RED LIGHTS, STOP SIGNS

the five times jisoo loved taehyung, and the one time he didn't.

Kim Jisoo meets Kim Taehyung in the middle of the street.

It's August, and although today's weather was predicted to be cloudy, the sun had other plans. It glares at her from above that the extremely hot weather had her jittery--to the point where she almost crashes her car (technically, it was the driving school's car, but still). With one foot pressed on the brake and white knuckles gripping the steering wheel, she feels the sudden kick of adrenaline leaving her body and her normal thought process coming back and Jesus fucking Christ, she almost hit someone. On her first day of driving school.

"Oh my god," she begins as her hands struggle to remove the seatbelt holding her down--fuck, this fucking thing is so fucking tight, "shit. Shit, I'm so sorry," she rambles when she finally opens the car door, "I am so sorry, God, I'm so- are you hurt? Did I hit you?" Jisoo stumbles towards the man standing in front of the car with his hands covering his face in a poor attempt of protection. "Are you okay?"

The man peeks from between his hands as if to check. "I--"Seeing as the car finally stopped, he releases a long breath and combs his hair back. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

And damn, Jisoo doesn't usually say this but wow, this man is totally just her type.

"Are you sure?" she prods, eyes scanning his body for injuries--and well, maybe to check him out but no, injuries first. "I was kinda driving fast."

He shakes his head. "Don't worry, it's alright. I'm ok-" The car door from the passenger seat shuts behind her, and Jisoo is suddenly reminded of her 49 year old driving instructor. Fuckity fuck.

"Miss Kim!" He calls out with his gruff voice that had her close her eyes instantly. Oh no, she'll fail for sure, shit. "Take this, don't bother coming back!" She hears the sound of a paper ripping and then the next thing, the car door closes again. Ah, he's leaving her, fuck.

The guy she almost hit suddenly raises his hand and catches something mid-air. Jisoo squints enough to see that it was her driving report. He holds it in front of his face with a grimace (how can someone look so good while grimacing?!). "It says..." he murmurs, then gulps.

Jisoo knows what he's going to say next. "I failed, didn't I?"

He nods. "Yeah, I'm... I'm sorry."

She sighs sadly, her mood a huge contrast to the bright, sunny weather. This is the fourth time she's failed and after everything that has happened, she decides she'll never do this again. Fuck this driving shit. If she has to walk for the rest of her life, then be it.

"Yeah, it's fine, don't worry." Not even Mr. Handsome's face can lift her mood up. "I'll just... I'll just go." She looks around, trying to familiarize herself with the area. Her dorm is probably just a bus ride away, so she nods to herself. "I'm sorry again."

Jisoo moves to walk away, but he suddenly speaks up. "Just because you apologized doesn't mean I'm okay."

She stops. What?

Turning her head, she sees him slightly smiling and oh, he looks even better. "I need something in return, consider it as your peace offering."

Her heart stops. She's a broke college student, what could she give him? Two packs of instant rice? Don't judge, that's the only food she has at home. But instead of voicing out her disagreement, she asks, "What is it?"

He walks closer to her and pulls out his phone. "You have to give me your number first so I can tell you."

Damn, he's a smooth motherfucker. She feels her cheeks suffusing with color as she takes his phone from his hands. "I can do that, uh, what's your--"

"Taehyung. Kim Taehyung."

Taehyung. That has a nice ring to it. "I'm Jisoo."

So Kim Jisoo meets Kim Taehyung in the middle of the street. Literally.

I. The ramen store just a few blocks away from Jisoo's dorm is her favourite place to frequent to, especially because the owner gives her a discount every time she places her order. There's no clear explanation as to why--probably because of her babbling mouth or simply just her charm. Today is no different, except for the fact that she isn't ordering alone anymore--she's with Taehyung, for their sixth date, exactly, after all that driving test ruckus.

Maybe it's fate, but surprisingly, Taehyung goes to the same university as her (she almost fainted when she saw him in the cafeteria). They're both seated on the corner of the small store, shoulders hunched and nearly touching as they both slurp their noodles non-stop after hours of studying in the library.

In the short months that Jisoo has known him, she discovers that he actually loves studying, and would spend a great chunk of his time reading in the library. Not that she minds, it rather makes him very hot to her eyes (smart men are hot men).

He suddenly pokes her nose. "Hey, what are you thinking?" He asks, looking at her with noodles hanging from his lips.

Jisoo instantly smiles because of how adorable he is. "Nothing, just thinking about how good this ramen is."

Taehyung rolls his eyes and pinches one of her cheeks, to which she lets out a little squeal. "Stop looking at me and eat up, I know you're hungry. 'Could hear your stomach grumbling right before I picked you up from your lecture."

Okay, maybe Jisoo skipped her lecture just so she could spend time with him, but who cares? Not her, for sure.

"Fine," she huffs, but grins after Tae shot her a look. "Yes, yes, I'm eating, see?" She makes a show of gathering a big portion of the noodles and puts them all inside her mouth, but ostensibly, luck isn't on her side today because she ends up choking. In front of the hottest guy she's ever met.

(Embarrassing.)

"Shit," Tae curses and rubs her back as she grapples to keep her noodles in her mouth all the while coughing just so she could save her public image. "Soo, what the fuck," he wheezes, obviously holding in his laughter. Jisoo lightly slaps his arm but she's more focused on the noodles that's currently choking her, so the attempt doesn't go as planned. He laughs even more.

