evening falls into night and jiah refuses to go home, having a bottle of hennessy in her hand, dressed in a shimmering black skirt with it's matching bikini top instead of what she wore earlier frome home. it was one of the most expensive dresses she could find in the stores she had been to. the fit all together looks amazing, something jiah always loved to wear ever since hitting puberty. maybe her catching taehyung's eye back in college was because of her sense of fashion and the extra effort she put in making her outfit look pleasing to the eyes.

today too, thanks to the alcohol in her system, she has no trouble talking to people and ended up making a couple of friends. they're not going places, nor will these people probably ever meet her again, but at the moment she just knows that this company is worth it and she's having fun. the two guys and the girl with them are too absorbed in the music, dancing to the beat as the girl and jiah are swaying together, drinking occasionally and giggling at every little thing.

"i dumped my boyfriend here last time." the girl grins, the effect of alcohol showing in her drooping eyes and the lazy smile she sends towards jiah, who giggles at the information for some reason.

"here? wow, i wanna break up too." she pouts.

"you're so cute," the girl, squeezes her face between her palms leaning forward with her lips moulded into a dramatic pout, "i could kiss you!"

"same," jiah nods, draping her arm over the girl's shoulder and takes another sip from the bottle she's holding. the girl stops suddenly, slapping her hand over her mouth and jiah tilts her head in confusion. "guys... i think she saw her ex..." she mumbles, tugging on the nearest man's jacket, getting instant attention from the two.

one of them takes her out, obviously more worried about their friend who is about to throw up, while jiah sits down on the sofa nearby, putting down the bottle on the table. the other guy from the trio stays by her, sitting beside her and sighs, lifting up his hand for the waiter to close their tab for the night. "i'll pay," jiah mumbles.

"no no, it's fine. we got it covered." the guy smiles.

"no, i want to. i was having a messed up a week and you guys just made my night. so, let me pay... please," she almost groans, letting out a tiny burp at the end, that leaves her giggling again.

"uhm alright i guess," he agrees, "thank you."

"no, thank you." jiah smiles, pulling out taehyung's card from her purse and puts it on the table. the guy watches as she slides it up to the end towards the waiter, who sighs, picking it up and leaves to get the payment done. "what's your name again...?" jiah looks at the guy beside her, "james? jules? peter? what was it, i'm sorry?"

"jonah," he chuckles.

"right, you're joonah."

"it's 'jonah' not joonah," he laughs.

"yeah yeah, same thing. what's in a name?" she grumbles, taking one large sip, emptying the bottle and lets out another burp as she touches her stomach. "oof, i think i should go now."

"let them get your card back." jonah says, "so, uhm do you have a boyfriend?"

"i... do i have a boyfriend?" jiah frowns, thinking about it deeply, "why can't i remember? i think i do... or maybe that was a dream?"

jonah sighs deeply, shaking his head, while jiah is busy looking around, seemingly trying to spot something or someone. once she does, she gasps and stands up, pointing at the advertisement of the phone brand playing on the screen towards the lounge, "him!"

"that's your boyfriend?" jonah chuckles amusedly, "even serena loves him a lot. i guess he has a way with women."

"yeah, he does." jiah nods, "but he's fucking rude. i don't like him... i mean, i do. but—but i don't like him... i like him when he kisses me and loves me, but not when he— y'know when he wants to take ji away."

"i think you've drank a little too much. you should go home." he stands up, thanking the waiter who came back to return the card. jonah takes her hand, leading her towards the exit and asks jiah to give him her phone. she doesn't think much and hands him the purse itself, letting the man search inside with a flushed face. maybe it was his first time going through a lady's bag?

he finds it quickly and turns it on, surprised that there's no password or anything, when it's actually quite important in today's world when most of a person's information is in the phone. he opens the contacts and glances at jiah, "who do i call for you?"

"call for me... uh, i don't know," she shrugs, peeking at her phone and pouts as her finger taps on the finger a few times, opening the list of blocked people.

"hey, i don't think you should call anyone from here..." he mutters.

"no, call him." jiah says, pointing at jungkook's name that among a bunch of other names.

"are you sure? he's not your ex, is he?"

"no, we're friends. he's really sweet."

"yeah? why did you block him then?" he asks, clicking on the number and unblocks it from jiah's phone.

"because tae made me do it..." she whispers. however the hint of relief washes away from her features just as soon as it arrived. she takes her phone, shaking her head and blocks the number again, earning a confused look from jonah. "you- you call him with your phone." she tells him, letting him see the number.

"okay," he agrees with some hesitation showing on his face, but doesn't voice it out. he's just dialling the number, when jiah stops him again, looking frustrated with herself as she can't decide on one particular thing. she shakes her head, holding jonah's hand to stop him.

