the bell on top of the door of the restaurant rings, indicating that a customer has walked in. jiseo's attention immediately turns towards the figure walking in. when she sees who it is, she can't help but feel a bit nervous. the tall figure walks towards her in his navy uniform that carried an aura that was filled with intimidation. namjoon has a slight frown on his face, the ends of his lips curve south, jiseo wonders what's bothering him.

"hey namj—"

"are you and kook okay?" he immediately asks and jiseo's eyes widen in surprise. how did he know? did jungkook tell him about it? she feels a lump forming in her throat, uneasiness crawling onto her nerves. just by hearing his name, she's reminded of the previous horrific night. a night filled with chaos, catastrophe and fear. namjoon stands at the other side of the counter, waiting for a relevant and reasonable answer.

"a simple hello or good evening would've been nice," the female says, trying to change the topic. the frown on namjoon's face, however, deepens.

"jungkook came to me yesterday."

jiseo huffs, she doesn't want to talk about it. "so?"

"jiseo, we need to talk," namjoon says, his voice turning more soft, "i— are you free right now? can we go outside and talk? it won't take long."

she wants to say no. "... okay." she steps out of the counter and makes a gesture for namjoon to follow her to the back door. she gives a glance at her boss, who just gives her a confused expression, she hopes she doesn't get in trouble.

"he called me yesterday. he sounded really frustrated, asked me if i wanted to drink with him," namjoon begins once he took the first step outside of the building. "he.. doesn't really drink. "

jiseo just nods as a sign that she's listening, even though she just wants the ground to swallow here right there. this place, the back of the restaurant she works at, reminds her of him. she remembers how he was wearing a black hoodie accompanied by a jacket, typing something on his phone. vulnerable and almost helpless, bruises and wounds, pain that he tried to hide behind the facade he put up. fuck, she curses. i miss him but i'm so fucking scared of him.

"—i mean, he can't get drunk and stay offguard, he has people who wants his head. so when he suddenly called me up for a drink, i was really surprised, shocked even. he— he sounded really sad too?" it comes out more as a question, the tone in his voice which sounds like he is unsure and puzzled. namjoon looks away, and jiseo feels the aura surrounding him fill with nothing but the color blue.

"when i reached his apartment, he was already a few bottles in. i asked him about it and he told me it was you, jiseo. but— he wouldn't elaborate about what happened between you two. he just kept saying he was really sorry about it."

jiseo thinks about how she never knew about jungkook's apparent apartment. i know nothing about him, why was i so head over heels for him? yoongi was right, she barely knows him. she doesn't know anything at all. she doesn't know what to think. there was a time where she thought about how lovely jungkook was, how beautiful he looked under the light of the moon sitting in the midst of the dim night sky, how he could make her feel giddy and tingly inside with just his plain presence.

now, at this point, she doesn't know what to think. perhaps she was unaware of the calamity hidden behind the boy with large pretty mesmerizing brown eyes and black hair that still looked stunning even if it was disheveled by the wind. perhaps she was too blinded by the smiles and giggles and laughs and all those sweet gestures that were able to drive her almost mad. when she looks at him now, the first thing she thinks of is fear, and she really hates herself for that. all she wants to do is look past all of this and run back to jungkook with a big smile, just like before, naive and ignorant. yet, she can't because fear is like knife in the gut that twists and churns.

namjoon speaks again, which snaps jiseo out of her thoughts, "i think he messaged you? i saw your name on his phone."

shit my phone is with yoongi. "he did?"

"you didn't know?"

"i, um, i went to yoongi after the incident"

"ah, yoongi, i remember him."

"yeah, we argued—" jiseo shifts uncomfortably, recalling the events. "—and i left my coat at his home, my phone was in one of the pockets, so yoongi has it, i think."

the male purses his lips, then lets out a tired sigh. it takes a few more seconds before namjoon opens his mouth to respond. "jiseo, you need to listen to me."

he sounds serious, voice hard and stern. "jungkook— he never really had anyone in specific that really cared for him. he got attached to you because you were offering what he barely had and what he desperately wanted."

jiseo's eyebrows furrow, "what do you mean? doesn't he have you?"

