Sunday, September 25th, 2022.

10 pm.

'JUNGKOOK'S P.O.V'

The people around me enjoying their time and partying, I grab my glass of whiskey with the same hand as I am holding my cigarette, and I drink some more.

Disregarding the blurriness of my vision, I swallow the rest of my alcoholic drink and bring it down to the end table next to me. I lift my cigarette up to my mouth to take a drag on it, but for the third time tonight, I make my way up to the kitchen with my empty glass.

I walk through the crowd, nudging my way through it, and I stick my cigarette between my lips once I get to the counter to be able to serve myself some more whiskey. I watch it leak down in the glass, barely paying attention to the deafening music reverberating through the house, and once it is full to overflowing, I put the bottle back where it was to not make more of a mess than there already is.

"How many times are you gonna fill that up?" the voice, which I force myself not to miss every day, takes me out of my bubble, and I set my eyes on the small figure next to me.

I can deny it as much as I want to, but I missed her.

She stares deep into my eyes, with disappointment, and I blow the smoke out and pull my toxic stick down. "Why are you stalking me?" I lay my hand over my drink to make sure she does not try to snatch it away from me, and she chuckles, nervously glancing away. "If I'm stalking you, then why do I catch you looking at me every time I do it?"

My lips curve up into a smile, and I do not even attempt to deny the facts. I consume the tobacco between my fingers and think of an answer. "Focus on your best friend. Not me. You promised me to stop."

"You promised me to stop as well," she replies, with confidence, getting me annoyed with her remarks that reflect nothing but the truth. "I did, but life doesn't go as planned, so some promises can't be kept," I take hold of my glass and step away to leave her, but she follows me, never allowing me to separate us for good.

"Why do you have a black eye?" she mentions what is more than obvious, and I stand where I was to be able to have an ashtray near me. "Because."

"Why?" she insists and stands in front of me, her height not intimidating me at all before my six foot three inches. I shrug, not willing to tell her what happened, and I tap the ash off but look into her eyes. She is mad, I know her, she must hate me for being like this. "Fine. I'll call Luca and get to know about it."

"We're not friends anymore," I ruin her plans, and she nibbles on her lips, realizing what that means. She crosses her arms over her chest and peeks down at the cigarette I trapped between my lips, looking for something to say. "Just because we can't be together doesn't mean we can't be friends, you know."

"I don't wanna be friends with you," I avert my eyes from her pretty ones to blow the smoke out. I wish I did not have to say that. I wish things were back to what they were before, but they will never be. "You don't want to or you can't?" she figures out, and I bite my inner cheek. I slide my empty hand in the pocket of my cargo pants, and I uncontrollably have a glimpse of her dress. Her close-fitting short dress, and her body in it. "Did you come here just to question me over and over again about stuff you already know?"

Silently, even through the loud music of this party, she manages to dig a hole in my heart with a cold look. "You like to play dumb when I ask you to answer me, so yeah, I did."

I take one last drag on my cigarette and land eyes on her best friend, who is sitting on a sofa, and as expected, I catch him staring but quickly pretend to not have been doing it this whole time.

"Go back to that guy. You're wasting your time," I stub my cigarette out and clear my throat with some alcohol. "I wanna stay with you."

I hold back from showing my anger and control myself, but she wraps her delicate hand around my wrist and obliges me to dive into her soul. This one I love yet hate the most. "Stop, or at least slow it down," she requires, nearly orders, no matter what she is aware of. "Did you find another job?"

"Hm. I did," I lean back on the wall behind me, her skin remaining against mine, I take it away to not feel her warmth on me anymore, and I take another sip before putting my drink down. "And what is it?"

"I don't wanna talk about it. I'm tired of yelling," I express some bother about the loudness of the music that does not give us a choice but to raise our voices or lean closer to one another. "Let's go outside then," she takes my hand in hers to lead me to it, but I refuse and stay where I am.  "Just drop it, y/n."

She stands still and stares into my eyes, not listening to me. She has not changed just a bit. She is still as stubborn as she used to be. "Let's go outside."

The annoyance spreading through me, I sigh, sharply, but drink some whiskey before following her. I let her lead the way and bring us outside, in front of the house, where only a few people are.

"Now you can talk to me," she speaks in a lower voice, and the softness of it affects me even more. "Y/n..." I say her name so that she understands how this makes me feel to have to do this, to have to face her. "Why are you doing this?"

She shrugs once more, not seeming as confident as she should. "It's been months since you last answered my texts. I just want to know how you're doing, and like this, you can't ignore me like you do by text."

