Bona has been waiting for Yeri since 6 in the morning, her schedules start at 8 AM today, the first one after her break. It is not surprising for her when she reaches her place and it is empty.

She either spent time with her parents or her boyfriend.

“I thought we would start at 7.”

And when she finally arrived and she saw her, obviously boyfriend is the answer.

Yeri is only wearing a see through white shirt and a huge cardigan as her outer, she’s wearing her heels and no longer wearing any makeup, her hair is a mess, her eyes are puffy and she looks so tired or maybe stressed, she can’t even guess it.

“The studio is a little bit packed up, we need to be there early.”

“Alright, i’ll be down in 20 minutes.”

She nods her head when Yeri gets inside her room after a long sigh. To be honest, Bona is already losing her worries over what is going on in Yeri’s life these days. But sometimes it’s just so obvious that she’s in the middle of dealing with something that makes her tired or stressed.

“Were you with your boyfriend?”

Jay is the first one who brought up the talk about Jungkook when they’re all on their way for her job. Yeri feels bad immediately after realizing that she left him without any words this morning because she is such a coward to deal with him when he wakes up. 

“I went to see my parents last night, and I stayed with him after.”

“It’s unusual that he doesn’t drop you home, he’s basically your bodyguard these days, no?”

She doesn’t answer Jay’s question because of course Jungkook would do that if she let him, but she didn’t.

“Of course.”

Jungkook totally feels defeated when he wakes up and fails to find Yeri at his place. He searches for her everywhere and even though he knows she left, he’s still sitting in his kitchen just in case she went out to buy some food and will be back to him. But after half an hour doing something so stupid, he realized that Yeri probably finds it easier to part ways with him without saying anything.

“I shouldn’t have said I hate seeing her.”

He regretted what happened last night, maybe the way he told her what he felt is a little bit too extreme and hard to handle which resulted in a huge guilty feeling from her side.

“She didn’t even do anything bad.”

He gulps down one bottle of cold water and tries so hard to learn about what will happen to Yeri and their relationship after last night.

He checks his phone after he gets ready for work only to find a long message from Yeri, sent earlier this morning. Probably after she left.

“What is this?”

It puts a smile on his face when the long message only consist i love you in a repeat. He proceeded to call her and she picked up right away.

“I’m sorry that i left.”

That’s the first thing she said to him.

“So you feel sorry?.”

He decided to trolling her by pretending that he really is bothered by what she did when in fact he doesn’t even annoyed that much. He understands why she did that.

“That’s why I gave you a present.”

“What present?”

He’s looking around his room only to find nothing, Yeri left her clothes from yesterday though, it can’t be that, right?

“I need to go, but I did leave a present, try to find it.”

She cut the phone call and he only got even more confused but decided to ignore it because he needs to get ready for work.

“Unnie, you will be done after one more outfit.”

Yeri’s schedule today is a photo shoot for a magazine spread. They also included an interview session which had been done earlier this morning. It wasn’t really too detailed, what they asked. It’s already night time now and she barely can get on her feet because of fatigue and her tiredness.

The only thing that keeps her going is one message from Jungkook, sent at lunch time. He told her that he found her presents. She asked about his opinion about it but didn’t receive any reply until right now. She really wanted to call him but she never does that in the middle of her schedule where people can hear and see her like this.

She’s continuing her work when being called out and two hours later, she’s done with everything. She asked Jay and Bona to drop her home, she really wanted to get a proper rest.

She spent an hour for a bath before laying down and playing with her phone, watching a bunch of short videos she made for Jungkook last night. He used his phone when he was sleeping, mostly just her roaming around his house and talking like she made a vlog as the house owner. With only minimalist clothing she was wearing last night, she hopes Jungkook won’t be sharing it with anyone, she knows for sure that he won’t though.

“I looked cute.” 

She’s mumbling those words because she is also amazed by how different she acts in these videos compared to how she’s been acting in front of others.

She made around 15 videos and the last one was her caressing Jungkook’s hair while he was sleeping, pinching his cheeks and showering him with kisses. She looked so happy, like her relationship with him is normal. Done with all the videos Yeri is becoming more annoyed when she realizes Jungkook didn’t say any words about it. She’s texting him again to let him know that busy working is not everything, she was also busy but still able to communicate. And it seems like he got the message well, because a call from him came in right away.

“Where are you right now?”

She ended up sounding very rude from being annoyed and got ridiculously laughed at by him.

“Your home.”

“I thought we’re in the middle of something, a break. Isn’t it?”

“I know and yes we are.”

“So why are you here?”

“I asked your father and you’re not here that’s why i came.”

