He ran—ran between the mass of people and obstructing carts, curious, intrusive eyes following him. He bumped into a toddler, but had caught him in time before he could fall, and as soon as he did he continued on his way as if it didn’t happen. It all happened so fast. Too fast for either Hyunjung or the woman in the blue coat to stop him. “Tae-Taehyung!” she called, but the back chatter drowned her words. He was already gone.

She turned to the woman in the blue coat; her eyes lingering in the direction Taehyung went. “I-I’ll talk to him. I'll get him back for you.”

She tilted her head at her. “What’s your name?” she asked softly.

“Hyunjung. Yoon Hyunjung.”

“Hyunjung.” She gave a small smile. “Hyunjung, even if he doesn’t want to see me again, can you tell him something for me?”

Hyunjung nodded fervently. “Of course.”

“Tell him that I miss him, and that I’m sorry,” she paused, breathing deeply. “And that I love him.”

Hyunjung nodded again, determined. “I will.”

She closed her eyes and smiled. “Thank you,” she said, her voice getting quieter as Hyunjung walked away. “Thank you, Yunnie.”

Hyunjung looked behind one more time at Taehyung’s mom. She raised a hand to wave, but stopped midway, instead she gave her a nod. Hyunjung attempted a grin at her as a reassurance. She began her pursuit. Her pursuit after Taehyung.

But Hyunjung had missed one minor, but important detail: she still had her shopping basket – her unpaid shopping basket.

“Oh, darn it! Why?!” She groaned in frustration, standing sheepishly by the entrance, people still passing her. Oh, if only they knew they were passing a teenage girl who was dying on the inside. What was she supposed to do now? She couldn’t leave it, and her uncle was expecting her to come home with food. She looked at the line and all hope seeped down the drain. They were packed. It would take at least fifteen minutes just to wait. But if she did, she would have lost any hunches to Taehyung’s whereabouts. She could text him, but as if he would reply! She didn’t even know if he had his phone on him.

Why of all times did this have to happen? She huffed and thought over what to do. She was considering of leaving her basket and going, until her hope revived when she saw two people, and it made her more relieved than she could ever imagine. “Hoseok! Jimin!”

Hoseok beamed and dragged the unsuspecting boy along. “Hyunjung? Hey! What are you doing here? How are you?”

Jimin smiled. “Hey! You’re here too?”

“A-Are you guys busy?”

Hoseok and Jimin exchanged a glance. “Nah, not really. Why?” Jimin said.

“I’m really, really sorry to do this to you guys, but I’m really desperate right now.”

Hoseok’s brows creased in worry. “What happened?”

“Taehyung ran off. His mom is here, and I said I’d bring him back.”

Hoseok’s brows raised. “Wait, Tae’s here too?”

Jimin nudged his shoulder hard. “I told you! I saw him earlier!” Satisfaction highlighted his features before it was displaced with dumbfoundment. “Wait. His mom’s here?”

Hoseok frowned between them. “Am I missing something?”

Jimin gaped at him. “Are you an idiot? Taehyung told us about his mom once before, don’t you remember?”

Hoseok’s mouth hung open when he finally realised. He observed Hyunjung’s distressed face. “Oh… Damn. Wow. Uh…” He quickly recomposed himself. “So, what is it you want me and Jimin to do?”

She held out her basket, and they blinked at how full it was. “Can you have this checked out?” Hoseok took it from her while she reached into her pocket to take out her wallet. She gave Jimin a sum of money. “Just text me and I’ll meet you somewhere later to pick it up, is that okay?”

Jimin nodded, giving her a wink. “You can count on us.”

“Thank you so, so much!”

“Don’t sweat it,” Hoseok said.

Hyunjung smiled at them once more before going on her way.

They spent a few moments stood there looking after her, until Hoseok eventually spoke up. “Hey, do you think it would have been worth it to mention that Jungkook is here too?”

“Huh? Why? I mean, I know they’re dating, but why is that so important?”

They moved out of the way of the entrance to go to a less people-saturated area. Hoseok put the shopping basket by his feet. “Think about it, Hyunjung is running after Taehyung – for a good reason of course. But you know how Jungkook feels about Hyunjung and Tae.”

Jimin remained silent, blinking into space. His shoulders slumped in realisation. “Damn, Hobi. You’re right.”

Hoseok threw his arms up. “You’re his best friend, Jimin!” he said in disbelief.

“I was caught up in the moment, okay?!” he defended, combing his fingers through his hair. “Hey, that doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily bump into each other, right?”

Hoseok sighed. “You’re right. There’s too many people in this mall anyway. Everything’ll be fine. And even if they did bump into each other, it wouldn’t be a big deal. We’re overthinking the entire thing.”

