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"Be careful while you drop them down the bridge, the edge is very low."

I happily stared at Jungkook and Jia who were giggling together as they tossed the kernels down the wooden bridge where we were standing. The water level was very low and Jungkook was tightly gripping Jia by her shoulders as she merrily tossed the food down for the ducks.

I could sense something familiar within myself. When my dad's schedule wasn't so busy and my mom wasn't diabetic, we would often go out for small trips like this. It all felt like a sweet dream now.

"Unnie, why don't you throw the corn down with us?" Jia asked from the side and I just nodded, my legs aching from standing at the same spot for too long.

"You can do it by yourself baby, I'm fine here." I replied, massaging my shoulders as I rolled my head back, exhausted.

I always think about my mental well-being, but if I think about my physical health, I'm not so fit as well.

"If you don't feel well we can sit down by the bench there." Jungkook worriedly glanced my way and I just shook my head as a no, showing him a thumbs up.

"Alright, the corn is finished. Let's just sit and eat the ice-cream before it melts." Jungkook said and picked up the rest of the food items kept near his legs and started walking off the brigde, his shoes making soft thumping sounds against the wood which was somehow very calming for me.

I carefully followed behind him as he trudged near the shades of the trees, no one else in sight. He sat down on one clean bench, letting out a deep sigh.

"Tired?" I inquired, smiling. I sat down by his left side, and Jia plopped on my lap, taking a cone and unwrapping it.

"A little. But for good reasons this time." He smiled, his eyes turning into small crescents. A little hint of dimples popped up on his cheeks when he pursed his lips afterwards.

Even his dimples are so cute...

"Ah, eat the ice-cream while it's still solid. It won't taste the same if it melts." He unwrapped one cone and handed it to me.

"Jungkook..." I whispered to him as I held the ice-cream firmly in one hand while I wrapped another around Jia's waist.

"Hm?"

"I think... you're so sweet."

His smile disappeared and he froze for a moment, looking at me. I dared myself by staring back at him with nothing but gratitude.

"That was...so sudden." He covered his ears with his hands and looked the other way. I could feel him getting shy from my compliment as I felt heat creeping up my own cheeks.

"No no, I genuinely mean it. You did so much for us today. All the times I met you, you always faced me with a kind smile and heartful thoughts. This is something...very rare I see in people these days."

"I would say the same about you." Jungkook turned to me, crumpling the wrapper in his fist, "you did the same. You took my side, you saved me from them when you knew nothing about me."

"That's because I had heard everything. Well, that's a different case that I'm not brave enough to shout out in public, but that day I was full of rage. Might that be my own frustration or the newfound confidence after seeing you so frail and broken. And no matter how timid I am, I'll always stay on the right side."

"That's what I like the most about you."

"H-Huh?"

"Ah, nothing. Eat the ice-cream." Jungkook chuckled, licking his own ice-cream and I felt the chocolate melting and trickling down my cone, and onto my fingers. I gasped at the coldness.

"Oh, I didn't realise..." I whispered as I struggled while holding Jia by my other arm.

In the meantime, Jungkook quickly took out his handkerchief and started wiping the chocolate off of my fingertips, tapping gently. He took my ice-cream in his own hand as I opened my palm wider and he swiped the cloth over it, the white material slowly turning dirtier as I felt embarrassed yet again.

"I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Jungkook smiled as he folded his handkerchief and kept it back in his pocket, "seems like you can't eat this now."

"W-What?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Look at Jia." He whispered lowly and I looked at the girl in my lap, her head lolling back onto my chest as she softly snored with her mouth open.

"When did she fall asleep?" I blinked, wiping her lips covered in chocolate, "Jia... wake up-"

"Why are you waking her up? Looks like she's in a deep slumber." Jungkook whispered and I sighed.

"I guess... it would be hard for me to eat now. But don't worry, I can do it by myself." I looked at Jungkook and he nodded, carefully giving my cone back.

"She would be tired." Jungkook said as he leaned back onto the bench, admiring Jia's sleeping figure.

"Yeah, she usually sleeps in the afternoon. Mom didn't do the right thing by sending her with me."

