[ PRESENT DAY ]

She woke up to another nightmare, gasping for air. She glances to her right to see Taehyung fast asleep, and she could only sigh with relief, falling back to the bed gently. Looking at him, she trails her fingers across his cheek, and he slowly opens his eyes. 

"Another nightmare?" He asks her through hooded eyes. She nods her head, and he wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him. She snuggles into his chest and soon enough, she hears him fall back asleep, snores getting louder and louder.

She was terrified of her past. She was terrified about Jungkook stumbling into her life. There was no way around it. She couldn't lie about how she felt about Jungkook being her client, about him crawling back into her life without warning. She was scared, she was scared that him coming back was almost like a threat.

"You look like you're out of it."

"Because I am." Taehyung chuckled before he sat in front of her and rested his chin on the palm of his hand. He had just come home from a late night shift at the cafe only to stumble across a drunk Sori sitting at a table all by herself in front of a convenience store. His eyes had trailed down to the three bottles of alcohol that she had already finished, and he came just in time to snatch the fourth bottle away from her hands.

"Since when did you start drinking so much alcohol?" He asked her and she pouted her lips, her eyes bloodshot red and squinting right back at him. 

"Does it matter to you?" She whined. "It wouldn't matter to anyone, no one loves me... they all leave me behind."

"You're shitfaced drunk right now and it's hilarious." He laughed, "as much as I need to take you home before you start throwing up in my car, let me just sit here and laugh at how ridiculous you are right now."

Suddenly, she belted out into a huge cry, beginning to sob loudly that it could wake up the whole entire neighborhood at this ungodly hour. He hushed her, but she only cries louder.

"Jungkook-ah, why did you leave me?! Am I not good enough?!"

He watched her as she continued to cry, and he could only pull her into a tight embrace. His heart was yearning for her, screaming at her that he was waiting for her to wake up and realize that he would do anything just to get her to love him back. He ran his fingers through her long hair as she continued to cry into the soft linen of his sweater.

Taehyung peeps an eye open, secretly staring at her as she stared up at the ceiling with a blank face. He can't help but worry about her. He could see the gears turning in her head, but she was just too good at hiding it with blank expressions. But he could read her like a book, from the front to the back, he knew everything about her... especially when she was deep in thought.

However, the last time he saw her in that state - lost but somehow deep in thought - was when Jungkook had left her.

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"Babe, I'm so sorry I couldn't make it to the meetings with Sori for the past few weeks, I've just been too busy with work."

Jungkook turns his gaze away from the TV screen towards Hyori, who had just looked up from her laptop. He could only give her a small smile before turning back towards the TV. Hyori frowns, placing her laptop next to her before getting up and heading towards him.

"You're mad, aren't you?" She asks him and he raises an eyebrow.

"Mad about what?"

"Mad that you're the only one making all the decisions about the wedding so far." Hyori replies, and Jungkook could only shrug his shoulders. "You don't even have to lie to me, Jungkook, I know you're upset that I'm not making an effort."

"And I won't lie to you," he mumbles, "I'm a bit disappointed that your work is literally stopping your life, basically. Sometimes, when you don't attend the meetings with me it makes me wonder whether you want to—"

"Whether I want to marry you or not?" Hyori stares at him with fear suddenly washing over her visage, and he hesitates. "Do you really think that?"

"I mean," he scratches the back of his neck, "how can I not think that if you haven't been making any effort to cancel your meeting or to move dates for client meetups around so that you can come to the meetings with me? This is our wedding, Hyori, which means we have to make the effort and not just me."

"But you know that I just can't cancel meetings with clients and my co-workers or else I'll lose my job, and we both need a solid future after the wedding, don't we?" She argues, "I don't want to argue with you, Jungkook, especially when it comes to work and our own future together."

"Well, I don't want to argue with you either." He turns towards the screen. "All I'm asking is for you to be my fiance for once, not the businesswoman that has a busy schedule and can't even make time for her own fiance."

She falls silent, he was right. This was one of the little things that Hyori hated about Jungkook. He was easy at hiding his emotions and what he was thinking about, but whenever he got quiet, she always knew that something is up. She also hated that when he finally opens up after hiding his emotions, he becomes so straight-forward that his words become the harsh reality.

"So do you want to marry me or not?" She whispers, her eyes tearing up and he turns towards her, tough face and all. 