Finally, she recovers, and no noodles were harmed, thank you very much. Taehyung doesn't stop laughing but she goes back to eating her ramen, more cautious this time, slurping and sighing here and there. Before she knows it, she's cleared her bowl.

The ramen was good, so so good, but God, but she's still starving.

Suddenly, her bowl is being taken away and another bowl with barely touched noodles and soup is being placed in front of her. It's Tae's bowl.

She looks at him in confusion. "What--"

"Eat mine. I'm not that hungry," he tells her, now red-faced from all the laughing that he did. He's still hot, though. Damn. "It's okay."

"But what about you?" Jisoo asks, frowning. Although she's flattered by the gesture, she's still concerned about him. "Aren't you hungry too? We spent a lot of hours in the library. What time did you eat lunch?"

He shakes his head. "I'm fine, Soo, I ate before I came to the library. Now, eat up." He says while pushing the bowl to her. "Don't choke this time."

Jisoo gives him a long look, before leaning into his ear. She feels him tense up, but she smirks and whispers, "I'll only choke on you."

This time, it was him who coughed.

Jisoo mentally pats herself on the back. Great job, Soo, you did well.

II. It's 3AM and Jesus Christ, Jisoo has the sudden urge to eat chapaguri.

First of all, it wasn't her intention, okay? She was scrolling through Netflix a few hours ago and she accidentally clicked on the Parasite movie. Since there were no other good movies to watch, she settled with it. She wasn't in the mood to watch those mainstream romance movies and she most definitely did not want to watch tear-jerking films alone. Again which turned out wrongly because now she has the sudden urge to eat chapaguri (without the steak because she's broke, duh) at 3AM on a school night and she's fucking starving.

Jisoo already has her jacket on, pajamas hidden under the thin layer of wool as she stands behind her door. She disregards the awful sound her stomach makes as she scrolls through her phone contacts in search for him. When she sees his name next to three pink hearts, she taps it and dials it without hesitation.

After three rings, he picks up.

"Babe," Taehyung's voice echoes in her small dorm room. "What's up?"

"I'm up," she replies, opening her door to leave. "Let's have chapaguri."

Her boyfriend is silent for a good ten seconds before she hears shuffling, and she's already out on the street when he finally speaks again.

"I'll see you in 5," he tells her and she hums, keys jingling in her fingers as she walks to the nearest convenience store. "By the way, I look like shit right now, just so you know. I popped my pimple in the bathroom."

Jisoo cringes after passing a sleeping drunk on the sidewalk. "At 3AM?"

"Hey, I'm not questioning your sudden craving for chapaguri now, am I?"

A chuckle escapes her mouth. "Fair point. Better hurry though, I'm starving. I could eat a horse or two."

"And I'm sleepy, but I'll still go and see you because I'm such a good boyfriend," he sounds so sarcastic that Jisoo snorts. He's a good boyfriend though, she won't deny that.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll go wait up for you, okay?" She hears him mumble an okay before she says her goodbyes and hangs up.

Eventually she finds herself outside the convenience store, two bowls of chapaguri in front of her--all ready, of course--with bottles of water and some triangle gimbap (she lives off of these, leave her alone). Jisoo's mouth waters at the sight because really, tuna mayo gimbap and chapaguri? This is a broke college kid's dream.

"Hey, sugar," she hears him before she sees him. Taehyung plops down on the seat across her, wearing a sweater and some shorts with bizarre patterns. The first thing she notices is the band aid on his jaw, probably the pimple he was talking about. Despite that though, he still looks good (or maybe Jisoo is just whipped, whatever).

"Hey, flour," she teases while pushing his chapaguri forward. "Here's yours."

Just then and there, her stomach decides to be a bitch because suddenly, it growls so loud that Taehyung looks at her with wide eyes. "Is that normal?"

"You've never heard of a stomach growl before?" She asks before getting a mouthful of chapaguri and sweet lord Jesus, it tastes so heavenly.

"I have but," he breaks the disposable chopsticks, "not as loud as yours." She watches while he mixes his noodles for the nth time (always the perfectionist) before taking a bite. "Thank you, baby."

Jisoo hums in contentment and slurps. There are only a few people in the store, most of them are sophomores that she recognises from the technology department. Others were freshmen that probably just came home from a frat party, but nonetheless, it's quite peaceful and a little quiet save for the IU song blasting from inside the store's speakers.

"Let me guess," Taehyung looks up from his cup, sauce on the corner of his lips, "you were watching Netflix?"

She leans forward and wipes the sauce from his face with a tissue. "Wow, how could you possibly know," she drawls sarcastically.

"How's your thesis going?"

Jisoo's shoulders drop. Her thesis is her nemesis as of the moment and if she were to choose between walking barefoot on hot coals and making her thesis, she'd choose the former. "I ditched it. I watched Netflix instead," she hears him snicker from behind his cup. "I know I said I'd outline it but argh! I just didn't have the energy."

"But you had the energy to watch Netflix," he points out, still grinning.

"You're the one to talk. How's your academic review?" A smirk runs across her lips as Taehyung immediately shuts up. "Hah, I knew it, you little turd. Acting all responsible, huh?"

"You can't blame me. How do even expect me to write 2,000 words about Aristotle's Prior Analytics? In English, out of all things," he adds with a groan. "This is torture, I swear."

"At least we're suffering together." She wriggles her brows at him.

