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#sorry i just feel the need to document every mundane occurance in my life.
sallysetoncore · 3 months
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FINALLY got to like. talk to my mom tonight. i feel like we haven't chatted since i visited back in may. we've just both been so busy and fairly unwell. we mostly chatted about television; i learned from her, consciously or not, that the best way to unwind from the day is television and wine. sure, maybe there are healthier habits, but there are also unhealthier habits, so i'lll take this one. besides, my mom gave it to me.
she's started bridgerton, which shocks me on one hand, bc she hates shonda rhimes (my mom loves medical dramas but doesn't think the doctors should fuck. she loves code black, the good doctor (i know. i know.), and house.), but on the other hand, she fucking adores outlander, so it's not like she hates sex on television. she's on s2 now. i asked what made her finally start it and she said "if it's good enough for julie andrews, it's good enough for me."
she is NOT caught up on one of her favorite shows, which is 911, and i keep asking her and she's like "we're a few episodes behind" but i know she doesn't know about the canon bisexuality or she'd know that's why i keep asking. i do not watch 911 but im on supernatural tumblr so it's basically the same thing. she assumes you all watch it for hen and karen, since that's the gay couple and she adores them. i have previously tried to explain that. well. they're not the gay couple most people are blogging about (they should be. i don't watch the show but they should be.) and she's been very confused bc "buck and eddie are straight". very excited for her to catch up and call me.
DID find out that she and my dad tried to start interview with a vampire. and, this is entirely new lore to me, they gave up bc my dad is such a big fan of the movie? and the BOOK? i didn't know my dad could read (this is a joke but in my defense . i shit you not. god i don't even know how to write this. if i'm in the car with my dad for over an hour, he puts on the Ready Player One audiobook narrated by will wheaton and i have no control over this. cleaning? RPO by WW. falling asleep? RPO by WW. i don't understand. so no i didn't think he had read and loved interview with a vampire.)
anyway my parents r visiting me at the end of the month for a week and then i visit them for about a week and then i move, instead of temporarily 1,200 miles away, permanently 700 miles away. i hope we call more.
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itchylich · 5 years
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prompt by @ice-bjorn. first part is just a repost now slightly edited to provide context for the second part
second part: #I NEED THE PART WHEN ELSA AND ANNA TALK ABOUT THIS AND HUG #BUT PLEASE MAKE THE FLUFFY ENDING (@the-awkward-feistypants)
okay
events occur post-frozen 2
The last time Elsa was in Ahtohallan looking for answers, she had gone too far and became trapped in a frozen state, her thoughts all but silenced. As such, she hesitated to return as another search for answers might lead her to the same outcome once more, but she had a question on her mind, one that has gnawed at the edges of her consciousness for long enough that it has become more than a simple nuisance.
She had made her way through the glacier’s winding tunnels and bottomless chasm and now stood at the threshold to the chamber of memory, as dark as it was when she first visited. When Elsa awoke from her dreamless sleep as an ice statue, she was aware of the passage of time and that Anna had something to do with undoing her folly. What had transpired while she was incapacitated that led her to thaw? She asked Anna about it once, but her sister deflected and even changed the topic. Elsa took the hint then. Anna would talk to Elsa about anything at all, but she tended to keep things she thought would worry her elder sister to herself. With a little coaxing, Elsa could get her to open up and gush about her issues, but not this time and it had Elsa worried.
She took a deep breath, the sharp, icy air stinging her chest, and strode into the darkened chamber. The only source of illumination there were the diamonds of the four elemental spirits in the center of the room. She took her place at the middle of the formation. “Show me what Anna did while I was frozen!” she raised her voice. No response. “Please.” She added sheepishly and the black room turned to white in a flash of light and flurries of snow swirled through the air, conjuring spectral figures of ice that captured the moments she missed.
Her eyes fell first on an image of three earth giants rampaging through the woods as they pursued Anna and threw boulders at her. Her hands flew to her mouth and she gasped. “Anna, how could you do something so reckless? So dangerous?” She said as she kept her eyes on the almost-still scene. She watched Kristoff rescuing Anna from being crushed by a giant’s stony foot, Anna barely making it across the crumbling dam and General Mattias grabbing her arm to save her. A sigh of relief escaped her lips. She already knew Anna would survive the encounter, but having to see just how close she came to dying that day still put her on edge. This was something that they’d discuss another day, after she convinces Anna to have Kristoff and General Mattias recognized as heroes.
Then her eyes fell upon an icy ghost of Anna in a cave, cradling Olaf’s fading form. As she approached, the scene shifted from the snowman crumbling away to Anna embracing a satchel as if her life depended on it and a song - like a distant echo as if it were coming from the bottom of a deep lake - pierced the silence of the chamber. It was Anna’s voice.
I’ve seen dark before, but not like this. This is cold, this is empty, this is numb. The life I knew is over, the lights are out. Hello, darkness, I’m ready to succumb.
Elsa reached out to the her sister’s icy image as it continued its song. “Anna, no…” The Anna she knew was her cheerful redheaded sister - bright, tough, and full of spunk - who didn’t let anything get to her. Hearing Anna this weak and beaten down, in despair even deeper than when they lost their parents, hurt like someone had stabbed her in the chest with a hundred burning daggers.
I follow you around, I always have. But you’ve gone to a place I cannot find.
Elsa gently clasped the memory’s face as she continued to fight the tears welling up in her eyes and the sobs building in her chest from breaking free. “No, Anna, I’m here. Anna… I’m- I’m right here…”
I can’t find my direction, I’m all alone. The only star that guided me was you. How to rise from the floor when it’s not you I’m rising for?
Her tears began to flow from her eyes as she gently wiped away the tears that streaked down the sobbing simulacrum’s frigid cheeks. “Anna, I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” She sputtered out as the memory continued its song. She didn’t know just how important she was to her sister, she didn’t know just how much Anna loved her. And like a fool, she took it all for granted. She left to pursue her own selfish desires without even thinking of how it would affect the one person who has been there for her since the beginning, the one person who truly loved her. She wrapped her arms around the memory and buried her face in its chest. “I’m sorry I’ve been a foolish sister, Anna. I’m sorry…”
She lost track of how much time she spent there sobbing on the memory’s bosom as she listened to its song of mourning.
But then morning came as the white dome of ice glowed with the orange hues of sunrise and Elsa rose from her place on the floor. She couldn’t stay there all day feeling sorry for herself, she had to go to Anna and apologize. She didn’t know that her redheaded little sister had been carrying all of this on her shoulders behind Elsa’s back until today.
She made her way out of the glacier and summoned the Nokk from the churning waters of the Dark Sea. Together they raced across the sea headed for Arendelle.
A loud thud broke the silence of the study and the queen’s attention on the task at hand. With a start, Anna awoke from her split-second nap and sat up straight as a ruler, rubbing her forehead that throbbed with a dull ache.  She sighed. She couldn’t focus on the documents on her desk, much less keep herself awake and alert for any reliable period.
She made her way over to the window and looked out into the fjord, the northern mountain’s peak a speck in the distance. Beyond that is where the enchanted forest is, where Elsa is, and she’s been worried about her big sister. It doesn’t take Elsa long to send a reply to her letters, maybe six hours at most if she’s really busy doing whatever it is she does with the Northuldra, but in the two months and sixteen days that they’ve lived apart, she’s never failed to send a note a day. She looks forward to each letter be it fantastical stories of what the elemental spirits do in the enchanted forest or mundane things like what she had for breakfast - Anna takes those seriously; she knows Elsa is the kind of person who forgets to take care of herself when she has her mind set on something. It keeps her connected with her big sister, especially now that they couldn’t be together all the time. But it’s been three days since she’s heard word from Elsa and Gale isn’t telling her anything.
What could be keeping her from communicating? Anna wondered. She’s fine, isn’t she? Olaf’s still here so she’s not dead, but I hope she’s not hurt or sick or anything. Maybe she ran out of paper? Should I get Gale to bring her more? But what if it’s ink she’s out of? I don’t think the Nokk would be happy with me asking it to bring her some.
The doors creaked open behind her, interrupting her train of thought. “Please,” she said without turning around, “I’ll see you later.”
“Busy?” A familiar voice asked in reply. Anna’s head perked up and she turned around to be met with Elsa, her pale blond hair and icy dress catching the light that flowed into the room, making her glimmer a little bit. She almost looked otherworldly, as if she actually was a spirit instead of a human with ice magic. The worries she had were washed away by relief and she jumped a little before running to tackle her sister in a tight hug.
“Where have you been? I was so worried! You didn’t send any replies for three days and Gale didn’t know where you were and I started fearing for the worst, but Olaf’s still here so I figured you were okay, but…” Anna held Elsa at arm’s length as she stopped to breathe and then inspected her guest all over for any telling signs of injury. “Were you running into danger again? I told you to be careful, didn’t I? Are you hurt? Are you sick? Are you taking care of yourself?”
“Anna, I’m fine.” Elsa laughed - an empty, shallow laugh that betrayed her smile. Worry crept back into Anna’s mind. “I just visited Ahtohallan. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you in advance.”
“Elsa…” Looking closer, her big sister looked like she went through something harsh. There were bags barely visible under her eyes and some strands of her golden hair rebelled against the rest. It couldn’t have been the long trip here, she looked pristine even after riding the Nokk against the strong northern winds for hours on end. Was it something she saw in the glacier? Anna knew the expression on Elsa’s face. It was her we-need-to-talk face. “Is something wrong?”
Elsa threw her arms around Anna and cried into her shoulder, catching the redhead by surprise. Anna’s worries made way for a protective, comforting instinct and she held the crying blond closer, feeling her shoulders shake with every shuddering breath. Caressing her back was all Anna could do to comfort the sobbing Elsa as she waited for her big sister to speak.
“I’m sorry.” Elsa said against her sobs. Anna looked down to meet the gaze of glossy, sapphire eyes overflowing with tears looking straight at her. Like mirrors, those sorrowful eyes reflected Anna’s face full of worry and Elsa’s regrets. “I’ve been a fool, Anna. A selfish fool.”
“Elsa, what are you talking about?”
Elsa released a flurry of snow from her palm and it swirled through the air, headed toward a corner of the room. Where it settled was an ice statue of Anna leaning against the wall holding a satchel to her chest. Anna knew what it was: it was her after Olaf had crumbled away - the moment she thought she lost the only family she had left. A weight had settled in her chest; she figured out what this was about. She turned back to Elsa, whose eyes now refused to meet hers. “You visited Ahthohallan, huh?”
“I’m sorry I left you there alone.” Elsa cried. “All my life, all I wanted was for you to be happy… but I kept pushing you away, yet you kept chasing me. I built walls but you kept breaking them down. Then I went on my own path and left you behind.”
Anna placed her hand on Elsa’s cheek and wiped away a falling tear. For someone who spends a lot of time around ice, she had a certain warmth to her. A comforting warmth. One that didn’t vanish even when she was at her lowest. Anna held Elsa closer and locked her in a tight embrace. “You always did like going off to do your own thing. You kept leaving me behind!” Elsa flinched and Anna shushed her gently, caressing her shaking shoulders, but she knew she couldn’t just keep that to herself. It hurt her too to think of how Elsa was always three steps ahead of Anna - she was born with magic, then ascended to the throne, and then became a spirit. To say that Anna didn’t fear that Elsa would eventually go so far that Anna can’t reach her would be an enormous lie. It was a fear that always lingered in the back of her mind despite the three years they’ve spent reconnecting over the thirteen years they’ve spent apart - a fear that was reinforced by Elsa choosing to live outside of Arendelle, away from the sister who needed her. “But it’s okay, I’ll always keep going after you, no matter how far you run. Just please, don’t go too fast. I don’t want to get left in the dust- err, snow again.”
Elsa looked up and met Anna’s gaze. “No, Anna. It’s not okay. You shouldn’t be the one who has to keep adjusting just because I’m selfish. I should be putting your happiness above my own goals, but instead I’ve put all this responsibility on your shoulders.” She added, gesturing to the documents piled on the desk.
