song of the chapter: butterfly - bts

-

Today's shift is hectic. My feet hurt from standing up too much, but I can manage. I start placing the food on the tray and walk towards the customers. Handing them their food I smile.

"Enjoy your meal!" I tell them before walking back behind the counter.

Seokjin appears from the kitchen and hands me another tray. I take a look at it, it's got milkshakes.

"Go give these to table 10 and sit with them." He tells me.

Wait, what?

I furrow my eyebrows, "Wh–"

"Someone came to see you. Take your break early," he pats my back, "but only for today."

I only nod. My mind starts to rummage over who these visitors could be. But all my thoughts vanish once I see who it is.

"Hi." he says with a hushed voice, his head hangs low.

He looks up at me and his appearance shocks me. The bags under his eyes are noticeable. His red eyes tell me that he's been crying. He wears a grey over sized hoodie with black sweatpants. His long hair is all over the place.

I sit down in front of him and place the tray between us.

The words I try to say don't come out, which makes me open my lips several times.

His hand takes the vanilla milkshake and hands it to me, before taking his strawberry one. He takes a sip, so do I.

"Bree and I fought." he lets out.

I sigh, "Oh. Well that's normal between couples–"

He shakes his head, "We've been fighting constantly for a few weeks over stupid stuff, it's different. It's constant. There's always something going on and either Bree gets mad or I get mad."

"But everything seemed alright the days before." I thought out loud.

Jungkook gulps.

Maybe I should've stayed quiet.

He places his hand on his hair, "We've been pretending to be fine for most of the time. Bree wanted to show her family that she was capable of keeping a relationship," he confesses, "but in reality, we keep getting worse every day."

What about the day on the mall? The spark in his eyes as he stared at her? Was that real? What about day when Bree first introduced him?

Has it all been a lie?

I stay silent, not knowing what to say.

That all changes until I remember what happened yesterday at the campus. I remember his face of worry and conflict while he waited for my cousin.

"Yesterday something was odd." I say out loud to him.

Jungkook suddenly nods, understanding what I'm saying.

"We had fought in the morning so she was ignoring me the whole day," he admits, "then she didn't come get me after you guys left, so I had to walk home."

Yesterday was raining when we left. He didn't have an umbrella with him yesterday, she remembers because Taehyung had asked for one during their break. He had told Taehyung that he had left it back home. That only means one thing.

"You walked home under the pouring rain?" I ask not believing Bree could do something like that.

The boy in front of me nodded.

I widen my eyes, "Why couldn't she pick you up? Didn't she send you a text–I'm sorry, I shouldn't be getting into both of your personal business–" I stop when I feel his hand caress mine.

He smiles and chuckles. That's the first time I see him smile since he came here.

His stare gives me chills. His eyes sparkle with the sunlight that bursts through the windows of the diner.

No.

Focus, Dae. Focus.

"It's okay. She did send me a text, but later sent me another one. All she said was that she couldn't pick me up. I just walked home and stayed there." he explains, retracting his hand from mine.

I look at him, "Guk."

He sighs, "It's okay. Let's just forget about it for these few minutes and finish these milkshakes before your break is over, what do you say?" he tries to liven up the mood.

I nod. Let's just forget this for what's left of my break.

I look out the window as I take sip from my milkshake. I notice his unique car parked.

"You fixed it?" I ask, pointing to his car.

He nodded, "Yup. So now I can take my baby back to the campus." He says referring to his car.

I chuckle at the nickname.

"What?" he asks slightly laughing with me.

"You call your car my baby?" I joke with him.

He nods enthusiastically, "Yeah. She's my baby." he smiles.

We continue with our conversation, forgetting everything. As we continue to speak the time seems to stop and I only see him. I block out all the sounds and the people around us.

It's just him and I; us.

-

In the mood to watch a movie, I set up everything and sit on the couch. Tonight my parents are having a date night, which means I'm alone. I sigh and sit down before turning on the TV.

After Jungkook and I talked, I had to return to my shift. He had returned back to his apartment.

Couples fight sometimes, it's normal.

Right?

As the movie begins, I hear a knock on our door. Instantly, my phone dings which signals that a message had been delivered.

I grasp my phone in my hands and read.

Bree 🍓 :
it's me. Please open the door.

I pause the movie and jog to the door. Through the door hole * I see Bree with her eyebrows furrowed.

What's going on?

I open the door, inviting her in. She stays silent and hugs me.

"Don't say anything. I just needed one of your hugs." Bree sighs as she hugs me tighter.

I nod, walking with her in my embrace to close the door.

After a long silence, she walks to the couch and plops down. Laying on the couch she sighs before putting her arm over her eyes. She seems lost in her thoughts before speaking.

"We fought." she lets out.

Sitting on the couch, I put her feet over my lap, "What?" I ask her.

She sighs, "Jungkook and I. All we do is fight."

I stay silent, contemplating what to say next.

"You know you don't have to pretend that everything is going fine for the sake of other people, right?" I comment.

She chuckles.

"Of course, he told you. You guys are friends after all." Bree confirms.

I look at her. My heart starts to beat rapidly. I fear that it's about to burst out of my chest.

Bree sits up and sighs once more, "You know what? No more talking about my problems," she glances at the TV, "what movie are you watching?"

"Before I fall." I say the title.

Bree nods, "I'll stay with you until the movie ends, then I'll go home. But first," she stands up, "I have to go to the ladies, so if you excuse me." she says and runs upstairs.

Bree doesn't notice, but she left her phone on the couch. Just as I take it to place it on the night table, a message pops up.

Don't do it, Dae.

You can't invade her privacy.

Just put the phone on the table and leave it there.

No–oh just forget it.

I stare at her lock screen and unlock it.

Jean
Babygirl, when are we meeting up again? I miss you :(

My eyes widen in shock. Maybe it's a friend of hers.

Jean
Come on baby. I want to make you mine again like last time, remember? Maybe I should freshen up your memory.

Or maybe not. The last message had a picture of Bree cuddling up to another guy. The guy, Jean, was taking a selfie with her. Both of them had no clothes on but were covered by the sheets.

This can't be.

Bree is cheating on Jungkook.
My cousin is cheating on her boyfriend, and I'm caught in the middle.

What should I do?