Winter Tangerines (IU x SUGA)

Forty-three

Jieun woke up from the freezing cold. She slowly opened her eyes to find nothing but darkness. She could not figure out where she was, but one thing caught her attention—the sound of the waves. She winced when she felt the cold wind against her skin and that was when she came to her senses. She was at the seaside with Yoongi.

Digging up in her pocket, she took her phone out and  checked the time—it was almost four in the morning. Another thing caught her attention when she checked the phone's home screen: 24 missed calls.

"Shit!"

She tried waking up Yoongi who was resting on her shoulder, arms wrapped around her waist. She couldn't even figure out how they slept almost comfortably while sitting at the back of the car, undisturbed for almost five hours. They must have been really exhausted after their recording.

Yoongi groaned when Jieun shook him with all her might. It was only now that she figured out that he's a heavy and deep sleeper and that fact made it difficult for her to wake him up. Yoongi looked very surprised seeing his girlfriend first thing in the morning. He thought he was only dreaming.

"Yoongi, we need to go home. We both fell asleep and now, it's almost daytime."

Still half asleep, Yoongi panicked upon realizing that Jieun was right. He strongly slapped his face to completely wake up and at the same time to punish himself for allowing himself to doze off last night. Without wasting any time, they both got inside the car and started driving back to the city.

"Beomgyu has been calling me for so many times." Jieun felt worried, thinking what her brother could've done when his calls were not answered.

"I'm sorry, Jieunie. I should have waken you up last night. You feel asleep and I didn't want to disturb you for a while. It's my fault I fell asleep too."

"Don't blame yourself, okay? We both fell asleep and it's nobody's fault. We just have to make sure to go home on time before the meeting."

Yoongi felt even more worried. He almost forgot their meeting with Jimin.

Jieun was becoming more restless. Her hands were feeling so cold. "I just hope Yijeong doesn't know about this. Beomgyu might have called him already."

"I don't think so. Yijeong didn't contact us so don't worry too much."

"I hope so. I need to make some excuses when I get home though."

When they reached the city, it was almost five in the morning. Jieun asked Yoongi not to drop her off in front of her apartment. She was scared that Beomgyu might be waiting for her outside the door. She just walked her way home after getting off at the nearby street.

And she was right about her brother waiting for her. When Beomgyu saw Jieun, he ran so fast and approached her, his pale face looking very troubled.

"Noona! Where have you been? I was so worried!"

"Beomgyu, I'm sorry. I—" She stopped mid-sentence when she noticed tears from her brother's eyes. "Are you crying?"

"What do you expect me to do? Laugh? Scold you? Noona, I was scared. This was the first time you didn't tell me where you were. You didn't even answer my calls. Please don't do this again!"

Poor Beomgyu broke down and continued crying. Jieun never knew her brother cared for her so much. Maybe it's because she got used to living alone that seeing him in this situation broke her heart. She wanted to be honest, but something was still holding her back. She knew that nobody's ready to know about her and Yoongi yet.

"I'm really sorry, Beomgyu. I didn't mean to make you worried. I...I was with Sooyoung last night. I feel asleep at her house without knowing."

"Sooyoung?" Finally, Beomgyu stopped crying.