Caged by the pressures of academic demands and everyday life challenges, the worn out university students were on the verge of going insane. The party was the outlet for them to discharge the heck out of their stress and go crazy with no thoughts. After the university staff inspected the place and left, the house started dancing with ear-blasting club music and the seniors brought out liquors out of thin air using magic.

The social ones who were craving stimulation surrounded themselves with those who were deficient in interaction, and babbled on and on about their exaggerated mundane activities. Some of them brought in gossips about their peers whom they wanted to bring down. Those who felt the same flamed the rumors. Those who gave no shit about anything they were yapping about circumvented the rooms, staying away from people's footsteps. In just five minutes, they wanted nothing but leave that place.

No one would want to waste their time, obviously.

For Eunsook, it was not a waste of time. Oh no, as long as her friends were enjoying, she was willing to stay around them and feel the time flow through her fingertips.

When she came out of the bathroom after washing off the juice someone spilled on her, she somehow witnessed a girl getting dragged past her by a guy. To a normal person, it would not look like she was being dragged. But to Eunsook, the girl's face was contorted in a mix of worry and panic and agitation, her form was crouched, her hands were tugged inwards to her chest, and one of them was being gripped tightly by the guy. His expression was calm but eerie. Eunsook was somehow very acquainted with such vibes.

She strode towards the two and gripped the guy's hand that was holding the girl's. Both of them stopped and turned to her.

"Can you let her go? I don't think you should be dragging someone like this when she's uncomfortable," Eunsook said with firmness in her tone and expression.

The guy scoffed while the girl looked away, afraid that the situation could escalate into something worse.

"Who the fuck do you think you are? Don't tell me what to do. You're making it sound like she's not into me," he sneered and snatched his hand off with the girl's before continuing to walk.

Eunsook gripped his shoulder and pulled him backwards, making him stumble and curse. "I told you to let her go."

"This bitch is pissing me off, seriously," he snapped and shoved Eunsook, making her cough and fly back. "Get lost!"

The girl was startled and shaken, but could not do anything else but watch with wide eyes and feel guilty.

Eunsook stepped forward and glared at the guy. "You're the one pissing me off. Leave her alone, asshole!"

He scoffed and approached her with a belittling expression marred with annoyance. "You looking for trouble? How fearless are you to get on my nerves when no one's around?"

"You want to hit me? Go ahead, I'm not afraid of an asshole like you," Eunsook challenged him, undeterred, balling her fists to ready for punches.

He suddenly grabbed her face by her chin. Twitching in disgust, Eunsook was about to punch his gut when a familiar voice interrupted them.

"Hey! What's going on here?!"

His hand was smacked away and she was pulled back into a tall and firm body by her waist in a blink. She turned her head and looked up at Jungkook who was seconds away from grabbing the guy's collar and throwing him to the wall.

"Who the heck are you?"

"That's what I wanna ask," Jungkook retorted, tightening his arm around Eunsook.

Eunsook had an increased courage at his appearance and pulled the girl towards her, hugging her sides to shield her from the fuming guy. "We can fight if that's what you want. I'm not backing down."

The commotion reached the others' ears and some came up to see what was happening and murmuring to each other. The guy looked at them and the three in front of him before spitting and walking off. "Don't think I'll forget what happened."

Eunsook glared at him as he left and Jungkook looked at her in worry.

"Why are you putting yourself in danger?"

She chuckled. "You saw what happened? Don't worry I would've kicked him in the balls and stomped on his disgusting ass." Honestly, her legs were shaking throughout the whole exchange, but when Jungkook appeared, her fear seemed to be lifted off.

"I'm sorry," the girl in Eunsook's hold suddenly muttered, facing down. "Because of me..."

"What are you saying? You have no faults here," Eunsook said, assuring her, and let her go. "He might not let you go like this, but if anything happens, don't hesitate to fight back and ask for help. It might seem difficult, but..."

After a moment, she nodded and thanked her with a rather emotional gaze, finally meeting Eunsook's eyes. It made Eunsook feel relieved that she did not ignore her gut feeling. They parted ways and Eunsook was finally able to focus on Jungkook's hold around her that was still there when they were going downstairs. His styled hair and loose fitting white shirt were not helping.

"I'm okay," she said first.

"I really admire you standing up for that person... but I hope you think about your safety, too," Jungkook said in a low tone, mulling over what happened.

"It's okay, I would've beaten him up if anything happened," she declared loudly.

Jungkook looked at her with a soft smile. "I know you would."

She smiled back and enjoyed the comfort he always gave her. Having him by her side put her at ease. His hold that was nerve-wrecking at first was soothing now. Unknowingly, her body was leaning into his as was his into hers.

