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Seoul

Autumn of 2017

Hyuna loved the sound of crunchy leaves that her feet crushed as she walked into one of her favorite parks in the metropolitan city of Seoul.

She seldom went out on walks. Heck, she seldom went out of her cozy little apartment at all, mostly because most of the days she was glued to her chair and her laptop, fingers typing away. However, Kim Hyuna was making an exception that day.

An exception because of a certain doe-eyed Jungkook.

He had asked her to come a few days ago when they met each other in the Elysium. When she asked the reason, he just grinned and flashed her that swoon worthy dimple so she found herself nodding affirmatively, agreeing.

She was a bit late though, mostly because of the fact that she had gotten a last minute unexpected call from her editor. Although she did rush and run all the way to the park when she realised that the call had taken an hour.

The mystery of Jungkook asking her to do that was solved when her eyes fell on a crowd that had gathered near the right corner of the park.

The strumming of guitar strings and an heavenly voice made her footsteps lead her to the hub of commotion, a voice quite familiar.

When she pushed her way through the crowd, earning many shoves and elbows in the process along with a couple of winces scrunching up her face, she finally saw that the people had all gathered around Jungkook.

He had a guitar slung around his neck and a giddy smile on his face, eyes bright as his fingers expertly navigated themselves around the strings, plucking them in patterns, his left hand fingers moving quickly to change the chords as he sang.

His voice was like honey, like velvet flowing over chocolate. Hyuna, like many others in the crowd was spellbound.

Those eyes of his spotted her in the crowd immediately, brightening up even more if that was even possible.

They were brighter than any star in the whole universe.

Hyuna knew she had it bad for him when he beamed at her, eyes trained on her throughout as he finished the song. Even the people around her were staring at the artist's muse which was apparently her.

Her face was so red that she was sure she looked like a ripe tomato.

This was no mere passing crush, she realised as he sang. The lyrics were unknown to her yet mesmerizing and beautiful, making her heart flutter like a hummingbird's wings as she listened,

Even if the ground cracks
Even if someone shakes this world
Don't let go of the hand you're holding
Please don't wake up from the dream

I hear the ocean from far away

I walk across the dream over the forest

And go towards there as it gets clearer

Take my hands now

You are the cause of my euphoria

Euphoria
Take my hands now
You are the cause of my euphoria

Euphoria
Close the door now

When I'm with you, I'm in utopia.

As his fingers slowed and the music started fading, the people started chanting once more but Jungkook just folded his hands sheepishly and bowed slightly, bending down to pick up the black guitar case he had propped up on the bench next to him, one which was now filled with many notes and coins, so much that it was overflowing.

The crowd gave him a loud applause and Hyuna could see the tips of his ears turn pink which was rather endearing. She waited for the crowd to start dispersing before she walked up to him as he was trying to figure out how and where to put all the change he earned from his performance.

Hyuna placed a few bills too, making him look up at her and grin.

"Need help?" She asked wryly and he bit his lower lip before nodding, making her chuckle.

The two decided to sit down on the nearby green bench to count and organise the money Jungkook earned.

When Hyuna asked him about his sudden urge to perform in a park, he said,

"Well, this is for my friends, the mint haired one who you saw that day, Min Yoongi. He teaches music. My other close friend owns a dance studio. They have started this charity for orphans who have no money for music and dance classes, and well, I thought it was a good cause so I wanted to contribute too."

"It aches my heart to see that those young kids, those talented little children are going through so much at such a young and tender age, things which even adults can't possibly cope with. I want to do all I can for them."

Jungkook scratched his eyebrows, shy all of a sudden when she kept staring at him speak. Hyuna felt herself fall even a bit more for him and his adorable bashful grin. She could see Jungkook was passionate about the cause.

"What? Stop staring at me." He chuckled nervously. Hyuna found herself shake her head.

"What?" He asked again, but she just shrugged. "I'm curious! Tell me please!"

How could she say no to his lips forming a pout as he said the words?

"You are cute." Hyuna could not stop the phrase which escaped from her mouth, one which widened his doe-eyes. The tips of his ear were pink once again, as were her cheeks no doubt.

How was it that Jeon Jungkook made her heartbeat erratic and her face blush red, something which hadn't happened in years?

How was it that she felt she turned into her old teenage self whenever she gazed in his chocolate eyes?

"In a good way?" He almost whispered the question, a question which she thought was silly and she vocalised her thoughts with a vigorous nod.

"You play the guitar very well." Jungkook flushed deeper as she gushed his praise, his earlier confidence while playing the stringed instrument in public in front of so many people suddenly evaporating.

"Thank you."

"What is the name of the song you were playing?"

