⋆ ☄︎. · ̊ * 🔭
chapter forty-two

"I can never go back to that company. Let alone face him..."

Jimin and Jeongguk frown, glancing in between each other in confusion. "Why? What happened?"

But Ahri shakes her head. She hides her face behind her hands, releasing distressed and quick sighs. "It's too embarrassing."

"Come on." Jeongguk laughs it off, shoving her shoulder playfully. "It can't be that bad."

- - -

"Are you okay?"

Yona's lips part ajar, staring at him with big, dreamingly eyes. "Uh —"

Because of her awkwardness, he becomes quite shy as well - considering that he's more the timid type in general.

"Y-You have some... drool there..." he mumbles, his eyebrows furrowing.

Soon on, she realizes what is happening. Her eyes widen even further, cheeks flushing an unhealthy color of red. "Uh — I," she keeps on stuttering, avoiding his gaze and looking down while quickly wiping her wet lips.

"Oh, this happens a lot, haha. It's because I'm allergic to men, you know," Ahri blurts out, regretting it right after the words left her stupid mouth.

"Oh." He frowns even deeper, tilting his head to the side. "Are you sure that that's a real allergy, though? I've never heard of it..."

Her rapid heartbeat makes Ahri believe that she'll soon on die. "Um, yeah. My allergy intensifies when I'm around men that I really like—"

Immediately, Ahri slaps her mouth shut with her hands. She makes things even worse when she tries to save herself, though. "I mean, not that I like you or anything, haha. For example, if I'd see Lay, I'll most probably die, you know? Don't even get me started with Chanyeol — and oh my god they're standing right there, it's time for me to go, bye!"

She runs off.

"What was that?"

"I don't know."

"Who was she even?"

"I don't know."

"What did she say?"

"That she's allergic to men. Twice."

- - -

"Wow. That's really bad," says Jeongguk, stunned.

Jimin is simply laughing at her. "How could you act so dumb in front of him?"

"Dumb bitches, dumb habits..."

"Ahri, you've had a crush on him for... What? Two years? And you still don't even know how to say a proper 'hi'?" the youngest questions in obvious worrisome.

Ahri nods shamelessly. "Yep. That's exactly it."

"I don't get it." Jimin continuously laughs. "Your whole life revolves around men. Your only sibling is male, your two best friends are boys, your seven members are men! That doesn't add up—"

"He's something different!" she tries to reason whiningly. "I have a different sight of you guys—"

"So we're not men now, or what?"

With a slightly irritated sigh, Ahri states, "That's not what I meant! It's just that —" She struggles to find a proper way to describe how she feels about it.

"It's just that you've never liked a guy before and don't know how to act?" Jeongguk finishes in a questionary behavior.

She exclaims, "Exactly!"

The two boys hum understandingly. "We should help you before something more embarrassing happens."

"I don't think that anything could top that," Jeongguk remarks with a giggle.

"With me, everything is possible..." Yona sighs in defeat, her head falling.

Cooingly, Jimin hugs her side in comfort. "It can happen, Yonnie. We've all had a crush before and acted embarrassing in front of them. The important thing is that we'll help you with it."

"How, though?" asks Jeongguk. "No offense, Ahri, but you're a complete wreck."

"A cute wreck, though," she adds as a matter of fact, nodding.

Deeply in thought, Jimin sighs to himself and tries to come up with an idea to help Yona with her crush.

After a few moments, he snaps his fingers, smiling brightly. "Step one: Find mutual interests!"

"How is that supposed to work if she can't even say hi to him?" Jeongguk questions his way of thinking, frowning. "We need something more helpful for that ball of mess..."

"I'm still here, you know."

"Hush now, girl, elders are talking." Jeongguk lays his hand on top of her mouth.

He turns to Jimin, suggesting, "Maybe we should ask our hyungs?"

Lips curled downward, Yona says while lightly pushing Jeongguk's hand away, "They're still mad at me. They didn't even wish me a good morning."

"What are you waiting for, then?" Jimin points over to the kitchen, where the older members are in. "Go and talk to them!"

Firstly, she argued with them against the idea, but after they literally pushed her shamed figure in the kitchen, she stands there with a low-hanging head while the older members stare at her.

They don't say anything - staying silent and patiently waiting for Ahri's words itself.

