As you laid in your bed the next morning, you hit the snooze on your alarm for what must have been the 10th time already.

With what was becoming a bit of a self-torturing ritual, last night before falling asleep, you opened up your LINE account on your phone to relive the last moments of contact you had with your masked 'Genius'.

But this time, everything was different. 

As you scrolled down to find his conversation tab, your heart dropped to a new level of hopelessness.

The conversation itself was still there, but his account had seemingly vanished.

Where his name was once written as "Yoongi", an "Empty chat" title replaced it.

Your heart raced as you clicked into his conversation and immediately tried to visit his profile page, but the link was now broken.

Whether he deleted his account entirely or just blocked you, you weren't sure, but one thing was certain.

Your only method to communicate with him was now completely severed, and he most likely or most definitely wasn't coming back.

A sickening feeling consumed your stomach for the remainder of the night, so much so that you couldn't remember when it was that you finally fell asleep.

But after a struggle of repeated nightmares, you almost wished you hadn't slept at all.

In between your broken sleep, your masked 'Genius' had managed to invade all of your dreams, sending out taunting reminders about just how pathetically alone you would be as soon as you woke up.

And he wasn't wrong..

There you laid in your otherwise empty apartment, with both of the guys that were once foolish enough to show any interest in you seemingly out of the picture now.

You knew that if you were to string Taemin along any further, you would have been nothing less than a complete monster, and the only right thing to do was to be honest about how you truly felt. 

He really was such a perfect guy and he deserved so much more than you.

Taemin was even nice enough to message you yesterday afternoon once he got home, to reassure you that he still had a great time with you, and that you should plan your next day out together again, as friends. 

Sigh.

But even if letting Taemin go was entirely your choice, it didn't make you feel any less alone or less of a screw up.

Because we all need to feel a little loved sometimes.

Ugh.

As your snooze alarm rang out harshly once more, you swallowed the lump that was forming in your throat and reluctantly got out of bed.

I can already tell that today is going to drag..

You knew it would be practically impossible to see your masked 'Genius' at the café now, given his apparent ghosting and dropping off the planet entirely, so trying to look nice today just seemed like a total waste of time and effort.

But what exactly could be the takeaway from all of this?

That you shouldn't put all of your eggs into one basket and not live every second of your days forming all of your choices entirely around impressing someone else?

While you're at it, maybe you ought to be a little more healthier and kinder to yourself, and try to be more independently minded...

Maybe then you wouldn't get so hurt and become so self-destructive.

It sounds like a stretch, but at least I can try..

Either that, or I give up on boys and humans entirely and adopt 10 cats..

After dragging your feet into work with a heavy mind, you set your bag down in the back room and signed into your shift with only a minute to spare.

You must have been staring blankly at the coffee machine for at least 5 minutes before it eventually dawned on you that you were the only one there.

Where on earth is Ji-eun and Hana?

But at that thought, you could hear movement coming from the back entrance, followed by Ji-eun and Hana struggling to walk out with 4 ridiculously over-packed grocery bags.

"What the hell is all this for?" you asked as they set the bags down on the countertop, walking over to inspect their contents.

Inside each of the bags were what appeared to be at least a hundred identical snack bars.

"Didn't you hear?!" Ji-eun piped up, struggling in between breaths. "We're going to win that damn competition and go to their fan-meet, no matter what."

"Wha-what competition?" you asked back, visibly confused.

"Girl, I know you've had a rough few days, so don't worry. I've got you.." Ji-eun let out again, causing you to fire an even more confused look in Hana's direction.

"Ok, so Bighit announced a last minute competition," Hana answered, before your mind exploded with curiosity. "5 pairs of tickets for BTS's fan-meet are up for grabs!"

At her words, you snatched one of the bars out the bag and scanned the small print under the fold of the wrapper.

Apparently all you had to do was find the unique code on the inside and enter it into their website. If you pick a code that prompts you to write a paragraph on why you should win, it meant you were a finalist.

And the winners will be chosen by the end of the week!

You immediately noticed that there was nothing against multiple entries, which would explain the four full bags of snacks.

It seemed simple enough, so why hadn't you heard of it before now?

Any kind of BTS promotion would normally catch on like wildfire, sending stores into chaos and instant sellouts.

Maybe the news of Yoongi's attack drowned out any news of the competition...?

Especially since I didn't see any signs at all on the way here...

And perhaps your mind was otherwise occupied with other issues lately to even notice the rest of the world turning around you. 

As Ji-Eun began ripping the packages open she talked away at you, explaining how the convenience store worker claimed not a single person had been in to buy them yet that morning.

