[ THIRD PERSON ] 

She takes her second glass of wine of the night, taking her first sip as she watches everyone mingle and catch up with each other on the dance floor. Minjee's wedding had just ended and the reception had just started, everyone still rushing through the doors to find their tables only to be distracted by friends they haven't seen since God knows how long.

But here she was, already at her seat, making her way towards the bar and taking her second glass of alcohol. 

As for Jungkook? The two of them had separated after the wedding, the two of them being pried away from each other by Yoongi and Minjee to make their way to the reception venue.

"Already getting drunk?" She turns around to see Jungkook sitting next to her at the bar.

She shakes her head, "I'm not into alcohol. This might be my last glass, anyways."

"But the party hasn't even started," he chuckles. 

"And it hasn't ended either," she shrugs her shoulders. 

He stares at her as she takes another sip of her wine. He finds himself getting lost in another trance, her beauty completely distracting him. He could only smile sadly to himself.

I don't deserve you. 

"Let's get this celebration started!" Minjee suddenly exclaims as she enters the venue with a new dress on. Sori smiles at her best friend, dancing along with her husband. 

Jungkook looks at Minjee and her husband, then back at Sori. Sori had a small smile spread across her lips, but as Sori takes another sip of her wine, her smile slowly falters. Biting her lip, she suddenly downs the whole glass, letting out a sigh as she slams the glass back down onto the countertop.

"They look good together, don't they?" She says her thoughts out loud, he raises an eyebrow at her. "Don't they?"

"They do." He nods his head in agreement. "I wonder how they both settled on spending the rest of their lives together."

"Me too." 

As an awkward silence suddenly fills the air, Jungkook starts scratching the back of his neck nervously. She begins fiddling with her fingers, and he sighs.

The two of them glance at each other, mumbling, "are you seeing someone?"

Sori quickly clears her throat, looking away from him. On the other hand, his eyes are still on her, and before she had even asked the same question he had asked her, he already had an answer. He had an answer three months ago.

"No," he replies, "it's still you, Sori."

She glances at him with unreadable eyes. He looks intently into her eyes to look for a hint, or some sort of thought that would tell him what she was feeling or what she was thinking. But he couldn't. She was completely unreadable.

"Sori?"

The two of them look towards Taehyung who had waved at them. Jungkook watches her as she slowly smiles brightly at the man, then glancing at Yoojung and scooping her up into her arms. He feels his heart wrench at the sight; at the sight of Yoojung in Sori's arms, and Taehyung hugging her side.

Maybe I was right. I don't deserve you. 

"I was looking all over for the two of you but I couldn't find you guys at the church! It's nice seeing you here now, are we all at the same table?" 

Jungkook starts to drown out their conversation, and all he could do to stop the tears from forming in his eyes was get up from his seat and move away from them. He brings the camera to his eyes and begins taking pictures of the newly wedded couple. 

As he maneuvers through the dance floor, he continues taking pictures. But every time he takes a picture, he would find himself making Sori as his subject. Through the lens, she's smiling widely at Yoojung as she bops her nose, making Taehyung laugh. 

"And so I'm guessing that you and Taehyung have set things straight with each other, huh?"

Jungkook pulls away from his camera as he glances at a familiar woman standing about a metre away. He tilts his head in confusion, and she lets out a soft giggle.

"You look oddly familiar.." He trails and she nods her head.

"Jaeun," she mumbles, shaking his hand, "the girl that stopped Taehyung from punching you to death on his front lawn. Does it ring a bell?"

"Ah," he scratches the back of his neck, "that's why you look so familiar."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Question?" He mumbles.

"Have you and Taehyung settled down? Or are you both still fighting over her?" She questions him, and Jungkook shrugs his shoulders. "You don't know?"

"It wouldn't matter if we settled down or not," he says softly, "I've been nothing but selfish, I ruined their relationship, I don't deserve her."

"And what makes you think that?" 

"Look at them," he sighs, "he's clearly still in love with her and would drop everything if he was ever given the chance to be with her again.. as for me? The chances are slim. Why? I've done nothing but ruin their lives."

"I think you think too low of yourself, Jungkook-ssi." She shrugs her shoulders.

"It's the truth."

"But if you look deeper into her soul and her heart, you can easily find the answer. You can find the answer to all your questions and doubts." She explains, "the only thing making everything blurry for you to see these answers are your insecurities and your low self-esteem."

"And how would you know that she's still in love with me?" He laughs bitterly.

"It's simple. When you came back into her life, she slowly realized that the possibility of still being in love with you will ruin her relationship with Taehyung." She replies.

"I―"

"If she was truly in love with Taehyung, you stepping into her life again wouldn't have ever been a problem to her, it wouldn't have ruined her relationship." 

❁ ❁ ❁

"Have you fixed things with Jungkook?"

She glances at Jungkook, who was busy taking pictures of Minjee and her husband. With Yoojung still in her arms, she shrugs her shoulders. 

"I've been waiting for the right time to tell him the truth," she replies.

Taehyung smiles, "I mean, you have all the time in the world, there's no need to rush."

"But what if I'm too late?" She questions him.

"I don't think you'd ever be too late, Sori. He looks like he's sold everything just for you."