"Can you at least do my paper though?" Taehyung asks with a hopeful glint in his eyes.

"Baby, I would," she mockingly pouts at him, "but I don't know English, so you can go and deal with it yourself."

"Ugh," he huffs. "Why do we even submit English papers though? We're in Korea, for God's sake, English isn't going to be useful for us."

"I don't know, it's supposed to the universal language or something." She shrugs while opening her gimbap. "Speaking of that, how did they decide that it would be the universal language?"

"Wait," he lowers his chopsticks down as his face morphs into shock. "If it's the universal language, does that mean aliens know how to speak it?"

Jisoo resists the urge to throw her water bottle at him. He looks like he just discovered something revolutionary, she didn't want to pop his bubble. "I don't think so. I think they have other ways of communication."

"That's weird," he mumbles. "I guess it--"

A car honk disrupts their silence. Jisoo whips her head just in time to see a black Porsche speed by, muffled music blasting from the speakers. No doubt a bunch of those rich juniors coming home from their night outs.

"Well," Taehyung speaks after the car disappears from view. "That was unnecessary."

"True," she agrees, taking a huge bite of the gimbap that she almost eats the entire thing. "I heard it was Jimin's birthday tonight, that one blonde guy from the dance department. Those were probably his friends."

"Ah, Jimin," he seems familiar with the name. "You know, I wish we could be like that."

She scrunches her brows. "What do you mean? Like, we should go to parties and stuff?"

Taehyung doesn't like parties and neither does she, so it's expected that he shakes his head at her question. "No, no, what I meant was I wish we could be like that, like having drives whenever we want and listening to whatever song that plays on the radio," he utters, smiling softly, "I think that would be romantic."

Jisoo couldn't stop the chuckle that she lets out. "Very romantic, if only I knew how to drive."

He flicks her forehead, causing her to hiss an ow! "That's why you need to get on with your driving test, dummy. As much as I'd love to teach you, my car is miles away in Daegu and I don't think it'll be back anytime soon."

"I know, I'm trying!" She sighs. "I'm just distracted, that's all." It was the truth. With senior year looming over them, they've been working non-stop.

"Take your time, babe," he assures her, ripping the gimbap wrapping off and eating the thing in one go. "I'm not," he gulps the food down, "forcing you or anything. Just when you're ready."

"I wish I can just magically just drive or something," Jisoo puffs her cheeks. "That way we can go to random long drives in the middle of the night." It's one of her to-do things, really, and if she didn't fuck up her driving test multiple times, she would've done it earlier.

"You know what else could be better?" She shakes her head. "When we go stargazing during a drive."

Her eyes widens. "Dude, you're a genius."

"I know."

"We can also go anywhere, we can even visit your family!" The possibilities seem endless. "With that being said, we can recreate those movie scenes where the main lead's significant other picks them up from the school dramatically."

Taehyung practically buzzes from the idea, seeing as he grins so widely. "You can like, wait for me in front of the arts building in your sunglasses and act all cool and shit. That would be a sight."

Jisoo snorts. "Yeah, right, now I really think I need to work on my driving."

"No pressure, babe," he tells her again, picking up his empty cup and plastic wrapping. "You can do it, I know." Suddenly, he looks up and frowns. "Speaking of that, it's drizzling. Let's go inside." She raises a brow after he takes her hand and pulls her to the nearest shade.

"We can just walk home, you know," she says, scooting closer to his hide. "Dorm's not that far."

"Yeah, but you'd get sick," he replies as he puts an arm around her. "And I'd have to take care of you again, just like the last time."

Jisoo rolls her eyes at the memory of Taehyung staying over her dorm for a week. It happened a month ago, when she accidentally left her umbrella at home and had to walk under the rain from the university to his dorm. It was fun while it lasted, and she wishes it'd happen again.

As if a light bulb flicked on inside her head, she pushes his arm away and runs from the shade to the rain. She faintly hears him gasp as she stands under it, relishing the cool water that drops on her face.

Okay, maybe it's disgusting, but at least it's fun.

"Soo!" He calls out to her from the store. She only giggles.

"Come here!" Jisoo beckons him over, all smiles and almost jumping. The rain soaks through her clothes, but fuck her pajamas. She rarely gets into this mood, but now that Taehyung's here, she has the sudden urge to just stay under the rain and play.

Taehyung glances at the forming puddles. "Baby, it's raining." He shakes his head.

She rolls her eyes at her boyfriend, feeling the water seep through her pajama pants. Man, Seoul hasn't had this kind of rain since March. "So what? Let's go!"

He hesitates for a second, sighs, before he steps out from the store and jogs a little towards her.

Jisoo giggles and holds out her hand, and her boyfriend, ah, her adorable boyfriend, has his hand covering his hair in an attempt to avoid the rain. Really cute... and really stupid considering she's already wet.

His hand lands on hers instantly. "C'mon, let's go. We're going to be sick if we stay here longer." He holds her arm and tries to walk away, but Jisoo is persistent. And Taehyung knows that a persistent Jisoo is a dangerous Jisoo.

She pouts, hands around his own. "You're no fun, Tae, I swear. Live a little."

"I'm just concerned for you well-being, baby," he sighs, the rain finally falling on his fringes after he lowers his hand. "I'm not--"

Too late. Jisoo has already scooped a handful of rain water on her other hand and she successfully throws it at his face, landing on his nose with a loud plop. She wheezes as his face scrunches up to a not-so-handsome expression and he rubs his nose with his palms.

