BROTHERS.
episode eighteen: breathless

ɴᴏᴛᴇ: ɪ ʀᴇᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴜʏs ᴛᴏ ʟɪsᴛᴇɴ ᴛᴏ
"ᴅ (ʜᴀʟғ ᴍᴏᴏɴ)" ʙʏ ᴅᴇᴀɴ, ᴡʜɪʟᴇ ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢ
ғᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇsᴛ ᴇхᴘᴇʀɪᴇɴᴄᴇ.

❀

❝hey, i want my best friend back..❞

  eunhee held onto eunwoo's hand tightly, as he guided her towards the hidden garden inside the school's hedge maze.

eunhee was still caught up on thinking about the words eunwoo had just told her: "someplace where i make you fall in love with me.."

'was he serious about that..?'

as she kept thinking about what he had said, she didn't realize that eunwoo had stopped walking in front of her, which caused her to bump into the back of him, and his soft black coat.

"close your eyes, and i'll tell you when you can open them!"

eunhee wasn't so comfortable with his orders, but she didn't think that her old friend would do any harm to her, so she closed both of her eyes. eunwoo, on the other hand, made sure her eyes were closed, by covering her eyes with both of his hands, and guided her where to walk, while he was behind her.

it was only a few steps, but eunhee already had a whole scenery imagined in her head just by using her senses: she felt the mixture of grass and stones hitting her flats whenever she took a step, the scent of lavender and roses were also a dead giveaway, plus, the lights and faint music in the background.

"we're here, eun." eunwoo whispered in her ear, as he uncovered his hands from her face.

he revealed the sight of the garden, a brown gazebo, and a small glass greenhouse, that was covered with greenery in the corner of the hedges. inside, she saw a a white table for two, with a bouquet of pink roses in the middle, and a vinyl player playing music.

they both walked inside and took in the serene looking sight, it was the perfect time to witness such beauty at the stroke of night.

eunhee was dazed by the scenery of the place that she forgot she was even with eunwoo for a moment.

"shall we dance?" he interrupted her thoughts by asking, he slightly bowed in front of her and looked up with a faint smile and a hand in front of eunhee.

convinced by his lovely surprise and gentle gestures, she accepted his hand. he put his other hand by her waist, brought her closer to his chest area, until his chin was close enough to lay on top of her hair—he found it cute how she was a few inches shorter than him.

eunwoo started leading the waltz dance, as eunhee followed along the rythmn of the song, trying to recall old memories of them both learning how to dance in high school.

           𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 ~

                                       𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧 ~

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6 ʏᴇᴀʀs ᴀɢᴏ,
ғʀᴇsʜᴍᴀɴ ʏᴇᴀʀ ᴏғ ʜɪɢʜ sᴄʜᴏᴏʟ
ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ғɪʀsᴛ ᴏʀɪᴇɴᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ..

  eunhee was just beginning high school, she was a timid and studious student who always hid herself behind a book, instead of socializing with others since she was too socially awkward—especially when it came to introductions.

her older brothers, who were still attending the school—which was basically everyone, except jungkook—always pestered her at home to make friends with new people, and participate more in class. also, with the occasional pep talk about having no boyfriends throughout high school and university.

the gymnasium of the school was filled with aligned rows of steel-foldable chairs for the opening ceremony.

eunhee was seated near the front of the stage.

a lot of students gathered around and chattered in their seats, while waiting for the announcement that the event was going to start.

everyone hushed their voices down when the sound of a voice welcomes them through the mic on stage. it was the basic and boring school introduction given by the principal, the type that could make anyone blank out within seconds.

eunhee already read about the rules and regulations in the agenda they gave, so she wasn't paying much attention, nor did she show much interest being there.

she was daydreaming about some fictional characters from a romance novel she had been reading recently, until her thoughts were interrupted by another voice on the stage.

"welcome, students of 2012," the face of an angel appeared standing in front of the mic, and giving a warm smile to everyone in front of the stage, "i'd like to formally introduce myself as your upcoming grade representative."

her eyes were instantly caught by the sight of an innocent and surreal looking male at the front, giving a speech about being their grade representative, and the morals and values of education.

for once in eunhee's life, someone made her want to listen throughout a boring speech that she could care less about, without making her go back into her dreamland.