“But you do make me happy.” Anna cupped Elsa’s cheek as she ushered both of them on their knees. Anna had an easier time meeting Elsa eye-to-eye like this. Tears began streaking down her cheeks. Hearing Elsa so hurt and beating herself up like this was more than she could take. “Remember that party you set up for me three years ago? All those presents you got me? You already made up for all that time you shut me out. That made me happy. How you wouldn’t leave my side even when we’re in the town or at some official function? That made me happy. All the game nights you would enthusiastically join in on with Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven? How you’d sneak some chocolate into the room on the occasion we share a bed for the night? How you’d laugh as we hit each other with pillows or tickled each other past the breaking point like we were kids again? That made me happy! Elsa, you. Make. Me. Happy!” And she meant it. Every moment she spent with Elsa, with the sister she loved so much, whatever it may have been - even when they were apart and just passing each other notes - it made her happy. She had something to look forward to every day with friends and family and every day was filled with light and music and fun, unlike the better portion of her childhood when the gates of the castle were shut and she was just as isolated as Elsa was.
But it didn’t appear to be enough for Elsa. Even though she looked less like a royal mess than when they started, there was something else troubling her still. A familiar song reached Anna’s ears: the one she sang in those caves. “But I went off on my own. I pushed you away again and you fell into those caverns… I… died. Left you alone again and made you sad.” Elsa lowered her gaze again. “I’ve been a terrible sister.”
A heavy silence filled the study - one so loud that it even drowned out the mournful song of the memory behind them. Anna kept her eyes on Elsa, a sobbing, apologetic mess who refused to even look at her. Sadness built up in her; her big sister who was strong enough to tame three elemental spirits was reduced to the figure crying before her. But she also felt anger. Anger that Elsa would say this in front of her, to berate and belittle her own sister in front of her. She had to give Elsa a piece of her mind, but there were other things she had to get off her chest first.
“When you… died…” Anna swallowed. She still couldn’t accept the fact that for a brief moment, that she had lost everyone she held near and dear to her heart. “To say I was sad was an understatement. My heart broke. I felt it shatter into a million tiny pieces along with the world that I knew. I knew that without you, nothing would ever be the same again and I didn’t think I could go on and face that new reality. I didn’t-” Anna’s voice broke and she lowered her head. Tears fell on her gown, leaving dark rings on the fabric. “I didn’t want to go home and have another funeral to bury my sister whose body I can’t even recover.”
“Anna…” Now it was Elsa’s turn to do the comforting. Anna felt Elsa’s fingers settle on her shoulders. She felt their warmth through her clothes, but she also felt how they hesitated, as if Elsa thought that if she squeezed too much, Anna would break like some fragile antique. “Anna, I-”
Anna raised a finger to interrupt Elsa. “The Queen… the Queen is talking.” She said with the best mock-snooty tone she could muster despite her crying and sniffling. Elsa loosed a faint chuckle, one that gave Anna back some of her vigor. “I went straight for the earth giants because I didn’t think I had the strength to go on after that. I planned to let the flood wash me away after they tear down the dam, assuming they don’t just stomp me flat in the process.”
The fingers on her shoulders tightened. “You were really going to-”
“I didn’t know what else to do.” Anna answered. “I had nothing else to live for. Then,” she said as she put her hands on Elsa’s, “the dam broke. And for some reason, hope came surging back to me. Even if it went against what I knew, I held out hope that you would come back. And you did! You came riding back on the Nokk with the sun behind you, like a knight in shining armor. Or, well, a fashionable spirit in a sparkling dress.” They both laughed. Then Anna continued. “And I felt relieved, because my sister, my Elsa, came back to me. She didn’t leave me behind. Even if she did have to stay in the enchanted forest, she kept me in mind and didn’t neglect to send me letters or gifts from the other spirits. She didn’t fail to make me happy. I won’t let you say bad things about my sister.”
“But…”
“No buts! Elsa is the best sister ever, so sayeth the Queen! My word is law!” Anna stuck her chest out and huffed.
Anna watched with delight as Elsa wiped her face on her sleeve and gave her a smile. “Of course, your Highness.” She laughed.
Anna gently pulled Elsa’s hands from her shoulders and locked her fingers with her sister’s as she leaned into Elsa’s forehead. She closed her eyes, letting only the warmth of her sister’s touch and her now-regular and not-crying breaths fill her senses. “I’m sorry I took you for granted.” Elsa said.
“You’re still on that?”
Elsa chuckled and was silent for a while. “I love you.” And she went to embrace her little sister. This time it was sincere, full of warmth and love and the smell of winter and the forest. An embrace which Anna returned gladly.
“I love you too.” Anna maintained their position for a while before pulling away and opening her eyes. The Elsa that looked back at her was now happier than she was before and not at all troubled by whatever it was she saw in Ahtohallan. Anna smiled. “Should I get Kai to bring us some chocolate and wine? I don’t think you can find those over in the Northuldra settlement. We should probably fix ourselves up first though. I’m sure we look terrible.”
“I’d love some. It’s been so long since I got to enjoy any.” Elsa laughed. A gust of wind blew through the room and some of the documents once neatly piled on the desk now lay scattered across the floor. Elsa picked one up and studied it. “You could probably get Southern Isles to trade more ore with us if you trade our wool and cloth with them. Fabric is a favored luxury item there.”
“I knew you were better at this than me.”
Elsa winked. “I’ll teach you over chocolates and wine.”
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ardentlyjae · 7 years
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All I Want - Part Two (First Half)
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Pairing: Taehyung/Reader, Jungkook/Reader
Genre: Angst, War!AU (Trigger Warnings: Violence, Gore, Death)
Rating: M
Word Count: 18,296
Summary:
You’ve been in love with Taehyung your whole life, even following him into war. Now you have to deal with the effects of living during a brutal war that takes everyone.
Author’s Note: I had to break this part into two because the entire document was ~40K+ words haha.
Part One | Part Two | Part 2.5
You woke up to the sound of a loud bomb in the distance. It had become such a routine now that you didn’t even register the noise anymore. The loud sounds that resulted from battles and attacks did not surprise you, or even get a reaction from you.  They all just signaled the beginning of a new day – a new busy day. Sometimes you wondered what your life would be like if you had decided not to volunteer as a nurse, but the thought of you just waiting at home while your closest friends experienced the horrors of the war firsthand was enough to make you think that you made the right choice. There was no way that you were going to let them experience this alone. Though you couldn’t actually be next to them, you wanted to make sure that Taehyung, Hoseok, Namjoon, Yoongi, and Jimin all knew that you were with them through all the good times and all the bad.
It had been a year since that initial choice – a year since Taehyung had made that promise to talk to you after the war was over. The letters that Taehyung sent to you, that all of your friends sent to you really, became the thing that you looked forward to the most. The fact that you were abroad with them made them come more frequently, although the last time you had seen any of them had been the day they enlisted. They continued to update you, each boy’s personality still managing to shine through each letter you received.
But something had changed in the letters lately. Jimin’s letters had a sense of apprehension, as if his sudden short and curt replies to you seemed to be hiding something. They did not have the same feeling, the same personality, and even the things that he wrote to you about seemed more mundane than they had previously. It wasn’t just Jimin either. The last time you had received a letter from Taehyung had been over a month ago. You still received your biweekly letters from the rest of the boys, and you still sent out your own biweekly letters, even if that meant that you lost a few hours of sleep each night and there wasn’t much you had to update them on.
It wasn’t until almost two months after Taehyung’s last letter that you realized why his communication had ended so abruptly. You checked the makeshift mailroom that had been made in a tent a few hundred feet from the entrance of the hospital you were stationed at. It had become a habit to check the mailroom everyday, as you were never really sure on when a letter from the boys would arrive, except that you were guaranteed two per month. Instead, what you found waiting for you was a set of two letters from Taehyung’s mom which you found strange. She hardly ever wrote to you, choosing to send any messages to you through Taehyung or your parents. Bidding the soldiers sorting the mail a goodnight, you quickly ran back to your small room inside the hospital, sensing the need to be alone before you even opened the envelopes.
You took a seat at your desk and opened the envelope that was postmarked earlier, knowing that it was the one that you should read first. Sometimes the mail from home was so delayed that you would end up receiving multiple letters at one time, each postmarked months before, though these two letters were from two months ago – with each postmark dated just days from each other. You tore open the envelope of the earlier letter, revealing the crisp white paper inside and began to read.
Dear Y/N,
How have you been my dear? Your parents send me updates as soon as they receive your letters, and I’m glad to know how you’ve been doing. I feel just the same amount of pride as your parents do as you tell them about all of the soldiers that you have saved. You’re growing up to be a wonderful young woman with a bright future ahead of you.
I was wondering if you had received any letters from my son recently? I haven’t heard from him and I know that he maintains really good contact with you. It could just be that the boys are busy, especially now that they’re off being heroic and fighting, but if you hear anything could you please let me or your parents know? I would love to hear from you as well.
Take care of yourself darling.
There was an immediate sense of dread that came over you. The thought that something might have happened to Taehyung immediately came to mind. If he hadn’t been sending letters to you, it could have been because he was too busy, but not sending letters to his mother was so unlike Taehyung that you couldn’t help but think that there was something wrong. If there was one thing that he cared about more than your friends and yourself, it was his own family. Perhaps it was that and the combination of Jimin’s unusually bland letters that almost made you suspect that there was something he was keeping from you.
You took the second letter from the side of your desk, slowly opening the letter, as if part of you was afraid of what its contents would be – and you were afraid. Your subconscious refused to allow you to move faster, the letter holding one of the most frightening answers at that very moment. Unfolding the letter, you saw his mother’s large handwriting once again and taking in a deep breath you began to read. The first thing you noticed about the letter was that the writing was messier, with smudges and words that were almost illegible. The paper was also rougher in some parts, as if it had been wet and dried while it was being written.
Dear Y/N,
I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, especially when you’re abroad. A few days after I sent my other letter, my husband and I were sitting at home. We had a knock on the door and there were two men there dressed in their uniforms. I’m so sorry honey, but they told us that our boy, my son, was missing in action. His plane had been shot down over enemy territory and that it was likely that my boy was likely dead though they could not recover his body.
They told us that his dog tag was found and they gave it to me. It feels like a part of me just died. Like the biggest and brightest light in my world has just ended. My husband has begun making preparations for his memorial service. I wish you and the rest of the boys could be present but I know that you’re off fighting the war. When all of you come back home, please come visit our house. It needs the life that my son and all of you brought.
I wish my boy had been able to tell you how he felt. I always considered you like a daughter, and I hope you considered me like a second mother to you. I always thought that you would marry Taehyung and become my real daughter but I guess that will never happen. My boy, he loved you so much. He told me that just about every single day as a child and as he grew up I never once doubted that those feelings ever changed. There was no other girl that he ever cared for as much as he cared for you. I’m sorry to tell you this over a letter, and I hope you can come over when you are back and this damned war is over. Please take care of yourself and try to focus on the effort first. Thank you, and thank you to all of your friends, for making my son’s life one that he was so happy to live and for giving him many memories that I’m sure all of you cherish.
Please, take care of yourself.
You read and reread the letter a million times after that initial reading. You refused to believe any part of that. Your heart began to beat increasingly fast and your breathing hitched. How could Taehyung be missing? How could the military just write him off as dead? You felt the emotions welling up inside of you, just bubbling underneath the surface, ready to spill out at the slightest movement.
There was no way Taehyung could be dead. Your mind was full of your memories with him, his brown hair and boxy grin that seemed to be permanently on his face. There was his deep voice that always lulled you to sleep and filled you with a sense of protection. You remembered the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled and the way his eyebrows furrowed when he was confused or angry. How could someone that your entire world revolved around be gone?
You felt the tears begin to fall from your eyes as the realization suddenly dawned on you. You would never be able to see him again. You wouldn’t be able to feel his hugs when he greeted you or said goodbye. You wouldn’t be able to hear that laugh that you swore was the most incredible sound you had ever heard or his smooth voice whenever he sang along to a song on the radio. The picture frame that sat on your desk, an old photo of you and Taehyung at the park during high school, suddenly became one of your most prized possessions in that moment. You took it in your hands, desperately wishing to go back to that time, or really any time before Taehyung had enlisted in the military.
How could someone as pure, as friendly, as bright as the sun be gone? If this war had never occurred, maybe Taehyung would be around. As you sat there, you realized that you would give up everything just to have seen his smile one more time.
This war didn’t make any sense to you. Nothing about what was happening to all of the soldiers out on the battlefield ever made any sense. The only people that seemed to be suffering from this war was everyone that was fighting, the people on the front lines, and the people whose lives the soldiers affected.
It felt like the wind had been knocked out of you. You could hardly breathe, struggling to get in air through your sobs. There was an immeasurable pain in your chest and you could barely think, your mind just filled with thoughts of Taehyung, of things you wished you had said and done before. You wished you could go back and tell him how you felt earlier. How different would life be if you had done that? Would he have been more careful? Would he have still died?
