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So it turned out the boys all came.

We drove a fair amount of time before reaching a rural area. It didn't even look like Seoul anymore, but it was cozy. As soon as the van pulled into a gravel-paved parking lot, the horses, wagons with large, round, orange fruits, and rows of corn in neat lines all in the same area, I knew where we were.

We hopped out of the van in sweatshirts and jeans, all having been warned of the colder temperature of the place. After walking down some gravel paths, we paid for our entry and took a look at the map of the corn maze.

"We'll pick out pumpkins after the maze so we don't have to carry it everywhere. So..." Jimin hummed, staring intently at the paper map. "So. Yup. How does everyone feel about mapping our route first?"

"What a cheap way out, Jimin," Jungkook scoffed, grabbing a corner of the map with his hand. "I say we jump right in and see where we end up."

"I feel like that's gonna put us in there for a lot longer than we should be," I laughed, "and I kind of feel like Yoongi has a plan."

The mentioned brother shrugged. "I just have good directional inferences."

"Alright, then," Namjoon said, "We could always... split into teams."

"And make it into a competition? Oh boy..." I sighed.

"Sounds fun," Jungkook agreed. "Team plan-it-out and team figure-it-out-as-we-go. Sounds good."

I sighed. "Alright, then if you insist, I'm going with whoever thinks through it first. I don't feel like being stuck in there for a few hours."

"I've never been in there for more than, like, two," Taehyung said, "but I feel like taking the risk today, though."

"Okay, then Yoongi, Hoseok, Jimin? You're all with me at least?" I asked.

"Totally. Namjoon, Jin, Tae, Kook?" To Taehyung's survey, the members nodded and split into the groups.

"Hey, this would be a great time for a Run episode," Jin laughed, but then dismissed the idea with his hand. "But we'll probably enjoy the time without a camera."

"For sure," I agreed. "Alright, should we go?"

With nods all around and a map in the hand of one member from each team, the two groups headed into the corn maze, suddenly being engulfed by the towering stalks of corn from every side. As we traveled a little through the maze, Yoongi's head stayed turned downwards as he dragged a red pen through the paper to plan our route.

"Hm?" he hummed, before stopping in the middle of an intersection. The other group continued on, straight forward. I waved to Taehyung as they left.

"What?" I turned and asked my brother, taking a look at the paper.

"Well, here, there's some of the maze... missing. And I kinda feel like that's the part of the map we need to plan out. Like, I think we'll have to go that way."

"Then we can get to that area, and then go from there. Once we're back on the map, we can plan."

"But there's several ways we could come out of that part," he reasoned.

"We can see when we get there. If you're mostly sure that's where we need to be headed, let's go."

"But I'm not. I'm not positive going that way will get us anywhere near the end, with that... very lovely plot hole."

I laughed. "Lovely indeed. Well, as I said, I was thinking we should just keep going and see where that gets us. What do you think?"

He surveyed Hoseok and Jimin's ideas, and their agreement allowed us to continue.

It was almost an hour later that we were slowly dragging along, getting ready to set up our phone's lights so we could see as the sun was setting. Our feet dragged in the uneven ground with holes of mud every other step, and had to wrap our coats closer to ourselves as the temperature dropped.

"Sujinnie," Jimin whispered, speeding to catch up with me.

"Hm?"

"Are you cold?"

"Kinda."

"So am I." He wrapped an arm around my back and shoulder, and pulled me closer as we kept walking. The small action first reminded me of Jiho, but quickly faded into the warmth emitting from Jimin's body that was being shared with me.

"It's been a really long time. How's our progress, Yoongi?" Hoseok asked, zipping up his coat.

"I think we're hitting the unknown area. Anyone hear anything about where the others are?"

My phone's screen illuminated my face as I turned it on to check the time and for notifications. "They haven't said anything to me yet."

"Ah. When we're out, we're sure gonna enjoy a hot cup of cider and some doughnuts, eh?"

I nodded. "If we ever get out."

"So you're that kind of person," Yoongi laughed at me.

