Making up the room wasn't something he did on a regular note, but now that he had an acquaintance, the kind who'd point his brattiness out, he had taken on adding it in his routine. He had specifically ignored his precious sleep for that. And maybe this wasn't as bad as he thought it was. Probably because he had always been occupied by something or just simply procrastinating, he had forgotten the essence of living on his own.

The little details that he had to fulfil every day in college had faded away like dust and he hadn't seen that coming, ironically. Though calculated, Jeon Jungkook was eventually just a human who was bound to the hardships and changes of life, too.

He was smiling to himself, thinking of the gold olden days until he felt like he heard something. He paused for a second, looked around and just to be sure, trod towards Youra's room.

He knocked on the wood, waited a little longer than he'd naturally and finally knocked again. "You're good?" His voice sedate.

No response. He realised she must've slept since they really did have a long conversation and she seemed tired but he couldn't resist the urge to have an answer and so he tried turning the doorknob, thinking he'd be doing so to no avail. But to his surprise, he found the door open.

"Youra?" He asked before he could enter the dim-lit room. Upon entering he saw her fragile form struggling and gasping for air, beads of sweat had adorned her pretty face and her brows were squinted in her sleep. Her form shuddered and her lips seemed to be moving in continuous cries.

It took him a split second to get out of his daze and he leapt over to the bed. His hand instinctively held her sweaty ones whilst he called for her repeatedly.

Three calls and she had thrown her arms around him as soon as he entered her vision, catching him off guard for a moment, but gradually he allowed himself to unwind.

"Don't worry, everything's fine." He whispered, smoothing her hair delicately with one hand while the other rested above her hip.

She had held onto him so tightly for the earliest few seconds that he felt worried, an internal conflict starting within him, over the fact that if he should ask the reason just yet or not. It was clear that ever since she had heard about her mother's death her behaviour had become strikingly dull.

He felt warm drops land on the skin that was left uncovered by the fabric he wore and his arms instinctively held her tighter. Wasn't this a situation he had faced earlier too? Only this time he was on the consoling side.

A memory flashed before him, he could see himself struggling and then falling in the arms of the person he found first. It was a friend. Yoongi. And that was the last day he had really opened about his problems to a friend. He had grown into a man much more sophisticated probably because of the continuous irrelevant advice that he'd receive in place of consolation, or maybe it was something else. Maybe it was all in his brain, maybe that was how people were supposed to help one but he never understood why did the advice come before he could feel safe within himself. 'You need to compromise.' 'In the further run, it'll only create a problem for you.' 'What do you mean by that?' 'Don't say that, that is not who you are.' 'No, Jungkook, you cannot be like that.'

He realised those were meant for his own good, but how could it be good if he didn't feel like himself anymore.

His hands hadn't left her form and although he wasn't as good at consoling, he knew how to give time. His words of comfort and warmth had turned into quiet whispers and so had her cries subsided. She didn't quiver as much and neither could he hear her breathing heavily.

When she pulled away, his eyes met with her wide, glossy ones and she almost screeched. "I am so sorry!" She initiated, lunging at him and using her sleeve to wipe away the moisture from his neck. He had muttered to let it be but she had insisted otherwise. Another gasp left her mouth when she realised that she had accidentally dirtied his cloth with her snot. "I... Oh my god! I'm sorry."

"What is it, this time?" He questioned, unaware of the underlying present for him.

"I am- Oh god, this is so embarrassing! I might," She clicked her tongue, looking at him apologetically before continuing, "have snot...ed and-"

"Don't worry about that." He smiled at her reassuringly.

Silence befell and it took him a moment to realise that silence had always been comfortable with her.

"I saw... I should've told you about these earlier but- I saw my mother. She wasn't responding to my calls. There was blood and she... She was lying near the stairs and I called for her so many times but she didn't even..." Her breathing wavered as she worded out her nightmare to him.

Upon noticing the change, he held her in his arms once again and she complied, allowing herself to relax in his warm hug. "It was all a bad dream, don't bother much about it."

"But what if-"

"Shh, not now. You need to sleep first." He mumbled. She nodded and pulled away, once again, thanking him for a reason he couldn't decipher but he smiled, nonetheless.

He retreated back to the door, asking her to tug herself warmly in the bed and drift to a calming sleep. "If anything, call me, alright? I'll be there in the living room."

She nodded, lying down comfortably on the bed and closing her eyes. "Jungkook?"

