"Good Morning."

 

Yeri is a little bit taken aback when he can find everyone else but not Jungkook in his office, even her father is here, leading a meeting of 4 or 5 people, and greeted her good morning purposefully to make her embarrassed.

 

"Good morning."

 

She has no choice but to reply to his greeting while trying to hide her face. She's a celebrity and people know her.

 

"He is not here."

 

She is even more embarrassed when her father talks while walking to her, telling her to leave the room because what she's looking for isn't here.

 

"Then where?"

 

"I sent him to deal with something."

 

Yeri is leaving the room, while Mr. Kim is following her from behind because he can see how unhappy she is when she heard about him telling Jungkook to do things for him.

 

"He is my employee first before he is your boyfriend."

 

"He is the kid whose life was ruined by you before anything else, Mr. Kim."

 

Yeri didn't intend her talk to become so rude and unfriendly but it's coming out like that and she can hear a long sigh from her father.

 

"I'm sorry."

 

So she ended up saying sorry to him while looking down, avoiding his eyes because no matter how normal her relationship with her dad is these days, they can't still run away from a long 15 years of cold war. Not to mention that her behaviour is still trashy sometimes.

 

"It's good that you are protecting yourself and Jungkook this hard, but i am not your enemy, Yeri-ya."

 

She slowly lift her face when Mr. Kim squeezing her shoulder and he sounds genuine about that, ever since Jungkook take her and their parents to visit Sooyoung's grave last month, things are gradually becoming so much better, she never heard complaints from Jungkook regarding his work so that also means he's working together with her father in a normal circumstances.

 

"I know, i was just.."

 

"More importantly, you don't have to worry about me at all."

 

"I'm not."

 

"Jungkook is very similar to me, I can see through him really well, I'll be fine."

 

"No he is not."

 

Yeri was the one who called Jungkook and her father is similar in so many ways back then, but after so many things happened, she's not sure about that judgment. Her father is different compared to what she used to remember when she was young, and Jungkook, she still needs more time to learn about him completely.

 

---

---

 

 

"All of this over a petty revenge?"

 

Jungkook knows what to expect when he comes here, making an offer to buy back Sky from Mr. Lee after he suffers so much from bad publications, mostly because of what Jihoon did. 

 

He thought this was gonna be easy, but turns out that Mr. Lee only had hatred for him.

Something that is even bigger and more intense than what he had before.

 

"It is not a revenge. I'm just doing my work."

 

"You hide behind your father's back, this isn't a fair game, Jungkook-ah."

 

Having people like Mr. Lee referring to Yeri's father as his father is offending Jungkook on so many levels.

 

"I never thought that you would go against me with his help. You're totally lucked out, small player Jeon Jungkook teamed up by the titan..."

 

"I'll still be able to do the same thing with or without his help."

 

The way this conversation turns into a way of Mr. Lee disrespecting Jungkook is completely smart. He knows Jungkook for so long, he knows exactly what he hates.

Provoking him by making him feel small is always worked, then and now.

 

 

"No, you won't. I should've worked harder to bring your little girlfriend as my ally."

 

And bringing the talk about Kim Yeri is definitely ruining his last patience. Jungkook gets up from where he sat and takes back all the documents he presented earlier, shoves everything back to his bag. He said nothing but stormed out from the room and slammed his office door very harshly as he left. Jeon Jungkook, what a shame.

 

---

---

 

"He is not picking up."

 

It's already late when Yeri can not even get a hold of Jungkook. His phone is dead and she knows he's also not at work because he's been waiting for him at his office until really late but he didn't show up. She gets worried a little bit too much and feels so stressed over this. He no longer has a secretary so she can not just look for him through others just like how it was before with Lea.

 

"I swear to god, if something happened to him.."

 

Yeri has already made up her mind that she will pay for all the wrong doing her family did to Jungkook her whole life. Even if one day, their relationship is not working, and he chases her away as a girlfriend, she will just stay close to him and help him with anything he needs, because she was supposed to do this since a long time ago.

 

Her thoughts stopped by a door bell, it is certainly not Jungkook because why would he press the bell. She walks slowly and takes a peek on the CCTV. After what happened with Jihoon, Yeri is actually being more aware and careful when dealing with things like this. She never let Jay or Bona leave her alone these days, her father even suggesting her to hire a bodyguard but she said no because it's just making her more scared. Besides, what she's been doing outside work was just here, staying with Jungkook, watching him work or talk to him about little things. Trying to learn about him more.

 

"Kim Yeri-ssi?"