"Sleep," Jungkook slurred, taking a deep breath, "haven't heard of this word for so long."

"Why? You don't sleep very much?" I asked, biting on the ice-cream and feeling my teeth chattering.

"Yeah, I can't. Though I try so hard but there are so many things on my mind which don't let me rest. These thoughts keep running around and I end up staying up most of the night, either playing on my phone, singing or staring at the wall."

"You can't sleep because sleep requires peace." I told him, as a matter-of-factly.

"That's right. Being peaceful requires to be calm at first. And I'm calm on the outside, but my insides are all crumpled up."

"What bothers you?" I asked curiously, staring at the veins that popped up on his hands when he enclosed them in a close fist. It made me gulp.

"No one ever asked me about this." He said, laughing lowly as he licked his lips, "I've lately been confused. There's just this pressure to score good in college, the pressure to stay sane while I get just three to four hours of sleep a day. The pressure to collect myself on my own because... I don't want to involve my friends into my own problems while they have their own issues to deal with."

"I really understand everything. It's all about the pressure, in your mind and your heart." I sighed, "the same used to happen with me. Though it still happens, I'm still depressed."

"I don't really understand this word. Depression is something I don't want myself to tag to. But it could be true, because I feel tired and sleepless. Although, I still have the will to try my best. It's the fear for me... the fear of my parents and the world. Because I'm a man, I'll soon have a family that I'll have to feed. I don't have time to feel emotions as I need to focus on my career for now, and then my job and family in the future."

"But isn't it necessary to know yourself as well? If you can't understand yourself then who else can? This is so stupid to me." I puffed my cheeks, taking a deep breath.

"What's stupid?" He chuckled.

"That men don't need to feel emotions. We all are humans and we are given the tendency to cry and show our emotions. It is a person's nature. If one human feels sad or worried about something and wants to open up to someone, then there are other humans whom we call friends or family. They are in charge to make us feel better and worthy, no?"

"What if...they don't understand?"

"If they don't understand," I pursed my lips for a second, "then there could be other people. Therapists? They can help. Someone whom you love and trust, they can help too! My own therapist said so."

"You have a therapist?" Jungkook suddenly asked, turning to me.

"Uh, yeah... it's a secret that I didn't want to tell anyone. But he is so sweet and helpful. Maybe he's the reason why I've gotten much better. Don't you have someone like that in your life? Whom you can trust blindly?"

He took a sharp breath, fiddling with the last part of the ice-cream. "I have so many people. But I just don't want to talk."

"I was the same around a month ago. There was no one I could open up to. Everything in my life seemed to go on the wrong track. I even..." I gulped, "tried to kill myself, just a few days ago before that wedding."

"You... what?" Jungkook stopped chomping and turned to face me and I lowered my head, Jia's hair tickling my jaw.

"I was suicidal. When nothing seemed to get better and life began to seem meaningless, I decided to end myself because I thought no one would care. My parents, they were too busy to focus on me and the change in my behaviour. They thought I was lazy. My teachers yelled at me, classmates bullied me. There was only darkness and no light at the end."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't even tell by looking at you now." Jungkook placed his hand on mine and squeezed it.

"I was very obvious in the beginning. Now I seem to get a little better. Because aunt and Jia have been here, I feel delighted. My mom has slowly started to understand me little by little. I considered myself once again after I fortunately survived, and figured that I was too naïve."

"I could never hurt myself. It's not like I hate myself or my life, but I just feel tired... I have everything and it still feels empty. My friends are always by my side, I sometimes go out to relax but I can't because I feel heavy. The burden is too much for someone who has just stepped into adulthood."

"I know. That's just another way to burden yourself even more. And that's even harder when you don't even know what you're feeling."

"It seems so easy to talk with you, I don't know why," Jungkook licked his bottom lip, "I could never talk about this to my other friends because they too don't know why I'm like this. But you...seem to be somehow similar to me."

"We are similar in so many ways." I giggled, "this world is so strange. Literal strangers can turn out to be your soulmate like they have acknowledged you since previous life."

"And your own parents can't understand you when you've spent your whole life with them." Jungkook added and turned to me.

