— Two days later —

Monday, February 03, 2020.

5 am.

I end the call I had with my dad, relieved to know he's about to be here. I put my phone in my pocket and leave my heavy luggage in the entry room. Y/n has been crying the whole night, and I cannot find a way to calm her down. This is horrible, and I feel like I might not leave, this seriously tears my heart apart to see her in this state. I don't know what to do.

I breathe out heavily and move back to the living room, where she is. She keeps her gaze down but constantly wipes her tears, using a new tissue for her nose again. "My baby..." I walk up to her and sit down next to her to put one arm around her and bring her closer. She hugs me and rests her head on my chest to cry heavily.

However, I receive a notification. I check it and see this is a message from a colleague. I read but don't answer, I give all my attention to her. I drop a kiss on her head, caressing her side but not saying anything since I don't know what could help.

"My baby..." I put my head on hers but hold my left hand up while the other one is soothing her. "Look, we won't ever be drifted apart," I mention our couple bracelets, trying to brighten up her mood. She doesn't say anything but keeps drowning in her grief.

I comb her hair in a soft manner, but the bell rings. "It's my dad, baby," I try to pull her away, and she goes aside, so I stand up and hurry to the front door of the house to open to my father.  "Hey," he smiles at me, his car still running. "Are we going now?"

"Yes, I'm calling y/n," I nod and step back to grab y/n's coat and move towards the door frame. I peek over it. "Baby, are you coming?" I softly make her understand it's time to go, and she puts her tissue down to come up to me. So I put her coat on her and press a kiss on her forehead.

"Everything is all right, we're still together. Don't cry," I grab her hand and take my coat and luggage to go out. We both leave the house and get to my father's car, my father who noticed she's crying. "You haven't forgotten anything, right?" he asks.

"No, don't worry. I checked my list several times," I put the luggage in the trunk and close the door to enter the vehicle with y/n and sit in the back. My father does it as well, and we all buckle our seat belt on.

Once it's done, I intertwine my fingers with hers and keep my eyes away from her to not let her state afflict me. None of us says something, the music of the radio is the only thing we can hear, with her sniffling, but as my eyes are focusing on the road with difficulty, her head rests on my arm as if she was asking for some more comfort, and my heart shatters into pieces even more.

30 minutes later...

"Your mom woke up when I left, but I told her to sleep because she was still feeling nauseous after the dinner we had," my father explains to me after I asked him how my mother is doing. "Oh, as long as she's not sick, this is fine," I stop in front of a few seats, right at the boarding gate I will have to pass by once the flight is ready to go.

I stop walking, and y/n wraps her arms around my waist, hiding her face in her hood, I hold her as well by putting one arm around her neck, and one around her body. We don't let go of each other, her cries do not end but only seem to worsen now that we only have five minutes left.

I bend my head forth and slightly pull on the rim of her hood to press my lips on her cheek, bring them to her ear to whisper into it, and pat her head, with my eyes closed. "Stop crying, baby. I promise I'll come back as soon as possible, we'll celebrate our birthday, our anniversary together, we'll see each other for Christmas and every holiday, I promise," I keep moving my hand to relieve her and calm her down as she's putting herself in a horrible state.

"I'm sorry for crying..." she chokes up on her words, but I kiss her. "No, don't say sorry," I smile and let my hand remain on the back of her head. "We'll see each other tonight, we'll text and call each other starting tomorrow," I remind her as she's impossible to relax. "All right, baby?" I ask for her answer. "Yes—" her voice cracks, bawling unceasingly. I squeeze her in my arms since I know this is the last time before our next hug that will not happen soon. "I love you more than anything, I won't stop thinking about you," I speak in her ear and slide my hand over her cheek to kiss her lips covered in her tears.

Realizing I'm about to leave, that we're about to be separated for a long period of time, she breaks down and throws her arms around my neck, so I carry her in my arms and stroke her back, feeling the tears in my eyes. "I have to leave, baby," I tell her, reluctantly, her body trembling in my arms because of all the sobs. We both embrace each other for the last seconds, she then goes back on the floor, and I cup her face to lock our lips and kiss her for the last time. I make it soft, stroking her cheeks with my thumbs. "I love you, y/n. Hm? Don't ever doubt it."

