Being sick was not something that usually was on the girl's to-do list and especially not when she had to call in sick to several shifts which would've helped to pay off her loan. But there Chayoung was, a fever and an aching body.

Honestly, she could feel a lot worse and maybe she would be able to manage a single short shift despite her fever... but if she had learned anything from her mother it was that doing things while ill would only worsen it. So Chayoung patiently followed her mother's tip and stayed home, hoping for the virus to be over shortly.

But it was suuuuper boring.

Even though it had been three months since she started college and basically gave up her privacy by living on campus with a roommate, it still baffled the girl how unexpectedly used she had grown to be around someone all the time.

Whenever she was alone she found herself wanting to find Haneul or Jungkook. Sometimes even Jiwoo even though they weren't even friends but just shared Haneul as a mutual one. It was such a weird feeling of craving to be with someone, again.

Chayoung had always been alone. When her mother was around, she was always craving her company, obviously because she was her mother... but Chayoung had never really bothered looking into why she craved her mother's presence so much. It was not just because of the motherly feeling she missed. She hated to be alone.

She dreaded it, always. She just never realized it.

And after her mother passed, the girl had to face her biggest struggle; to live by herself and be alone, no, feel alone. Constantly.

But since starting college, Chayoung had unconsciously grown happier. Not just because she gained a best friend and even a boyfriend... but because she had someone to come home to. After school, after work, after going for a walk. Whenever she got back to the dorm, Haneul was there. And if she wasn't, Chayoung would've gotten a message which as simple as it was, assured her that she wasn't alone anymore. And it was the best feeling ever.

But along growing used to being with someone again and to the extend that she was almost hanging around Haneul constantly, it seemed that the girl grew more and more anxious of her own space. She didn't need her private space, because it was then the thoughts would haunt her.

And Chayoung had been sick for 3 full days now. She had spent way too much time alone because both her roommate and boyfriend had classes. It made her anxious, sitting in her bed almost biting off her finger nails while trying to keep her mind clear of suppressing thoughts meanwhile waiting for Haneul to step inside the room.

Hearing voices outside the door always made Chayoung snap her head up, almost causing a whiplash each time. She did this for hours until the voice was finally the one belonging to her roommate.

"Taehyung is such an idiot!" Haneul exclaimed as she bursted into the room, slamming the door behind her with a force that caused a loud bang and Chayoung's eyes to widen to the maximum.

Chayoung watched as her roommate walked with heavy steps to her bed, throwing her bag on the floor next to her closet in the process and sitting down on her bed with a thud, leaning back and letting out a sigh. Chayoung shifted in her spot, lifting her legs over the edge of the bed. Suddenly she felt better, her mind shifting away from her ill state.

"Oh really?" Chayung felt cheeky, "because I thought I saw the two of you having a great talk in the tunnel leading to the football field the other day." Chayoung mused. She tangled her legs and leant back, propping her body with her palms on the bed, settling in a comfortable position.

"Stop continuously mentioning that!" Haneul sat right back up on her bed.

To say Haneul's face had grown red when Chayoung first mentioned what she'd seen, would be a weak attempt of explaining the girl's reaction. Haneul had basically crept under her duvet, hiding her face with her pillow and kicking her legs making as much sound with the creaking bed as possible as Chayoung enjoyed taunting her with every little detail of what she saw.

Chayoung still thought it was funny that Haneul had denied liking Taehyung for so long. However it seemed that she was quite bipolar when it came to the brunette boy, judging off the visible steam coming out her ears as a cartoon as she looked at Chayoung. Chayoung brought her lips together in a tight smile, showing her remorse of mentioning the kiss again — well, faux remorse... she definitely enjoyed bringing it up again and again.

"It was a heat of the moment kind of thing." Haneul rolled her eyes.

Chayoung had to stifle a laugh. Haneul could've told her anything and she would've believed it... but just that she could shove up someone else's gullible ass. Chayoung knew damn well that Haneul had wanted to kiss that guy since the first day she saw him in school. Even though she claimed to not want to and even though it was her who broke up with him.

Everyone makes mistakes sometimes.

Chayoung's lingering and very scrutinizing gaze upon Haneul made it feel like the room enclosed around her. Eventually Haneul couldn't endure those intense eyes any longer, "Fine! Maybe I enjoyed it... But he's such a jerk and he won't ever get to put his nasty, musty, man lips on me again!"

"Wow, such lovely words you use to describe the lips I'm sure you very much enjoyed sucking last Friday."

"Aren't you sick?" Haneul raised her eyebrows.

"I am- wait, what does that have to do with anyth-"

"Your sarcasm is very strong considering the feeble state you're supposed to be in." Haneul crossed her arms.

"Sorry." Chayoung said actually meaning it. She knew she could be a little too sarcastic and mean sometimes, but it came along with her childhood. She never got to practice her communication skills that often. "It's something I'm born with, comes with the package." She smiled apologetically.

"I don't like perfect people anyway... but now, shut up and listen." Haneul's forthrightness didn't surprise Chayoung, instead she chuckled and did as told.

