AUTHOR'S POV

Jungkook jogged down the stairs of the campus building, a small grin tugging at his lips as he glanced at the paper bag in his hand.

Inside was her favorite meal from the café, the one she always claimed made her "feel alive again" after long classes.

"She's probably waiting near the parking area already," he mumbled to himself, brushing his hair back as he quickened his steps.

But when he reached the parking lot, his smile slowly faded.

The area was nearly empty, only a few students walking past, the orange glow of the setting sun reflecting off the parked vehicles.

He scanned the spot where she usually stood waiting.....next to the lamppost, where she'd always wave at him the moment she saw his bike.

Nothing.

He frowned, checked the time, then the gate. Maybe she was late?

"Maybe she went to the café again," he murmured, though his gut already knew something felt... off.

Still, he waited..... two minutes, then five.

By the tenth, the bag in his hand started to feel heavier than it should.

He took out his phone and called her. Once. Twice.

No answer.

Jungkook bit his lower lip, exhaling sharply through his nose. "You're testing my patience, YN..." he muttered.

He turned back toward the building and started walking briskly, the unease growing with each step.

"Library," he said under his breath. "She was supposed to go there after class..."

He jogged through the hallway, pushing the door open, only to find the library empty.

His jaw clenched."She's not here either?"

He rubbed his forehead, feeling that familiar irritation crawl up his spine. But beneath it... was something worse.

Worry.

Where the hell did she go?

Then, a thought struck him, Haneul.

That guy had been hanging around her lately, asking her out for coffee, smiling like a damn puppy.

Jungkook's fists tightened. "If she's with that guy..." he muttered, eyes narrowing as he marched toward the café.

He pushed through the crowd, scanning every table, but she wasn't there either. The seat by the window, the corner she liked, all empty.

He exhaled harshly, running a hand through his hair. "This girl will be the death of me," he said, frustration dripping from every word.

He called her again.... no answer.

His foot tapped rapidly against the floor, his jaw tight."Fine. Ignore me then," he said bitterly, but the flicker of panic in his eyes betrayed his words.

"Fuck it!"He turned on his heel and jogged back into the building, his shoes echoing in the empty hallway.

The library was dimly lit, almost deserted. Only the librarian was there, packing up for the evening.

Jungkook's eyes scanned the tables, empty chairs, scattered notes, quiet shelves, until something familiar caught his eye near the window seat where YN usually studied.

A small, leather-bound notebook.He picked it up.

It wasn't her chemistry notes... the cover had her neat handwriting - Dear Diary.

His brows furrowed."She must've forgotten it in a rush."

Without thinking, he slipped it into his bag carefully, like it was something precious.... and pulled out his phone again. His thumbs typed fast, anxious.

Hey, where are you? I was looking for you!

He hit send and waited,but the message didn't even get seen.

He stared at the screen, watching the clock tick past another minute, a strange heaviness settling in his chest, the kind that only comes when something doesn't feel right.

★★★

Her legs moved on their own.

She didn't even remember when she started walking, just that she had to get away. Away from the parking lot. Away from the laughter echoing in her mind.

Away from him.

The street was empty, washed in the faint glow of flickering lampposts. Her footsteps echoed in the silence, soft but unsteady.

The world around her blurred,cars passing, voices in the distance...all of it muffled, drowned by the storm inside her chest.

She kept walking and walking....Until her feet ached and her throat burned from holding back the sobs threatening to break free.

When she finally stopped, she was standing at the bus stand. She didn't even remember how she got there.

She laughed bitterly, her voice cracking.

"It was all a bet..." she whispered to herself."And I actually fell for it."

Her phone buzzed, a message from Jungkook.

"Hey, where are you? I was looking for you."

Her thumb hovered over the screen,tears smearing her vision...She smiled, broken.

"Congratulations!"

"You won, Jungkook," she whispered to no one. "Hope it was worth it."

She deleted the message, and turned off her phone. Before texting her mom that her phone is about to die and she had already taken a bus , so don't worry.

Her heart was a mess of emotions she couldn't untangle? pain, disbelief, anger, humiliation. It all swirled together until she couldn't tell one from the other.