Taehyung was your world. How were you supposed to act when your world was gone?
17 MONTHS LATER
It was your birthday, yet you did not feel like celebrating. You didn’t tell any of your fellow nurses or supervisors. It had been months, a year and more since the day that you received the news about Taehyung, yet it still stung as if you had just received it minutes prior.
The boys had all found out through you, all except Jimin who was in the same unit as Taehyung and knew before even his mother did. He found out as it happened, you later learned, with Jimin being the last person to hear Taehyung’s transmission over the fighter pilots’ communication lines. Jimin was told he was not allowed to report anything until Taehyung’s family was notified through the formal military channels, and it became apparent to you that was why his letters had become so distant.
Since that news, the war had only gotten more brutal. The hospital that you were assigned to was forced to move closer to the battle lines as an attempt to get help sooner for all of the wounded soldiers that made it back to the base. The new hospital was in a large building that used to be a mansion for some rich aristocrat in the 17th century, but had since been turned into the main medical center for the allied countries. It was in the middle of the countryside, about five minutes away from where soldiers from your country and its allies had dug trenches opposite the enemy’s.
This particular day had started out with a relatively quiet morning, an event that you had grown to appreciate greatly since you enlisted as a volunteer. You were walking down the hall, when one of your coworkers sped by you, running to an emergency room with supplies spilling out of her arms. You had just finished treating one of your patients when another one of the nurses grabbed your wrist, pulling you to the foyer of the hospital.
“There was a large battle in the morning and it didn’t turn out in our favor. We got a message a few minutes ago that there was a large amount of wounded,” she explained, her face visibly worried. You simply nodded, immediately realizing what was coming, and turned to look at the entrance.
The foyer had two large, white doors opposite the main entrance that two nurses were opening. Inside that lay a grand ballroom, almost the size of a football field that had been converted into a large emergency room. You could see nurses rushing, moving soldiers that could be moved onto gurneys, clearing the beds for the expected patients. Other nurses came to wait with you and your coworker, the head nurse giving instructions for the large amount of soldiers you were expecting. As you looked around, you saw that even the nurses who were given the night shift that week were still working. You felt sorry for them, knowing they must be exhausted, you knew you would be. From the looks of all the available staff, it meant that the amount of wounded soldiers would be higher than usual.
“Prioritize the soldiers who can be saved! Those that need to be treated immediately that you can treat without the help of a doctor. We are running low on morphine and other supplies so please use it sparingly. There should be an extremely large number of soldiers being brought in very soon!” The head nurse yelled out as she walked down the line.
You could see other nurses biting their nails, and you looked down, taking in a deep breath. Having served for a year now, you had gotten used to all the blood and gore caused by war. Many patients you had treated had passed away and you felt yourself becoming numb to all of the atrocities. In fact, in a way it helped that you had managed to be able to witness an amputation without gagging, making you into one of the doctors’ favorite nurses to have in the operating room. You could focus better on trying to save their lives rather than on anything else as well. You always remembered that the soldier you were treating was someone’s friend, brother, son. The man in front of you could always be to someone else what Taehyung was to you. In fact, every man that ended up in front of you was Taehyung. He was every face you passed by, every patient you saw. You made a silent promise to yourself at that moment, that whoever you were left to take care of would survive at whatever cost. That was all you really wanted for your birthday.
You heard the first siren in the distance and watched as the truck turned onto the road leading to the hospital. All nurses and doctors immediately ceased speaking. Everyone was ready for the oncoming flood of wounded soldiers, all of you only hoped that there would be enough supplies to treat everyone.
Multiple trucks full of soldiers began arriving shortly afterwards, and men who were fine helped carry in those that were wounded. All the nurses sprung into action, pulling gurneys and leading men to beds inside of the large ballroom. There was yelling everywhere, cries in pain from the wounded and men yelling trying to explain what had occurred to the person they were carrying. You ran to the side, pulling a gurney with you and you saw a tall man with broad shoulders holding someone.
“Put him on the bed!” You yelled in his direction, pulling the bed so that he could reach it.
After laying the soldier on the gurney, you saw that he was shaking, possibly from all the wounds he had received, yet he made no noise as the other soldiers did.
“He was shot and then a grenade went off near us!” the man holding him explained, panicked and worried about his companion. “Please save him! He’s only twenty years old!” You simply nodded to him, saying in a hurried voice, “I’ll try my best.”
He helped you push the gurney inside of the ballroom, while you searched for an empty bed, finding one on the row by the wall underneath a window. There he transferred the boy to the other bed and stood a few feet away as you began examining the soldier’s wounds.
He had burns all over his chest and arms, one of them reaching the lower half of his neck. There were other burns, some running down his left leg. Then there were the gun shots. You could count nine as you examined his body. On the left side of his body, one had hit his clavicle, two hit his upper arm, and another had hit his forearm. There were two more gunshots that hit the right side of his ribcage and stomach. The final three seemed to have hit his left thigh, with one grazing the side and leaving a surface wound. How this boy had managed to take all these injuries was beyond you, but you were sure going to try to make sure he survived.
You worked quickly, putting gauze on all the gunshot wounds to stop the bleeding. You could feel the other soldier’s presence behind you, watching as you worked with a frightened expression and you figured that the two were friends, slightly adding to the pressure that you had already placed on yourself. Once you finished covering up all the gunshots, you looked up, searching for the nearest doctor and noticing one a few beds away and doing quick exams on each of the wounded.
You began disinfecting all the burns, noticing the solider wince every time you touched him but never once making a sound. It struck you as odd, as the rest of the soldiers yelled out in pain while he stayed silent, only showing his pain through the intense shaking and a slight groan he would let out every once in a while. Dirt covered his body, making you worry about his wounds getting infected. If he was only twenty years old, you didn’t want him to lose an arm or leg because of an infection. You had seen too much of that already and one more life that could be permanently damaged by the war would only anger you more.
The doctor reached your patient within a few minutes, shining a flashlight on all the wounds and commenting on your quick work to cover up all the gunshot wounds. After a few moments he ordered, “He’s going to need surgery. We don’t have time to take him to the operating room, so wait here. I have to pull out the bullets lodged in his body. Give him enough morphine to last until I finish examining the rest of the patients.”
Nodding, you administered a small amount of morphine, watching the shaking slowly begin to stop. When you saw him begin to calm down, you changed the gauze covering one of his wounds that had soaked through. All around the room, there were cries of agony as the rest of the nurses ran around trying to keep their own patients alive. You sat beside this young man, waiting to make sure that he continued to stay alive and so that he would be ready for the intense amount of pain that you knew was sure to come when the doctor began to remove the bullets lodged in his body. The only thing you could hope for was that the morphine you gave him was enough to lessen the pain even slightly. You softly cleaned his face, removing all of the dirt from his cheeks and forehead in an attempt to calm him down. As you took off more of the dirt, you began to realize that this boy was actually pretty handsome. You noticed that he had a small mole underneath his bottom lip, another right under the very tip of his nose, and a mouth that was tinged a light shade of pink. His closed eyes also seemed as if they were actually quite large and he had soft features that made you want to try everything possible in order to save him.
As you were taking in every crevice, every feature that lined the boy’s face, the lead doctor came back to you saying, “None of the operating rooms are available. I’m going to remove the bullets here.”
You heard a gasp behind you, remembering that the other soldier who had brought him in was still standing a few feet away. It wasn’t the first time for you to witness a procedure usually done in an operating room to happen in the large ballroom, but you could tell that it was for him. He probably didn’t want to see his friend getting metal instruments poked into his body to remove bullets.
“You might want to go outside, possibly help bring in more wounded. This isn’t going to be pretty,” you warned him. “I will look for you when we’re done.”
He nodded quickly, running to the exit without a second thought. You looked at him for a few seconds longer before turning back your attention to the patient and waiting to receive instructions from the doctor.
A few hours later, most of the yelling had subsided – either from morphine or from soldiers passing away. You had been sitting next to the bed of the wounded solider, monitoring him to make sure nothing happened to him. You refused to let someone you helped die on your birthday, even if it was the last thing you did and continued to sit by him as the rest of the nurses began to retreat back to their rooms, exhausted from the day’s events. The sun had begun to set, casting a soft yellow glow in the room. You had taken a few minutes to run back up to your room to grab a book in order to keep yourself occupied. Around you, the other nurses had just finished their rounds, or were slowly wheeling those that passed away out of the room.  Earlier in the day, you had gone searching for his friend but could see that he was nowhere in sight, but you were too exhausted to do some deep search in the soldiers’ base.
As you looked around the room, you didn’t notice when one of your other fellow nurses, a girl named Rachel, came up beside you with a pastry and a small, lit candle. Although you rarely spoke much to any of the other nurses unless it was about work, Rachel had become a close friend of yours. A few years older than you, her boyfriend had been drafted into the army a few days after he had proposed to her. She volunteered as a nurse to at least have a chance to run into him again, though she knew it wasn’t likely. She was one of the few who knew about Taehyung, including the news that managed to break your heart every single day but you saw her as a kindred spirit, as both of your reasons for enlisting were almost exactly the same as each other’s.
“Happy birthday,” she whispered. She had noticed the boy in front of you was sleeping. You smiled, “Thanks.” “Are you going to stay here all night?” She asked, looking concerned. You turned back to the bed that held the solider, and said in a soft voice, “I can’t let him die. Not today.”
She didn’t say anything else. Instead she just patted your shoulder softly and turned to leave the ballroom. There was nothing she could say that would make you change your mind and you appreciated that she understood that. Rachel always understood your thoughts before you could even make a sense of them yourself and that was a quality of hers with which you were extremely grateful for. It made your life a lot easier and made working at the hospital more tolerable – even if you were surrounded by so much suffering.
After a few days had passed since your birthday, the hospital resumed its normal routine, though now inundated with more patients. You went back to the rounds that you did on a daily basis, checking on each of your patients and making sure that they were all doing okay. They had begun moving some of the wounded soldiers that had come in that day into rooms and as you checked your assigned rooms, you saw that you had three new patients to take care of. It didn’t surprise you. Everyday there was some new patient that was given to you.
It took two hours before you finally reached the last room assigned to you. It was at the end of a long hallway in the northeast corner of the mansion. You pushed a small cart with a tray of food and a few bandages and stopped at the door of the room. One more patient and you would be done with the first half of your shift and then be able to go to lunch. You sighed to yourself, already feeling drained from the previous rooms you visited. Slowly pushing the door open, you walked inside and instantly recognized the face of the soldier in the room.
His eyes were closed, but after spending the entire night by his bed, his sleeping face had become so familiar to you. When you couldn’t sleep, you had found yourself studying his face as if it was a piece by Michelangelo, taking in every single detail of his features. You paused for a few seconds, looking at his face and wondering what his life was like before the war even started. Did he have a girlfriend back home? Did someone else confess to him before he enlisted like you had to Taehyung? Something about him reminded you of Taehyung, but it wasn’t his looks. They didn’t look anything alike.  Maybe it was because he was around the same age as you and Taehyung, though something told you that was not the case.
You walked to the edge of his bed, picking up the clipboard with his chart on it to read what you were supposed to administer to him. His name was Jeon Jungkook, you read. The chart called for a redressing of all of his wounds twice a day as well as a few other steps for medication to keep infections from happening in any of his wounds. The cabinet on the opposite wall from the bed held all the bandages and gauze and some of the medicine, and you walked over to pull some out.
Pulling a stool to the side of his bed, you slowly began to remove the old bandages that had hardened due to the dry blood and applying some hydrogen peroxide softly to disinfect the wounds. As you treated him, you began to think about Taehyung once more, bringing a dull ache to your chest again. If you were completely honest to yourself though, your mind never wandered from him though. He was in everything that you did. You removed all of the old bandages and looked down at the soldier’s wounds, you couldn’t help but think about Taehyung and his last moments, your mind continuing to drift from this boy to Taehyung as you worked. You hoped that he hadn’t suffered like this boy had, hoped that he didn’t experience the pain that you were sure Jungkook had even though you gave him massive amounts of pain medication. You could not imagine what it must have felt like to have a grenade explode near you and get shot multiple times and somehow still survive.
It was when you had finished redressing the wound by his collar bone that you realized that his large eyes had opened. It was also then that you noticed that there were tears in your eyes, and you wondered when you had begun to cry.