"I love you too," she grips my waist, and I stare into her eyes to never forget them, even though I'm about to cry when I said I wouldn't. I kiss her again, uncontrollably but step back to force myself to put an end to it. I step towards my dad to give him a simple hug. "Come on, enjoy it. This won't happen again," he tries to comfort me, and we both smile at each other. I take a last glance at y/n and put my hand on the side of her face to wipe her tears away. I cannot help but kiss her again, and I whisper 'I love you' for the third time already, making her respond with the same words.

Since I can feel my emotions take over me, I move to the gate to pass it and now leave. I enter the plane but cannot turn around, I make my way to my seat without waiting, putting my sunglasses on to not be humiliated because of my tears. I blink a few times to let them fall and clear my sight from the blurriness to sit down.

I'm broken from the inside, but this still feels unreal. I will only realize what is happening to us once I woke up in my bed without her by my side in the morning. That's when this will hit twice harder.

'YOUR P.O.V'

I look out the window as Jungho is driving me back home, sobbing like a damn baby without stopping. I can barely breathe, my nose is runny, stuck, and my head feels like it's going to explode.

"Do you have to wake up at an early hour tomorrow?" Jungho asks me, surely not standing me anymore. "No..." I struggle to breathe and speak. "I don't wanna go to school...I want to sleep..."

"I understand..." he doesn't contradict me since he knows how I feel. "I'm not going to tell you 'he would want you to work and not skip anything' because I know this is useless, so if you want, I can stay with you, or you can stay with us at our house, and my wife will cook plenty of good dishes for you. You'll feel very comforted," he smiles, brining some softness to my anguish. This breaks my heart even more, it reminds me of Jungkook's smile.

He notices the effect of it and peeks at me with worry, making me feel ridiculous. "Did I say something wrong...?"

I shake my head. "It's just your smile..." I snivel. "It's like Jungkook's one..."

"Oh," he feels some empathy for the idiot that I am. I use a tissue to wipe my nose but feel a vibration on my wrist, making me react instantly. The bracelet I share with Jungkook vibrates three times and lights up in red. Three taps mean 'I love you'. My entire body just tingled, this feels weird but so good.

I send the three taps back, smiling for the first time since he left me. I cannot stop crying, but this is not only because of the pain that his departure causes, its the fear that something could go wrong, that he could not feel good over there, that something bad might occur without me being close. I'm scared of all of this.

I can't wait to be in my bed and use what we bought, with the device I should be able to feel and hear his heartbeat, so I hope this will work. Even if he doesn't want to use his, I can still put the cushion under my pillow and hear his heartbeat as if my head was on his chest, if this works, this will brings a lot of comfort to me and help me to go through it.

"What's that?" Jungho asks me as he must have seen the light. I get rid of the tears on my face and clear my throat to answer him. "It's a connected bracelet, when I give some taps on it, Jungkook receives them in a vibration, and the color I choose lights it up."

"Wow. That thing is amazing," he expresses some astonishment. "I'm amazed by technology nowadays," he shakes his head but makes me smile, his old age getting this even cuter. "Can you, like, talk to it and send him a message?"

"No, but we have our phone to call or send vocal messages, so that's all right," I look at him, but he nods and grins. "That's true. I forgot about that."

I chuckle but feel relieved to have him with me. If I was all alone, I would probably be dying in my tears. He's such an amazing father, and his wife is a wonderful mother and woman. This makes me miss my parents a lot.

"Would you like to pack some stuff to stay with us for a few days? We have the bedroom Jungkook used to occupy when he was still with us."

"Are you sure this won't bother you?" I ask to know first, but he shows no annoyance about it. "This will not bother us at all. This will even make us feel happy again, that will remind us of the time our son was still sharing his days with us. That will bring back some nostalgia to the old parents we are."

I smile and feel even happier about this. I feel like I'm going to be extremely pampered.

"Has Jungkook left your house a long time ago?" I ask curiously, loving the discussion I have with you. "Oh god," the intonation of his voice makes it obvious he did. "He left us when he was nineteen, so your age. I can still remember how difficult it was for his mother, she was heartbroken to see her little Jungkookie boy grow up and become a man," he smiles while talking about his wife. "So since you're the same age as he was when he left us, I think she will treat you like a daughter-in-law and be very clingy and close to you."

I beam, fluttered by the word he used to call me. "I don't mind."

"Great then, we're going to have a good time and make sure to shower you with enough love to not let you feel like something is missing," he cares for me as if I was his daughter. I wish my parents could still talk to me and be there, they could have met Jungkook's ones, they could have been friends, and we could have spent some time all together.