"yeah but i don't have the time to hang around him all the time," he states, like it has been obvious the whole time. "i have work and all. things to do here and there. i know you have college classes but jungkook only comes out during the night, so i'm guessing you guys spent a lot of time with each other."

she nods, "mhm, i don't have night classes."

"yeah," the police officer replies. "he may look tough on the outside but remember, he's broken. he has problems and he's not okay. i— i just want the best for him but he's done so many bad things i don't know if he actually deserves to have a good life."

"you can just arrest him if you want to."

"but you know i can't. i'll feel so fucking guilty about it. i've known him for years, i've seen him at his most vulnerable state. but at the same time, i feel like i'm starting to lose him, the jungkook i know. he's so... different now, even when he's being genuine with me, it still feels like this isn't who i was friends with. it's like the jungkook i know is disintegrating."

"life does things to you. you change to adapt. jungkook's life is pretty fucked up if you ask me."

namjoon can't help but glare, "why are you so bitter? you literally had heart eyes for him when i talked to you about him last time."

"well—" she raises her voice. "i was naive, fucking stupid. like i said, we change to adapt. i've realized some things and i just— i don't think i can do it anymore, namjoon. i want a fresh start, a new start. a start where i haven't met him because his presence only fucked up my life."

"no, you can't just leave and just— pretend like you've never met him. it doesn't work like that, even if he's done something wrong. you can't just leave him like that, after all you two have gone through. you're important to him."

"yes i can, watch me!" namjoon dislikes how jiseo has a determined tone in her voice.

"he loves you."

her stern posture and the anger on the female's face falters. "no," she hurriedly denies. "he doesn't. love doesn't just— come so easily. love's complicated, it's not something that can happen in such a short time."

"it's— infatuation, most likely. you said it already, namjoon. he hasn't had someone who cared for him in a long time," she continues.

"jiseo, you can't jus—"

"i said, fucking watch me," she scowls.

—

that night, she twists and turns in her bed, unable to sleep. she sighs heavily, staring at the ceiling of her room. she wonders. she wonders how yoongi is doing. is he okay? is he still mad? surely they would talk again, right? jiseo makes the decision to go apologize, they both yelled at each other. yoongi doesn't stay mad for long, so she prays she can be forgiven. and what about namjoon? is he still worried? is he still thinking about ways to tell jiseo how important she is to jungkook? ah, jungkook. jungkook, jungkook, jungkook. he is an absolute mess, inside and out. he's like a tsunami that causes a disaster to everything near it, a beautiful yet horrifiying disaster.

jiseo closes her eyes, trying to stop fucking thinking about jungkook because she's not supposed to. however, a ring that blares and pierces through the silence makes her jolt. the rings don't stop and jiseo groans in distress. she gets out of bed to find the source of the sound, legs a bit unbalanced but she still manages. it's when she's halfway there that she realizes it's a phone, the telephone, the one sitting on the table. her landline phone, or home phone, whatever you call it, but the point is, jiseo barely even uses it. she looks at the clock hanging on the wall, ticking and ticking like a mantra. who the hell would call her at 3am? and with that phone? but then again, she doesn't have her mobile phone at the moment.

nonetheless, she picks it up, grimacing as she holds it to her ear. she prays that it's not some kind of creep or advertisement because it's 3am and all she wants to do is sleep.

"hey." she gasps. the voice is deep and a little hoarse. she, of course, recognizes the person who owns it. the voice that she had heard changing from a childish high pitched one to a manly deep one. the voice she had heard since she was an innocent child. she feels guilt swallowing her, god, she missed him. he was like peter pan and she was the wendy that helplessly followed his guidance. and honestly, she is kind of relieved when she realizes he called her.

"yoongi," she calls his name.

"i have something i need to talk to you about." there it is, an unsettling aura around the voice. yet again, it is going to be bad news, jiseo knows it. she can already feel the chaos waiting for her at the end of the road. it's like she's stuck in a time loop where all she does is run and run down a path but all she gets is a dead end.

"it's about jungkook." and all jiseo can do right then is gulp.