"Um..." she begins, awkwardly standing in the middle of the kitchen while nibbling on her bottom lip.

She sighs to calm herself down. "I'm sorry for sneaking out at night. I shouldn't have done that, and I won't do it again. It's wrong in the first place, and even worse when you guys don't know where I am."

Hoseok and Yoongi release sighs of relief, secretly fist-bumping each other under the table as well. They send her small, encouraging smiles with some thumbs-up.

A smile is painted on Namjoon's lips - content and proud that she puts her pride aside to see and call out her wrongs. "It's fine, Yona, but just don't do it again."

"I won't, I promise." She smiles back at him.

Her worried eyes go to the direction of the eldest, who looks down without an expression on his face. The others get the message immediately and leave the two alone.

"Sit down here," says Seokjin while beckoning her over to the seat in front of him.

Obeying, Ahri nervously sits down in front of him, her head hanging low. She doesn't say anything because of her shame, while Seokjin stares at her with naturally furrowed brows.

"I apologize for yelling at you," he begins, startling her. "It wasn't my intention to let my anger lash out like that."

His eyes meet hers. They are like windows, and Yona can see right through them. She can see the pain and gentleness just the same. She sees how every emotion comes together to form the art of his soul.

"I always find myself worrying about you," whispers Seokjin. "I always have the need to see you - to simply know that you're doing okay, and I think it got out of control when you were away that night."

Gently, he takes her hands in his and sends her a soft smile, his cheeks inflating. "I'll try to be less over-protective of you because I know that you'll leave me... us one day."

"Hyung, I won't leave—"

But he cuts her off, shaking his head. "You will - every caterpillar grows into a butterfly in its own time, and your time will come as well."

Yona is silent - speechless, really. She's moved in a way, but saddened that a time will indeed come, in which she'll leave her loved ones behind to move on and onto another stage in her path.

Not being able to deal with those warm emotions, she exclaims, "Aw, hyung, thats so cute—"

Yet he sharply cuts her off again, "You still get a punishment. Don't think that you could just slither out like that."

"Why?" she whines, pouting. "My life is already a punishment. There's no need to make it worse."

"You're grounded for two weeks," he states, nevertheless.

Ahri shrugs. "That's fine. I don't go out, anyway."

"Ahri!" Jimin screams, suddenly slamming the door open with a huge smile. "I have the perfect idea on how to seduce J—"

"SEDUCE?!"

━━✦ :･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧

"My head hurts..." sulks Jimin, rubbing the sour spot.

"You get that for yelling out next to Seokjin hyung on how I, an innocent and pure child, should seduce a man," Ahri retorts and shrugs.

The two of them went back to the company to practice their dancing a bit more, as they always do. After dancing for about four hours straight, they exhaustedly plop down next to each other on the floor.

"Thank you for always coming with me," mumbles Jimin all of a sudden.

"Huh?"

"Thank you for always practicing with me," he declares further. His head moves to her direction, gifting her a small smile. "You practice until you're exhausted every day, but you always find the energy to do a little more for me. Thank you for that."

A smile spreads across her rosy cheeks. "Don't mention it, seriously. I love to help out a friend. I can hang out with you more as well, so it has a lot of advantages."

Then, a silence takes upon them and has a layer of comfort and peace as it stays glued onto their skins.

In a sudden, Jimin exclaims in excitement, spinning toward her, "I know the perfect idea on how you can work it out with your constant crushing!"

"Really?" Her eyes widen, suddenly interested and turning to his direction as well. "How? Please tell me, I'm tired of this stupid lovey-dovey state."

"Okay. I have quite a few suggestions," he starts, sighing in a quick breath to gather his ideas together. "First of all, you could seduce him and make him like you. That'd be easy since you see him every day in the company. Secondly, you could just try to hate him."

"Rather the latter one since I don't want to embarrass myself again..." she mumbles, scratching her head with a small pout.

Jimin smiles in content. "Okay, then try to find his flaws and reasons on why you should not like him."

Almost immediately, Ahri whips out her phone. "Wait..."

"Did you seriously just type in compilations of him being rude?"

"Yeah, but this is making things worse..."

Ahri stares at the screen in awe, her mouth slacking open. Her heartbeat starts to intensify, and she could feel herself getting warmer and warmer because of the videos.

