Jimin and I stumbled in the house holding up three large pizzas, two bottles of soda, and some fried chicken for Taehyung. I could hear him and Jihye laughing upstairs. Huh, they were really enjoying themselves together. Whatever.

"Jungkook, snap out of it." Jimin waved a hand in front of my face. "The way you're glaring at the wall is scaring me."

"Ah, sorry." I sighed. "I'll take the food upstairs, so why don't you bring us some plates?"

He nodded and headed towards the kitchen. I yelled out to Jihye and Tae to come down and help me, since there was no way I was lifting these up a flight of stairs. They were down in a few minutes, arms linked with each other. 

"You guys got the chicken?" Tae asked, bouncing up and down. 

"Yeah, from that place by the railroad crossing." I said nonchalantly. 

"Awesome!" He exclaimed and grabbed the box out of my hand. He opened it, and the two of them peered into it.

"Oh man, that looks really good." Jihye squealed and turned to him. "Come on Taetae, let's go eat!"

Before I could say anything else, she took the pizzas and sprinted away with Taehyung.

"Taetae?" I heard Jimin snicker behind me. "Never heard that one before."

"Ugh, they're so annoying." I grumbled, grabbing cups from the cupboards. "They're like one of those stupid cheesy couples in movies."

I heard him gasp dramatically and put his hand over his heart. "Jeon Jungkook." His eyes widened. "Are you perhaps...jealous?"

"What? No, no." I flapped my hand dismissively. "Jihye's a friend, like Tae. I'm just saying, that there's a possibility he likes her."

"Nah, I know for a fact that Taehyung doesn't like her." He carried the plates in his hand. "Besides, she already likes someone e-"

My head snapped towards him. "What? Who?"

"Uh..." He began to say, but was unfortunately interrupted by my mother's arrival at the front door. He smiled nervously and ran upstairs with the plates, leaving me to greet her alone.

"Hey mom." I kissed her cheek.

"Hey." She handed me a plastic bag filled with some stuff. "I bought a few going-away gifts for the boys. I just realized that I'm going to have to give such gifts to you too, someday."

"Aw, mom. Cheer up." I patted her headed. "Tae and Jimin are upstairs. Jihye's here too."

"Ah, yes. The only female friend you have." She wiggled her eyebrows. "I'll be in the kitchen, so call her downstairs."

I rolled my eyes and went up to my room. I opened the door and saw Jimin sleepily munching on a slice of pizza while Tae lay sprawled across the floor with a piece of chicken in his hand, seemingly asleep.

"'Sup." I whispered, setting down the soda and plastic bag. 

"I went to the bathroom and came back to find this." She giggled softly. "Tae's completely knocked out, and I don't think Jimin is responsive either."

"Well, there's no reason to disturb their deep sleep." I picked up the chicken and pizza from their hands and put it aside. "By the way, my mom's back so you should go say hi or something."

"Oh yeah, we never really met officially, did we." She said, getting up from the bed. "Do I look presentable enough?"

"You look fine." I laughed, ruffling her hair. "She couldn't care less about how you looked."

"First impressions are the last impressions." She shook a finger at me. "You seriously need to learn that."

I scowled at her, and pushed her out of the room and down the stairs. My mom looked up from whatever she was doing on the stove and smiled.

"Mom, Jihye. Jihye, mom." I announced. Jihye bowed deeply and greeted my mom politely. How could someone like her even manage to be so well-mannered and polite? The world may never know.

"Ahhh, this is Jihye." My mom cooed, flitting over to us. Our family was mainly full of guys, cousins and all. My dad had two brothers, who in turn had boys of their own. Mom never failed to tell me just how much she had wished for me to be a girl.

"I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself at the party." Jihye smiled apologetically. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Jeon."

"My, how polite." My mom chuckled, patting her head affectionately. "Why can't you be this nice, Jungkook? You ought to learn from her."

Jihye grinned at me deviously. "Yeah, Jungkook. You should learn from me."

I groaned and buried my face in my hands. 

"Oh, I just remembered." My mom cupped her hands around her cheeks. "Kookie, can you run along and buy me some groceries? I was going to make Jimin and Taehyung their favorite dishes for dinner today."

"But moooooom~" I whined. "I literally just went outside, I don't want to go agaaaain."

"Quit complaining." My mom said firmly. "When I was your age, I had to walk nearly five miles to get gro-"

"I get it." I held up my hands. "I'll go, just stop talking."

Jihye smacked me on the back of my head. "That's no way to talk to your elders, you brat."

"A girl after my own heart~" My mom clasped her hands together. 

"You guys are teaming up against me!" I cried. "This is not fair!"

"Dear god, you are such a loud child." My mom tsked. "Stop whining and go to the store. Also, be sure to ask for their Saturday discount."