"no no, don't call him. call yoongi," she says, opening yoongi's contact in her phone and shows the number to jonah, "i'm sorry, please call him."

jonah takes a deep breath, not calling anyone anymore, for this yoongi guy is also one from the blocked list. jiah's drunk and it makes it hard for him to believe that she knows what she's saying. he calls his own friends instead, glancing towards the exit door of the club, "hey, i was uh, i'm going home. will you be okay with serena?" he asks, humming at whatever his friend says and speaks quickly, "oh, okay perfect. i'm leaving then. i'll drop by tomorrow. see you."

he hangs up shortly and glances at jiah, "do you think you can tell your address if i call us a cab?"

"yea..." jiah mumbles, holding her head as she lets out a yawn, "let's go home. my baby must be waiting."

"so you do have a boyfriend?" jonah chuckles.

jiah gives him a weird look, but doesn't get the opportunity to say anything as she feels a wave of nausea starting from the bottom of her stomach, travelling up quickly, leaving her with a scrunched face and eyes shut. she leans over quickly, throwing up on the ground, dangerously close to jonah's shoes, without a warning. jonah gasps, moving to the side and holds the girl before she could lose balance. for a moment he's relieved that she didn't vomit on him, but the next wave hits soon enough, snatching away the happiness when he's right arm is covered with what he feared the most.

jiah cringes at the bad taste of her mouth, barely able to stand on her feet. "fuck..." she whispers lastly before closing her eyes, entirely giving up on keeping herself steady.

"hey hey hey! jiah, you can't sleep on me like that!" jonah panics, shaking her a bit as he holds her despite her just vomiting on him. "wake up, girl. we gotta take you home."

she doesn't respond, leaving jonah to groan all to himself as he carries her up bridal style, walking to the side and makes her sit on the bench, resting her back against support while she sleeps peacefully too drunk to acknowledge anything that happens with her. cursing under his breath, he takes off his jacket, leaving himself only in a t-shirt and quickly calls for a cab. he sits beside the unconscious girl, sighs deeply as her quivering decisions from a few minutes back revolve around his head, making him wonder if those blocked people are actually the ones she wanted to call, and if she did then why would she block them in the first place.

the cab arrives soon and jonah quickly stands up, carrying her into the backseat with him. since she's sleeping and doesn't respond to him waking her up, jonah's left with no other option than to take her to his place, not having anywhere else where he could drop her with some ensured safety. for a while he doesn't like himself for being so kind, but then looking at jiah, he just can't bring himself to abandon her.

she's beautiful in every way he could think, not just by appearance but her personality as well from what he saw today in the few hours they were together. her face, hair, eyes, lips, the dress she's wearing, heels, and the pretty diamond choker around her slender neck, everything just screams perfection about her. and if jonah's allowed be honest, he did secretly wish for her to be single. but seeing how things seem to be messed up with her, he can just see that he doesn't stand a chance. a girl like jiah doesn't have a man by her side? not possible.

•••

a few hours ago

"hey, uhm can i talk to min— min yoongi?" jungkook asks, tapping on the counter as he asks the lady, visibly impatient for his eyes keep desperately roaming around in search of the owner of the place.

"i'm sorry, sir. mr min is out of town this week." she flashes him an apologetic smile, making him sigh and think of something else. however, before he says anything, a few people walk in and the lady's attention automatically shifts to them, giving jungkook his queue to leave her at her work.

he steps back quietly, pulling out his phone and texts his brother, asking for min yoongi's number, just in case the man knew something about jiah or had talked to her, for she considered him the closest out of all the people she had told jungkook about. namjoon replies in a few minutes, sending him the number and also lets him know that he's busy with some urgent work for which he would have to go to japan for three days.

jungkook gives a thumbs up at that, not mentioning a lot and focuses on calling min yoongi. standing near his motorcycle in front of the restaurant, he can feel the temperature dropping as the night prevails. it's already nine  and jungkook's more than just worried for jiah at this point. he had spent entire evening in front of her apartment complex, waiting for her but she never arrived. from three to four, to five, to six, to seven, the clocks kept ticking but there was no sign of jiah. finally he decided to look for a bit more and ended up here, one of her favourite places.

jimin insisted on staying and waiting as well but jungkook, being already too frustrated, lashed out at him and refused for the mere possibility of them finding jiah together. jimin too didn't wait after that and told jungkook that he'll look for her on his own. now he's probably wandering somewhere else or got tired of waiting and decided to go home. but jungkook is still here out in the cold, holding his phone close to his ear, listening to yoongi's call going unanswered.

"fuck!" he groans in annoyance, kicking the stone laying near his feet, which is when his phone rings. it's yoongi. he answers quickly, bringing the phone close to his ear, "hello, it's jungkook. namjoon hyung's brother. am i speaking to min yoongi?"

"yes," the man answers, "why have you been calling me? if it's about jiah, i'm telling you, kid leave her alone."