"Ahri?"

"Yeah?"

"Stop drooling."

She bangs her head against the wall in frustration, throwing her phone back in her bag. "Nothing is helping!" Yona cries out. "This is hopeless. I'm hopeless."

"No, no, no." Jimin grabs her shoulders and shakes them in an attempt to pull her back into reality. "Don't give up yet. It's fine, really, because I have another idea."

Her eyes shine brightly at that. "Really?"

He sends her a warm smile, nodding. "You need to play hard to get—"

"How is that supposed to work when she's already hard to want?"

"I will literally slit your throat," dumbfounds Ahri, her head whipping to Jeongguk, who has suddenly appeared in the doorway.

Jeongguk grins. "Love you, too."

"Why are you even here?" asks Jimin. "I don't recall someone inviting you."

The youngest shrugs while taking steps toward the duo. "I was bored. Rap-Line are all in their studios, Taehyung is out with his other friends, and Seokjin hyung kept on telling me to do the dishes."

"What about Kyungmi?" Ahri questions.

"Hey."

Speaking of the devil, Kyungmi shyly approaches them, a weak smile on her lips. "Sorry for intruding you guys, but Seokjin told me to come, too."

"It's fine," says Jimin, motioning her over to sit down next to them as well. Ahri sighs, evidently irritated by her presence, especially after the last events.

"Well..." Yona stands up, patting the dust off of her thighs. "I'll go look after my hyungs in their studio and write some heartbreak songs of scenarios that I always seem to create in my head about the crush I'll never get over with."

Before she could, though, Kyungmi holds her back and asks in uncertainty, "Hey, could we talk for a second?"

"Whatever," mutters Ahri, rolling her eyes while cooly walking out with Kyungmi trailing behind her.

Yona simply waits for her to start talking. Kyungmi's eyes are casted downward, nibbling on her bottom lip nervously. "I wasn't the one who told the others," she then states in much certainty.

"What do you mean?" asks Ahri, eyebrows furrowed.

"What I mean is..." she continues. "That I'm not the one who told the older members that you sneaked out. Yes, I did see it, but I wasn't the only one."

A confused frown is on her forehead by now. "Who told them, then?"

"That's not really important, Ahri..." Kyungmi shakes her head. "I just wanted to make clear that I didn't tell them—"

"But I want to know who snitched on me!"

After a small pause, Kyungmi whispers while looking down in embarrassment, "It was Taehyung."

━━✦ :･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧

In this blizzard of hers, there's no way to know which direction her mind and heart should take - the usual positive thoughts are hidden behind a black that swirls so densely. Overthinking is a given, and the disappointment is a killer.

There she sits robotically - hunched body hovering over the guitar, which she learned to play over the months of getting closer to the eldest member, in the empty practice room.

Seokjin firstly argued with Yona over the phone - telling her to come home since she's still grounded - but after reasoning that she simply wants to practice, he let her.

Her fingers lightly trace over the strings, creating a strumming sound that is hypnotizing yet soothing at the same time. The gentle refrain of the guitar speaks a secret language to her soul that no one else could understand. She doesn't mind losing herself to the soft melody. It's her relief of this day filled with despair, really.

Softly, she begins to sing, "I feel the rain before it starts, I feel the pain is getting large."

"Put a bullet in my brain, so I can finally be sane," continues Ahri, slowing down the rhythm.

She sighs. "I can't put another sad song into the album." Her head falls forward, a whine escaping her. "Or Yoongi hyung will really bring me to the therapist."

Composing herself, she continues on playing the guitar while writing down various kinds of lyrics in the dimly lit room.

Yona has a feathery voice as she hums the words to herself. "Snowflakes fall down and get farther away, little by little..."

But a sudden sound makes her cut herself off. She halts in her motions at the thudding noise, gulping silently.

"Okay, look, if you want to murder me, please do it properly and not like an amateur. I don't want to die in a boring and mediocre way—"

Once again, Yona shuts herself up as she witnesses the familiar silhouette. "Yuta?" she exclaims, clearly surprised.

"Hi..."

"Why were you hiding there?" she asks curiously, chuckling.

"I, um..." He struggles to form a sentence due to his issues with the language. "Hear song you."

