Chapter 16: The Pinky Promise of Never

Author's Note: Hello my dear readers! First of all, I would like to apologize for my VERY delayed update. Truth be told, I was really busy for the past two months because I had my internship. I would go home every day exhausted and then wake up early the next day for work. :'( Hence, I couldn't find time to squeeze in my writing. Aside from that, we had no Internet connection at the condo I was staying at. Lastly, I needed to refocus about what I was gonna do with the story. I thought I had everything figured out but it turned out that I really didn't. I didn't want to continue writing the story until I was sure that it had direction. But now that I've got everything sorted out, I'm back to writing! *squeals* I honestly missed writing the story I have been so invested in and I hope that I'll be able to continue this until the end without any more delays. Once again, I apologize for a very late update. But rest assured that I'm now back to my weekend updates. I hope you'll love this long – awaited installment! :D

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Italicized - Inner voice/monologue

Normal - spoken in Korean

Underlined - spoken in English

…

Y/N's POV

"Okay ladies, that's all for today." Shin seonsaengnim clapped loudly. "I'll see you in our next meeting." She waved at us leisurely before picking up her duffel bag and sauntering out the door. I wiped the sweat dripping down my face as I heard my unni's wheezing breaths in the background (even Feng Jiu – unni's and she was the best dancer among us) mixed with my own. I glanced to the clock hanging on the wall and frowned slightly.

9pm.

We finished later than usual and I was starving. "Y/N." Somi – unni called my name and I glanced over to see her coming over towards me with my water bottle on hand, Haru – unni trailing behind her with my towel in tow.

Am I missing something?

"Yes, Unni?"

"Here. We refilled it for you. I noticed it was empty and I brought a lot of water so…" She trailed off as she winked at me.

I gave her a terse nod then chugged down my canteen with much fervor, a few drops of water trailing from my chin. That was thoughtful of her. "Thanks Unni."

"Here's your towel." Haru – unni chirped.

I sent her another terse nod and wiped my chin and face clean.

"Thank you, Unni."

"Whoo boy. Today was extra tough, wasn't it? I haven't seen Seonsaengnim that pumped up before." Somi – unni sighed half in amazement and half in exasperation.

"With that, I'm inclined to agree." Feng Jiu – unni quipped as she straightened up to her full height.

"Is it just me or her choreographies are getting bigger, even more outrageous?" Haru – unni asked us dubiously.

"Nope. They are bigger. I think Ssaem's teaching us the choreo for our upcoming debut." I solemnly agreed with her.

Before, we covered and practiced choreography by Bangtan and other K – Pop groups. Now, after the recently concluded dance practice, I'm more inclined to think that Seonsaengnim was setting up routines for our future debut, and that scared, but at the same time, excited me. But oh god, the routines she was teaching us were filled with complicated, elaborate movements that contained elements of hip-hop. Our exhaustion earlier was proof of how much more challenging the routine now was.

A silence filled the room as each of us mulled about the implications of what I just said. Was it a sign of fear? Excitement? Trepidation? I really didn't know. I wasn't a mind reader.

Suddenly, Somi – unni and Haru – unni picked up their bags and gestured to the door. "We'll go ahead, okay? We still need to buy something." Somi – unni announced with a slightly wavering voice.

"But we could go together?" I asked unsure.

"No! No it's fine." Haru – unni quickly retorted. Almost, too quickly.

"Just go straight home. We'll meet you there."

Huh.

"Uh, okay."

They waved us a quick goodbye and zipped out of the room. I looked over to Feng Jiu – unni who just stared at me mutely.

I raised my brow questioningly but she just shook her head.

"Let's go." she said before grabbing her bag and striding towards the door.

I scampered to get my bag and follow after her, my limbs protesting the whole process. I was in pain. Excruciating pain. Like my bones had turned into jelly.

I'll be sleeping in pain tonight. How wonderful.