His large eyes looked at you in surprise and you couldn’t help but jump away. Staring at each other for a few seconds in complete silence, you were the first to break into movement. Quickly giving him the prescribed medicines and leaving the food for him in a distance that he could reach, you ran out of the room as soon as you were able to, pulling the door behind you shut. You leaned against the door to his room, waiting for your rapid beating heart to slow down as you took in deep breaths. If you went back to the nurses’ station like this, they would ask questions that you didn’t even know the answer to yourself.
You weren’t sure what caused you to be so caught off guard. He was just surprised to see you, at least that was what you thought. He probably hadn’t been expecting the nurse treating him to be crying. You wiped the tears from your eyes and looked down for a few seconds in a feeble attempt to calm down your heart before it burst out of your chest.
It was the next day before you saw Jeon Jungkook again. You had taken the rest of the previous day off, asking one of the other nurses to cover your afternoon shift because you were feeling under the weather. You couldn’t admit to yourself that it was simply because you didn’t want to run into him again. Now today, you had once again finished serving and treating the rest of your patients before you found yourself standing in front of Jungkook’s room.
You stood outside his door for a minute, collecting yourself before you did something else dumb around him and before embarrassing yourself once more around one of your patients. Taking in a deep breath, you gave yourself a little bit of a pep talk as a feeble attempt to get you to open the door.
You knocked twice on his door to announce your presence and then stepped inside, pulling the cart holding his food behind you. Today, he was awake and the second that you walked in, his eyes immediately went wide in recognition. You tried to pretend that you couldn’t feel his stare, but when you looked back at him a few moments later, you could see his curious eyes watching your every move.
Sitting down on the same stool you sat on the previous day, you gave him a quick warning that you were going to be giving him a bit of morphine so that he wouldn’t hurt so much while you tended his wounds. Jungkook nodded, continuing to stare at you in an almost apprehensive way.
After waiting a few moments to make sure that the morphine’s effects had begun to kick in, you began to redress his wounds. You started at the legs because those were the furthest away from his curious, large, doe eyes that you would eventually have to face. You were dreading having to get near Jungkook to redress his collarbone wound, but you continued to repeat to yourself that you were a professional and that no soldier before had ever caused you to get so flustered around him, so you didn’t see why Jungkook had to be so different.
You slowly worked your way up his body, disinfecting and redressing every single wound and dabbing the cotton ball soaked in hydrogen peroxide on all of his burn marks. You were sure that the majority of his body would be covered in some form of scar for the rest of his life, yet of all of injuries had happened on his body – none had hit his face. It wasn’t until you had finished redressing the collarbone wound, and finally moved your head away from the mere inches where he was, that Jungkook spoke.
“Why did you cry yesterday?” He said, in a voice so low that you almost didn’t hear it. You paused, in the middle of pulling the cart over his bed to place his food in front of him. “What?” You asked, knowing it was the only thing that you could muster in your shock. “Yesterday, when you were treating me. You were crying and then you ran out,” Jungkook responded, his eyes still full of curiosity and a hint of timidness. You looked down, unsure of what to say. You weren’t even sure yourself why you had begun to cry, so how could you even explain it to him? “I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he said, staying silent as he waited for your response, as if somehow he knew that you yourself didn’t have an answer to his question. You stayed quiet, hesitant to answer. When he noticed your hesitation, he spoke again. “Sorry, I was just curious. I thought I had done something while I was asleep.” That was what made you look over at him, taking a good look for the first time since you walked into his room, straight into his eyes. “It wasn’t you. I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure myself either why I had begun to cry if I’m being totally honest.”
You laughed shyly, hoping to diffuse the tension that had developed between the two of you. You began to move so as to distract yourself from his silence and assumed that you had sufficiently freaked him out, so you turned to take the food tray from the cart. After placing his food in front of him, you walked over to the door and it wasn’t until you were in the middle of stepping out of his room that you heard his soft, melodic voice say, “See you later!” causing you to let out a smile and a soft laugh as soon as you were sure you were out of his sight.
In the afternoon, you usually had to redress the wounds of some of the soldiers per the doctors’ orders. There was also the second round of food that you had to deliver to all of the patients that had been assigned to you – including Jungkook. You seemed to breeze your way through the rest of the patients on your list, feeling lighter than you had in months. As you made your way towards Jungkook’s room, the last on your list, you couldn’t help but feel something. You were not quite sure what the feeling was, but the closer you got to his room, the stronger the feeling grew inside of you.
It was late afternoon when it was finally time to help Jungkook once more. You did a quick tap on the door to let him know that you were coming in and turned to pull the lunch cart with you before opening the door with one hand. As soon as you opened the door, you heard an unfamiliar laugh, immediately recognizing Jungkook’s voice soon after.
You opened the door fully, revealing to you that Jungkook had a visitor with him, and feeling your stomach drop slightly at the sight. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, turning to face the boy laying down. Since spending so much time around soldiers and interacting with them, you had learned the differences between the uniforms of the men and you could tell that Jungkook’s visitor was not just a normal private, but a higher ranked officer instead.
It was when the visitor turned around to face you that you instantly recognized him as the one who had brought Jungkook in to the hospital that first day. Now that you had time to breathe, you took a good look at his face realizing that he, too, was extremely handsome. His light brown hair, cut short fit his face well and his broad shoulders were emphasized by his military uniform, which now that you had a closer look, recognized as that of a corporal.
His face immediately lit up in recognition of you as well and he gave you a smile, giving you a greeting. “Hi! I remember you!” You nodded slightly, giving a light smile before leaving the lunch cart by the door and walking over to the cabinet that held all the bandages and syringes for the morphine. When you turned around again, it was Jungkook that spoke, a look of bewilderment clearly written on his face, “Have you two met before?” You shook your head at the same time that the other man answered, “Not formally, no. When I brought you in, she was the one who took you.” After you finished gathering all the bandages and cotton balls that you needed, you walked over to the other side of Jungkook’s bed, causing the other man to ask, “Do you need me to move?” “If you can, I just need to redress the wounds. I don’t know if you want to stay and watch that. It might not be pretty,” You finally answered him mirroring your words from your other meeting and remembering his eager run back outside when he heard the doctor say that he was going to remove the bullets. Your answer caused him to laugh. “Compared to what I’ve seen on the battlefield, this is nothing. That other time, I was just feeling really frantic about everything. Also, I’ve grown up with this kid. I’ve seen more of him than I would have liked over the years.” His answer caused your eyes to grow wide, as you were surprised of the sudden change from just a few days ago, while Jungkook protested his friend’s response, firing a jab of his own at him. “More like, I’ve had to put up with your obsession with yourself these last few years,” Jungkook said. “By the way, thanks for saving this kid. I don’t even want to know what his mom would have done to me if I hadn’t brought her son back alive,” the visitor said after the two finished their banter. “My name’s Seokjin but you can call me Jin if you’d like, all the pretty girls I meet call me that.” You had been cleaning the burns on Jungkook’s leg, eliciting a slight hiss from Jungkook as the antiseptic touched his wounds. You looked up and with a smile and a small laugh at his not-so-subtle flirting, answered him, “I’m Y/N. It’s nice to meet you.” Jin smiled back at you, turning to Jungkook and saying, “She’s the nurse you were telling me about right?”
You paused and turned to look at Jungkook, whose large eyes were wide and his face was slowly turning a deep shade of red.
“What? No…” Jungkook said feebly, refusing to turn to you. Jin laughed from his seat, “Then who else was the really cute nurse you said was tending to you. I think Y/N’s pretty cute.” He then turned to you, addressing you directly. “Hey, Y/N, does anyone else help him out?” “Not that I know of,” You said in a quiet voice, feeling more self-conscious than you had already been feeling despite the compliment from Jin. Maybe it was the fact that you knew deep down that Jungkook had been talking about you, but you felt your face heating up. Jungkook cleared his throat, his cheeks a tomato red now as his friend kept embarrassing him, and then spoke, “Jin, don’t you have to go order people around or something?”
Feeling the need to leave the room as soon as possible, you began to speed up your treatment of Jungkook’s wounds, caring less about whether he would feel any pain or not while you disinfected. The last wound you had left was the one on Jungkook’s collarbone, the one closest to his face and the one likely to cause you to make eye contact with the boy. You had purposely put off tending to this particular one for that very purpose.
Jin was telling Jungkook a story about his interactions with the generals as you moved to better reach the wound. After unwrapping it and removing the old bandages, you lightly dipped a cotton ball in the peroxide before turning back to Jungkook. Unconsciously, your eyes moved to catch a glance of Jungkook’s eyes that were staring at you with the same amount of curiosity as they had they day you began tending to him. From where your face was, you had a clear view of his jawline, admiring the sharp angle that moved slightly with each breath he took.  It was almost intimidating, knowing that Jungkook was staring at you and the second your eyes met his, you quickly looked back down at his wound. After doing a quick round of disinfection, you wrapped up his wound in a new bandage and got up to dispose of the cotton balls and old bandages. When you walked over to the food cart to prepare to exit the room, Jin spoke to you once more.
“You’re leaving already? Wow, you work fast,” He said in a joking manner. You replied with a nod, prompting him to speak again. “Do you have many more patients to take care of after him?” “Nope,” You answered. “He’s the last one on my rounds.” “Then why don’t you stay for a little while longer?” Jin asked you, motioning towards your now empty seat beside Jungkook’s bed. Your heart began to speed up, and you turned to look at Jungkook whose face seemed like almost a mystery for once. While still looking at his face, you replied to Jin. “I would, but I have a lot of charts I need to complete by tonight.”
You finally left Jungkook’s room after a groan from Jin and one last feeble attempt to get to you stay for a longer period in the room. The charts that you claimed needed to be completed had actually been finished during the break between your first and second rounds. You just weren’t sure if you would be able to handle being in that room any longer. Jungkook’s mere presence had an such a profound effect on you that you could barely speak. Perhaps it was your first real encounter, when Jungkook saw you crying that made you so embarrassed to be around him. You knew it was unprofessional to say the least and as you walked back to the nurses’ station you were repeating to yourself that Jungkook was just a patient. He was just someone that you needed to treat and that he would be back out on the battlefield as soon as he recovered completely. He seemed the type who would be reckless as well, judging by his wounds. When he recovered, it was almost as if there was a guarantee that he may end up back in the hospital once again. Yet as you finished your shift, he was still in your mind.
The rest of the day seemed like a blur, and before you knew it, it was time for your first set of rounds the next day. You went about tending the soldiers assigned to you as if you were almost in a daze, your mind refusing the banish the thought of Jungkook from your head. One of your patients even asked if you were feeling okay because you seemed distracted. You could never admit to them that it was because your mind was focused on the room at the end of the hall.
With every room and every patient that you finished treating, you found yourself getting almost giddy at the thought of seeing Jungkook once more. It was a strange feeling, you contemplated, and you had to remind yourself again that he was just a patient and you were in charge of treating him. Somehow, thoughts of Jungkook was making it hard to remember that he was a patient.
It would be another hour before you were standing in front of his room again. With a light knock, you turned the handle to his room with your other hand and pushed the door open. You pulled in the food cart and set it beside the door and then turned to look at Jungkook, who was already sitting up and giving you a smile. He was alone today and you couldn’t help but wonder what he had been doing before you walked in. The window above his bed let in sunlight that shined down on him just right, making him look beautiful. You smiled at him in response, and gathered your supplies from the cabinet before taking your seat beside his bed.
As soon as you began treating him, Jungkook spoke almost immediately. “How are you?” You dabbed a cotton ball on his leg, causing him to wince before responding. “I’m okay.” You smiled at him softly, returning to focusing on your work in silence when his voice suddenly came through again. “Have lunch with me.” He said. You stopped working on disinfecting his leg, putting the cotton ball down and turning to look at him. “What?” He smiled, his teeth making him look like a bunny. “Have lunch with me,” he repeated. “Why?” You asked, looking at right him, searching for any sort of sign that would tell you that he was joking. “Because, I want to spend more time with you and you’re only ever in here for 30 minutes max when you come to put new bandages on all the gunshots and burns,” Jungkook said, his smile never leaving his face. His answer caught you off guard and your eyebrows furrowed as you spoke again. “But why do you want to spend more time with me?” He answered bluntly. “I want to get to know you better and I think that you’re really pretty.”
