It was late in the afternoon when Lisa found Jeon Jungkook by the beach. He seemed oddly at peace, his eyes never leaving the indigo and marigold streaks scattered across the skyline.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked after she plopped down clumsily beside him.

"Not really," she admitted, hugging her knees to her chest. The girl just woke up from a quick nap, but even a few hours of sleep did nothing to ease her mind. "Sorry for freaking out on you this morning."

"Nice... choice of words," Jungkook grinned sheepishly to himself, "but, you can freak out on me anytime you need to."

Her memories of their second night on the island came to mind then. It was after they had lost their way around the forest, got into a nasty fight, and didn't speak to each other for the rest of the evening. It was the night she first saw him cry.

A sharp ache blossomed across her chest as she remembered just how he hid his moment of vulnerability from her and the rest of the world.

"You can freak out on me, too," offered Lisa, albeit shyly, "just so you know."

"Let's freak out together, then," his brown eyes glinted with mirth; their familiar easygoing dynamic coming into play.

"Yeah, let's do it," she encouraged jokingly.

"Right here, right now," he kidded back.

But then, why freak out together when we can get freaky together? "But then, why freak out together when we can get freaky together?"

His brows furrowed in confusion for a long second. "What?"

Did I just say that out loud?! She could feel a warm blush spreading across her cheeks despite the cool gust of wind reaching their little corner of the island. "What?"

A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips. "Did you just say get frea—"

Ah, crap. What she needed now was to distract him. And distract him, she will.

Before he could fully process her question, she threw him another one, "what's your biggest regret, Jungkook?"

He seemed taken aback by the sudden turn of her queries, "come again?"

"We're not finished yet with our game of Twenty Questions last night, right? And if I remember correctly, we still have two remaining questions each, right?" She rumbled on and on. "So, yeah, what's your biggest regret, Jeon Jungkook?"

Thankfully, the boy took pity on her and answered the question by pointing at the scar on the left side of his face.

Lisa stole a glance at the boy's side profile — all sharp jawlines and perfect skin — before her eyes glued on to the faint scar on his cheekbone. "I've been meaning to ask you about this. How'd you get it?"

"I had a fight with my older sibling when we were little," he told her, "hyung threw a toy at me."

"It must have been so painful," Lisa empathized, touching his deep scar softly.

"Yeah, I guess. I don't really remember much of what happened anymore. All I know is that he got into a lot of trouble because of it."

"So, your biggest regret is getting the... scar?"

"No," Jungkook chuckled, but it sounded off. "My biggest regret is not spending enough time with my brother growing up."

The cheerful atmosphere around them was changing drastically, and not for the better. "We hardly spent time together since I became a trainee. And I always told myself that I would try to develop a better relationship with him year after year after year. But, that just didn't happen. And it's my fault because I didn't try hard enough."

He tried to laugh it off, but the sullenness in his eyes told the real story, "that got deep real quick, eh?"

"Come on now, it's not too late, Kook," comforted Lisa, "I'm sure you can still do something about it."

"Yeah, I guess," he muttered under his breath, clearly not believing his own words.

Lisa sighed, regretting asking him such a question in the first place. She didn't really know what to say to make him feel better. She could not possibly understand his situation when she was an only child herself. "I hope I could meet him once we get back," she uttered in a wishful tone.

Jungkook was quick to smile at that, "of course. Hyung's a huge Blink. Mom and dad, too."

"Well, I'm sure to bring signed albums when I meet them, then!" She quipped in in an attempt to lighten up the mood. "And some extra merch, too! Does your mom like some Celine goodies? A few Balenciaga and Prada's, maybe?"

That earned her a swoon-worthy smile from the golden maknae himself.

"My turn." He declared then. "Tell me something the world doesn't know about you, Lalisa Manoban."

"That's not even a question," teased Lisa before contemplating hard about it. In the end, she came up with nothing remotely interesting. "I think there's not a lot of things the fans don't know about me. I'm an open book, you see."

"There must be something," argued Jungkook, "anything. Come on, dig real deep, Lisa."

Something the rest of the world doesn't know about me...

"Alright, alright. Here's one," the girl relented, uneasiness coating her next words, "I care too much about what others think of me and it sucks! I care so so much about other people's opinions that being less than perfect scares the living hell out of me. It's like I'm a deer caught in headlights 24/7. Does that count?"

Then, she continued on before he could reply, "I know what you're going to say. That to be imperfect is to be human. And we're only humans. Honestly, I can't count just how many times my members told me that since we debuted. And yet, the feeling's still there and I don't think it's gonna go away anytime soon."

"I—," the boy cleared his throat, "I actually understand you. I kind of used to feel the same way, too. Took me years before I was able to overcome my senseless desire for perfection. To be the best in everything."

He became quiet for a short while then added, "I think you just need to go through the process as I did. There's no going around it. It gets better though, I promise."

"I hope so," she wished, holding his sincere words close to her heart. "Thank you, Jungkook. I needed to hear that."

"Anytime."

For a moment, all they did was sit side by side at the edge of the palm-fringed paradise before the boy broke the comfortable silence. "And now we're down to our last two questions. What's your final question gonna be, Lisa?"

Final.

She didn't like the sound of that. If anything, she didn't want this game to ever end.

"You know what, can we just play Twenty Questions for the rest of our lives?" She wondered out loud, resting her head on his shoulder. She hoped with all her heart that he understood just what she was asking him.

She wanted to keep him in her life for all eternity if he would let her.

Her breath caught in her throat as she waited for his answer. In front of them, the golden sun slowly kissed the horizon.

Finally, his reply came with a whispered "okay."

"Okay?" She repeated, needing his assurance.

"For the rest of our lives, baby," promised Jungkook before bringing her cool hands to his warm lips. That was all she needed to hear.

•••

"Hello?" Jungkook mumbled into the telephone when it rang late in the night. He was the only one awake in the bungalow.

"Good evening, Mr. Jeon," their kidnapper greeted. "Great news. We have decided to bring you and Ms. Manoban back to Seoul the day after tomorrow. But, you two have to do something for us in return."

"I'll do anything," pleaded Jungkook, his hands shaking in anticipation.

"We want you to ask Ms. Manoban to be your girlfriend."

A pause. "What?"

"We want you two to be officially in a relationship before we let you go. Good luck."

End of Chapter 24

Author's Note:

So, I'm alive and ~well~ 😅😅

Is anyone still reading this??? 😭😭😭😭😭

Since I first started writing Utopia, I can't even count just how many times I've imagined how this beach scene will unfold. I'm just glad I was finally able to write it. 🥺

Alaska