ask him for a favor, Taehyung merely stared at him skeptically for a good minute.

“Is everything alright,” Taehyung crossed his arms in front of his chest and asked seriously, “did something happen?”

“No, nothing’s wrong,” he was confused with his friend's reaction, “I just have a favor to ask of you.”

“Alright, what is it?”

“I need you to take over my position with Seokjin for the rest of the day.”

“Why?”

“I have to be somewhere at three,” he answered honestly, “I’ll be taking off for the rest of the day.”

“What,” Taehyung was appalled, “you’re leaving? What about me?”

“Well, I have plans,” he tried to reason.

“What about my plans?”

“You had plans?”

“Yes!”

“What were your plans,” Jungkook relaxed and confidently challenged his friend, “if it’s better than mine, I’ll let you go, and I’ll stay.”

Taehyung hesitated for a few seconds and then nervously answered, “I was going to visit my sister-”

“I’m going to get laid.”

“Damn it!”

Jungkook muffled a short chuckle and grinned in reaction to his successful and indefinite argument. He wasn’t even sure that he would be so lucky today and hadn’t actually planned on anything of the nature. He hated that kind of talk, but he knew Taehyung wouldn't argue with it, and seeing the defeat in his eyes now made the immature claim almost worth it.

Taehyung pouted like a child and glowered, “why can’t we both just take off? Have someone else handle Kim Seokjin.”

“No, it has to be one of us,” Jungkook shook his head and squared his shoulders, “you know the CEO only trusts us. He’ll have it no other way.”

“No, I know… you’re right,” Taehyung yielded with a slouch, “fine, I’ll cover for you.”

“Thanks man,” he exclaimed with a bright smile, playfully slapping Taehyung on the back.

“You owe me!”

“I know!”

After successfully getting his friend to cover for him, Jungkook left to meet the girl who had turned his world upside down, his chest heaving intensely up and down as he ran impatiently against the chilling wind with a wide smile on his face. Goodness, he had never felt this way about anyone else before, and if he was totally honest with himself, it terrified him. Shaking off the unwelcome tremors, he made a stop at the mall to buy her a worthy gift and then visited the flower shop for an extra touch. As he exited the flower shop, he turned, saw his reflection in the glass, and couldn’t help but laugh at his own reflection. What has she done to me?

In so little time, she had changed him so much, turning him from the reputed nonchalant grim reaper into a love-sick schoolboy. It was such a distasteful sight, he thought to himself; all primp with a deep flush and too jolly for his own good.

Who was he kidding? He no longer cared about that. He was too happy and excited about meeting Yeri to care of such trivial things.

When he arrived at her apartment building sometime later, the butterflies finally caught up to him. He tried to fight them off and keep them at bay so he wouldn’t look so obviously enchanted by her, but as soon as she opened the door, the butterflies multiplied. His stark reputation faltered at that moment.

She was wearing black joggers and a simple white long-sleeve shirt that m