*Y/n PoV*

I looked at my reflection in the window one last time before walking into my apartment building, making sure that I had everything with me, and was wearing only my own clothes from yesterday. Then, taking a deep breath, I walked in and went towards the stairs, anxious to get to my brother as quickly as possible so I could get the tea on his date last night.

Digging into my bag, I took out the keys to unlock the front door. But on putting it into the keyhole, I realised the door was unlocked.

Huh. That was really unlike my brother to leave the door unlocked. He was usually quite stringent about that.

Maybe...he was so caught up with his lady friend last night that he forgot to lock the door, a voice said in my head as a smirk made its way onto my face.

What if she's still here? I thought. No, he'd tell me not to come home then, another one replied.

Shaking the thoughts away, I pushed the door open, eager to get the tea.

I was expecting him to be doing some work, or maybe to be in the kitchen. I did not expect this.

My brother was curled up on the couch, his head in his hands, rocking back and forth.

Oh no.

"Hey, hey hey hey. You okay?" I kicked off my shoes and ran over to him, forgetting about everyone else for a second.

He looked up at me, his eyebrows furrowed, the same expression he wore when he didn't understand something.

"I just... I feel kind of bad, but like- it was necessary!" He said.

"Oh God, what did you do now?" I asked, sitting down next to him.

"Uh... I may or may not have told her that I didn't think we should go out anymo-"

"Nooo! Why? What happened?"

"Look, this isn't going to work unless you calm down." He said, putting his hands on my shoulders.

"I'm calm!" 

"Shhhhh. Okay. That's better." He patted my head.

"Just tell me what happened already."

"Look. She is great, I really enjoyed hanging out with her, but there is an issue. I thought I'd let it slide the first two times we met but it just became too much."

"What are you going on about? Does she smoke? Is that it?"

"No, no, no. She's fine in all those aspects. It's just that... she's... she's way too similar to you."

"What?"

"I know! It was fun hanging out, but she's like you plus a little bit of Rina, kind of. Too similar. And I couldn't even look at her without being reminded of both of you, which is why it felt so...so wrong."

I didn't now what to say. I had expected that if my big brother ever came to me for romantic advice, I'd know exactly what to do. But I had never been in this kind of situation, and so I was completely lost for words.

"Uhm... okay. If you don't think she's right for you, then you can totally drop it. Don't force yourself to see her if you don't like her. How did she take it?"

He looked up at me. "Not that well."

I pursed my lips, trying not to laugh. This was his first breakup, it wasn't appropriate to do so. But my lips betrayed me, curving into a big smile.

"It's not funny!" He smacked my head lightly.

I frowned again. "You're right." I looked up at him in mock seriousness.

"Y/n, it's not funny. Okay, maybe it's a bit funny." He broke into a bit of a smile.

"See? Screw it, it wasn't meant to be," I said, and got up. Anyways, I'm going out for lunch in a bit, with Rina, Jungkook and Tae."

"Okay. Bring me some food from wherever you're going, I'll eat it for dinner."

"Kay." I walked into my room and shut the door, grabbing a fresh set of clothes and heading into the bathroom for a shower. Once I finished my shower and got dressed, I made a quick call to Rina, who had just returned home.

"Hey Rina, you're free for lunch?"

"Um, yeah. Should be. Why?"

"Taehyung, Jungkook and I are going for lunch and so I just wanted to check if you want to join."

"Yeah, sure! I'll be there. Where are you guys planning to meet?"

"Um, I'll check with them. Jungkook will come to your place to pick us up by one?"

"Sure. See you."

I cut the call and turned around to get my bag. On the way, though, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. 

I looked like...shit. Not that I was uncomfortable in my skin or something, but I looked really drab and boring. I was in jeans and a T-shirt, nothing special, but it wasn't a basic kind of look. It just looked like I was too tired to pull myself together.

"No, this won't do," I mumbled to myself. I'd never quite worried about the way I looked, but I just felt like I looked so pulled apart, not my usual put together self.

I didn't normally care, but the thought of Taehyung being there immediately fixed it up in my head that I should change into a proper outfit.

Heading over to my closet, I rifled through the clothes I had. Five minutes later, I had four sets of clothes to wear. Not able to choose between them, I tried on each set and checked out how it looked in the mirror.

First was a pair of black jeans with a pale pink top. No.

Then a dark green T-shirt with the same jeans. Nah.

Now came the slightly dicey ones. I tried on this plain white sundress that I'd never really worn before. I had bought it because I thought it was cute, but the sort of thing that I never found the reason to wear. I went into the bathroom and put it on, tying my hair back before going back out to look at myself in the full-length mirror.

Oh, yes. This was the one. The dress went until a little a bit above my knees, not too short, but short enough for it to not look like it was from the 1900s. The cotton was so comfortable, soft against my skin, and the little brown buttons that went down the dress were really cute.

Happy with my find, I picked up my bag and walked out of my room, feeling happy, confident, and glowing in my own skin.

My brother was doing something in the kitchen. "I'm going, okay?" I said, walking towards the door to get my footwear.

"Okay. See you, have fun."

I smiled back at him even though he couldn't see it, his back facing me. "Bye!"

I shut the door behind me. "Bye."

*** 

"Rina! Rina Rina Rina! Open the door please!" I knocked on her apartment door aggressively.

"What do you-" the door swung open. "Oh, hi y/n, come in," she said, steeping back and opening the door. "Do you know when- oh look at you! You look amazing, dude!"

I blushed. "Thanks."

"Seriously. You look really cute in the dress. You should wear dresses more often."

I didn't quite know what to say to that, and felt the urge to hide my face in my hands. I wasn't quite used to receiving compliments on my looks.

