Chaeyoung saw him. He was standing, waiting for her patiently even when she went out late on purpose. Jungkook was still waiting. And it made everything so confusing. Why was he doing that? Why would he do that?

Without wasting any more time, she tried her best not to whirl around to look at him when she went straight to Namjoon's car. She prayed that he wouldn't call her name, she prayed so that he wouldn't follow her and tell her to turn around because if he did, she was afraid that she wouldn't even hesitate to obey and that didn't look right. Once she was inside the car, she breathed out heavily, as though she had been holding it for a day.

Chaeyoung busily tried to see if she could see Jungkook from the side mirror as Namjoon started to slip out of the parking space. She couldn't see him, and slowly, she took out her small mirror from inside of her wristlet, pretended to look at her makeup when she was actually trying to see if Jungkook was still waiting.

Jungkook was facing Namjoon's moving car before he looked down, and even when it was already moving far away from him, Chaeyoung could feel his disappointment. She kept the mirror back into the wristlet, and leaned her head against the window before she fully realized that there was someone else sitting next to her. Her eyes widened when she realized who it was.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, annoyed as she was reminded what he had done to her.

Taehyung looked at her with calmness on his face. "I need to go to the clinic." He wiped off his runny nose briefly with his sleeve and leaned back, closing his eyes.

With a heavy sigh, Chaeyoung crossed her arms over her chest after resting the wristlet on her lap as she resisted the tempting feeling of kicking the seat in front of her where Jennie was seated, feeling betrayed that her friend was letting Taehyung joined them. At least, Jennie should have told her that Taehyung would be joining even though it would be on the very last minute.

"If I knew you're here..." she muttered and let it trail off as she rolled her eyes, looking out the window. She was actually considering accepting Jungkook's offer instead, but it was too late.

"If you knew, what were you going to do?" Taehyung asked. "Get a cab? Skip your work? You're going that far?"

Get in Jungkook's car, maybe.

Chaeyoung remained silent for a few while as she chewed on her bottom lip, her mind was occupied with Jungkook and the guilt she felt for leaving him there. One part of her told her that she shouldn't feel so guilty for what she did, she did tell him not to wait for her anyway and that was up to him for being so stubborn. Then, there was that part of her that pitied him, the little gesture he made when he watched the car moved farther made her heart twist uncomfortably.

She felt a soft buzz from her wristlet, her hand slowly reached to fish the device out. Chaeyoung's eyes locked onto the wordings on the screen as soon as she swiped to bring it back to life.

Kookie: I said I'd wait.

A soft sigh escaped her slightly parted lips. She took a while to stare at the message and contemplated over the option of replying him an apology. Should she send it or should she leave the message without a respond?

Taehyung suddenly sneezed next to her and Namjoon cursed loudly, saying things like the back of his head was contaminated before both men laughed.

"You shouldn't have let him tag along," Chaeyoung said, eliminating any amount of sympathy she had for either man.

Namjoon scoffed, turning around for one second just to talk to her. "This is my car so I can let anyone I approve to tag along. If you don't like that idea, I can drop you off here."

"Namjoon, please," Jennie interjected, sounding annoyed.

Taehyung stayed silent for a moment before he sneezed again, and like earlier, he tried to wipe the snot using his sleeve and Chaeyoung immediately stopped him, holding onto his arm and pushing it down. She let her face paint a disgusted expression as she quickly retrieved tissue from her wristlet. "At least ask for a tissue, gosh."

She placed a pack onto his palm harshly. "Here, take them all."

When her eyes averted and locked onto his, he stared at her with fondness that no longer made her feel loved as discomfort took over instead. Taehyung gave her a soft smile before he looked down at the tissue on his palm and thanked her.

A couple of minutes later, they had arrived at her workplace. She halted momentarily the moment she opened the door when Taehyung spoke.

"It was nice to have you care for me again," Taehyung said and Chaeyoung was tensed the slightest bit before she went out and closed the door, walked away without looking back to even say her thanks.

*

Jungkook had been right when he predicted that she would be late to go out of her office. Probably she was diligently working on the design Jungkook's boss had wanted for his own office. Bang Sihyuk wanted a change in the design of his office, requesting a last minute change after everything was ready and that had put pressure on her.

