It was getting late at night and the streets were beginning to clear up of people, but Jungkook continued walking. He didn’t have a destination – he just wanted to run away from his problems and leave all the sadness and painful memories behind. Being out on the streets helped to distract him fairly during the day, but as the late night began to set in, so did all the nightmares he tried so hard to leave behind. His feet hurt and his entire body ached with exhaustion, but Jungkook just kept on walking. “Keep on walking…keep on walking…”, the voice in his mind urged.

Gradually, with every step he took, the shophouses and pavements began to disappear in front of his eyes. The sound of the passing cars on the main road slowly began to fade out in his mind, and his eyes shifted out of focus. Still, Jungkook kept on walking. “Keep on walking…keep on walking,” the voice continued. He felt himself being pulled in slowly, as if in a trance, but he was too dazed to snap back into focus or realize what was really going on. His feet continued moving forward. And the voice continued.

“Keep on walking… keep on walking…”

“Keep on walking! Yah, come on, Kookie!”

Jungkook looked up to see V beckoning him from up ahead, and quickened his footsteps over the pebbles and uneven railway tracks to catch up with the rest. Their day outs were definitely full of fun, but boy – they were physically tiring, especially when he’d already spent all day dancing in the practice room. He caught up to the group and saw the hyung line – Jin, Suga, Rap Monster and J-Hope – clambering into an empty boxcar further up in front. 

Closer to him, he spotted Jimin already in another boxcar, reaching down to grab V’s hand to pull him up. “Come on, Kookie!” Jimin grinned, holding out his hand. Jungkook smiled, and was about to quicken his steps to cover the last few yards to the boxcar, when he felt something hard bump into his left shoulder.

Jungkook stumbled back at the impact, blinking in surprise. It took a few seconds for his eyes to regain their focus, but when they did – all he saw was the darkness of the streets around him. His eyes widened in confusion. “Ji… Jimin hyung?” he stammered.

No answer. Slightly bewildered, Jungkook glanced to his left to see what he had bumped into. Two men in hoods and black clothing were staring coldly back at him. Jungkook squinted, recognizing them as some gang members he’d had a bad run-into a couple of weeks ago. And judging by the looks on their faces, they hadn’t forgotten him either. “Still out looking for trouble…” one of them murmured. Jungkook tilted his head, and was about to respond with a cocky reply when the other guy suddenly struck out at his head. Jungkook’s head spun, and he faltered back a few steps, dazed. Before he could react, one of them grabbed his collar and began dragging him towards a dark alleyway.

As he felt himself being pulled away from the main road, the spinning stars began to clear slightly from Jungkook’s vision, just enough for him to make out the image of a brightly lit signboard of a familiar-looking fast food restaurant across the road. 

“Thank you, we’ll eat well!” Jin bowed his head at the amused cashier as he and Jungkook grabbed the trays piled high with burgers, fries and drinks and headed over to the tables.

“WHOAAA the cheeseburger is mineee!!!!” V charged at the trays before Jin had even sat down.

“OMO double cheese!!!”

“YAH YAH Taetae, give me some fries!”

“OMOO the cola is too cold!!”

“Where’s the ketchup, hyung??”

“It smells sooo good!!!!”

“Namjoonie that burger is not yours!!!”

It was utter chaos erupting from just a small row of tables in an otherwise empty fast food restaurant at 1am in the morning. After spending an entire day out together, walking – a lot (much to Suga’s dismay) – watching the sunset and talking about their dreams for the future, the seven boys had decided to hit one of the fast food outlets they regularly visited for a late night supper.

They were all starving, and ate very well indeed. “Mmmm,” Jimin murmured in content as he finished up his burger. “I will never understand why Kookie would want to work as a train driver when you can work in places like these and eat delicious food for free.” Everyone else nodded in agreement, throwing smug glances at the maknae.

