My mom woke me up early next morning.

"Sweetie, wake up. Your alarm has been beeping for half an hour." She said, brushing the hair out of my face.

"Mooooooomm....it's like 5:00 in the morning, let me sleep!" I pulled the blanket over my head.

She drew the curtains and the sunlight flooded into the room, blinding me. "No, it's 9:15. You can't sleep all day, it slows down your metabolism!"

9:15. Oh .

"Ohhhh crap!" I cried, jumping out of my bed. I ushered my mom out of the door and started to frantically search for something to wear.

"Let's see, let's see. I could wear this, but this is what I wore the last time I saw him, so nope. Oh, this is cute, but it's too hot outside. Dammit." I said, sifting through my wardrobe. After what seemed like forever, I settled on denim shorts and a plain white t-shirt. Throwing my hair into a messy bun, I wore my bag and put on my incredibly worn out converse.

"I don't see why you aren't trashing those shoes, Jihye. They look like they've been attacked by a wild cat." My mom tsked, before going on a huge rant about how I wasn't been hygienic and mannerly. 

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Catch you later~!" I sang, before giving her a hug.

"Wait, wait, where are you going?" She asked, looking up from the stove.

"The library. Working on a project with a friend. I'll call you once I'm back!" I yelled, escaping before she asked the gender of said friend.

I reached the bus stop and looked at the schedule. "ing hell." I cursed, looking at the times. The next bus was gonna be here at 10, so that wasn't an option. I glanced at my watch. "9:20. I'll make it if I run." 

As I was sprinting my way through the sparsely populated sidewalks of Busan, someone came beside me and started to run with me. Needless to say, I was creeped out, so I started to run even faster. I was just about to elbow the guy, when he decided to speak up.

"Meeting Jungkook at the library too, huh?" He said and I looked at him, immediately recognizing the square smile. "Taehyung, right?" I gasped, out-of-breath.

"Yep. Literally just got off the train from Seoul." He pulled his hood up, seeming completely unfazed by the speed we were running at.

"Your accent seems a lot more country, though." I squeaked, feeling my lungs burn.

"My hometown is Daegu. I'm living in Seoul for training." He explained, grinning widely. "Jungkook and I are in the same entertainment company."

I just shook my head for the rest of the conversation, while Taehyung poured out his entire life story to me. He was extremely weird and had the mentality of a five year old, but his physical appearance painted a different picture. Especially his voice, because he sounded like a 50-year old Mafia boss. Regardless, I liked him quite a bit.

By the time we reached the library, I was reduced to a sweating, panting mess, while he looked like he had just come back from a leisurely stroll.

"You need to exercise more." He commented, sympathetically patting my back.

I glared at him and straightened myself up, before he caught me by the arm and marched into the quiet library.

"Taehyung!" I hissed, hiding my face from the librarian. "You're gonna get us kicked out!"

"Please, call me Tae." He grinned again, ignoring my requests to keep it down. He spotted Jungkook and waved to him excitedly, running to him with me in tow.

Jungkook and some other guy sitting across from him looked up at the two of us. He stared at me, Taehyung, and then his hand which was still gripping my wrist. I quickly pulled away, blushing furiously.

"Jimin! I thought you were coming in later?" Taehyung asked, addressing the unknown guy.

"Nah, my mom said it would be fine." He said, smiling the cutest smile I had ever seen. "You must be Jihye!" He smiled again, turning towards me.

I nodded shyly as Taehyung and I sat down.

"It was orginally going to be just us working, but these two idiots insisted on coming, so here we are." Jungkook grumbled, before Taehyung reached over and smacked his head.

"If you're gonna insult us, at least do it respectfully." He scolded, and Jungkook muttered a small "Sorry, hyung."

"Wait, so you guys are older than him?" I asked, looking at them in shock.

"I'm 17, and Jimin's turning 17 this October." Taehyung said, staring down Jungkook. "But this kid always seems to forget that."