He remembered it all clearly when he heard her arguing with his boss in his office, a few days before she had a fight with him. Jungkook recalled when she was holding her tears back home, ranted out to him about his boss and he had told her he understood her frustration.

Did he tell her that just to make her feel better?

Perhaps, he didn't understand it completely after all because if he did, he wouldn't bother her when she was trying her best to come up with a new design. He had seen it before when the ideas started flowing in her brain, she wouldn't stop dropping them all onto papers, drawing and coloring until she was fully satisfied.

But then he did what he shouldn't do, and was even too ego to admit his own fault, trying to make it all hers when she blew up.

Jungkook let out a loud sigh as he slumped down his seat in his car, waiting for Chaeyoung to come out. He didn't inform her that he was going to wait. He went there straight from his office, trying to make sure that none of her friends would be there first. It was almost dark when she finally walked out, her steps were slow and Jungkook could see fatigue was all over her face.

Hoseok had told him that her car was ready and that he was about to give her a call but Jungkook stopped him. He wanted to bring her there, and maybe find some time to talk to her about things. But when she looked this tired, he thought that perhaps he would inform her about it later and that he would just bring her home.

Chaeyoung took her phone out and Jungkook immediately stepped out of his car. The sound of his car door being opened caught her attention and their eyes met. She stood there frozen and so was he. It felt like forever before he could find the courage to invite her in.

She looked hesitant for a few moments, eyes staring at somewhere else as though she was contemplating over it. Jungkook felt his heart had the worry lifted off of it when she started to walk over to him as he stood before the car, his hand holding the car door opened for her. This was somehow awkward when he regarded the situation they were in right now, but then his body wouldn't even think twice about it unlike his brain.

Opposite to what he wanted to do, he'd been silent as the car moved on the road. None spoke a word and it was just like the day when Hoseok had asked her to follow him home from the workshop. Sometimes Jungkook stole a glance, very briefly, and caught a glimpse of her side profile. Chaeyoung's face never turned to look at anywhere else but her front.

Sometimes she'd check on her phone when a message came, but he noticed that she wasn't replying to any of it. He wanted to ask if she was okay, but maybe it wasn't the right time. She didn't look like she wanted to have any conversation with him.

Jungkook parked the car as slow as he could to buy the time. When the engine stopped, his lips opened and closed a few times when she unbuckled her seatbelt and it was when she was a second away from opening the car door that he finally was able to find his voice to speak.

"Do you have a minute?"

Chaeyoung paused in that position for a couple of seconds and he expected her to rush out but instead, she let her hand fall onto her lap as she leaned her back against the backrest, waiting for him to continue. She wanted to listen. She was giving him the minute he was asking.

But again, Jungkook went all silent and the patience in her thinned out.

"You're asking for a minute," she said, her tone flat and cold. "Don't waste it."

If he wasn't so stupid, he wouldn't be getting that cold tone used against him. If he wasn't so stupid, perhaps, she would even look at his face and talk to him with humor.

"I don't know where to start," he admitted.

He watched from the corner of his eyes her fingers slightly fidgeted on her lap, sometimes it seemed as though her beautiful fingers were trying to calm herself down.

"Start from the beginning then."

Jungkook took a deep breath. "I've got lots of things to say."

He heard the subtle sigh coming from her, and felt his heart sink at her reply. "Your time's up though." And she quickly went out.

*

Chaeyoung stared into her own reflection after she washed her face. She watched the droplets of water running down the skin of her face and she swallowed her own saliva as she grabbed a towel to wipe her dampened skin.

Jungkook had wanted to talk to her and she ran away. She had a hunch that he'd talk about all this tension between them but she didn't know if it was going to be what she wanted to hear. Was she even ready to hear anything from him? She had it enough when she was accused of stuff she didn't and never meant to do, and if he was going to for it once again, she would probably lose her nerve. But then, the hesitance in his voice told her that it was the other way around.

Truthfully, the anger she had for him hadn't even vanished but then, when she thought the anger was going to help her a lot in moving on, it was wrong. And all of these sudden interactions with her were making it harder for her. She hated it.

She hated how she actually hoped for Jungkook to stop her when she rushed out of his car. She hated how she was disappointed when he let her walk away just like that. How pathetic of her.