Jungkook’s sudden forthrightness caught you off guard. Yesterday, he was blushing when Jin asked if you were the nurse he kept talking about, yet today he was suddenly really flirty. At least, you believed it was flirting and deep down inside, you hoped that it was.
After a few seconds of silence on your part, you finally replied, talking slowly. “I don’t think that’s a really good idea.” Jungkook’s face fell for a few seconds, before he suddenly pulled it back into his smile and said, “Why isn’t it a good idea? There’s no rule that says you can’t eat lunch with the soldiers is there?” “No, there’s not,” You said, pausing slightly to pick up a new cotton ball and resume tending to all the injuries on his body. “But you’re my patient.” “Well, just think about it as giving me some much needed counseling! I’ve been cooped up in this room for the past few days and I’m starting to get a little stir crazy not doing anything.” His response caused you to give a slight laugh, and he spoke again. “That was really cute. You should really smile more often, it suits your face better.” You felt your face getting red and refused to look up at him as you worked on disinfecting all of the injuries. “Thanks.” “So how ‘bout it? Spend your lunchtime in here with me. I promise I can make you smile more if you just let me.” You gave a slight laugh and took hold of his left hand where a burn mark was creeping onto the back of his palm and began to dab the cotton ball, “Fine. But just this once okay?” He gave you what you were starting to realize was his signature smile and said, “Okay” before tilting his head slightly.
After you finished redressing all of Jungkook’s wounds, you left his room wondering about what your lunch break would bring you. You honestly did not know what to expect if you were being honest with yourself, but you were slightly excited. Lunch couldn’t come soon enough.
It was after you had finished filling out your morning charts and an unbearably long staff meeting that it was finally time for you to begin your second round of visits to each one of your patients. You purposely waited to take your lunch break until you were done with this second round, saving Jungkook for last once again. It would be about two hours before you finally reached his room.
Jungkook seemed almost giddy as you redressed all of his injuries, which you found odd considering that the wounds were still relatively fresh and probably still stung quite a bit every time they were disinfected. He talked animatedly about how excited he was for lunch, so much that you found it quite adorable. It was only when you began to prepare to leave the room, his face suddenly became crestfallen.
“I thought we were having lunch together?” He asked, his giddiness suddenly gone. His reaction caused you to smile a genuine smile, one that you hadn’t done in a long time and you felt your heart swell with happiness. “We are. I have to go get my lunch now from the cafeteria. I’ll be back soon.”
You speed walked back to the nurses’ station, informing your supervising nurse that you would now be taking your late lunch. Walking to the cafeteria, you could see the soldier assigned to mail duty passing you by once again. He smiled at you, letting you know that there were two letters waiting for you in your box and you thanked him. After picking up your lunch, you dropped by the office to see who had sent you the letter. When you saw Namjoon and Jimin’s name on the envelopes, your mood immediately perked up even more at seeing that they had finally written to you. You made a mental note to yourself to pick them up once you were done with your shift and walked back to Jungkook’s room with your lunch tray. His food lay untouched as he waited for you to return. It was only when you began to eat beside him that he finally ate as well.
“You seem happier than you did before you went to get lunch,” Jungkook remarked. This caused you to give a slight pause. Just how easy were you to read? “Oh yes, actually, I am,” You said. “That must have been one exciting walk to the cafeteria,” he joked. You laughed slightly, embarrassed at how easily he was able to pick up on your mood change. “I received mail from some very important people to me today. I haven’t heard from them in a while so I’m actually kind of glad that I finally received letters from them. It’s probably because my birthday just passed but still, it’s the thought that counts.” “Your birthday just passed? When was it?” Jungkook asked, his eyes going wide. You nodded before answering him. “It was just a few days ago, about a week. Actually, it was the day that you were brought in.” His eyes went even wider as your response registered in his brain. After a second or two, he said, “Well, happy belated birthday – though I do feel honored that you chose to spend it with an unconscious me.” You laughed at his joke, before Jungkook spoke once again. “Also, important people? Is one of them your boyfriend?” You vehemently shook your head, “No they’re not. They’re my friends. I’ve known them since high school. They’re all currently enlisted but in different areas.” Jungkook’s face immediately lit up, showing that bunny smile that you were beginning to grow so fond of. “So you’re single then?” Laughing once again, you responded, “Yes. Yes I am.”
The lunch ended on a high note, so much that you were reluctant to leave his room when your lunch break was over. Even after reading Namjoon and Jimin’s letters wishing you a happy birthday in your room before you went to sleep, the lunch was still the highlight of your day. Without even trying that hard, Jungkook had convinced you to spend your lunch break tomorrow with him as well before you left his room that day and what had started out as something that you claimed would only be once, turned into a near-daily occurrence for the two of you. Jungkook was suddenly extremely flirty the next day during lunch, spouting cheesy pick-up lines any chance he got and causing you to laugh loudly. Every single lunch afterwards, he would pull out another move on you, making you smile in the process. You never took it seriously, believing that Jungkook’s flirtiness was just part of his personality – a stark contrast to the first few days that you knew him. Every once in a while, Jin would join the two of you for lunch as well, first updating the two of you on what was occurring on the fronts and then goofing off as well.
It was refreshing for you, giving you a breath of fresh air from what the atmosphere at the hospital was always like. The war seemed to almost drain the life and vitality from the people serving, both in combat and behind the lines, but in the small, northwest corner room of the makeshift hospital, it was as if life was suddenly brighter and a war had not been raging outside.
After a month, Jungkook’s burn injuries and gunshot wounds were almost healed to the level where he could be put to battle once again. He remained at the hospital, but was now free to walk around the wing and the courtyard to regain his strength. You knew that your lunches with him would be coming to end soon, a thought that you banished from your mind whenever it began to creep up. Another thing that you would banish from your mind were your own creeping feelings that had begun to blossom. Something that you had to constantly remind yourself to ignore, but became more and more difficult to do with each passing day.
You also learned a lot more about Jungkook. He was extremely competitive, telling you stories about his and Jin’s constant debates with each other and from their childhoods. He also told you about the scar on his cheek and how he received it when he and Jin were fighting over trying to reach the computer when they were both little.  Whenever Jin would join the two of you, you would witness their banter first hand, seeing how the younger would rebel against the older of the two. He told you about the many sports he had joined, being the best player in almost all of them as well.  You also learned about the passion that Jungkook had, throwing himself deeply and completely into whatever it is that he wanted to do. He told you that while in school he had begun to learn to dance and was recognized by his classmates as the best dancer. He also loved to sing, something that you had yet to experience listening to for yourself. You could see that underneath this confident façade he often had on, he was quite bashful about some things as well, like his singing, and you began to learn to tell when he would try to cover something up. He made it seem like his only weak spot was actual school, or more specifically, math. He explained to you that learning about history and math never really grabbed his attention and he was glad to be rid of them once he graduated, only to be drafted into the military shortly after.
When Jungkook was finally allowed to leave his bed, your lunches together began occurring outside at some picnic tables in the courtyard that were usually empty after your second set of rounds. It was on one of these days, that you two were sitting outside, laughing about a story you told about a time when Namjoon had broken Yoongi’s television in one swift move, staying true to the “god of destruction” nickname your friends had awarded him.
When you two had stopped laughing, there was a peaceful silence that had fallen over the two of you. Jungkook had been sitting next to you on the bench, his back leaning against the table and his legs stretched outward as he stared up at the sky. You had been facing the table, where your food tray sat, half-eaten. Your body had been turned to face Jungkook, your food forgotten as you stared at his profile, admiring his beauty one again. It was almost ethereal, being able to see someone with the looks that Jungkook possessed sitting less than a foot away. You wondered how any one person could ever brush past him without stopping and admiring his beautiful face. You almost couldn’t believe yourself how lucky you were to be sitting beside him. After what seemed like a long pause of comfortable silence, Jungkook turned to you, his large, brown eyes locking with yours.
“What are you doing? Admiring my beauty?” Jungkook asked, smiling as he looked at you. You didn’t laugh this time, entranced by the way his eyes looked at you. Before you even realized, you responded honestly, “Actually yes I am.”
Jungkook seemed to almost freeze at your response, his smile disappearing from his face causing you to snap out of whatever trance you were under. You began to stutter, looking down and attempting to come up with any excuse for your answer when Jungkook spoke again.
“Go out with me.” He suddenly said, before you could formulate an explanation, his face remaining completely serious. You almost thought it was a joke at first, until you looked back into his eyes and saw an intensity lurking within them. When Jungkook realized that you weren’t going to respond, he spoke again. “I’m serious. Go out with me.”
There was another silence on your part. You weren’t sure what it was, but at that moment Taehyung’s face suddenly came to your mind. You remembered his childlike smile and his laugh and how those were the things that seemed to almost give meaning to your otherwise plain life before this war started. You felt as if you said yes to Jungkook’s request, it would suddenly negate everything that you had ever felt for Taehyung. It was as if by accepting Jungkook, you were betraying your love for your childhood friend.
You didn’t notice when you had begun to cry, but suddenly Jungkook’s arms were around you, holding you as tears streamed down your face. Your chest hurt as you remembered Taehyung and your favorite memories together. Images of his box smile became intertwined with Jungkook’s voice and it all suddenly became too overwhelming to bear, especially as you realized that Jungkook’s arms were holding you in a tight embrace.
You quickly pushed Jungkook’s arms away, pushing him to the edge of the bench as your tears continued to fall and Jungkook stared at you with surprise. You stood up and stared at the ground below your feet, refusing to look at the confused boy sitting in front of you.
“I…I…I’m sorry. I can’t do this,” You said, and turned to run inside.
As you ran to the workstation, your supervisor took notice of your state and immediately grew concerned. You saw Rachel and the other nurses at the station look at you with worry as you attempted to wipe the freefalling tears from your face. You somehow managed to ask yourself to be excused from the rest of your shift with Rachel volunteering to take over the rest of your duties for the day just before turning back around once only to see Jungkook walking down the hallway, his face laced with concern as he watched the occurrence, and you turned in the other direction and ran to your room.
You felt ridiculous, your face red and swollen as all your pent up feelings from Taehyung’s disappearance over a year and a half ago came to the surface once again. Jungkook had simply asked you on a date, yet it felt like that request meant that Taehyung’s entire memory would be gone. You knew that it was impossible for something like that to actually happen, yet it still felt that way. Your burgeoning feelings for Jungkook felt to you as if they were invaders, sent to eliminate any and all love that you ever felt for Taehyung. It was as if you owed it to him, that boy with the tanned skin and a grin that lit up an entire room, to remember all of those feelings that you held, and still continued to hold for him. The feelings you held for Taehyung and the feelings that you held for Jungkook had to be mutually exclusive. You couldn’t see for yourself how one could function with the other present.
When it was time for dinner, you didn’t leave your room, resulting in a late-evening visit from Rachel as she brought you a tray of food from the cafeteria. She didn’t ask you any questions, though you could tell she was worried about you and wondered what had caused you to feel so much agony. She had known about your daily lunches with Jungkook, in fact, she was always delighted to hear about how each meal went. You were sure that the thought that Jungkook had been the cause of your tears had crossed through her mind at least once since you came back from your break that afternoon.
“If that boy is the reason you’re a mess I will go to his room and wring his neck,” Rachel told you, making you smile slightly at the image that had popped into your mind.
Had it really been Jungkook to have caused you so much pain? You knew it was unfair to cast all the blame onto him. If anything, he had become one of the brightest parts of your days. When there were no new letters from any of the boys, he was the brightest part of your day. You asked Rachel to inform your supervisor that you didn’t feel well enough to come into your shift the next day and she obliged without a single question asked.
The next day, after you were sure that everyone had left the cafeteria in the morning, you carefully stepped out of your room. Your eyes were red and swollen from crying the whole night, your hair a mess from the lack of sleep that you experienced as a result of all the feelings you held. You picked up a tray of food and quickly walked back to your room, successfully evading everyone. Once you were inside of your room once again, you placed the tray that held a depressing meal on your desk and sat down at the chair.
Taking a bite from the apple, you pulled out a couple blank papers from your drawer and began to write a letter to the one person who you felt you could count on to tell you what you needed to hear and who you could freely express all of your thoughts to.
Dear Jimin,
I hope you’ve been doing okay. I hear the battles have been picking up pace lately and I’ve been kind of worried about you and the rest of the boys. Please promise me you’ll be safe. I know you probably haven’t received my last letter to you since I only wrote it a few days ago but I just don’t know who else I can talk to, or in this case write to.