"Well," He rolled his lips together, "I composed it. It's called Euphoria."

"You composed it?" Hyuna was impressed by Jungkook's talent. He sheepishly nodded, a bit embarrassed at the amount of awe lacing her tone.

His voice was like sweet honey, attracting people like they were mere bees and she was no exception.

His fingers though, they played the guitar so well that Hyuna thought that the instrument was an extension of his very soul.

"Play me something." Hyuna urged, and he sheepishly shook his head, scrambling to keep his guitar in it's case now that they had managed to put the money he earned in neat bundles, due to her helping him.

"Please. I missed the beginning of your performance because I got a call from work. I want to hear you play. "

Jungkook succumbed to her pleas after a few minutes and Hyuna's heart did a backflip when he starting playing another unfamiliar yet heart-fluttering ballad.

Don't say anything, not even a word
Just give me a smile
I still can't believe it
All of this seems like a dream
Don't try to disappear

Is it true? Is it true?
You, you
You're so beautiful, that I'm scared
Untrue, untrue
You, you, you

Will you stay by my side
Will you promise me

I'm scared, scared, scared of that
Will you stop time
If this moment passes
As though it hadn't happened
I'm scared scared scared I'll lose you

Butterfly, like a butterfly
Just like a butterfly, bu-butterfly
Butterfly, like a butterfly
Just like a butterfly, bu-butterfly

The song made delicious shivers run down her spine. The way Jungkook's eyes became slightly hooded as he strummed lights, the way his smoother than velvet and sweeter than honey voice sang the words almost magically; Hyuna couldn't tear her eyes away from him in front of her.

A shy, almost nervous, smile upturned the corners of his lips as he finished the last few lines of the song, the chords naturally fading away as the tempo of his fingers slowed down.

His eyes shyly met hers to see her reaction; the brown orbs expectant yet a bit timid at how she would react.

Hyuna had no words. She was spellbound by the spell that his voice had the power to cast, bewitched by not just the song but also the doe eyes that peered into her own, by the way the dark brown mop of hair fell on his forehead and the studs in his ears which twinkled in the lazy autumn afternoon sunlight.

Suffice to say, Hyuna felt utterly bewitched by him.

Jeon Jungkook.

"So..."

He trailed of awkwardly when she didn't reply, halting her train of thoughts. She hadn't realised that she had been staring a lot at him and that her lack of response after his magically mesmerising encore for her had made the small smile tugging his lips up fade a little, the brightness in his chocolate eyes dim a notch.

"Oh, sorry! I'm so sorry!" Hyuna profusely apologised, hurriedly trying to explain herself when she saw him furrow his brows in confusion,

"It's just that the song was so good I have no words. It was magical." She voiced her thoughts aloud, and once again she became witness to the pink color that was dusting the tips of his ears when he heard her flattering compliment.

"The song is brilliant that's why." Jungkook tried to shift the praise to the songwriter as he explained, "The friend I mentioned earlier, Yoongi hyung, he wrote it. It's one of my favorites from the ones he has composed."

"Your friend is a very good songwriter." Hyuna nodded in agreement.

"I know! I keep telling him to sell it to a music label or apply for a music producer position in one of those labels but he insists that his true calling is teaching young children the wonderful art of music."

It was clear Jungkook cared a lot for his friends from the way his eyes sparkled when he talked about them, from the huge smile that graced his lips and the dimple that punctured his cheek.

In the park, while sitting side by side on a green park bench which had some of it's old paint peeling off at places, dry autumn leaves littering the ground, the afternoon sun high up in the sky surrounded by billowy white clouds and a pleasant autumn breeze present to balance out the sun's rays, the breeze which made fallen autumn leaves swirl in circles and others fall from the trees surrounding them; Hyuna felt a familiar yet unfamiliar feeling build inside her chest.

The butterflies he sang about were dancing inside her as her eyes focused on the mole below his lips, on the eyes which spoke to her very soul, on the adorable grin that melted her heart so easily every time she had the honour of receiving it.

A part of her still belonged to Jimin as it always would. Her heart still had those feelings she had stowed away hidden in some corner. It was thus, completely befuddling that her heart had started doing flip flops and back flips and somersaults for someone who wasn't Park Jimin.

It was fall when Hyuna felt herself fall for the second time in her life.

***

Park Jimin never once stopped loving her.

Even when they parted ways, even when they had to agonisingly decide to remain friends, even as he teased her at her lack of love life and the fact that she was an obsessively career oriented woman, she was always the one in her heart.

Kim Hyuna had always been the one for him and every single cell in his body was aware of the fact.

