she doesn't tell yoongi. heck, she probably won't ever tell yoongi. the atmosphere of the restaurant is filled with the sounds of customers conversing with each other. jiseo's sitting at the counter, being the cashier is a part time job of hers, sometimes she helps as a waitress, but her main job is being the cashier. it's quite an easy job, the boss of the restaurant surprisingly works as a cook himself in the kitchen as well.

"three more minutes before your job ends," yoongi says as he looks at his watch sitting on his wrist, waiting for the minute hand of the watch to move. it's 9:57pm now, and the restaurant closes at 10pm. yoongi actually came to pick up jiseo, he's laying his arms on the surface of the counter, phone on his right hand but it's turned off.

the boss of the restaurant comes out from the door leading to the back of the kitchen nearby. "hey jiseo, it's closing time, please do help take out the trash before you leave," he says.

"and yoongi, stop blocking the way for the customers," he turns to yoongi but there's no real bite to it, instead there is fondness in his voice.

"stop trying to get rid of me, i come here to eat almost every day," yoongi chuckles. yoongi was actually the person who recommended jiseo to work at this place, said he's good friends with the boss and that she would totally get the job, and well, he wasn't wrong.

"i'll go take out the trash and i'll be right back," jiseo interrupts and yoongi nods in response, then returning to the conversation with the middle-age man.

the breeze blows keenly once she opens the back door. the night gets colder and colder since it is approaching the end of the year. jiseo swiftly throws the trash bag away, sighing as she feels the tiredness running through her whole body. the sky is dark this time, starless and only a silver crescent moon, high in the sky. the moonlight appears to be the only thing giving off light besides illumination emitting from the windows of the building.

she sees a familiar figure step out from the shadows and she can immediately recognized him, how could she not when he has become the uproar of her life? "jungkook," a small smile reach her lips.

"hey, i was just checking up on you," jungkook says, leaning against the wall with chipped off paint. and he looks so god damn soft today, in an oversized dark-colored sweater and some jeans plus his usual black boots. his eyes have the same brown orbs, and his beauty is momentarily covered by the shield of his eyelashes. she also notices how he's holding a face mask in his right hand.

"checking up," she repeats.

"yeah," he pauses for a second, "just.. wanted to see if you're okay."

"you literally saw me yesterday— no, earlier at dawn."

"now why does that matter?" he holds his left arm out, coming closer towards jiseo and taking her wrist. his hands are still bandaged from the wrist to palm. his fingers however are free from the material as he wraps them around jiseo's wrist.

"are we going somewhere?"

"mhm," he hums.

"i— i can't leave right now. i gotta get my stuff and— yoongi's here to pick me up."

this causes jungkook to frown immediately, "but i want you to hang out with you."

jiseo lets out a sigh, and she thinks perhaps maybe just today she'll ditch yoongi, yeah, just today. she'll make it up to him next time. "okay, fine. wait here, i'll go get my stuff," she says and backs away, heading into the restaurant through the back door with quite a quick pace. she kinda hates how she's starting to feel all giddy inside.

"hey yoongi, sorry but i forgot that i already made plans with my friend," she lets the lie easily slip out of her tongue.

"wh— what?" yoongi raises his voice in absolute confusion. "i— c'mon, jiseo, you said you were free. i still have those twenty cups of ramen we were talking about."

"next time," she responds and yoongi furrows his eyebrows in irritation. jiseo then turns her attention to her phone that's sitting on the counter top as the screen lits up, followed by the sound it makes when the message pops out as a notification. her mind flashes back to the moment where jungkook and her exchanged phone numbers during the peak of dawn.

jungkook:
hurry up !! ;D

she doesn't miss how yoongi glances at her phone for a few seconds but she doesn't dwell on it too much.

