.17

Jungkook felt his face tore into two as his smile broadened on his face when Chaeyoung agreed to ride his car to go to work. When Chaeyoung walked towards him while he was waiting for her to pick her up from work, she was smiling at him and that brought another big smile onto his face. Unable to hold back, he reached for her hand which she gladly took as he opened the car door for her.

Just before he went out of the elevator as they stood close to each other, his fingers searched for her hand on his side and as soon as he touched her skin, he grabbed her hand softly and turned to look at her.

"I haven't had dinner with you for years," he said and the elevator door slid close but he quickly pushed the button again while still staying inside, not bothering to move his foot even an inch.

"Years?" Chaeyoung laughed softly and looked into his eyes. "Sure."

"It felt like it," he smiled and played with her long fingers. The door was sliding to close and this time, Chaeyoung was the one to push the button to open.

She lowered her eyes for a moment before looking back right at him. "So are you saying you want to take me to dinner, then?"

The door slid to a close and he lifted his hand to push the button. "Which one do you like? My food or your favorite restaurant's food?"

She made a thinking face and averted her attention to the buttons in the elevator but Jungkook quickly pushed the button again and let his thumb linger there.

"Which one?" he asked, stepping closer towards her with a smile and when that pulled a soft giggle out of her, he felt as though he could soar in the sky, wingless.

"My favorite restaurant's food, I guess?"

Jungkook furrowed his brows playfully with narrowed eyes. "Oh, you just hurt me."

Her eyes were glistening when she asked him with a soft smile, "Did I?"

He stared at her long with a smile, and he bit his lip as his face leaned closer towards hers. "Yeah I think you did," he whispered. And slowly, Jungkook leaned down, eyes slowly fluttered to close, ready to claim her lips. His hand that was holding hers loosened before he lifted it and slid it to her neck, cupping it gently. Before he completely closed his eyes, he noticed her head slightly tilted and she had closed her eyes and Jungkook was just so ready for it.

He would be able to taste her lips again, and drown himself in the simple pleasure that came with maybe just a simple kiss... if it hadn't been for the loud, dramatic cough of an elderly woman standing outside of the elevator. There were also soft gasps coming from little children.

Chaeyoung immediately backed away and tucked her hair to behind her ear, and Jungkook let go of her neck, using that hand to push against the wall as he scrunched up his face and held back a smile. He turned his head away for a moment before he stood up straight, scratching the back of his neck.

"I'll call you," he said softly with a grin, ignoring the light nagging the old woman was doing while she entered with her grandchildren. Jungkook chewed on his lip as he stepped out and stayed there to see the door closing while his eyes locked onto Chaeyoung's before her smile widened and she looked down.

"Hey," he said into the phone around a minute after he got inside his house. "You're already inside?"

"On my way."

"Did she say anything to you?" Jungkook asked, laughing lightly.

"No," she giggled and Jungkook swore he could listen to that giggle and everything would be alright again. "But I could feel her staring at me the whole time I was there."

"Where is she going, though? She might have entered the wrong one if she wanted to go down," he chuckled, putting his jacket away on the couch as he took a seat.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, the kids live on the floor above me. They just moved here like two weeks ago and she lives on the first floor. Maybe she's sending them back to the parents."

Jungkook nodded and hummed softly. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, smiling at the ceiling as the image of her etched onto his eyelids. "So... dinner with me, is it on?"

He could tell that she was smiling when she replied him. "Okay." A moment later, she asked, "And where are we going to have dinner?"

Jungkook thought for a while. "I haven't decided but maybe we'll have it in your favorite restaurant since you hate my food," he playfully responded with a little pout although she couldn't see.

"I was kidding!" she laughed, defending herself. "I didn't say I hate it."

His lips twisted into a smile that slowly widened. "So you like my food then?"

"Well, it's not bad."

"If that's the case, then shall we have dinner at my house? Like... like before?" he asked softly and waited with anticipation.

There was a short silence before she replied with a voice barely above whisper, "Sure."

"It's definitely not tomorrow," Jungkook chuckled and she returned it with her own. "But I'll let you know when, okay?"