Since their childhood days, even before he became friends with her brother. The day he moved to Seoul from Incheon, the day he bumped into the Kim siblings at the nearby park in their neighbourhood, he was a goner the moment he had seen a six year old Hyuna push her legs as far as the little chubby appendages could go to push the swing she sat on, giggling as her pigtails bounced in the wind.

His heart had recognised her soul. A young Jimin obviously didn't know or believe in soul recognition, but he now did.

He knew they belonged. Yet he hated himself for never getting that darn timing right.

Soulmates they were, not just merely childhood sweethearts. Jimin had had his fair share of playing the field because he was young and stupid, even though deep down his heart only wanted her. He had experienced love with other girls, but it wasn't the same. It wasn't the no-holds-barred, breathtaking yet childish, seesaw love which he craved for.

They weren't Kim Hyuna. His heart wasn't ever satisfied with anyone else than her.

He was in denial throughout their childhood and adolescence though. Because after kicking up a fuss when his parents told him he would be changing schools and even his home back in Busan, the Kims were the first people he had befriended.

Park Jimin was a person who prefered comfortable relationships, not complicated ones which would entail him losing not one but two friends.

He still was like that, but a bit regretful for always getting the timing wrong when it came to her.

He believed the best decision he ever made was to finally go after what he wanted back when they were in college because he had had enough of trying to stow away his feelings and build a dam around his heart.

It was about time that the dam burst. When it did, the fast paced flow threatened to pull him under.

Jimin associated Hyuna with all things bright- the sun, the moon, the stars which decorated the sky above him. She was a fireball of contrasts which had the power to allure him in like no other.

He was a moth, flying towards the bright light. Or like Icarus flying too close to the sun, burned wings be damned.

When those wings did burn though, during the spring of the year 2013 to be precise, his plummet was even harder than the free fall of his once he had finally decided to act on his feelings.

Thus, Jimin knew she thought it was universe's way of telling them that the fated lovers weren't really meant to be together forever when he got his draft letter just a few days after they decided to part and take a break.

What she didn't know was that he was the one who had volunteered for an early enlistment.

Jimin felt guilty that his doing so made his best friend leave everything, even his blooming modelling career just to enlist with him to mend his broken heart, because the two had made a promise during their high school years and darn if the lesser annoying Kim sibling yet still a frustratingly caring best friend didn't do good to keep it.

He got rid of the cotton candy hair she adored so much. For the first time in a long time, Jimin's natural hair color were allowed to remain. He loathed the buzz cut he had to get though, and the day his duty was over he couldn't be happier for he no longer had to keep them ridiculously short and boringly ebony colored.

Jimin never dyed his hair in that color again. He got them bleached blonde, silver, even a reddish orange color resembling that of flames when he first opened his cafe in Seoul which he named 'Elysium'; but never again did he sport cotton candy hair.

Until now that is.

He himself didn't know where the urge of dyeing his hair in that color again suddenly came during the fall.

Maybe he did it because missed her. It had been way too long after all. Jimin had gone on occasional blind dates after them taking a break because the couple hadn't decided on the terms and the period of the said break.

Jimin did it mostly because of his best friend pestering him and to avoid the latter accusing him of becoming more like Hyuna, too immersed in his work.

He missed her even when she sat right in front of her eyes, typing away on her laptop in her corner in his cafe, reading glasses propped on the bridge of her button nose which made her small coffee colored eyes incredulously big and endearing. He had always loved reading glasses on her, they suited her.

She used to claim that she liked his hideous black ones which he wore in high school, but Jimin never really bought it because he knew contacts suited him better. Yet she had been the one who had managed to make him stop wearing them for a week when he lost a bet with her and she stated she wanted to see the old spectacled Jimin from high school for a week to make up for lost time.

He missed her on particular evenings as he lay in his bed or even during a movie night with his best friend, his mind focused on the past rather than the movie playing in front of him.

He missed how they fought and he ended up kissing her lips to make up for the jabs he made at her; he missed how her head would perfectly fit in the crook of his neck, how her eyes would shine at him as they laid in bed together, him drawing circles on her back and her fingers playing with his hair; he missed how she loved to steal his rings and shirts and he allowed her even though he hated the idea of sharing them
with anyone because she was always the exception to every rule.

He missed her.

Jimin didn't like living in the past. Yet as always, anything related to her was an exception to all his rules. He convinced himself that his feelings had never gone away, so it wasn't technically the past.

When Jimin wanted something, he went for it. He had been a top student in his school, popular yet one with a stellar academic record.

His parents had been a bit disappointed but nonetheless supportive when he declared that he wouldn't be entering a law school but that he wanted to open up a cafe like the one his parents owned in Incheon.

