"Y/N!" Jisoo exclaims as she rushes up to you. "How are you?"

"I'm good! How was your flight?"

"Exhausting. Yours?"

"Same." You say while letting out a soft sigh. You glance around before pointing towards the area where you two need to go to exit the airport. "Not as exhausting as this break is going to be. I don't have any food at home, I probably have dust everywhere because I haven't been back since that tour started, and I have a shit ton of laundry to do."

"Well, that's what I'm here for." She states. "Besides, the same all probably goes for me." she says while laughing.

"I know. I'm just glad your apartment building is two blocks away from where mine is." You state. "Oh, before I forget, can you take a picture of me really quick?" you question, pausing in front of one of the stores at the airport. She furrows her eyebrows.

"Uh... sure?" she questions before taking your phone as you hand it to her. She snaps a quick picture of you while you smile before handing you the phone again. "Why exactly do you need a picture?"

"I promised him I'd send one." You state. "He wanted to FaceTime when I landed but clearly not a good idea. So, this is the alternative."

"Ah, okay that makes so much more sense." She says before you two continue walking. She leads the way while you quickly send the picture to Hoseok. Once it's sent, you tuck your phone away into your pocket.

You two get a cab and get inside to head to your apartments.

"So, here's the game plan. We probably should get our laundry done and clean up so our apartments are safe to live in again." You say before letting out a soft laugh.

"Then we stock up on groceries so we don't starve to death." She responds before letting out a soft laugh. You nod in agreement before glancing out the window of the cab to see the familiar city that you always come back to.

Smiling softly, you let out a content sigh before Jisoo speaks up again.

"Man, I always forget how quiet it is here compared to all of the other places we've been to." She states.

The cab eventually gets to your apartment building and you glance over at Jisoo.

"Just let me know when you finish your errands and maybe we can get a meal or something at one of the restaurants to adjust to being at home." You state before smiling softly.

"Sounds good! Man, it's going to be so nice sleeping in my actual bed tonight." She states.

"Same here. I've missed my apartment." You respond before getting out of the cab. Grabbing your belongings from the trunk of the cab, you give a wave to Jisoo. "Let me know when you get to your place." You remind her. She gives a thumbs up and waves before the cab drives off.

You glance up at your apartment building and softly smile to yourself. You make your way into the building before seeing one of your neighbors.

"Hey Y/N! How have you been?" Mark asks as he smiles over at you. You smile back before shrugging.

"Pretty tired. I've been travelling all of the US on my flights." You state. "How about you? How's Yejun doing?" you question.

"She's great! She just started kindergarten last week." He states. "It's crazy just how fast your kids grow up." He says while laughing. You merely nod your head, not really sure how else to respond since you don't have any children.

"Have you been able to find her mom?" you question. He shakes his head.

"I just found out that she moved to China so there's not really a chance of me getting her to help out with Yejun." He states. You can't help but feel bad about hearing this. He's been a single dad since you've known him. Every time you come back from your flights, you would notice how he was always optimistic about getting his ex-girlfriend to help out with Yejun.

"Well, let me know if you need anything. I wouldn't mind helping out with babysitting." You state.

"Ah, but when are you going to be back on another flight?" he asks. You gulp as you think about that question.

I honestly don't know myself.

You give a reassuring smile, not wanting to worry him.

"I won't be on another flight for a while. My boss offered me a little extra time off now." You state.

"Really? Then yes, that'd be great if you could help out with Yejun!" he states. "I have to work late Thursday night. Would you be able to watch her?" You pause for a second.

Your mind is still confused with the dates.

Ah, that's four days from now.

"Yes! That works." You say while smiling before pointing to your head. "Sorry, that took me a second to remember what day it is here. I'm still on US time." He lets out a soft laugh when you say this.

"No problem, I'm sure it's always so weird when you get back from a long string of flights." You nod. "Well, I'll let you unpack and take care of things. I'll see you Thursday!"

"Okay, see you then." You say before waving as you make your way to the elevator.

As you get into the elevator, you click on the button for your floor and patiently wait.

Once the elevator gets to your floor, you walk towards your door and get your key out of your pocket. Sighing to yourself, you open the door and look inside of your apartment.

Looking around, you allow yourself to examine your surroundings.

Your apartment is just as you remember it since your last break.

Same old furniture. Same slightly faded air freshener lingering in the air.

Locking your door, you step fully into your apartment.

You take a deep breath before going to your kitchen. You open your cabinet door and reach for the air fresheners at the bottom shelf. Grabbing a new one, you make your way towards the area where you keep your air freshener. You grab the air freshener that you unplugged while you were gone and place the new scent into it and plug it back into the wall.

