"Jia. You're freaking me out. What's wrong?" He asked again, seeing her completely irresponsive state.

She had no idea how she was going to explain to her classmate that her skirt had ripped. But yes. That was the truth. She prayed to all the gods that it hadn't ripped all the way down to her hemline but she was sure that the skirt had no extra lining. The damage was catastrophic. After all of this finding Mina thing was over, the least Mina could hope for would be a decent funeral. Jia had insisted on wearing her comfortable jeans but nooo; she had to go through the whole 'beauty is pain' lecture from Mina and now, she was helplessly glued to the walls of someone else's house.

"For god's sake, Jia. Talk to me." Said an annoyed Jungkook.

"Okay. Okay." She said, looking at him. Here's the next worst part. This could have happened to her with anyone standing beside her but of all the fateful people, did it have to be Jungkook?! She was glad that it had happened after the whole truce thing. If it had been a week before... she couldn't even imagine the consequences. But even still, how much can a person change in one week? She was at his mercy right now and there was a high chance that he'd abuse it. Nevertheless, she had no other choice. And so, she bit in her self-pride and took a deep breath.

"Okay. Jungkook, it's going to sound weird but you have to help me out." She said, as though talking to a child. "I think I ripped my skirt. She bit her lower lip nervously.

He narrowed his eyes. "You what?"

"My skirt ripped." She said slowly.

Jungkook went through a transition of numerous expressions. He looked at her sceptically, squinting to see if she was joking. When he confirmed that she was not, he seemed alarmed and later, a little shy. He then proceeded to take in the sight of her pathetic self, holding onto the wall as though her life depended on it and smirked. 'Ah, here it comes.' Jia thought. 'Mockery has arrived.' She watched as his shoulders shook from trying to supress a laughter. He slammed his hand over his mouth as the control slipped further away from his hand, making weird muffled giggling noises. Soon enough, he succumbed to it and she waited for him to patiently relish the glory of having witnessed one of her major embarrassment.

She tapped her foot impatiently and looked at him; her face was emotionless. "You done?"

He tried to stop laughing and was starting to sound like a unique bike engine that was running out of gas. "Just a sec." He said, trying to catch his breath. "Oh boy. Okay, okay, I'm done." He wheezed.

"Glad." She rolled her eyes. "Now, if you'll be kind enough to help me, I'd appreciate it."

"How can I help?" He asked, coughing from laughing too much.

'Good question.' Jia thought to herself. Admittedly, this was the first time it had ever happened to her and she was unsure how to fix it. "Find safety pins?" She blurted out.

He looked around and then back at her. "How the hell am I supposed to find safety pins in here?"

She thought hard for an answer but she was equally blank. Her brain was going all haywire with panic and she was having a hard time trying to think. On second thoughts, if the material is flimsy enough to just tear, the pins might worsen the situation. She gulped nervously.

"Can I borrow your shirt? I'm sure everyone will be happy if you were shirtless. And besides people are too drunk to even notice." She said, encouraging confidently.

Jungkook didn't seem to be on board with the idea. Jia tried talking him into it but stopped when it seemed like he might just leave her there.

"Wait!" He said, his eyes shining bright. "I think there's a hoodie in my car. Stand right here, and I'll go get it." Before she knew it, he was already darting down the stairs. When he came back with a red hoodie, Jia almost cried in relief. She took it gratefully and tied it around her waist.

Even as they walked down the stairs and towards his car, she found herself gripping onto his sleeve for support. She no longer cared about a perfect sleepover. She was sick and tired of the sequence of unpleasant events that she'd experienced for the day and all she really wanted was a good night's sleep. Jungkook must have felt her nervousness, for he grabbed onto her wrist and lead her way out of the maze of people. By the time they were out, it was drizzling and they hurriedly made their way into the comfort of his car.

***

'If my parents knew, they'd disown me.' Was the first thing she thought as she stepped into Jungkook's house. Technically, it wasn't her fault. Her 'best friend' was to be blamed and Jia had already planned a week worth of drama. Mina owed her big time. If she had her way she wouldn't have had agreed to help. But her hands were tied and she had been forced to help.