Jimin hollowed his cheeks, peering over at Hoseok and snickered, Hoseok then joined in and it escalated into something more raucous. They laughed at themselves worrying over nothing, but it quickly died down into feeble spurts of half-hearted confidence.

Hoseok cleared his throat and picked up the basket. “We should probably go get this checked out now. I swear the line just got even longer in the last five minutes.”

Jimin watched as more people joined the back of the line. “Yeah, let’s go.”

“Ah! Ma’am!”

Hyunjung halted and searched around for the owner of the voice. Bambam waved to her and urgently pointed. “He went that way!”

“Thank you so much!”

“No problem!” he called behind her.

Hyunjung’s pace increased as she darted her eyes around for a grey sweater among the throngs of people. But not one was in sight. Where are you? Where could you be? “Taehyung!” she called out, but her voice was another among the hundred others. There was no way he could hear her, but she needed to keep searching. She wandered around, determined and surveying the area numerous times before continuing again. The result remained the same; Taehyung was not there.

Time ticked by, and she doubted his mom was even at the minimart anymore, but she couldn’t stop looking now. She sat on a bench, thinking it all through. She even looked on the other floor levels, but everywhere she searched, it was crowded, and Taehyung was not there either. What would he do? Where would he go? She huffed and leaned against the backrest and watched as people walked past her. Crowded. She straightened. That had to be it.

Taehyung wouldn’t go somewhere where there were too many people. No, he would retreat somewhere quiet. Everywhere Hyunjung had looked, it had been crowded. There was one place she had in mind, and she wasn’t confident, but it was worth a try.

She paced back to the elevator so she could go to the ground floor. She changed her mind when she saw the number of people lining up to use it. It would be quicker to take the stairs. She was now breathless from it all, and she suddenly wondered how the heck Jungkook managed to run at a slick pace for a continuous twenty minutes.

She reached the bottom and slowed down to catch her breath, but still continued to walk until she reached the line of shops she and Taehyung had passed earlier. She combed her eyes around the area, and they settled on the window of the small café they had ate breakfast. Other than the waitress, there was only one other person in there.

Her lips slowly formed into a relieved grin. “Found you.”

Jimin counted the amount Hyunjung had given them, and counted again, but it wasn’t enough. In a low voice, he admitted, “Hoseok, I don’t have my wallet.”

Hoseok patted his front and back pockets, exchanging with him a look of despair. “I don’t have my wallet either,” he murmured. “We’re going to have to put something back.”

“Great.” Jimin turned to the cashier and smiled politely. “Sorry, but we don’t have the correct sum, is it okay if we take something back?”

“Alright, but you’re going to have to hurry. I’m patient enough, but the other people in the line don’t seem to be.” They turned to where she gestured and frowned at the irritated faces. While Hoseok and Jimin rummaged through the bags, debating on what to put back, someone appeared and cleared their throat, causing all three to turn heads.

“Excuse me? Here’s the rest of the money.”

“Thank you, sir,” the cashier said, opening the cash register.

Jimin clapped him on the back. “Hey, Jungkook. You’re back. How did you find us?”

With a wince, he rubbed the area where Jimin hit him. “I can see you from outside.”

“Ah.”

They shared the load between the three of them and exited. Hoseok nodded at a woman waiting outside the mart, she wore a blue coat which was what had caught his eye.

Jungkook inspected the bags. “So who’s shopping is this? That’s a heck of a lot of food.”

Jimin and Hoseok looked at each other. Jungkook turned around and Jimin and Hoseok pointed to each other. “His.” They both cringed while Jungkook blinked confusedly at them.

He shrugged and continued walking, while the other two paced a few steps behind him and shared a desperate glance between them.

‘I’m gonna tell him’, Hoseok mouthed.

Jimin’s eyes widened. ‘Don’t you even dare!’

‘It would be worse if he found out himself!”

“So where are we going now, guys?” Jungkook asked.

Jimin coughed. “Uh, do you mind if we stop to sit down somewhere for a while? I’m kinda tired.”

They walked a bit more and then stopped and sat at a bench, placing the bags by their feet. Jungkook leaned back and watched the people that passed, while Jimin and Hoseok sat tense and unsettled.

“Hm, you know, I saw Hyunjung earlier with you two. Are you sure this isn’t her groceries?” Jungkook suddenly asked.

Jimin laughed nervously. “That is a good question. Well, you see—”

“It is,” Hoseok surrendered. In Jimin’s head, he was sealing Hoseok’s mouth with duct tape.

“Is there something going on I should know about?”

Hoseok nodded. “Yes.”

“No,” Jimin said immediately after.

Jungkook stared at them for a while, before pursing his lips and nodding. “Okay.”

Jimin and Hoseok looked at each other once more.

The waitress turned when the bell jingled and the girl she saw earlier walked in. The waitress continued to clean the glass cups, but from the corner of her eye she could see the girl approach the boy and draw out a chair to sit across him. There was no one else in the room, and her voice was a low murmur.   