I grumbled and grabbed the cloth bag off of the counter. "Stupid Jihye and her stupid manners." I mumbled angrily as I stepped out of the house. It was chilly today, signaling the beginning of fall. I hummed softly as I trooped through the leaves that were scattered on the sidewalk. A few of the trees near our house had already started to turn yellow, which made me a little sad. My parents had insisted that I stay until Christmas before I moved to Seoul for full-time training, so that's why Tae and Jimin were leaving before me. However, I wasn't sad as much I was scared, since my city accent was really horrible and I didn't really know anyone there.

I was going to miss home. Sure, I would come back to visit, but I knew it wasn't going to be the same. Idols had really packed schedules and they rarely had any time to kick back and relax. Was it going to be like that for me? There was no way of telling.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. Thinking about such stuff wasn't helping my crappy mood. I shoved my earphones in my ear and put on some music, hoping that it would distract me. Ah, nothing like G-dragon's rap to cheer me up.

It took me nearly three hours to get all of the stuff my mom had asked for. I had to walk to the more rural parts of town to find the obscure ingredients for Tae's dinner. Jimin's dish hadn't caused me nearly that much trouble. Goddammit Taehyung.

"I'm home." I yelled grumpily as I set the enormous bags on the dining table. I heard loud laughter coming from the kitchen, so I figured Tae had woken up and was wreaking havoc in the Jeon household. 

"...And this was when he was only five years old! Doesn't he look like a little bunny?"

That was my mom's voice. So he hadn't woken up after all, because she wouldn't have sounded this calm.

"This was when I had dressed him up as a princess. Wouldn't he have made such a pretty girl?"

Wait, who was she showing my top-secret baby photo album to? 

"I agree, he would have indeed been a very beautiful girl."

Oh, . She was showing my baby pictures to Jihye.

"What the hell is going on in here?!" I burst through the door, startling the both of the. "Mom, you promised me that book would never see the light of day!"

"Watch your language, boy." She raised her eyebrows. "And I promised no such thing."

I looked to Jihye helplessly, who was staring at book in utter amusement. Her face was crimson as she bit her finger to stifle any laughter that might escape . 

The scene was actually quite hilarious. My mom was yelling at me while I yelled at Jihye, who was now in tears because she had come across a picture of me flexing my non-existent muscles in a SpongeBob tank-top and boxer set when I was eight. The situation grew violent as I weakly tried to pull the book out of her iron grasp, hoping to protect what dignity I had left. I spied my mom tip-toeing towards a drawer and pulling out our old Polaroid camera, and before I could protest, she snapped a picture of my agony coupled with Jihye's 'I am laughing so hard I can't breathe' face.

Just another day in the tragic life of Jeon Jungkook.

I lay on my bed, utterly exhausted. Jihye had left and my mom was watching some random drama downstairs, so the house was mostly quiet except for Tae's and Jimin's occasional snores.

I looked at the Polaroid again. My mom had written a little note on the backside, so I could remember exactly why this picture was taken.

'That time when my Kookie's cute little friend came across his embarrassing photos. I've never seen any two people this red or flustered before, Lord bless them both. 12-08-31'

I laughed softly as I flipped it over. My face was twisted into a painful expression, one of a man trying to protect his disintegrating honor in vain. My eyes fell on Jihye and my smile faded away. She was flashing a wide, toothy grin, which pushed her chubby cheeks up and formed light dimples on her sun-tanned skin. Her bangs (which always seemed to be overgrown) were pushed to one side, showcasing her eyes that had narrowed into two lines. The sun fell on her hair, highlighting blonde streaks across the dark brown color. She looked perfect. In that one moment, she looked absolutely perfect. The realization that I was going to leave her behind made my heart ache. When many years passed and all of us moved on, would this be my only reminder of her? Would she ever come across my number and wonder who "Kookie" was? She had so many good friends and she was going to make plenty more, but here the hell was I supposed to find someone who actually gave a crap about my dreams like she did?

My pillow felt wet with tears. I didn't want to leave. Seoul sounded scary and mean. I wanted to stay at home, surrounded by familiar sights and people. Damn, it was my birthday tomorrow and here I was, crying in my dark room.

I looked over to my clock just in time to see it turn to 12:00 a.m. My phone beeped right then, and a picture of me and an orange cat illuminated the screen. There was a caption written below it.

"Happy birthday, assface! Remember the time I had caught you and Tae snuggling with cats? Best day ever. Just look at how murderous you looked then. So very manly. (Oh I also took one of your sweatshirts cause it smelled nice so I hope that's cool. Happy birthday though. See you tomorrow.)"

A choked sob escaped my lips as I read that. I would gladly give her all of my clothes if it meant that she would remember me better. Especially my sweaters, since she would always go on and on about how much she liked them. Maybe she would wear them out. Maybe they would fill her up with warm nostalgia during the cold winter months. Maybe people would compliment her when she wore them, making her blush and smile. Or maybe she would smile because she was wearing the prized sweater of a dear old friend, someone she would never forget.

Just maybe...