Picking my steps, I gingerly walked across the marble floors, my nimble steps a stark contrast to Feng Jiu – unni's steady ones as they clicked - clacked on the floor.

Rounding the corner, we came upon the long, winding staircase and I internally groaned.

Great. Just great.

Bracing myself, I carefully walked down the steps, wincing every once in a while when I jostled a sore spot. I was in the middle step when a wave of dizziness suddenly hit me and I cried in surprise as I held on the banister for dear life. Feng Jiu – unni swiveled towards me and gave me a look I couldn't comprehend.

"You okay?"

I shook my head and slapped myself a few times before I replied to her. "Y – yeah. Just a little dizzy."

"Okay. Let's go then."

We continued descending the staircase with me holding on tightly to the railing until we reached the bottom step and went to stand by the threshold of the building, where I finally I breathed a sigh of relief

It was another breathtaking night. The familiar comfort of the glimmering night sky gave me a feeling of peace as a cold breeze enveloped me. Summer was almost to an end and with it the coming of the colder season and of all things golden brown.

Autumn.

I've never experienced autumn before let alone winter. Being from a tropical country, it was one of the things I was looking forward to the most upon arriving to Korea. Call me childish, but as someone who, since childhood, wished to Santa to brink me a bucket of snow every year only to find out later that Santa was my parents and was never actually real, having a white Christmas was at the top of my bucket list.

Inhaling the crisp, night air once more, I was about to head to the parking lot where Mi Kyung – unni said she'll be waiting when three masked figures all in black pounced on me.

What the…

The nearest person to me grabbed my arms and pinned them tightly to my back.

Holy crap.

"Hey! What are you-" I was about to demand what the hell they were doing when darkness suddenly enveloped me and I felt the familiar texture of fabric being tied tightly around my eyes.

Holy crap! I can't believe I'm being kidnapped. I don't wanna die!

Who are these guys? What do they want? Where is Feng Jiu – unni? Why isn't she helping me?

"Who are you guys?!" I screeched hoping someone, anyone could hear me. I flailed my arms around and stepped on the foot of the person who had me captive, but he had me too locked in his vice – like grip, his muscles bunching underneath my back as he withstood my attacks. I called for Feng Jiu – unni again. "Feng Jiu – unni help mph!" My scream got muffled as another fabric was tied around my mouth to gag me.

Oh no!

Panic gripped my heart and with renewed vigor I fought back once more, but then my arms started feeling like mush and stars began to swim across my vision. With one last valiant attempt, I managed to rib my captor before blackness consumed me.

When I came to, my eyes were still blindfolded. However a ton of smells and sensations invaded my senses. The air was much draftier but not really that cold, hinting that I wasn't outside. The musty smell of wood mixed with something rusty and metallic tickled my nose. I tried moving my jelly – like arms that were feeling sensation by the minute, only to find them tightly bound in thick ropes to the chair I was sitting in.

Oh great.

I wiggled my chair to try to stand but it was too heavy.

I swear if I get out of these ropes, I'll kill the idiot who kidnapped me!

Giving up on my vain attempts to escape, I took a deep breath and chose to listen to my surroundings instead. Suddenly, footsteps drew a few feet away that reverberated in the space around me.

Instantly, my brain pieced together the things I observed earlier.

Drafty. Wood. Metal.

Huh. So I guess I'm in a big warehouse or storehouse away from the city then? Smart move. I would have been impressed if you hadn't messed with me.

The person stopped in front of me and could feel his body heat as he leaned across me to untie my blindfold. I inhaled and I could smell the scent of cologne and faint male musk and something familiar tickled my senses.

When the blindfold slid away from me, I blinked my eyes and adjusted to the faint light hanging from the ceiling. I surveyed my surroundings and confirmed that I was indeed in a warehouse with metal sheets for walls and wooden beams for support.

