RIEUL

He really is gone.

Jimin's the one who shakes me awake, pressing a finger to his lips as he points at Jungkook. He's asleep, with his favorite stuffed car toy to his chest.

"I'm going to go now." He says, ruffling his hair as I dazedly open my eyes. "I need to be at the café in like five minutes."

"Thanks, Chim." I say, still half-asleep as he quickly waves at me and leaves the house.

"Tell Jungkook I said bye!" He calls just before the door closes, plunging the house back to silence.

Groaning, I stand up from the mess of blankets on the floor and look around the house. When had he left?

Then my eyes catch on the pile of Jungkook's clothes I'd lent Taehyung yesterday, folded in a neat pile next to the drawer.

And his own clothes are gone from the clothesline.

Yawning, I tuck Jungkook's clothes back into his drawer. Then I sit down next to him, smiling at how peacefully he was sleeping.

At least he wasn't having nightmares.

"Kook." I say, poking him gently on the cheek. He groans, and I giggle when he turns to the other side. "Jungkook, wake up. It's time to go to school."

He doesn't budge.

But then I lean towards his ear, my lips curved into a grin as I whisper.

"I heard you're going to be learning how to draw there toda—"

I yelp when he sits up, getting up so fast we crash head to head. He just looks around in confusion, eyes going wide when he sees me curled up on the floor.

"Noona?! Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah." I stutter, rubbing at my forehead. It was probably bright red— I would always be Jungkook's loving sister, but I really had to admit that the kid had a head as hard as a coconut.

"Time to go to school." I groan, repeating. He nods excitedly, and I'm still rolling on the ground when he peeks his head from the bathroom.

"Noona? My toothbrush was orange, right?"

I nod at him, and Jungkook flashes a happy smile at me. He got this excited when he just heard the word art.

With a towel slung over my shoulder, I walk to the kitchen to fix something up when my eyes catch on an abandoned piece of paper on the kitchen table.

There's a broken pencil next to it, and I look over in curiosity. That hadn't been there last night.

So my eyes go wide when I flip it upside down.

It's a sketch.

It's the most beautiful sketch I've ever seen.

The towel slips from my fingers, landing on the ground with a soft sound. But I don't even notice, too busy looking at the delicate drawing.

It's me, and I'm fast asleep.

And there they are— Jungkook and Jimin, their figures next to me. But their features are kind of blurred out, when mine is so clear anyone could see that it was me.

But how?

You already know who.

Taehyung. It was obvious, that Taehyung had been the one who'd drawn this last night while we were all asleep.

But that was why I didn't understand. Why this sketch didn't make any sense at all.

Because every line drawn into the paper is filled with so much emotion that it's almost making me cry.

__________________________

"Coffee time."

I thank Yoongi when he passes me a cold can, loosening my tight ponytail. But break time isn't even break at all, and Yoongi groans when the head nurse calls for him again.

"Haha," I say teasingly, enjoying my coffee as he adjusts his scrubs with a scowl. "I can finish yours for you."

He flips at me, making me frown.

Sipping quickly, I reach for my phone. I'm about to call Jungkook to see if he was doing alright at school when I suddenly see several notifications at the top— several missed calls from the school.

My fingers press urgently at the number.

Click.

"Hello?" I say when the call goes through, getting to my feet. "This is, um, this is Jungkook's sister."

"Ms. Jeon." The voice on the other side is sharp, and I swallow. Something's wrong.

"Jungkook made a dangerous mess again today." She says, and I instantly rush towards the locker room. I'm already tugging at my scrubs, feet slamming against the floor.

"Is he— is he alright?"

"He's locked himself in the storage room." The woman says angrily, before sighing. "Come as soon as possible. He's not—"

"I'll be there in ten minutes."

Then I end the call, tripping over bags as I change out of my hospital clothes and rush out the door. The head nurse just sighs when I yell at her, my words all mushed together.

"I'msosorrybutIneedtoleavenow!" I shout, ignoring the pissed look she gives in my direction. "I'm sorry! I promise to work harder tomorrow!"

The moment I'm out of the building, I look furiously for a cab on the road.

"Taxi, where's the taxi...." I mutter frustratedly to myself as I tap my feet, my eyes glancing rapidly back and forth at the cars passing by.

But none of them are taxis.

I'm about to just start running at this point when a sleek black car suddenly parks in front of me. My eyes go wide when a stranger gets off, approaching with a doubtful expression.

"Excuse me. Are you Miss Jeon Rieul?"

I nod furiously. The man opens his mouth to start talking when I interrupt him, pointing at his car.