"Where's Jaeun-unnie?" Yoojung suddenly asks.

Sori glances at Yoojung and bops her nose, hearing Taehyung laugh at the cute gesture. Sori glances at Taehyung with a sly grin.

"Finally met someone new? By someone new, meaning, Yoojung's teacher?" 

"N-No, we're just―friends. We're friends." Taehyung replies sheepishly.

"Doesn't seem like it." She teases.

"We're just friends, I just find her.. pretty."

"Taehyung-appa thinks that she's very cute, even when she's teaching us! He came to class yesterday to drop off my lunch and he even made lunch for her―"

"Yoojung, what did I say about rambling too much?" Taehyung shyly scolds her.

"Appa, it's true! Sori-eomma, he visited Jaeun, he brought her lunch and he even got her flowers!" Yoojung exclaims.

"Friends, huh?" Sori grins. 

"The kid is lying."

  ❁ ❁ ❁  

Her eyes search for Jungkook throughout the crowd of guests, but she only frowns when she can't seem to find him anywhere. She sighs, grabbing her things and saying a few farewells to her friends from high school, and to Minjee, who was already getting a bit too drunk.

As she steps out of the venue, she searches through the parking lot to find Jungkook's car. When she immediately spots it, she starts heading towards it. But as she gets closer and closer, she starts hearing soft sobs from the back of the car. 

She slowly approaches a drunk Jungkook, sitting against the back of his car, face in his hands as he lets out soft sobs. Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, she takes a seat beside him on the ground.

"Jungkook, are you crying?" She whispers.

He looks up from his hands, and she takes notice of his eyes that looked blurry, drunk, and sad. Frowning at his current state, she wipes away his tears. He leans towards her soft hands, closing his eyes.

"I don't deserve you," he says softly. "I don't deserve your love, you don't deserve my love, you don't deserve me, I don't deserve you."

"I think you're just too drunk, Jungkook, I should get you home―"

"I don't want to go home knowing that I haven't done something about these thoughts of you. Three months away from you, three months of not seeing you, killed me." He whispers, "and when I saw you tonight―"

"Jungkook―"

"When I saw you tonight, you were almost like that living reminder that I'm just a selfish asshole that doesn't deserve to be loved. When I saw you tonight, the thoughts of us being together again and the thoughts of wanting to love you started to bug me again."

"What are you talking about―"

"And then I tried to think of ways to approach you and tell you that after three months, even if it were to be longer, I'm still fucking in love with you and it fucking hurts. When I saw you with Taehyung and Yoojung reuniting again, fuck, I knew that there was no way I could ruin it. He's still in love with you, and I know it."

"You're drunk―"

"I'm still in love with you, and I don't know what to do about it."

She stares at him and notices how he's slowly becoming sober after his thoughts were released. He gulps nervously, and she caresses his cheek softly.

"Jungkook," she mumbles, "I'm still in love with you."

"What―"

"Three months without you was truly a torture. You thought you were the only one suffering? I felt like I was dying. I was starting to regret having time to think about it because I already knew my answer."

"Are you saying that―"

"And whether you're sober or drunk right now, I just want you to know that I'm still in love―"

"Sorry about what happened to us during senior year."

She falls silent, "that's it?"

"And maybe I'll pay the price you paid for those yellow tulips too."

"I'm so lost.." She whispers.

"Sorry about leaving you without an explanation, sorry for coming back into your life when you were already taken by someone else, sorry for being selfish, sorry for―"

"Jungkook, I'm still in love with you. Do I have to spell it out for you?" She chuckles.

"Sorry for not showing up that night at the In-N-Out―wait, what?"

"I'm still in love with you, asshole." She bursts out into soft giggles.

"Are you serious?" He asks, completely shocked. "Are you actually serious?"

"You don't believe me? Okay, fine, I'll just go then." She says teasingly, but trying to at with a straight face. 

She begins to gather her things, almost ready to get back on her feet until she's pulled back Jungkook, crashing his lips onto hers. With her face in his hands, he passionately kisses her. She melts into the kiss that she had been yearning for ever since that night she found him, lost and broken, on an empty road.

Before things got heated, the two of them pulled away, completely breathless. Suddenly, the two of them hear wolf whistles. As the two of them glances at Minjee, who was already drunk as ever, she lets out a loud squeal.

"Thank fuck that you guys are back together!" She exclaims, "took you so fucking long to realize your feelings!"

"Where's your husband? You're drunk, Minjee!" Sori exclaims with a blush creeping up on her cheeks, and she snuggles against Jungkook's chest.

"Right now, I don't care where my husband is, I need to find Yoongi and get my cash from our bet on the both of you." She starts belting out into a celebratory dance until she starts running back into the venue.

"I can't believe they made a bet on us getting back together," she groans.

"I can't believe that we're back together," he smiles, placing a soft, chaste kiss on her lips. "Can you drive home? I'm still a bit tipsy."

"Sure," she smiles and he pulls her into another kiss, deepening it as he wraps his arms around her waist. She giggles, pushing him away. "Jungkook, you're drunk. Let's go home."

"We're going home to finish this?" He asks, and she sighs. 

"Jungkook―"

"Because I think that's an incredible idea."