Jungkook woke up to an empty space beside him on the bed. He woke up to Chaeyoung's bedroom without her anywhere in sight as well. He walked around her apartment, trying to see if she was at the living room or in the kitchen or sitting in the balcony serenading the day with her guitar and her sweet, beautiful voice, but she was not around. Jungkook then dragged his feet to go back to bed, buried his face into the pillow at the side she always slept on, taking in the sweet scent of her.

Eventually, he got up and went into the shower, taking his time to enjoy the warmth of the water sliding down his skin. He walked out in his towel draping his waist down, taking his brief, v neck plain white shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants from the top of her drawers before the door to her bedroom slowly opened, her head peeking in.

Chaeyoung looked slightly startled when their eyes met and Jungkook laughed in response, causing her to laugh as well in return as she waltzed on the floor on her way to the bed.

"Where were you?" he asked, pulling the pants up as he looked at her from the mirror of her dressing table – she was sitting on the bed behind him.

She grinned at him, cheeks swelling up and Jungkook couldn't help but grin back with an addition of a chuckle escaping.

"Somewhere," she replied simply. "I had something to settle."

While Jungkook was pulling the shirt over his head, he furrowed his brows slightly at her when he noticed that her grin hadn't yet disappeared, forever hanging onto that beautiful face, his favorite beautiful face.

"What?" he asked with a smile almost breaking on his face. A smirk then made its way onto his face as he teased her, "You can say it, you know."

"Say what?" she quirked an eyebrow, her head angled slightly to the side.

"That I am too handsome."

Chaeyoung giggled, her head fell to the back before her body collapsed onto the bed.

"What? You don't think I am handsome?" He whipped his body around dramatically before stepping towards her, and when he reached her, he bent down. Hands dipping into the mattress on each side of her body and his body hovered over hers. "You don't think I am handsome?" he repeated teasingly, attacking her neck with ticklish soft kisses and she squirmed underneath him, giggles doubled with squeals slipping in every layer of her laughter.

He pulled back after one good minute of that and the wide smile painted on Chaeyoung's face was so beyond beautiful as she tried to catch her breath. Her palms went to plant themselves on his cheek and his shoulder respectively, and her eyes locked on his for one long yet beautiful moment. "I think you are definitely handsome."

Jungkook had to admit that no one's compliment would be on the same level as hers. There was just something about it that made his heart felt electrified in a very nice way, and he didn't mind to get electrified that way a thousand times. Trying to keep up the fun teasing they had on each other, he replied with a smug grin, "Of course I am."

And of course, she didn't miss her chance to tease him back. "At least, that's what I think. And we have to consider the fact that I am not everyone's representative."

Jungkook playfully widened his eyes, dropped his jaw before he tickled her sides, and her laughter began to erupt while she tried to get away from him. He finally stopped tickling her when her hair became a mess, covering her face and after using his fingers to reveal it, Jungkook leaned down for a kiss and what was meant to be fleeting became the opposite, the kiss only deepened when she encircled her arms around his neck.

When the kiss finally broke, she smiled before pushing him to the side of the bed and she quickly got up and rummaged into her drawers and dived into her wardrobe. Jungkook watched in curiosity, standing up to walk closer to her. "What are you looking for?"

She stood up straight for a moment and turned to look at him. "Did you ever leave your necktie here?"

"Yeah, but I think I took them all back already, I'm not sure," he told her and she pouted, her thinking face emerged. "What do you need the necktie for?" he asked, his lips twitching with a smirk threatening to surface on his face when his mind was imagining stuff that could make his teeth bite onto his lip, heat spreading to certain parts of bodies.

Chaeyoung slowly turned her face into his direction, looking straight into his eyes and he saw a hint of smile as she narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you think?"

A full smirk finally appeared on Jungkook's face, one brow lifted and his teeth really dug on his lip. "Kinky," he murmured.

When her jaw dropped, her laughter that was meant to represent her disbelief ensued as her eyes enlarged at him. Jungkook shrugged at her as he said, "I mean, it's okay for me. I honestly find it hot now that I imagined it. You tie me up on the bed or I tie you up, it already sounds a lot like fun to me."