"Yeah?"

"There's one more."

"What?" He waited near the door.

"Nightmare." He immediately entered back into the room.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Yes. It was different from this one. More on a calmer side." He nodded, sitting beside her. "It was a fine night and I think I returned from work. I had entered my house and after getting rid of my shoes I went into the kitchen to drink some water. Then I heard a scream and-"

"And?"

"And I woke up."

"Oh." He understood what they were and it was only natural if she had been remembering things gradually. Nightmares, the site had told him, was one of the many ways by which bad memories came back to a person who had been through something devastating. How devastating? That depended on how the person was to react to it. And going by Youra's state earlier that dusk, he knew it was terrifying for her. Although it was just a fraction of the tragedy, he knew it would be much more ruinous once it all came to her.

"How about we go somewhere tomorrow. What do you think?" He suggested.

"Huh?"

"You know, to get your mind off this a little, let's go to... A park? Movie? To eat?" He muttered to himself, knowing it might be quite a thing for her since she wouldn't usually get to walk around freely as a celebrity. "Or maybe all those, we'll see to that later."

"Alright." She chuckled softly, wishing him a good night and surprisingly slumber took her in faster than it would and that too, in the most beautiful way ever.

⌘

"Do you wish to eat something specific?" He asked, snaking his way through the traffic.

"Not really... I don't even remember half of the dish names." She answered, staring at the busy street and the people rushing by.

Her eyes landed on her face once again, only this time her prettiness didn't seem as convincing to her. Another billboard and she saw herself smile beautifully, but she could recognise it was fake. It wasn't even near her real smile. It looked so... bored, forced, overly polished. And the world didn't even notice that.

"How about we go to my favourite place then?"

"I'd love to." She smiled at his side profile knowing he wouldn't notice but then his lips lifted at the corners and for the record, she felt warmed up by that small action.

After hours of walking and talking, definitely filled with more minutes of stillness, they had decided to watch a movie but it turned out to be so boring that they had to leave early. Ever since then, traffic had been attending their stay on the roads and the red and the green lights had been their entertainers.

It took him a few rough turns and they had ended up near a bistro, that seemed elegant enough for a wonderful and nice dinner. Contrarily, it was quiet down there, away from the busy roads of the city.

"I like it here," She voiced out, stepping out of the car.

"It's a good one, I've been coming here for a while now."

Her feet stopped to stare at the moonlit scenery around her. She took a deep breath, finally taking off her mask after a long day because the man hadn't let her do so for hours. "Safety first, I don't want anyone to recognise you out there." The words sounded so real in her memories that she had almost put her mask back on until he took it away from her.

"You wouldn't need that here." He smiled at her and snickered once she acted dramatically grateful.

The place was almost empty and reasonably so, the night had passed away swiftly enough. They took a seat in the most secluded corner and he had made her sit in a way so that she wasn't in the line of vision of anyone in that place. After ordering for himself, he suggested to her some of his favourite delicacies and told her that he believed she would like them as well. She took his advice and complied with whatever he ordered for her.

Food had been served to them after a short while and the chattering had set off once again.

"Tell me," He said, "what did you like the most until now?"

"As in food or anything at all. Because it's been only a few days."

"Whatever suits you."

"Chicken, in food, absolutely and your neighbours, in totality." She smiled mentioning the old couple.

"They're sweet, indeed. How about staying with me? I mean... You know, I hope you're having a good enough time because I'm not always there to talk to you and you're usually alone and it might you know, become-" He didn't realise he had started to ramble, he felt like his words weren't said in a proper manner until she laughed.

"I'm fine there and I'm really beholden, Jungkook. It isn't boring, trust me."

"That's a relief." He mumbled to himself, pushing against the material of his seat.

"I like your eyes." She said and he coughed loudly.

"Sorry?" He asked, drinking some water whilst she tried to hold back her laughter.

"Are you good?" He nodded to that still staring at her while wiping his lips with a napkin, waiting for something to come out. "Your eyes, they're very expressive and I really like that. The way they become wide, like they did right now but then they become sharper than a knife when you're focussed on your work. When you talk, it's like your eyes express what you're really feeling. It's just so... magical."

He looked around for a moment before he thanked her and was obliged to the Universe at that moment that their conversation had led to another topic.

On their ride back home, she said something while looking out the window that disturbed him a little and he knew it bothered her a lot, but the silence was once again their companion.

"I wish I could go back to my normal life."

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