'I want to immerse myself in your eyes.'

'I want to be intoxicated in your sweet scent as I fall asleep.'

Present Day - 31st August 2027

5:30 a.m

Jungkook lazily woke up to the sound of his alarm clock ringing. Squinting, he stretched out his left hand and hit the snooze button before slowly closing his eyes again, wanting to continue his trip to dreamland. He shifted and turned, reaching out to the figure beside him.

No one was there.

He sighed, a bitter smile carved into his dried lips. It still made him ponder how after such a long time, he still could not stop that one habit of his. Perhaps old habits really did die hard. It also amazed him how the sweet scent of vanilla and lavender—her favorite fragrance—was still embedded on the sheets.

Jungkook stared at the empty space beside him a little longer; there was that sense of emptiness in him, one that he did not know how to fill. Nothing was ever going to be the same again.

He buried himself more and more into the comforters, deciding that a few more minutes wouldn't hurt. Surely whatever the situation was, she would wake him up.

1st September 2005

2: 46 p.m

Growing up in an upper class family, manners and ethics were like his ABCs. Bound to lead the family business one day, basic things like these were not to be looked down upon. Most of the children that received intensive training as such would probably end up wearing a hideous pair of glasses with a boxed pattern collar shirt, or turned into a badass chaebol.

Honestly, Jeon Jungkook was leaning more to the rebellious side.

It was not like he was a complete spoiled brat, though at times he could be one, being a single child and all. He had manners, tons of them. However, it was who they were addressed to that mattered.

And to a girl from a middle class family?

Not going to happen.

“Today, may be your birthday, young man. But that does not mean that you can act up,” the young mother scolded her 8-year-old son. “Now go and apologise to the girl.”

Unless his mother told him to do so, which she just did.

Grumbling, he slowly walked over to the young girl who was unfortunately one of his victims in the recent food fight. How the hell was he supposed to know that there was a girl near him when he started to throw the food at his hyungs?

The girl looked better than he remembered. Her dress was most definitely not smudged with cake and chocolate milk shake. Instead of the white-turned-chocolate sundress, she was now wearing a simple yet beautiful yellow dress that cut off just above her calves.

She was sitting alone in the garden, admiring the flowers that Jungkook’s mother spent time nurturing (sometimes more than her own son). Her brown ponytail hair shimmered under the sun, and the soft smile on her face was the most mesmerizing thing that the birthday boy had seen today.

“Hi,” Jungkook broke the silence. The girl jerked, startled by the sudden greeting. She stood up and faced him. “Uh, nice dress,” he managed lamely.

The girl gave him a confused look, but she still smiled. “Thank you.”

“Your mother brought an extra dress?”

The girl nodded. “She always does. I didn't see the point for her doing so, until just now that is,” she said and stifled a giggle.

“Yeah, about that.” The young boy paused. “I’m sorry. I didn't see you there.”

“Oh.” formed an 'O' shape. “It’s okay, I don’t mind.”

Jungkook cocked his left eyebrow. “You don't?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

It was now her turn to raise a brow. “Do you want me to be?”

“Uh, no. But I want to know why.”

She gave him another smile. “I like cake and milkshakes,” she answered bluntly, earning a late chuckle from Jungkook. “And don’t tell my mother this but...”

Jungkook scooted closer as the girl whispered in his ears. “I hated that white dress. Besides, I look better in this yellow one. Don’t you think so?” she asked and started twirling playfully.

Perhaps it was the hot weather, because the boy blushed, hard.

“Y-yeah.”

The girl’s warm brown eyes twinkled after hearing his response. “I thought so.”

She started walking down the cobbled path, admiring the flowers that were there. From red roses to wild-looking ferns, her eyes looked curious as she studied every single one of them. Jungkook followed her from behind, he himself becoming curious of the girl.

“I see that you have changed yourself,” the girl spoke.

“Yeah. My mom made me do it,” he said, looking down to the boxed patterned shirt that replaced his simple white one.

The girl nodded and let out a hum. “Such a pity. You looked better in those clothes.”

Jungkook once again chuckled. Well, isn’t she straightforward? “I think so too.”

They talked more, bonding as the time went by. It was actually quite surprising how a girl like her had so many similarities with him. He remembered how she preferred white roses instead of red ones, how she thought that dandelions and lavender were the most beautiful flowers in the world. He also remembered that somewhere in between, they started having this heated discussion on which was better: vanilla or chocolate. (She won that battle; according to her, everything that Jungkook said to defend chocolate was invalid.)

But above all, he remembered how the girl remained silent when he first asked for her name. Her brown eyes still shone in their orbs, looking mischievous and innocent at the same time. She ran around the garden and pointed to random flowers, making the boy confused.

“My name,” she said, “It’s one of these flowers.”

The boy’s first guess was something unexpected yet logical. “Hana?”

The girl furrowed her eyebrows from afar. “What does the name Hana have to do with flowers?”

Oh right. Hana means flower in Japanese, not Korean. Damn Japanese class.

He walked closer and observed the flowers, “Sunhwa?”

She shook her head, signaling that it was a no.

“Then what is it?” Jungkook asked, annoyance started to fill his tone.

“It’s quite easy, Jungkook-chingu," she said his name for the first time."You don’t have to think so hard.”

Jungkook could have sworn that he saw the girl giving him a clue. She tilted her head to one side, exactly where the orchids were placed.

“Nancho?”

She giggled. “As much as I love them, I was not named after orchids," she kept on staring at the flowers. "Not the orchids Jungkook-chingu, the flowers next to them.”

He once again looked at the orchids, or the flowers beside them to be more precise.