The ambitious boy wanted to make his parents cafe - Elysium, a franchise.

He opened up a cafe in Seoul by saving up enough money from part time jobs and tutoring high school kids while pursuing a management degree from SNU. The money his loving grandparents had put together for him before they passed away while he was in high school helped too.

The only thing he had ever hesitated to go for was his best friend's sister, and for reasonable enough excuses; just because he prefered to be in denial than face his feelings.

Did he regret it? Yes, more than anything in the world.

So for once he had decided to do what his heart said. One late summer evening, his dam of feelings had broken, compelling him to yield and listen to his heart. He went after what his heart longed for.

For months he was intoxicated in the bliss of passionate love and the magnitude of feelings he felt. Those months felt like a dream.

But he had to soon face reality. Because dark clouds had started overcasting the dream, making the lovestruck couple wake up and address their problems.

He knew he made her feel worse and insecure while he was grappling with how to reveal their relationship to everyone around them. He knew about it yet he didn't do anything about it.

Jimin was a cowardly fool alright.

However, unlike a fool in love, he became a fool who didn't fight for his love. He let her slip right through his fingers due to meaningless fights and communication gaps and the tiring seesaw of fighting and making up.

They still managed to cling on that seesaw like stubborn lovers, unwilling to let go. The cycle was turning vicious. Thus, dismounting the seesaw was the best decision yet the worse.

He regretted it so much. He regretted the decision of taking a break from each other so that their love didn't turn toxic.

They managed to save their love but lost each other instead.

Yet he had always known he would go back to her. He may have dismounted the seesaw, but the tips of his fingers were still unwilling to let go.

His stubborn and foolish heart was unwilling to let go.

Staying friends with her and being with her as if something had never transpired between them, as if all those months had somehow been wiped from their memories was painful at first. It was that pain which prompted him to enlist because he thought time away from her was needed.

Yet he still visited her whenever he got a vacation. Granted his best friend was one of the excuses he deployed, he just wanted to be near her, even if that meant he had to pretend he had amnesia and joke around like they hadn't ever been lovers in the first place.

Still, friends was better than having no relationship at all. They could never be strangers. Fate was cruel to them for their very souls were linked, making it unable for them to stay away from each other for too long.

He tried to forget her, he really did. Tried to convince himself that a summer romance was bound to end, even if the said summer romance spanned months and wasn't merely a fling but the love of his existence.

He couldn't forget her.

Sometimes he would notice her sneak a glance at him like she used to when she thought he wasn't looking. And maybe there wasn't more to it than just her reminiscing about what used to be and what could've been but the look in her eyes always arose old hidden feelings inside him; all of which made him feel that they were being stupid and wasting time yet again.

But fate was once again being cruel to the fated soulmates.

It was always cruel to them. It's like fate had struck a deal with timing because the two never seemed to get it right.

Because a certain guitar nerd who frequented the Elysium bumped into Hyuna, who used to be solely Jimin's.

Jimin didn't make much of it at first. The obvious interest in Hyuna's eyes and her penchant for staring at Jungkook which started increasing, the friendly smiles the two started sharing and the fact that they sometimes made casual talk at one of the tables in the corner of the cafe, near the bookshelves which Jimin had solely incorporated inside his cafe because Hyuna looked books so much.

But he when did realise that she was crushing on someone that wasn't clearly him, the remnants of his heart broke further.

Jimin was sure that a part of her still loved him. Love like theirs wasn't an emotion that vanished away due to a crush in the passing but he was only human.

Regret and jealousy pricked his insides whenever he walked into his cafe just to see Jungkook and Hyuna chatting animatedly.

He didn't see Hyuna's growing attraction for Jungkook as a potential threat in the beginning but he wasn't so sure anymore these days. Still, nostalgia of those heavenly days when they belonged to each other prompted him to dye his hair back to the color of cotton candy.

Maybe it was a desperate attempt on his part, one to remind her about the past. It did work when she asked him what prompted him to go back to the color again; his answer was laiden with the equivalent of 'I miss you, I miss us' but maybe she didn't realise it yet.

Because when Jimin saw a couple step inside his cafe one lazy autumn afternoon, his heart sunk like Titanic.

The tall young man had a black guitar case slung to his back, his eyes trained on the one beside him; someone who Jimin could recognise anywhere, even if he was blindfolded.

She was gazing up at him with a brightness in her coffee eyes which Jimin was quite familiar with.

The emotions behind her orbs easily read by Jimin like an open book. It was a look he had often received in the past.

Thus, it hurt all the more when it was directed at someone else.

***

Hyuna decided she really liked him.