"I talked to Jimin today-"

"Hold up. You talked to Jimin? Voluntarily or were you forced?" Chayoung wanted to shut up and listen, but she knew Haneul and Jimin were the best of bickering-buddies.

"Well Jiwoo and him were talking when I sat down next to Jiwoo at lunch break... anyways, the two were talking and I just sat listening. At least I did that until Jimin mentioned a strip club he had been to previously, before school started."

"Strip club?" Chayoung repeated the words, her eyes widening.

"Yeah, but-"

"You didn't say anything about me, right?" Chayoung's heartbeat quickened waiting for the reply. Even though Haneul and Jungkook knew, she wasn't content with more people knowing. At least not already.

"No, of course I didn't! I don't even know if it was at your strip club." Haneul explained, "But that's not the point!"

Chayoung gulped down the lump in her throat caused by the anxiety of Jimin suddenly finding out about her job. Not specifically Jimin, but in general more people. She didn't want more people to know.

"He had went with Taehyung! Taehyung, Cha!"

Chayoung grimaced, trying to empathize with Haneul's obviously upset state.

"Taehyung went to a fucking strip club! Do you get how nasty and unethical that is! Only gross old men do that!" Haneul bursted, but then met Chayoung's eyes and winced, "Sorry, no offense."

"None taken." Chayoung shrugged. She thought the same. Not about the old men part, but the disgusting one.

"That's not even the worst part! According to Jimin, Taehyung had been the one initiating it! He was even the one who persuaded Jungkook into coming with! Which means he must've been so excited he had a whole speech planned out to lure more people with them!"

"Wait..." Chayoung said. Suddenly she recalled the night she first stumbled into Jungkook. Jungkook had assured her many times that was indeed the first time he had ever visited a such place and since then had only done it that one time Chayoung caught him staring. And Haneul had even said it was before the semester started, which Jungkook and Chayoung's encounter also was. "Jimin and Taehyung were there too that day!?" Chayoung immediately felt her fever rise again as she started sweating heavily.

"That day?" Haneul tilted her head in question.

"That day I stumbled into that guy who turned out to be Jungkook... he said he never wanted to come and was almost forced to go there... it was just before school started just like you said Jimin told you, which means... Taehyung and Jimin were there too. They were at my fucking workplace. And who says it was their first time!?"

"Woah, calm down Cha." Haneul said getting up from her bed and walking to Chayoung who was as red as a tomato due to the heatwave that came over her.

"How can I? What if they've seen me? What if they're regulars!" Haneul helped Chayoung remove her dressing gown leaving her in her almost drenched t-shirt underneath.

"I bet he is." Haneul gritted, most likely talking about Taehyung.

Chayoung looked at Haneul with wide, almost scared eyes.

"No! I bet they aren't!" Haneul said, realizing that Chayoung might be in an internal crisis matching Haneul's external one.

"I'm sure they aren't. Forget what I said. It's just that... he never changed! I knew it all along!"

Haneul had rubbed Chayoung's back for a while now trying to calm down the girl, but her strokes were slowly getting more and more violent supposedly as the topic changed back to Taehyung.

"Haneul." Chayoung said, removing her roommate's arm from her back.

"Right, sorry again... He just UGH! He makes me so frustrated! I don't even know why I kissed him! He's the same! He'll never change!" Haneul's every word came out strong and full of remorse.

It made Chayoung distracted from her earlier crisis and even though she was still caught in a bubble of heat, she felt her body relax as her focus switched to Haneul's words. Chayoung had never asked what happened between Taehyung and Haneul. She knew they'd been a couple, but she never knew the reason.

"Why did you break up back then?"

Chayoung's soft and feeble voice made Haneul's expression change immediately. She was not prepared for that question, not even the slightest.

Haneul's immediate change of demeanor made Chayoung's heart wrench a bit. Maybe Taehyung really hurt her. Maybe there was a reasonable explanation as to why she disliked him so much. Perhaps, the reason would disclose why Haneul still seemed to like him. 

Chayoung was ready to step into the role of a comfort person. Despite her ill state, her shoulder was ready for Haneul to cry on because maybe the wound was still fresh within the girl. But right now, Chayoung didn't know. She knew nothing, except one thing... and that one thing she knew with certainty though. She would definitely be on Haneul's side.

. . .

"Is that why you broke up with him!?" Chayoung exclaimed after Haneul finally shut up with her very stupid reasoning of leaving Taehyung, "You were too jealous because your boyfriend is hot and popular!?"

"Hey! Why do you sound so accusatory!? I didn't do anything wrong!" Haneul stood up from the bed. She was already agitated, recalling Taehyung's popularity among girls and now Chayoung didn't even empathize with her.

"Haneul I love you, but you're way too irrational." Chayoung spoke and continued before Haneul got to protest, "The jealousy is your problem and I think it may have blinded you. You literally left the sweetest and most handsome guy because of the attention he got." Chayoung raised her brows. It still sounded much dumber than she'd ever expected Haneul to be.