She sank onto the metal bench, her hands gripping the edge tightly. The night breeze brushed against her damp cheeks, cold against the heat of her tears.

She didn't want to think anymore.

Didn't want to remember his smile, his voice, his promises.

Didn't want to feel the ache in her chest every time his name echoed in her mind.

Her eyes stung as she looked up at the dark sky. "Why did you do this to me?" she whispered to no one.

Harshly, she wiped her tears away, as if erasing them could somehow erase him too. The pain refused to leave, it sat heavy in her chest, suffocating her with every breath.

Right now, all she wanted was to go home.To curl up in her bed, away from everything, away from everyone.

To let her heart break where no one could see.

A bus approached, its headlights slicing through the night. She stood, blinking away her tears, forcing her face into a blank expression.

The doors opened with a hiss, and she climbed aboard without a word, clutching her bag like it was the only thing keeping her from falling apart.

As the bus pulled away, the city lights blurred through the window, just like the memories she wished she could forget.

★★★

Jungkook, Eunwoo, and Mingyu had been searching for YN for hours.

They'd checked every corner of the campus, the library, the café, even the small park where she liked to sit and feed the stray cats.

Nothing.

Her phone was switched off.Her house? Empty. Her mom had opened the door with tired eyes and said, "She hasn't come home yet."

That sentence had made Jungkook's stomach twist.

Now they were standing near the bleachers at the basketball court, tension thick between them. Mingyu's phone suddenly buzzed with a notification.

At first, he didn't think much of it... until he saw the thumbnail.

It was a video.

The one from that day.

The day Jungkook had laughed with them about the bet.

Mingyu's heart dropped. His fingers froze before he tapped on the video.

There they were, sitting right on that very court....laughing, joking.

But the start of the video wasn't what froze them, it was the end.

Because someone had recorded another clip right after.

YN standing in the parking area, holding her phone, watching that video - the one of them.

Her eyes were wide. Her lips trembling.

And then the soft, broken laugh that wasn't really a laugh at all... before she turned around and walked away with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Shit..." Mingyu muttered under his breath.

"Damn it," Eunwoo whispered, looking at the video "Jungkook you need to see this."

"What?" Jungkook's voice came out rough, disbelieving.

He stepped closer, snatching Mingyu's phone. The moment his eyes landed on the screen, his breath caught in his throat.

Her expression, that shattered look.... it hit him like a punch to the chest.

"No..." he whispered. "No, no, no-"

He felt the air leave his lungs as realization crashed down on him.

"She got to know about the bet!"

Before either of them could say anything, Jungkook turned and bolted.He ran straight to the parking lot, his pulse hammering, his hands trembling as he grabbed his helmet.

"Jungkook!" Eunwoo called after him, but he didn't stop.

He jumped on his bike, his mind spinning with panic.

"I need to talk to her," he muttered, his voice cracking as he started the engine. "Damn it, I need to talk to her!"

The roar of the bike echoed through the lot as he sped away into the night,

the only thing louder than the engine was the sound of his own heartbeat pounding in guilt and fear.

------

Meanwhile -

The clock struck past ten when YN finally reached home. Her shoulders slumped, eyes swollen and glassy from the tears she'd forced herself to stop shedding hours ago.

The front door creaked open, and her mother's anxious voice immediately filled the hallway.

"YN! Where were you, sweetheart? I was so worried-" Her mother rushed over, her tone trembling. "You didn't pick up my calls, and Jungkook came by too. He said you weren't answering him either-"

YN froze mid-step. That name.

Her chest tightened painfully.

She forced a small, brittle laugh, shaking her head as if brushing off something meaningless.

"Non sense," she said softly, her voice raw from holding everything in. "I'm fine mom... I'm just a bit tired."

Her mother frowned, worry deepening in her eyes. "Are you sure? You look pale. Did something hap-"

"Please mom," YN interrupted gently, the faintest crack in her voice betraying the storm inside. "I'm going to sleep. Don't disturb me, okay?"

Before her mother could protest, she turned away and climbed the stairs, each step heavier than the last.

Her legs trembled from exhaustion, but her heart... her heart was what truly ached.

Every corner of the house felt suffocating, memories of Jungkook's laughter here, his shoes by the door once, his teasing voice echoing in her head.