"And you'll be sleeping in this room tonight." Jungkook said, pushing open a door. He let her know that the room, even though it was barely used, was dusted everyday by their maid and that it was safe to use. It had its own bathroom, a single bed, and a cupboard of books.

"I'll be in that room, if you need me." He said, pointing to a room across the hall.

"Got it." She smiled at him.

"I'll be right back." He said, walking out of the room.

Jia walked towards the window and pressed her palm on the cold glass. It was raining heavily again and the trees nearby swayed in the force of the wind. She sighed. Namjoon had called them seconds after they'd gotten into the car. He assured them that they were both alright. Apparently, they'd both gotten out to eat but had got caught in the rain and were now 'stuck' at Namjoon's place. Jia suspected that to be a conveniently placed elaborate lie for them to spend the night together. Her suspicions were confirmed when Namjoon suggested that it would be better if Jia stayed over with Jungkook for the night; implying that Mina had no plan for returning anytime soon. Besides, Namjoon had done all the talking, claiming that Mina was in the washroom but Jia sensed that as an excuse to avoid her wrath. They'd left her no choice.

"I got these track pants that I thought you could wear, if you want." Jungkook said, peeking from the doorframe. "That looks uncomfortable to sleep in." He pointed at her ripped skirt and hoodie combo. "I'll leave this here. And don't worry, it's clean." He stepped in, placed it on the bed and walked back out.

Jia yelled out a "Thank you" and took them gratefully. She walked into the small washroom and got refreshed. She changed into the comfortable pants and examined the treacherous skirt. If she hadn't had the hoodie, it would have definitely been a disaster.

"Are you sure your parents won't be back home?" Jia asked, walking into the living room. Jungkook was on the couch, intently watching an episode of Phineas and Ferb.

"Dad stays over at his apartment almost all weekends and Mom won't be here until Monday." He replied.

"Thanks for letting me stay here." She sat on the other end of the couch.

"No problem." He shrugged. "And besides, we're going to end up hanging out a lot now, so might as well start catching up."

"Yeah." Jia replied scowling. She didn't think Namjoon was Mina's type but here she was. She shuddered at the thought of what they might be doing at the moment but was thankfully distracted by her chiming phone. Yoongi had sent her a message and it read 'Thanks for coming along today. I know it wasn't all that perfect but allow me to make it up to you on our second date. ;) Good Night!'

Jia blushed, smiling at her phone like she was crazy. The doorbell rang suddenly and for a second, Jia wondered worriedly if it was his dad.

"Pizza is here!" Jungkook said, jumping up from the couch.

Jia didn't realise how hungry she was until she took a bite of the fresh pizza. If things had gone as planned, she'd be having that pizza with Mina. Instead, here she was, enjoying it with Jungkook; something she hadn't imagined in her wildest dreams. They watched TV, laughed, talked a lot and ultimately ended up playing a game where they asked each other hypothetical questions. It had started out with them debating over which Phineas and Ferb invention they'd choose to experience for a day if they had the chance. Soon, they'd moved on to more bizarre questions.

"Jungkook?" She called out suddenly. "I have a question."

"Go ahead."

"Imagine you're on a date with your girlfriend. Unexpectedly, her ex shows up and tells you that you should stay away from her and that she has this completely terrifying other side of her."

"Okay?" Jungkook raised her eyebrows at where this was going.

"But later on, your girlfriend convinces you it was the dude that did her wrong and is now spreading rumours to cover it up. Whom would you believe?"

"Easy. I'd believe my girlfriend." He said without hesitation.

"Really?" Jia had expected him to give a more thoughtful answer especially since he was still recovering from a heartbreak.

"Yeah, a relationship works on trust. If she says it's a rumour, then I'd believe it." He said like it was the most obvious answer. But seeing that she wasn't fully convinced, he decided to say more. "Fine, it can differ according to the situation. Tell me more. Why did she break-up with him?"

"Well..." Jia cleared her throat. "He was cheating on her with someone else, and he got into a lot of trouble when she found out and told the other person."

Jungkook shrugged. "Then I stand by my answer."