I’ve told you about him in another letter, but just in passing. His name is Jungkook and he was one of the soldiers that I’ve been caring for here at the hospital. He was brought in on my birthday and I’ve basically seen him every single day since. We started having lunch together and…oh Jimin, it was so nice to finally laugh again. I haven’t laughed or smiled like that since before all of you enlisted. Since before Tae…disappeared.
He’s made me smile so much since then, and he’s listened to all of my stories about all of you. I haven’t told him about Tae. I don’t know how I ever could. How do you summarize everything about him into a conversation? But Jungkook, he asked me to go out with him, and it just felt so strange for me. It felt like if I let myself develop feelings for someone other than Taehyung, his memory would just fade as well as all the feelings I have. The feelings for Taehyung were one of the only things that has kept me going for so long, how do you suddenly just throw them away for something new?
I hope you’ve been well. Thank you for everything that you’ve done for me and for reading this rant. I miss you.
Y/N
The next morning, you finally recovered enough of your emotional stability to manage to bring yourself to work but before you showed up for your shift, you ran down to the tent where the mail room had been designated. One of the soldiers, with whom you had developed a nice acquaintance with due to all your visits to the mail center, greeted you and took your letter addressed to Jimin. After having a brief conversation about the war, you returned back to the hospital and sat down next to Rachel for the early morning debriefing.
She gave you a small smile and put a hand down on your knee, giving it a slight rub as if to welcome you back after the emotional outburst. She never did end up asking any questions, though you could see the wonder and worry etched on her face.
Once the morning meeting was adjourned, you walked with Rachel to the nurses’ station to grab the charts for each one of your patients. Your face immediately scrunched up in confusion as you noticed that the pile of charts was significantly smaller than it was two days ago.
Rachel noticed your confusion and began to explain, “Yesterday a general came down out of the blue with one of the doctors and they went around examining everyone to determine who would be discharged. They gave us no warning and we ended up being so busy processing all of the discharges!” “Why would they do that? Half of my patients are gone,” You answered, judging just from the smaller stack in front of you. “It’s not just yours. Half of everyone’s are gone! The general was demanding for any soldiers who could walk to be discharged from the hospital even if they weren’t fully healed yet. You should have seen the faces of some of them when they heard they were going back to the barracks. Poor things,” she answered, her voice laced with sympathy.
Her explanation set off an alarm in your head. Jungkook had been able to walk since a couple weeks prior and you immediately thought of whether he had been discharged as well. With a few more pleasantries, the two of you each headed to your respective wings and began your rounds.  You refused to look through the charts to figure out if Jungkook was still at the hospital or not, but as you worked your way through each chart, your heart slowly began to drop.
You were at the room two doors away from Jungkook’s room when you reached the last chart, seeing the name for the soldier in the room beside his. There was a pain that shot through your heart as you thought of how your last encounter with him ended. You mindlessly treated the last soldier that managed to escape the checkups and stopped at Jungkook’s door as if something was willing you to go in. Taking in a deep breath, you walked inside only to see that it had already been cleaned by someone, with any semblance of Jungkook gone.
You didn’t cry, but you felt the tears beginning to form as you pictured the smile he always greeted you with whenever you entered. Part of you wondered if you would ever see Jungkook again, and you hoped that you would eventually. Filled with regret, you left the room and walked back to the station, reminding yourself that if it was meant to be, it would have happened. It might have been your fault, and although you had been full of regret over how you handled the situation, another side of you was relieved as you remembered your previous emotional outburst.
About a month had passed by since you had last seen Jungkook when you received a letter from Jimin. You thought back to the day when you had written the last letter to Jimin and wondered what kind of response he could have written to that. The war had picked up pace in some places, while in others – such as the location where the hospital had been set up – it had slowed down. In fact, most of the soldiers, the lucky ones at least, when on-duty had been spending their time practicing drills and even had the luxury of getting a day off every two weeks and being allowed to go into the nearby city for some entertainment. You were grateful for the change of pace, seeing how the newfound leisure time of the soldiers had begun to boost up their morale in the seemingly endless war. Even the hospital had seen a reduction in patients and severe injuries.
At the end of your shift one day, you went to dinner with Rachel and some of the other nurses, as they talked about how some of the soldiers had asked them out now that they had some free time. You stayed relatively quiet throughout the conversation, remembering your unintended, yet disastrous, refusal of Jungkook. They still had no idea what was the real cause of your sudden emotional outburst. You had told no one except for Rachel who seemed relieved when you finally told her the real reason.
Once you were back at your room, you finally sat down on your bed and carefully sliced open the envelope containing Jimin’s letter with a letter opener. You pulled out the letter only to see that it contained multiple pages all written in his handwriting. Unfolding it, you began to read.
Dear Y/N,
The war has started to pick up pace over here. We’re being sent out on more scouting missions and more missions to bomb the enemy now. Don’t worry about me. I’m one of the best fighter pilots in my squadron so you really have nothing to worry about. I’ll make sure I come back alive.
As to the whole Jungkook situation, although I am concerned that I’ve never met this guy, Y/N, you deserve to be happy. I know starting a relationship right here, right now probably isn’t the greatest idea you’ve ever had, but you spent your entire life loving Taehyung which I still find amazing. Don’t think that by letting yourself have feelings for this guy that your feelings for Tae will just suddenly disappear. Feelings don’t work that way. If they did, you would not have loved Tae for as long as you did and you definitely would not have volunteered to come to the war.
I’m happy that someone has made you smile and laugh. I’m happy that someone has made you happy. The only thing that concerns me about Jungkook is that, again, I haven’t met him. I need to screen all potential suitors for you and make sure that they are ready to take on the challenge of dating a girl with four very protective brothers.
Don’t think of it as betraying Taehyung or forgetting about Taehyung. I know you’ve had the hardest time dealing since he passed, but you and I both know that he would not want you to become a spinster and make your life into a shrine to him. By letting yourself fall for Jungkook, you are not throwing away your feelings for Taehyung, it’s more like, you’re opening yourself to new experiences. I do think that you should tell this guy about Taehyung though, if you haven’t yet. Maybe not right at the beginning, but you will need to explain to him why you’re so hesitant. It’s not fair to keep him in the dark about something that basically was your life for so long.
I hope nothing’s changed between the two of you and if it has, hopefully for the better. Honestly, just grow a pair. The damn mail takes such a long time to arrive. Hopefully you don’t read this when it’s too late.
Take care of yourself,
JM
You stared up at the ceiling, wishing that you had this sooner. Everything that Jimin wrote made complete sense to you and you knew it was the truth all along, you were just too afraid to admit to it. You laughed in disbelief, wondering how it is that you came to be in this situation.
The rest of the week passed by in a blur and before you even noticed, it was the day before your own day off. After reading Jimin’s letter, you had been in a daze, just going through the motions of everyday life. Your mind was too preoccupied with thoughts of Jungkook and Taehyung to fully register the occurrences around you.
You were seated at the nurses’ station by yourself while everyone else went to get their lunch. At least one of you was always required to be seated at the station during lunch in case a nurse was needed. On this day, it happened to be your turn.
It was a quiet day at the hospital. You had been flipping through a magazine that Rachel had lent you, reading about the latest trends in the fashion world being referred to as “military chic.” You felt it ridiculous, looking at all the stylish suits for women in dark green and navy colors, drawing heavy inspiration from the uniforms of all the decorated officers. How could any of them really know what was going on at the battlefronts from the comfort of their homes? Turning the war into another fashion trend only made you irritated as you thought of all the sacrifices that the soldiers had made.
You felt the presence of someone standing in front of the nurses’ station, but kept flipping through the magazine, assuming that they were taking a second to gather their bearings and figure out in which direction to turn as most of the hospital visitors did. However, this person did not leave. Instead, they cleared their throat and you were compelled to look up to see what they wanted.
What you saw were two large brown eyes look back at you, along with a familiar smile that you had not seen in a long time, causing you to freeze, your mouth open in shock as your mind processed the sight in front of you.
Jungkook gave a small laugh, sending shivers down your spine and began to speak, “Did you miss me?”
You could hardly believe that Jungkook was in front of you. His hair had been growing out at the hospital but now that he was standing in front of you, it was noticeable that it had been cut short once again. He also looked noticeably different in his uniform and his frame looked larger, almost as it had when he was brought in. Yet, the one thing that remained the same was the bunny-like smile that he always had on his face.
Sensing that you were too surprised to respond, Jungkook spoke once again, “Did you?” He asked, clearly expecting an answer as he gave you a pointed look. Once you finally managed to pick your jaw up from the floor, you replied. “It’s been a while since I saw you.” You said, attempting to keep your cool as your heart began to beat furiously in your chest. You could see a flash of disappointment run across his face at your answer, but his smile almost immediately covered it. “The people who were discharged were forced to do an insane amount of drills. We thought they were sending us to the battle zones! Jin managed to pull some strings and use the small leverage he had to convince the generals to finally give us a day off like the rest of the soldiers here.” You eyes opened wide. “Really?” you asked. “The Generals must have been in a good mood the day Jin decided to approach them,” Jungkook spoke, his eyes never leaving your face. “They decided to give us two days off. Probably felt bad for all the drills they made us do.” You smiled, wondering why Jungkook was acting like if the last time you saw each other you had run off crying. “Sounds like you owe Jin a lot.” He nodded, and giving a slight chuckle he said, “Yes I do. He’s going to hold this over my head for the rest of my life.” You laughed, “Besides the hell training, how have you been?” “I’m alright. I had a lot on my mind.” Jungkook said, looking at you. Your face fell and you could feel the blood begin to rush to your cheeks. “But right now I’m honestly just glad to see you.”
You could feel yourself freeze, afraid to look back up to see the expression that would be on Jungkook’s face. It only took a few seconds for him to realize that you weren’t going to say anything, so he spoke again.
“I know that there’s something you’re not telling me. I’ve known it since the first day that I was conscious enough to register you in my mind,” Jungkook spoke slowly. You looked up at him, seeing an earnest expression, but still seeing the caution as he thought about the words he was saying. “But I really think that you should give us a try. You have to admit that we are actually really good together. Our daily lunches before I was discharged from the hospital are proof of that.”
You continued to look at him, the surprise in your face evident.
“You’re not very good at hiding your emotions, Y/N. Even when you were laughing, I always sensed that there was a sadness about you,” Jungkook explained. “And I mean, we’re in war. You mentioned you had friends enlisted. It’s more rare to find someone without some emotional baggage.” You couldn’t take your eyes off of his face, it was as if you were trapped in his gaze, when you finally spoke. “You don’t seem to have any.” “I do too, but it’s not written on my sleeve as it is with you.” He answered. “I like you Y/N and I know you like me too. You wouldn’t have spent all that time with me if you didn’t. I don’t know what it is that’s making you say no but I know that you’ll tell me in your own time. All I’m asking is for you to just please just give us – this – a chance,” Jungkook said, rambling as he looked at you, a fierce determination in his eyes. “I know you won’t regret it.“
You couldn’t stop looking at him, barely registering what he was saying as he spoke to you. You could hardly believe that this was the same boy that would spout those cheesy pickup lines on a daily basis just to get you to smile. You knew that his rant was him placing his pride aside in order to stage an attempt to get to you. You admired the way that Jungkook went after what he wanted, in every single way. He was mid-rant when you answered in a soft voice.
“Okay.”
At first you thought that he didn’t hear you, as he continued to speak with the same fiery passion that his voice had taken on.  “-and I really think that you would be able to have- wait…what?” His face immediately changed from one of determination to one of confusion and a bit of wishful thinking.
You let out a small laugh, finding his expression adorable. “I said yes.” Jungkook’s face changed once again, this time a large smile dominating it. “Really?” “You were right. About everything. So yes,” you said, a shy smile on your own face. His face still had the large smile as he spoke again, “So then when are you free? Please say tomorrow because it’s my last free day and I don’t know when they’ll give us another.” You laughed again. “Tomorrow happens to be my free day too.” “Great! Be ready in the morning then! 11 o’clock, I’ll wait for you in front of the hospital!” You nodded, “Okay.”
He smiled at you in response and left and your eyes instinctively followed him as he turned the corner, only finding yourself making eye contact with the rest of the nurses who had been watching since who-knows-when with giddy excitement.
They immediately rushed over to you the second that they were sure that Jungkook was out of hearing range, immediately demanding details as to how the relationship between the two of you developed.