Wait why does this warehouse look familiar? Then it hit me and as it did, I looked up at my captor and shock flitted all across my face. There in front of me stood Jeon Jungkook, the Golden Maknae, main vocal of the world famous K – Pop group BTS, looking guilty and unsure.

All at once the shock was replaced with outright fury and I was thankful that I was at least tied up or else I would have beaten him to death.

"What. Do. You. Think. You're. Doing. Jeon. Jungkook?" I bit out through gritted teeth as anger rolled off me in waves.

His guilt melted off and out came the smug face that used to amuse me but now only made me angry.

"What do you think, Noona? You refused to talk to me so I had to do what I had to do." He shrugged nonchalantly, smirk now marring his features.

"So you thought kidnapping me was the solution? That's your stupidest idea yet!" I roared unable to hold back my rage anymore. "Even more stupid than your stupid prank!"

His smirk slowly dissolved and a cruel glint mixed with hurt crept into his eyes as he folded his arms across his chest. "Well, you can thank your unnis for that. They came up with that idea. So they're the stupid ones." He said point – blank.

"WHAT?" I screamed in indignation. "They would NEVER betray me! You dragged them into this Jeon Jungkook! This is all your fault!"

The cruel glint turned into unmasked fury as he sauntered right into my face and seethed. "It is NOT my fault. This is YOUR fault. If you weren't so DAMN stubborn and refused to forgive me we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place!"

I flinched back with the intensity of his anger but recovered quickly and said my rebuttal.

"Well you can't blame me for being STUBBORN! That's who I am! Deal with it!"

"I can't deal with it because it's not right! You're too stubborn to the point that you're being selfish! Have you seen what your stubbornness has done to the people around you? You've isolated them from you and you've isolated yourself from them! Get your act together Noona and STOP acting like a CHILD!"

My retort died in my throat as I pondered what he said. It has been a while since I had a decent conversation with my unnis. Our meals were now filled with a heavy silence, a silence that didn't exist before, punctured by one – word comments and replies. Maybe that's why I was a bit suspicious about the way Somi – unni and Haru – unni acted earlier. Maybe I got used to them being cold to me that seeing them show concern for me was shocking.

Jungkook was right. I am stubborn. I am pig – headed. I am childish. I held onto a grudge I should've let go a long time ago. And I just pushed away the only family I had in Korea.

Shame and guilt crawled over my body and made me feel like such a rotten person that I felt worse than filth.

I looked up to see him heavily breathing, face flushed red from his earlier tirade.

I started to open my mouth. Then closed it. Opened it again but then closed it once more. I didn't have any words to say.

He raised his eyebrows imperiously and sneered at me. "What, cat got your tongue? Where's your spunk now?"

I sighed heavily and shook my head in shame. "I'm sorry." I mumbled quietly.

"What?"

"I'm sorry." I said a little louder.

He craned his head towards me and cupped his ear mockingly. "Could you repeat that? I didn't quite catch that."

"I'm sorry okay?" I screamed in annoyance.

Jungkook scowled at me as he crossed his arms in annoyance. "Hey I thought you were apologizing? Why are you screaming at me?"

"Well you started it!"

"Humph!"

"Humph!"

A terse silence stretched between us, neither one giving in.

This is ridiculous. If no one's going to give in, this is never going to end! Get a grip Y/N! Be a better person!

I breathed through my nose and tried again.

I locked eyes with Jungkook who was still scowling.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I let my stubbornness get the best of me, when I should have let the issue go." I let that hang in the air before continuing. "It was immature and irrational of me. I hope you can forgive me."

I bowed my head in apology.

There was a release of breath before I felt his warm hands on my shoulder. I looked up at him at surprise and I was met with his familiar bunny smile that made his eyes twinkle.

"It's okay Noona. I understand. I forgive you."

"Really? You do?"

He smiled even more and crinkles now appeared in his eyes as he nodded eagerly.

"Positive."

He started untying the bindings around my numb arms and as I sighed in relief and flexed them.