"Hehe. When I'm with you guys."

"Ah, shh. We'll have to figure this part out first."

"We just left a bunch of squiggly stuff... where's that on the map, Yoongi?"

"Uhhh..." The paper was crumpled as the oldest turned the paper sideways, the upside down. "Uh... well..."

"Hold on," Hoseok said, taking a corner. "It feels as if we were just over here..."

"Huh?" I asked, looking for myself.

"Yeah, look Sujin," Hobi said, pointing. "Wasn't the unknown area what we were aiming for?"

"Yeah, I just thought... oh boy."

Jimin pushed me aside lightly so he could see. "Don't tell me we're not where you thought we were."

"We're not where I thought we were," Yoongi admitted.

"Then where are we?"

"Here," I said, spotting the familiar path we'd just taken. "The opposite side of where we were going to go."

"That's okay," Yoongi assured us, "we can just... go back that way."

I nodded. "Sure. Might take a while though."

"Let's try," Jimin said, taking my hand and leading us down the path.

After a few minutes of taking Hoseok's directions this time, my feet weren't walking in the same symmetrical way they'd been an hour ago. My boots, with heels, weren't holding up in the rough terrain we'd been trekking for a while now.

"You good, Sujin?" Yoongi asked, noticing my lopsided walk.

I shook my head. "My feet hurt, though."

"Aww," Hobi cooed, walking in front of me and holding out his hands.

"Hm?" I questioned, not completely sure what he was doing.

To answer my question, he grabbed behind my knees with one arm, and around my waist with the other. He lifted me up effortlessly, and started walking the way we were headed.

I laughed, "Oh, Hoseok, thanks, but this isn't going to be comfortable for you for long."

"I can do it," he replied through gritted teeth, "for my dongsaeng."

"Aha, put me down oppa," I continued to laugh, lightly smacking his arm. "I'm going to exhaust you before we get to the end."

"Actually..." Yoongi said from my far left, "we're already there. And so are the others, it seems."

To the right of us, a group of panting boys came from the opposite end we had.

"No way," Jungkook gasped. "We thought you guys would beat us by a lot."

Jimin rolled his eyes, "We would have, if Yoongi hyung hadn't led us the wrong way near the end."

"Sorry?"

"Hey, overall we both are getting out at the same time. How perfect is that?"

Hoseok lightly put me down. "But then again, we would have won if we went the way we were planning from the beginning."

"Ah, who cares?" I walked to where the corn path stopped and took a deep breath as I passed under the large sign that read, 'Congrats! You reached the end'.

"That's how you do it," Namjoon said as his hands rubbed against each other in an attempt to warm them. I took them inside mine, and whistled.

"We're gonna need cider for those, 'Joon."

"I know. Why don't we head there now?"

As we all sat on wooden benches with tables with children running around, hay stacked around us, and a live band in the area, we fiddled our fingers waiting for Hoseok and Namjoon to return with our refreshments.

I picked the edge of my fingernail, to help myself focus on the smells and sounds of the place. It was so nice to be celebrating this time of year, one of my personal favorites. Fall was always something I was looking forward to.

Jungkook took a seat next to me, placing a white paper cup full of steaming cider in front of me. Joon had bought one box of sugar-glazed and coated doughnuts, and one box of pumpkin spice.

"Thanks Kook."

"Mm hm," he nodded as he took a bite out of his doughnut.

After a few minutes of paying attention to the music, the next tune that started playing surprised me. It was as if I'd just put the Wings album on shuffle and my favorite song in it started playing.

All the heads at our table shot up and looked at the short young lady with a guitar in her arms as she played the sweet chords to Lost.

"That's our-"

"Song," Jin said, finishing Hoseok's sentence.

She started singing, looking down as the lyrics I knew all too well flowed out of her voice and through the microphone and speakers. It was beautiful.

Looking around, I could see the smiles of all the boys around the table. It was always so nice to see one of their songs being appreciated. The newness of the album was still spreading and it felt so good.