"uh no, hyung, you're misunderstanding me. we're actually friends now." jungkook explains, "and as a friend i was a bit worried about her. i just wanted to ask if you spoke to her this week? she's been ignoring my calls and texts entirely and i have no way to get in touch with her. well, except you."

yoongi stays silent for a moment, making jungkook nibble on his lip nervously, fiddling with his helmet that's sitting on the fuel tank. "no, i haven't heard from her actually. i was worried too." he says finally and jungkook heaves out a tired breath. "are you sure you're not bothering her?"

"no, hyung. you can ask namjoon hyung! i swear we're friends and she likes hanging out with me!" jungkook blurts all at once, getting a soft sigh from yoongi.

"alright, alright. she hasn't replied to any of my texts or calls. it's been about a week. i thought maybe she's mad because i told her about leaving to daegu just the last minute."

"ah, i see. but she never does that, right?"

"no," yoongi says, "have you seen at her apartment?"

"yeah, i went there. she wasn't home."

"damn, what is this girl doing?" yoongi hisses mostly to himself, but jungkook can totally understand his concern. "look, jungkook. i'll try to come back as soon as possible. till then, if you get any update about jiah, please let me know? i can't see her hurt, i hope you understand."

"of course, hyung. don't worry. i'm still looking for her. she'll be okay." he says, "by the way, when are you coming?"

"i'll try to catch a train tomorrow if possible. otherwise day after tomorrow for sure. and also, tell namjoon to call me once."

"okay, have a safe journey." jungkook says, hanging up and takes a deep breath as he stares at the screen.  "so yoongi doesn't know anything either..." he mutters to himself, throwing his head back to look up at the sky, "where are you, baby? it's killing me now..."

•••

"jiah? get up, drink some water at least." jonah is struggling ever since deciding that he should bring jiah home with him instead of abandoning her in a club. even though he knows it's quite a risky thing to have a drunk girl at home, but at least he's just doing it for the sake of helping someone. not his fault that his someone had to be a drunk girl, who is scandalously gorgeous.

he lays her on the spare bed in the guest room of his apartment and sits down on the edge, sighing deeply as his never leave her face, staring like he wasn't with her all night. "you're so beautiful," he whispers slowly, stroking the hair out of her face, still wanting to know if she's single or not. despite his rationality telling him no, he finds himself leaning over to take her purse, knowing that it's wrong to go through someone's phone without permission.

yet he unlocks it with just a swipe, accidentally opening the call log where the recent calls are showing. and to his surprise there are a few missed calls from someone called tae. he glances back jiah's face, contemplating between wanting her to wake up his place, talk a little in the morning so he can get to know more about her, and calling this tae person and informing them jiah's whereabouts.

with a silent curse, jonah stands up, calling the number and praises himself for being a gentleman and actually trying to help jiah. he waits for a while until the call is answered by a man, sounding worried, "hello? jiah? where are you, baby? have you seen the time? i get that you're mad but this kind of behaviour is not acceptable. do you have any idea how worried i was?"

so she fought with her boyfriend and left? jonah nibbles on his lip, clearing his throat before speaking, "hey uhm, it'n not jiah."

"wha— who are you? and where did you get this phone?" tae guy sounds mad now.

"sir, jiah's safe don't worry. she's drunk actually and passed out before i could ask her address and drop her home—"

"who the fuck are you? and where is jiah?!"

"i'm lee jonah. i met her in the stagger's club tonight with my friends. i brought her home with me because i couldn't just leave her alone... she's safe here, i promise."

the tae guy takes a deep breath before humming in a deep voice, "text me your address. i'm coming to get her." he says, "and don't you dare lay a finger on her. if i see hurt, even the smallest scratch on her body, i swear on my girl you'll regret stepping out of your house tonight."

jonah rolls his eyes at rhe threat, but says nothing, knowing that he's just a stranger and any boyfriend would react this way on receiving a call from a man, saying that he brought his girl home after clubbing. jonah texts him the address quickly, leaving the room and waits for the boyfriend in the living room.

______________

a/n- idk if u guys see it or not, but it's hard to see all bad in taehyung right? like even if ge acrs like a manipulative jerk, the way he does is kinda hot. and yeah it's probably because we know it's tae, he's handsome, hot, sexy and his voice is literally god-like, otherwise any other man irl with such a manipulative nature would be the biggest red flag. i still find taehyung hot here, especially when he's in control and likes things his way (call me stupid idc😭) and that's also why i just can't have jiah not falling for his charms despite the obvious red flags 😓👍

and can we talk about Jungkook? gskhdkdhdkd the guy is the sweetest isn't he??? the way he was explaining himself to yoongi 🥺❤️

btw- guys it's chapter 35 already!!!!! pleaze keep voting, don't be a silent reader💕 your comments are always so sweet and encouraging, thank you for that. let's keep going, i don't really know how long this book is going to be. i'm just going with the flow, trying my best to make the plotline work lol. anyway take care, see you in the next update <333✨