Which seemed completely unheard of for a competition of this magnitude.

"So you're telling me you bought out the entire shipment?" you gaped at her, unmoving as you let all this information sink in.

"Well... No, she wouldn't let me buy everything. I tried, but she only agreed to let me buy half.." Ji-Eun grumbled. "I might have had to dip into the small savings account my parents set aside for me... And downgrade my phone data for the next month, but trust me it was worth it! Thank god I found that empty wrapper on the table yesterday. Who knew that grumpy office worker would actually prove to be useful, besides leaving behind his trash for us to pick up."

You laughed, the image of the old man who came in everyday for his coffee unknowingly buying a BTS competition snack-bar provoking the humor in you.

"Okay, but there's still no guarantee of winning, and you should at least let me pay my share for all of these..." you finally let out with a hint of reluctance, after wrapping your mind around everything.

As you scanned your eyes down the total number on the receipt, your eyes widened and you almost instantly regretted saying anything.

"No, don't be silly! They really weren't that expensive! At least nothing in comparison to how much their tickets would have actually cost!" Ji-eun hushed, snatching the receipt away from you with a guilty expression. "Besides... It will be your birthday then, and I think we both need some serious cheering up. So think of it as an early birthday present! "

At her words, your broke ass couldn't help but breath out a sigh of pure gratitude.

"I guess it's not completely out of the realm of possibility for you to be so reckless with your money," you said through a stifled laugh. "But I seriously owe you! We just have to win now to make it all worth it!"

But wait...

"Didn't you say pairs? There's three of us..." you quickly blurted out, thinking of the horrible situation where one of you might actually get left out.

"Ohh, I can't go..." mumbled Hana disappointingly. "I have to go to my Grandparent's then and my Dad's refusing to back out on it..."

"Are you serious? That really sucks..."

"Yeah... But I can at least help you sort through all these codes!" Hana said back through an obviously forced smile.

You couldn't help but feel horrible for Hana not being able to make it to a fan-meet which you weren't even assured of going to yet, but having the smallest chance to meet your literal Idol in cut into pieces like that must have seriously hurt.

"No matter what, we promise to get something signed by RM for you, okay girl?" Ji-eun said as she took a bite out of one of the many snack bars. "But this competition closes this weekend and we have a lot to get through, so let's all get eating!"

By the time the morning rush had finally come to an end, your mind was so preoccupied with stuffing your face full of snack bars and practicing the perfect paragraph to write that would explain why you should win, that you hadn't even noticed the time or that 7:42AM had long passed.

Even if you didn't win, you were at least thankful for the small distraction and glimmer of hope this gave you.

But your stomach space was quickly reaching its capacity.

Damn...

These didn't taste so bad to begin with, but this is getting old real fast.

With your shift soon coming to an end, you tallied together how many snack bars you had all managed to eat and were disappointed to find that you had barely scratched the surface.

Feeling a little defeated, you all divided out what was left.

"Ugh, do we really have to eat all of them?" Ji-eun groaned out helplessly to no one in particular.

Perhaps if you could all actually afford to waste food like that, you would, but the unspoken agreement was that you would all finish whatever was bought.

-

As the next day rolled around, your brain had practically turned to slush.

You had been eating nothing other than those godforsaken snack bars for more than a day now, and you weren't even sure if it would amount to anything at the end of it all.

Your shift at work had dragged for an eternity without anything of significance occurring around you, other than the occasional news update over poor Yoongi's discharge from hospital and the continuing witch-hunt for his attackers.

The only positive at least was that when your shift finally came to an end, it was the the start to your long awaited weekend.

Thank f*ck.

Although It wasn't exactly like you had much planned over the weekend, aside from eating your body weight in BTS snack bars.

When you got back to your apartment and threw your bag down, you went straight to the shower, hoping a little steam might help clear your mind or your appetite.

But as soon as you were finished, you sat by yourself once more in your dingy apartment, with another existential crisis on the horizon, and looked at the remaining pile of snack bars overflowing from your handbag that you'd promised to finish by the end of the weekend.

I can't even remember what real food tastes like anymore.

Not that you'd bothered to check the nutritional value of your new diet, but you were slowly becoming convinced that one too many snack bars might actually turn you stupid.

If you weren't already stupid to begin with. 

Be it the new diet and the stab-to-the-heart ghosting of your masked 'Genius', you felt so miserably alone and lethargic.

So for the sake of your poor digestive system and your aching heart, you decided that a change was in order, and that you'd take a late night stroll to the convenience store for something a little more fulfilling.