Chaeyoung pulled a face at him. "Yeah, well, that's not going to happen because first, I'm not into that and second, it's still too early, Jungkook."

"We could try, you know." He shrugged again, scratching the end of his hairline with a playful smile, and she slapped his shoulder lightly with a series of laughter. "I mean, babe, really, we could try and experiment on it because first, it's going to be a new experience and second, morning sex isn't uncommon."

She just stared at him with a confusing expression in her eyes. And Jungkook tried to tease her again, leaning towards her ear and repeated with a deeper voice, "We could try, if you want."

When he leaned back, he saw a smirk on her face. And she mimicked the way he shrugged earlier. "Maybe."

"Is that maybe yes or maybe no?"

Not a word said, only her smile was there given to him before she spun around to continue searching for the necktie. "I'll take that as a maybe yes, then," he said. "Just that it's not today. Which is still fine by me, as long as it's a maybe inclining to yes."

"Oh, stop it. We have a more important thing to do now," she laughed. "If your necktie isn't here, then I need to find just anything similar to that."

"What could be more important than a whole new experience of having my wrists or your wrists to be tied –"

"Jungkook!"

"Fine, fine," he put both hands in the air and grinned at her, all teeth displayed. "If you really need it, I can go back to my apartment and get it for you."

She came to a halt, eyes settling on him for one second with her lips curled inward. Chaeyoung shook her head softly then. "No." She went into that one of her thinking mode, with that adorable thinking face, her hands pushing on either side of her waist. A moment later, it was as though a realization fell upon her and her eyes blinked, widened slightly and she turned to him with a smile.

"I forgot to ask. Do you have any plan for today?" Before he could answer, she stepped towards him, her arms winding around his waist and she pressed her body against his. "If you do have, can you please cancel everything?"

Jungkook's lips stretched into a smile, drowning in that feeling again, the feeling that came whenever she wanted and needed him. That unexplainable feeling that made his insides danced in delight. "Fortunately, no. Why? Are we going to go with the experiment?" he teased again, which earned him soft frown and an elongated whiny 'No' and ended with a soft laughter. "Then?" He lifted a brow. "Do you want to go somewhere for today?"

"Mm-hm," she nodded.

"Where? Shopping? Biking at the park? Watch movies? Fishing? You want to go to the massage parlor you said Hoseok suggested?"

And each of his question had the same response; a shake of her head and a chuckle.

"Then where do you want to go?" he furrowed his brows. "Yoongi's workshop? You missed my friends?"

"I do miss them, but no." She pressed a kiss on his chin briefly, then on his lips. "To your place, actually."

His forehead creased, and he kept his gaze fixed on her face. He believed his eyebrows almost meet each other when he asked her, "My place as in my apartment?"

Nod.

"The floor just below yours?"

She pulled away just a little, smirked up at him and knitted her brows playfully at him. "Do you live in any other apartment that I don't know of?"

"No."

"Then that's the place," she chuckled. "Let's go." She unwound her arms from around him, one hand caught his and she laced their fingers as she led him out of her apartment, but not before throwing one final glance at her wardrobe and drawers, muttering 'What should I get', keeping Jungkook from questioning what exactly she had on her mind.

His hand reached out to unlock the door to his apartment when she suddenly held his shoulders from behind him, jumping and he immediately held her thighs wrapping around his waist. Chaeyoung giggled next to his ear, her arms draped his neck and Jungkook's smile widened when she pressed a kiss on his temple.

"This will do," she muttered, more to herself as she placed both her palms over his eyes, pressing a little in an attempt at not allowing him to see anything. "Can you see?"

He could make out the lights from the little gaps between her fingers, but there was honestly nothing much that he could see. "No," he chuckled.

"Really?"

"Yeah," he let go one of her thigh, and he could feel her tightening it around his torso. His free hand went up to pull one of her hands from his eyes, but she uncovered both eyes, changing the position of her hands to holding his shoulders. "Can you tell me what's going on?" he asked, heart undeniably pumping in a curious manner as he tilted his head to catch a glimpse of her pressing up against his back.