When the boy had entered, she knew that he was not open to talk. Instead of the indifferent expression she had seen on him this morning, his expression then was vulnerable and lost. It was as if he wasn’t the same person – like the person earlier was just another shell among the many others. The minutes after that consisted of the waitress cleaning the other cutlery, and the boy sat hunched over the table, his head resting over his folded arms as if he were asleep. All this while, no sound came from him.

And when that girl entered, the boy had lifted his head ever so slightly, but when he had seen who it was he put his head back down, closing her off.

“You’re not very good at hiding places, did you know that?”

“Yeah? Then how come it took you so long to find me?” the boy had replied in a muffled voice.

While they talked, the waitress learned that the boy’s name was Taehyung, and something about the girl being glad that she had found him. It was probably inappropriate for the waitress to be eavesdropping, but it was difficult not to when you could hear what they said.

“I don’t know what to do,” he murmured, his head still on top of his arms. “What do I do?”

“She’s waiting for you, Taehyung. She wants to see you again.”

“I don’t want to. I can’t.”

“She’s leaving for Canada next month. I know that you don’t have good memories of her, but this may be the last time you’ll ever see her again. You’re going to regret it one day, Taehyung. You will. She’ll still your mom.” He kept his head down. “Even if you still don’t want to see her, she wanted me to tell you something.”

At this, he lifted his head.

“She said that she misses you, and that she’s sorry.” Taehyung drew a breath as she continued, “and that she loves you.”

He looked down, scratching his nail into the wooden surface. “She said that?”

“She really wants to see you again once more before she leaves.”

Taehyung mulled over this for a while. “If you were me, would you?”

“Yes,” was her immediate answer.

Taehyung sighed and propped his elbows on the table, hanging his head. “What am I even supposed to say?”

“Uh, hi? Or hi, mom?”

“That’s stupid. I’m not saying that.”

“I never said you had to say that! I’m just giving suggestions.”

“Well they are terrible suggestions.” He released a long breath and stood gingerly, taking his time in tucking his chair under the table. “I’ll go.”

The girl’s smile broadened, but Taehyung didn’t look at her. He wrung his wrists and his fingers fidgeted. The girl nudged him on the shoulder. “You’ll be fine.”

“I hope you’re right,” he muttered in return.

The waitress nodded at the girl who told her thanks. For what? The waitress didn’t know. But her eyes lingered on them both, even when they had exited. How exciting their lives must be compared to her own.  

Hyunjung and Taehyung doubted that she would still be there, but they take their chances anyway and walked quickly. When they arrived at the minimart, she was there; stood outside, waiting; her bags by her feet and her eyes focused on her locked hands. She didn’t notice them at first, it was difficult to notice anyone in crowded places like this.

At their encounter previously, Taehyung didn’t look at her properly, but now that he had the chance, he looked at her this time again, properly. She hadn’t changed, and it saddened him when he realised that over the years he had gradually forgotten about her; not her, but the small things. When he looked at her now; peaceful and unaware, many feelings returned; those feelings that those small things incited, even if he couldn’t remember what they were.

He turned to Hyunjung who gave him a small smile. “I’ll see you on Monday.”

“Don’t you want to stay?”

She shook her head. “This is your moment, Taehyung. Between you and your mom.”

“Thank you, Hyunjung,” he said sincerely.

“It’s okay.”

Taehyung looked at her hands and saw they were empty. “Where’s your shopping?”

“Hm? Oh! Jimin and Hoseok checked it out for me. I’m actually supposed to be meeting them to get them.” She took her phone out. “I have one message from Jimin, I should probably get going.”

The corner of his lip tipped up. “Alright. Well, bye.”

“Bye.”

Hyunjung left, and Taehyung was on his own. He could easily retreat now if he wanted to, but his feet were already moving towards her. It was too late to go back now, because she saw him. She straightened her blue coat, and locked her hands again. Taehyung’s eyes didn’t meet hers at first, and when he did, he didn’t turn away. The bitterness he held onto all these years, suddenly it didn’t matter anymore. For some moments, they didn’t say anything.

She smiled. Her smile hadn’t changed either. She still looked at him as if here still that little boy. “Taehyung.”

He drew in a breath, turning in his head what it was he wanted to say, but it was blank. He had thought it through just a while ago, but it only took moments for him to forget it all. But he smiled, and there was no reason for him to hide it away.

“Hi, mom.”

As said, Jimin texted Hyunjung. But it was not what she had expected. He texted her, telling her to collect her shopping at the ground floor by the magazine store. He had also said that it wouldn’t be him who would be giving it back, but Jungkook. She didn’t know he was here, but it made her happy to know he was. Jimin said himself and Hoseok would have done it themselves but Jungkook was persistent on giving it to her, along with an apology which she didn’t understand was necessary.  