A smile makes its way to her face. "Come sit down here, make yourself comfortable," says Yona in Japanese, beckoning him over next to her.

Yuta face-palms himself. "I forgot that you speak Japanese..." he mutters more to himself than to her.

Nevertheless, he sits down next to her, resting his head against the wall with closed eyes. "I'm sorry for disturbing you," he begins in a quiet voice. "I just heard your voice and was curious since you've never sung in your songs before."

"I can't really sing, that's why." Ahri chuckles sheepishly, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

"Yeah, I don't agree with that," he says, smiling at her with his pearly teeth. But as she keeps on shaking her head with a cutely scrunched up nose, he laughs and stresses, "I'm serious! With some help from trainers, you could even become a vocalist."

Looking down with red cheeks, she softly responds, "Thank you..."

His face is worn-out and evidently tired as he leans back against the wall, the dark bags under his eyes concerning her.

"Are you okay?" she asks in worrisome, forehead creased.

He debates whether on to answer truthfully or not. After a while, he lightly shakes his head, shrugging as well. "It's just so..." Yuta cant find the right words to describe the situation. "Tiring."

"Being a trainee?" questions Ahri further, bobbing her head to the side while gifting him her undivided attention.

Again, he pauses. "That, too, but..." His eyebrows furrow. Then, his eyes find hers as he says, "It's really evident that I'm the foreigner when being with Jaehyun and the others."

"Is he treating you badly?" Ahri asks in a higher tone, eyes widening in shock. She continues defensively, "Because if he is, I will not hesitate to—"

"No, no, no. He isn't," Yuta assures her. He places his hands on her shoulders to calm her down, chuckling.

Yet he gets serious again while stating, "I just don't have the opportunity to talk to everyone since my language skills are limited. Every time I see them laughing over something, I always laugh along, even though I only understand like two words of what they said."

"I know what you mean..." mumbles Ahri, surprising him.

"You do?" he questions.

She nods her head. Sighing, Ahri says, "I came to Korea when I was 12 and was obviously not as fluent as everyone in school. Okay, to be completely honest, I didn't know half of the words they knew."

"They always made fun of me." Her voice is quieter now, as if she's listening to the already familiar story herself. "The students called me Foreigner instead of Ahri, and I didn't have a good reputation to start with in general, so it only got worse by that."

"But you know what I did?" She smiles now, speaking full of hope and pride.

But her charming smile falls, voice becoming deadly, "I beat them up one by one for bullying me."

By now, Yuta is both mesmerized and scared. "I always knew that you had a quick temper and all, but beating up everyone? Don't you think that that's a bit—"

"I'm just kidding." Ahri laughs while slapping his shoulder playfully, amused that he'd believe her do easily. "I never hit anyone in school. Except for that one kid... but that doesn't matter."

"What I'm saying is..." Her mood is serious again, a small smile painting her lips while reassuringly patting his shoulder. "That everyone is known to the feeling of foreignness. If you think about it, you feel like a foreigner in every new stage of your life - when you switch from elementary school to middle school, when you move into another neighborhood, when you meet new people, and whatnot."

"Foreignness is created by our subconscious self, because we aren't in the comfortable state we're so used to and live in unknown surroundings that naturally scare us off."

The smile on her face enlarges as she notices him listening intently. "The important thing is that you need to put your fear behind and unfold new parts in yourself by new, refreshing things that will change your life for the better."

Ending her speech, Ahri shrugs. "What is life without taking risks, anyway."

All of a sudden, she's pulled into his arms, catching her off-guard. "I really needed to hear this..." Yuta whispers. "Thank you."

"No problem..." mumbles Yona with a small chuckle, wrapping her arms around him as well.

As they pull away, Ahri says jokingly, "But you have to admit, my Japanese is really good, right? I mean, Foreignness? Subconscious? Come on, not everyone can speak like that without having had to move to Japan or live with Japanese people."

He laughs lightly. "Yeah." Then, Yuta ruffles her hair with a wide smile. "It's quite impressive, honestly."

A pout is on her face by now, pushing his hand away. "Stop treating me like a baby."

"Well, technically, you are two years younger than me," says Yuta as a matter of fact, pursing his lips in a teasing manner.