"Okay, let's go, I've had my fun--" Plop! Fuck, the water got into her left eye. Stupid Tae. She wipes her eyes while scrunching her nose and turns to look at Tae, but he wasn't there. "Tae, where--"

Suddenly, she's pulled into somebody's chest.

"No fun, huh?" He mumbles teasingly when she looks up, eyes forming into crescents and a grin so wide that she beams, too. "Race you to your dorm?"

"Sure thi--"

Before she could finish, he's already running. This fucker, I swear to God.

"Hey, this is unfair!" She screams, struggling on her slippery Adidas slides. From this far, Tae's laughter can still be heard. "Taehyung, you motherfucker!"

"Stop making up rumours about me!" He yells back, and he's grinning so wide Jisoo thinks he's glowing. "Can't run on your little legs, Soo?"

Oh my God. That's the last straw, she thinks as she picks up speed. "Shut up! I'm 5"3!" Her hoodie is soaked now, but she couldn't care less. "5"3 with a fat ass!"

Taehyung doubles over as he laughs while running. "You're a liar!" His screams echo as he rounds in on a corner.

"Ugh, I hate you!" Jisoo rounds on the corner, too, but instead of running even faster, a pair of hands catches her by the waist and pulls her into a hug. "Stop, I'm supposed to be hating you," she groans into his chest.

Taehyung chuckles from the crook of her neck, where he nuzzles his nose. He's fully soaked now, sweater damp and shorts dripping. "You can never hate me, you love me too much."

Jisoo puts her arms around his neck despite the rain pouring on the both of them and sighs. "You're right, and it's annoying."

"You're still 5"3 and short though," he reminds her, receiving a light slap on his butt. Slowly, he pulls away and stares down at her, hands placing themselves on both her cheeks. Jisoo closes her eyes when he caresses them, leaning to the touch. "You look so pretty under the rain."

The corners of her lips quirk up. "You're such a charmer, you know that?"

His chest rumbles. "Yeah."

Silently, he leans down on her and presses a chaste kiss on her lips. And another, and another, until Jisoo has her back pressed on a nearby wall, hands fisting Taehyung's shirt.

She doesn't want to stop, it seems like he doesn't either. It's a sight to see, really: two college kids making out under the rain in their soaked clothing, but hell, she doesn't give a fuck.

"Hey," Tae mumbles as he pulls away, "I love you, you know that, right?"

Jisoo chuckles. "You always tell me that."

"So you won't forget," he says while taking her hand. "Come now. Let's get you home before you get sick. I don't want to be your slave for a week again."

She lets him pull her towards the direction of her dorm. "Shut up. You loved nursing me back to health."

Jisoo faintly catches him smile. "I don't."

He receives a slap on his neck.

III. You know that feeling of immense dissatisfaction where all you want to do is to curl up to a ball and cry? That's what Jisoo feels right now. It weighs her down that she practically crawls back to her dorm, the words of her rat bald fucking ass professor ringing in her head.

"I apologize, Miss Kim, but you need to retake this class on the second semester."

Taking any subject was acceptable, alright, she can take it. She's smart, she knows. But finance? The root of all evil? No way in fucking hell would she do that. She'd spend a year in jail rather than do it all over again, but this is the reality and she has no other way but to comply.

Fucking universities and their fucking high standards.

Yes, prof, she had replied, but all she really wants to do is to burn the whole place down. She was seriously considering it earlier.

Finance is a complex subject, one that she finds extremely difficult to adjust to. At first it was easy, but it became more and more strenuous as the days went by. Still, she tried her best and voila, she failed. Yay.

So here she is, staring at her ceiling and unmoving. Sprawled on her bed like an idiot starfish.

Her thoughts were interrupted when her phone vibrates. Jisoo breaks out of her little existential crisis and picks up, placing the phone on her ear.

"Hey, babe," the soft voice of her boyfriend greets her. If they're in a normal situation, she would be smiling faintly just by the sound of it, but they weren't.

It doesn't do anything to calm her, at all. "Hi," she says rather dryly.

"Why do you sound so down?" She could almost imagine a frown on his face.

"I don't know... I just.." she releases a breath, exhaustion slowly draining out for her. "I'm tired."

The other line goes quiet for a while. Jisoo isn't bothered, she knows he's there. She knows for a fact that he'll always be there.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asks gently.

She shakes her head even if he can't see her. "I don't think so, I'll just... I don't know, wallow in my sadness or something. Maybe play some sad ballads while I'm at it."

Taehyung chuckles. "You sound like a drama queen."

"Says you," she retorts, quite annoyed that he just chucked at her situation like that.

"Hey, why don't we meet up in front of the university in five?" He asks out of the blue. "My night class is about to end so I'll be heading out in a bit."

Jisoo pulls her phone away to stare at the time. It's five minutes before 7PM. "For what? Dinner?"

"That, and something else," he replies.

She bites her lower lip. The idea doesn't sound bad. Before she knows it, she's already saying, "Okay, I'll see you."

The call ends and she instantly goes to her closet to pick up a sweater. December's nearing, so the air has gotten a bit colder these days. She takes a particularly colourful one and puts it atop her shirt. Then, she leaves her dorm.

SNU is only five minutes away, so she heads there, occasionally bumping to her other friends from uni. When she arrives at the main entrance, she lets Taehyung know that she's there.

The reply comes in the form of a back hug.