"Yep, tell me about it." I laughed, stretching my arms out. "Are we going to work or do you guys want to go somewhere?"

"We need to work, Jihye!" Jungkook cried, looking at Taehyung and Jimin angrily.

"Relax, little one. We are nearly done with it, I can finish the rest on my own." I smiled and patted his head, which made him angrier.

"Y'all can kiss my-" He began to say, but all three of us raised our eyebrows simultaneously, which seemed to shut him up. He sunk down in his chair and pulled his hood up. "I came out here to have a good time, but honestly I feel so attacked right now." He muttered.

"So what are you guys doing in Busan anyway?" I asked them, ignoring the little angry blob next to me.

"I'm from Busan, but I live in Seoul since I'm a trainee, just like Tae." Jimin leaned back in his chair. "We're here for Junghyun's birthday and farewell party."

"Farewell?" I asked, looking at Jungkook. "What for?"

"Junghyun's been drafted, so he's going to be leaving right after his birthday." He replied nonchalantly, which struck me as odd. 

"You don't seem the least bit upset." I commented, observing his behaviour.

"I mean, I'm a little bummed out that he'll be leaving, but it's not like he's going away forever." He rested his head on the table and yawned. "Let's talk about something else."

The tone of his voice worried me, because it seemed like he was hiding something. However, I put my worries aside and tuned into the conversation.

"...So as I was saying, I know this really cool bookstore near the park." Jimin said, showing Taehyung something on his phone. "Look how awesome it looks from the outside!"

"Hey, I want to see too~" I whined, trying to grab his phone.

"Geez, calm down." He pulled his chair over to my side and sat by me. "Here, look."

"Wahhhh, so cool!" I exclaimed, blown away by the Victorian style in which the building was built in. "What kind of books does it sell?"

"Old school murder mysteries and historical fiction mostly." He showed me more pictures. "Hey, why don't we go there right now?"

Jungkook groaned and Taehyung nodded excitedly. 

"Aw, come on Jungkook, it's going to be fun!" I said, pulling on his arm. "Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go!"

"Fine, fine." He got up and pried my hands off his arm. "You have the grip of an octopus, really."

I stuck out my tongue at him and trotted up to Jimin and Taehyung who were engrossed in discussing the complexities of the universe.

Who needed normal friends anyway?

"Holy , it looks even better from the inside." I whispered to Jimin, who was too busy bugging Jungkook to listen to me. I simply sighed and wandered off to find the murder section. 

I spent some time combing over the various books until I came across Hercule Poirot. I squealed and opened the novel, taking in the delightful scent that one smells upon opening a book.

"Are you...sniffing the book?" Jungkook questioned, coming up beside me.

I shut the book and scowled at him. "This scent is more relaxing than a hot bath." 

He grabbed the book and examined the cover. "Never thought you would enjoy murder mysteries."

"You don't know me~" I exclaimed dramatically, taking the book back from him. I flipped it over to see the price, which made me gasp.

"Oh hell no, I'm not paying this much for a used book." I shook my head and placed the book back on to the shelf.

"My god, you're so cheap." He picked up the book again and saw the price. "It's not even that much!"

"Then why don't you buy it?" I glared at him and walked off to find Taehyung, whom I found dozing off in a dark corner.

"Taehyung?" I said softly, not wanting to startle him.

He opened his eyes slowly and yawned, then turned to look at me. "Sorry." He mumbled, still half-asleep. "I barely got any sleep last night." 

I chuckled and looked over at Jimin, who was already checking out his books. "Come on, Tae." I urged him to get up. "We're leaving. You can sleep once you guys reach Jungkook's house, ok?"

He got up reluctantly and I pushed him to the door, since he could barely stand upright. Jimin and Jungkook soon came out, carrying their books in bags.

"You bought a book too?" I asked Jungkook, spying the dark covered book in his bag. He nodded and smiled deviously.

