october third.

jungkook had gone to the grocery store for some food after deciding that starving himself to death was way too painful. it was such a long process that he didn't want to put up with. there went another method that failed. when he got out of the elevator on the fifth floor of the hotel he was living in, he was met with a sight that he was in no way prepared for. standing in front of his hotel room door was kim taehyung.

he clumsily dropped his bags with a thud, causing taehyung to glance over at him. upon spotting his best friend, taehyung's eyes widened, and he started rushing down the hallway towards him. jungkook, panicking slightly, quickly gathered his bags and backed into the elevator, rigorously pressing the button to make the doors close.

"c'mon, c'mon." he muttered, thanking whatever god was listening for the doors shutting just in time, right in front of taehyung's hurt face. he pushed down the guilt he felt, running his hand through his hair. had it really come to this? was he really running away from his best friend?

jungkook managed to make it out of the hotel without encountering taehyung a second time. looking around for an escape route before his hyung caught up with him. not knowing where else to go, he hailed a cab.

"the cemetery down the road, please."

~

"ooh, you've brought a picnic this time."

jungkook jumped once more. what was this habit she had of sneaking up on him? he rolled his eyes behind his dark sunglasses as she laughed at him. he pulled his long legs to his chest in his sittinf position on the grass.

"you need to get a bell or something." he deadpanned. the girl came to sit down next to him, crossing her short legs in front of her at the ankles. it was then that jungkook noticed her shoes.

they were old fashioned, and black. her socks that were once white had little ruffles on them. she noticed him looking.

"they're mary janes." she explained, and jungkook hummed in response. any girl nowadays wouldn't be caught dead in these shoes.

"mary jane? isn't that—"

"it was a name for shoes before it was a name for a drug, jungkook." she cut him off, earning a half-assed smile from him. he couldn't take his eyes off them for some reason. something about this girl in these shoes made him a little uneasy. "you like them? i mean, i always kind of pegged you as a combat boots kind of guy, but—"

"no, it's just—" jungkook went to explain himself, but stopped once he realized he couldn't put how he felt into words. it was a very odd feeling. "never mind." he sighed.

"well, what brings you here, jungkook?" she asked.

"i could ask you the same thing." he said. she grinned.

"but i asked you first." she pointed out. he bit his chapped lower lip.

"my best friend showed up at my hotel room." he explained. he didn't know what it was about the girl, but she could make him spill his guts like no one else he had ever met.

"i thought you didn't have friends." she reminds him, and he sighs.

"it's complicated." he says.

"still. that's a reason to take a little trip to the cemetery?" she asked incredulously, raising her eyebrows at the boy. a crisp autumn breeze blew then, making jungkook shove his hands into his pockets. there was no change in the girl; she was always shivering anyways.

"i didn't want to see him." he said simply, and the girl nodded.

"why's that?" there was a pause. jungkook honestly couldn't explain why he didn't want to see taehyung. it was just a dreadful feeling in his gut at the thought of talking to the hyung.

"enough about me. let's talk about you." jungkook said. the girl shook her head with a smile.

"see, that's not how this works. this is a purely one sided association." she denied him immediately. jungkook rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses.

"that's not fair."

"life's not fair."

"at least give me a name." he demanded, looking up at her.

"and what if i don't?"

"i'll kill myself." he threatened. even she managed a small laugh at his dark joke.

"stop, that's not funny." she choked down her laughter and slapped jungkook's shoulder.

"i wasn't joking." he chuckled, glancing over at nara's headstone. she would have thought it was funny. she thought everything he said was funny, even things that weren't meant to be. he missed her laugh. at the thought of it, his smile fell, and he suddenly felt guilty for smiling at all.

seeing his change in demeanor, the girl swallowed dryly. she tried not to imagine what he was thinking, knowing it would only make her sad. just when she thought her few talks with jungkook were helping him.

"soon-hee." she said. jungkook looked over at her, snapping out of his thoughts?

"huh?"

"soon-hee." she repeated. jungkook nodded, trying his hardest to banish the sound of nara's laugh from his mind.

"soon-hee." he said, glancing at the girl cautiously. "see? that's progress." he said. she managed a small smile. they both knew he hadn't made any progress that mattered.

"yeah. progress." she said half heartedly.