Nodding your head, you stand up straight before deciding to take a shower.

Stepping towards your bathroom, you make sure to test the sink and ensure that your water is still running and working. Once you see that everything is fine, you start undressing before making your way towards the shower.

You take a quick shower and wash your hair and body before grabbing the nearest towel. You use it to dry yourself off before wrapping the towel around your head to dry your hair. Grabbing your robe, you slip it on before stepping into your bedroom.

Stepping towards your closet, you grab an old t-shirt that your mom gave to you to wear for pajamas. Slipping this on along with a fresh pair of underwear, you inhale the faint smell of your mom's perfume that is still on the shirt despite the number of times you've washed it. Smiling to yourself, you nod before grabbing a pair of loose sweatpants.

Stepping towards your jewelry box sitting on your bedside table, you take out the necklace that your father gave you and slip it on.

You never take it with you on trips out of fear of losing it.

Making your way back to the living room with your hamper, you start opening your luggage, gathering all of your dirty clothes into the hamper. Biting onto your lower lip, you shake your head.

So much laundry to do.

You then go back into your bedroom, strip your bed of the sheets and add those to the pile of dirty clothes.

Making your way towards the front door, you slip on some sneakers. After you do this, you open the front door and grab your keys. You exit your apartment and lock the door behind you. You then make your way towards the elevator again.

Once you get into the elevator, you click on the elevator button that leads you to the laundry room.

You put your laundry in and patiently wait while the machine does its job.

While you're waiting, your phone goes off.

Hoseok: You look so good. If I was there, you'd be begging for me to stop cuddling with you.

You smile softly before rolling your eyes.

Typical, affectionate Hoseok.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Your laundry finishes after a few minutes and you stick your clothes into the dryer while scrolling through your social media to look at what's going on in the world. Once your laundry finishes, you put everything back into your hamper and carry your clothes back to the elevator.

While in the elevator, Jisoo calls you to let you know she's made it home safely.

The elevator arrives at your floor and you go straight to your apartment, locking the door behind you.

You fold the laundry and hang the items that need to be hung in your closet before nodding your head to yourself. Once you finish, you let out a soft sigh and examine the house.

Not as dusty as last time... still needs to be cleaned though.

You quickly get the vacuum and begin vacuuming the floor. After doing this and seeing that the floor is clean, you put the vacuum away and go back to the closet where you keep your cleaning products.

You end up cleaning every sink, floor, and countertop in the apartment.

By the time you're finished, it's already 5 PM.

Your stomach growls in protest of cleaning for so long. Placing your hand on your stomach, you reach for your phone and quickly dial Jisoo's number.

"Yo! You done cleaning?"

"Yep! You ready to go get some dinner? My stomach is yelling at me for skipping lunch to clean." You state. You hear Jisoo's laughter on her side of the line before she agrees and says she'll be at your place in a few minutes.

After the phone call, you begin getting dressed into a pair of jeans and a cute blouse.

While getting ready, your sleeve gets caught on a picture frame sitting on the desk near your closet. You pause and slowly remove your sleeve from the corner of the frame. Sighing, you look down at the picture and see that it's the picture of you with your father and mother when you were little. You pick up the frame and stare down at it, feeling a burning sensation in the back of your throat as you hold back tears.

"I miss you too." You mumble to yourself, speaking as if the two other people in that image spoke to you.

You place the frame back on your desk and finish getting dressed, taking a deep breath as you blink away the tears that were starting to form in your eyes.

At least I'm back in my apartment with the knickknacks that they gave me when I was little.

I have my comfort things with me now.

*****
Onto the news: TRIGGER WARNING

A 17 year-old girl was murdered by one of her coworkers (he's 28) after she rejected his advances towards her. Which, keep in mind, she's a MINOR. And he's a grown ass man.

She warned her manager multiple times and told her manager that he was making her uncomfortable and all the manager did was switch her shifts. She complained A YEAR before this happened. But no one did anything to protect this minor from this creep.

So, her boyfriend got a job at the Walgreens with her. This caused the weirdo to get jealous and he murdered her in the break room.

This is so disgusting because this proves how stupid it is when people say to "just say no" when creepy men make advances towards women. THIS is why we can't say no. THIS is why we're scared whenever we get approached by men.

My heart goes out to this girl's family and friends. It's just so depressing to know this.

That was the main thing I've seen in the news lately. If anyone has any news they'd like to educate me on, please let me know so I can talk about it when I post the next chapter.

I hope all of you are well.

I purple you
Kim 💜