"Alright. Good night, Jungkookie..."

Jungkook bit his lip with that widening smile on his face. Jungkookie, he repeated in his mind. "Good night, Chaeyoungie. If you want to dream," he paused and in a whisper, he continued, "dream of me." Jungkook didn't know if she did dream of him while she got herself lost in sleep, but he did have a dream of her. Except that this time around, when he awoke in the morning, not an ounce of worry existed within him because there was no hint of wedding in his dream.

*

The week had been a busy week for Chaeyoung. It had been spent mostly on monitoring the work being done in Bang Sihyuk's office and although she could easily meet up with Jungkook over there, she couldn't really do it. Jungkook himself was busy with the loads of paperwork he needed to get done. As she was watching him from far, a faint smile pulled at her face. To see him being immersed in getting his task done was so satisfying that she got so lost in it, up to the point of not realizing that someone was actually talking to her.

Chaeyoung snapped out of her little train of thoughts when the tall guy next to him coughed a little bit too loud and exaggerating that it caught everyone's attention. She looked up at him and questioned his need in silence by raising her brow slightly. Yugyeom smiled down at her, a cheeky smile indeed and winked next.

"You sure you don't want to go and sit at my place for a while?" he asked with a cute giggle.

Yugyeom's cubicle was just next to Jungkook's and Chaeyoung glanced at it for a moment just to have her eyes locked onto Jungkook who was already looking at her. Despite him being someone whom she could consider a person she was really close to that they had shared intimate moments together, Jungkook never failed to bring the shyness out of her whenever he gave her a long and soft stare from far.

Her smile thrown at him was small and shy before she looked down quickly at her feet and muttered, "What for?"

Yugyeom snorted then, and crossed his arm as he waited for the printer before him to finish printing out some documents for him. "You've been staring at him for a while. I thought you might want to talk to him."

"He's busy, I don't think engaging in conversations right now is a good idea. I can talk to him later if I need to."

"Are things okay between you two now?" he asked suddenly when she had averted her attention back to the people working inside Bang Sihyuk's office.

She held her breath for one short second, curled her lips inward and nodded softly. She didn't think Jungkook had told everyone of what had happened to them that caused them to separate, but maybe it was obviously shown on Jungkook's face or the air he had around him without the need for him to say a word. He'd looked as though he lost his light when they broke up and all he could show back then was anger and silence. She wasn't saying as though she was the sole light in his life, but the breakup did affect him badly unlike her prediction of how it would be since he was the one initiated it.

These days, Jungkook seemed happier and he seemed to be like the old him again. That alone was enough to bring Chaeyoung's own smile back on her face.

When Yugyeom was done printing the documents and walked back to his cubicle, Chaeyoung threw a glance at Jungkook. He was having his focus back on the monitor before him, one hand busy clicking the mouse while the other was having its fingers hitting the keyboard. Chaeyoung brought her phone back alive and typed a message for him.

You: Fighting :)

She waited to see his reaction to her simple message, glanced at the screen of the device in hand and saw that her message had been delivered to him successfully. Yet, he didn't even look at his phone to check if he got a notification from her. Most probably, he had his phone on silent mode.

Opposite of getting hurt by not getting any reaction from him, Chaeyoung's smile only widened on her face as it showed how much effort he was putting into getting his work done and there was nothing more attractive than that. Motivated by his diligence, she turned around with that smile stuck on her face to give her sole focus on her own task.

It was during lunch hour that she had to leave his workplace to attend a brief meeting in her office that Jungkook approached her outside of the building. "Are you leaving already?"

Chaeyoung offered him a smile that couldn't seem to stop. "Yeah, my senior wants to have a brief meeting to discuss on an upcoming project that she will be handling."

"So if she's the one who's going to handle it, why do you have to leave your work and be there?" he asked curiously with a chuckle.

"She needs me there to give an idea or two. I'm her favorite," she smirked playfully.

"I'm going to lose my motivation to be Bang Sihyuk's most diligent worker," he shrugged with a sigh as he looked away, the playfulness on his face was evident. "I'm going to go back being the laziest."

