a/n: i will not put a wedding scene anymore for jay since it feels like the ending for him is already okay.

as for this one, let's assume she already returned because there will be a time skip.

and i inserted one of the reader's idea from the earlier chapters, though don't hate me for this.

since well, some of you is clearly not reading the foreword and is cursing the main girl..😑

now read and vote please!

For the longest time, it feels like you have been trying to make sense of your life but now you see there is no sense to be made, only life to be lived.

There is no set of purpose to fulfill, there are no goals to complete, just an ephemeral moment to breathe, to love, to be kind, to feel.

Life is often all in the simple, little things everyone oftens overlook who always search for something better and yet it never resulted into what they called contentment.

And after a year later ahead of your return to SoKor in your own volition, the biggest regret you have is that you have refused to so many good things just because you weren't sure of them.

One of them is Jake, the one you can say is this person your mom was talking about.

She said, there will come a time in your life when you will become infatuated with a single soul. Maybe you weren't planning in falling anytime soon but then if you met this person, and that's it. Things will happened.

You just found yourself slowly wanting to spend time with him and there's no explanation. It was simple. It was easy.

And you think that's how the best love story begins again.

You're not looking for anything, and then suddenly you realize, you have something.

Now that choice of yours is bringing you back into the dorm and you will be sharing it with Jake, given that Heeseung already moved out, so he joins you while Jay asked for his friend named K to move in with him.

For today, it seemed like every time you struggled to carry a box inside, Jake was somehow already putting a second box he'd carried in the time it took you to handle one. His ease at lifting the boxes was only making you feel bad.

But after you'd finally set the last boxes into the living room, you searched out a piece of scissors and cut open the tape you'd close it with. Opening it, you were surprised to find that it contained your kitchen things with the letters in your mom's penmanship in the top.

"I've moved the last of your bedroom stuff in our room", Jake said loudly from the bedroom as he made his way to where you are sitting.

Your boyfriend, who was now your new roommate, considered you as you stood, looking the picture of confusion. He didn't know you were confused about what to do next.

Before all you have to bring is your clothes and don't need other things such as this when Heeseung is letting you burrow his stuff.

Now that he is gone, all of his stuff is gone as well.

"Thanks", you said with a reassuring smile, not wanting to tell Jake how clueless you were today, "Wait, wait, don't sit down, help me please"

Jake perched on the arm of the couch and watched as you sorted through the things that were going into the kitchen. You'd considered the mugs that you collected from Arizona, wondering if the counter had space for all of them.

"You're doing it again", Jake started in a warning, absentmindedly scratching at Layla - only allowed to be here in one day - when she jumped into the space beside him.

You ignored him as the big dog stretched on the couch, preparing to take a nap in Jake's attention and you looked away from them both, considering your mugs again when Jake cleared his throat.

You should have known better, he knew you too well to hide the way you're slightly fidgeting.

Before you could walk into the kitchen with your beloved mugs, Jake was there and standing in front of you. You tried to avoid his eyes again, knowing you would find them so soft and it would be enough to ease you, to make you forget the stress that was bubbling within you.

And if that happened, you'd get nothing done.

Despite knowing all that, you still let Jake ease the mugs from your hand and put them on a nearby table.

"It's alright", he said firmly, stopping you from thinking it wasn't alright.

He lowered his eyes, ducking it to meet your lowered eyes and when you still said nothing, he squeezed your hand softly. It was something the two of you developed since you returned.

When it became obvious that you were beginning to stress yourself about such things, he'd hold your eyes and your hands, staying right next to you until you said something back, something to assure him that you'll calm down.

His eyes, earnest and smiling, held yours and found yourself looking between them, jumping from one to the other. Did he know that it was your favorite part of his face?

"My baby", he prompted and you nodded, just once.

"I'm okay", you assured and was gifted with a grateful smile in response.

Straightening up to his full height, Jake still held onto your hands and reassured you once more, "There's no need for you to get so worked up, not when I'm here to help you. We'll sort everything out together"

"God, what would I do without you?", you wondered aloud, removing your hand from his.

Jake just shrugged in response, offering you a teasing smile as he picked up the scissors you'd set aside and opened up another box.

He stripped it off the tape and paused, lifting his head as he suggested, "Your life would be a lot more boring without me, I can tell you that"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Sim Jaeyun", you chastised.

"Says the one who returned to me after making me wait for one year", he replied with a chuckle.

"It's a mistake of mine", you said dryly, "I feel sorry for myself"

Lifting his head again, Jake sought you out as you stood across from him and smiled, even without realizing it.

