"Ms. Kim, someone's here to see you."

Jiwon lifted her gaze from the papers on her desk and found her assistant peeking by the door frame.

A judging look crossed her face at the sight of the familiar person stepping in from behind her assistant. He had a tight lipped smile resembling of an innocent child as he neared her, and sat himself comfortably on the office couch.

"I heard my favorite cousin's finally engaged," he spoke up once he settled himself. "Is it true?"

Jiwon nodded at her assistant, mouthing a 'thank you' and turned to her uninvited guest as she faked a chuckle.

"If you're here to pick on me, go away Tae."

Kim Taehyung placed his palm on his chest, just where his heart rested, and gaped at her. "Don't be like that to me! How are you going to keep being my favorite cousin when you're like that?"

"Technically speaking, I'm the only cousin you ever actually talk to," reminded Jiwon. "Where's the competition then?"

"It's not like you talk with others, too."

"Which reminds me that I talk with your brother." She shrugged.

"And I also talk with Seokjin-hyung," countered Taehyung and Jiwon made a face.

"Go talk to him then."

"But..." Taehyung grumbled in defeat, crinkling his nose, and a satisfied grin tugged on Jiwon's lips.

"I'm only letting you win this argument because you're still my favorite cousin as of this moment," he clarified.

"How flattering." Jiwon exaggerated and cupped her cheeks, tilting her head sideways. Then, she picked up her pen and scanned the document on her desk, focusing on it again. She made a few marks here and there, and typed on her laptop.

"So?" she spoke up after the short silence, not tearing her eyes away from her work. "What exactly brings you here?"

"Cu-ri-o-sity," answered Taehyung, putting an emphasis on each syllable which had only deepened his already deep voice — If that was still even possible.

"More like to tease me," she pointed out, stacking papers on the side. "No offense Taehyung, but I've known you for so long I could hear that slyness in your voice no matter how subtle it is."

He gasped. "How could you accuse me of such thing?"

"Maybe if you brought Yeontan with you, I'd think otherwise."

"How come you care about Yeontan more than me?"

"I didn't say that."

"But that's what you're implying," protested Taehyung.

Jiwon shook her head, amused. Taehyung always carried his bubbly persona for as long as she could remember. High-spirited, animated and effervescent. His positivity sometimes caused her to forget that he was also a Kim; made her feel less of an outsider.

"Remember when we were kids, we ran off to the park and chased a duck who went into the pond? Then we told them you fell into the pond so I was helping you out, but when they asked Namjoon-hyung what happened, he just told them what he saw."

"Yeah, and remember we weren't allowed to see each other for a month." She chuckled, the memory vividly playing in her head.

"The elders were always such a buzz killer," he complained.

Taehyung proceeded with his moment of reminiscing whereas Jiwon hummed in agreement to most of what he was saying. A few exchange of words and laughs later, Jiwon closed the file she was working on and shot him an accusing gaze.

"You're definitely doing this on purpose, I can't focus on my work."

Taehyung smirked, obviously satisfied, and Jiwon need not to ask further to confirm his intentions.

"Fine." She grimaced. "It's true. I'm engaged."

Astonished, Taehyung scrambled on his seat, almost falling due to his lazy position. His jaw dropped. "I thought my brother was just joking!"

A part of her wanted to discuss about the specifics, but she held herself back despite the amount of trust she had in him. She deemed it was best to keep him out of it.

"Well, he isn't," confirmed Jiwon. "Lucky you, you have your smartass of a brother to handle your business without any pressure on you, and you don't get to be used as some political pawn."

"That's why the Kims are cursed," joked Taehyung and she snorted. "It's rare for a girl to be born into the family."

"And ironically, there's me who went straight into the pitfall. I'm probably the curse." Jiwon gave it a thought and quickly corrected herself in realization. "Oh wait, I actually am."

"Aish, don't say that. This family is just too much sometimes. We all know you're a Kim, regardless."

"Maybe just not inside-out," she muttered, almost in a hush and made a face. "Anyway, do you have time?"

"Wow, is my favorite cousin going to treat me out?"

"I need to get my car back first." Jiwon stood up and reached for her beige coat before she secured it on her arm.

"It's a long story," she continued once she saw Taehyung's furrowed brows directed at her. "But I need to get my car back now before my father gets suspicious why he never sees it anymore. Or worse, that I've been riding a cab for the past three days."

"So what you're saying is that I have to give you a ride to wherever it is?"

"Exactly," chirped Jiwon, snapping her fingers and ushered Taehyung to the door.

Or so she tried.

She pushed him as he remained on his spot, playfully leaning backwards as she did so. And she could only wish his maturity would pay him a visit as it seemed like it was out on a long vacation again.