She reached her room, closed the door quietly behind her, and leaned against it for a moment. The silence pressed down like a weight.

Her hands shook as she whispered to the emptiness, "You even came looking for me... pretending again, huh ?"

A tear slid down her cheek. She brushed it away harshly, pushing herself toward the bed. She didn't bother changing. Didn't even turn on the light.

She just lay there, facing the wall, eyes open and blank.

Because sleep wouldn't come easily tonight, Not when the boy she had trusted with her heart had turned it into a game.

------

As soon as the house fell silent, and her mother's footsteps faded down the hallway, the fragile composure YN had held onto shattered.

The first sob escaped her lips before she could stop it, sharp, ugly, broken. And then another. And another.

Until she was gasping through her tears, clutching the pillow to her chest as if it could hold her together.

The room filled with the sound of her heartbreak...the kind of crying that doesn't sound pretty, the kind that comes from a place too deep to be soothed.

"Why me?" she choked out between sobs. "Why always me? Huh?"

Her voice cracked, trembling with pain. "What wrong have I done to be treated like this?"

She hit the pillow weakly, her tears soaking through the fabric.

"Was it my fault that I'm like this? That I'm not beautiful enough?" she whispered, her words trembling. "Do I not deserve to be loved? To be treated like a princess, just once?"

Her voice fell into silence for a moment before she broke again, whispering through her tears,"I tried... I tried so hard. I went to the gym, I starved myself, I cried in changing rooms-everything to just look... enough."

A bitter, heart-wrenching laugh escaped her lips. "But I still can't be beautiful... can I?"

She wiped her tears harshly, her eyes red and puffy, anger now burning faintly under all the pain."But still... what he did was wrong. Completely wrong."

Her voice trembled, but her words carried strength. "I didn't deserve this. I didn't deserve to be treated like a damn bet!"

Her voice broke again as she whispered, "I'm a human too. I feel things too. I get hurt too."

Her lips quivered, another tear falling. "But people always made me a joke. A joke they can laugh at and forget."

She stared at the ceiling, her eyes glassy and lost."I thought he was different," she whispered.

"I thought he saw me with eyes that didn't judge. I thought he was my friend... maybe even something more. But I was wrong."

Her voice lowered to a whisper. "He's just like everyone else."

Her chest heaved with quiet sobs as she looked upward, tears spilling once again.

"I thought I finally found a blessing... someone who'd stay. But maybe I was foolish to believe that good things were meant for me....when in reality they aren't!"

Her trembling fingers clutched the bedsheet. "Why, God?" she whispered brokenly. "Why have you written my fate like this? Am I not good enough for even a little happiness?"

Her voice broke completely. "Am I not your child too?"

The question hung in the air... small, desperate, and devastatingly soft.

Only silence answered her.

And that silence hurt more than anything else.

And then the knock echoed softly against her door.

"YN are you awake?" her mother's voice came, hesitant and gentle. "... Jungkook's here. He wants to see you."

YN froze mid-sob, her hands gripping the blanket tightly. For a second, she thought she misheard. But when her mom repeated his name, her heart twisted painfully.

Of course he'd come. Maybe to finish the act. Maybe to see if his bet was still paying off.

"I don't want to meet anyone," she said weakly, loud enough for her mom to hear. "Tell him to go."

Her mother's voice softened even more, almost pleading. "YN, he seems worried, Just-"

"Please, Mom!" YN's voice cracked, too sharp, too raw. "I said I don't want to meet him!"

The silence that followed was suffocating.

She pulled the blanket over her head, biting her lip hard enough to taste blood.

Oh, what would he say if he saw her like this? Her swollen eyes, her trembling hands?

He'd probably laugh. Go back to his friends and say, "Look inside those eyes-I made her fall, and now she's crying for me."

A bitter laugh escaped her lips. "How pathetic," she whispered to herself. "How stupid of me to think he ever cared."

But then her mom knocked again, voice trembling. "Just... just come down for a moment, please? He won't leave otherwise."

YN exhaled shakily, running her fingers through her hair to hide the mess of tears. She didn't want her mother to see her like this either.

"Fine," she murmured under her breath, pushing herself off the bed. "But not for long."