The way he drank his coffee, eyes focused on the book or comic in front of him as he read, the way he smiled that bunny smile of his whenever his gaze met hers- she was in too deep.

"You have been staring at him ever since he entered, you know."

She looked up at the wry smirk that the part timer gave her, one who she knew since he was a young kid who used to cry at the prospect of missing his favorite cartoon show on T.V.

"Oh shut up Jihyun!" She rolled her eyes but she knew it was the truth.

"Noona, you do know that staring is creepy right?" He raised his eyebrows at her as he slid her a cup of coffee with a chocolate chip cookie.

"Where's your boss?" Hyuna asked instead, eyes widening at the sight of the cookie.

She hadn't ordered one.

"He didn't come in today. Had some work to do in Incheon so he went there for the weekend." Jihyun explained, making her tilt her head and furrows her brows because she didn't know. And there were not many things Jimin did which she didn't know.

However, Hyuna brushed the confusion aside and instead decided to focus on something else as she said,

"So you're saying I can't complain to him that even after knowing me for years, you brought me something I didn't order? Honestly, I don't refuse freebies, ever; and you know that but you do know that I don't like chocolate chip cookies right?"

Hyuna was been playful, messing with Jihyun even though she had really not ordered the cookie.

She didn't like cookies.

The part timer just shrugged, "I know that Noona, but apparently the guy you keep staring at doesn't. He told me to tell you it was his treat."

The surprise that flickered on her face as her gaze flitted back to Jungkook automatically switched to bashfulness when her eyes locked with his chocolate orbs. His lips pulled up in a dimpled smile, a small hand wave being directed at her.

Hyuna felt her heart skip several beats at the gesture.

"You weren't being subtle at all with your staring. I'm surprised he didn't call the cops on you or anything." Jihyun mocked with an eye roll.

"Don't you have other customers to tend to?" Hyuna tore her gaze away from Jungkook to glower at him. Jihyun chuckled but when he realised that while he had been teasing her a couple had entered the cafe settled in one of the tables, he sighed.

"As a matter of fact, I do. See you later, Noona." He marched away with his empty tray, greeting the new customers with a smile, his pocket notebook and the pen behind his ear ready to jot down their order.

Hyuna's gaze went back to Jungkook, only to find that his seat was empty.

"Hey there!" She turned her head when someone tapped her shoulder, eyes wide in startelement when they met with doe shaped eyes the color of melted chocolate on brownies.

"You scared me!" Hyuna tried to glare but she ending up chuckling under her breath as he pulled up a nearby chair to sit beside her as she was seated on a table for one.

"That was the plan." Jungkook grinned unabashedly, his studs today catching Hyuna's eyes. They were dark blue in the shapes of stars.

"Thanks for the cookie, you didn't have to buy me one though." She smiled and said as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Try it, the chocolate chip cookie here is literally pure heaven on Earth. I think I know why this cafe is called Elysium."

"Um..." Hyuna contemplated on how to tell him that she didn't like cookies but at the same time she couldn't bear to refuse, not when he was looking at her like that and flashing that darn dimple of his.

So she decided to eat it. It was a big cookie, so she nibbled on the edge, taking a small bite into the crunchy yet sweet delicacy.

"Mhmm. It's good."

She wasn't lying because even if she claimed that she didn't like cookies, this one was good. The chocolate which had been liberally sprinkled on the top chips were literally melting in her mouth.

"It's my favorite." Jungkook grinned as she took another bite. She usually never even agreed to eat one bite let alone two.

"Here, have some too. I can't eat it all because I already ate a muffin before you came here." Hyuna pushed the rest towards him.

"Oh no I already had a lot." He chuckled but when she insisted he frowned, eyes widening a bit as he pieced situation together, realising something.

"You don't like cookies." He stated the obvious and she sheepishly nodded.

"Oh, I am so sorry I didn't know! I'll buy you something else!"

"It's okay it's the gesture that counts." Hyuna reassured him, thinking he looked quite cute with his lower lip jutted out. He reluctantly picked up the cookie and bit into it, but almost choked and spat it out when he heard what she said next.

"Besides," she leaned in to whisper as if she was telling him a secret, "I think it's not that bad. Who knows, maybe I'll end up liking cookies after all."

Hyuna didn't know what had possessed her to say that in the flirtatious tone she had used. The blush coating her cheeks was a testament to the fact and the wide doe eyes of Jungkook trained on her said that even he was surprised.

The silence that followed was laden with some sort of hidden emotion as the pair refused to look away from each other, chocolate eyes staring into her own dark orbs with their starry depths.

Jungkook was the one who broke it with eight words which almost jerked her heartbeat to a sudden halt.

"Will you go out with me next week?"