"I wonder why you just didn't ride a cab to get it," he wondered, casting a glance at her over his shoulder.

"Just because," she groaned. "Come on, Taehyung. Don't be such a kid."

An hour and a half later, Jiwon and Taehyung had arrived at their destination. Relief flooded over her when she saw her car, still in one piece, parked on the same place she remembered leaving it.

Although this piqued Taehyung's curiosity, causing him to throw her more questions, she ignored all of them, totally against narrating to him what had happened that night. And the morning that followed right after.

Just as Jiwon finished inspecting her car and locked her doors, a voice caught her attention. She snapped her head to its source.

"We thought something bad happened to the owner of the car, we were about to— Oh..." His eyes flashed with familiarity. There was a pause. And then—

"You're the lady who threw up on hyung last time!"

"Hyung?" Jiwon's brows knitted at the unfamiliar brunette. "You mean Min Yoongi?"

Taehyung wheezed and clutched on his stomach to suppress his laughter. "You puked on your fiancé?"

"Fiancé?"

↠

Jiwon was starting to believe that the world is, indeed, small. Either that, or it was getting smaller that she couldn't understand how it was becoming a norm for her to casually just bump into people she knew, or at least knew her.

What made it more unrealistic was the fact that she did not even have a lot of acquaintances to begin with.

So how come she was stumbling upon them one after another?

"Ahh, those look good," Taehyung remarked, as the server laid a variety of raw thinly sliced beef, seafood and vegetables on the table. They were now seated on one of the booths of the restaurant. Taehyung sitting beside Jiwon, and Park Jimin across the two of them.

"It's on the house," said Jimin and Jiwon's brows shot up.

"That's not really necessary.

Jimin shook his head, eyes forming into crescents. "Don't worry about it. You two are guests."

While Jiwon was reluctant, Taehyung had already reached for his chopsticks, a childlike curve etched on his lips.

"Thank you for the food!" announced Taehyung, and Jiwon shot him a meaningful glance through the corner of her eyes. He did not catch it though. So she simply flashed an awkward smile at Jimin.

"So, Jimin-ssi, my cousin here won't tell me anything about her fiancé. Would you mind to enlighten me?"

"Just call me Jimin," the brunette said. "And about Yoongi-hyung, how do I put it in words?" Jimin gave it a thought. "He's someone you'd understand better when you interact with him."

The atmosphere held a calm vibe as the conversation went on. Jimin carried this friendly aura, making the exchange of words ever so casual, as if they had been acquainted properly before.

Though, regardless of how easy it was to get along with Jimin, Jiwon was not accustomed with meeting people like this and getting to know them in such manner. Taehyung was aware of that, hence, he did more of the talking, while she mostly listened.

"Hyung's really serious when he's working, and he gets misunderstood most of the time, but that's just him. He's a genuinely nice person."

Taehyung swallowed his food and turned to Jiwon. "This seems really fishy. If you two had only met the day before, how come you agreed to get engaged? What exactly is going on between you two? Have you been secretly dating before this?"

Jiwon pressed her lips into a thin line at Taehyung's series of questions. She couldn't just tell him that she and Yoongi had walked on their own arrangement dinner, simpleminded and clueless that they were escorting each other to their own death sentence.

And perhaps it should never be known to anyone but the two of them.

"I told you, it's complicated. Don't ask. Just eat." Before Taehyung could protest, she shoved a thick slice of cabbage in to his mouth.

If that was how Taehyung surmised the situation, perhaps it would be better than Jiwon explaining and ending up spilling the truth.

Taehyung let out incoherent noises of complaints. "What about you, Jimin? Has your hyung mentioned anything about Jiwon?" He snapped his head to Jiwon. "How old is he anyway?"

"Like his mental age or physical age?" she muttered and pierced a slice of meat on the grill. "Either way, I don't know."

Jimin chuckled. His smile where his jaw slacked due to amusement — or for whatever reasons there may be — was still on his face. It had been so throughout the discourse.

"Hyung is twenty-five and not really, he hasn't told me anything," Jimin replied as a matter of fact. "If there's one thing I can assure you with, however, it's that Yoongi-hyung wouldn't intentionally do anything that would hurt anyone."

Jiwon remained silent as she stared at the thin slice of meat, almost crisp from being left too long. She did not exactly agree with Jimin vouching on Yoongi, but she took his words into consideration.

Min Yoongi might get into her nerves more than he should have, but in moments when her rationality resided in her head and her pride could admit she had her own faults too, she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

With a single nod, Jiwon simply replied, "I'll keep that in mind."

He was still the other half of this trouble, after all.