"I'll let you get back to your run, but it was nice to meet you," he says with a smile, lighting up his glowing skin.

"I'm Seokjin. Maybe I'll see you around."

"Jungkook." I lift my hand and give a small wave.

He returns the gesture before calling for Monie to follow him, leaving me on my own again, and as my eyes creep up the beach, I find Yugyeom.

There's a look I can't quite make out on his face and as I turn to head back to my car, he's quick to follow, doing his best to keep up as his highlighted hair blows away from his eyes.

"Who was that?"

"No one."

"Are you sure?"

I come to a stop and look at him. "Yes."

"It looked like more."

"Yugyeom," I sigh. "Why do you always assume the worst of me?"

"It's not you," he argues, and throws his arms out. "It's everyone else, Kook. They don't deserve you."

"They don't get me."

His eyes soften when he meets my eyes and realizes I'm serious. "I'm sorry."

"I know," I tell him as I start my jog again, this time slowing to a walk, and keeping pace with Yugyeom as he follows closely. "I like it here."

"That's new," he says, almost surprised. "You haven't liked any of the places we've been."

"It's different here."

"Different how?"

I shake my head because I really don't know how to explain it. It makes little sense, because I still feel lost, like I never even left Busan in the first place, but for the first time in what feels like forever, I think I may find my answer here.

This place is comfortable, just like home. I feel here like I am back home, where I used to laugh and smile. Where I was happy.

Almost as if a missing piece is just a few feet away from me, waiting for me to seek it out. I see a surfer with blue hair surfing on the waves.

My gaze averts from that.

"I don't know, but something is telling me I need to stay here and figure it out," I say, swallowing as I turn to him. "I think... I think I'm going to stay, at least for a while."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"No," I exhale and turn to the water. "But who said I had good ideas?"

"I just don't want you to regret it, babe."

"Maybe, but I left Busan looking for something. I don't know what it is, but I think whatever it may be... it's here. At this place and first time ever I'm willing to be wrong."

I don't know if deciding to stay is the right decision or not, but it feels at least okay for now.

I've been running for so long that I feared I may never stop, but right now—here, it feels right to pause and exhale as my gaze again turn towards the waves. The surfer is no more there. I look at the sun which is now a bit higher spreading its warmth.