•••

6:50 am.

"Here we are," he whispers and lets me enter the apartment house. I step inside, being as quiet as I can to not wake Mistress Jeon up. "All right, so our bedroom is right here," he points at the door on our left, the apartment looking way smaller than Jungkook's house. "Here you have your bedroom," he shows me the one before us in a tiny hallway, in a dark corner. So I nod, but he also indicates me the toilet room on my right, behind, with the bathroom right next to it. Then the kitchen that is opened, and the living room on the left of it. "Here you have the stuff for us, so you can find toilet paper, and if you need a towel you can find it there. All right?"

I nod and smile at him, feeling touched by all the things he does for me. "Okay, if you need some things, you're home, so take what you want or come to us if you ever need something. All right?"

"All right, thank you very much," I whisper to keep it low as well, and I bow to him. "No need to," he beams but takes his shoes off, so I do so. He grabs my luggage again to not let it roll on the floor, and he enters the room I'm going to use for a few days. He turns the light on and places the heavy item down as I came in. This is very small compared to what I have at Jungkook's house, but I don't care, I love it.

"Sorry about the lack of space...I hope you'll feel comfortable," he apologizes, but this instantly breaks my heart, so I make him know it's totally fine. "No, don't apologize. I'm more than happy to have this bedroom, it feels cozy."

He smiles at me and shows some relief. "I let you unpack then, you have a wardrobe here," he points at the furniture behind him and opens the door I thought was a wall. "The TV still works, the led behind it still works as well, so you have the remote controls on the nightstand. Everything is clean, we haven't changed anything since he left, but my wife cleans it often."

"I know, don't worry," I giggle. "Perfect, you can take a shower and have your morning routine as if you were in your house. Have a good sleep," he bows to me and leaves the room with a smile upon his face once I answer with the same words. He waves at me in the cutest manner and closes the door. I beam but lay my eyes on the bed. This is empty.

I take my coat off and turn around to put my first cloth in the wardrobe. Then I turn around and take my clothes off while opening my luggage. I'm not in the mood to take a shower, I don't care at all, I took one before leaving the house this morning anyway. I drop my clothes on the red gaming chair and grab the hoodie that belongs to Jungkook and which he wore last night, I grab a pair of leggings as well and put it on, smelling the scent of my boyfriend on it but making me realize he's still in the flight and won't leave it for thirteen hours. I rub my eyes but turn the lights off and take my phone to land on the bed. I reach out for a small remote and try to use it, but the led light behind the TV screen, that is only at some inches away from me, turns on and illuminates the room in blue.

I lie down on my back and take a picture to get in my messages and send one to Jungkook.

[ I love you, I'm going to bed, I hope the flight is not too long and boring. Sleep tight, my muscular man🥺❤ >

I lock my phone but crawl back to the bottom of the bed to get something in my opened luggage. I take the device that should help me to hear Jungkook's heartbeat if he's wearing the bracelet, and I turn it on to check.

However, my phone rings to mention a message. I hurry to check it but feel and hear the device is working, this is his heartbeat. I'm feeling so emotional right now, I can't believe it.

< Wait, is that my old bedroom?😲❤ What's my baby doing there?❤ ]

[ your dad proposed me to stay with them for a few days, and since he's going to drive me to school every day...I thought this would have been great to be with them...❤ >

< I'm glad to know you're being taken care of, that puts my mind at ease like ever❤ I hope you'll sleep well in this bed, that brings back a lot of memories, you make me feel so old😄❤ ]

[ you're mature, not old🤭❤ >

< I love you so much, but why are you going to sleep? You should get ready to go to school, baby❤ ]

[ im not going today... I need to sleep❤ >

He takes some more time to reply.

< I let this go for today because I understand, baby, but I want you to go to school tomorrow. Okay?❤ ]

[ okay❤ >

< Come on, sleep tight, I love you more than anything❤ ]

[ I love you more than anything too❤ >

I smile in front of my phone but put the cushion that gives me the beating of Jungkook's heart, under my pillow to hear it in it. I put my head down on it but feel all jittery inside, I'm a kid, but those little things mean a lot when the one I love is far away from me. I lock my phone and put it on the nightstand, turn the light off, and tuck myself under the blanket to enjoy the heartbeat.

This feels so odd to be able to feel it as if he was close to mine, this is an unique sensation.