As we listened, a sly smile spread on my face. I turned away to hide it, but realized it didn't work when Jungkook looked at me. "What's that smile for?"

I turned to the side to face him, and spoke quietly in hopes none of the others would notice. "It would have been fun to come here with Jiho."

"Ah." He nodded, surveyed the area, and then took another bite of his snack. "You know, you'll have another one someday. Someone else."

I shook my head. "I don't know. I'm not sure I'm going to try again. I don't know if it's worth it."

"Sure it is," he shrugged. "And that's when you'll know for sure that you'll be okay. You'll be able to honor the pain, and even feel it sometimes, but you'll be okay. You'll be even happier. I mean, he was your first, wasn't he?"

I scowled. "Yeah, who else do you think I would have... dated?"

"Oh, I've got some in mind," he smirked, but then turned serious again. "Just wait, little sis. I promise you, one day I'll make sure we come to this same exact pumpkin patch, and you two will team against me in the corn maze, and you guys will hold hands, and you two will win cuz he's good at finding his way."

His words had slapped me into a warm world, so coming back to reality when he was finished hurt a little.

"Sujin, don't you ever think about finding someone else? Just because it's over with Jiho doesn't mean it completely over. In fact, you should be very happy you two weren't even closer. I mean, high school relationships don't always last that long anyways."

I nodded, but just didn't feel his words yet. "Maybe in a little while, Kookie."

"That's okay. I understand that. It might take time. But," he took one more glance around the area, "look forward to coming here again with your next special person."

I gave him a smile, but it wasn't sincere. I didn't want to look forward to coming here with someone else. Would anyone love me as much as Jiho did?

As much as I thought Jiho did?

On our way home from the pumpkin patch, we stopped at a busier part of Seoul to shop for a few items. We were walking along the busy streets, huddling together to keep from being separated when a electronic billboard caught my eye from the top of one of the city buildings.

It was a music video, that was for sure. It was intriguing, and felt so familiar. While there was no reason for that to be, I kept watching anyway. It only took a few more seconds for my heart to be lodged up my throat once again. He was smiling, and singing- or rapping, I wasn't sure. He looked so carefree, professional.

The different sides of life. That was the concept. I remembered him telling me that one time.

Their makeup was darker, and there was an appropriate mix of serious scenes. The production of the video was perfect, taking precisely angled shots and zooming in on beat, as well as hanging cameras and capturing their faces as they lip-sang to the song.

Right next to Jiho was Daehyun, Seojin, and the two other members I thought I recognized from the one day at the performance center. The graphics were great, and the outfits were about to give me deja vu. I couldn't peel my eyes from it.

That is, until a warm hand grabbed mine.

"Let's go." Jimin started walking, leading me down the street as I pulled back.

"Wait." It was now at Seojin's lines, but I wanted to wait. I wanted to see him again.

"Sujin, isn't this just going to hurt you all over again? What good is it going to do for you to see Jiho?"

"Hold on," Hoseok said, grabbing my other hand. "But look at him. How happy he is."

Jimin stopped leading me away, and Hoseok watched the billboard beside me. "I can't believe they still released it."

"I can't believe I forgot it was debut day," I nodded. "The least we can do is support it. It's supporting Daehyun, and Suho, and Seojin, and all of them. That's why they still debuted."

Hoseok nodded. "Sujin, he was still happy performing. He was still happy being an artist, and idol. It was just too hard, and you know, that's okay." He turned to me, giving me a thin smile. "It's too bad he gave up, though."

I agreed silently, and gathered the courage to peel my eyes.

All eight of us were silent as we walked away, but I hoped they realized the little skip in my step.

Hi! Hope you're all staying safe, happy, and healthy!

This week has already been, and I can tell, will be a little stressful for me, but I hope you guys are doing well  and enjoyed the update! I'm glad I still found time for it!

RN I'm enjoying listening to Keshi a lot more and learning Oh Holy Night- Jungkook's arrangement on the piano! What have you been up to lately? 

See you next week!

-Rose