Taehyung has a choice to make, and he is reminded of it all the time. Reminders used to be in the form of his friends or in the way Jimin gives him disapproving looks or in the letters his parents send him twice a week now. But somehow, in the months that follow, Taehyung sees the reminder in the person he loves the most. 

But he will still put off having to decide for as long as he can just to live another day where he's at the receiving end of Jisoo's heart-shaped smiles and adoring eyes. She looks at him without the knowledge of the darkness nestled inside of him. 

And he loves her for it, he loves her with reckless abandon, and he knows it's not going to end well if he keeps ignoring the war that is threatening to spill through the cracks of the castle walls, ignoring the warning inked on the letters in his mother's handwriting. 

But he'll also give anything just to be with her for a few more days where the sun shines brightly down at them, and is on his for hours on end. No, he won't settle on a few more days. He'll give anything to spend his entire life with her, in a world of their own making where he can kiss her all he wants without worrying about what happens tomorrow to the two of them. 

Taehyung goes through the motion of school, a concept so out of reach from him now that he knows what the adults are planning and what they're trying to get him and his friends into. But he still does it because Jisoo is with him. He draws his strength from her, and she gives him a reason to fight back and stand for what he believes in. And what he believes in is her, him and them together. He almost forgets about what awaits him in the future, and it's all thanks to her, and she doesn't even realize that she's saving him because he doesn't have the heart to tell her, to confess all of his sins because he's scared.

He's scared that if he tells her the truth, she will run away and leave him and then he will have no choice but to burn the entire world down, as what is expected of him and his friends and their parents. All in the name of blind loyalty and under the orders of a power-hungry monster. 

He doesn't tell her because Jisoo is too good to be true, she is too good to be his. And yet, she only has eyes for him and her best smile is reserved for moments when it's just the two of them with nobody else watching and her kisses are always so soft and tender. He is hers as much as she is his. She's the only good thing in his life and he cannot bear to ruin that by telling her the truth. She is too good. 

But all good things must come to an end. 

It feels more like a dream and less of a reality she is currently living in. The whole ceremony is blurry in her mind now, she doesn't even remember when they had crossed the Great Lake in small boats, leaving Hogwarts the way they came when they were first years. It all happened so quickly, she's barely able to absorb anything that's happening. 

She relishes the feeling of her parents hugging her, both of them whispering different words with the same meaning. "We're so proud of you," they say with their lips touching the top of her head. She feels their sincerity and she hugs them tighter for it. 

Taehyung gives her a chaste kiss on her cheek, his mouth barely making contact with her skin. He smiles sheepishly at her, shy at the fact that he's kissed her in front of so many people despite the lack of attention they give the young couple, in front of her parents standing just a few feet away, talking to Bona. "I'll stop by your house this week, I promise." It's his last words before he is towed away by his parents. 

Taehyung had introduced her to them a little while earlier, it was a bold move but she realizes now that it was a good one. That way, they couldn't make a scene in front of so many people. They didn't offer to shake her hand nor did her mother go in for a hug and maybe, Jisoo liked it better that way. Mr. Kim had nodded to acknowledge Taehyung's introduction of her as his girlfriend and congratulated her with a pointed smile. Mrs. Kim did the same thing but it didn't seem to bother Taehyung, so Jisoo will surely not let it bother her as well. 

But of course, she still lets it bother her. "It's official," Jisoo plops down on Bona's bed. Five days after graduation, Jisoo spends two nights in Bona's house to kick start the summer. "Taehyung's parents don't like me." The words taste bitter in , even as she tries to come to terms with the cold truth. That short interaction felt monumentally lackluster, but she could not stop thinking about it these past days. "It's because I'm muggle born, isn't it?" 

"I want to say no but then I'd be lying to you, and I don't want to lie to you." Bona murmured, eyes glancing up at her friend before focusing back on the job application she was filling up. "It shouldn't be a big deal, Jisoo. All that matters is Taehyung loves you. You shouldn't be so caught up in other people's opinions anyway." 

Jisoo gets up and sits on the other chair beside Bona, who has hunched over the piece of paper with intense concentration. "I suppose you're right." She sighs, realizing that her friend is not going to fully listen to her until she finishes filling up the job application form. They just graduated five days ago and yet here they were, applying for jobs right away. Wizards sure do move fast, and they grow up and mature quicker than muggles because of it. 

Bona decided she wanted to live in a wizarding village and for that to happen, she needed a job right away if she wanted to start earning to be able to financially support herself. Jisoo had thought it over carefully and in the end, she opted to stay at her current home with her parents. 