Then he knelt down in front of me and gripped my knees.

"Just … I want you to promise me."

I tilted my head questioningly at him.

"What?"

"Promise me that you'll reign in your stubbornness? Just a little bit. I just don't want something like this to happen again."

I laughed in surprise. "I understand. I promise. I've learned my lesson." I exhaled. "You-"

"I'm not finished." He cut me off and I blinked at him in surprise. "There's one other thing you have to promise me."

"Oh? And what's that?"

He grinned. "That you'll heed my advice when it comes to idol stuff: clothing, hairstyles, how to act in front of cameras, the works. You won't protest whatever I suggest and give it a try, no matter how weird or way off it may sound, okay?"

I raised my eyebrows and looked at him a little unsurely. "Surely, this isn't going to be another one of your pranks right? You're serious this time around, right?"

He met my gaze and looked the most serious that I've seen him yet. "I'm dead serious." He paused to let that sink in. "I honestly think you and the other girls could make it big in the K – Pop world, Noona. You just need the skills to survive in it. And I'm willing to teach you because I want you to succeed." He finished and by then I was gaping in him in shock. To say I was overwhelmed and touched was an understatement. Jungkook was indeed a good person and was slowly proving to be a true friend, a truly rare thing to find in a world where appearances are everything and where friendships seem to be for appearances' sake and I almost threw away my friendship with him. That was a mistake I didn't want to happen again. It took me a while before I recovered and even then I still stuttered from shock.

"T – Thank you, Jungkook. That really means a lot and I really appreciate it." I bowed my head to him in gratitude. "I look forward to learning from you in the future!"

He smiled one of his bunny smiles at me. "It's my pleasure Noona." Then he wore a pensive look before smoothly switching to a goofy face. "So are you calling me 'Seonsaengnim' now?"

I scoffed. "Yah! Don't get so full of yourself. Unless, you've taught me something useful, I'm not calling you that yet." I stuck my tongue out at him.

He chuckled in response. "You're still as brash as ever aren't you, Noona? Okay then, I have a feeling you'll learn something from me very soon." He pretended to pull on a necktie and combed through his hair with pretentious suave. "Jungkook Seonsaengnim is going to blow you away with his vast knowledge of idol life."

It was so pretentiously goofy that I couldn't hold the laughter in and roared out loud. "Y – Yes, I look forward to seeing that." I inserted in between fits of laughter.

Jungkook just shook his head playfully and smiled; his bunny teeth in full display.

Slowly, my laughter finally subsided and another thought crept into my mind, an issue I wanted to address, something that I discovered when I realized how much Jungkook's friendship meant to me.

I paused and bit my lip thoughtfully.

Jungkook noticed my hesitation and nudged my knee.

"What is it?"

I gave him a knowing look in return. "You have to promise me something in return."

He shrugged good – naturedly as if to say he was up for anything. "Call."

I took a deep breath and locked eyes with him, putting conviction into my stare.

"You have to promise not to fall in love with me."

Jungkook's POV

I looked at Noona's utterly serious face before I felt my face burn up in embarrassment and started sputtering in disbelief.

"Wha … I – I … What… You're serious?"

She smacked me in my right arm and I protested in pain.

"Yah that hurt Noona!"

"I'm dead serious! You can't Jungkook – ah, you hear me?"

I rubbed my sore arm and searched her face for any trace of a lie. There was nothing. Only a sharp conviction that shone from her sure, determined eyes, her taut eyebrows and the grim set of her lips.

She was serious. And that brought a slight sting to my heart.

I inwardly scoffed and glanced at my chest.

What's wrong with you?

It stung once more in response.

What should it matter? I'm not going to fall in love with Noona anyway. She's my friend! My friend!

I inhaled and exhaled sharply.

"Fine. Fine! I promise." I said as I raised my right hand. "I, Jeon Jungkook, promise not to fall in love with Y/N Noona." I formed my raised right hand into a fist and placed it over my heart as I finished talking.

