— Next day —

Saturday, February 22, 2020.

10 am.
[ 9 pm in New York. ]

I walk down the stairs after getting ready to go through this new day. I check my messages but see Jungkook sent me one this morning. I answer it and head to the kitchen.

"Good morning..." Minjae speaks out, catching my attention. "I'm sorry for falling asleep...I always get tired when I eat a lot," he smiles, shyly, making me do so. "That's fine, don't worry. You should just warn your parents about it."

"Yeah, I did," he nods. "I don't want to bother you...but...do you have some plans for today?" he tries to subtly ask to stay here. He's really one of the sweetest boys ever. "I'm going to study and see my dad..." I remember about this, feeling like the stress that is given too me is only increasing since yesterday. "Oh yeah. I forgot."

"Have you talked to your parents? Have they told you something about the incident?" I peek at him but take two strawberry milk out of the fridge. "No. They only answered my text with an 'ok' a few minutes ago..."

"Ah..." I don't find the words to comfort him. I move up towards him with the drinks, and the dessert we haven't eaten yesterday. "Here, get some energy," I smile but hand him the food. He grabs it and thanks me, so I join him on the sofa. We both remain silent to poke the top of our drink with the straw, and we sip on them.

"How did the test go?" he brings up when I thought he erased this from his mind. I swallow the milk with difficulty and lay my eyes on the bottle.

"Well...uhm..." I direct my look towards him. "I took it when I came home...and...it told me that I'm not pregnant..." I tell him the truth. "Oh..." he stares at me. "I guess...Are you disappointed?"

"Hm..." I shrug, scratching my jawline anxiously and not knowing the answer to this. "Oh, it's okay," he smiles at me, reassuring me the best he can like the sweetest boy ever. "Don't worry, you have a lot of time to have a baby. I'll always be here for you if you need..." he kindly says in one of the softest manners. "I know this won't help you to feel better since Jungkook is the most important, but I'm here no matter what. I know this must be hard..."

"Thank you, Minjae," I smile at him, feeling touched by his words and care. He looks back at me the same way, showing some delight.

"When are you going to see your dad?" he chews on the fruit parfait. "I think I'm going to eat something and go."

"Okay, I'll leave the house with you and stay with you since we will both go in the same direction. Is that all right?" he peeks at me, innocently, but I nod to answer him and make sure he knows he won't bother me.

•••

12 pm.
[ 11 pm in New York. ]

"See you tomorrow, Minjae, and be careful. Tell your parents what I told you," I smile and wave at him, but he does the same and nods. "I will. Thank you, see you soon," his happiness grows even bigger, but we both get drifted apart, I walk up to my parent's house, and he heads to his home.

I don't when wait a second before knocking on the door. He disappointed me a lot, but I maybe disappointed him as well, so I need to listen to what he has to say.

In only a few seconds, the door already opens and reveals my father. "Y/n..." his voice sounds nervous. I don't smile, don't react, I merely gaze at him, and he lets me in. The door gets closed behind me, but my heart and brain make me feel weird in here, this feels familiar but strange at the same time as if I haven't been in here for years.

I nibble on my inner lip, but my father comes before me, fixing his eyes on me as if was not the same girl anymore, not his daughter anymore. "I'm so glad to see you here..." his features exude nothing but sincerity, so I smile at him. "Why did you suddenly want me to be here...?"

"I...I thought about it a lot, and I told myself that if I don't do this now, I will regret it..." he explains, still leaving me doubtful. "I'm here to listen...you can tell me..."

"Let's sit down," he brings me to a chair that is around the table, and we both sit down to face each other. "I know I took way too long, but I didn't know what to think or say to you..." he looks at me in the eyes. I know him, and I know when he tells the truth, he is right now. "All right...whatever...tell me what you want to say."

"I..." he clears his throat, dropping his eyes down to the table. "This is about your relationship with Jungkook, as I said. Uhm...I know I hurt you with my words, and I didn't mean to. Each time I reread our last texts, I can just remember how out of my mind I was at that moment. Jungkook just had revealed me everything, and I couldn't handle, as a father, that a man of his age touched my daughter, y/n...You maybe don't understand because you're young, you're a girl without children, but this is extremely scary for a parent to see this happen to their child. So...before I start to tell you more...I want to know how everything is going now...where are you...?"

"It's going...well..." I respond, with no certainty. "Jungkook is...gone. His new boss made him work abroad, so I'm all alone in our house," I do not lie to him since this is worthless but notice some surprise. "He...where did he go?"

"In America..." my heart aches, the words crushing it. "But...are you still together? You haven't broken up, right?" he lowers the tone of his voice, and I shake my head. "We're still together."

"Great..." the corners of his lips curve up, softly. "I...I can see that you're different...you seem so..." his sentence doesn't end, his eyes looking at me and exposing his thoughts that aren't leaving him yet. "...so mature...I don't know..."

"Yeah..." I glance away, not knowing what to say. "Has he been gone for long?" he doesn't let any quietness remain to reduce the awkwardness of the moment, and I give a negative answer with a movement of my head. "Two weeks, but this feels like an eternity to me."

"I would have expected it," he understands me. "But...yeah...I just wanted to apologize for the words I told you. I didn't mean them at all. I just felt hurt when you went to him without hesitation...and I know that I knew him, but we're never sure to know people well...some people that look kind and respectful at first sight can really hide monsters inside, and I just wanted to protect you, I admit that wasn't the best way to do it, but I was worried...I'm sincerely sorry, y/n..."