"If you take me to the school a ten minutes' drive away from here, then I'll listen to whatever you say."

He gives me a weird look. But I glare right back at him— I couldn't deal with this man if he wasn't willing to help me.

"But I was told to—"

"I told you." I repeat, my heart racing. "If you take me where I want to go, then I'll do whatever you want me to do after. I won't even put up a single argument."

He swallows. But then he nods, and I quickly get in the back as he gets back in the front.

"Where?"

"School for Special Needs." I list off like a robot, and clutch the back of the seat as he searches the location up in the fancy-looking navigation on the front.

The estimated time shows up as thirteen minutes.

"Get me there in seven, please."

__________________________

He really does get me there in just seven minutes.

The moment the car pulls up against the school building, I give him a quick bow and call out a thank-you as he rolls his window down.

"Keep your promise!"

"Of course I will!" I yell over my shoulder as I rush up to the front doors, running faster than I'd probably ever done in my life. "Thanks again, though!"

I crash through.

"Jeon— Jeon Rieul." I gasp at the woman at the front desk, and she breathes.

"Thank goodness you're here." She says, and I look up at her in worry as she stands from her seat. "Follow me. Jungkook wouldn't come out of the storage for the past hour."

I wince.

I should've looked at my phone earlier. I'd been so caught up with work I'd completely missed all five of the calls.

She leads me towards a firmly shut door. There are several teachers standing around, one of them knocking and talking in a steel voice.

"Jungkook. Come out right now, you're being—"

"Sorry. But can I—" I pipe up, and the female teacher sighs, getting to her feet. Then she strides back to the group, shaking her head.

I take a seat in front of the door.

"Jungkookie?"

Then I press a hand against the cool surface of the wood, tapping my finger softly two times.

"Jungkook, I know you're scared right now." I say, and I can hear the sound of shifting on the other side. "But I'm not mad at you. I'm actually here to take you home."

I smile.

"We can get candy on the way."

But the door doesn't open still, and I change my voice to a soothing tone.

"Do the method I taught you." I whisper through the wood when I hear bits of rough breathing inside. "Count your fingers, baby. How many are there?"

A shaky voice comes through, and I put the smile back in my voice.

"T-Ten."

"Ten, right? So now take one deep breath, for every one of those fingers." I say, pressing my forehead to the door. "And on ten, you can tell me if you want to come out or not. Okay?"

A silent half-minute passes, and the teachers start whispering doubtful comments to each other.

But I know.

I look up with a happy smile when I hear the soft click of the lock unlocking, see the door slowly swing open.

"Kookie!" I laugh, wrapping my hand around his. He avoids looking at the direction of the teachers, his fingers tightening to mine.

"N-Noona, can we go home please."

"Sure." I say, patting the top of his head. He leans into my touch, and I quickly give a bow to the teachers standing by with their mouths open.

"Me and Kook will be leaving now. Thank you again for contacting me."

Jungkook only relaxes once we're back out the doors. But his bottom lip still trembles when I glimpse at him in the corner of my eye, and I grip his hand tighter.

"Kook, you're fine now."

"N-No, it's not fine." He whispers, and I blink. "I broke things again, Noona. I'm not stupid. They're going to k-kick me out, never let me back in."

"That's not true."

He's barely holding back tears, and I draw circles on his palm.

"Jungkook, I'm serious." I murmur, holding his shoulders and looking into his eyes. "If those teachers didn't care about you in the first place, do you think they would've stayed, or left?"

He sniffles.

"L-Left?"

"Right." I nod, but then I look back to the black car. It's still parked on the curbside, waiting. "But they didn't, did they? You're not going to get kicked out, Kook. I could bet a million dollars on it!"

He giggles softly.

"You don't have a m-millions, Noona."

"Well, if I did." I admit, but he looks better now than before as I walk towards the car. "So, uh— this car you see right here—"

The window scrolls down.

"I really don't want to get fired." The man says, and Jungkook stumbles back a step. "Can you please get in? I need to take you to him."

"What? Who?"

"Mr. Kim." He says, and I instantly tense up. Then I reach for Jungkook, who looks more confused than ever as he looks back nervously between me and the driver.

"N-Noona? What's going on?"

I couldn't let Taehyung see Jungkook. I'd already gotten plenty of seeing him take control of him back at V, and I wouldn't let that happen again.

A soft curse echoes in my mind.

If I hadn't given this man a promise that I'd come with him, I'd simply turn away.

But I owed him this, for bringing me here to Jungkook.

"Alright." I say, squeezing on Jungkook's shaking hand to let him know that everything was fine.

"But just one more stop before we go."