Jungkook reached across the table and stuffed a handful of fries straight into Jimin’s mouth. “Hyung needs to eat more so he will shut up,” he smirked, and added “Or so he can grow taller.” Jimin’s eyes widened. “YAHH I am your hyung!” The entire table began to crack up and J-Hope seized this opportunity to launch a handful of fries right into the maknae’s face, laughing uncontrollably at the way Jungkook literally jerked backwards in shock.

That was all it took for a mini food fight to follow suit. Fries flew in all directions, ice cubes were thrown into faces and V even jumped onto the table and started dancing up there. The maknae line was definitely out of control, and the middle line 94’ers didn’t hesitate to unleash their inner childishness to join in. The eldest members Jin and Suga tried to sit back like mature adults and just laugh at their nonsense, but soon gave up and joined in anyway. 

From behind the till at the counter, the cashier on duty – who had been slightly grumpy at the fact that, on top of having to work the overnight shift, he had to deal with these seven loons as customers – couldn’t resist cracking a tiny smile as he watched them quietly. They were loons, these kids – noisy and crazy and just…. downright weird (especially the one they all called Taetae) – but they looked so happy and so full of life. Their laughter was infectious and the way each of their eyes shined whenever they looked or talked to one another was just, beyond anything he had ever seen.

This must be what youth really is, he thought, as he watched the pink-haired boy pull one of the black-haired boys into a huge bear hug, smiling from ear to ear (he didn’t catch the black-haired boy’s name, but he heard the entire group telling him that he had no jams... whatever that was supposed to mean).

Still smiling to himself, the cashier adjusted himself in his seat as the clock above him struck 2am, preparing himself for a long – yet not unpleasant – night ahead.

Burger Shack 24 HOURS

Rap Monster paused in his tracks to glance up at the brightly lit signboard as he passed by a fast food restaurant on the way to the gas station. The fast food restaurant. He glanced down at his watch. 1.36am. It was about the same time it had been back then. But everything felt different, suddenly. Burger eating and french fry fights in the middle of the night no longer seemed fun or appealing without the six of them. Casting one last backwards glance at the signboard, Rap Monster his heels and continued on his way.

Deciding to take a different route tonight, he passed by the rows of shophouses, all closed and with their shutters drawn down at this time of the night and made a left turn at the neighbourhood park. Nearing the gas station where he worked at, he entered a small clearing in the road. Here the main road branched out and widened into a broad road. Blinking and allowing his eyes to adjust to the different lighting of the street lamps, Rap Monster glanced around warily, wondering why it felt as if he had been here before. 

“Told you this is one of the greatest places to look at the stars.”

“Yes Tae, because when a car comes and runs us over, a few luminous spheres of plasma would be the last thing I want my eyes to see before I die.”

V jabbed Rap Monster in the ribs, not taking his eyes off the pitch black sky speckled with thousands of tiny bright stars. “Well the stars are worth it, hyung,” he retorted.

The rest of the members were busy that night, so V had convinced Rap Monster to come stargazing with him. Rap Monster had nothing against stars, he just had no idea that stargazing with V would involve something crazy like lying in the middle of a clearing in the main road – though of course, Taehyung being Taehyung, he should have guessed. The two of them remained quiet, lost in their own thoughts as they stared up at the endless sky. The night wind softly rustled the leaves on the trees nearby and an owl hooted in the distance. But for the most part, it was quiet. “Back in Daegu, we used to be able to see more stars at night than out here in Seoul,” V murmured. Rap Monster nodded in understanding, before turning his head slightly to look at his dongsaeng. “Why are stars so important to you, Tae?”

There was a moment of silence, before the boy spoke up. It was rare to see the number one joker of their group so serious for once. “When I was a kid, my daddy used to say that if you ever miss anyone who has passed on, just look up at the stars. Because that’s where that person will be – up there with the stars watching over you.”

- AUTHOR'S NOTE -

And Chapter 3 is out! Thank you for subscribing, hope you all like it so far! :)