"Here," Bona hands her a spare, un-filled application form. She grins. "Come on, might as well fill it up even if it's just for fun. You're still waiting for Gringotts to call you?" 

"Uh-huh," Jisoo nods. She was beginning to lose faith in that. Although she did manage to garner an E for Arithmancy for the NEWTs, it was still a grade lower than her previous O during last OWLs. It was an obvious indication of her declining skills in the subject, but she it was still enough to make her qualified enough to apply and maybe even get accepted for the job. Her grades in other subjects however did make her eligible to apply for other jobs as well.

Like being an Auror for one, as what Bona was applying for right now. Her grades in the subjects that mattered the most in being an Auror were stellar, they were even higher than Bona's. It's probably why her friend is encouraging her to fill up her own form right now, despite Jisoo's numerous attempts in declining. 

But today, Jisoo does not decline. Perhaps out of fear that Gringotts would not want her, at least she has a back up plan and she could apply for other jobs too. "Fine, fine," she snaps lightly at Bona, who only smiles in triumph. Jisoo picks up a quill from Bona's desk and starts writing. 

Taehyung did not come to visit her that week like he promised her. He didn't come in the week after as well, and she was starting to get worried, hopeless even. She had no means of communication with him so she could only pray with her hands clasped tightly together that he was alright and that he would keep his promise. She hasn't seem him for three weeks and she missed him terribly but above all, she just hopes that he was well and okay. 

He did come eventually, she knew he wouldn't let her down. She just didn't expect for him to knock on her bedroom window at one in the morning on a random Thursday night. 

Jisoo felt the surprise all the way down to her toes as she gets up from her bed and yanks her window wide open so that he could enter. He silently bends his limbs and crouches through the small opening, his feet landing soundlessly on her carpeted bedroom floor. 

She looks at his ruffled, long hair and his boxy smile and takes a few more moments to drink his presence in. "Hey, you -" 

He grabs her waist and pulls her towards him, his lips falling on top of hers in one fluid motion. He kisses her fervently, with so much urgency in his lips that makes Jisoo dizzy. But she kisses him back because she missed him just as much as he must have missed her. She is painfully aware that they're still in her room and that her bed is just a few inches away. He is so rough around his kisses and his hands are like fire when he touches her bare skin and something warm unfolds in the pit of her stomach as his hands graze over her thin nightgown. 

He only pulls away when neither of them can no longer breathe. 

Jisoo shakes her head. "Umm, I missed you too?" She almost laughs, but she makes sure her voice is barely audible. She's careful not to wake up her parents. They may like Taehyung, adore him even, but she's pretty sure they will slaughter him on where he stands once they find him in her room at this hour. 

"I missed you more than you can imagine," he sighs, pulling her hands to his lips and pressing a warm kiss that sends tingles all over her body. "You look beautiful." His eyes trail over the lines of her body and she can feel herself blush when he smiles at her. Taehyung rarely compliments her in a straightforward manner with actual words, he's more fond of physical touch than anything else, so this was a sure indication that he missed her. 

"Come with me for a while." He gently tugs her towards him, his smile grows wider and sweeter. It's the smile that she has longed to see for weeks, and now she finally gets to see it again. 

Now that she's come down from the high of their kiss, she grows slightly resentful even when she doesn't want to. It's petty but she can't bring herself to excuse it. "You didn't come two weeks ago like you had promised. I was worried and I waited for you." She frowns at him and she wonders if something had happened at his home, if he had been caught up with something. 

Taehyung frowns as well and he drop her hands from his hold. He sighs, and avoids her gaze. For a moment, she thinks she sees how tired he looks in the shadow of the late evening, he has a troubled expression that he tries to hide from her. "I know, I'm really sorry. but I had a good reason for that." He tells her with pleading eyes.

So something did happen, and this worries her. "Let's hear it then." 

He suddenly smirks and the troubled facial expression she had seen disappears almost immediately. "More like, let's see it. Come on, let's go. It'll only be for a few hours." He takes her hand again and there's a renewed energy in the way he walks over to her window, dragging her along with him and it's such a contagious energy that it subsides most of her conflicting emotions. "I'll get you back home well before sunrise." 

"I -" Jisoo wants to protest, she wasn't ready for a late night rendezvous. But she knows she'll be safe with him, and that he will get her back early before her parents wake up to find her gone. And she misses him above all. She wants to spend as much time with him as she can and now that he's here, why should she pass up on this chance to be with him a little while longer?

Jisoo tightens her hold on his hand before letting go for a split second to grab the nea