Chaeyoung shifted slightly so that her face could be clearly seen by him and Jungkook narrowed his eyes at her when she grinned. "Nope," she answered and pecked his cheek, squealing when she almost lost her balance, although she didn't need to worry, because Jungkook would make sure that the floor wouldn't be able to catch her before he could.

He wanted to ask more, but he had an idea that something surprising was waiting for him inside and from the glint in her eyes, he knew that she wanted it to turn out according to whatever her plan was. So Jungkook decided to let all his questions dissolve and follow her instructions.

"Unlock it," she said to him.

"Don't you need to cover my eyes or something?"

She laughed. "Yeah, but after you unlock it."

And so he did, and she did her part as well, rushing to cover his eyes almost immediately when the sound of the door being unlocked bounced in the air around them. She asked him again if he could see anything before he stepped forward, and he used all his honesty when he answered her with a 'no'.

"Make sure you give the right instructions or we'll both fall," he told her with his grin breaking on his face, her hands pressed over his closed eyes.

"Trust me," she giggled. "Okay, go ten big steps forward." And he took ten big steps forward as she had instructed before she chuckled. "Make another three." And on his third step, she gasped and laughed, "Wait, wait, wait, I change my mind. One step backward."

He lived in that apartment for a little over three years, and he hadn't changed the positions of everything not because he didn't want to, but because he thought he wouldn't do a great job in it –although the first time he had invited Chaeyoung into his house she had complimented him – and that he was lazy.

He could pretty much tell that he was standing near the television, and on the right side of him would be the coffee table. And so he took one step backward like how she ordered him to do, with some prediction that the one step he took would avoid him the coffee table if she was to ask him to move in that direction.

Just like what he had in mind, Chaeyoung asked to turn to the right, telling him to go forward by taking three steps and after that, she told him to step sideways to the left. First, it was one step. Then she told him to take another step to the left. And then, it was 'one more tiny little bit to the left' and that made him chuckle.

"What's all this?" Jungkook asked with his eyes still covered. "Have we 'arrived' at our destination?"

"Sort of," she murmured and just by the sound of it, he knew she was smiling. She was a second away from dropping her hands that were covering his eyes, but stopped to say, "It's not really a surprise, you know. Not a new thing."

"Okay."

Even so, he couldn't help the slight race of his heart, curious of what she actually had prepared. Jungkook chewed the inside of his cheek, trying his best not to show his excitement and nervousness that happened to emerge within him at the same time when she dropped her hands. He didn't straightaway open his eyes, taking a few short seconds before finally letting his lids flutter open and what he saw before his eyes was something he never expected to see.

"What do you think?" she asked, shifting on his back and her chin on his shoulder.

He almost dropped her from his back when he got so lost in marveling at the puzzle hanging on his wall.

One part of him wanted to laugh out loud at the image of all the small pieces of the puzzle had formed, while another part of him was so overwhelmed with all the feelings building from the beautiful memories of their first moments to the miracles that never failed to layer in every piece of their life whether they realized it or not.

That image, if shown to other people who had zero idea of their history would never take it as romantic. Jungkook's soft, warm smile as his eyes studied the puzzle pieces turned into wider before he began to chuckle and eventually, his laughter erupted.

It was actually from two different pictures combined to be in the same frame.

On the left side was an image of him in front of the long mirror in his bedroom, posing with only his underwear on and his thumb was slipped into the waistband of it and that it almost exposed him fully. He had his smartphone as well, to take that picture, that legendary picture that earned him a miracle, the beginning of it all with him and Chaeyoung.

On the right side was of her. She was posing in front of her long mirror with that sexy but cute lingerie that hugged her slim figure perfectly, showing her beautiful, out of this world's curve. She, too, had her phone in that image, snapping that picture that she sent to him on the very night they decided to get to know each other, by not crossing the line of them being just strangers to one another but at the same time, in the 'offline' world, they were getting to know each other as well.

"What do you think?" she repeated her question, laughing herself on his back. She shifted herself again, and placed her chin on top of his head, her arms resting on his shoulder.

"What was their reaction when you gave them this image to be printed out on that puzzle?" he asked, still trying to contain his laughter.

"Let's just say that they were puzzled." And both them laughed again. Chaeyoung slid her hands from his shoulders to stroke his chest, and he felt her pressing her face against his head and a small sound of kiss was heard. "So, do you hate it?"