"That, and he conversed back! And when I confronted him with it, he reasoned it that he didn't want to be rude! Apparently he was too sweet to listen to his girlfriend!" Haneul stomped back and forth in the small dorm.

Chayoung's head followed the girl's pacing for a while until she had to shake loose to prevent the dizziness that was creeping up on her.

"But were you around when he talked to those girls?" Chayoung questioned.

"I was, hence why it affected me so much." Haneul ran her hand through her hair, ruffling it with aggressive movements.

"Right, but did he ignore you when girls talked to him?"

Haneul stopped her pacing and thought for a while before answering, "No."

"Did he introduce you?"

"Yes..."

"As what?"

Hesitantly after another break of silence, Haneul replied, "As his girlfriend..."

Chayoung couldn't help the victorious smile that reached her lips. Chayoung was on the right track. "And how did the girls respond?"

"They kept talking! And so did he most of the time!" Haneul's voice came out fast once again.

"Haneul, I think the girls are the problems in this case. If they didn't respect that Taehyung had a girlfriend, they were definitely out to get him, but did he ever go with them?"

"No..."

"There you have it." Chayoung flailed her arms successfully and proudly.

"There I have what?" Haneul gritted.

"Taehyung didn't do anything to make you leave him. You made yourself believe that he did. He never even wanted to talk to the girls as far as I've heard."

"But he didn't tell them to fuck off either!"

"From what I've heard and know, Taehyung is a nice guy. I agree with you that he should've grown some balls and told them to go away, but it seems Taehyung is such a gentle and friendly guy. He's not someone to tell other's to fuck off, is he?"

"He told me that once."

"I'm sure you're taking that out of context." Chayoung grinned.

A small smile lifted Haneul's face and her cheeks reddened as she probably recalled the moment and reason why Taehyung had told her that.

Haneul's blush made Chayoung laugh and when Haneul noticed it, she immediately changed back to her strict expression.

"I'm so done with that guy!"

❁₩❁

Chayoung: Haneul is exploding because Taehyung went to a strip club once [ 4:13 pm ]

Jungkook: Ahh, okay... [ 4:13 pm ]

Chayoung: You never told me Tae and Jimin was with you that night at MY strip club! [ 4:13 pm ]

Jungkook: I didn't? [ 4:13 pm ]

Chayoung: No. [ 4:14 pm ]

Jungkook: Are you mad about it? :(  [ 4:14 pm ]

Chayoung: No... I kind of just totally freaked out when Haneul told me... but I'm fine now [ 4:15 pm ]

Jungkook: Sorry baby :(  [ 4:15 pm ]

Chayoung: I'm not mad😚 [ 4:15 pm ]

Jungkook shifted in his position, trying to find a comfortable position in his bed, but it seemed as if he just couldn't find piece in any position.

Chayoung: I gotta go, Haneul is crazy  [ 4:16 pm ]

Jungkook: Right, feel better okay? I miss you [ 4:16 pm ]

Chayoung: It's not really in my power to decide that🥲 but I'll try to [ 4:17 pm ]

Jungkook: Maybe not your own, but you have full control over my temperature for sure😔 [ 4:17 pm ]

The three ellipses popped up and disappeared which made Jungkook chuckle slightly, despite his still uncomfortable position in his own bed.

Jungkook: Call you later? [ 4:18 pm ]

Chayoung: If you behave, then yeah. Please do... [ 4:18 pm ]

Jungkook: We'll see ;) [ 4:18 pm ]

The phone marked that Chayoung had read the message. Jungkook switched off his phone after a moment of gazing at his last text and the little 'seen' under it.

Ruffling in his bed again, the boy decided to lay down onto his back, letting his legs hang over the edge. He stared at the ceiling restlessly. His hands rested on his stomach, his fingers fidgeting with each other and his teeth nipping at his lip ring.

He felt an uneasiness inside his stomach.

As though he wanted to do something. He didn't have practice today and his girlfriend was sick and in the middle of some girly drama with her roommate.

Jungkook could've easily texted Jimin or Taehyung or even some of the guys he sometimes worked out with, but... His mind wasn't quite there.

All he could think of was what Yoongi had said.

Jungkook was well-aware that Yoongi only wanted to piss off Jungkook, but the fact that he had known his girlfriend's name got him on the edge. Not even to mention that he talked to her at that party, before Jungkook and her got together.

His words repeated in Jungkook's head.

She's a great doll

Casey

One of the best I've thrusted my dick into

Yoongi was an astute guy.

But it still wondered Jungkook why Yoongi came up with such sentences just to insult Jungkook of some sort.

He'd talked as if he actually meant what he was talking about this time.

But then again, Jungkook recalled how little he knew the silver-haired boy now.

At this point, it could be words he was used to spitting at others whom he disliked. He just wanted to provoke anger inside Jungkook. And he did.

One thing was siding with Jungkook's father... but it was a totally different situation when it came to Chayoung. All Jungkook wanted to do was to protect her from that ill fucker.