Seriously? Why didn’t I think of that? Stupid Jungkook. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“Jangmi?”

The girl smiled and looked at the roses. There were many colours of it, but her favourite were the white ones.

“Jangmi, Han Jangmi. Nice to meet you, Jeon Jungkook.”

1st September 2009

4:45 p.m

Jeon Jungkook was a lot of things, but being a loser was not one of them.

Let alone a sore one.

Fine, perhaps he did lose quite a handful of football matches with his hyungs and made his mother sob tears when he did not make the cut for the school’s violin recital. But none of those made him a loser. Quitting made him one, and he was not going to do that anytime soon.

Therefore, when his 4D hyungs noticed how he was limping after landing on the ground with a thud, trying to score a goal for his team, Jungkook did not budge. It did not matter how physically hurt he was and how he could have sworn he heard his right knee crack, he would not forfeit the game.

Jeon Jungkook was determinedly hot-headed for a 12-year-old, and he was damn proud of it.

He was also a bit on the prideful side, not bothering to join his hyungs dancing Girls’ Generation’s biggest hit sensation Gee in front of their opponents’ faces when their team won. Instead, he chose to distance himself and sat on the bleachers, letting his injured knee rest without showing the agony on his face. Even if his knee did not hurt, the 12-year-old boy would still swore that he would never embarrass himself by dancing to a girl group, let alone in an open field.

But he did admit that Jimin-hyung looked quite hot doing the crab dance.

“Jungkook!” the youngest of his hyungs, Kim Taehyung, waved from the centre, signalling the boy to come and join them. Jungkook answered him with a shake of the head. It went on for about 7 seconds before Taehyung decided that their maknae was being his utmost stubborn self and made his way towards the bleachers.

The older boy sat beside Jungkook, a bright smile plastered on his face. “Good game huh?”

Jungkook nodded. “Yeah. Yoongi-hyung and Hoseok-hyung were no joke.”

Taehyung’s smile dropped into a pout. “Yah! I did well too, maknae-ah.”

The younger boy cracked out a smirk, an amused expression appeared on his face.“You were the goalkeeper.”

“And?”

“We won 4-3, Taehyung-hyung. We were that close to losing, all thanks to you.”

Taehyung fought the urge to smack the boy’s head here and there. “Like you were any help,” he murmured slowly, but Jungkook caught his words anyways. The younger was about to respond when Taehyung cut him off with a question. “So, how’s the knee?”

The two’s gaze landed on Jungkook’s right knee. Ugly scrapes and dirty soil were evidently on it. “Like…that.”

“Maknae-ah, you really need to get a bandage or something. That looks like .” Taehyung said and started to touch Jungkook’s knee, only to be shoved off by the latter.

Taehyung watched as Jungkook stood up and started exiting the field with an annoyed look on his face. But that did not bother the older. What did was the fact that the poor maknae was limping and grunting, forcing himself to walk on his own two feet.

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Of all the places he could have gone too, the young boy chose to return back to his class on the second level. It did not help that his knee was killing him and he was basically limping all his way up the stairs. But miraculously, he still made it into his classroom.

He sat on the far corner of the room, his eyes looking out the window. He could see his hyungs near the bleaches. It looked like they were cornering someone…Taehyung?

Wonder what he got himself into this time.

Jungkook kept on staring into the fields, witnessing his hyungs’ moves. From what he saw, Taehyung was seriously going to have a few bruises here and there. Yoongi and Jimin did not seem to have any plans on stopping their assaults on Taehyung.

Jungkook sighed.

In all honesty, he preferred switching places with Taehyung, even if it meant getting kicked and smacked on the head. For the first time that day, the boy let out a soft smile, amused by his hyungs acts. He wanted so badly to join them, to kick Taehyung square on the for being such a goof.

Well, hypothetically of course, considering his right knee did not feel so good.

He was still watching his hyungs when suddenly, he heard the door opened. He almost jumped, startled and nervous. For a split second he wondered whether his homeroom teacher left her cane or something. And if that was the case, surely he would be a victim.

But it wasn’t her.

Instead, a girl walked in.

Jungkook’s mind went blank for a second. He watched as his childhood friend closed the doors and made her way towards him. Her silky brown hair glowed from the sunlight shining outside. The boy’s gaze went down to her right hand and saw a first aid kit.

Jangmi crouched down and opened the kit. She took out a wound cleanser, a small bottle of antiseptic cream, bandages and tapes. She did not spare Jungkook a second glance and went straight to applying the cleanser on the boy’s knee.

“Jangmi,” he called but she ignored.

“Jangmi,” he called again and she continued ignoring him. She started applying the antiseptic cream by using a cotton bud.

Alarmed by the sudden burn, Jungkook jerked while biting his lip, almost knocking Jangmi off with his knee. His eyes widened so big the sockets were going to pop out any moment. “Oh my God!” the boy sounded really desperate and shocked. “I didn’t mean it, I swear! Oh my God, I’m so sorry Jangmi!”

He tried to touch the girl’s face but she swatted it off, proceeding in applying the cream. Jungkook tried his best to hold in his grunting, still feeling sorry for his best friend.

With a final wrap of the circular tape, Jangmi put everything back into the kit. When she was done, the girl found Jungkook’s coal-black eyes staring her brown orbs, looking somewhere between confused and…happy?

She lightly tapped the boy’s knee. “Feeling better?”

Jungkook gave her a smile so beautiful it almost made her heart flutter. “Yeah.”

She tapped it again, a little harder this time. “Great then.” She started sitting with her legs crossed on the floor. “Now, will you tell me why the birthday boy is so gloomy today