Noona searched my face for any sort of prank, found there was none and sighed in relief but remembered something.

"Wait we need something binding." She thrust out her pinky at me and at once I understood. I entwined my pinky to hers and we sealed our promises to each other.

"I promise to stop being so stubborn all the time and to listen to Jungkook's advice when it comes to idol life." She vowed solemnly.

I cleared my throat to imitate her but ended up stuttering instead. (Yeah real smooth. I know.) "I promise to n – never fall in love with Noona." And to remain her friend always. I added as an afterthought.

"Thank you Jungkook. Really." She smiled gratefully as we released our interlocked pinkies.

"You're welcome Noona. But may I know what prompted you to propose such a promise?" I asked curiously.

She gave me a wistful smile. "I just don't want to ruin our friendship. Although, I've never been in a relationship, I've seen enough movies to know that friendships were destroyed because the two friends got together, eventually broke up and were never on good terms again."

I cocked my head in confusion. "But those are just movies, Noona."

She beamed ruefully. "That's true. But movies are a reflection of real life Jungkook, no matter how outrageous or unreal they may seem to be."

Then she patted my shoulder.

"This recent fiasco we got into showed me how much I value our friendship and I just don't want anything to get in the way of that. "

"Plus," she gave me a sheepish smile. "I'm bad at relationships so aside from destroying our friendship, I'll probably ruin your image of women forever if we ever dated. Even more importantly, we're in the idol world and dating your fellow idol could lead to nasty scandals from the media. You're the main vocal of BTS, the most popular K – Pop boy group in the world right now. If the media ever found out you dated one of your label-mates they would have a field day!"

I chuckled. "That's true. You do make a valid point Noona. Don't worry, I'll keep my promise."

She shot me another grateful smile. "I know you will."

The biting chill blew in through the cracks in the wood making Noona and me shiver. We listened to the stillness of the night punctured with only the sound of crickets.

I untied the rest of Noona's bonds. "It's late. We should get going."

She sighed exasperatedly. "Yes we should. We start early tomorrow."

I offered my hand to her. She took it, murmured a quick 'thanks' and we exited the warehouse to head to the van where my hyungs and her unnis were. Upon arriving, Jin – hyung and Namjoon – hyung waved at us while Somi – noona and Haru – noona smiled nervously at Noona.

Noona waved an accusing finger at them. "You! You guys were a part of this? I can't believe this!"

Haru – noona smiled ruefully. "Sorry Y/N. It had to be done. You were just being too much."

Somi – noona chimed in. "Yeah! You needed a cure for that stubborn streak of yours and naturally we had to do something!"

Noona scoffed in offense and disbelief before turning her annoyance to Jin – hyung and Namjoon – hyung.

"Oppas you were involved too? What is this 'Ganging up on Me Day'?"

Jin – hyung smiled his megawatt smile, unfazed by her outburst. "I'm sorry Y/N. You're like the little sister I never had but I can't really say no to our maknae when he badly needed my help."

Namjoon – hyung dug his hands into his pockets. "I'm sorry too, Y/N. But when it comes to Jungkook asking for our help, we're putty in his hands."

Noona swiveled to look at me with a death stare. "You know you're pretty good at getting people to help you. It's kind of manipulative if you ask me."

"Hey now." I retorted breezily. "It's not being manipulative. It's called having people skills. It's one of the things you're going to learn from me soon so you better prepare yourself." I smirked at her imperiously.

Sighing in defeat, she gave me a disbelieving smile. "Fine you win." She turned to her unnis. "But you guys aren't hearing the end of it! For going behind my back, you're going to feel my wrath for next week." She grinned evilly at them. "I won't be cooking for you. You'll take care of your own meals." With that she got into the car, leaving her flabbergasted unnis behind.

"WHAT?!" They screeched in unison and my hyungs and I broke down laughing.