When she lay in her bed, her hand automatically reached for her phone. There were three messages. And she knew they were from none other than Taehyung.

Taehyung: Can I ask for your help?

Taehyung: My fever is getting bad.

Taehyung: Can you cook me the soup you'd always cooked for me when I got sick? Please?

Chaeyoung scoffed a little and put her phone away before it buzzed again. Her breath caught in her throat for one second as she read the message.

Kookie: Tell me when you're really free coz I want to talk. And I need more than a minute.

She switched back and forth between the messages of the two men who'd hurt her stupid fragile heart and thought for a long time of what to do until sleep took over to let her exhausted body get some rest she needed so much.

*

"When is she going to take her car?" Yoongi asked. Jungkook didn't answer as he busied himself helping Hoseok, handing out the tools the older male needed. When Jungkook met eyes with Yoongi, the latter looked at him suspiciously. "Did you even tell her?"

"Of course he didn't," Hoseok answered for him. He slipped from under the car he was working on and wiped his sweat. He turned to Jungkook and questioned him the kinds of question Jungkook had been asking himself almost every single minute. "So when are you going to talk to her about you two?"

"What's there to talk about?" Yoongi interjected calmly, seated himself on a couch. "I doubt she's going to listen to this asshole anyway."

Jungkook, for once, didn't defend himself against Yoongi's remarks. He wanted to tell them that she actually granted him a chance to start talking but he wasted it by letting the goddamned silence to conquer him.

"It's not too late, you know," Hoseok said, trying to make him feel better as he patted Jungkook's head with his grease stained palm. "It will be too late if you don't make any effort."

"She looks so done with him, though," Yoongi stated ever so calmly, like it had no effect on anyone's emotion. "Do you think talking to her would make everything go back to how it was?"

Hoseok sighed out loud and Jungkook noticed the brief glare he sent to the oldest of the three. "No it won't. But, at least it will clear up some stuff," Hoseok said, his voice was full of cheer and Jungkook had to admit that it made him feel a little bit better.

Although the fact that Chaeyoung might not accept him anymore didn't sit right, at least, he wanted the tension between them to ease out bit by bit, and he didn't want them to have this relationship where no one was able to look into the other's eye comfortably. He didn't want them to approach each other with the misunderstanding still holding the throne over them.

Jungkook sat on the floor and took his phone out of his pants. There were multiple of notifications but none of them was to notify him of her message. He had to hold back the urge to send her another message, to show her his desperation to have a session no shorter than ten minutes for him to use to voice out his mind.

It wouldn't have been so miserable if all this wasn't a misunderstanding. How he wished he could start all over with Chaeyoung because that was probably one of the best moments in his life.

*

Terribly pale.

Taehyung didn't lie when he said his fever was getting bad. Chaeyoung couldn't help to roll her eyes, though, as she looked away when he smiled down at her on his doorstep. She slipped into his house, and put the soup on the kitchen counter she brought with her.

"So where's she?" she asked casually, taking a seat in the living room. She realized that the seat she was occupying was the one she called her favorite when she was still with him. Well, none of that mattered anymore though. It shouldn't even bother her for the slightest bit.

Taehyung wasn't taken aback when he heard the question and for one second, she thought he didn't hear her. But then, he lied on the long couch and let out a deep sigh. "I broke up with her long ago, Chaeng."

Chaeyoung raised an amused brow, leaning back against the seat and crossed her arms over her chest. "What, you got bored? You found someone new? Prettier than her?" she chuckled with no humor, not feeling guilty for bringing down the other woman because she was still salty that she was replaced when she was still holding the title 'girlfriend' to Taehyung.

Taehyung lifted up his head slightly to have a better look at her, his long lashes made it seem like he wasn't even opening his eyes. "No," he answered calmly and rested his head again, putting an arm onto his forehead. His chest rose and fell a bit quick.

It probably became her habit to fumble with her phone, as if she was waiting for someone –that particular someone –to contact her. It was stupid with this push and pull, she didn't know why she did it in the first place. She should have just let Jungkook say anything he wanted to say whether it would be something she wanted to listen or not.

