“LET'S SHARE OUR UNIVERSES AND
KEEP YOUR MOON CLOSE TO MY HEART.
MY NIGHTS ARE TOO DARK.
THEY NEED YOUR MOONLIGHT.”

"I never had a best friend. I believe best friends are a special kind of gift. A best friend is someone who can make you laugh even when you think you'll never smile again. They make your problems theirs so that you don't have to go through them alone. They can see something in you that you can't see in yourself. You can always count on them no matter the situation. Imagine the amount of happiness and contentment you feel when you have a best friend like that."

Yoon Min uttered every word slowly and intriguingly as both of them walked together by the side of the main street.

"But what happens when that very best friend with whom you shared your every truth and confession; uses those to stab you in the back?"

Seokjin changed his gaze to her. He wondered if such an event had happened with her.

"Okay, backstabbing sounds dramatic now. How about betraying you or hurting you in a way you never imagined?” she excitedly glanced at him for a reaction.

He gave an uncertain nod. "Y-yeah, that sounds possible."

"Exactly. Imagine the unexpected pain, the invisible bleeding in your heart after your best friend turns their back on you. The very same person you trusted just breaks your heart without a second thought; just think about it. After all, the deeper the love, the deeper the pain."

They crossed many shops and cafes. "So that's it? You didn't have a best friend because you thought what will happen if they end up hurting you?"

"You're smart, Jin-ssi," She elbowed him with a satisfied smile. "There were people in my life whom I couldn't stop from hurting me. I had been pained and damaged enough. So having a best friend who may end up hurting me? No thanks."

If more people were as cautious as her in choosing by whom you can get hurt or not; the world would have been filled with less heartbroken people now.

"Who was your best friend?" She asked as soon as they walked to somewhere not crowded, away from the streets.

“Guess!" he replied with a playful grin.

It was unusual of him to ask her to guess. Then he realized he didn’t know the answer to her question and instead of figuring it out, he wanted to know whom she would think as his best friend.

Being challenged by his move, she put her finger under her chin to think as she trailed off with many guesses at once. "Bang PD...?"

He cracked up at her sudden humour.

"Or your members."

That made his laugh come to an end. He grew serious again. Both of them found a nice place to sit for sometime

"So who?"

His smile was too grieving. "My members."

Yoon Min smiled considerately, she took a big courage to pat his left shoulder.

"I had other best friends from high school. But, my members were my best friends. We were more like a family. Though we were different as hell and came from other areas, they managed to see through me and comfort me."

A wave of memories drowned his head. All those laughs and bickerings, all those fun and crazy adventures, those emotional support and words — where did they go?

"Don't say were,” she looked at him with pity. "They are still your best friends."

Seokjin forgot she was an ARMY so she would obviously want all seven of them to stick together through fire and death, though she had no idea how hard it was for him to even think of them. He wondered if they even missed him now.

"I had a friend back then."

Being glad she changed the topic back to herself, he let out a relieved breath and looked at her.

"We met at grade 3. She was this cool, popular girl in our class. Once we sat together by accident. That's when she found me interesting and wanted to be friends. I agreed without a second thought because who wouldn’t want to hang out with a popular girl?

“I found her really funny and awesome so I considered her my best friend. But the whole time, you know, I was the one who saw her as a friend. Well, she didn't. She never even thought of me as a friend. I never mattered to her and she didn't ever bother. She used to look at me with disgust and hate. Sometimes she would come up with nasty ideas to prank me, hurt me or make fun of me. As if I was never a friend to her."

Seokjin saw how her forehead ceased and how her eyes shook with flashbacks.

"But do you know what I did, Jin-ssi? I still waited for her. I endured everything, wrote letters to her, hung out like a servant behind her, did everything she wanted, and waited for her for goddamn 3 years; in hope she would see me as her friend. I just didn't want to lose her.”

She licked her lips and sighed. “It took me years to realise she was a toxic person who treated her friends as peasants and was too selfish to think about others. In grade 7, I finally gave up trying to be her friend.

"Afterwards, God was happy with my decision and blessed me with many good friends; friends that weren't even close to her. Being friends with them made me realize how foolishly I chased her for a friendship that would have never worked out. I learnt my lesson and eventually loved my friends who loved me back. So yeah, that's why I think everyone should be careful while picking a best friend if they don't want to get hurt like me."

He became proud of her since she realized her mistakes and remained strong.

"Do you miss her?"

"Over my dead body."

He laughed lightly before praising her. "That's more like it."

With a proud grin, she looked at her swinging feet. "Love is also like that.

"Before falling in love, you must think of the consequences. Whether there's a possibility you might get hurt and never be able to heal your heart. Whether the person you will love will love you back even a thousand years later. We need to think about our results in pretty much everything first."

Seokjin agreed with her but decided to argue. "But no one ever thinks the worst before liking somebody."

"Yup. I did that too!” giggling, she pointed a finger at herself. “Even though I knew I shouldn't fall in love, though I knew nothing would ever happen between us, though there was a low chance of meeting you...Well, the next moment I remember is I am in love with Kim Seok Jin!" she squealed and cupped her whole face to look like a flower.

He scoffed at her aegyeo. "What did you like in me?" He slightly guessed it was his breathtaking handsome face.

"Your voice."

The remark had him taken aback. He rarely heard people praising his voice and instead, they made documentaries about his facial structure. But for her, it wasn't his face but his voice.