"The only thing that hurts me the most is what you said and did to Jungkook," I set my eyes on his. "What you did was horrible...and I wish you could just apologize to him because he never deserved to get all this and go through hell. Your words destroyed him, dad..."

"I...I tried to call him to talk, but he never answered..." he answers me. "I wanted to apologize to him and have a serious talk, but he's never given me an answer...Now that I know you're happy with him, I want to talk to him and tell him I'm sorry for not letting him explain himself. It was so hard to accept..."

I keep my gaze fixed on him, feeling better at the sound of those words that mean a lot to me. "He must have been scared to hear you say something more to him. That's why."

"I guess..." he nods. "Why did he go though...? He has the right to decline the offer..."

"Because his boss low-key threatened him...he didn't want to lose his job again," I do not fear his reaction and the effect of my words, I make a cutting remark that will remind him of what he did. "Oh..." he takes it like I wanted him to. "Does he earn a lot with this job abroad?"

"He earns more than he did before, but he's all alone, he lives is a tiny apartment house, and I know he's overworking because he's not with me..." I hope for him to find a solution for us. He could maybe make sure Jungkook comes back and still earns enough money for us to live well, that he's safe even if he leaves America and risks losing his job. "What about you?" he changes the topic. "How is it going with your work?"

"Good...I'm just tired, and I lack determination and will," I breathe out, heavily. Why can't he tell me that it's all right, he's there for me, he will hire Jungkook to make him come back and be with me then let me work as a secretary there? This would make me feel so happy.

"Good to know your life is going well," he smiles, not able to hide his emotions that keep some pain inside. "This could go better..." I barely let out, averting my eyes from him and remembering all the things that happened to us while we were struggling. "What do you mean?"

"Jungkook almost got killed because he didn't have enough money to pay something..." my voice shudders as soon as I bring this up. His expression instantly shows how taken aback he is. "Why...? What happened for him to get into this situation?"

"He had to pay a debt because of his sick ex-wife, but he lost a lot of money and used his savings once you fired him, the man didn't stop harassing him to get the money that belongs to Jungkook only, and he got into a car accident because they tried to kill him, now I'm paying this monster every month to make sure he doesn't hurt him anymore..." I stare into my eyes but feel the tears in mine, praying for something like this to never happen again. "So no...my life isn't going that well."

His shock doesn't fade away but only sharpens, being deepened by some sorrow.  "I'm...I'm sorry, y/n...I didn't— I mean, I knew he was threatened, but I didn't know this was this serious...I hope you're all right and safe, they haven't dragged you into this, have they?"

"It's not important, now it's supposed to be solved, he hasn't done anything for weeks, and I pay him each time I earn some money..." I do not care about myself since Jungkook is the only one that matters to me.

He exhales, sharply but heaves his hand up to his face to rub his forehead. "I'd like to talk to him...Could you tell him about this? I won't be mean or judge him, I just need to talk..."

"I'll tell him," I accept since this could solve a problem that has always been weighing down on our shoulders. "But you have to apologize to him."

"I will apologize, I was planning to do it," he gives me his words, so I trust him. I hope Jungkook will be all right with it. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you...it feels like I haven't seen my daughter for years. To be honest with you, I often got some news from Minjae..." he reveals something I didn't know about. "He never let me know anything because he didn't want to tell anything about what was going on in your life, but he always told me if you were all right or not..."

"He didn't tell me about this. Have you asked him to do it?" I exude some surprise, but he smiles and acquiesces to confirm. "Yes, I always asked him if you were all right, I needed to know, and he always answered me but made it clear that he didn't like what I did to you because that hurt you and hurt him as well to see you cry and all those things...so that affected me a lot, and I had to do something..."

"Well...I'm glad to know I was still on your mind..." I do not keep it to myself, relieved to know I was not a dead and unknown person to him like I thought I was. "But...I want to apologize too. I lied to you and hid some things from you because I was scared you could have drifted us apart...so I also made a mistake."

"I can't even call it a mistake, you haven't used any hurtful words like I did. This was a bit painful to know you did that, but I went way too far. I forgive you without even thinking twice. I know how hard it is for you lately, and I swear, I would hire Jungkook's if I could, but I cannot fire any of my employees...there's no place left for him...I cannot take him back and make sure he's by your side...All my employees are doing their job correctly..."

My hopes drop down to the ground, shattering my heart in no time. I don't know why, but I knew this would end like that. "Yeah...I expected it, don't worry."

"I promise he'll be the first one to get hired if an employee is fired or leaves," he tries to comfort me, but I only nod. "Thank you..." I doubt, not sure those are the best words in this situation. "Your mom was deeply affected by your absence...she'll be happy to know we're not in bad terms anymore."

I force a smile and give a nod of my head, toying with my fingers.

— Four months later —

Saturday, June 23, 2020.

1 pm.
[ Midnight in New York. ]

'JUNGKOOK'S P.O.V'

"Hello?" my father picks up the call, my body sitting down on my bed. "Yeah...I'm sorry for calling you at this hour, something has been...going on in my head..." I pass my fingers over my forehead, rubbing my skin nervously. "It's fine, it's just 1 pm here. What is wrong?" he reminds me of the time difference I almost forgot.