She saw him first before he saw her. He sat at a bench with the bags beside him, his hands hung limply over his knees and his eyes steadfast on them. This area was one of the few less hectic places of the mall, and would have been another place she would have guessed Taehyung would have been.

Jungkook brought his head up and stood when he saw her, giving her a half-hearted wave.

“You’re here too? You could have told me,” she said.

He rubbed his nape. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

“It doesn’t matter.” She noted how he avoided her eyes, when usually, he’d be the one to initiate it. “Jungkook, are you okay?”

His lips formed into a thin line and he nodded. “Were you with Taehyung today?” he asked, his voice quiet.

“Yeah, we wandered around a bit.” She then remembered what he had said some time before, and she began to sink further into the hole she created for herself. The pieces tailored together. “Jungkook, you can’t possibly be thinking…” She searched his eyes for anything, but his silence was enough confirmation.

“When you’re around him, don’t you ever have that feeling?” he pressed. “You must have noticed how he’s looked at you?”

She furrowed her brows, shaking her head. “Jungkook… Taehyung doesn’t think of me that way. I know that, and you know that.”

“Does he really?” The edge in his voice made it sound more like a challenge than a question, and it was the first time Hyunjung had heard it. It made her uneasy.

“He doesn’t think of me that way. Don’t you see?”

A chubby child waddled toward them, sparing a curious glance at them and had opened their mouth to speak, before the child’s mother grabbed him in time, murmuring an apology and carrying the child away.

Hyunjung continued, holding on, “You’ve always been fine with Taehyung though.”

Jungkook sighed and ruffled his hair. “Look we barely see each other anymore, how am I supposed to keep up? How am I supposed to know anything? Can you blame me? Can you blame me for being worried?”

She pursed her lips tightly. “Worried of what? Of Taehyung? Of me? There’s nothing going on between me and Taehyung, I promise.” She suddenly wished Jimin and Hoseok were here. But would they have agreed with her? Or would they back up Jungkook?

By now, she was desperate for him to open up. He talked, but he remained sealed. “Jungkook, I’m sorry and I mean—I’m not exactly sure why I’m apologising, but I—I don’t know…” She looked down, her voice quiet. “I just… I don’t see what I’ve done wrong. But whatever it is, I’m sorry.”

“I believe you when you say that nothing is going on between you and him. But I’ve seen the way he looks you, how he looks at me. I’ve suspected it since Christmas, and until now it hasn’t bothered me. If it wasn’t for the fact that we spend so little time together now, I wouldn’t be like this.”

Hyunjung’s words mangled in her head, so disarrayed it left her with nothing to say. Like she always had, she found solace in Jungkook’s eyes and his words, but this time what he was saying offered her no comfort at all.

Jungkook’s voice dropped, and he took the chance to take one of her hands in his, but she doesn’t tighten her hold, and he doesn’t intertwine their fingers. “Listen,” he began, “my feelings haven’t changed. I still like you – a lot. But every time you’re with him I get this feeling, and I’m not with you frequent enough to be sure. But at the same time, he’s your friend and I have no right tell you who you can and can’t be with. But I can't clear my head, I can't focus if I keep having that feeling.”

“What feeling?” She managed to whisper.

He looked upwards, as if searching for the right explanation in his mind. “Something you can't label, but you know it’s there. And that something won't leave me alone so long as I’m with you.”

A heavy weight sunk in her stomach when she registered what he was inferring and took her hand away from his, clutching it to her chest. “Jungkook… I—I don’t—I don’t want this to happen. I don’t want this to happen.”

“You have no idea how much I don’t this to happen either.”

Her arms limped at her sides. “Then why are you doing this?” she asked.

Jungkook shook his head and picked up the bags on the bench, holding them out to her. All this while, his eyes refused to meet hers. “Here are your groceries.” Their fingers brushed when she took them from him, and Jungkook’s hand lingered mid-air for a while before quickly slipping it in his pocket. His mouth opened, but shut it soon after, giving her one last look. “Bye,” he said with a choke, surprising them both, and when their eyes encounter by accident she can spot a sadness in them, but his he looked away too quick for her to confirm it. He gave her a tight, thin smile, and she wanted to stop him but he was already walking away.

She could spot the child from earlier dragging his mother to another toy store, and further on she could see a group of other teenagers around their age, probably from another school. The girls particularly, observed Jungkook head to toe with interest and then murmured among themselves when he walked past, something which Hyunjung wasn’t unfamiliar with. She was never bothered with it before, but now seeing it from afar, she suddenly felt alone and vulnerable.

“Wait, Jungkook. Don’t leave,” she said faintly. “Jungkook!” she called out louder, but he didn’t stop. She wanted to do something – anything. She watched as he walked away, his hands in his pockets and his head bowed.