Realization builds up on her face. "Wait... really?" she asks, lips ajar. "Then, you're 19..."

"Yeah." He's kind of confused as to why she's so stressed out all of a sudden.

"I completely forgot about the honorifics..." whispers Ahri to herself in horror, eyes ripped open. She grabs onto his shoulder suddenly, begging, "Please don't tell my hyungs, they'd kill me!"

"I won't!" he promises, holding his hands up in surrender.

After she calms down, the room becomes silent, but both of them enjoy the calmness in peace. Yona lazily plays with the strings, looking down, while Yuta watches her.

"I guess what Jaehyun says about you is true," he breaks the silence, resulting her to stop dead in her tracks as his name falls.

Her head whips in his direction, eyes widened. "What does he say about me?"

Yuta smiles lightly. "A lot. It's quite annoying, honestly. But mostly that you're genuinely kind-hearted and put others before yourself, even though you have your own problems."

"R-Really?" Her cheeks are a deep shade of red by now, shyly smiling to herself while keeping her eyes on the floor.

"Really," responds Yuta. But he adds as a matter of fact, "Don't think that he's the only one who says that, though. I've always said that you have a very warm and kind personality to the other SM-Rookies."

"That's really sweet of you." She looks up to him now, smiling. "Thank you, sincerely."

He smiles back at her. "Don't mention it."

Before it could get silent again, Yuta asks, "What are you doing here at this hour, though? I thought that you already practiced today."

With a deep sigh, Yona rests her head on the wall. "I don't know either, really," she mumbles out, gulping. But then she thinks deeper about her intentions, and shrugs while saying, "I'm just trying to get things out of my head."

"Do you mind me asking why...?" Yuta asks carefully, not wanting to cross the line or to seem too curious.

She hesitates. Her mouth parts ajar and back closed - unable to form a proper sentence about her emotions. Then, Ahri gulps and utters out, careful and slowly, "I have a friend, and I really love him. Like, really love him. Seriously, I'd give him my kidney —"

Sensing herself trailing off, Ahri shakes her head and continues. "What I mean is..." She starts to nervously fiddle with her fingers. "That I love him with my entire being but can't trust him. And that's really sad, you know? Because I'd get him the moon if I could but can't bring myself to trust him anymore, since he keeps on wronging me over and over... I think I'm just afraid of getting attached but hurting myself in the end all over again."

Pensive, Yuta hums. He genuinely tries to think of an idea to help her out - opening all of the folders in his brain. "Maybe," he starts, "He's changed. I mean, don't you always talk about how one's personality can change if they sincerely want to in your songs and in general? Maybe he took that as an advice and wants to win your trust, but you can't see it because of your fear and trust issues."

"Okay, but what if he's wronged me, like, a few days ago?" deadpans Ahri, turning toward him with raised brows but hurt eyes. "I do obviously believe that people can change, but this case is something different."

"Maybe you should just start talking to him instead of locking yourself up in a room," states Yuta in all honesty. "No offense, but overthinking has no advantages, meanwhile communication does."

Huffing, Ahri spins back around and crosses her arms over her chest, pouting. "I hate the fact that you're right."

━━✦ :･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧

"Nana, look! I made dinner without burning the kitchen down!"

But Ahri ignores his joyed attempts. Instead, she grabs his wrist and drags him out of the kitchen with an expressionless face.

The others watch them with surprised and curious looks, but shrug and prefer to eat their warm food instead.

"What's wrong?" Taehyung asks, being serious now himself. He's resting his form on the chest of drawers, arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed in concern.

Out of the pistol, Ahri asks, face stone-cold and arms folded as well, "Did you tell the others that I sneaked out?"

Slowly, his encircled arms loosen up and lay straight next to his body. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is," she repeats much sharper now, quite disappointed that he can't immediately say no to the question. "Did you tell our hyungs that I went out with Dongmin in the night, or did you not?"

His mouth parts, speechless. "I already told you that I didn't tell them!" he responds. The brown-haired boy is much more defensive by now, his words coming out sharper than expected. Ahri's eyes narrow in suspicion, examining his body-language with ease.

"I doubted that you'd do it, but then I thought 'Hm, why not?' since you've always been jealous of how close I am with Dongmin!" Her voice raises at the end, looking at him with a well-known look.

