Everyone belongs with their own. | Min Yoongi FF (Being updated)

26

Song of the chapter -

The energy in the ballroom had mellowed slightly. The music continued, now slower, softer — no longer the wild medieval swirl from earlier. Laughter hummed over champagne glasses, silver cutlery clinked on porcelain, and glitter from gowns shimmered in the low amber light. Mineso sat at the table nestled between Jimin and Jin, her posture relaxed but her eyes — observant. She sipped at her drink, the crispness of the sparkling cider offering little distraction from the quiet fidget of her thoughts. Something had shifted, but she couldn't name it.

She hadn't seen Jungkook for a while.

Then — movement.

He returned.

She caught him out of the corner of her eye first. Not with ceremony or ease, but like someone slipping back into a room hoping not to be noticed. He avoided eye contact as he approached the table, brushing past one of the chairs, murmuring something soft and low to Jin — maybe an excuse, maybe nothing.

But Mineso noticed things. Her gaze flicked upward, casual. Or at least it looked casual.

His hair was tousled. A little more than it had been earlier. Like someone had run their hands through it — fingers, not wind. His lips were slightly parted as he took a sip of water, his jaw tense.

And there — on the corner of his mouth.

A smudge.

Faint but real.

Lipstick.

Red.

Her breath hitched just barely, her lips pausing at the rim of her glass. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, too late. A streak, now smudged. The wrong kind of carelessness for someone as put-together as Jungkook usually was.

She lowered her glass slowly.

"Everything alright?" Jimin asked beside her, leaning close. She blinked, startled, and turned her head toward him.

"Yeah," she smiled, voice steady. "Just warm in here."

"Tell me about it." He tugged at his collar with a grin and didn't press further. Mineso turned her eyes back to Jungkook. He was talking to Namjoon now — laughing at something, but not really laughing. Not from the eyes.

She saw it. That too-familiar look of someone trying to pretend they hadn't just done something that changed the air around them. She didn't say a word. Didn't lean in. Didn't demand the truth. Instead, she picked up her fork and gently sliced through her dessert, the glaze cracking under the edge. Her smile remained fixed — small, polite.

But inside?

Inside, her chest was tight. It wasn't jealousy. Not fully. It was the knowing. The unspoken shift. She remembered the way Jungkook had looked at her earlier that night — not just with charm but something fragile under the surface. And now... whatever that had been was fogged. She glanced over to Kyomi, who was leaning in to whisper something to Yoongi, both of them softly laughing. A gentle warmth between them — earned, scarred, but real.

Mineso exhaled quietly. Sometimes people made choices before they even realized they had.

And sometimes, you had to pretend you didn't see it — at least, not yet.

The crowd had thinned just slightly, the ballroom mellowing under low, amber lighting and the final hums of the live band. A delicate hush spread across the space as the lead violinist leaned toward the microphone, his tone amused and inviting. "Before we close tonight, we'd like to open the floor for one last song. Something from the heart. A memory, a prayer, a whisper in melody."