Jisoo shrieks as a pair of arms snake around her waist, and when she looks back, she sees the snickering face of her boyfriend.

"You motherfucker," she curses, pinching his arm. "I thought I was going to be kidnapped or something."

"Who would want to kidnap you?" He frowns, and she slaps his arm again. "Just kidding, babe. Let's go?"

"To where, exactly?"

She lets him drag her. "Anywhere."

Jisoo doesn't understand what the hell he was saying, but she lets him do what he wants. Taehyung is a spontaneous person, so whatever this might be, it's probably just one of his impulsive ideas.

So they walk, her hands wrapped around his arm and her head leaning against him. People passed by and left, but Jisoo didn't mind as she allows her thoughts to go astray, just for a little while. Maybe it'll help to soothe the hurt she's feeling.

The soft wind caresses her skin as she walks, her eyes closing at the mere feeling of it. The sound of cars honking and the metropolis bustling just brings a certain calmness over her, and she loves it.

"You okay?" She hears Taehyung ask from beside her.

Snorting, she says, "No, duh."

He moves his arm to drape it over her shoulder. "I figured." She waits for him to ask more questions, prod for more information about her day, but nothing. He says nothing. He squeezes her shoulder instead, as if he already understood.

That small action instantly makes her heart flutter.

(Dammit, why is she so weak?)

Jisoo stares up at him lovingly. "Dumbass," she means to retort, but it comes out softly instead. He looks down at her with gentleness in his eyes that she almost melts in his arms.

"Come here," he murmurs, and then he embraces her into a tight hug.

She sunk into his warmth, inhaling the wood and citrus scent that she loves. In his embrace, the world seems to stop still on its axis. The noise of the traffic fades away, and she can only hear the sound of his breathing.

His hand strokes her hair. "It's okay," he mutters quietly. "You'll be okay. I'm here."

A laugh escapes from her mouth. "You don't even know what I'm sad about," she points out, leaning her head in his chest to hear more of his heart beat.

"You don't need to say it, anyway," he replies while he pulls away. "I just know."

She beams up at him. "You're an idiot."

Taehyung sniggers. "Your idiot."

He drops a kiss on the tip of her nose, and she sighs. The weariness she's been feeling momentarily dissipates, so she shamelessly pulls him back again into another hug. It's selfish, she knows, but she can't just get enough of him.

(Who could get enough of Kim Taehyung?)

Her boyfriend hums something in her hair--a tune of a song that she hasn't heard before. Jisoo once again closes her eyes and presses a kiss to his neck.

She knows they're in the sidewalk, hugging like some weirdos but she doesn't mind it one bit. Doesn't really care.

All she knows is the heat and love radiating from both his embrace and his voice, and that's all that matters.

IV. At this time of the morning, the sky is undeniably beautiful. The dawn sun peeks shyly through a hazy screen of clouds, tinting the sky an elaborate mix of purples and pinks. Jisoo blindly reaches for her phone at the bedside table and flinches when the screen lights up. 6:06 AM, it says.

She sits up to put the phone back, ready to go back to bed when a pair of arms tighten around her waist.

"Don't go," mutters a voice from behind her, thick with sleep. "'S a weekend."

A chuckle leaves her lips. "I'm not going anywhere," she mumbles as she slides back into Taehyung's arms. She tosses and turns for a while and as soon as she's settled, he nuzzles his face into the crook of her neck. It's his favourite thing to do now, she notices.

Jisoo smiles to herself, feeling suddenly affectionate for him. Her left hand goes behind him and starts rubbing small circles at the expanse of his back, softly lulling him to sleep with a random tune.

A groan comes from the back of his throat. She watches quietly as he pulls back, one of his eyes cracking open. "As much as I love your singing, come sleep with me instead," He slurs, smoothing her hair with his hand.

She only hums, but doesn't stir from her place. Slowly, she presses a kiss to his lips. A sleepy smile is what she gets in return.

"Love you," he murmurs as he pulls her even closer until her head rests on his chest. "Even if your breath stinks."

They both laugh like idiots after, and it's in moments like this: when the rest of the world is sleeping and the sky is painted with colour, that Jisoo feels like she owns the world for a little while, with Taehyung in her arms and his heartbeats steady beneath her fingertips.

She wouldn't trade these short, meaningful moments for anything else.

V. 21 years. Wow. Jisoo can't believe she's 21 years old now.

21 years, and all she's gotten are low-marked test scores and cheap cups of ramen from the convenience stores. But only this time, it's different. It's different because of two things: (1) her boyfriend and (2) his love for surprises.

It's quite ironic how he just barged into her dorm room at 12am in the morning with no warning whatsoever, despite the fact that she has warned him days prior to not surprise her because surprise surprise! She hates surprises.

But considering how head over heels she is for this grown baby, she lets him. Not to mention she was shocked and overwhelmed when he came in with a bunny-shaped cake with five crooked candles ("It's a hot trend right now, babe, stop," he complained when she started laughing at the candles) and a huge lump of a bag. But whatever, she loves him, he can do what he wants.

Taehyung drags her to her kitchen counter after he places the cake atop it, singing happy birthday on top of his lungs. She allows him, whining Tae, the neighbors will hear! and you sound like a drowning rat even though she's extremely giddy on the inside.

After he finishes his last happy birthday note with a wonderful vibrato, he nudges her to the cake.

"Make a wish, babe," he practically screams, obviously excited as he whips out his phone.