“This was why you always ate lunch later than everyone else wasn’t it?” One of them asked. “This whole time I could have sworn that it would be Johnny to ask you out.” Another remarked. “He’s got such a big crush on you.”
You laughed as you tried to deflect every question that they threw at you, but it wasn’t until the supervising doctor came by that everyone finally let up and got back to work. It was only Rachel that looked at you with a smirk that caused the red on your cheeks to deepen further.
The next morning, you woke up unreasonably early. Your heart was pounding loudly inside your chest as you realized that it would be the first time you had gone on a date, ever, with anyone and the fact that this date just happened to be with Jungkook of all people. You didn’t have much clothes with you and barely anything that could be passable for being worthy to use on a date which resulted in you asking Rachel to help you put together an outfit, borrowing a halter, floral-print sundress that she had brought with her and some blue sandals that complemented the detailing of the flowers.
You stared at the dress hung on your door and slowly got up to begin to fix your hair, undecided as to the style that you wanted. It was either that or do your makeup, which you were even less decided about. Your bag of cosmetics that you had brought from home had barely been touched and had begun to gather dust in your drawer and you wondered whether you could even pull off whatever look you decided to go for.
There was scarcely a sound outside, and the sun was shining through the window into your room. You decided that first you would go get yourself breakfast, before returning back to the stress of preparing for your first date ever.
You knew that Jungkook had already seen you with barely any makeup and you were surprised that he still decided that he liked you regardless, but now that it was an actual date, there was a sudden pressure of looking pretty for the date. Jungkook knew you well, too well it seemed, but something about spending time with him in this manner, with this label, caused your nerves to act up.
Once you were back in your room, you started to apply your makeup. Opting to go for a simpler look because of the sundress, you hoped that this look would be fine for whatever it was that Jungkook was planning. After dinner the day before, he had dropped by once again to visit you, only to let you know that he had a plan ready for the two of you and refused to reveal anything else. The anxiety of not knowing what to expect was killing you, and it made you wonder how many dates Jungkook had previously been on. You imagined he was like Taehyung, having a few serious girlfriends but being loved by the whole school. The fact that he was in every sport and managed to still find time to dance and sing made you believe that he must have been insanely popular.
Somehow you finished getting ready, though not really paying attention as you wondered about Jungkook’s life pre-war. You were still lost in your thoughts when you looked at the clock only to see that the clock had struck 11 ten minutes ago. You jumped up, knocking over a bottle of water that you had on your desk and ran around your room as you searched for your bag. Finding it hanging on the doorknob, you ruffled your hair once more and straightened out the dress before running out of your room.
Jungkook was leaning against the passenger side of a black car, one that was not an army vehicle, but instead a convertible, making you surprised. He was looking down at something and was dressed in a white button up shirt that fit him just right, some black jeans, and brown boots and he looked… absolutely incredible. You stopped at the top of the steps that were in front of the entrance to the hospital, laughing in disbelief as you wondered how he managed to get his hands on the car and also to pause and really admire how beautiful Jungkook truly was. He looked up at that moment, and a wide smile came across his face, silently willing you to come down the steps.
When you finally stood in front of him, he pulled the passenger door open for you only saying with a small laugh and a sigh, “I thought you were going to stand me up.” You got inside the car, watching as he half-ran around the front to get to the driver’s side. It was when he had turned the car on and begun to drive that you answered, “Sorry. I got kind of distracted and didn’t notice the time.” You explained, then slightly raised your voice. “But more importantly, how did you get this car?” It was Jungkook’s turn to laugh as if he had been expecting you to ask that question. “Jin befriended someone in town, managed to convince them to let me borrow the car. The guy just has a way with words, or maybe the friend just really likes corny jokes.” “Sounds like Jin alright,” You smiled. “So then, what’s the plan?” He turned to you, smiling mischievously as he answered, “You really think I’m going to tell you? Just wait and see.”
There was a brief lull in the conversation before Jungkook spoke again. “You look really pretty by the way.” You could see his cheeks begin to take on the slightest tint of red, though you could feel your own cheeks begin to burn up. “Thanks. So do you.”
There was another lull, but one that wasn’t uncomfortable in the slightest. Spending time with Jungkook just felt so…right to you, and you hoped that he felt the same. The two of you matched so well together and the friendship that you two had built earlier truly made it all come together. There was also something different about the way that Jungkook was handling himself. His usual confidence seemed less prominent, and he seemed more unsure of himself. Though you had to admit that you would never have been able to tell this if not for the long lunches that the two of you used to have. Though it had been a while since one of those lunches occurred, you knew Jungkook’s usual demeanor better than you knew your own.
You could see the nearby city in the distance slowly getting closer. It had not been damaged by the war and every building still stood, majestic and tall with all of its rustic architecture. Your eyes immediately widened as the car went in, the streets changing from mostly dirt to pavement, and the density of people steadily increasing.
“Have you been here before?” Jungkook asked, noticing your reaction to suddenly being in the city after spending so long in the countryside.
You shook your head, unable to take your eyes off of the scenery outside. You had no idea where Jungkook was taking you to but you didn’t mind if it was just a drive, so that you could finally see a scene that you used to take for granted while you were at home.
It was about twenty minutes and a handful of turns made by Jungkook when he finally parked the car along the sidewalk. He turned off the car and quickly ran around, making sure that he opened the door for you before you even had a chance to unbuckle your seatbelt. He extended his hand out to help you get out, and you looked up at him only to see a bit of shyness hidden in his eyes.
Once you were out of the car, he closed the door behind you and stood beside you. He walked slowly, letting you admire the scenery of the tall buildings and the mix of colors present. It seemed as if this small city had never been touched by the war, as if it was a small oasis in the middle of the destruction.
Jungkook made no attempt to hold your hand, making you feel a bit insecure, slightly doubting what his intentions were but not vocalizing your concerns. You wondered what was going through Jungkook’s mind as he walked silently beside you, his hands in his pockets.
“This way,” Jungkook said when the two of you reached a corner. He gave a left and you followed suit, staring at his broad back. “Will you tell me now where we’re going?” You asked. He turned to you, still giving you the smallest of smiles. “You’ll see in a minute.”
Jungkook was right. Just a minute later, you saw a movie theater appear, its marquee board announcing a movie that you had never heard of.
“Taking me to the movies I see,” You said playfully. Jungkook’s cheeks took on a tinge of red again, and you realized that he was actually pretty shy about this date. Nothing like the confident boy that you had gotten to know over time. “Are you shy?” You asked. Your question caused an immediate answer from Jungkook, as he loudly exclaimed, “No!” His cheeks only getting redder.
It suddenly made sense why he made no moves, and why he had been so quiet since the two of you got out of the car. You couldn’t help but smile as you saw him aggressively deny any shyness. It made you feel relieved as well, to know that you were not the only one who was nervous about the date. You didn’t know what it was. He was just Jungkook, the same person you were tending to just a few weeks ago.
You kept pace with him, reaching the ticket counter at the same time as you leaned against it and watched as he ordered your tickets. His polite smile as he spoke to the theater worker left you mesmerized as you watched him. After paying and taking the tickets from the clerk, he turned to you, a soft smile on his face, and said, “Ready?”
You nodded, standing upright as he turned to the theater doors. It was a small venue, with only one small screening room and done in a very classic style, with ornate walls and columns painted in gold and red colors. Jungkook handed the theater worker at the door your tickets and then turned to you, reaching for your hand as you saw a light shade of red begin to form on his cheeks. He led you to the concession stand, standing beside you but never letting go of your hand, even as he ordered the popcorn and drinks for the two of you. Your heart was beating fast as you looked down at your intertwined fingers. His hand was a bit rough due to all the trainings in the military and his long fingers completely encompassed your own hand, but the way they molded together just felt correct. Everything with Jungkook felt fitting.
You held the big bucket of popcorn while Jungkook carried a cup holder with both of your drinks, not letting go of your hand once as he led you to some seats towards the back. There were a few more couples spread about the theater, but a large distance between everyone. It was only to turn around that Jungkook finally let go of your hand.
“Have you heard of this movie?” Jungkook asked when the two of you had settled into your seats, clasping your hand once more and placing them on the armrest between the two of you. You turned to him, shaking your head. “I haven’t been keeping up with pop culture lately.” “I haven’t either,” Jungkook admitted. “Jin recommended it. I don’t know how he does it to have so much free time on his hands.”
The room suddenly darkened, the only thing illuminated was the screen at the front of the room. The two of you stared at each other in the darkness of the theater for a few more seconds afterwards, until you finally turned your head to the screen when the movie began. As the movie played, it was the last thing on your mind as you were unable to take the focus off of Jungkook beside you. Somewhere throughout the movie, he had begun to draw circles on the inside of your hand and you became hyperaware of everything that he was doing beside you, electricity running throughout your entire body. The popcorn that he had purchased stayed forgotten on your lap, and you began to watch Jungkook out of your periphery. He didn’t show any sort of reaction on his face, his eyes remained focused on the film in front, but his hands continued to draw circles on your palm. You would never have even noticed when the film was over if not for everyone around you beginning to stand up and talk loudly as they walked out of the theater.
You followed Jungkook out of the room, throwing the half-eaten forgotten popcorn into a trashcan by the exit. He led you out of the theater by hand, walking slowly down the street in front of the building.
“Now it’s time for part two,” Jungkook said, turning to you and smiling. “I’m assuming you’re not going to tell me again?” You asked, inching closer to him as the two of you walked. He laughed, “We’re just picking up something first. Part two is outside of the city.” Knowing there wasn’t much more that he would tell you, you decided to change the subject to a question that had been burning in your mind. “Hey, Jungkook?” He responded with a, “Mmm?” And you continued, “Why did you push so hard for this date?” Jungkook turned to you, his large doe eyes almost hypnotizing you and the cute, bunny smile appearing, “Because I like you Y/N.”
You were surprised at his nonchalant confession, wondering how he could shift from being too afraid to hold your hand to suddenly confessing how he felt about you. His mercurial personality was only piquing your interest more.
Jungkook stopped at a small deli tucked between a bookstore and a grocery store. He pulled you inside, finally releasing your hand to motion for you to take a seat at the counter facing the window. You leaned your back against it, watching Jungkook approach the cashier and pull out his wallet once more. The cashier went to a counter, grabbing two ready-made sandwiches and placing them in a bag. Jungkook paid and then turned back around, tilting his head slightly when he saw you. It was one of your favorite habits of his, whenever he would tilt his head, and watching him do that as he looked at you only made you smile.
You got off the stool, and waited for him by the exit. He pushed the door with the hand holding the sandwiches and took ahold of yours once more, his fingers lacing through yours. The two of you walked slowly, knowing that you were headed back to the car. He seemed a lot more relaxed now than he had been when he first picked you up. It was beginning to feel more like one of your lunches that you used to have, except now it was occurring outside of the hospital and the two of you were dressed a lot nicer…and Jungkook was holding your hand.
When you two reached the car, Jungkook began to drive once more in the opposite direction of the hospital as he took you further away. He turned onto a dirt path about five minutes from the outskirts of the city, driving calmly and singing softly to a song you recognized on the radio. You were grateful, to finally be able to hear the singing voice you had heard about as it sent chills down your spine.
“You have a really nice voice,” You pointed out, turning to Jungkook as he stared at the road. “Do I?” Jungkook asked. “Yeah. It’s really soothing, comforting too,” You said. “I’ve always liked music, singing and dancing. It’s a nice release from the world, though I haven’t done it much since coming over here if I’m being honest.” Jungkook sighed, glancing at you briefly as he drove into a wooded area. “I just sing songs that I like. I’m not that great at composing or producing yet, though I would have liked to learn.” “Two of my friends from home like composing and producing. You would probably have liked to meet them,” you answered, thinking of Yoongi and Namjoon. “Maybe when this whole thing is over I will be able to,” Jungkook said with a smirk.
He only drove for a few more minutes before stopping in a shady area. He opened the his door and got out of the car, running around the front to open the door for you. You took hold of the sandwiches he had left in between the two of you and took his hand as he helped you step out.
“Wait a minute,” He instructed after he closed the car door behind you. He walked over to the trunk and opened it, though you were unsure of what he could be looking for. Once he closed it, you saw that he now had two blankets draped over his arm. He walked up to you, taking your hand as he began to lead you off the dirt road and over a trunk.
“Where are you taking me? You’re not planning to murder me are you?” You asked as you looked around at all the greenery sitting in the middle of nowhere. He laughed, “No. Just trust me.”