"I was about to say that!" I closed my eyes and let out a laugh, an actual one.

"See, we're really similar...like soulmates." Jungkook whispered and I stopped laughing, stealing my gaze away from him.

"I-Is that a parrot?" I cleared my throat and stared at the tree in front of our bench.

"It's a macaw." Jungkook said, burying his hands in his jacket's pockets, "they're kind of a colourful species of parrots."

"They're so pretty." I pushed out my bottom lip, admiring the bird that jumped from branch to branch.

"Yeah, but unfortunately, they can't see their own beauty. The same is with people. They don't know how beautiful they are, inside out. Their beauty too is, unexplored. Only the humans around them can identify it, feel it and appreciate it."

I blinked at his words, turning to him. "What do you mean?"

"Whatever you're thinking just now." He answered, staring at me with his expressions dropping into a serious glare.

"No..." I shook my head, "I see beauty in everything but me."

"And that's your biggest flaw."

"How do you know that I..." I trailed off and felt my throat thicken.

"Your eyes, they tell everything. Your insecurities, your weakness, your conscience, it all clearly shows in your actions and emotions."

I gulped, suddenly feeling weird.

Jungkook is a magician.

"Let's not talk about me. I don't like it when I'm the centre of attention or topic. It makes me feel...weird."

"We really are acting like each other's therapists right now, no?" Jungkook smiled, shifting as he slid a little closer to me. "We know too well about each other but we don't know anything about ourselves."

Once again, he's right.

Oh God, out of all the people... why does it have to be him? Why does he go through all this when he's such a pure boy...?

"You know I-" I opened my mouth but Jungkook's phone started ringing. He quickly dug into his pocket as I swiped Jia's hair out of her face.

"Yeah, Taehyung? What happened?" He answered and I just pursed my lips, the silence of the park making me able to hear the caller's voice.

"Jungkookie, you have to come back. Now."

"Now? But what happened? Are you okay?" His muscles suddenly tensed and I felt my heartbeat escalate.

"Just come home now. Your dad..."

"My dad?" He whispered as his knuckles turned white. He clenched his fists too hard that his veins popped out.

"He's here, Jungkook. Please be quick."

"I can't..." Jungkook turned to me, "I have to drop Hana and her sister off, I promised her mom."

"You don't understand Jungkook... he's mad. Just come here."

I felt my legs shaking as Jungkook quickly turned the phone off and turned to me. I looked at him in anticipation, breathing heavily.

"Is everything okay?"

"We need to go right now. I'll drop you off after I see my appa." Jungkook said as he stood up, picking Jia up from my lap and carefully carrying her in his arms. She stirred and placed her head on Jungkook's shoulder, falling asleep again.

"But what happened? Why is your dad here?"

"Maybe to see me? He didn't call me or anything." He said as we walked out of the park in a faster pace. I was feeling worried as well as scared because Jungkook just turned too serious all of a sudden.

We took a taxi and the whole ride was very silent. I turned to Jungkook and he looked expressionless. I wanted to hold his hand or reassure him but I was too bad at it. So I silently prayed for everything to turn out right.

Why is his father here and why is he angry? Did Jungkook do something?

In just ten minutes, we reached at Jungkook's residence and Jia woke up because of the hustle and bustle. I checked the time to see that just fifteen minutes were left before 5, the timing I had to get back home.

But that worry wasn't bigger than this mystery.

I hesitantly followed Jungkook's steps, holding Jia's hand as she just stared around, dumbfounded.

"Jungkook?" A boy peeped out from around the staircase and I stopped near the steps, not wanting to interrupt Jungkook's personal space.

"Taehyung? Are you okay?" Jungkook pressed at his shoulder and he nodded. Just after that, I heard heavy footsteps echoing in the building even before Jungkook could climb up.

A man appeared around, cladded in a luxury tuxedo. I figured it was Jungkook's father. I stepped back, holding my breath.

"A-Appa..."

The sound of the slap that connected to Jungkook's cheek actually echoed in the whole lobby.

A/N

Long chapter, but it's getting a little serious—

Vote for a nice glowup👀