Jisoo looks at him, pretending to be annoyed but deep down, she's fucking over the moon. "Do I have to do this?"

"Soo, you're a bad actor, I can see it," he points out. Well, shit.

"Okay, okay." She takes a deep breath. "I wish... um... I wish I'd finally get my driver's license and I'll pass in all of my units," she wishes aloud, and she could hear her boyfriend gasp from beside her as she blows on the candle.

"You're not supposed to say your wishes out loud!" He scolds, snapping a candid photo of her and slipping the phone back into his pocket. "It won't come true."

Jisoo scoffs. "Watch me."

"Yeah, right," Taehyung snorts. "Wait," he tells her, his normal mood back again, "I still have one more gift."

"Oh my god, babe, don't tell me you got me that Louis Vuitton wallet we saw at the mall the other day!" She says jokingly while he goes to pick up his guitar from her bedroom. She hears a loud laugh and then he's back, holding a stool on one hand and the guitar on another. "What's going on?"

He settles himself in it and places the guitar on his knee. "So, um," he starts, awkwardness radiating from him (very unusual), "I wrote this song a few months back for you and I- uh," he scratches the back of his neck, "it isn't that long, but I hope you'll like it. Namjoon hyung from the music department helped me with the notes and everything."

He wrote a song... for her?

"Since when did you play the guitar?" She asks, leaning on the counter. She tries her best to keep it cool, but she couldn't stop her heart from pounding twice as much.

"Since I wrote this song," he smiles shyly at her. "I learned it for you."

Jisoo feels her legs turn to jelly.

"This song is called Winter Bear," he tells her, lips quirked up, "Enjoy." And then, he starts strumming.

It sounds familiar, in a way. She feels like she's heard him hum this to her once... she just couldn't pinpoint when.

She looks like a blue parrot, would you come fly to me?

It's a known fact that Taehyung can sing, but this, with him in front of her inside her cramped dorm, he sounds heavenly. Everything seems so intimate that she holds her breath, not wanting to disrupt this short moment that they have. Jisoo suddenly feels her eyes sting (why did the water works start this early? Damn it) when he closes his eyes and smiles, because wow, her boyfriend.. her boyfriend wrote her a song, learned the guitar just for her.

No one has ever done this to her before.

"Imagine your face, say hello to me." He looks at her with a loving expression, and all of Jisoo's worries suddenly melts away. God, she loves him. Loves him so, so much. "Then all the bad days, they're nothing to me, with you..."

And fuck, her heart is overwhelmed by the love and the adoration and the longing and the yearning that a tear slips through her lashes, and then the next thing she knows she's in his arms, his lips in her hair and her head buried in the crook of his neck as she inhales him; his scent smelling like citrus and wood, smelling of home. Her home, whom she's found refuge in during the bad days and the good, her Taehyung.

"I love you," he whispers, ghosting a kiss on her forehead. "Always will."

A sob escapes her. "Thank you so much," she whimpers, looking up at him. He stares at her, his eyes holding the stars, and they shine so beautifully that Jisoo holds him tighter. "Shit, I don't know why I'm--god, I love you. I really do."

Jisoo closes her eyes as he leans down, kissing all of the tears away. He starts with her cheeks, pressing his lips to where they had once been, travelling down until the reach the corner of her mouth. It feels like the world holds its breath the same time as she does, because when Taehyung stroked her cheek, she couldn't hear anything but him, him, him.

And when their lips finally touch, Jisoo feels home. It isn't like their previous kisses, it isn't rushed or heated or slow, it just feels like... like home. Like comfort. It feels like eating an ice cream in the midst of a hot summer, feels like finally resting in bed after a long day of nonstop work. Jisoo's toes doesn't curl, her heart doesn't leap, she just melts in it, sighing contentedly in Taehyung's arms.

Home.

The rest of the night passes by in a whim, but for a few hours, Jisoo forgets that they're both inside her cheap college dorm, her wearing nothing but an old sweater and Tae, a university hoodie and some sweatpants--but not one of them cares. Just as long as they're happy and they're together, everything is and will be fine.

+ 1

When feelings are hidden, they grow.

See, it starts like this: the emotions begin in your stomach, stirring awake at every second you start to take note of the minimal changes. Then, almost hauntingly, it claws its way up to your mind. Little by little--you start to notice the differences in the way they speak to you, the way the act towards you.

Inevitably, they find refuge in the drawers of your thoughts. It feeds you things, things that keeps you awake at night. Things makes you toss and turn and think; are you good enough? Are you worthy of somebody's love? Are you enough? It whispers insecurities to your heart, and then one day, you just... burst.

That's exactly what happened to them.

It's a known fact to all college students that senior year of college is a whole different kind of hell; there are hundreds of deadlines, countless projects, and let's not forget the theses. The fucking theses, holy shit. With all these things merged together, it's no wonder the both of them clash regularly.

More deadlines equal to less time, and less time equals to frustration. When they meet each other, the situation is always like this: one has an ongoing project, one wants to spend time together. The other disagrees, so it results into an unspoken fight that leaves them both empty and drained.

(It's a peaceful October night, except for the fact that Jisoo has a 12AM deadline for some essay and she's typing furiously on her laptop. That is, until her phone rings.

"Hey," Taehyung quietly greets from the other line. "Can we talk, Soo?"

Jisoo balances the phone between her ear and her shoulder, pausing her typing. "Hi, babe," she replies. "Now?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking we should go have some hotpot. I'm craving and," she hears him suck in a breath, "and I miss you."