"But one thing," she turned to face me.

"Yeah?"

"Your hair."

"What about it?" I asked.

"Well, you're in a really cute outfit, and your hair is just doing it's own thing. Which is fine, but I really think that if you let me do something with it, you could literally own the whole city with this look."

"Wow, I'm flattered and everything, but you get ready first Rina, you're not going in sweats."

She frowned at me. "Why?"

"Well first of all I wouldn't let you go out in those sweats anyways, there's paint all over them, and we're going to quite a fancy place, from what Jungkook told me. I can't show up like this, all extra, and you like that."

"You mean you can't look pretty while I look like trash?"

"Huh?"

She smiled at me. "I ain't ever seen two pretty best friends..."

"Rina!" I smacked her arm. "Just go!"

Laughing, she went to quickly get changed. She came back out in a grey oversize button down shirt tucked into blue jeans, the perfect artsy kind of outfit.

"Duuude! I love your art-kid aesthetic!"

She smiled. "Thanks, but today is your day. Now sit down on that chair, let me do your hair."

I did so, and for the next few minutes I sat there in silence as she did my hair, something I hadn't let her do since we were in ninth or tenth grade.

"There," she said, letting go of my head. "All done."

"Thanks Rina," I got up and walked over to my bag to pick out my phone. Jungkook had left me a message asking if the two of us could walk to the lunch place, since it was only a few minutes walk away.

I messaged back sure, and Rina and I set out together to the location that Jungkook had sent me. It was getting to be quite warm, and the sunny day just felt so perfect, and I felt so good right now that it was like I was having my main character moment.

Around five minutes later, Rina and I reached the destination. Standing in front of the building, my jaw dropped. 

I hadn't ever even gone inside this hotel, kind of a five- star sort of place where I'd never even thought about going. Maybe with my parents if they visited, but I'd never spend that kind of money just on myself or my friends or whatever.

"Wow," I whispered to Rina. "I've never been here before, have you?"

"Nope," she whispered back. "But I guess it's a good thing that we're all dressed up and not in trashy sweats, huh."

Smiling, I grabbed her hand and walked into the lobby, looking around to see where the restaurant was.

"Look, there's Jungkook and Tae, outside," Rina nudged me, and gestured towards one of the big glass doors that led outside to a garden- like area, where the two of them were standing. As we watched, they turned and went down the path towards the tables that I could see from here, like some kind of outdoor restaurant.

"One sec, I'm just gonna use the restroom, you go ahead," Rina told me.

"Nah, that's okay, I'll wait. Go ahead," I stood there while she used the restroom and came back out a couple of minutes later.

"Let's go?" She asked me

"Yeah." Pushing the glass door open, we walked out onto the path, following it down to the tables there, where Jungkook and Taehyung were sitting.

Jungkook was in a pair of leans and a white shirt, and Tae... he was able to make the simplest outfit look glamourous. In a pair of black jeans and a button down shirt of the lightest blue. His sleeves were rolled up slightly, and his hair was lightly tousled by the wind, giving him that perfectly imperfect look.

"Hey, Jungkook, hey Tae!" Rina said, walking over to them, leav me standing there like an idiot, gaping at how ethereal Tae looked in a simple outfit.

I cleared my throat and walked over, trying to act natural, and hoping desperately that nobody had noticed.

*Tae PoV*

Gorgeous.

That was the only word that came to mind when I saw her walking down that path towards us. Sun- kissed skin glowing in the midday sun, the dress on her giving her this air of confidence and joy, and just that smile, the one that could light up towns and cities.

The two of us stood up as they came towards us. Beside me, Jungkook whistled. "Damn, y/n, you look good."

She blushed and looked away, and I glared at Jungkook, nudging him.

"What?" He asked "she's hot, you know."

Something writhed in my stomach. Jungkook was right. And if anyone made a move on her before I could, I was screwed.

With that in mind, we sat down at the table for lunch.

*** 

"What do you guys want?" I asked y/n and Rina as we looked at the menus. The two of them leaned over the menu between the two of them and scanned it attentively.

"Uhm." Y/n began, biting her lip slightly, looking a little uncomfortable. "Have you been here before? What do you recommend?"

"I haven't actually been to this restaurant specifically, but- oh!" I suddenly realised what she was on about. "Y/n, don't worry about the expense. The food's worth it, I promise."

"Tae, the amount of money I have on me for a whole meal is the cost of one dish here."

"It's fine, I'm paying," I said, leaning back into the chair. "This meal is my treat anyways." Honestly, I was sick of having to explain to the whole friend group that I would pay. They gave me so much love and happiness, the least I could do was to take them for an expensive meal once in a while.

"Wha- no! You're not." She crossed her arms across her chest and leaned back, pouting. "You cannot keep paying for stuff, Taehyung. I'm the one with a job right now, I'm the one earning. I should also pay for things sometimes, you know."

"Excuse me? I also have a job, lady!" Jungkook said leaning forward. "And I'm pretty sure we earn- nope, nevermind. You earn more than me, never mind."

Rina smirked. "That's what I thought, right now y/n is earning the most money out of all of us. Rich kid."

"Rina, I'm also paying rent, and saving f-"

I broke in before Jungkook, Rina and y/n could blow into a full-fledged argument. "Look, you guys. It's fine. This is my treat. I promise that I'll let you pay sometime, but this time just let me take care of the bill, okay?"

She glared at me, but didn't say anything.

"Okay?" I repeated, trying to coax a reaction out of her.

"Fine." She grumbled.

I smiled at her childishness, and looked back at my menu, taking mental notes of the items which I thought she might like, hoping and hoping that she would enjoy my suggestions.

A/n: have a great day/ night loves! Love you to the moon and back<3