cigarette ;; DISCONTINUED

twenty-five

25: Three hours missing

Jisoo pov
"Calm down, Jisoo, we're going to find her", Yoongi said as he grabbed my wrist. Unintentionally I had dug my nails into his arm, trying to pull him to the grocery store as fast as possible.

I let go of him and as if it was already a routine, his hand wrapped around mine, intertwining our fingers.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you. I just-" I sighed before I could even finish my sentence.

The thought of something bad happening to Chaeyoung made me want to throw up.

"It's okay, you didn't hurt me. You never could", he responded softly before pulling me further down the street.

"Now let's go. Let's find her."

Walking into the store the two of us greeted the cashier with a nod before we walked down each and every aisle, looking for Chaeyoung.

With every minute that passed, I felt my heart beating faster and my hands getting sweatier.

I knew if something bad happened to her, I could never forgive myself. As the oldest, I should watch over the others and give them strength whenever they needed it.

I felt bad. I felt so bad for being a shitty friend.

Like, I have seen that she was not feeling well but instead of asking her what was going on, I thought that it would settle down by itself.

Not being able to give her the strength to talk about what was bothering her, hurt me.

Yoongi seemed to notice how my mood has changed so he stopped for a minute and pulled me to the side.

"She'll be okay, Jisoo. Now please stop worrying, I hate seeing you like that", he said, brushing my hair over my shoulder.

"Can you smile for me?", he added after a long pause, "Please, I'd like to see it."

"How am I supposed to smile when my friend is missing, Yoongi?"

My shoulders sank as I looked up at him in despair.

"If you can't smile by yourself, I'm gonna make you smile."

With those words, he pulled down his mask, took the cap from my head, and gently pressed his lips against my forehead. His long arms wrapped around my petite figure, pulling me into his warm embrace.

Rather than making me smile with his actions, he flustered me. I could feel my face heat up and the spot where his lips had met my skin started to tingle.

He rested his head on top of mine and as we stood there, my face buried in his chest, a question popped up in my head.

"Yoongi, how much do you like me?"

"A lot, Soo, a lot", he replied. Him calling me like that showed me how comfortable he was in that situation.

When other people were around or when we were having a normal conversation, he refused to use that name. It just didn't fit the mood, he had told me once.

If I was honest, I liked him calling me by that name. It was something special, something that only he and I shared.

"Then why aren't we dating?", I bluntly asked.

Yoongi scooted away and cleared his throat. "What- what are you saying?"

His ears turned pinkish and he nervously scratched the back of his head.

"Why aren't we dating?", I repeated my words, stepping closer to him and lessening the distance he had created.

"But we- we're friends." His response was followed by an unsure laugher and then silence.

"Oh, so you don't like me that way." I shrugged and turned away from him as if I was about to leave.

"No, I do", he took me my arm and turned me back around, my hair flowing through the air at that move.

We were facing each other, heads only inches away. I could see his long lashes and the little wound on his lower lip from up close.

His warm breath hit my face as he stared down at me, his hand still around my arm.

"Oh, so you do like me that way", I muttered, bringing my other arm up to his face so I could place my hand under his chin.

"No, wait. Jisoo, I'm confused", the man mumbled blinking a few times, "I don't think this is the time to talk about those things."

He let go of my arm and placed it in my hand instead, our fingers tangling immediately.

"Let's first find Chaeyoung and then we'll get back to this conversation."

He nodded and broke our eye contact, looking straight ahead.
"Yeah, let's- let's do that", I heard him mumbling to himself before he started walking again, pulling me with him.

By now his ears had turned into a darker red shade.

I knew that I didn't choose the best timing to talk about such a topic but the words he had said to me at the boba shop didn't want to leave my head for the past few weeks.

I like you. Why don't we start dating then, he had said.

Even though he had added that he was joking there was something in his eyes that told me something different.

There was something in the way he treated me that made me feel as if his words weren't a complete joke.

Adding to that, the fact that we were holding hands at every given circumstance made me go crazy.

Normal friends wouldn't hold hands this casually, would they?

I shook my head in an attempt to clear my mind of those thoughts. Yoongi was right, this wasn't the time to think about those things.

When I looked down at my watch, my heart sunk.

It's almost been three hours since I've last seen Chaeyoung. With a lowered head I let myself be pulled through the store by Yoongi, slowly losing hope.

Then suddenly my phone rang.

"Unnie, she's back."

___

I pulled the blonde girl into my arms and closed my eyes in relief.

"Oh, thank god you're okay."

When pulling away from her I couldn't help but notice her swollen eyes, which indicated that she had been crying. My gaze wandered to Lisa and for a short moment, our eyes locked.

She knew as much as I did that there was something going on with Chaeyoung. Something was making her sad, it was pulling her down.

It wasn't just the sadness she carried with herself because of the lack of music release, it was something way deeper.

Her eyes were dull, even as she smiled and apologized for making us worry. I couldn't be mad at her, I was only mad at myself.

I needed to better myself. For their sake and for mine. Something like that shouldn't happen a second time.

Lisa nodded slightly and I knew she would try to talk to Chaeyoung about it.

The Chaeyoung that was standing in front of us was not the Chaeyoung we knew. She was looking like a shadow of herself, like a lifeless shell.

I pulled her into a hug one more time, inhaling the scent of her perfume. My body relaxed as I breathed in deeply.

It was now the four of us again; the four of us or no one.