"again, my name is cha eunwoo, i'll be your grade representative for this year. thank you for listening, please take care of me~"

that was the first time eunhee had known about eunwoo, and from then on he became the perfect role model for her. whenever he would appear near her at the halls or during assemblies, she's try her best to not make herself look like a fool in front of him—of course, being socially awkward and sometimes clumsy, she did have some embarrassing moments.

there was a time that she was too absorbed by the sight of eunwoo walking down the hall, talking to the student council president, that she didn't look at what was in front of her—the garbage can.

luckily, taehyung and jimin were with her at the time to save her from ruining her social status—she begged to differ though, since she never even had a status.

another time, she was called out by the club leader of their tennis club, to hand out flyers and promote their club.

of course, eunhee wanted to deny the position, as she didn't want to do anything with talking to people or even playing tennis—extra curricular activities after school were just mandatory, so she had to join a club.

while she handed out flyers, she stumbled with pronouncing words properly, and stuttered whenever someone in the halls walked near her.

"h-hullo, would you l-liiike tooo.. join?"

"–t-the tennis club! .. y-yeah."

"o-oh, i mean.. or n-not?"

it wasn't until school finished that day, that she encountered eunwoo in the halls.

it happened all of a sudden, almost like some k-dramas that she had seen, but less appealing because it happened in an unusual and unattractive way.

she held a pile of flyers to her chest, and walked down the empty school halls. she had earbuds on to calm herself down from a hectic day of being social, and was in the midst of daydreaming about the dinner seokjin was going to cook that night, that she didn't notice the girls screaming eunwoo's name and dashing towards her.

in a few seconds, the flyers eunhee was holding flew across the halls, all scattered or ripped apart from the screeching fangirls stepping on them. she remembered being pissed at them, to the point where she actually thought about cursing, but she maintained herself in the end.

"oppa, when will you text me back?" one of eunwoo's annoying fangirls with a very high pitched, and annoying-cringe voice called out from behind her.

"huh?" he looked at the girl and raised an eyebrow, "did i even give you my number?"

"n-no.."

"–well then.. what's your number~?"

"sorry," eunwoo warmheartedly-yet-awkwardly laughed,

"i don't have a phone."

and with that, the girl was left with the ultimate curveball a guy could give her. eunhee remembered having to contain her chuckling because of his great comeback.

she also remembered when he walked up in front of her, and looked down on her, who was smiling weirdly while sitting down in the same position she fell from.

"are you alright, miss?"

he offered his hand to pull her up, and collected the dropped flyers from before, "here you go."

"i'm sure there's a lot of great hidden tennis players around here," he said, "i happen to play tennis."

he gave her that dangerous but still alluring smile of his, that shined as bright as the sun—eunhee admitted that she might've almost fallen for him at that point.

however, eunwoo suddenly made a deal with her.

"how about this, i join your tennis club,
and get you out of trouble.."

"while you become my friend, and join student council with me." he intently stared at her, with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

eunhee was beyond euphoric, but she also had a sense of doubt and curiosity of why he would make such a deal to be her friend. she didn't find herself to be the type eunwoo would hangout with, or have normal conversations with.

well, she was right.

after making that deal with eunwoo, her life in high school had changed, and so did her view of going everyday.

she finally had a motive to go to school, because she finally found a friend she could walk the halls and make inside jokes with.

their conversations were definitely not normal, it was beyond their classmates' understanding since they were always filled with lame dad jokes, their common interests, their undying love for fictional characters, and their passion to eat.

they would occasionally hangout by going to a convenient store and buying ice cream, before going to the nearby playground and act like mischievous little preschool kids there.

their favorite spot was at the very top of the grey-steel geometric dome climber.

it was almost taller than how the height of a normal bedroom would be, that when they both climbed it, they had the perfect view to watch the sun set.

it was at that playground that the both of them practiced the waltz dance for their performing arts class, since they were chosen to lead the performance for the winter festival.

they both struggled keeping on beat, and had to suffer dancing through the whole song with swollen toes—especially eunwoo, when eunhee practiced while wearing heels. however, it was the most memorable part of their winter that year, since they became more closer and comfortable with each other.

it was that time of the year that they needed each other the most.

especially for eunwoo.

he had just heard about the tragic news that his grandpa had passed away, near the date of the festival performance. since he was especially close to his grandparents, his mind was not in the best state, as it was all over the place.

whenever eunhee practiced with him, he would be dazed out in his own thoughts and would have to re-play the song again.

it wasn't until eunhee called him to meet on top of the dome climber one night, that he regained his composure.

"hey.." he was in the middle of climbing up on top of the dome, where eunhee sat, "what did you call me up for?"

his voice lost the excited and honey tone he once spoke with, it was replaced with a mono-tone and slurred words.

he finally got to the top and sat beside eunhee to look at the starry night, and watch the stars twinkle.