 

Jimin is totally not expecting Yeri to be here, well..10 % expecting it but still, seeing her again after so much mess is awkward.

 

She nodded her head to him, she didn't even tell him to come inside, she just held the door with her legs. Still intimidating just like how she was before.

 

"He is not here."

 

She talks fast while looking around, probably wondering if Lea is with him or not.

 

"Really?"

 

"I have no reason to hide him, and you know how stubborn he is, I'll tell him you paid a visit."

 

He gave up because Yeri is right, Jungkook is never weak, even though he started doubting his behaviour after Yeri came to his life, he knows Jungkook is not the type who lets a woman control him like this.

 

"Alright then."

 

He decided to leave when Yeri was replying to what he said with a smile but stopped and ran back to her. She looked surprised and tightened her grip on the door handle when he stood in front of her.

 

"Do you want to grab some coffee?"

 

"No thank you."

 

"I have things to talk about with you."

 

He held the door abruptly when Yeri was going to shut it. She seemed worried and a little bit scared when he did that. From what he heard about her accident with Jihoon and Jungkook last month, it totally makes sense that she's reacting this way.

 

"5 minutes. Please."

 

***

 

"Thank you."

 

Yeri finds her hands are shaking when the waitress gives her the coffee she ordered. The last time she talked with Jimin was him arguing about how undeserving she is to be with Jungkook. She knows he doesn't like her at all.

 

"How are you feeling?"

 

"Huh?"

 

She's totally taken aback when Jimin talks to her first, asking about her conditions. Well, she heard that Lea and Jimin kept visiting the hospital when the accident happened, so of course, he is part of the people who know the real situation, he is not the public who was framed by made up stories.

 

"I came to visit..."

 

"For Jungkook. I heard that he didn't want to see you."

 

Jimin is totally uncomfortable, he knows Jungkook for almost a decade and yet that's what happened. He ignored him. It's humiliating and also disappointing.

 

"I'm sorry."

 

And it is even more embarrassing when Yeri is the one who apologized to him.

 

"You don't need to do things for his sake, including an apology..he won't like it."

 

"I did it for my sake, this isn't his apology, this is mine."

 

But when Yeri talks to him with a smile, slowly losing her tension and starts becoming Yeri who is strong, confident and totally just like Jungkook, he feels totally relieved. He knows she is such a great match for a soul like his best friend.

 

"And do you think I deserved it?"

 

Of course he is. More than anything, Yeri feels like she is the one who forced her way into Jungkook's life even when Jimin begged her to stop. If she listened to him before, Jungkook won't get hurt, his firm will still be here and his life will probably be safer than it is right now. She feels sorry for ignoring everything back then.

 

"I know you care for him so much and I was selfish to ignore you and he ended up getting hurt."

 

Jimin is no longer showing a smile to her, he takes a sip of his coffee.

 

"I always thought you are such a compatible person to be with him, before I knew about your past. Because you both are so similar."

 

Yeri doesn't know how to respond to what he said because she knows it better than anyone. The way she finds comfort with Jungkook regardless of how messed up their life is because they shared the same pain, the same story.

 

“I don’t want to stop him or you, because he jumped off the cold sea to save your life, so honestly, it wasn’t you who was selfish, it was him who needed you.”

 

Yeri actually understands what Jimin refers to, she heard it from the record that Jungkook accidentally made when she was unconscious after the accident. He begged for her to come back alive, to be with him again because he doesn't want to be left alone like how he was left by his sister.

 

She never thought that one day, someone who never understands the meaning of love, who thinks that family means nothing but nonsense could become something significant in someone else's life. It was overwhelming, burdensome but also helped her to move on from her past.

 

"I met Lea after the accident, and if you have a chance, please tell her that I know she didn't means any harm."

 

She takes a deep breath and lifts her face to Jimin with a quick smile. She's leaning her back and waiting for another word from him.

 

"Lea was so scared of what Jungkook would do to her instead of what you would do to her, she already saw him at his worst, most devilish form, so I won't blame her for that. But  Yeri-ssi, you also know about that, right?"

 

"I do actually, but it's not like i am better than him in any way."

 

"Right."

 

Jimin doesn't know Yeri that well to judge her as someone that is even more messed up than his best friend, Jeon Jungkook. But considering their past together, he can actually imagine how Yeri's life was. Her image as a celebrity was never good or splendid with a positive reputation too.

 

"You don't need to worry, he went to see Lea a few weeks ago to spare her from guilt, I really appreciate it that you did the same thing."