And maybe I'll get a tub of ice cream to eat later...

Just in case.

In the past year that you had been renting your apartment, the staff at your nearest convenience store had certainly seen you on all kinds of occasions...

Like on your laundry days, stumbling in while you were recklessly drunk, or nursing the 2-day hangovers that followed.

So making the 8 minute trek there in nothing but your cartoon PJ's and a random coat carelessly flung around them didn't even sound that bad, because it wasn't like they could paint an uglier picture of you.

After making it down the 3 flights of stairs out of your apartment complex and out into the street, the freezing air stung your cheeks and you noticed that it was unusually dark.

The lamps that would normally cover your street in a hue of orange light appeared to all be out for some eerie reason.

Yeah okay..

Low-key a little spooked, you took a moment to remember what you were currently wearing and figured that the universe was only paying you a favor for not letting anyone else see you in your ridiculous attire. 

But as you made your way further down the dark path, you felt yourself becoming hyper aware of all of your surroundings.

It wasn't like you lived in a dangerous neighborhood or anything, but there was definitely something off about tonight. 

The whole spooky vibe had you huddling into your coat further and picking up your walking pace. 

You could have even sworn you heard footsteps trailing behind you, but you couldn't get up the courage to turn around and check. 

That was when one of your neighbors suddenly came into view in front of you, taking her dog out for a late night walk. 

Perfect. 

You managed to pick up to a light jog and waved at her to grab her attention. 

The woman scowled slightly at the sight of you, but let it go when she noticed your obviously panicked and awkward expression across your ghostly face and that you weren't actually coming over to chat with her. 

You kneeled down in front of her angry little chihuahua and ignored the small growls and sad-excuses for a nip, just relieved to see someone else outside and let it calm your nerves for a moment. 

When you were satisfied with your pause and thoroughly wasted your neighbors time, you got back up and started walking towards the convenience store. 

Thankfully it was now in sight, the blinding florescent lights streaming out of the store windows filling your heart with hope and making your stomach rumble. 

Of course you had already decided exactly what you were going to buy before even leaving your apartment, heading straight into the second aisle and picking out a large cup of your favorite instant ramen.

Paying for your meal and wasting no time to rip open its packet to pour boiling water inside, you sat down at the empty window seats and began the slow 4 minute count down before you could finally eat. 

As you sat there, you couldn't help but stare back out through the windows into the open darkness of the streets.

It was such a stark contrast to the bright lights and warmth of the convenience store, and the thought of having to leave the relative safety you were currently in to walk back home again sent a slight chill throughout your body. 

Even as you sat there, there was no other way to explain it other than the paranoid and uneasy feeling of being watched. 

But surely not...

You finished eating your ramen while trying to push those thoughts to the back of your mind, concluding that people have far better things to do with their times than to watch you spill cup-ramen all over yourself. 

Just as you were about to leave the store, you picked out a large tub of strawberry ice-cream and took a deep breath before stepping out into the night once more. 

This isn't so bad.. 

I can do this..

You tried your best to focus on your steady breathing and working up a pace in your walk, developing a fake sense of confidence in your strut to try and tell yourself that everything was 'okay'. 

But as you turned your first corner, the remaining light from the convenience store behind you had all but disappeared.

Your breath caught in the back of your throat as you had flashbacks to your childhood, being absolutely terrified of taking the trash out after dark, afraid of what could be lurking in the shadows to get you. 

You continued to walk with reluctance, the ominous feeling coming back tenfold and sending your anxieties to a new level. 

It was so difficult to tell what was real and what was imagined around you, with your racing heartbeat ringing so loudly in your ears now, but you could have sworn that the sound of footsteps trailing behind you had returned. 

And this time they seemed to be growing louder and moving faster. 

F*ck.

Taking in a deep breath, you stopped in your tracks and turned around quickly, hoping your act of boldness might throw off anyone that could possibly want to harm you. 

In hindsight, you don't know why you thought that would be a good idea, because you couldn't see a damn thing, but the scariest part was that sound of footsteps continued. 

Hell f*cking no...

I am NOT dying tonight!

The imminent threat of danger suddenly had your body rearing up into fight or flight mode, making you spin back around and break into a full sprint down the first corner street you could find.

Ideally, you were hoping that this would all end up being another one of your drastic over-reactions to tease yourself about later on, but all of the alarm bells that were going off in your head were telling you that this wasn't something you should risk finding out about the hard way. 

And they proved right.