She briefly recalls the last time they met and actually sat down together. Has it been almost two weeks? Wow.

"I miss you too," she slumps down. They've bumped to each other in between hallways and buildings, but the short hi's and hello's aren't enough. "But I can't, I have--"

"You have stuff to do," he cuts her off. Jisoo doesn't miss the way his voice hardens.

"Yes, but I'll--"

"I understand," mutters Taehyung. "This is the third time you've said this," he adds, tiredness obvious in his tone. She just wants to make it go away. "But I understand. It's hard, but I'll try to."

"I'm so sorry, Tae." She pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration. God, she hates this. Their overlapping schedules are pure shit. If she could just throw it way, she would. "I'm really sorry."

"It's fine," he dismisses as if it's nothing, but Jisoo knows better. "If you have time, you can tell me. I'll wait."

"I will."

The call ends on a sad note, and as she goes back to her work, the thought of his offer was slowly forgotten.

She never arrives.)

Unexpectedly, Taehyung was the first one to break. She could still remember it, that particular December night after they'd gone home from campus.

("Don't fucking say that again, Jisoo, don't you fucking dare!" Taehyung practically snarls at her. They're in her dorm, pacing back and forth in her bedroom. Jisoo doesn't care about anything but the buzzing in her head, the image of her boyfriend with that girl in his Philosophy class imprinted in her mind.

"Then what do you expect me to say, Taehyung? What?" Jisoo hisses, facing him. "You told me you were friends with her, and I respected that... but you just had to--" Fuck, she hates the way her voice cracks, "Why did you have to do that?" It lessens to mumble, tiredness seeping out of it. God, she just wants to sleep.

"I fucking--" Taehyung starts to snap, but gets ahold of himself. He's standing in front of her door now, pulling his hair in frustration. Jisoo wants to embrace him, kiss him, tell him it's going to be okay, but she can't. She's too exhausted. She's too hurt. "I didn't--"

"Tae, you know I love you more than anything," she says in a small voice. She's tired of this, of the screaming and crying and the fighting. She wants it to end. "But you could've just--"

"Soo, you were never there!" Jisoo flinches at his voice. "You were never there when I needed you, and I'm tired of it. I'm tired of everything."

She pushes back the lump of her throat and stands up from her bed to go to him. "We can talk it out, Tae, please, just don't... don't go. Let's talk it out, let's stop with the yelling, yeah? Please, let's--"

"Talk it out?" He laughs sharply. "I've been trying to tell you for months, but it seemed like you just don't care at all."

Fuck, she hates this. "But I'm here now, we can talk--"

"It's too late."

She feels her heart stop. "What?"

"This isn't..." his jaw clenches, "this isn't working out."

Jisoo doesn't know if it's physically possible to feel heartache, but his words hit like a hammer that her heart tears apart into two. "What do you mean?" She asks, because fuck, she's never imagined this to happen. Taehyung, her Taehyung... he's breaking up with her.

"I think all of this just needs to be over. I--" Taehyung blinks, and then closes his mouth. "It's tiring. I'm tired."

"Baby," she whispers, "no, we can fix this. I can--"

Taehyung holds his hand out to stop her from getting closer. Her heart shatters at the sight. "No, no, we can't. I just..." he takes a deep breath and looks anywhere but her, "I need to go."

"No! I'm so sorry--"

"Stop, Soo, just... stop."

She thinks she hears a sniff, but when she looks at him he's already opening the door. Jisoo wants to grab his hand, pull him inside and shower him with all the love he deserves.

But she doesn't.

Taehyung gives her a long look, and she catches a glimpse of something glittering in his eyes.

"I'll get my things next week," he quietly tells her. "I'll... I'll see you soon, Soo."

And when Jisoo hears the front door shut close, she finally lets out a sob. Taehyung left her... taking her heart with him. Just like that.)

It's quite ironic to see him back in her dorm after all that fighting, Jisoo thinks. But she lets him, ignoring the rush of emotions overcoming her as she catches a whiff at his perfume--his perfume that reminds her so much of home.

"You took the bus?" Jisoo asks when he enters, clothed in a black parka that had his entire body covered. She remembers this one: she came with him to the mall to buy it, and they'd eaten ice cream right at the parking lot before coming home.

Taehyung nods as he walks to her room without hesitation. "The snow is three inches deep. 'Couldn't just walk my way up here." He throws her a small smile from his shoulder. "Everything's in the box?"

Jisoo follows him inside and sees him touching the box that she arranged the night before, filled with his things. "Yeah, everything. I practically turned this place upside down in search of your stuff," she jokes, earning a snort from him.

"Guess I don't need to do much work then." He takes the huge box from the bed and turns to her. "This'll be a pain in the ass at the bus, dammit."

She's suddenly reminded of Jennie's car parked outside the building. "No, you don't need to," she finds herself saying. "I'll drive you to your dorm."

His eyes widen comically. "You can drive?"

Well, fuck. A memory from 11 months ago suddenly appears in her brain. The both of them, arguing in the living room about the concept of birthday wishes. Jisoo shakes her head to wave it off before a familiar emotion wells up in her heart. "Yeah, um, I got my driving license last week."

It was supposed to be her Christmas gift to him, she's already thought about the surprise and all... but that happened and now she decides she doesn't really care anymore.