"Of course I want to marry you, Hyori." He replies, "but the real question is whether you want to marry me or not? Because if you do want to, you should re-evaluate on how to make a commitment."

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"Is this seat taken?"

Sori glances up to see none other than Jungkook, and she slowly shakes her head in reply. He smiles before sitting right across from her at the booth, placing his cup of coffee onto the table. 

"This whole situation feels so familiar, but I'm glad that it's actually not a meeting." Sori laughs before looking back at her laptop screen. "What brings you here on this gloomy Wednesday afternoon, Jeon Jungkook-ssi?"

"I just wanted to get time off of life and just... think." He replies after taking a sip of his coffee. 

"And somehow I was here so you chose to bring me into this?" She teases, and he snorts. "I'm just here trying to organize some files and reply to some emails and you decide to bother me with your whole life scenario?"

He rolls his eyes. "Do you really want me to go?"

"No, you can stay. I was just joking around." She chuckles before shutting her laptop and moving it to the side. "So, why so glum, chum?"

"The whole wedding has been bothering me," he began, but before he could utter another sentence, he pushes his cup of coffee to the side and extends his hand out to her. "I think we should talk about this somewhere else, wanna come with?"

She furrows her eyebrows in confusion as the two of them left the cafe, leaving the table with nothing but Jungkook's cup of coffee that was left untouched. She follows him down the sidewalk, with him leading them towards a nearby garden.

She only lets out a laugh and he turns over his shoulder to raise an eyebrow questioningly.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Out of all places, you choose a garden?" She asks him and he shrugs his shoulders.

"I've always wanted to come here, but Hyori is allergic to flowers." Jungkook replies, "besides, it's been a while since I've actually been around flowers."

The two of them sit on the marble benches situated around the water fountain, and Sori places her things in between the two of them. He lets out a sigh as he looks up at the clouds. It looked as if it was about to rain, but peaks of the sun were seeping through the cloud cover.

"So, why so glum, chum?" She asks again when the two of them have settled in their seats.

"The wedding, Hyori, everything." He replies, and Sori looks at him. "I'm pretty sure that can give you the whole picture of my own dilemma."

"No, not really." She shakes her head. "The two of you look like you're in love with each other, so why are you suddenly so conflicted with everything in relation to your own relationship with her?"

"I'm beginning to question why I decided to marry her, why I wanted to marry her." He trails off, and Sori listens intently. "She hasn't been putting much effort into this marriage and it's making me question whether or not she wants to invest in this marriage and be my wife."

"Ah, I see where you're coming from," she nods her head understandingly, "I've heard this a lot from my clients, especially from clients like you in which their fiance doesn't actually show up to the meetings."

"Exactly!" He exclaims. "She doesn't come to the meetings, she comes home late, and it's all because of her work. Her own job is the only thing keeping her away from all of this."

"I think," she hums, "if her job is occupying her own life right now, she isn't truly ready to commit to a relationship that will last forever. But I'm pretty sure she has her own reasons as to why she wants to marry you, she must love you very much."

"Do you think so?" He whispers. Sori looks at him with concern to see his eyes start to glaze with tears. She bites her lip, hesitating to rub his back, but as she gains more courage, she finally rests her hand on his shoulder with a reassuring smile. 

"I think so, I mean, she said yes when you asked her to marry you, didn't she?" She laughs, and he shrugs his shoulders. "Maybe you're just doubting her because she's just been too busy with work."

"Or maybe it's because I haven't been in such a serious relationship or maybe it's because I haven't been so serious with someone... period." He sighs, "the last time I've been so serious with someone when it came to my love life was you—but that was years ago."

Her eyes widen, and she looks away from him. He notices how her hand leaves his shoulder, but he immediately grabs it to stop it from leaving. She turns towards him when she feels his hand touch hers, and she raises an eyebrow questioningly.

"I think things would have been different if I stayed," he whispers. "But that was years ago."

"I think," she begins, and she notices how he's staring intently into her eyes. "I think things would have been different if you listened to me."

"But I was an idiot." He frowns. "And I still am."

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a/n: hello! it's been a long time since i've updated this story, so i made sure that i would write a lot for this update! anyways, how have you guys been? i just wanted to warn you that the chapters after this one will be really angsty.. sorry :( but i swear everything will all end very well, and end off on a good note :) i hope you liked this update! until then, i'll talk to you guys later!