I fell calm and slightly at peace here. I don't need to always carry the weight of the world on my shoulders, and I'm okay with putting it down for a while.

~~~///~~~

Nothing has felt right since Yugyeom left, but Daecheon is starting to. For the first time since he d!ed, I feel like I can stop.

Stop running, stop feeling sorry for myself, and find some kind of normal.

It won't be the same—nothing is ever going to be the same—but I'm not looking for the same. I'm looking for something that doesn't make me hold my breath. Something that is different yet normal.

It's not perfect here, but maybe it could be and that's enough to slow me down, at least for a little while, until I figure out what comes next.

For now, all I know is I want to stay in one spot, and it scares me to know that I'm choosing this.

It's my choice.

It's the first ever choice I made myself... for myself...

Yugyeom was always there, to decide for me...to choose for me...

But now it's me and only me...deciding and choosing...making decision for myself.

No one is making this decision for me, and it feels like I should be fighting someone.

That there should be a force telling me I'm wrong, and to keep moving, but there isn't and I don't know if that makes this better or worse.

For the last three weeks, I've been searching for something, and while I'm still not sure exactly what that something is—it's a step.

One I'm hoping is in the right direction, the next being to find something stable, and I know it needs to be a job. When I left Busan, I had a bit of money saved up from my part-time job waiting tables, and saved by sleeping in my car, but it hasn't been easy.

If I intend on staying in Daecheon, I need to earn an income again, and hopefully, find somewhere that isn't my car to live.

Unfortunately, being a twenty-two-year-old university dropout doesn't give me a lot of options, and my chances of finding something that isn't serving seem pretty slim—not that I mind.

In Busan, it felt like I knew everyone that came into the restaurant, and I enjoyed getting to talk to people. But that was before, when I felt like I could be open to others.

Now, it feels like I may suffocate if I let anyone too close.

When I get back to my car, I try my best to make myself look half presentable with a bit of dry shampoo and make-up, and vow to find a place to shower and get cleaned up after.

I fix my ruffled hair before slipping on a grey sweat over my shirt and pull on a washed charcoal jeans. After slipping into my black and white vans, I climb into the driver's seat and pull out of the stall, planning to go to the pier, and find a place to settle in for the night.

The hair on the back of my neck stand tall when I find a spot near the pier to park and let my eyes wander up the boards until they land on the Love Maze painted on the side of the building again.

The flash of a 'recruiting' sign still fresh in my memory as I climb out and make my way towards the restaurant.

I squeeze my eyes shut and take a deep breath before stepping inside, mentally preparing myself as I take the sign from where it's perched in the window.

It's warm to the touch from the heat of the sun beating in.

I hold my breath when I spot Taehyung behind the bar at the focal point of the room with his back to me and I consider turning around. He seems like the last thing I need to be around, but my options are slim and far apart.

I don't know what about him drive me more insane, is it his uneven eyes or their colour. He reminds me of the happy me, when I was carefree and reckless but now, I am nothing but a wretched thing.

At least here, I'd get a view of the ocean, and have enough experience waiting tables back home to back me up. With all the will I have left, I stand taller and walk over with a growing pit in my stomach.

"Hi."

Taehyung peeks over his shoulder and grins at the sight of me, a boxy smile on his face, making it nearly impossible to keep a straight face.

His happiness is overwhelming.

"Well, well, if it isn't the paradox himself," he says as he turns around, leaning into the counter behind him as he crosses his arms over his chest. "Hey, Busan."

"Hey, Taehyung."

"What can I do for you?"

I pull my bottom lip between my teeth and hold the sign up for him to see.

He chuckles as he steps forward and takes it from my grip. "And so confident you're going to get the job that you took the sign out of the window for us?"

I shrug. "Figured...it's the least I could do."

"Alright, you got yourself an interview," he says, leaning in across from me. "Name, please?"

"Right now?"

He nods with a big mischievous smile. "Name?"

"You're so annoyingly cheerful, Do you know that?"

"Mhm I know...Name?" He hums, ignoring me before repeating himself for a third time.

I narrow my eyes, knowing he's just trying to push my buttons but let it slide and instead focus my attention on the reason I came.

"Jeon Jungkook."

"Address?"

"To be decided."

"And why do you want to work here, Jungkook?"

"Really?" I frown, dropping my serious face. "You're messing with me, aren't you?"

"Nope, not even a bit," he argues. "Tell me a good why and if I like your answer, your chances are pretty good."

I fight back the urge to roll my eyes and let out a deep breath. "I want to stay in Daecheon."

"That's your answer?" He almost resists the urge to scoff.

I nod. "Yes, I could lie and give you some bluffs I'm sure you'll like and that will probably get me the job, but it'd be a lie. The truth is, I've been driving across the country, not really sure what I was looking for but I like it here, and I want to stay, and to do that, I need a job so that's what I'm going with."

"Okay... can I have your number?"

"Taehyung!"

"Jungkook!" he mocks me with the same serious look before smiling. "I'm a professional. This is for strictly business reasons."

"Can I...um...use your pen?" I ask as I grab a napkin from the stack at the end of the bar and hold my hand out for the pen in his apron.

He hands it over with no questions and I quickly scribble out my number before sliding it over to him.

"Great!" He takes it, reading it over to make sure all ten digits are there. "I'll call you with the decision."

"Ohkay."

"Yup, Okay." He nods and turns to go back to the kitchen, but not before stopping and looking back at me. "I think I'll be seeing you more, Busan."

I bite down on my bottom lip to keep from smiling as I head for the front door, the big sliding glass windows along the front open already, making the whole restaurant smell like the ocean.

It may just be my favourite smell, and as I step onto the dock, most of the customers opting to sit outside in the warm sunshine, I realize this may just be one of my favourite views.

It nearly breaks my heart with how stunning it is.

I'm not even pass the takeout window when my phone rings in my bag. I stop to fish it out and find an unknown landline number on the screen.

When I lift my head, I see Taehyung standing in the open doorway leading into the kitchen with an old, corded dial phone held to his ear, and this time I can't keep the smile off my face as he lifts his free hand mouthing a silent pick up to point to his phone, urging me to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Is this Jeon Jungkook?"

"Taehyung." I laugh.

He hushes me quietly, whispering like it's some secret. "Play along."

I meet his eyes through the open takeout window and tilt my head to the side, but I can't help it. His warmth is contagious.

"And what if I'm."

"Okay, So, Jungkook. This is Taehyung from Love Maze. I interviewed you earlier, right."

I nod unknowingly looking at him through the glass pane.

He winks, "and I'm calling to offer you the job. Viola." He tries his best to stay serious, but I can hear the crack in his voice near the end as he moves the receiver from his mouth to laugh.

"You're a jerk." I shake my head slightly at his antiqs.

Taehyung gasps loudly from the kitchen as he hangs up the phone and walks over to the window.

"Is that anyway to talk to your boss?"

"You're not my boss yet," I say as I tuck my phone back into my back pocket and cross my arms over my chest. "I haven't accepted your offer."

He laughs. "Well, what are you waiting for? We have a lot of candidates."

"okay, Boss...Yes, I'll take the job."

"Great! How's tomorrow for your first day? Say... three o'clock?"

"Perfect." I nod. "Is there a dress code?"

"Nope, just bring yourself, and maybe don't wear shirts," he teases with a laugh.

"What?" My eyes widen at his bluntness.

"Or do. I won't mind either way. But It will lack me the view. But I can live with that."

"Ha." I roll my eyes and step away from the window. "Bye Taehyung."

"See you, Busan. Without shirt of course."

~~~~~/////~~~~~