He returned it with a smile of his own before gesturing behind you, "Go and set up our room the way you want. I'll be here, unpacking all these boxes"

"Are you sure?", you asked doubtfully.

"Of course", he waved his hand absentmindedly, rifling through the box, "The sooner we finish up, the sooner the others can visit us"

As you leave him to it, you walked inside the bedroom and looked around, finding two beds surrounded by boxes that Jake had moved for you.

This was going to be a lot of work.

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With everything finally sorted out, you and Jake could begin your lives in the dorm for something new in between.

It was the strangest thing until you lived with Jake in the same dorm room, you thought you knew him but you hadn't known he had the most horrendous habit of cooking a lot and only for you to give it away to your friends.

Or that he hated seeing many pillows in your bed whenever he wants to sleep in your side.

Even now, as you worked away in the kitchen, you kept an ear trained into the living room where you could hear him catching up with some of your friends who came from their vacations.

"Baby?", you heard him call and you made a sound of acknowledgement, reaching for the oven mitts and opening it to get a look at lasagne.

One of the dish that you'd learned from some folks in Tucson.

Satisfied that it looked ready, you lifted the dish out of the oven and set it down the counter. You glanced expectantly at Jake who hadn't said a word.

"What's up, Jakey?", you asked, leaning against the counter.

"Nothing", he shrugged, walking further into the kitchen and settled on the room across from you, "It's just that they're all getting soppy about Heeseung already in College"

"You can't blame them, we all missed him here", you said, gesturing to the piping hot lasagne, "Get a move on, Jake. I'm taking this out and you can bring the wine that Jay sneaked in here"

He returned your smile with one of his own, "On it, my captain"

Once more putting in the oven mitts on, you picked up the lasagne dish and walked out into the living room where all of your friends sat in the couches, talking between each other.

"I knew you all just came for this lasagna", you teased, setting the dish down and removed the oven mitts before taking a seat beside Sunoo who's already holding up a plate.

"Hey", Kai protested, finally averting his eyes from Leo who had the decency to look embarassed at being caught only looking at your dish, "It's not our fault this is the first time you've cooked something edible for us"

"Are you saying that she's not a good cook?", Jay coffed, shoving at Kai's shoulder and saving you from having to point it out, "You've never even once cooked for us other than buy us a take out"

"Don't talk, Jay, as if you didn't like it too for the sake of free food", Sunghoon said pointedly, ignoring the meaningful look you gave Sunoo who started to portion out the lasagne with the help of Jay beside him.

"Anyway, Y/N, something that we were talking about is how the date of the first time we met you is nearing", he added, smirking.

"Why are we even talking about this?", you complained, looking to the kitchen's doorway where Jake had finally arrived with the now uncorked wine bottle.

You knew he read the obvious distress from your face from the way his eyebrow rose, but he approached all of you anyway.

"Because I refused to accept that you didn't tell us Jake was the first guy you see eye to eye among us", Sunghoon glanced away from you, long enough to thank Jay and Sunoo who had plated all of the food to all of you.

"So are you saying that kind of meet up has to mean something?", Leo said from a solo couch.

"Well, I didn't realise it", you admitted, realizing it was better to be truthful.

Sure enough, they all started to laugh and even Jake who took a seat beside you chuckled under his breath.

Only Sunoo spoke and even then, you couldn't help but shoot him a dirty look, "Anyone would think you're still single with that statement"

"Oh leave her alone", Jake finally piped up, a hand extended towards you and resting against the small of your back, "She is just downright naive at times, but she doesn't want to look back on it"

You nudged him with your elbow and complained, "Not you too"

Giving you a teasing smile, Jake finally changed the topic, beginning to question all of them when would they buy their school supplies before the first day in the next two weeks.

It was the one thing you'd like about Jake, eversince the two of you got back together, he had grown to be a boyfriend who was reluctant to share too many details about your relationship even with his friends.

He understand that you wanted to keep it private and that's the way you like it.

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Before the school year finally arrived with a bang, Huening Kai had the ingenious plan to hang out with all of you and suggesting you needed to get into a nearest club with the reason you're all legal anyway to do so.

Despite all of protests, remembering the last time you'd drink alone and waking up in Jay's bed, you wound up enjoying the night anyway. Your friends claimed you would enjoy yourself and they were right.

But you never pointed it out to them that because Jake was there with you and sometimes when you looked at him, it felt like you were looking right into a mirror.

"How did they convince us this time?", Jake asked, his head lowered towards your ears as the two of you made your way towars the bouncer.

"I think all they did is used unnecessary force to get inside your car", you said, extending out a hand behind you.

Like he always did, Jake clasped his hand around your own. He held on tight and let him pull you through the crowd as if you were capable of leading him.