Chaeyoung's laughter was genuine before she forced herself to stop, teeth biting on her lip momentarily. "So was that all an act in there?"

"Not all, but mostly," he shrugged casually. "I wanted to impress you."

"You don't have to," she chuckled.

"I know, but I wanted to."

"It's not as if I just met you today. You don't have to try so hard to impress me," she grinned, eyes lowered.

"Are you saying I can impress you all the time without any effort?" he lightly bumped their shoulders together.

A wide smile was threatening to break on her face but she fought it with a forced pout. "You can take it anyhow you want." When she turned to look up at him, he leaned in and pecked her softly, briefly yet sweetly on her lips.

She didn't know where Yugyeom was but she could hear him cringing and cheering at the same time.

"Can we have our lunch date on this Sunday?" he asked with their faces a bit close to each other.

"It's not a dinner?" she lifted her brow and without realizing, her face was actually inching closer. When Jungkook smirked at her while looking downwards, she eventually realized how little the gap was.

"I planned to have pizza for dinner. You can come over if you want some."

Chuckling, she responded, "Pizza? Again?"

"I love pizza. Do you have problem with that?" he asked with a playful glare and a feigned anger. She pressed her lips into a thin line when she was almost smiling as he bumped their foreheads together. "Hm?"

Chaeyoung saw how his eyes slowly travelled from her eyes to her mouth, and it looked like he wanted to go in for a kiss again. She believed she was patient if he was really going to do it, but it felt like it was taking forever and when she was the one who took that as a cue to press a brief, soft kiss onto his lips, surprisingly, there was no complaint from her brain for following what the heart wanted.

With the smile breaking her face slowly into two, she tilted her head to the back, chin upwards and their lips met for the slightest moment. It wasn't enough, that was for sure, but she knew it wasn't any less worthy than their other kisses. She pulled back and whispered a soft 'no' at him, to which he responded with his hand sliding into her hair to pull her head towards him as he made them engage in a deeper kiss.

"So, lunch date or dinner date?" he questioned after releasing her lips, pulling back but faces still close to each other while she was fighting to keep her pounding heart calm within her chest.

She nibbled on her lip and lowered her eyes to avoid his stare. Shyly, she asked, "Can I come over for both?"

Jungkook inhaled for long seconds, and she stared at his chest rising. The thought of feeling his chest underneath her palms crossed her mind but she managed to resist the temptation.

"If you're coming over for both," he paused, letting his hands find her waist, "then you have to stay."

Chaeyoung didn't need to spend time to think of which option she should opt for. The nod of her head that came right after he said it showed how she wasn't hesitant with her response, and how even if that option was not listed, she would have stayed for the night as well because she wanted to.

*

Jungkook browsed through all the pictures of Chaeyoung that he had taken of before. They were a mixture of candid and the ones with her posing for the picture. At each picture, Jungkook either smiled or laughed or he would just stare at it with pure admiration.

There were photos of him as well that were taken by her. And mostly, it was when he wasn't looking. There were pictures of him sleeping, eating, playing games and even the ones with him being lost in his thoughts.

With the photo printer ready next to his laptop, he began choosing which photo he'd want to get printed out because the first thing he'd want Chaeyoung to see next day when she would come for the lunch date, he'd want her to be able to see all the moments they had shared before and that there were going to be much more for them to create in the future.

*

Chaeyoung made sure that her schedule was totally free on Sunday, for the whole day. Even bringing the day she was supposed to take Jennie out for some shopping as promised to Saturday so that she could give her all to Jungkook on that Sunday. Just imagining how the day would be was enough to make her smile from ear to ear.

Jennie linked arms with her and leaned her face closer, catching her off guard. Chaeyoung looked at her friend with a confused expression, questioning her motives with a raise of her brow. She could predict what kind of question Jennie would throw at her just by the look on the latter's face.

"What's up with you?" Chaeyoung chuckled, trying to avoid her friend's eyes as she did so.

There was a light playful scoff coming out of Jennie and when Chaeyoung chanced a glance, Jennie was staring at her with a smirk. "You seem...happier lately. A lot happier. A different kind than that other time."