 

This is news for Yeri, she has no idea about this meeting between Jungkook and Lea, he never talked about this.

Why?

 

"Is there anything else you want to talk about?"

 

Yeri takes a few seconds pause and suddenly talks to him while trying to get up from her seat. He watched her and nodded his head fast.

 

"One more thing."

 

She's back to her seat right away, looking at him with such intimidating eyes.

 

"Jungkook doesn't like to receive mercy or pity from people. I know what your family is doing to him and I understand why they're doing that.. I'm just saying this because I know it won't make him happy, he will get frustrated and the good life you both are trying to build will probably crumble at the end. He doesn't deserve it, you don't deserve it too."

 

Jimin is the one who gets up first and gives her a light nod before leaving his chair. She can't do anything, stopping him or asking him to elaborate more with what he just said, because this is her concern too. She knows exactly the problem is.

 

***

 

Yeri is laying down while staring at her phone, reading one and every text message she shared with Jungkook for the past month. She suddenly feels heavy on her heart when she noticed how she acting like a spoiled stupid princess. She told him to come to her home for dinner with her parents, she told him to attend a party with her dad, she even asked him to go with her to see the park that used to be shown on her nightmare and told him about her story with Seokjin. She was so eager to gain her normal life back, trying so hard to make him a replacement for her long lost brother so her family could compete again. She never asked him how he felt about it.

So selfish.

 

"Damn it."

 

She gets up right away when she hears the door open and Jungkook is already cursing because of something. She takes a deep breath and runs to the door to greet him, it's been four or five days since their last meet, she was busy with her work so does he.

 

"I told you to move those boxes."

 

What a familiar nag, Jungkook is busy with a pile of boxes, he bought a new computer console last week and the empty box is still here. He ruined it when he entered the house earlier. He takes a quick glance to Yeri in front of him and honestly, she is the last person he wants to deal with right now.

 

"Aren't you going to help?" 

 

He manages to ask her that because he is becoming tired to fix the mess he made, it is midnight and he has a really rough day full of things that makes him annoyed and useless.

 

"I just did my nail this morning."

 

He ignores her after hearing what she said, it will just make him more annoyed if he starts to argue with Yeri at times like this. He can hear her steps when she's coming closer to him.

 

"What did you do today?"

 

She grabs a box from his hands and stacks it to a table behind her.

 

"Work."

 

He answers her question with one word only, because explaining what happened today to her will be exhausting. She seems to understand that he has no mood to talk about anything at all, because the only thing she is doing is continuing her work without a word. Until everything is done.

 

"And you, what did you do?"

 

Yeri is actually surprised that Jungkook is talking to her again when they're done with the boxes. He talked without looking at her because he is busy taking off his coat and his ties, he looked extremely drained out.

 

"Work."

 

He smiled when she answered the question with the exact same way he did before. He looked good with a smile.

 

"You seem very busy these days." 

 

He walked passed by her and Yeri is definitely contemplating about talking to him regarding her meeting with Jimin earlier

 

She watched him in silence when he washed his hands and took one bottle of water from the fridge. She's staring at him and  he seems to start feeling uncomfortable with what she's doing, he asks her what she wants with his eyes.

 

"Get some rest."

 

Yeri is talking and smiling at him while caressing his cheeks and ruffling his hair. He holds her hand on his face and makes her stop touching him while staring at her. 

 

“Do you want to stay up all night? I need to work on something, it’d be good if I can get some help.”

 

She is laughing at him, but nods her head after a short pause. She looked better like this.

 

****

 

“I don’t know you’re still working on things like this.”

 

Yeri is wearing her glasses and she really is serious about her work. He left her for a quick shower and she’s already done with a few sketches. Her only task is to thinly highlight some sketches he already made.

 

“This was my last project for Sky, I can not just leave it behind because no one know how to deal with this, I'm helping them.”

 

He’s studying her expressions after he told her about working for people at his old firm. Yeri seems surprised but nothing is overly serious. She didn’t ask any further about it and continued what she was doing.

 

“That’s the last one.”

 

She gave him her last sketches with a smile.

 

He takes the sketch and glances at it before putting it aside and back to focusing his eyes on Yeri who slowly notices the change of his gaze from her work to her. She lost her smile and started to look down while playing with her pencil.

 

"I heard you were looking for me earlier."

 

He talked to her while taking away his pencil which Yeri used earlier. She seems taken aback and slightly surprised by what he did, she probably finds it intimidating and gets scared over it so he said sorry to her quickly. It wasn't her fault that she gets afraid of him from time to time.

