chapter 2

2 Years Later

“Come on man, one drink won’t do you any harm.” Jimin tried to convince me to join them after class but Taehyung draped his arm over Jimin.

“Give it up, Chim. He’s too busy with his girlfriend.” He teases and I gave him a look before shaking my head. “but don’t forget to hang out with us once in a while, okay? Don’t forget about us!” He hits my back as soon as I finish packing up my stuff. My schedule for the term is quite free, allowing me to meet Y/N more often as her department’s in a different building.

“I won’t. Next week, I promise. ” I give the two of them a wink before leaving the class hurriedly. Jimin and Taehyung have been my classmates since the semester started, however, I’m a college freshman and they’re sophomore. They’re just retaking the class I’m having now and since being grouped with them, we’ve been hanging out since

They know who Y/N is, as they conveniently summarized “the childhood girlfriend”. I repeated over and over that we weren’t together, but they wouldn’t listen. Ever since that day she stood in front of the bullies and hit them even if they were taller and bigger than her, I found myself wanting to get stronger and be a better person. It was only in middle school that I realize that drive was coming from my urge to protect her. We were inseparable ever since and I’ve always debated on whether I should risk confessing to her or just stay by her side like this, until one time Taehyung said out of the blue 

“Kidding aside, don’t be too confident about where you are right now. Either you claim that title or someone else will.”

As I got out of our building, I saw Y/N waiting under the shade of the tree talking to some guy who’s always been around her since the start of the semester.

“Hey,” I called out, taking Y/N’s books and draping my arm over her shoulder before looking at the guy who now seems flustered and out of place.

“I’ll go ahead then, y/n.” He quickly escapes after giving me a slight bow of acknowledgment.

“What was that?” Y/N looked up to me with an eyebrow raised.

“Aunt Mina told me to look out for you.” I say, dragging her with me as we exit the school grounds. “Besides, I wanna eat ASAP. I’m staaarving.”

“The audacity to use my mom as an excuse for your ever-hungry stomach.” She shook her head and smiled as she lets me walk around with my arm over her shoulders. 

***

“By the way, how’s uncle?” She suddenly asks as we take an empty table in our favorite restaurant.

“He’s trying to hide it, but I know he’s seeing someone.” I answered and she chuckled.

“You’re just not that close. At least mom doesn’t date behind my back. In fact, every time I ask her about it, she’d blush like a high schooler— HAVE I MENTIONED THEY WERE ACTUALLY HIGH SCHOOL SWEETHEARTS?!” She suddenly perked up excitedly.

“I’m just right beside you, dumbass.” I say, gently hitting her head as her voice got too loud.

“Oops.” She chuckled shyly. “I’m just happy mom finally allowed herself to be happy again. I’m sure dad wants that too.” She smiles as she looked out the window longingly for her dad. 2 years flew by real quick. “Your dad deserves to be happy too.”

“Yeah, I want him happy too.” I answered, heaving a deep sigh when Y/N pinched my nose and gave me a reassuring smile.

“We’re gonna protect our parent’s happiness because they deserve it.” She holds out her pinky, making a pact within ourselves. I smiled and wrapped my pinky with hers, nodding.

We finished up with our food, talked all the way 'til we got in front of her house.

“Hate to cut our time short but I have tons of papers to dive into.” Y/N made a disgusted face before smiling at me and taking her books in my arms. “I’ll see you tomorrow, idiot.” She waves, about to enter her house when I instinctively grabbed her hand, not wanting her to leave. She looked at me, surprised and confused. It was faint, but I could see her cheeks slightly turning pink. “Jungkook? I.Is everything okay?” She asks.

I didn’t say a word but I’m sure my eyes says it all.

Taehyung’s right. I want to be her man, and I don’t want anyone beating me to it.

As I was about to open my mouth, the door opened and Aunt Mina came out.

“What are you kids doing there? Come inside.” She smiles innocently, walking up to us.

“Maybe some other day,” I answered flustered, my ears feeling hot. “Y/N has a lot of paperwork to finish, so she says.” I rubbed the nape of my neck before bowing to smile at her. “See you tomorrow, dumbass.” I now looked at Y/N, showing a pursed lipped smile before leaving.

*****

The evening In Jungkook’s bedroom.

That was close.

That was too close.

But I guess Aunt Mina saved me. At least she gave me a second chance to actually prepare for that shit and not do it haphazardly. I went hurriedly to my room and face timed Taehyung. Jimin was beside him, waving like a maniac before getting distracted in what they were initially doing.

“So how do I ask Y/N to be my girlfriend?” I asked Taehyung, lying down in bed as I try to run down multiple scenarios of how I could do it. He was quiet for some time, his face blank but he suddenly burst out laughing.

“Oh my god, I didn’t think you’d be this much of a romanticist. How about you go rent a movie house and create this video—” I dropped the call as he was having too much fun making fun of me.

I got a text message and was about to curse Taehyung out, but I suddenly sat up, seeing how it was from Y/N.

Yeba / 예바 (abbreviation of Yeppeun + Pabo /Beautiful + Idiot)

Hey idiot, you up?

I smiled, about to reply when I jolted out of my bed in surprise as there was a sudden knock on my door. It creaked, slowly revealing my dad as he peaked. “You busy?” He asks, and I chuckled, shaking my head. He came in and sat at the foot side of my bed, rubbing his nape as he obviously wanted to say something but couldn’t.

“Are you finally introducing me to your girlfriend?” I teased and his eyes were wide.

“Here I thought Y/N was the psychology major. How are you reading my mind?” He says, reaching out to his phone.

“Okay one, don’t ever say that in front of Y/N. You’ll upset her. Psych majors don’t read minds. Second, you really don’t have anything else to be shy about besides that. ” I rationalized and he smiled, looking proud.

“You took that intelligence from me.” He boasts again, making me chuckle as I shook my head. Then he shows his phone with the brightest smile I’ve ever seen since forever. He really is happy with the person he’s seeing now.

I promise I’ll do everything I can to keep that smile.

“So, what do you think?” My father asks shyly, letting me take the phone.

I take a closer look at the photo and my world suddenly stopped.

“You know it’s funny how the universe works. Would you believe that she’s actually my high school girlfriend? We broke up though when we went to college but it seems fate is bringing us back together.”

It felt as though I was knocked out of breath as I focused on the woman in the picture.

“If I recall correctly, she has a daughter the same age as you.” He continues to talk about how they met today and talked about letting their children meet and talk about getting married and having it formally registered but I was pale as a sheet.

Because the woman that’s giving my father the warmest of smiles is the mother of only girl I’ve ever loved.

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