"hmm, nothing much."

there was a slight pause, before she spoke again.

"i just thought.. that you might want to watch the stars with me tonight."

"since i know you don't want to be alone." she took a deep breath and turned her head to glance at eunwoo, who looked caught up on what she had just said.

"huh? i never said tha–" he tried to deny the fact, but eunhee was persisting the idea.

"shut up, dummy. i know you."

she scooted to close the slight gap between her and eunwoo, to give him a hug from the side, and laid her head of his arm, "even if you never said it, i know you'd rather have company during these times."

"so let me just do my job, as your best friend, and cry together while eating a tub of ice cream–"

"–you have ice cream?!" the mention of food changed eunwoo's mood instantly, as he looked around for it.

eunhee smirked, knowing that food was one of the ways to capture eunwoo's heart, but also a way to cheer him up on times that he felt discouraged.

"you really think i'd let us suffer and cry without food tonight? are you really my best friend, cha eunwoo??"

she took out the matcha flavoured ice cream from behind her, and took out two silver spoon she sneaked out of her house with, and gave one to eunwoo.

they happily dig into the tub of ice cream, while comforting each other with their presence and occasional friendly insults.

it was under that starry night that eunwoo gained the strength to fully overcome his grief, and it was the first time that eunwoo felt nervous around his best friend.

he knew that he had just developed a new type of feeling for eunhee, but as soon as he acknowledged it, he was unsure with what he should do with it.

and that was how that night ended.

it wasn't until a few years past, that their relationship was shattered in an instant during graduation.

after the winter festival, school decided to pile more work on them, so they were mostly always at home finishing homework early or studying for upcoming evaluations. then, a year later, eunwoo introduced soona to their little group, and they were no longer a duo—but a trio.

she admitted that high school was a big change for her, and that she was enjoying her time there. but as the years went on, she felt like she was drifting away, more and more with eunwoo.

they stopped hanging out at their favorite spot after soona came, and eunwoo never attended tennis practice after school anymore. the only time they would see each other was at student council meetings, since eunwoo became the president near the last year of high school.

then the fateful day came, when the old students of 2012 finally graduated high school. it was during the ceremony that eunwoo caught her attention again.

it was during the time when the principal called out students to award them with special scholarships.

"the next award is the governor general award, this particular award is given to a student who was capable enough to out stand the rest of their grade, having the highest average."

"and this certain individual certainly has a lot of achievements and has gained recognition for it in this school."

"please give a round of applause to.. cha eunwoo!"

the figure of her famous and always occupied best friend showed up on stage, and walked towards the principal to greet him and shake his hand. he gladly took the firm sheet of paper and smiled, facing the stage. a numerous amount of his fangirls and his parents were already clicking away at their cellphones and cameras.

the principal interrupted the loud cheering, by announcing an extra sentence that shocked most people.

"–and with this award, i'd also like to hand to you this special scholarship, to study abroad at the university of paris, in france!"

"whattt, oppa is not going to the university we all studied to get into anymore??" a girl behind eunhee began whining and crying at the thought that she would be seperated from eunwoo.

eunhee couldn't care less about the girl at the moment, what she was worried about was the not seeing him part. he never told her anything about this, since students were normally informed if they earned a scholarship beforehand—she almost felt like he fully betrayed her and left her in the dirt.

eunhee asked soona if he had told her about his scholarship, and it seemed to her that most of student council and soona was told by him—except her.

'why didn't he tell me?'

the question still haunted eunhee till this day.

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"why?" she blurted out the question that had remained in her thoughts for the past few years. she had bottled up all her emotions from that day that she couldn't help but get straight to the point.

they both stopped dancing to the music when eunhee had asked him a question.

"what do you mean?" he looked at her in confusion, not knowing the point of her question.

"wh-..why did you leave, without even telling me?"

"why did you slowly push me away?"

"why weren't you there for me all these years, especially when i needed someone like you the most?"

she shot questions left and right, putting pressure on eunwoo who slowly backed away from her and gave her a tensed face. his eyebrows furrowed, but then softened as he looked down to hear her last comment.

"do you even know what has happened to me in the last few months?"

it was quiet, the sound of people cheering and laughing at the festival could be heard in their proximity. no one between dared to ruin the silence that filled the air.

eunwoo thought that instead of apologizing with words, it'd be better to apologize with his actions. he wanted to show her that he really did care about her all this time and that he didn't want to leave her.

she took his hand, and pulled her away to climb up the brown gazebo rooftop that was beside the greenhouse. they both sat on top, eunhee with her legs hanging down the edge of the rooftop, while eunwoo sat hugging his knees.

they stared at the stars in the night sky in silence, until eunwoo finally spoke up.