She had all these feelings within her, all mixed up and it was exhausting to be dealing with all of them at the same time. It made her confuse as to which she should have ended up with. Should she just let this stupid tension go until the end of her life? Or should she work something out to grant the wish her heart had made to make up with Jungkook even if the end would have nothing like being in the same picture with him?

"I should go," Chaeyoung said all so sudden. It hadn't been more than five minutes and she felt bored.

Taehyung seemed panicked as he tried his best to get up as quickly as he could. "Wait," he rushed to say and when he finally stood up, he held his head and groaned out the pain. With his deep voice, he said, "We have lots to talk about."

Chaeyoung stared at him in the eyes, her expression softened a little looking at him lacking energy as he kept on standing.

Honestly, she didn't think she wanted to talk about anything with Taehyung. She knew what topic he wanted to touch and she knew what her final decision would be. It had been long time ago, and her final decision had been made the moment she dropped him off from her life. That was totally the final. She didn't want to change anything with that.

It was somehow a different case with Jungkook. She felt like her decision was final, to accept it and to move on with her life. But then some nights and even some days, she doubted that she was happy with it. No matter if it was initially decided by him. With Jungkook, it was somewhat different, like she wanted some change. With Jungkook, she felt like there would be so much to say.

Taehyung tried to take a step toward her. Concerned that he might fall, she walked closer to him and pushed his shoulder down and he obeyed, sitting down as though the world was weighing on his body. "Rest. I'll pour the soup for you before I go."

"You can't." It sounded like it was half-order and half-beg. "We need to talk about us."

Chaeyoung strode away to give her attention on the soup when he tried to get a hold of her hand. When she placed the bowl in front of him, she said with a calm voice, "There's nothing to talk about, Taehyung."

"Why do you hate me so much?" he asked, his patience thinning. And when she heard that, her own patience slowly faded.

"You know the answer to that." She ran a hand through her locks. "To make things clear, I no longer hate you the way I did back then."

"If you don't hate me, then what's with this cold treatment I'm getting?"

"I didn't say I didn't hate you anymore," she scoffed. "I was saying that I didn't hate you as much anymore. Know the difference."

"Okay, fine," Taehyung said, trying to be calmer and his voice came out gentler. "I made mistakes, I admit. But that's the point, Chae. They were mistakes. Why can't you just forgive me for what I did and move on and go back to normal?"

Chaeyoung furrowed her brows and looked at him in disbelief. "You're saying all of that as if it's that easy. I guess I've forgiven you. But if I have to be honest, I don't think I'll ever be able to forget it. Forgiving you won't make things go back to normal again. It won't make things alright like nothing happened."

Taehyung stood to his feet again, his forehead wrinkled as he put an effort to fight the dizziness. "I just want to be friends with you again. Is that a sin?"

"No one said so." Chaeyoung fixed her eyes on his. "Look, Taehyung. I know what you're getting at. I'm not stupid. I know you don't want to be just friends with me again. If you really do have that sincere intention, you wouldn't kiss me when I was drunk."

She wanted to let out a scream so loud it would tear the world apart and throw things at him because he was the reason why things worsen between her and Jungkook. If only he didn't screw things up. If only she wasn't drunk.

Storming out of his house, ignoring the soft calls of her name coming out of his mouth, Chaeyoung cursed at herself in her head as she walked down the emergency stairs and felt her chest burn with anger.

Thankfully there was a cab and she rushed herself towards it before she felt a hand holding hers gently. When she turned around, she heard herself breathing out loud and realized that she had been holding her breath all the time. Jungkook stared down at her with concern in his eyes and she whined inwardly when he let go of her hand. She looked down and noticed his other hand was occupied with some food he had just bought.

Chaeyoung felt embarrassed that she wished for him to let go of anything he was holding because she wanted him to embrace her right there and then. She wanted to be in his arms. He might not be able to see the need but she was still embarrassed that she felt her face heating up. But despite all of that, she narrowed her eyes at him and asked him coldly, "What do you want?"

Jungkook didn't look away and he didn't look intimidated by her cold response. Instead, the concern on his face was multiplying and he let silence answered her before he finally spoke up. "Hoseok told me to tell you that your car's ready. I'm heading over to their place. You want to come with me?"