Taehyung gasps dramatically. "Me? Jealous?" He chuckles dryly. "I'm never jealous!"

"I smell lies..."

"Get the hell out, Jimin!" Both of them yell, their heads snapping to the doorway with fierce eyes.

"Gee, chill." He closes the door.

Due to all the frustration, Taehyung runs his fingers through his hair. He sighs deeply. "Look, it may be true that I don't like the fact that he's your friend, but —"

"But...?"

"Yeah, that's it. There are no buts, I simply don't like him." Taehyung shrugs.

"How could you say that?" questions Ahri, a genuinely confused expression on her face. "All he's been doing is helping me and being there for me—"

Almost immediately, he cuts her off, "All he's been doing is hurting you!"

"It's not like you've never done it!"

Taehyung stills. He doesn't do anything but look into her eyes. There is something solemn swimming in them. Their stunning, deep brown holds a truth that her face can't hide. The despairing chill and hurt that they convey makes him feel heartbroken.

Then, he looks away. He can't bear it. What is usually fire and strength, now show him weakness.

"Forget about it," mutters Ahri.

As she opens the door, six members fall over each other, all of them groaning while clutching their heads.

Scoffing, the female member walks past them while barking, "Can't even have a tiny bit of privacy in this goddamned household." She strides into the kitchen and locks the door.

"Make sure to eat well, you haven't eaten for the whole day!" shouts Hoseok from his laid-down spot.

Namjoon slaps the back of Hoseok's head. "Seriously?" he mutters.

"What?" asks Hoseok innocently and in defense. "She still needs to eat, you know!"

━━✦ :･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧

"Hey, baby."

"That's not how he talks!"

"How would you know? It's not like you've ever properly spoken to him!"

Ahri breathes heavily through her nose. "And you can't speak as well after I beat up your pretty little face." With that, she lunges at Jeongguk.

"No, you won't," states Jimin cooly. He grabs her arm and pulls her back down next to him.

A frustrated scoff escapes her lips, folding her arms. "All of this is useless, and you guys know it!"

"Yep, it is," Jimin agrees hopelessly.

"How could you say that?" Yona asks Jimin, evidently offended. "You're supposed to support me—"

Frowning, Jimin counters, "You literally just said that it's useless yourself!"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that you should agree to it!" she states as a matter of fact.

Jeongguk rolls his eyes and throws a pillow at both of them. "Okay, shut up." With much suspense in his voice, he announces, "I've come up with a three-step-plan to get him to date you!"

"Okay, I'm listening." She leans further forward, paying him all of her attention.

"Step one: Get him to play truth or dare."

Almost immediately, Ahri shakes her head and orders, "Oh God, stop."

"Step two: Wait until he picks dare."

"Jeongguk, no—"

"Step three: Dare him to date you."

However, Yona is not convinced at all, a deadly serious expression on her face.

Meanwhile, Jimin nods and says, "It could work."

Before Yona could press onto the topic that they're both as dumb as a piece of bread, someone rings on the door.

Standing up, Ahri strides toward the door and opens it. A smile spreads over her face as she greets the familiar face. "Hey, Jaehyun. What's up?"

"Hey, Ahri." He smiles back at her. "I wanted to ask you if you wanna play basketball." Looking down, Ahri notices the jogging-suit and the basketball in his hand.

"Sure—"

"You're still grounded."

Annoyed, Yona scowls. But as she turns around to face her member, whose arms are crossed, she puts a cute smile on.

Yona pouts and asks desperately, "Hyung, can I go out? Only for tonight!"

"No," deadpans Seokjin. "You should deal with the consequences for sneaking out at night."

She huffs. Suddenly, an idea creeps onto her mind and stays glued there. Ahri sighs and shakes her head at the upcoming embarrassment she's going to be feeling.

In times like these, in which living is getting harder and harder, some risks have to be taken in order to live fully.

Within seconds, Yona's facial expressions turn cuter - eyes getting bigger, her pout enlarging, cheeks turning squishier and seeming softer. "Hyungie," she coos. "Can I please, please go out with? Hm? Please."

Each of Seokjin's puffy cheeks flush and are tinted a dark shade of red. He gulps. "Have her home by 9:00," is all he says to Jaehyun, who nervously nods.