"My v-voice?"

She nodded with a smile. “My first ever BTS song was Best of Me. I was watching a lyrical video when I heard your part in the first verse. Neon naege i segyeui jeonbu gata — yeah that part. It just fascinated me and I was instantly drawn to you.”

Seokjin was highly satisfied with her first impression of him. It wasn't that common for fans to like their idols by their voices instead of their faces or personalities. He never heard of it before. Mostly, people loved his super good looks but a few only ever appreciated his voice.

His mind wandered to a specific thought. It's been years since he heard his own melodic voice. But now that she mentioned her admiration for his voice, he just felt a little prouder at the moment. And more fondness for her.

These days, she was always inside his mind, the picture of her perfect smile and the lovely eyes flashed in front of his eyes every now and then. He found the excitement of finding a friend in his life again. She was the only person he wanted to be around now.  He was certain she could make any of his problems disappear in her own way.

With a shy smile, he decided to admire the night sky for a while. How did he miss such a mysterious beauty all his life? Staring at the twinkling stars, the bright pale moon, the faint tail of the Milky Way hiding behind grey clouds sometimes brought him infinite peace. He never imagined he would like the sky like he did now.

Just when he was admiring the beautiful black painting with little white dots sprinkled everywhere, he noticed something different. In one part of the sky, a blinking light began to move slowly, walking to its new destination.

Seokjin gasped and immediately nudged the other. "Hey look, a shooting star!"

Yoon Min was quick to scan the sky in search of that shooting star. He pointed his index finger at it but she didn't exclaim as much as he thought she would.

She slumped her shoulders down and deadpanned. "That's a plane, Jin-ssi. See the red blinking light?"

The realization almost made him want to slap and bury himself under the ground. What an embarrassment! His ears were red but thankfully, it was too dark for her to notice.

She straightened her back. "Thinking about it, let's try to find a shooting star. When stargazing, you can expect to see a shooting star every 10-15 minutes. This is an average assumption so let's try scanning every part of the sky.”

Reading his thoughts somehow, she twisted her words a little. "The one who sees a shooting star first gets to wish upon it.”

"Come on, stars can't do that."

She raised her eyebrows at his question, a bit offended. "Stop being so logical and do what I say," It sounded more like a command from a kid.

He raised his hands in defence. He rolled his eyes before fixing them on the sky. She smiled in victory, then also locked her eyes with the sky. Now both of them looked like two aliens left behind on Earth by their species and they missed their home so they were staring at the sky.

"Shooting stars look like stars that quickly shoot across the sky, but they are not actually stars. It's a small piece of rock or dust that hits Earth's atmosphere from space. It moves so fast that it heats up and glows as it moves through the atmosphere."

So basically, they aren't even stars. So why waste his time, wishing on one? He prayed she shouldn’t read his mind because he knew she loved to do these things and sometimes, he only wanted to see her smile.

"I know what you're thinking. Why wish upon mere stones?"

He widened his eyes, being surprised again by her extraordinary talent of reading his mind.

The girl sighed, which made him feel guilty and thought of explaining to her. But he didn't know what to say, what words to use.

"There are various ways we can regard something in each way, Jin-ssi. Like this sky. To us, this is a blissful creation of God. This night sky is painted with thousands of stars and galaxies and clouds. But to some, it's rather a depressing sight, maybe a painful observation,” She paused to form her words, looking at the sky. "They think the night sky is the graveyard of million stars. So in their pov, aren't we too selfish and heartless to enjoy the view of their deaths?"

Her words caused an ache in his heart, pressing goosebumps against his skin and through his veins. Just how could different povs change the entire scene to something else?

Yoon Min continued with a soft smile. "So to some, wishing on stars may seem meaningless. I don't blame them though; they're absolutely right. But to others, their only hope may be finding a shooting star and wishing upon it. People like me who likes to believe in fictional phrases for the improvement of our minds. So let's not hold on, thinkers about what is real and what is not. Let's focus on what makes us happy."

It didn't take him a second to nod. Seokjin did understand her point and he also thought whatever she said was right. She was always right.

She smiled again and clapped her hands once. "Shall we start?"

Seeing her innocent grin, he couldn't stop forming a smile and nodded his head. So both of them again watched every part of the sky, hoping to catch a shooting star to get a wish fulfilled.

"What're you gonna wish for?" Seokjin being the nosy one whispered into her ear, keeping his gaze locked with the stars.

"I'm gonna wish for you to be happy again."

He didn't know if she was joking or being serious. Or showing off. She never seemed to look like that. He always saw her stick to her words, and be pure, kind, honest. She was very honest with him especially. She told him she always wanted him to know every detail of her so that's why, she opened up to him freely. Also with the intention, that he would be inspired to open up to her as well.

So Seokjin didn't entirely trust her. If he was the same guy from 5 years ago, he would've treasured her so much already, but he also treasured and loved his fans more than his life. They ended up breaking their blooming promises and betrayed him to bits. What guarantee there was that she would not do the same thing?

He watched in wonder how she was so happy to make a wish for him. Was it possible that some people are born to give more love than they will ever get back in return? Because Yoon Min represented that idea so accurately.

She loved him more than she would ever receive from him.

☆THE FAULT IN OUR STARS☆

THANK YOU FOR READING
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A/N: Sorry for updating so late. College life is so exhausting!