He furrowed his brows, turning his head although he couldn't see her and sputtered. "Are you kidding?" Jungkook put her down, and when his hand found her wrist, he gently pulled her so she'd stand on his side before he turned to look at her. "I want to hate it, because you look amazing in that you could model for lingerie while I look more like I'd get rejected in an audition to model for underwear with that awkward pose and sort of zero confidence boastful face."

Her head dropped to his chest as she burst into laughter. When she lifted up her head again, she said, "I kind of fell for that pose and that face, though."

He feigned annoyance, sighing with his eyes looking away just for one quick moment before he gazed into her eyes again with a warm smile, dropping a soft kiss on her forehead.

Jungkook turned to study the puzzle again and upon closer inspection, he noticed that each piece was actually an image, and not just colors. He narrowed his eyes a little, realizing that those pieces were of those photographs that were taken using his camera, the pictures of him, pictures of her, pictures of them both together. The images that he'd printed out the other day; they were the same images as those on the small pieces of puzzle. Even those printed images were put up again; she had hung them all again just the way he did the other day, decorations were just about the same.

His smile broadened on his face, facing her again and he slid his hand to cup her cheek, pulling her as he leaned in at the same time, and he pressed a meaningful kiss on those beautiful, glossy lips of hers.

"I love it. Really. It's wonderful."

There was an obvious tint of pink blush blooming on Chaeyoung's cheeks, her lips pressed together to fight off that obvious smile forming on her face and eventually she gave up, letting it widen, splitting her face into two. It made him happy to see that she was happy upon knowing how pleased he was with what she did.

"I wanted to be the most romantic person in a slightly different way. Does it work?" she giggled.

"It will still work no matter what," he beamed with sincerity. "This is truly amazing. You're amazing. I mean, I know that you weren't the one who made the puzzle on your own," he said with a teasing tone and she jutted out her bottom lip, feigning hurt before a smile decorated her face that caused his chuckle to escape. He continued, "but the effort and thoughts you put into this...I just...I don't know," he laughed, shaking his head as he ran out of words to say, "...this is very meaningful, it will forever remind me of how it all began. I love it." Jungkook dropped his gaze to her eyes, then. "I love you."

Chaeyoung's face flushed again, and she tried to hide it by burying her face into his neck, her warm breath stroking his skin and Jungkook caged her, his arms surrounding her frame. He dropped his head as well, his nose to her shoulder and he inhaled as much scent as he could before she drew back a little, placed a palm on his cheek and her gaze was soft and alluring as it settled on his eyes and she captured his lips into an unhurried kiss. She smiled into the kiss, murmuring a soft 'I love you too' against his lips and Jungkook's own smile was unable to be stopped from stretching on his face.

"Are you hungry?" she asked after pulling back.

Jungkook looked into her eyes, his teeth bit on his bottom lip, a big smirk hanging on his face. "Famished," he whispered and winked.

She lifted her brows and shook her head with a chuckle, "I mean, food, Jungkook. Real food."

"Oh..." He smiled sheepishly at her, but continued with the teasing. "Well... yeah, kind of starving for food, but it's nothing like my hunger for...," he trailed off and shrugged, hands caressing her sides.

She let a laugh respond to that, breaking free from the embrace and took his hand to lead him to the dining table. On the table there were lots of foods, delicious food that smelled heavenly good that he was surprised he wasn't able to detect earlier. Perhaps, too engrossed in the earlier surprise.

"Whose birthday is today?" he asked, furrowing his brows.

"No one," she chuckled, "I mean, none that I know. Of course, someone out there was born today. Why do you ask?"

"Well, what's going on with all these surprises?" He tried to remember if there was any special thing happening on that date but he couldn't. "Please don't get mad at me, but... baby? I can't remember if today is a special day or something. It's not Valentine, it's not Christmas, not our anniversary, not your birthday, not mine."

Chaeyoung laughed while she stood on his side, pouring him the drink. "You're right, don't worry, nothing special ever happened on this date for us. It's just..." she trailed off and smiled shyly. "We were supposed to have a lunch date and dinner date, and you prepared so much at that time. I've been thinking about this for a while, and I wanted to do it. I wanted to be the one who's in charged this time. I wanted to do something special for you because..." She locked eyes with him and her smile was the warmest he'd ever seen, "...because you deserved it. You deserve everything special."