"i had to leave eunhee.. my father said it was a great opportunity to learn out of the country and a way to earn new experiences."

he fumbled with his fingers, seeming uneasy about explaining the past,"you know that we don't come from a wealthy family, so getting a scholarship is rare for us—and they were really proud of my accomplishments."

"i guess a part of me wanted to continue making me the star of my family, but a part of me wanted to stay with you," he sighed, looking down to stare at his hands in disappointment. he felt like leaving was selfish of him, to leave his best friend without even saying goodbye because of his emotions.

"i tried so hard to tell you so many times, but i couldn't, because i knew that you'd be hurt that i was going to leave you all alone.."

"i knew you would pretend to be okay and cheer me on, because you're not the type of person to express what you're feeling about yourself most of the times—you're always so selfless that my decisions that affect you make me feel selfish."

eunwoo felt a hand crawl into his shaking hands, he turned to his side to see eunhee looking at him with a swiveling pout with eyes looking like they were ready to release a waterfall of tears, "no.. if i made you stay, then it would make me selfish."

she finally released her tears, having no time to take a deep breath and holding it in anymore.

she cried and sniffled through her sentences, "i-.. just wanted–.. to see my best friend.. one more— time."

but for eunhee, there was never really a one more time. the last time she saw and actually had a conversation with eunwoo was about handling a school assembly for the student council. she was only left with a sense of disappointment and betrayal in the end.

eunwoo took a deep breathe, pulled eunhee's body close to his, until her head was on his chest and his chin was on top of her hair.

she cried into his chest, feeling the loneliness throughout the end of high school until now, without his boy advices, dad jokes, and ice cream sessions in the playground.

she knew that no one could replace their friendship, not even soona—she was the only person eunhee really had as a friend, so she was desperate to hold onto her, even though all she talks about are guys.

eunwoo hummed and hushed her to stop crying, "hey," he said out loud, "i want my best friend back.."

he placed both of his hands on her wet cheeks, and pulled her away to admire her face, and wipe away her tears. he waited until he filled got eunhee to clear the wet streams of liquid off her eyes and cheeks, before pouring his whole heart to her.

"–because i'm in love with her."

her heart skipped a beat.

she choked on her own saliva, "w-what did you say?"

a smile formed on his lips as he rephrased his last sentence.

"i love you."

eunhee couldn't believe it, her own best friend who left her on her own and had now came back to confess his feelings to her.

she didn't know what to say, she didn't know how to react. she knew that not was not a good time for her to even be in a relationship, especially after the current events.

"but.. i want to know how you feel about me?"

"do you love me too?"

-

we're back with another update !

this one was quite hard to write since i wasn't that motivated to write, but the deadline was getting closer so i had to force myself to write it.

since school is almost starting soon, i might update pretty slowly—unless i take a break now so i can pre-write them and publish them all in the future for faster updates..?

now for some more questions / polls i'd like you guys to answer (since your opinions make a difference in my books) ☆彡 :

[1] what are your thoughts on eunwoo being in love with eunhee?

does he seem suspicious? does their story sound cute? what will happen next?

[2] would you rather have me pre-write chapters now and wait, or continue writing chapters and get slow updates in the future?

if i take a break now, i might be more motivated bc i'm not pressured to write twice a week according to the schedule and have pre-written updates during the school year, if i continue writing, it might be boring chapters and i might stop writing or have slow updates once school starts.

[3] would you recommend this book to a friend?

i'm not really sure if people would like reading this since it's not your typical bts fanfic with those super cliché love stories with the "yes i'm a bad boy, so i like bad girl" lmaooo

[4] describe your ideal significant other!

for me, i like someone who i could relate to—emotionally and personally. i'd like someone who is comfortable with me spamming them with memes, dressing up accordingly, and snuggling but also acting like fools in public. it's just like having a best friend, but a friend who you love and think about 24/7 !

ᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ ᴜᴘ ɴᴇхᴛ ᴏɴ "ʙʀᴏᴛʜᴇʀs"

BROTHERS.
episode nineteen: you can be king

❀

ɴᴇхᴛ ᴇᴘɪsᴏᴅᴇ ᴀɪʀɪɴɢ ᴏɴ ...

ᴡᴇᴅɴᴇsᴅᴀʏ, ᴀᴜɢᴜsᴛ 22ɴᴅ, 2018
ᴏʀ
60 ᴠᴏᴛᴇs + 300 ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴛs ᴛᴏ ᴜɴʟᴏᴄᴋ?