Two Weeks Later

*3rd Person POV*

"Something's wrong," Jimin insisted. "She's distant and hasn't been smiling as much. And when she does, it's obviously forced."

"She's not around us as often anymore, though," countered Namjoon. "How can we be sure when we don't see her much these days?"

"We see her every day! At least every school day," Jimin reminded him. "We can see her from here!" He gestured across the cafeteria to where Mirae was sitting with Yoongi. "Anyway, her body language is different. It's tense and robotic, like she's just going through the motions. I'm telling you, something is wrong."

"If we decide to talk to her about this, we have to be really careful about how we approach it," Seokjin said. "Whether we're right or wrong, she'll push us away if she feels attacked."

"Only one of us should do it," Taehyung spoke up. "If we all do, it'll seem like it's an intervention or something. And she'd definitely feel attacked in that case."

"Do you think we should talk to Yoongi about it?" Jungkook asked. "He's who she's always with when she's not with us."

"Absolutely not," Namjoon said.

"Yeah," Hoseok agreed. "I'm pretty sure he couldn't care less about Mirae."

Namjoon nodded. "He's really hateful to her."

"Well, maybe that's part of the problem then," Seokjin reasoned. "She's been spending so much time with him, and if she's constantly experiencing hostility, it would make sense that it's taken a toll on her."

Jimin shrugged. "Someone just needs to talk to her, and soon."

Their table fell silent until a chair suddenly screeched against the floor and Jungkook stood up. The other five watched as he made his way across the cafeteria.

~~~~~~~~~~

*Mirae POV*

"Hey, Mirae."

I looked up and was surprised to see Jungkook standing there. "Hi," I said.

"Hi," he said shyly. He seemed nervous.

'That's strange. This is really unlike him.' "Is everything okay?" I asked, suddenly feeling a bit worried.

"Umm...I'm not sure," he replied. "I was wondering if you and I could talk sometime soon."

I furrowed my brow. "Of course, Kookie. You can always talk to me." I smiled at him, trying to be reassuring.

He returned my smile, then shot a furtive glance at Yoongi. "I guess let me know when you have some time..."

"How 'bout after school today? Wanna go grab a coffee or something?"

His eyes lit up. "Sure! That'd be great!"

"Meet me at my locker after our last class, okay?"

"Yeah, okay!" He said brightly, as he turned and walked away.

I went back to my phone, scrolling through various posts on social media. After a minute or two, I became very aware of Yoongi's eyes on me. I looked up. He was smirking.

"What?"

"You're going to have to leave me alone after you hook up with him. He'll probably get jealous."

"Excuse me? He's one of my best friends."

"Oh, please," Yoongi scoffed. "That kid is in love with you."

I began to laugh harder than I had in weeks. And once I started, I couldn't stop. Tears began streaming down my face and my stomach started to hurt, but I still couldn't stop laughing. I looked up and through my tears, I could see Yoongi scowling.

"I've known him literally my whole life. We're like brother and sister," I said, wiping my eyes. "All of the guys are like that. He was definitely nervous, but I'm sure it's something like he wants to tell me you're an asshole and he's worried I'll get mad." I smirked. "Joke's on him... I already know you're an asshole!"

Yoongi rolled his eyes but said nothing more, obviously perturbed that yet another of his attempts to get rid of me had failed. For two weeks, I'd relentlessly continued my overly friendly and bothersome invasion of his daily life at school, and he'd become increasingly desperate to evade me.

It was cute to see how perturbed he still got when his attempts to get rid of me failed.

"Why do you care?" I teased. "Are you jealous?"

"Fuck no," Yoongi scoffed again. "I'm looking for an out to get away from you. I fully encourage any relationship of yours that will facilitate that."

I laughed. "You're so dramatic." He frowned at me, clearly annoyed.

~~~~~~~~~

For the rest of the day, I went about my usual business: taking notes, singing in choir, making Yoongi uncomfortable. Combine that with a decent morning and the great laugh I had at lunch, and it felt like a really successful day. I actually felt a bit chipper as I waited by my locker for Jungkook, which was rare these days. I hadn't felt like this in weeks.

"Have a great rest of the day, Yoongi!" I shouted across the hall as he walked toward the front doors of the school. He had been shielding the side of his face that was facing me with his notebook but dropped it to his side once I started shouting at him.

"Goddamn it," he mumbled as he kept walking. I giggled.

"What's so funny?" Jungkook asked as he approached me with a smile.

"Oh, just fucking with Yoongi," I replied cheerily.

As we headed toward the doors ourselves and started toward the coffee café, I noticed Jungkook glancing at me every minute and a half or so. I finally stopped walking. He went forward a few more steps before realizing I'd stopped.

"You okay?" he asked as he turned around.

"Are you?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine."

"What gives, Kookie?" I cocked my head, looking at him quizzically. "Why are you acting weird?"

"Am I?"

"You have been since lunch," I insisted. "You're acting all nervous and cryptic."

He sighed as he ran a hand through his purple hair. "I am nervous," he admitted.

His behavior was so odd and contradictory to his normal demeanor, that Yoongi's words suddenly rang in my ears. "Oh god, Jungkook, please don't tell me you're going to like, profess your undying love for me or something."

"What?!" An incredulous laugh escaped with his exclamation. "God, no! I mean, I do love you. But like, brotherly-type love. You know?"

I sighed with relief. "Yes, I know." I started walking again and he followed. "So, why are you nervous?"

He suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me across the street to a bench under some trees. "Let's just talk here," he said. "It's more private anyway." I looked at him confusedly but didn't object.

"Mirae," he said, looking me in the eyes. "Are you okay?"

"I thought we just went over this back there," I said, pointing back the way we'd come.

He sighed. "No, I mean, like...in general. Not just in this moment."

I stared at him. "I don't understand."

"How has your mood been lately? Have you felt sad about anything?" He was speaking slowly, and I could tell he was choosing his words carefully. I sighed as it dawned on me.

"Are you trying to ask me if I'm depressed?"

He looked at me guiltily, as though I'd caught him doing something he wasn't supposed to do. "'Depressed' isn't a bad word, Kookie."

He took a deep breath. "Are you depressed?"

"It's actually funny that you ask that because I was just thinking, while I was waiting for you at my locker, that today's been a really great day!" I smiled brightly at him.

He returned my smile. "That's great to hear!"

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. "But...?" I could tell there was more he wanted to say.

"But," he continued delicately. "I want to know about other days, too."

I sighed again. "Why are you being redundant?"

Jungkook paused. He took one of my hands in both of his and looked me in the eyes intently. "Because you didn't answer the question."

"I..." I trailed off, looking away from him and staring at the people walking along the sidewalk. We sat like that for a few more minutes until Jungkook spoke again, his tone very gentle.

"How long?"

"Wha – ?" I blinked a couple of times, shaken out of my trance. I met his eyes again.

"How long have you been feeling depressed?" He asked.

"I don't..."

"Mirae."

"I don't know. A few weeks, maybe? A month?"

Jungkook smiled a small but understanding smile. "It's okay," he assured me. "The important thing now is to fix it. Let us help, yeah?"

I looked down. "Yeah, okay."

He stood, pulling me up with him. He then hooked my hand around his arm as he began leading me down the sidewalk. "Where are we going?" I asked quietly.

"I don't know," he said. "Let's just walk for a little while."