Ah.. that home. Yeri can feel her face getting warm from being so embarrassed. She said nothing until Jungkook took a deep breath and started talking to her first.

“I miss you, that’s why I came to see your parents. At least I can talk with someone about you.”

Yeri feels like crying hearing this. She never thought there would be a day when someone talked like this to her, about her parents and whatnot. She’s clearing trying so hard to hide her husky voice before responding to him.

“I received one message and zero call from you, it’s hard to believe that.”

“It’s getting better now after I watched your videos.”

“Oh, so you found it.”

It’s not hard to find those, Jungkook found it when having a break from work, and spent the rest of his day watching everything and watching it again. He never gets tired of it.

“You looked tired on that.”

Well, last night was hard, even though Yeri looked pretty with a smile, acting cute and everything else. Her eyes can not lie, it is obvious that she cried so much and her emotions are totally scattered here and there.

“I’ll see you again in a better condition than last night, I won't cry too much and I won't act like all my problems should've been solved by you. I wasn’t like this originally.”

“I know. Someone who thinks that no one has the right to be involved in your life.”

That Yeri is still fresh in his mind actually, especially these days. How strong she was even when the situation between them is confusing and complicated, the nightmare, what he said to him and how she talked about her family. He really thought she was evil, but even with that, he fell in love. 

“Just like me.”

He hears nothing from Yeri for a while so he calls her name again to make sure she’s still on the phone.

“Eat a lot of food and pack some so you can take it in your place.”

That’s what she said before she said goodbye and ended tha phone call. She didn’t wait for him to answer her.

***

Yeri can not help but to think that what she’s doing right now is a total punishment. Just how she punished herself for her brother’s death, refusing anyone care and love because she thinks she doesn’t deserve it, because she finds it’s unfair that people like her have a happy life when people like her brother is dead.

That being said, right now she blames herself for what she did to Jungkook, and this is her way to feel better, to feel less guilty. It is a punishment because it turns out that she’s actually having a hard time dealing with this, to not be able to see him, to not be able to hug him and care for him. It is really hard but she has no other choice, she doesn’t want to become someone she hates the most. Someone who hurts her only reason to live her life happily. 

“I can do this.”

That’s what she mumbled when she realized she will be having another hard time for a while until Jungkook feels better to see her again.

A day turns into a week, a week turns into a month and she’s struggling everyday.

***

“This isn’t part of your schedule. The party, i mean..”

Bona is sitting with Yeri in a hair salon, she’s supposed to have her break again today but Yeri said she needs to attend an event, something that is not part of her schedule.

“I’m doing my job as a daughter.”

She heard that this is something about Mr. Kim’s company, well.. Yeri never attended any of these events before, so it is kind of surprising. Even when her relationship with her parents is getting better, she doesn’t usually attend, she only ever attended her mother’s franchise restaurant launching a year ago.

“That’s good, but what are you doing to your hair?”

Yeri asked her earlier about her modeling contract, asking if any of them required her to keep her long hair until her work is done and there is none. That’s why they are here right now.

“I just..want to cut it short.”

That is so weird, Yeri is a celebrity who cares so much about her appearance and she never likes short hair, the only one she ever did this was a few years ago, probably around her first year of career, when she became a CF model for a famous soft drink brand.

“Really?”

“Of course.”

That actually sounds like a lie, she can see that Yeri is almost tearing up saying goodbye to her long hair. She told her this one time back in the days about why she wouldn't try to cut her hair short, her answer was hilarious but she can also understand why she hates it.

“I looked more evil with short hair, don’t you think so?”

Yeri’s image and overall vibe has already given everyone a strong impact, her short hair doesn’t make her look more evil but more powerful, her confidence, her sharp jaws, her eyes, the way she talked.. Intimidating, that’s the word.

“You looked pretty, really.”

But still she looked gorgeous, when the hairstylist is done with her job, and Yeri is done with her makeup, she does look prettier, maybe because this is the first time seeing her styling like this, but she looked more fresh and braver. Stunning. 

The young, rich, and powerful vibe totally came out stronger than ever from her. Bona doesn’t even know how she would feel if Yeri ever lash out at her like her old self with this appearance, she will probably get stressed, intimidated and scared 100 times worse than before.

“I’ll drive my car, thank you for accompanying me.”

That’s what Yeri said before she left, she doesn’t know where the event is held or what kind of event it is, but judging from the way she dressed up, it must be formal and serious. Yeri is wearing a dark purple dress, not too fancy but a little bit glamorous, expensive, and bold. The conclusion is she looked different, after that haircut, make up, and that dress, it’s just her expression that is so full of uncertainty.