It wasn't long before you could hear the echoing footsteps behind you picking up their pace to follow you, turning down the same corner and inching closer and closer to you. 

But as you quickly realized that your idiot self had chosen a dead-end street to turn into, you were now overwhelmed with having to either; find a good place to hide, or prepare yourself for battle.

Two things that, should the moment ever arise, you always knew you could never be good at. 

Forever hopeless at making great decisions under pressure, you decided on doing both, clutching your heavy handbag tightly and hiding behind the only trash can in sight. 

You tried for the life of you to quieten your heavy breathing and listened intently as the footsteps drew closer to you, then...

SMACK!

Impact. 

Whoever had just been chasing after you, had now been knocked to the ground by the swing of your handbag, sending a shower of empty snack bar wrappers all over them. 

Not wanting to stick around and use this opportunity for a safe getaway, you jumped around them and were just about to start running in the opposite direction when a voice came.

"Wait! Y/N..."

Your body instinctively stopped in its tracks as your name was called.

The voice was oddly familiar, but you were still too terrified for your life to try and make that connection. 

"H-How do you know my name?!" you blurted out, as you took a few more steps away from them. 

But by that point, they had already gotten up from the ground and were now taking steps towards you. 

Your brain was telling you to run while you still could, but for whatever crazy or stupid reason, your heart was telling you to stay.

"Woah, hey! It's me!" The raspy voice uttered out once again. "Wait... did you just throw trash at me?" 

As you finally connected the dots, your body froze.

Because there was only one person which that voice could possibly belong to.

Mr. 742.

He was sincerely the last person on this planet that you could have ever imagined appearing in front of you right now. 

You could feel your eyes instantly begin to well up when recalling the brutal ghosting and embarrassing heart-break you had been going through because of him, thankful that at least it would be too dark for him to notice you in all your humility.

"What the hell are you doing here!?" You nearly yelled, your built up adrenaline doing nothing but fueling your outburst. "And why are chasing me down dark streets in the middle of the night?! Is this a joke?!" 

You tried your best to stifle your heavy breaths as you waited for his response, not remembering the last time you'd ever ran so hard, and on a full stomach of instant ramen too. 

"I.. I just wanted to see you.." 

You couldn't help but scoff at his answer.

So now he wanted to see you?

The audacity.

Never-mind my time or my feelings...

Or the hurt you put me through...

Because I guess it all comes down to whenever you decide you want to see me...

But despite being clearly triggered by his response, it still made your weak heart flutter in its chest.

You began to turn around and walk away, feeling hesitant to stay and potentially put yourself through any more hurt, when Mr. 742 reached out to grab your wrist stopping you. 

"I'm sorry... Please... Let me explain.." 

For the first time ever you could hear a sense of desperation in his voice, forcing you to concede and wait a little longer to properly hear him out.

Even after everything, he still has such a strong hold of me..

A soft breeze swept over you as you waited for his explanation, your eyes adjusting in the dark of the night to your masked 'Genius' standing before you.

"Look, I'm sorry I disappeared and that I kept you waiting for me. It should have never happened..." He spoke slowly with bittersweet disappointment laced in his tone.

"What happened?" You snapped back, trying your hardest to omit all of the emotions from your voice. 

"I... I got into an accident that night, on my way to seeing you.." He trailed off, his voice filled with remorse and pain. 

Mr.742's head dropped after he finished speaking, his hand finally letting go of your wrist, which you had completely forgotten he had been holding onto until now. 

An accident?

As vague as it was, you tried to picture what could have happened to him that night, but if it was actually something serious, you didn't want to be that person and force any upsetting details out of him. 

"A-are you okay?" You asked, genuine concern suddenly taking over your ruse. 

You tilted your head, trying to get a better look at him, but it was still too dark for you to fully distinguish any of his features. 

"Hmm.. I'm fine now," he finally answered after a long sigh. "But I am really sorry that I stood you up. You must have been so disappointed and I understand if you're mad... I just hope that you'll let me make it up to you.."

"I-I'm not mad!" you shot back perhaps a little too quickly, making you die internally from coming across as far too forgiving or easy. 

Because you hadn't forgiven him yet. 

Ugh

But your answer at least wasn't a lie. 

You were far too busy being pathetically heart-broken and upset this whole time to be angry with him.

For your own sake, you really wanted to believe your masked 'Genius' and that it was all some unfortunate accident that was never meant to happen, but you still couldn't help but be a little apprehensive.

And there was no denying that had you known about this sooner, it would have saved you a hell of a lot of emotion..