"So, you won't look into it further?" Jia raised an eyebrow. "What if your girlfriend is the one lying and the other dude has been telling the truth all along?"

"Look, even if I ask the dude for his side of the story, I still have to make a choice between the two. Unless of course, I find someone who has witnessed the whole thing impartially; but then that'd be impossible to find. Everyone has their own version of what happened. Truth is exclusive." Jungkook declared confidently.

"You mean elusive, right?" She corrected.

"Yeah whatever. In the end it all comes down to whom I trust the most. I'd rather take my girlfriend's words over some random dude's." He pointed out.

"Huh." Jia thought about it for a while and somehow, it made sense. She realised that it was pointless thinking about it. Jungkook was right. She'd rather trust Yoongi than some choppy haired girl whom she knew nothing about.

"Hey, that was an intense question. Got more?" He asked, interested.

"Uh, sure." Jia thought for a while. "If Arden asks to get back together with you, what would you do?" She asked curiously.

He scowled at her. "I'm not going to feed you more information for you to gossip."

"What? We don't gossip." Jia protested, flustered.

"Why is everyone so keen on this? Why is everyone so obsessed in knowing what happens with me and Arden?" He was annoyed.

"Duh. Because she's popular. Doesn't matter who she is with, people are going to try and know more. That's the downside of being popular. You can say good-bye to privacy." She took another slice from the box.

"Ugh, it's so irritating." He scowled again.

"I am interested because you stopped annoying me when you were with her. You had become 'too cool' to annoy me and I was finally happy. Believe me, no one rooted for you two more than I did."

"That's what you thought? That I was too cool to annoy you?" He asked.

"Well, yeah. She's popular and through association, you became popular and you hung out only with the other popular kids." She said, chewing on her slice of pizza.

"You've got it all wrong. I stopped because she didn't like it when I did that."

"Interesting." Jia smirked, looking at him.

"She's very kind and sweet and doesn't like hurting or annoying others." He said, looking away.

"Of course." She nodded her head. 'Obviously. It's not at all because she was jealous that you wasted a lot of time plotting silly pranks on some random girl. She's just sweet. Totally.' Jia thought to herself, munching away. "Okay, so I take it you're not going to answer the question?"

"What does it matter?" Jungkook folded his arms and pouted, looking at the pizza. "She's too busy dancing with that dude anyway."

Jia suddenly felt stupid for bringing up the topic. "Hey, come on. It's just a dance. It probably means nothing."

"Means nothing, my ass. They were all over each other." He pointed out.

"I have another question!" Jia said, trying to brighten up the mood. "If you had the chance to actually live inside a video game for one day, which one would you chose?"

Jungkook perked just as similarly as he had before. "Wow, that's a tough question. Hmm, let me see..." He went on.

Jia sighed in relief, knowing that this would keep him engaged enough for a long time.

***

"You are stranded on an Island and you're completely naked. You only have two options to escape the island. You either dance naked for-"

"Okay, I'm out." Jia cut him in between, standing up from the couch.

"Oh, come on! It's the best question so far. Hear me out." Jungkook bounced excitedly on the couch, clutching a cushion in hand.

"Nope. We're done for the day. There's no way I'm answering that and look, it's already way past 12. I'm sleepy." Jia yawned. She was surprised at how fast time flew. One moment she was in his car, wondering how awkward it was going to be and before she knew it, it was almost one in the morning. Jia had to admit, she had a lot of fun playing with the excitedly giggling boy.

"I'll return your pants and hoodie after I wash them." She stretched her limbs. "I almost forgot." Jia said suddenly. "I like your new hairstyle."

"You do? You think it's good?" He asked, wide-eyed.

Jia nodded in approval.

"I put a lot of gel on it."

"I can see that. Use a little less next time and I think it'll be perfect." She suggested.

"Noted." He smiled widely.

"Thanks for everything tonight. I had so much fun. And besides, I would have ended up on the streets if it hadn't been for you." She smiled at him, genuinely thankful.

"No worries." He said, pointing a finger gun at her.

She chuckled and mimicked him before making her way towards his guest room. The soft covers on the single-bed welcomed her and she slept peacefully in its embrace.