Chaeyoung couldn't find a word to respond to that, and so she gave a small smile instead.

Jennie nodded her head, her lips pursing. "And I'm guessing that...it's not involving Taehyung?"

Chaeyoung's smile faltered slowly when the name floated around her. With a soft sigh, she nodded her head to confirm it. Since that day she woke up with Jungkook's chest beneath her head, she had been thinking of her situation over and over again. While she had her mind giving her advice to settle with learning how to accept Taehyung again, at the same time, it was also her mind that had supplied her with the words Taehyung's mother had said to her when she had cried in the lady's embrace.

And for some reason, she felt a strong connection with the latter and decided to make things right for what her heart had been wanting for a long time.

Jennie didn't seem to be surprised nor did she look disappointed at the response Chaeyoung had given. She responded with a calm nod of her head, showing her understanding.

"You know..." Jennie began. "I honestly don't mind who you want to be with. I used to, but not anymore. As long as you're happy with your decision, I'm okay with it."

Chaeyoung smiled softly before she teased her friend, nudging the older female gently. "Don't try to act like a mom, please. I know you're getting married soon but, come on, Jen. This is so weird."

"Shut up," Jennie rolled her eyes before breaking into soft giggles, and Chaeyoung predicted that Jennie was thinking about Namjoon. And she was right when Jennie softly said, "I can't believe I doubted him."

"Yeah, you don't deserve him, honestly," Chaeyoung responded with a playful smirk. "He's too good for you."

"Excuse me?" Jennie chuckled, feigning annoyance as she unlinked their arms and pushed Chaeyoung away. "I thought your best friend is supposed to be me, and not Namjoon. Why are you on his side now?"

"I need some changes in life," she replied and they both laughed together, hitting each other's arms and almost bumping into other people around them.

They walked around some more, eyes were busy to check on the clothes on display before Jennie suddenly asked her a question that, undoubtedly, made her heart flip. "So you guys got back together, like, really for real now?"

Chaeyoung thought about it for a few seconds, let out a sigh, slowly shrugged with slightly pursed lips. "I don't know. I guess? I don't know. I'm not sure. Maybe," she answered with honesty.

Jennie chuckled. "For me, if you share mutual feelings, then you are back together. I personally think that words are totally unnecessary, but actually, talking to each other about the whole situation you guys are in right now would be good. It would clear things up. So do it. Talk about it with him if you're not sure."

As every word of advice coming from her friend seeped into her brain and she thought of the date she would have with Jungkook, she felt her heart at ease and warmth started to fill up her entire body. Perhaps, on that lunch date or dinner date, everything –their feelings especially – would be able to be cleared. Perhaps, it would be a good time to talk about them.

"Enough about me, how's life as an engaged woman anyway?" Chaeyoung asked with a glint in her eyes.

Jennie scoffed loudly with a dramatic roll of her eyes. "Nothing changed except that I have a new ring. Life is still dull as ever," she stated, which was obviously meant as a joke.

In return, Chaeyoung teased, "Namjoon is going to get hurt if he heard that. I'm going to report it to him."

"I was joking," Jennie pouted slightly before she looked down and smiled a soft smile. "It's actually the same life I was leading before, but I can feel that I'm..." she paused, her cheeks slowly tinged with pink as her shy smile lingered. " I'm happier now."

Exactly a moment later, Jennie's phone rang and Chaeyoung looked at her friend smiling at her phone before answering it, obviously it was Namjoon.

Jennie's face expression literally changed from being cheerful into a mixture of surprised and worried that she went silent for a few seconds. "Not funny, Joon," she said lowly into the phone.

The phone call ended sooner than Chaeyoung had predicted with Jennie's worried expression went still on her face. When Jennie was staring at her next, anxiousness suddenly kicked in and something told her that something had happened and it couldn't be good. "What is wrong?" Chaeyoung asked her friend.

Jennie blinked twice, almost as though she had just got out of trance before she pulled Chaeyoung by the arm. "We have to go, now."

"What?" Chaeyoung asked, confused yet she followed where Jennie was taking her. "Where are we going? What's going on?"