He shifted on the seat, turning towards her, placed his hands on her hips and he didn't need to beg for it, really. She put down the jug while her other hand caressed the top of his head before she ran her fingers through his hair. She leaned down a moment later, her hands cupping his face tenderly and they kissed again, as if it was the first time they shared a kiss together. Through the kiss, Jungkook was telling her how the title 'special' should belong to her and only her, and that if he got her, everything else in the world would be close to unnecessary to him.

*

Chaeyoung snuggled her head close to Jungkook's chest when he finally joined her on the bed.

It was New Year's Eve, and despite their initial plan to watch fireworks on the bridge with a bunch of other people who wanted to celebrate the New Year, they ended up stuck at home because it was raining outside. The best thing to do when the rain poured down that heavy was to cuddle on the bed.

Hoseok had called Jungkook a few hours prior, asking them to come over his place to drink but canceled his invitation to them last minute when his mother decided to pay a sudden visit with basically, the whole family. Yoongi on the other hand decided to spend the New Year at his hometown, arriving there around a week ago. Jennie and Namjoon would be celebrating the New Year together with families of both sides, basically a family bonding time although both sides knew each other really well.

"If last year didn't happen, I would probably spend this New Year alone as well," he told her, his fingers playing with the end of her hair.

Chaeyoung's own finger was stroking his sideburn before she pressed her cheek against his chest and gave him a tight hug. Jungkook chuckled in response, causing her to smile from ear to ear with her eyes closed just because she liked the sound of him laughing.

If last year didn't happen, then she would probably have to face the same situation as his.

She tilted her head upwards, palm spreading on his chest. "You know, I just realized that I never got to do what I wanted to do the first time we spent our night together."

Jungkook tilted his head this time, and tried to look at her with one lifted brow. "What did you want to do?"

She licked her lips briefly, and slowly removed herself from him. When Jungkook got up to sit after she slid off the bed, she raised one finger and smiled at him, warning him not to follow her. When she was sure that he would obey, Chaeyoung quickly stepped away, going towards the wardrobe to pick the thing that she had in mind.

Jungkook was lying flat on the bed again when she went out of her wardrobe, her pajamas were no longer around her body. Instead, she wore lingerie. Jungkook sat up again, his brows furrowed in confusion as he stared at her. "What did you want to do? Changing from pajamas to lingerie?" he asked, causing her to pinch her nose bridge with a scrunched up face, feigning disappointment.

"Don't you remember this?" she asked him, standing in front of the bed, twirling around. When Jungkook raised one brow at her, she took her phone from the dressing table and eyeing him one last time, she lifted her hand that was holding the phone at her face level, shifting her weight to one foot, hip pushed to one side and she pressed her thumb on the screen, snapping a picture.

Jungkook was already standing up on his two feet and was about to walk over to her when she turned and showed him the picture she just took with her phone.

He looked at the picture, then to her face and his eyes lingered on hers for a moment, as if he was studying her. "I do remember, of course," he chuckled. "That's the lingerie you wore in that picture you sent me. But what did you want to do exactly?"

She huffed, pouting a little and turned to look at the mirror again, fixing her hair that didn't need to get fixed. Jungkook came up to behind her, sneaking his hands to her waist and pulled her backwards, causing her back to press up against his chest.

"On that night, I actually wanted to give you a surprise by wearing the lingerie. I wonder, had I worn it that night, how would you react? Would you get mad at me for not revealing who I really was? Or would you have done the opposite?"

Jungkook locked eyes with her through the mirror, and he was looking at her with the way that always, never failed to make her heart skip a beat. She liked the soft look he had in his eyes. She loved it.

"Either way, it probably wouldn't have the same impact my true, final reaction had," he said.

"That's true. But would we still be together if the revelation was on that night, and not when I got caught?"

He nodded, arms a little tighter around her as he breathed in. A smirk was on his face when he said, "Yeah, I believe you already held me captive the first time we met. It was at a restaurant. And it was raining. We shared umbrellas as I walked you to your car, and you just left without saying thank you. And ever since, it was kind of difficult not to think of you. Besides, we live in the same building. We'd meet sooner or later."