I keep my eyes on her, the pain aching into my chest. I breathe out and put my hands into the pockets of my pants, and I swallow. "I'm fine. There's no need to worry about me, and we both agreed on the fact that we wouldn't text each other or talk anymore, so stop making me the bad guy. Alright?"

"So, you have the right to know how I am doing, but I don't when you're the one who needs the most attention and care?" she states as if she knew what I have been doing, and I frown, feigning ignorance. "Know how you're doing? I haven't seen you since that day at the bar."

"You haven't seen me, but you still find another way to know about me. Stop lying. I'm sick of it, Jungkook, I swear," she does not hide her emotion at all, always leaving them on display whenever she looks at me or talks to me while I cannot do anything but the opposite. "I'm not lying."

"Then why did my best friend tell me you got in contact with him to ask how I am doing?!" she reveals the reason behind this awareness, and I clench my jaw, holding back from losing it. I cannot believe this asshole told her about it when I asked him not to.

Feeling my anger take the upper hand on my body because of the alcohol, I chuckle and cool myself down as much as possible. "Why did he have to open his fucking mouth about it?"

"Because he doesn't hide anything from me or lies to me, unlike you," she points out at the very end of her sentence to make sure I hear it, and I freeze on my spot for a moment. She is right. I am an asshole, but she needs to understand who has been at fault since the beginning.

"We can still see each other, Jungkook...We both know this is not alright—"

"We can't," I cut her off to not hear the rest of her sentence, which I know will break me apart even more. "We can't, and we won't. You know this isn't right for you. If you keep doing this instead of moving on and forgetting about me, you know I'm gonna fucking cause you pain again," I put reality forward to make her realize this is for her good. I am not doing this for myself but her.

"Stop with that bullshit..." her eyes glisten, her voice sounding faint and full of distress. "You cannot do this on your own, and you know it. I wanna be there for you, and I don't care what this will take for you to get better and stop inflicting all that shit on yourself. It hurts me to see you like that...and you know I'm never gonna feel okay if you're not..."

The tears in her eyes aggravating the damaging affliction inside me, I weakly avoid eye contact but feel the intoxication gradually affect my actions more and more. I try to breathe in a steady manner and cover my face with my hand to rub it. "Just...Leave me alone," I walk away to not stay near her in this state, but she holds me back. "I'm not gonna leave you alone. Not again, I can't let that happen anymore," she steps right before me to block the way. "You have a black eye, some bruises on your hands, you're drunk again, and you think I'm gonna leave you alone like that?"

"I don't want your fucking help," I lean closer to her and grab her wrists to push them away. "I don't fucking need it. I don't need you, and I won't ever want you to be by my side again, got it?" I hurl the horrible words out to drift her apart from me, to provoke some hatred inside her, but the pain that I can read upon her face tortures me, so I walk away and go back inside the house.

— One year and a half ago —

Sunday, April 25th, 2021.

12:40 pm.

'YOUR P.O.V'

"Jungkook," I shake his sleepy body to wake him up, seeing him for the first time in two weeks. He hums, faintly responding, and he does not move at all, so I check his state. I slightly lower the blanket down his bare torso, but notice his knuckles are injured, and a terrible bruise covers his ribs.

He fought again. Whether this is his ex's father, or someone else, I wish I could kill them.

"Jungkook, you should take a shower and eat something," I run my fingers through his fluffy brown hair to trigger a reaction, and I succeed. "Y/n..." he groans my name and rolls over but brings his hands up to his face. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"You didn't answer my texts for a whole day, so I was worried," I peek down at his torso, his body seeming skinnier. "Come on, I cooked breakfast. Even though, it's technically not breakfast anymore."

He passes his fingers up his messy hair to push it back and stretches his entire body, getting my eyes to land on his split bottom lip. "When and how did you even get in here?"

"Around four hours ago, but you gave me the key, forgot?" I remind him, knowing his mind must be blurry, and he drops his tattooed arms on the bed. "Four hours? Are you fucking kidd– Sweetheart...What the hell...?" the nickname he only recently started to call me by puts a smile on my face, and I lean in to press a kiss on his cheek. "I picked your clothes and put them in your bathroom with a towel, so take a shower and join me downstairs. Okay?"

"Hmm...Yes, mommy," he lifts his hand up to his hair and ruffles it, so I open the door and go out, and I move back downstairs to sit at the dining table and wait for him.

10 minutes later...

After only short minutes, I hear him leave his bedroom and see him walk down the stairs. Wearing the tight pair of jeans and black long sleeved t-shirt I picked for him, he passes by the living room to head up to me.