"Man, that was one time and never again." Her voice normalizes again. Ahri quickly sighs to herself in embarrassment and scratches her head.

As her eyes move up and meet Jaehyun's, she frowns. "Why are your cheeks so red?" asks Yona in confusion.

"N-Nothing," utters Jaehyun. He tries to change the subject, saying, "I know that you can't be seen with a boy and all, so I found the perfect place in which we'll be free of any media!"

Just the words 'free of any media' make her smile widely. "That's so cool!" she exclaims. "Let's go there quickly, I haven't played basketball in years!"

While they happily walk to the place, the two of them talk about everything recent and exchange information about their groups.

"We keep on getting new members," says Jaehyun in excitement. "First, it was Johnny, Yuta, Ten, Mark, Renjun, and I, but now there are five more."

"Five?" repeats Ahri loudly, slightly shocked. "Damn, your group will be pretty big, I guess."

Jaehyun nods. "I think so, too. All of us question how it's supposed to work out, since there are four more members that will join in our debut."

"What?" Her voice comes out high-pitched, laughing. "And I thought EXO was big with 12 members... When will you guys debut, though?"

"Our manager said that it'll probably be in 2016," days Jaehyun, a wide smile adorning his striking features. "I'm so excited, Ahri! I mean, after all this work, we'll finally get to debut in around a year!"

His joy is genuinely mirrored by her. The smile on his face warms her insides up and causes her to immediately smile as well. "I'm really happy for you, Jaehyun. You guys deserve it, seriously."

"Cut the crap now, Kim." His mood swings suddenly, causing her eyes to widen in surprise. Yet she recognizes the playful glint in his eyes and smiles lightly.

But as she notices that they've arrived at their destination, she hums understandingly. As she gazes back at him, she can identify his teasing smile while he stands in the middle of the two hooks.

Even though he only wears some simply jogging-trousers and a black shirt on top of that, she still can't seem to take her eyes off him. He looks better the more she stares at him, and it annoys her, really. His rich chocolate hair is tousled which promises finesse.

And then his eyes - they are deep and catastrophic, an earthy brown that softly melts into a majestic gold. This close, she can see the flecks of silver in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asks all of a sudden, bringing her out of her imagination and back into reality.

Gulping, Ahri answers, "Yeah, yeah. Pass the ball and see how a professional plays basketball."

Her cheeks are still heated, burning, and evidently flushed, but she chooses to ignore it.

"You wish!" counters Jaehyun, chuckling. His competitive side comes out as he hunches down into the position, looking at her with fire in his eyes. "Let's see who the better player is, Kim Ahri."

"With pleasure, Jung Jaehyun." Ahri leans down as well, hands spread widely, and ready to attack at any time.

Hooded eyes framed by long dark lashes stare at her teasingly - knowing how to push her buttons. How his eyes twinkle with goading glint brings out her own competitiveness.

In a sudden, Jaehyun races to the side, the ball bouncing up and down beside him. He notices Ahri chasing after him immediately, and speeds up his pace.

Due to Ahri catching up with him, Jaehyun tries to distract her by asking various questions. "So..." he starts while bouncing the ball in his hands, keeping his eyes on her. "I heard that someone's got a crush."

Color drains from Ahri's face. "W-What?" She chuckles awkwardly. "Who said that?"

Innocently smiling, Jaehyun replies, "A little birdie did."

"If that little birdie is a snitch named Lee Dongmin, then his tall self will really be little after I cut him into single pieces of meat and serve him to the sharks," deadpans Ahri, not focused on the ball anymore and rather thinking of ways to murder her friend.

There is a satisfied chuckle coming from his side. Then, he quickly runs forward, which Ahri was blocking before, and throws the ball inside the hook.

"That's unfair!" complains Yona, mouth hanging open and face being the same as an overripe tomato. "You can't just trick me like that!"

"I think I just did," Jaehyun remarks, laughing. His hands still play with the ball while Ahri tries to snatch it away from him.

Then he passes it to her, since it's her turn. She wastes no time at all - immediately rushing to the other side with the ball. Jaehyun's eyes dilate in slight shock and he makes sure to chase after her.

"Don't you think that you're getting ahead of yourself?" he suddenly asks from behind, confusing her. "I mean, isn't he famous and has a lot of people crushing after him and all?"