—

jiseo can't help but think about what namjoon, the police officer has told her the other night. it's nerve wrecking when her mind tends to drift into the thoughts how jungkook was— how jungkook is. she tries to focus on the flickering light emitting from the sparkler. she watches how the hand-held firework burns and effuses an explosion of colors. she lazily waves it around, trying to make the best out of it before the light flickers out. she appreciates how jungkook took the time to buy sparklers as a source of entertainment while they spent their time together.

her dark brown eyes trail towards the boy with two sparklers in each hand as he leisurely moves around— slightly dancing with silliness every so often, waving the glowing sparklers to make patterns out of the particles before they dissolve into the air. jiseo can't help but feel herself starting to smile at how endearing the male looks, but that doesn't make her forget all the words namjoon has previously said.

so the females invites jungkook to sit next to her on the concrete ground. they are actually on top of a building, an abandoned one that jungkook seemingly deems to be safe even though jiseo hesitated to go up the stairs that were dusty and unclean. she can still hear the sound of vehicles and the sound of traffic from the road a few feet below the building. jungkook effortlessly throws away the sparklers that were already worn out, grabbing a new one and reaches for the lighter laying on the ground. he lights it up as he waits for jiseo to speak up.

jiseo turns her gaze away from jungkook to her sparkler, watching it shine in the starless dark night that is only lit up by a crescent moon. "what made you buy these sparklers?" she starts the conversation smoothly, not wanting to dive into a serious topic right away.

"thought maybe you would enjoy them," he answers, voice as sweet as honey and she utterly loves it.

"hm," she hums, throwing away the sparkler she's holding as the light dies.

"you're in college, right? how's it been?" jungkook asks.

"stressing," she admits. "majoring in finance is a pain in the ass. yoongi seems to be enjoying his choice of being a medical major though."

"ah, you did tell me before that he's a medical
major," he nods his head, the action is more directed to himself instead of to jiseo.

"yeah," jiseo says, "he said something about wanting to help people, wanting to make the world a better place. that's why he wants to be a doctor— of course, there are other reasons ya know, but he has a big dream which is admirable."

"he once said he's going to move to seoul after he gets his degree. he doesn't want to limit it to just busan," she continues.

"you talk so fondly of yoongi," jungkook smiles.

"he's been with me for years, of course i'm fond of him," jiseo explains. "so what's your story?" she asks jungkook.

he pauses for a second to think. "my life is... just eh? wasn't and isn't much. busan hasn't been really that interesting for me, nothing that spikes up entertainment if i must say so."

jiseo disagrees, there's no way nothing 'interesting' hasn't happened to him if he became so messed up. she figures this needed to be discussed eventually, so she musters up the courage to open her mouth and tell the boy. "namjoon, he told me about your past."

jungkook freezes, it's like he just reached his freezing point— physically, that is. it's like the air has been snatched out of him as he stays stationary in his place. jiseo doesn't really want to talk about it, because she said she wouldn't think about the bad things. though, she can't help the curiosity blooming inside her and suffocating her with unending questions.

"i shouldn't be nosing into this but, i heard about your family and—"

"namjoon told you?" his voice grows a bit cold, it's quite astounding how quickly his persona changes.

"i know about your dad," this is when he clicks his tongue.

"my dad," he repeats.

"well— not in detail but i heard how he was an alcoholic. i don't know if he's, uh," she pauses. "a— abusive or not but yeah."

jungkook shuts his mouth, a bit upset, so jiseo continues talking. "i know absolutely nothing about you. if— if we wanna do this, we gotta talk about some things."

the boy glances at her, staring for about two seconds before exhaling a sigh. "he wasn't abusive, he was okay," he takes a moment to think. "we argued a lot— i had some problems when i was younger, like anger management issues."

"so we got into a lot of arguments, especially when he was drunk due to the alcohol. he actually hit me once or twice but it wasn't that serious, you know? oh, and my parents didn't really get along well either."

"and your mom?" jiseo urges him to proceed.

"uh, well, she was fine." jiseo sees how he squirms uncomfortably at the topic of his mother, and she decides to not tell him about her knowledge of the relationship between his mother and him. "she left when i was fourteen, so i don't really remember how she looks like."

"i see," jiseo nods. "what happened with your dad?"

"my dad?" he tilts his head.

"yeah, did you, um, leave him or something? i mean, you're here now, so what happened?"

"yeah, left him. did some part time jobs, earned enough money and left," he elaborates.

"is he still here? in busan?"

"i don't know, i've never seen him since," he responds casually, placing his elbow on his knee and planting his chin on his palm. "it's not like i want to see him anyway." jiseo only nods in response as an action to let him know that she's listening.

"so," he says a bit enthusiastically and in a faintly exaggerated tone. "now you know how past jeon jungkook is like, wonderful, isn't it?" he tries to lighten up the gloomy mood suffocating them.

she lets out a smile, flexing the muscles in the apples of her cheeks. "yeah," she replies jokingly but yes, it does feel nice to know a little more about him.