Taehyung grins--the grin she loves so much. "I knew you could do it."

Jisoo fumbles with the keys and the ignition, her hands busy as she prepares the car. Taehyung's right beside her with his box of things on the backseat. She momentarily prays that she doesn't get Jennie's car to an accident before driving off the property, towards his dorm.

"Hey, you remember the first time we met?" He snorts softly to himself, and Jisoo again is reminded of the man who asked for her number minutes after he almost got hit by her car. "You almost hit me during your driving test that your instructor left."

She faintly smiles at the memory. "I know, I've never felt so embarrassed in my entire life."

The car travels smoothly. "If you hadn't almost hit me then, do you think this..." He gestures to both of them, "would've happened?"

She doesn't understand what he's insinuating, but she answers anyway. "I think so," she mumbles, eyes on the road. "I like to think that the world is small, and it wouldn't be impossible for me to not meet you."

She feels him looking at her. "Yeah," he muses, "I think so too."

It's quiet for the rest of the ride. Taehyung doesn't seem to mind though, so she keeps her mouth shut. There's nothing for them to talk about, anyway. Not anymore.

When they arrive at his dorm, Jisoo feels her heart beat twice as fast. She has no idea why, but when he suddenly turns towards her, it becomes clear to her that this is it. They're officially parting ways. It's going to be the last---

To her surprise, he lurches forward.

He embraces her tightly, his face nuzzling her neck like he always does. And Jisoo knows, God, she knows, that this might be the last time they'll be like this, so she encircles her arms around him and pulls, pulls him even tighter; as if this gesture would take them back to a year ago where they were each other's joy, as if it'll mend the cracked surface of her heart.

But it's too late.

They stay in each other's embrace for a while, soft music blasting in the background.

"Thank you," he mutters on her neck, and Jisoo feels her eyes sting. "For everything."

Fuck, this is not the goodbye she imagined. She thought she was over this, but the mere touch of Taehyung just crumbles the walls that she'd built this past week. "Thank you," she replies instead, ignoring how thick her voice has become.

Taehyung slowly pulls away with a small smile, and she suddenly misses his warmth around her. She wants to pull him back, she really does, but she stops herself. It took everything in her willpower to stay still as he takes the box from the backseat.

He holds it firmly in his hands. "So," he licks his lips, "I guess I have to go now."

She chokes back a sob.

He notices this, of course, like how he notices every little change in her disposition. He puts the box aside and with his thumb, he caresses her face lovingly. "Crying doesn't suit you, petal," he murmurs, wiping a tear that slips out.

"I'm sorry," she hiccups. "I'm really sorry."

Jisoo sees his jaw clench. "And I'm sorry, too," he replies gently, tucking in a strand of her hair in her ear. "Everything's for the best, Soo, I'm doing this for you. I just..." he takes a deep breath, "I want you to be happy."

How can I be happy if you're not with me? She wants to tell him, but her throat has been clogged with emotions that she couldn't say a thing. She wants to tell him that she loves him, that she'd do anything to be with him again, but she doesn't. She doesn't.

Taehyung blinks, eyes wandering around. "The snow's piling up," he says as if that would change anything. "You should go back home now, Soo, the drive way's going to be buried soon enough."

Jisoo sniffs as she straightens. "Yeah, yeah, I will, but," she looks at him, who's already looking at her. Jisoo thinks she imagined the red tint on the tip of his nose, but she ignores it. "Take care, Tae."

He smiles at this. Despite the cold, he still glows.

"You take care, Soo," he teases while ruffling hair. "Senior year's a bitch."

A bitch indeed.

"Very much," she agrees, watching him opening the car door. Her heart clenches at the sight. This is happening, this is real, she reminds herself. He's really leaving, fuck.

Before he steps out, he looks back at her. "Let's see each other soon, yeah?" He says it in a way that makes her heart physically hurt, and she avoids thinking about what would happen in the near future.

Jisoo only nods, because the realization has rendered her speechless once more.

(Little did she know that this would be her biggest regret sooner or later.)

He gives her a big grin, the one that always takes her breath away, and leaves.

When he slams the car door shut, everything seems to shatter into pieces.

And Jisoo lets her tears flow--freely, without stop, because she knows that as soon as Taehyung left the car, he finally left her life forever. She lets the sobs control her body, lets her heart grieve. It's going to take a long while to get used to this, but she'll manage--hopefully.

(After graduation, she doesn't see him again. Neither does she return to that ramen place, or that convenience store, or their dorms. Jisoo figures it was for the best.

Sometimes, though, when her new apartment feels lonely and she's in the midst of finishing up paper works, she hears his laughter, bright and faraway, and she's reminded again of the times he'd go to her old creaky dorm just to kiss her worries away, and the wound that he had left opens up again.

It'll go away soon, Jisoo knows, but wherever he may be, she'll always remember him and his megawatt smile that could rival that of the sun's.)

you said forever,
now i drive alone
past your street.

THE END.

* * *

a/n: yay this is my first attempt for a vsoo focused one shot!!! inspirations for this is drivers license by olivia rodrigo and winter bear by v.

i didn't rlly plan on doing this until i checked out olivia's song so in the midst of listening to it, i had this eureka moment and suddenly i was writing. idk how that happened but here we are with almost 9k words worth of vsoo fluff nd angst!! yay

also my first take on angst and heartbreak HSHSJDJ idk if it's heartbreaking enough but i hope u guys enjoyed :)

thank u for reading!