 

"Who told you?"

 

"Your dad."

 

Mr. Kim called him earlier, he often called him to talk about work and Yeri sometimes. He doesn't know if talking to him is something he does because he wanted to or because he was obligated to.

 

"I don't know you talked to him outside of work. I didn't even do that."

 

She finally looked at him, gave him one quick smile and asked him for her pencil back.

 

She talked in a deep tone, the way her eyes turn into dark and serious is bothering him so much. Eyes without any warmth and affection for the whole world. Eyes that he thought were similar to his own.

 

"He always asks me about you, he gets worried over you all the time.."

 

Yeri knows that Jungkook is just saying it to make her feel good and better, there is no sincerity over what he said at all, because why would he compliment him? After all the mess her father did to his life, his sister, no matter how much Jungkook tries to tell her that he moved on from their past, Yeri is never trusting him fully.

 

There were days when she thought it is true that their life is normal now, but there were more days when she felt that they both try too hard to act like it is normal when it is not.

 

***

 

"Jimin-ssi was here to see you tonight."

 

"Really? what did he do?"

 

He doesn't seem surprised, there is one sarcastic smile on his face when she tells him about Jimin, she knows his relationship with him is totally weird and awkward because of her and her existence, but there is nothing she can do about it. She will just leave if Jungkook wanted her to, if it is others who demand that, Yeri won't even move an inch.

 

"He talked to me, he told me that I am the most compatible person on earth to stay with you."

 

"Because we're both bad?"

 

"Because we are both trying to be good."

 

She laughs at him when he seems very amused and fascinated by her answer.

 

"He never thought of you as someone's bad. He cares for you so much, you should see him and..talked it out. I already told him that I won't leave you no matter what, I think he already understands by now."

 

Yeri's hands are cold, he can feel it when she touches his face and caresses it slowly.

 

"I don't know what he wants from me."

 

"These days I feel like I'm forcing you to get closer to my world, to my parents, to my past, my brother, even though I know how much you get hurt because of them. You had a life before me, and i don't want you to lose more things."

 

"I'm not the type of person who can be forced by anyone."

 

"You said it yourself, I was your weakness, even a jerk like Lee Jihoon could notice that. You were strong, fierce, cruel, smart, but for me you're just a guy who loves me a little bit too  much."

 

She said that words real fast and Jungkook looked unhappy with what she just said, he pulled himself away from her slowly, but she held his shoulder so he sat even closer to her now.

 

"You keep showing me an enormous amount of affection, it makes me forget that you are someone who fights for your life alone for years. I started to see you as my dream prince charming who never got hurt, a prince who was loved and surrounded by tons of people who care for him."

 

Yeri knows what she said could be confusing at some point, but judging from how Jungkook starts to look down and no longer stares at her, she knows he understands what she meant.

 

"You don't like it. Getting help from my dad, him treating you like he treats my brother, my mom spoiling you."

 

Yeri's voice is shaking now, she takes a pause from what she said and tears are visible in her eyes now. He held her and tried to give her a hug but she refused to receive one. She ended up crying and covering her face.

 

"We are all so desperate to fill a hole my brother left in our family, and we used you. Out of all people in this world."

 

This is something that is always on Jungkook's head these days.

Does Yeri and his family really care for him? Aren't they just delighted to finally have someone to act as their son?

He knows the answer was a yes but he can not just confront it to Yeri, he knows how hard life was for her. All those nightmares and dreams made them aware that Yeri's past life is nowhere near what he had before. She had it so much worse, darker, and harder.

 

He does nothing because he already made up his mind to not talking about this with Yeri, not right now. Since it was just a month ago when he almost lost her just like how he lost his sister. 

He gave her his glass of water and told her to drink it but she shook her head, hiding her face and using her sleeves to  wipe her tears. Just like how he remembers her when they were a kid.

 

"I'm sorry." 

 

She finally talks again after taking a deep breath, she looked like a mess for how much she cried.

 

Yeri has no plan to talk about this right now, but she can't help it. The meeting with Jimin and all the realization on her part about what she and her family did to Jungkook makes her feel like the worst person in the world. Selfish, cruel, and all this time she thought it was love.

 

"Let's talk tomorrow."

 

She looked up to Jungkook when he got up from his seat and dragged her hands to walk with him. 

 

***

 

It's been a month since Yeri spent the night in Jungkook's place. She was busy and even when she's not, her parents won't let her out that much these days. She understands why though, that's because what happened with Jihoon and all. So to be here with him again is awkward, a little bit uncomfortable too.