The two of you walked for twenty minutes, with Jungkook being a complete gentleman and helping you over rocks and tree trunks bigger than you could step over. After what seemed like forever, the trees opened up, revealing a large, green meadow.
“Well? Doesn’t this seem better than a murder?” Jungkook joked, causing you to lightly hit him on the arm.
He led you to a spot in the middle, laying out one of the blankets on the floor and motioning for you to take a seat. You placed the sandwiches on the blanket and took a seat with Jungkook sitting in front of you. He quickly handed one of the sandwiches to you and then took his.
“How did you find this place?” You asked, your eyes scanning the clearing before taking a bite from your food. “It was while we were on a drill. We were just patrolling the forest during a practice run, and we got ambushed by other soldiers pretending to be the enemy. My squad split up and I ran here. I kept on running for a while and found this meadow,” Jungkook explained. “Fell asleep around here and woke up two hours later with the general yelling at me and making me to clean the toilets and showers for three weeks.” You laughed, “Really?” “Yeah! When I was thinking about what we should do today, I just kept thinking about how much I wanted you to see this place,” He said. “It’s nice right?” You nodded in agreement, his bunny smile filling you up with warmth.
The two of you finished your sandwiches fast and then laid down on the blanket beside each other. Jungkook propped himself up on an elbow to look down at you and reached over to take your hand and begin drawing circles on your palm once more. You were turned to him, his fingers’ light touch sending jolts of electricity throughout your body.
“Your hands are soft. I really like them,” Jungkook said, staring at his fingers as they continued to move around your palm. “I noticed,” You answered him in a quiet voice, remembering the way he did the same thing at the movie theater.
Your heart was beating fast and you were barely able to speak. You continued to look at Jungkook’s beautiful face, his large doe eyes flicking up to look at you when you unconsciously placed your hand on the side of his face. Jungkook’s eyes flickered to yours, his face had a serious expression as he looked at you. He stopped tracing your hand, taking hold of your wrist firmly.
It was then that he leaned over and you suddenly felt his lips on yours. It was almost magical, the way his soft lips felt and at first you were too shocked to move. When you finally got used to the sensation of his lips, yours began to move slowly along with his, his tongue begging for you to open your own mouth. You let Jungkook lead, mimicking every one of his moves back to him as fire spread throughout your entire being. It was like a jolt of electricity running throughout your whole body – like if the only two things that existed were the two of you, and the only thing that mattered was his lips on yours. Jungkook slowly deepened the kiss, one of his hands softly cupping the side of your face.
He suddenly pulled away, panting as he looked down at you. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.”
You stayed silent, still not able to believe that this was really happening. This time it was you to reach around his neck and pull him back down to you. You could hardly believe your bold action, knowing that you had only been kissed one more time before, the day that Taehyung enlisted.
Taehyung.
You quickly pulled away, sitting up as Jungkook looked at you with surprise. You heavy breaths began to slow down as you thought of your first kiss, your only kiss before today. Jungkook sat up a few seconds after you, looking at you with concern as he wrapped an arm around you.
“Did we go too fast?” Jungkook asked, leaning over to get a better look at your face, his arm comforting you as you tried to catch your breath. You shook your head, turning to him and feeling your stomach drop as you stared back at his face, now etched with worry. “Sorry, I’m sorry. It was fine, you were fine. It was…more than fine.” You answered with a sigh. “Then what’s wrong?” Jungkook asked softly. You moved, letting Jungkook’s arm fall. You knew it was unfair to Jungkook to keep him in the dark about Taehyung, even Jimin had told you so. If you wanted something, anything, to happen between the two of you, he needed to know.
You took in a deep breath, and turned to look at him. “Do you remember the first day I treated you? Not the day you were brought in, but after.” He nodded. “You were crying.” “I was looking at you...and at that moment, you reminded me so much of my…friend Taehyung,” You explained. Jungkook’s eyes flickered in recognition. You had mentioned him previously in passing, when telling him stories about when you were younger. “I remember that name.” “He died, almost two years ago in the war…At least that’s what we think. The official reason is missing in action,” You explained, watching slowly as Jungkook’s eyes went wide. “We grew up together, I was seven when I met him.” He nodded, fixing his posture. He was ready to listen to whatever it is you were going to say. “So he was really important to you.” Before you could even control yourself, the words began to tumble out. “He was more than important. I’ve loved him all my life, if I’m being totally honest with you.” You paused, Jungkook’s eyes going wider as he bit down on his lip. “When I treated you that first day, all I could think about was whether the two of you had any similarities. Whether there was a girl back home waiting for you to return or whether he had suffered the day it happened like I’m sure you were suffering when you were brought in.” Jungkook’s mouth went into an ‘O’ shape as all the puzzle pieces began to fall into place in his mind. You could almost see the gears working in his brain as you continued to talk. “When you first asked me out, I felt like I was betraying Taehyung and his memory. I had promised myself to love him for the rest of my life and I freaked out at the thought that I may have feelings for you,” You whispered. “That’s explains your reaction that day,” Jungkook said in what you hoped was an understanding tone. “I was scared of what I felt for you, what I feel for you. I was afraid that the second I let myself fall for you, Taehyung would disappear from my mind,” you said. Jungkook nodded, waiting for you to continue. “But the truth is…I probably fell for you a long time ago.”
You saw Jungkook freeze in front of you and you could see him contemplating what you just told him and you sat beside him in silence as he took in your sudden confession.
It felt like an eternity, waiting in the silence of the meadow for Jungkook to speak again. “How do you feel now?” You turned to look at him, concern still evident on his face. You nod, “I’m okay.” Jungkook reaches out to take both of your hands into his hold. “Y/N…I really like you, and if you need this – whatever this is – to go slow, we can do that. We’ll go at your pace.”
You stared at Jungkook in shock, completely surprised that he was being so understanding. He really was too good to be true.
“I’ve never loved someone my whole life, not how you loved your friend or for as long as you loved him,” Jungkook spoke. “But, I really like you. I won’t push you for anything, but please, this is all I’m asking for…don’t push me away.” You looked at him, letting the words sink into your mind. “Do you really mean that?” “Y/N, of course I do. You’re one of the most incredible girls I have ever met, and I met you in the military. I can count the amount of girls I know here on one hand.” “Does that mean you wouldn’t have paid attention to me if there were more girls here?” You asked jokingly, attempting to lighten the mood. “It means that makes me like you a lot more, knowing that you took a plunge – that I’m assuming was done on impulse – most girls won’t take,” he said. “And that makes you even more incredible to me.”
He lifted up one of your hands, bringing it to his lips and placed a feather-light kiss on it.
“Also, I don’t have a girl waiting for me back at home. At least…not that I know of,” Jungkook said, laughing slightly. “Except for my mom, if she counts.” He added, eliciting a laugh from you.
The two of you stayed in the meadow for a while longer, with you resting your head on Jungkook’s chest listening to the beat of his heart and his smooth, velvety voice as he sang softly a song you had never heard. You felt at peace in the meadow, as if nothing could get you down, not even the raging war that was occurring just miles away from where you two lay.
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laladramatik23 · 7 years
Text
Wanda came home
“Once a failure, always a failure..”
I gave Wanda her name about 11 years ago, shortly after I entered college. A mezzo-pessimist by heart, I had ugly perspectives of the path I was expecting to plummet into but I guess, life can be benevolent at times and job opportunities aren’t always elusive. In two months time, I was able to land a very decent job at a private logistics firm.
That was my first job and I guess it wasn't as hard for a neophyte like me in the real, corporate world. Tasks are plain and customary: make check vouchers, prepare billing statements, sort and file documents, answer phone calls and “some other rank-and-filer’s stuff. Typical minimum-wage-earner’s stuff”. Too easy that it becomes pretty mundane after months of rinse and repeat. The kind of life I’m not sure I wanted but I could complain no more.
The job, per se, wasn’t difficult. Dealing with people was.
If you’ve been in an office setup, there’s a chance you know who those “people” are. The icky, nosy colleagues, demanding supervisors, snob HRs, the classic tattletalers and such. They’re probably not the same names but I bet they share these same adjectives?
You halfheartedly disagree, I know. “I feel like this is true but those were at least tolerable.. you can just ignore them. No big deal” You are probably thinking how shallow this is. You chalk it up to “Maybe, you’re just being too sensitive..” Truth is, you’re right. Wanda is right. Because surely, you have a lot of others in your head that are worse. Things that are worth loathing for. People that deserves to be called names and cussed out over on facebook or whatever social network you’re into.
I never said a word about Wanda.
“While she came across as really nice and pragmatic, something about her was..compelling. It’s like unknowingly having a crush on someone who is not strikingly beautiful but..somehow there’s a part of her persona that draws you into her. That anticipation you feel each morning you wake up because you know you will see her and there’s that sensation tingling in the pit of your stomach.”
That was not me. Sorry.
But it's the closest thing I can relate to my feelings whenever Wanda is around.. only it isn’t anticipation - it’s likely dread. And it isn’t infatuation, either.
It's hate. Pure, deep, hatred.
Jen and I had a mutual understanding. “Or, so you thought”. I never thought I’m going to like her but I know she likes me well. “Or maybe just your imagination, too” It started with an innocent, harmless tease we both participate in. After all, Jen does look good. An acquired beauty, I called. Someone who is not very pretty at first glance but then you got used to her cool personality and so your judgment flips. Although it never occurred to me that I would be seeing her as more than a friend. She was just alright to me, back then. I guess it’s normal to play-pair two persons especially if of same age and both “unattached”? I don’t exactly know how pairings begin but I think chemistry’s their end game. I suppose, we had it. “Or maybe just your stupid, STUPID, STUPID assumption, again”
Going back, I think it was entertaining. Initially, it was fun.. until it went too far. Far that it started poking something within. It happened so slowly I hadn’t noticed when my face started burning when she smiles. Or my heart skipping a beat when I hear cheesy songs and she happened to pass by. Or thought how beautiful her eyes were when she’s talking to me and suddenly wonder why I hadn’t notice those little things before. Or that one time she sang Norah Jones while intensely looking at me, melting and getting a hard on at the same time. The joke went too far I didn’t realize the idle time I spent stalking her news feed or checking if she’s online. Or that pang of bitterness I taste whenever I see her having fun talking to the new HR guy. The joke went too deep I didn’t realize I already fell.
Fell hard. So hard I wasn’t able to get up from the shock bed she’d laid me upon when the news broke that she’s pregnant.
I felt more than betrayed. The pain was indescribable I hadn’t slept for nights. When you’re that young and naive as I was, you thought that there is nothing as intricately painful than a heartbreak. Bittersweet.
But hey. Our loveteam is just for fun so no one from the office noticed how miserable I was for months. Even the ones who started this “pretty little game of hearts”. No one told me “Sorry, we gave you high hopes. Please be strong and move on”. No one knew saved for one.
Wanda was there. But not to pick me up. She was there to mock me. To emasculate me. Her presence insinuated me of my weakness and all my failures in life. 
“Why are your parents like this? They could have sent you in a public school but still forced you on private. Look at you! You will not make it”
When I didn’t graduate in time because of financial constraints, she was there telling me to just drop it and run away.
“You are so dense! You are not like this. You don’t waste your tears crying over some undeserving bitch. You are not like this!” her consoling words once.
She may act like a doting mother, or a trusty confidante, but her intentions speak, otherwise.
“But sometimes, she’s right. No, she’s always right.”
This is why I hate her so much.
Wanda was someone you know but you can't trust. Like a taboo. Dangerous but sweet. She’s that Poison Ivy. But you need her, anyway. I don’t know if you understand but somehow, her presence gave me that friendly comfort my soul needed so badly, in spite of my flaws. Despite every fear that feeds on me. When the world feels like falling apart, she’s the one who never left, falling with me. 
After a year of despair, I mustered the courage to get up and resigned. I moved to another job - struggling to bring myself up, I chose to brave the world of uncertainty. Hoping to find myself some peace and a restart, I took an offer.
Maybe to push Wanda out..
Maybe..
Now, a year later, it dawned on you that a mistake was made. What you thought as a fresh start, turns out to be your newfound nightmare. You’re suddenly stuck in a den of regrets, waking up, dragging your body to one of your greatest missteps. You’re considering taking a step backwards but your pride won’t let you. You’ll move forward but you’re scared on what’s waiting for you. Could it get worse than this? You don’t know, for sure and now you don’t like to gamble.
You know why. I told you, didn’t I?
Once a failure, always a failure..
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