"But why couldn't you at least let me know? I-I've been left in the dark for days now..." Your voice quivered as you spoke up once more. 

"I know, I'm sorry... My phone got damaged in the accident and I wasn't able to transfer my accounts from my old phone over to my new one, so my manager made me deactivate everything. I never meant to hurt you... And I wanted to tell you sooner, I just..."

You could feel his genuine frustration just from how worked up he was becoming, tugging so strongly on your heartstrings.

And as far as you could tell, he seemed to be telling the truth. 

So before he could say anything more, you cut him off. 

"-It's okay."

Your short response sent out the message that for now you were giving him a second chance.

And at your calm words, Mr. 742 breathed out heavily, as if some weight had just been lifted from his shoulders. 

Just please don't make me regret it.

"Give me your phone," he whispered after a pause. "I'll save your number a hundred times if I have to, if it means this never happens again.."

You could feel your entire face blush at his comment, awkwardly reaching your hand into your pocket and pulling your phone out for him. 

But as you fumbled to hand it over, you dropped your phone to the ground, internally screaming over how moronically clumsy you could be. 

Why must I always be like this...

After letting out a defeated sigh, you knelt down to pick it up, when your hand suddenly collided with his. 

You jumped slightly, the unexpected contact in the dark making your mind go blank and unintentionally leaving your hand hovering over his, until he clasped his fingers around yours. 

You could feel a shift in his movements, like the gap between you was slowly getting smaller, before you could feel the warmth of his breath softly hitting the side of your cheek, sending goosebumps through your whole body.

Did he just...

Take his mask off?

Desperately squinting your eyes, you tried your hardest to take a look at the boy right in front of you, but it was still too dark that you couldn't properly make out any of his features.

As you stayed un-moving just a few inches away from his face, he took his free hand and brushed it against your cheek and without warning, pressed his lips onto yours. 

You gasped in surprise, your heart now pounding so loudly in your chest that you were sure he would be able to hear it.

He kissed you softly, and then pulled back a little, pausing to make sure everything was okay.

After you didn't stop him, he leaned in for a second time, and you kissed him back, your whole body burning hot from this heated exchange.

His lips were warm and much softer than what you could have imagined, and you could feel your self becoming lost in his kiss.

You didn't know his name, or what he looked like, everything about this felt so wrong..

But also so right.

-

While his kiss may have been a fleeting moment, you wished it had never ended. 

But barely able to breath over your stammering heartbeat, you had to draw back eventually.

After picking up your phone from the ground, he helped you up, and you immediately noticed that his mask was back on his face once the backlight of your phone turned on. 

Of course..

He wasted no time in tapping in both his new phone number and LINE accounts into your phone, while you stood there awkwardly, still trying to recover from his kiss only moments before. 

When he handed his phone back, you quickly noted that he saved himself onto your phone as "Yoongi 💜" once again, sending your eyes to rolling to the back of your head.

"Hey!" you muttered sheepishly, swatting him lightly across the shoulder with your hand. "Can't I just know your real name?"

"What's wrong with Yoongi?" he snickered back stubbornly, only making you want to drop the subject entirely for the time being. 

Since you must have been standing together in this dead-ended alley for a while now, your masked 'Genius' insisted that he should walk you back to your apartment, to ensure that no other creeps could chase you down the streets tonight. 

-----

Hi everyone!

Just thought I'd send a PSA that I am still alive.. for now.😅

I'm very sorry to keep on disappearing. I know you're all probably disappointed and sick of hearing me apologize to then disappear again and again, but it's not because I want it to happen and it's mostly out of my control. I've just been having a sh*t time in general, between struggling with my mental health and being too busy with my real job that I'm normally so burnt up and trampled on by the end of it all. 

But I wanted to send out a huge THANK YOU to all of you amazing people who have been trying to reach out and ask if things are okay, as well as all of you that have continued to support this book! I don't deserve it, but I am so eternally thankful 💜💜💜😭

Anyways, I hope you could enjoy this new chapter! It is very long, I know... sorry 😅 It's also maybe not as edited or perfected as I would like it to be, but I just knew that if I didn't push it out now, it would only stress me out even more since it's already super delayed. 

I hope you're all staying safe, healthy and doing okay where ever you are in the world right now. It seems like the world just keeps getting scarier as each day passes, so I absolutely empathize with all of you that are going through difficulties right now. 

I know that I'm not as active on here as I would like to be, but I'm always here for you in spirit and will try my best to support you all, sending out hugs, love and all of my best wishes. 

Love you all, Katie xxx