She rolls her eyes in annoyance and stops running, letting the ball hop instead while Jaehyun stands a few meters behind her. "I never said that I want him to notice me, anyway."

"So you'd like to have a one-sided love with a stranger instead?" His voice is getting softer within every word he says. She can feel him nearing her, and her heart races.

His body is straight behind her by now, warmth radiating from it. Jaehyun's warm breath is fanning her ear as he leans down slightly.

The close proximity causes Yona's breath to stutter in her lungs before she shakily lets it go, feeling the unusual tension between them. She gulps.

Slowly, his soft hands slither from her arms to her hands. Every touch is electrifying in the merest contact and sends unexpected warmth through her entire being.

Yona doesn't dare to move. She's frozen on the spot, with her body burning up. Everywhere he touches is fire. She can feel his heartbeat - that's how silent everything is and how close they are.

Ever so slightly, he nears his head forward and gazes into her eyes, and she could feel how galaxies collide. Jaehyun's sights flicker from her eyes to her lips and stay there.

"One-sided love is the greatest punishment someone could bring among himself." His voice is slow and careful, yet soft and feathery as well.

"Because... what's worse than knowing you want something, but knowing that you can never have it?"

As he looks back into her eyes, she could feel him searching deep into her soul; as if he's searching for an answer.

For an uncountable time, the both of them stand there, staring at each other. She is assessing him through her slightly squinted eyes as if looking for a clearer explanation, and he simply watches her with eyes that hold sadness and disappointment behind his thick facade of strength.

Suddenly, he smiles, but she could finally see the pain behind it. Then, he sneakily takes the ball from her hands and runs to the other way, throwing it inside the hoop.

That doesn't do anything to Yona, though. She's still there, standing still. It's as if she's closed in a room. Her imagination becomes the universe, and the rest of the world - the reality - is missing out.

INCORRECT QUOTE(S)

jaehyun: can you ever see us being more than friends?
ahri: omg yes, i'm glad you asked!
ahri: *pulling out many drawings*
ahri: i can totally see us as dragons, check out this picture i drew! Ooh, and on this one we're unicorns!!
jaehyun:
jaehyun, smiling: i love it.

jaehyun: i want to marry you
ahri: | 👀 |
\ /
| |
—— ——
/ ✊🏼___/
\_✊🏼 BARS bro

lawyer: did your girlfriend commit the crime?
jaehyun: she can't even commit to this relationship
entire jury: OH SNAP
ahri: :(

ahri: what do you want to do tonight
taehyung: world domination
ahri: aren't you a bit ambitious
taehyung: you're my world
ahri, blushing: aww
ahri: wait what

[ the quote fits so well with him :') ]

ahri, in a relationship, in a nutshell
[ during sex ]
him, moaning: oh fuck
ahri's brain: don't say it bitch
ahri: i can't believe you've done this

ahri: i failed my math exam
seokjin:
ahri: the principal told me to bring my parents
namjoon: we're not—
ahri: tomorrow, 7 am, be ready

murderer: any last words
ahri: am i annoying be honest :/

-

bts:

ahri:

-

ahri: hyung, i think you should play the role of my father
namjoon: i don't want to be your father
ahri: that's perfect, you already know your lines

bambam, meeting ahri for the first time: if this was a fairy tail, you'd be the princess
jungkook: well, that must make me the fairy godmother because you can bippity boppity back the fuck away from my soulmate

- - -

2019 TWITTER UPDATE

방탄소년단 @/BTS_twt
Happy Birthday from the bottom of my heart.
#VY

💬 428,162 🔃 772,111 ❤️ 2,3 M

bitch what @/asisaidbitchwhat
hoLD TF UP WICKEKFKEKDKS THIS IS THE FIRST TAENA PICTURE WE GOT AFTER THREE YEARS BITCHES #VYFORTHEWIN

je suis: déad @/aurevoir
FUCK WWIII THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT RN

ahgi is not dead @/isweartheyarent
meanwhile yonkook stans were found dead in a ditch lmao sIKE BITCHES WIDKSJJXJS

🤡 clown @/yonkooksoulmates
^ stfu they're soulmates ok 🥺 sis didn't even post anything for his birthday tho smh 😔🤚🏼