She wiped her face roughly, forcing herself to walk downstairs on trembling legs.

And there he was.

Jungkook stood in the middle of the living room, head low, hands stuffed into his pockets like he didn't know what to do with them. The moment his eyes lifted-and saw her red, puffy eyes...his breath caught.

Her silence said everything.

His chest tightened painfully, guilt clawing its way up his throat. His hands began to tremble, that familiar anxiety creeping in , the one that hit him every time he realized he'd hurt someone he didn't mean to.

But this was worse. Because he hadn't just hurt someone. He'd hurt her.

YN stopped right in front of him. No words, no tears....just that cold, cracked voice that shook more than she wanted it to.

"Why are you here?"

"Y-YN, I came here to-" he started, voice barely above a whisper.

"Let's talk outside," she cut him off sharply. "My mom thinks you're a decent guy. I don't want her trust broken too."

The words sliced through him like glass.

She didn't wait for him to respond. She simply turned and walked toward the front door.

For a second, Jungkook just stood there...his breathing uneven, hands shaking, heart pounding painfully in his chest. He felt sick.

Because for the first time, he wasn't scared of losing a bet.

He was terrified of losing her.

And yet, he followed her outside.

Each step felt heavier than the last, his body trembling with panic and regret....because deep down, he knew whatever was waiting for him out there... he deserved every bit of it.

------

The night air was cold, but Jungkook barely felt it. His chest heaved as he finally spotted her...standing at the gate of her house, her back turned to him, her shoulders trembling ever so slightly.

"Y-YN," he called, his voice breaking.

She froze, but didn't turn.

"Y-Yn, I'm sorry," he said, stumbling forward, desperate, his hand reaching out to touch hers.

"Don't."

Her voice was quiet, but sharp enough to slice through the air. She stepped back, refusing his touch.

He stopped, hand halfway in the air. "YN, please... listen to me. I can explain-"

"Explain?" She finally turned, her eyes wet but burning with hurt. "Explain how exactly you were imagining me confessing my feelings to you?"

Her words hit him like a slap. She laughed, but it was hollow.....empty.

"You don't have to pretend anymore, Jungkook."

He shook his head furiously, voice cracking. "No, I'm not pretending, YN, I swear-"

"Swear?" she interrupted, her tone trembling with anger. "You're good, Jungkook. Really good. You almost made me believe that you actually cared."

"YN, please-" he tried, taking a step forward, but she stepped back again.

"I saw it."

The words stopped him dead in his tracks.... though he already knew what she was talking about, still hearing it from her mouth felt painful.

Her voice broke, but she kept going, every syllable tearing through the silence.

"The video. You and your friends-laughing, calling it a challenge."

The color drained from his face. His mouth opened, but no sound came out.

"I believed you," she whispered, her voice trembling, eyes glistening under the faint yellow streetlight. "Every single word. Every smile, every look, every time you told me I mattered-I believed all of it."

Her eyes locked on his, full of pain and disbelief. "But you... you were just playing."

"YN, it wasn't-" he began, stepping forward again, but she shook her head sharply, her tears finally spilling.

"No. Don't." Her voice was barely above a whisper, but it held the weight of every broken piece inside her. "Don't you dare say it wasn't what it looked like."

Jungkook's throat tightened, the guilt clawing at him, but she kept speaking...each word striking him harder than any blow could.

"You can lie to everyone else, Jungkook," she said softly, her lips trembling. "But not to me. Not anymore."

The silence stretched, broken only by the faint sound of crickets and her shaky breaths.

"You don't know what it feels like," she whispered finally, her gaze falling to the ground, "to finally trust someone after years of thinking you'll never be enough... and then find out that all of it....every moment,was just a stupid game to feed your ego."

Jungkook felt his chest tighten painfully as he took another step, his voice barely audible."YN, I didn't mean for it to happen like that. I-"

But before he could finish, she turned, her hand on the g

ate.

She said again, this time weaker, almost breaking.

"I hope your bet was worth it... because it cost me everything I had left."

And with that, she walked inside, the gate closing softly behind her,leaving Jungkook standing there under the flickering streetlight, the cold night pressing in,and the sound of her quiet sobs echoing in his head like a punishment he knew he deserved.

★★★