✔️ Unconditionally [Book 2] | Jeon Jungkook

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This chapter has a soundtrack
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"Noona?"

Hyun-Ji looked away and turned the word over in her mind. She wasn't older than Jungkook, not even by a little. Her birthday was on the 23rd of September while his was on the 1st of the same year. It wasn't by much, but he was definitively older than her.

Jungkook, eyes as bright as ever, nodded in confirmation. He was very much aware of what he'd just said, believing it to be true.

"Jungkookie, I'm not your noona. You're a little older than me," she said.

His brow drew together in disbelief. "How old?"

"I'm 20. The same as you."

His smile shone at nearly full wattage and he gently laughed. "No," he drawled, shaking his head.

"Yes," she nodded. "Our birthdays were a few months ago."

He pointed to himself again, the bunny smile she missed so desperately spread wide across his face as he unknowingly dealt his next blow.

"17... Yeah," he said.

Hyun-Ji's entire body instantly felt hollow. She stared into his contrasting eyes searching for the spark of humor that was always shining in them. Jungkook was silly, he liked to play jokes on her often and they were known to exchange witty banter daily.

But the spark of humor wasn't there this time. Just that innocent sweet smile she loved, and the persistent pinkness in his cheeks.

Her breathing rate quickened as her anxiety level began to rise. If he believed himself to be 17...

They met during the summer before their 19th birthdays.

"Who am I, Jungkook?" She asked, her shaky voice barely above a whisper.

His eyes shifted away for a fraction of a second as he tried to search his memory of her. With each passing second, she looked more and more disheartened and he didn't like being the cause of it. He didn't want to disappoint her. She had been so nice to him since he had woken up but he couldn't grasp the answer to her question no matter how hard he searched for it.

"I know... your voice, but... I don't know... your name."

Hyun-Ji's stomach knotted.

"Ok," she said, taking a deep breath. It was just her name he had forgotten. Right? Surely she could swallow her pride and accept it for the small thing it was.

"I'm Hyun-Ji," she said, offering him a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Hyun-Ji," he echoed, smiling back. "Hello."

Hello.
He said it so softly as if it were his first time meeting her.

"Do you remember how you got here? In the hospital?" She asked.

He looked away again in thought, then his face brightened in recollection. "Football. Taehyung... tackled me. My ribs..." He grimaced as he held his left side.

Her heartbeat started to pound in her ears. "You don't remember the car accident?"

His brow furrowed at the notion. "No."

"Hyori?"

"No."

"...The Christmas lights?"