Chaeyoung grinned widely, just thinking back of those moments made her heart flutter and every now and then, she would never forget how stupid it looked and how funny it was to think about it. Because of that, it made her believe that their meeting was already fated, that there would be multiple different ways for them to meet, but all the ways would lead the meeting to only one place, one ending. Eventually, it would mean that they would be in each other's life, and not just be there as mere existence. They would be in each other's life as more than that. Special, significant, everlasting.

She hadn't quite realized that Jungkook had gone quiet, and it was a few moments after looking into the mirror again that she realized he was gazing at her the same way he did earlier, his breathing was somewhat even and calm, but there was something in his eyes that made her feel like he was supposedly to not be that calm at that moment, like something was running around in his mind. She watched as he let his tongue swipe across his lips, biting it momentarily before releasing it.

"Are we going to do something else or are we going to have a staring contest with the mirror?" she asked with a smile.

Jungkook laughed in return. "This is fine, standing like this with you in my arms."

"I'll eventually get tired," she chuckled.

"You can hold onto me."

"What if I get too tired that I can't even hold onto you?"

"Then I'll hold you. Forever."

She laughed, but it was the way he said it that made her heart jumped. "And what happens if you get tired and can't stay holding me or even yourself?"

"We'll fall together. But even then, I won't let you touch the ground before me."

The smile Chaeyoung had on her face faded slowly as she studied the look in his eyes, the meaning behind what he said was hidden there in his beautiful eyes, written in his mind. And she somehow was able to see it. "If you touch the ground before me, then that cancels the 'We'll fall together' part."

Jungkook smiled softly at her. "Well, scratch that part, then. I won't let you touch the ground before me and I won't let the ground touch you either."

She frowned. "No, leave the first part at that, and scratch the whole second part along with that new addition. 'We'll fall together, and we'll both touch the ground together' should be it." And she turned her head so she could kiss him, with one hand holding the side of his head.

He gave her a warm look and resumed that staring contest with the mirror. His arms stayed holding her frame, his chin stayed planted on her shoulder, his gaze stayed locked on hers. He was initially smiling a small smile that was rather calming before that smile slowly faded. He inhaled deeply, and released it long through his nostrils and for the whole time, Chaeyoung stayed watching him through the mirror.

"What are you thinking?" she asked softly.

Jungkook said nothing but his eyes held thousands of words that she knew would never made it to his mouth to be uttered, and she knew that it wouldn't disappoint her anyway. She could feel his emotions from his actions, in every move he made, in each of the small gestures of him, and from the simple look in his eyes. He blinked slowly, still staring at her through the mirror before he turned his head and buried his face into her neck, taking the deepest breath and she felt a soft touch of his lips against her skin.

When he looked back into the mirror and their eyes met, he said, "Sometimes, it doesn't feel real."

Her back was already pressed against his chest, but she leaned even more as she asked, "What?"

"This," he replied, tightening his hold around hers. "Sometimes, it feels like a dream. Having you in my arms again, and knowing that your heart is mine again. It feels all but real." Jungkook let a smile decorate his face then. "But you know what? That feeling... it leads to a bigger feeling. It's what makes this all feel totally amazing, it built a responsibility inside of me to always treasure you as a whole."

Her face softened and she turned around within his arms to give him another kiss, a slow and assuring kiss, a kind of kiss that she knew would warm his entire being. When they parted, she looked into his eyes warmly, brushed a few of his hair away from his beautiful and big eyes. "This is the reality. Nothing is more real than reality." She leaned in for a peck before displaying a small smirk. "And you have to live with it. Accept the reality as it is."

Jungkook let out a chuckle, his bunny teeth stayed in sight as his wide smile lingered on his face, forming pretty wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. "If this is the reality that I have to live with for the rest of my life, you know that I'm not complaining at all."

Chaeyoung glanced at the window. The sky was dark outside and the rain was heavy, but there was nothing to worry about because those things would not last long anyway. Morning would arrive, and night would leave. Eventually, the sky would be bright again, and the rain would stop.