attraction.

Teenage Dream. BONUS

It had been a while since he'd last seen her.

He remembers it clearly when she'd taken a flight from Los Angeles straight to Seoul just to see him and the complete tiredness of her face when she saw him. Something was different. He couldn't quite tell. At first, he thought it was just the jet lag, but the next day on his birthday—something simply didn't feel right.

She wasn't the same girl he knew, yet she seemed to be another version of her.

"Are you unhappy?" He had asked her as they had breakfast in one of her favorite cafes in the city (a café he often passes by now, but doesn't dare to visit).

"It's your birthday," her voice is low, "... let's have this conversation another time."

He knew it was over then, and it broke his heart knowing that she was holding onto such a heavy weight on her shoulder that she'd travel more than 20 hours to him, to surprise him for his birthday.

"What did I do wrong?" He remembers asking her, not caring that people could hear, "... did you find someone else in the US?"

At the time, she had shaken her head no, responding, "... I'm too tired with the workload. I feel like I'm drowning. It's not fair for me to give you so little of my time when you deserve better than that."

How long had it been since then?

A year?

Almost two?

He often wonders if her words were true, or whether she was trying to sugar coat the truth.

His first love. His first heartbreak.

Park Chaeyoung after all, was the only girl he'd ever opened to about the dark period in his life when he was sixteen, and all he wanted to do was party, sex, drugs and alcohol and forget the reality of his life and the messy divorce of his parents.

Heartbreak felt like a darkness even greater than those things.

"Be happy, Jungkook."

Three of her final words to him.

The three words of torment.

Why couldn't he be happy with her?

-

Their story resumes in one of the saddest of circumstances.

Their high school principal passed away from cancer and a memorial was to be held in the school football field. Jeon Jungkook rarely attends events like these, but it had been so long since he'd last seen his high school friends and thought that perhaps, it would be a refreshing change of scenery from his senior year of university. He thinks that almost 500 people gather on the football field, wearing all black with candles in their hands.

There's a recognizable voice from the side of him and he wonders whether he's hallucinating.

He turns, seeing her.

She smiles and nods at him.

At the end of the service, he quickly rushes to grab her by the arm before she could leave. Her eyes widen in surprise. He notices how much she's changed—black hair turned into a golden beige blonde, she looks slimmer, a slight blush across her cheeks.

She was breathtaking.

After all these years, he couldn't help but still be in love.

He couldn't let her go so easily.

"Chaeyoung," his voice is breathy, "... it's good to see you."

"It is," is all that manages to depart from her lips, "... you look good."