"T -Taehyung..." Jennie stuttered with a low voice that Chaeyoung almost couldn't hear her.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked, and as unbelievable as it was, Chaeyoung was panicked and worried. She felt the erratic beat of her heart. "What happened?"

Jennie muted herself, didn't halt at anywhere as she pushed past the crowd while pulling Chaeyoung and the silence that became the answer to each of her questions did nothing but to stack the worry even more. Chaeyoung stopped her friend by pulling her arm back a little bit rough since Jennie's hold on her arm was a bit too tight.

"Jennie, what is wrong with Tae?" she asked, her brows furrowed deeply as her eyes mirrored concern.

The other female took a deep breath as soon as she turned around to face Chaeyoung, closing her eyes as she looked as if she wanted to calm herself. "Just... just follow me. You'll know later."

"No," she retorted. "I want to know now." She waited for her friend to give a respond, a word, just anything that would help her to understand the current situation that seemed too heavy but Jennie said exactly nothing. "Jennie, what is it that happened?" she asked sternly, desperate and curious.

Jennie lifted her head then, looked into Chaeyoung's eyes before responding with a sentence that almost stopped Chaeyoung from breathing.

*

Jungkook placed the last plate he brought from the kitchen onto the dining table and smiled, satisfied with the result of everything he had prepared. He looked up at the walls and his smile broadened, already imagining a positive feedback from Chaeyoung. At that moment, he rid all his worries and all the negative feedback that could happen if she was to see those pictures he had hung on the wall. All he wanted to think about was how everything would go on smoothly and that she would love every single effort he had put into to make her day – he really hoped it would make her day.

He took a seat and drummed his fingers on the table as he waited, eyes repeatedly glancing at the clock and each second of Chaeyoung's absence made him even more nervous about his preparation. Jungkook turned around on the seat to check if his guitar was near where he was and nodded his head when he saw it.

Chaeyoung agreed to stay over in his house and he glanced into the living room where he had prepared some blankets and pillows on the couch if she didn't think she wanted to sleep together with him in his room – he could take the couch and she could take his bed. Everything was all set, and all that was left was for her to show up.

As each second passed without her, each bit of his excitement slowly turned to worry. It couldn't have been that she had forgotten about their lunch date. And it wouldn't be possible for her to wake up this late. Jungkook grabbed his phone and debated for a few moments whether to send her a message, give a phone call or keep on waiting. Eventually he went with the first option.

You: Hey, don't forget our date ;)

He waited, put his phone down but there was no reply. Jungkook furrowed his brows as he typed in another message for her but stopped midsentence before he decided to call her. There was not a single ring and the only voice he heard next was to tell him that he was being sent to the voicemail.

He stared at his phone with deeply furrowed brows, attempted the second time but was met with the same result. Worry began to build within him. Did something happen? Jungkook stood up from his seat, pacing around the table as he tried to reach her with hope that this time he could hear her voice. When he couldn't, without hesitation, Jungkook immediately went out to go to her house, knocked on her door and rang her doorbell.

"Chaeyoung!" he called out her name out loud just in case she couldn't hear him, knocking on the barrier harder.

There was no response after the knockings he did on her door. He leaned against the door and forced his brain to think while calming himself down a bit. A moment later, Jennie's name crossed his mind and his thumb instantly moved, sliding across the device in his hand, searching for the female's contact number.

He was so glad that she answered after a few rings.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have any idea where Chaeyoung is right now?" he asked straightaway.

There was a brief silence before she replied to him, "She's actually..."

"She's actually what?" Jungkook asked quick when she trailed off.

"She's here with me, we're in the hospital."

Jungkook's eyes widened, and his heart almost dropped to the floor. "What?" he breathed. "When and why did she get admitted? Why didn't I know anything about it?" His feet were already moving quick, making his way back to his house to retrieve a few things. "Which hospital?"

"Slow down with the questi –"

"I said, which hospital?" he asked with a firm tone and Jennie sighed on the other line.

She then told him which hospital they were in before she calmly said, "It's not Chaeyoung who got admitted. She's here to visit someone important. I don't think...I don't think you should come here but...I guess she's going to need you."

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