Generations Expectation's | 8th member of BTS

64

Ae Cha's POV

We never came up with a plan.

Every idea we tried to piece together fell apart the second we said it out loud. Tell the company? That meant losing control immediately. Ignore it? That meant waiting for the world to explode without warning. Pay them? Neither of us even entertained the thought for more than a second.

So we said nothing.

Hours passed like that.

At some point, we both ended up in my childhood bedroom, the house silent around us. The faint glow of my bedside lamp cast soft shadows across the walls that still held pieces of my life before all of this. Old photos, a few forgotten trophies, the bookshelf I'd never had the heart to clean out. I was curled up on top of my blankets, still wearing the dress from the wedding. My makeup had long since dried in messy streaks across my face, and my heels had been kicked somewhere near the door. Jungkook sat beside me on the edge of the bed, still in his suit, jacket tossed aside but the rest of him just as rumpled and exhausted as I felt.

Neither of us had slept.

Every so often, one of us would open our mouth, trying to think of something, some solution, some miracle plan, but the words never made it far.

We were fucked.

The thought kept circling through my mind like a storm that wouldn't move on.

What happens when BigHit finds out?
What will the fans say?
What about the boys?

Each question made my stomach twist tighter. The clock on my nightstand blinked 3:02 AM.

Jungkook suddenly exhaled beside me, rubbing both hands over his face like he was trying to scrub the night away.

"Ae Cha." he said quietly. I glanced up at him.

"I'm sorry."

My chest tightened. Here it was, again. The hurt, he was going to say, he regretted it all. I knew it deep down. The photo will be published soon, and I know he was probably find away to right everything. To take it all back.

"For what?" I asked softly, even though I already knew.

"For... how I handled everything tonight." His voice was rough, worn thin by hours of stress. "Shutting you out. Acting like the kiss was a mistake."

He looked down at his hands, jaw tense. I bite the inside of my cheek, trying to keep my mouth from gaping open in shock. Thats not at all what I was execpting him to apologize for....

"I hurt you." he admitted. "I saw it the second the words came out, and I still kept going." The memory of it still stung, but hearing him say it like that made something in my chest ache instead of burn.
"I was scared...but that's not an excuse for what I did." he continued. "Every fear I've had about this...about us being found out. I thought somehow, it wouldn't happen, well atleast not until you know...until we were ready to tell people about us. Hell- when there's been enough time for there to be even an us. And then that message came in... and it felt like..." He let out a hollow breath. "Like the universe instantly punishing me for not being smart. For being so careless."

I slowly pushed myself up, sitting beside him now.

"Its not just your fault Jungkook." I said quietly.

"It feels like it though." he murmured. "Seeing something so important to me, something I've been wanting for years, suddenly being used against me... against you." His voice faltered slightly.

"I got scared, and I took it out on you. That wasnt fair to you."

Silence settled between us. Then I shook my head a little.