Before long, we were at Jungkook's house. Taehyung hugged me tightly and ran inside, pulling Jimin with him. 

"See you guys at the party~" I yelled, waving at them. I looked at Jungkook who was lingering by the door. "I'll be heading home now."

"Do you want me to walk you home?" He offered quietly.

"Sure." I smiled, blushing slightly. Man, this was like a scene from a shoujo manga.

We walked in silence for a while, until I saw that he still had his book from the bookstore.

"Why didn't you leave that at home?" I asked, pointing to the plastic bag.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." He grinned sheepishly, holding out the bag for me. "This is the book you wanted."

"What?" I cried. "Why did you buy this? It was so expensive!"

"Just take the damn book, Jihye. Gosh." He shoved the bag in my hands, looking away. I stared at the book some more and smiled.

"Thank you." I said, squeezing the bag. 

"You're welcome." He muttered indifferently.

None of us said anything after that, and awkward silence filled the air.

"I don't want Junghyun to leave." He said suddenly. I was surprised that he was telling me something personal, but I decided to go along with it.

"I thought you were ok with it?"

"I thought I was, too. But we've never really stayed apart before. It's scary." He said, tugging at his bangs.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked, wondering if he trusted me enough to share such things with me.

"There isn't really much to talk about." He sighed. "I've been pretending that I'm totally fine with it ever since he got the news, but it's been bothering me quite a bit. It's just so unfair, you know."

"You don't have to pretend you're not upset, Jungkook. It's better if you tell your brother that it's bothering you. Don't you think he would like to know that his younger brother is sad due to the fact he's leaving?" I looked at him softly.

"I guess. But I don't want to appear weak in front of him." He confessed, playing with his fingers.

"Talking about your feelings doesn't make you weak. I think he'd really appreciate it if you told him you're going to miss him."

"Really?" He asked, peeking at me.

"Really." I assured him. 

We spent some more time talking about Junghyun. Jungkook told me funny stories about him, like the time he and Junghyun made a music video about math to impress his math teacher, convincing her to give him a better grade. There was also this one time that Junghyun had super glued Jungkook's shoes to the floor, because he had stolen all of his pocket money. I looked at him as he reminisced, feeling happy that he was coming back to his old self again.

"Yeah." He exhaled, after telling me about the time Junghyun had forced him to eat a spoonful of wasabi. "He could be a real pain in the sometimes."

I simply laughed and patted his back.

"Hey." I spoke after a while, my eyes falling on a cute bakery across from us. "You wanna eat cake?"

"Oh yeah, I said I'd buy you some, right?" he chuckled, pulling out his wallet. "I have just enough money."

 I squealed as we walked inside the shop. "Ooooh, I want vanilla! Or wait, no, pineapple! Chocolate! Buy me all three!"

"I'm only going to buy you one slice." He declared, making me pout. "I don't have money for more than two!"

"Then sacrifice your slice and give it to me." I said smugly, flipping my hair.

"Why the would I do that?" He scoffed, looking through the menu.

"Because then I can be your little dumpling." I muttered under my breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" I shouted and skipped forward. "Hurry up!"

He paid for the cake and handed me a little pink box with a white bow on top.

"Hey, Jihye." He said, watching me stuff my face with delicious pineapple goodness. "Um, thanks for listening to me. I feel much better."

"No problem." I smiled as we approached my house. "Anything for my little kookie." 

His face got murderous as soon as those words left my mouth. He yelled and tried to grab a hold of me, but I dodged his arms skillfully and made a run for my front door. Before he could understand what had happened, I shut the door.

"You're going to pay for that, Choi Jihye!" He yelled and walked away, fuming with anger. 

I curled up on the floor, out of breath from laughing so hard. When I regained my composure, I pulled out the book he had gotten me and hugged it tight, smiling stupidly. 

"Dammit, Jungkook." I whispered, burying my face in its pages. "You're going to drive me crazy."