"Yah, Y/N you can't be serious right?" Somi – noona asked Noona through the open window of the van.

"Oh but I am."

"That's so not fair! We did it for youuuu." Haru – noona wailed.

"Well that's what you get for going behind my back. Next time, just say it straight to my face."

"B – But I can't cook!" Somi – noona complained at the same time Haru – noona cried "But I only know how to make toast!" so comically that my hyungs and I laughed even harder.

Somi – noona and Haru – noona realizing what she they just said cleared their throats and hung their heads low.

Noona popped her head out the window, smiled sweetly before shifting into a deadpan expression. "Then order take – out."

"Noo!"

A round of even boisterous laughter echoed after that.

…

"We're home." Jin – hyung called out in the foyer when we arrived after dropping the Noonas back home. It was an entertaining ride back home with the three of them bickering about Noona cooking and not cooking. In the end, Noona relented with not cooking for just five days instead of the original seven days that she declared. I guess even she has a weakness for her unnis.

V – hyung came bounding to us in a big ball of energy. "Hey you guys are back!" He noticed the plastic bag in Jin – hyung's hand. "What's that?"

Hyung raised the plastic bag. "It's ice cream. Something good happened to Jungkook today and he wants to celebrate so he's treating everyone to ice cream."

V – hyung's sunny expression quickly turned into utter seriousness.

"Daebak." He turned to Namjoon – hyung. "Is this true?"

Namjoon – hyung smiled. "Of course."

V – hyung ran over to me and placed a heavy hand on my forehead.

"Hyung!"

"Are you sick? Do you have a fever?" He asked worriedly as he pressed harder into my forehead. Jin – hyung and Namjoon – hyung laughed at his outburst.

"Hyung I'm fine!" I protested and shook off his hand. "What the hyungs said is true. I'm treating you all tonight."

V – hyung looked pensive. "That's strange. You never were one to treat us. You always were the one asking us to treat you."

"Right?" Jin – hyung piped up. "He even used up all of my credit balance one time to pay for his food!"

"Hyung!"

Namjoon – hyung chuckled before he interjected. "Now now, you guys that's enough. Let's just be thankful that Jungkookie's buying us food for once. Something good really did happen today."

V – hyung looked surprised. "It's that good? What happened anyway?"

I shot Namjoon – hyung a worried look but he just winked at me.

"Jungkook will tell us when he feels like it. Now let's go and share the ice cream with the others, 'kay?" Namjoon – hyung said cheerfully before he took the ice cream from Jin – hyung and strode to the living room.

"Yah hyung wait up!" V – hyung hollered and ran after him.

Jin – hyung shook his head in mirth and clapped me on the back. "Nice work today Jungkookie. You worked hard."

I shot him a grateful smile. "I wouldn't have done it without you and Namjoon – hyung's help. Thank you, Hyung." I bowed to him.

"Nah, don't mention it. That's what brothers do right? They help each other especially when it comes to their brother's love I mean friend life." He winked playfully before running off.

"Hyung you!" I protested at his retreating wide back before sighing and chuckling good – naturedly. It was indeed a tough day but I managed to survive it and also got back together with Noona.

No! That's not it! I meant became friends again with Noona!

I shook myself off.

Get your act straight Jeon Jungkook. You promised. You're a man aren't you?

Yes. I am man. I will keep my word.

Can you? A nagging thought echoed in my mind as I joined my hyungs for ice cream in the living room.

…

Author's Note: So that's it for my update! Do you think Y/N made the right decision to set a "No – Dating" boundary between her and Jungkook? Do you think Jungkook made the right decision to agree to her boundary? What did you think of the chapter over – all? By the way, bonus points for you if you find the Easter egg I inserted in there. If you squint hard enough you'll find it! ;)

Also, after this, the succeeding chapters will have more focus on their intense preparation for idol life. So expect some concept revelations, makeovers as well as some new characters being introduced! Until next time! :D