From the corner of her eyes, Eunsook spotted a guitar propped up against the wall and tugged Jungkook's shirt. "Do you know how to play guitar?"

"A little? Why?"

She slipped from his grasp and ran towards the guitar to bring it to him with sparkling eyes. He took it with a chuckle and looked for a chair to sit on. After settling on a wooden chair, he pulled her to sit in front of her and checked the tune of the guitar.

"Don't make fun of me if I suck, okay?" He grinned, making her laugh.

"How can I?"

After a deep breath, he strummed the guitar with his pouty lips parted in concentration, and started humming when Eunsook sang along quietly, swaying from side to side. The others around them were focused on him as the guitar sounds grew louder in contrast to the music coming from the speakers. Eunsook's gaze moved from the strings and his fingers upward to his face and watched his eyes move over the guitar and lips move as he sang. Mesmerized.

Jungkook suddenly stopped playing and it took her a few seconds to snap out of it and meet his eyes that were looking at her bashfully. As if seeking her approval.

"That was amazing," she said, the only compliment she could think of at that moment.

He pursed his lips and scratched his cheek. "I try..."

Before a few girls could come onto him, Jimin came up to him with a high-five with Saejin following from behind. He asked him when he had arrived and greeted Eunsook, and Saejin did the same, waving at the two with a cheerful smile.

One thing led to another and the four were dragged into a truth or dare game with some of their classmates mixed together. Eunsook downed a few drinks as she could not do it sober while Saejin had trouble just having a sip which made Jimin assure her that she did not need to drink. That made one of the other guys target Saejin to make her drink if she chose dare.

The bottle pointed to Eunsook and the one who spun it took the chance to ask her if she was dating anyone. She said no, making him swing his arm up in the air with a whoop while she thought it was weird as if she would agree to date him. When it pointed to her again, inappropriate questions were thrown at her to which she was not surprised but very disgusted and tried to evade. Then they had the audacity to flirt with her.

"What's your type?"

"Not you."

When the bottle pointed at Saejin, she was pressured to kiss someone there. Most of the men there were excited to know whether she was going to kiss them or not, but Saejin crawled towards Eunsook and kissed her cheek, shocking everyone including Eunsook.

"Hey! That's not acceptable! That's a girl and a kiss on the cheek?!" A poor excuse of a man complained when his ego was bruised.

Saejin shrugged, not fazed in the slightest. She was smiling throughout the game. "No one said anything otherwise."

"She's right," Jimin defended. "You guys are a little too much, you know?"

"Not little, but very," Saejin pointed out and grabbed Eunsook's hand to pull her up. "I want to talk with this girl I like, so we're excusing ourselves now."

Eunsook wordlessly followed her in a daze while the others questioned Saejin's behavior.

"Is she gay?"

Jungkook and Jimin were relieved that they left the game that was slowly escalating into something disgusting. They took the chance to say screw the game and point out how the guys needed to keep themselves in check. The other girls were starting to grow uncomfortable as well.

When they found a quieter spot, Saejin turned to Eunsook with a smile and asked if she was alright. She apologized for kissing her to which Eunsook was pleasantly surprised.

"It's really okay! I'm glad it was me," she blabbered, making Saejin laugh.

"Yay! It's because they've been pestering you and I like you so I was thinking of taking you away."

Eunsook never expected someone like Saejin to do something like that and she actually did. She reassessed everything she thought about her and admired her beauty for the first time from up close like that. Very soft features, delicate and innocent beauty like an angel's, and her demeanor was accentuating it. She could be a subject for her paintings, she thought.

"W-Why are you staring at me like that?" Saejin fidgeted. "Is there something on my face?"

Eunsook jumped backwards. "Oh no no! It's just, I paint and I was just examining your features as a painter!"

Saejin's eyes sparkled. "Oh! Can you show me your paintings?"

Eunsook took out her phone and scrolled through some photos, making her jaw drop.

"Wow! You're really talented!"

One topic led to another and the two got to know each other better, rewriting the previous impressions they had of each other which were flawed. Even if there was a deep deeply rooted aversion to each other, they admired each other and enjoyed the conversation that only seemed to stretch. Saejin invited her to go skating together sometime and wanted to invite the others, too.

What Temperance did not expect was how close they would become. She watched the four spend time together and grow closer naturally.

They went to the amusement park, enjoying the attractions together, putting on childish headbands on each other, holding hands on scary rides and taking pictures together. But just as she expected, stomachaches and other temporary illnesses came to them fast.

Still, despite that, they tried to enjoy their time together. Jimin feeding Saejin cotton candy and her protecting him in the haunted house. Jungkook and Eunsook stealing glances at each other at the ferris wheel. Temperance watched them and her thoughts never ceased.

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Giving a long chapter to make up for the time I was away 🥰🫶
Are there people who are still reading~