 

"What are you doing right now?"

 

Yeri can not find peace or will to sleep even though this is her first time after a while to actually have Jungkook next to her right before she closes her eyes to rest after a long day. 

 

She loves that feeling so much, after spending her life mostly alone, she’s actually treasuring her times with him so much more. But not tonight. She feels like he's mad at her or something.

 

"I'm trying to sleep."

 

He talks with a little laugh, whispering close to her ears as he hugs her tighter than before.

 

"Why?"

 

"Because i'm tired."

 

"We were in the middle of something.."

 

She pushed him away because it does feel like her concerns over him were ignored and disregarded. She's glaring at him to make sure that she hates it, but the only thing he's doing is taking her closer and giving her a long, deep kiss, something that she actually missed a lot.

 

"If i talked to you right now, in a condition where you were crying like a kid, just like how i took you for an ice cream a long time ago. I don't think my opinion will come out honestly."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"Seeing you like that, is really making me weak. I just want to do anything for you, I won't be honest with what I want."

 

Yeri is becoming so embarrassed and guilty after hearing what he said. This has probably happened to Sooyoung back then too, that's why she's willing to do anything for her brother, even if the price was her own life.

 

"Let's talk tomorrow when you feel better."

 

He patted her head and stared at her eyes as she's trying to find out how she deserved a life like this after so many things she had done in her past.

 

She does nothing when Jungkook is finally closing his eyes again, and she keeps watching him until he finally lets her go from his embrace, which means he already fell asleep. It takes him a few minutes.

 

***

 

"I am fine, he is fine too."

 

Receiving a phone call from your parents at random time it's still a new thing to Yeri. For her to pick it up and talk to them, she's still trying to get used with that. Just like right now, it seems like her mom noticed her room back at home is empty, so that's why she called her to make sure that she is fine. 

 

She won't let her stay alone in her apartment these days but she seems fine with the fact that she is with Jungkook right now. She even asked about him too.

 

"Can I just stay here for a few more days please? I feel like you are locking me up in that castle, you know how much I hate that."

 

She became annoyed over what her parents did to her after the Jihoon thing, it feels like she’s back to her younger days when she would be locked up in her room because both her mom and dad is hating what she was doing, making mess and troubles.

 

And her mom seems to get it, she let her go with exception, Jungkook should be with her no matter what, if he needs to go to work then Yeri should come with him too, like a puppy, following him around. 

 

The phone call ended after 15 minutes or so, so she decided to turn off her phone and send a text message to her managers about her plan for tomorrow, a full rest without bothers.

 

She already gave up on resting and sleeping tonight, so she chose to sit and play with Jungkook's newest computer console. She knows he bought it to draw and sketch since all his stuff was left on Sky.

 

"Why is it still here?"

 

There is one huge medium sized box, similar to the one he staked at the living room, so she picked it up to move it. It's heavy, which means it's not empty. She thought it was just another set of consoles or something so she opened it to take it out.

But it isn't.

 

"Congratulations on your graduation day, I'm sorry i just can't give you this."

 

The very first thing she saw was a handwritten card, she doesn’t need to be smart to notice that the card was written by Sooyoung. She’s taking it out slowly, and it seems obvious for her that this card was torn before being fixed with a tape. She takes the box out from Jungkook’s office and sits in the living room while taking out the rest of the stuff from the box.

 

It is mostly a printed film photograph from a long time ago, Jungkook as a kid and Sooyoung as a teen. They looked so happy, obviously this was taken before Seokjin came to their life. She finds herself smiling as she scans all the pictures with her eyes. 

 

There were dozens of pictures and the last one was framed, it looked so old, so she took it out slowly. It is a framed picture of Sooyoung and..Seokjin. Wearing their respective school uniform holding hands and smiling so brightly at the camera. She keeps looking at it for so long because something doesn’t feel right, and when she starts to shed some tears, dripping down to the framed picture, she finally realizes that this is her first time seeing Seokjin smiling like this. 

 

In her whole life, she never sees him this happy. Not when he was awarded some prestigious achievement from school, not when his parents gave him and his friends a tour package to Europe as a gift for their middle school graduation. 

 

She’s always wondering why her brother was choosing death over a luxurious and leisurely life his entire family provides for him, but judging from this picture only she finally finds her answer. He has never been more alive than when Sooyoung was there with him. And when she was taken from his side, by his own parents, it was an easy choice for him.

 

 

 

---

---

---