When the silence between the two of you extended, you peered back over your shoulder to find him watching you with furrowed brows. Even in the disco ball lighting the quite rather dark place, you could see his concern.

"What's the matter with you, Jake?", you asked quite loudly for him to hear.

Wordlessly, he tugged on your hand, making you stumble on your feet and drawing you towards him. You offered him an awkward smile, even when he continued to search your eyes.

"If you want to head home, all you have is to tell me", he insisted, speaking slowly.

"I don't want to let Kai down -"

"He's already losing himself in the dance floor", he said dismissively, "Let met know if you want to head out of here"

"You don't have to worry so much, I can handle myself well now", you said, tugging him towards the bar with smile.

"Be warned, I won't drink in case we find you being a blabbering mess after this", he warned as he remembered that particular night of you puking in their dorm.

Instead of answering him, you just gave him a knowing look and tugged through the throng of already intoxicated people. Jake held on steady, letting you bring him towards the bar and when you finally settled onto two stools, he crossed his arms and pressed them on the counter.

He raised a silent eyebrow when you throw him a mischievous smile, "Well, that look spells trouble to me"

"When a friend of mine worked in a Saloon at Tucson, all we do is drink from some weekends there", you told him as he gave out a despairing sigh and you took the opportunity to signal over the bartender, "Can we get some tequila shots?"

"You're insane", Jake shake his head and reached for his wallet, paying for the first round even as he complained, "You're going to get drunk so quickly"

"Oh calm down and enjoy this, baby boo", you say without a care to any consequences for now.

When the bartender places the shots in front of you, Jake apprehensively held the small glass up, staring at it like it was some sort of poison until he just give it to you and ordered a juice for himself instead.

You nudged him teasingly with your shoulder and took the first shot. The alcohol, always your stress relief from time to time, had your inhibitions lowering and before you know it, your asked for another. Another and another.

And before you could order a fifth shot, Jake's hand was there, catching your chin and turning your face towards him in hopes of stopping you.

The last rational thought of yours was his eyes and then, everything blurred as you grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and tugged him the rest of the distance towards you for a kiss.

This is not just a simple kiss, but a kiss with a consequences.

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Someone had forgotten to close the curtains and now the sunlight was streaming into the room and falling directly into your face. Even with your eyes closed, it was too bright and was giving you the most intense headache.

Like always, alcohol is your kryptonite.

You turned away from the window and rolled to the other side of the bed while your eyes were still closed.

It was much better until the ability to fall back into sleep faded when something tightened around your waist and drawing you closer to a source of hear.

It should have been okay, knowing it's just Jake but why was his arm that you could feel too early against your bare skin?

You take a deep breath before you opened your eyes slowly, pushing through your hangover to get a good look at your boyfriend. All your thoughts flew away the moment you realized without a doubt that you were both lying, naked in the same bed.

Jake's eyes, heavy with sleep, opened and stared right into yours. It took him longer than it had taken you to realised what had just happened and yet, the only reaction is of his eyes widening.

Eyes that no longer looked so sleep filled. He did not even remove his arm from your waist or even to push further away from you, so you were securely cradled against his warm chest.

"We need some time to think to recover from this", you said eventually, breaking the silence and scrambling for the blanket.

You gathered it against your chest and shuffled back from him, putting some distance between the two of you. Jake still didn't move as you hurriedly averted your eyes and only looking straight at the wall.

"Don't - don't look. Just give me a minute to find my clothes -"

Not bothering to finish your sentence, you sat on the edge of the bed with the blanket cocooned around you. As you search the floor around you, your cheeks flushed with mortification as you realized all your clothes were scattered around the room.

After reaching for each one and so aware of the eyes on you, you finally reached the bathroom and once you locked it behind, you heard Jake is panicking in terror outside as you heard his footsteps, probably searching for his clothes as well.

Finally getting dressed and ignored the trailing love bites down to your chest, planning in running out of the dorm room to go to your mom, but you failed.

Jake stood in the entrance of the kitchen, holding two mugs, was looking down the hallway like he was expecting for you to do it.

Startled and caught in his eyes, you stood still, uncertain of what to do.

"I made coffee. Join me in the table", he said simply, raising the mugs.

All you wanted was for the two of you to move on from last night and if you took the mug and run away, it would make things worse.

By the time you and Jake were already sitting at the table, facing each other, you weren't used to seeing the beginning of a scratch marks on his shoulders and you didn't bother to ask who did it.

Closing your eyes in mortification, you contemplated banging your head against the table before Jake called your name. You looked up and only then did you open your eyes, waiting for him to speak.

He didn't, not at first. The two of you just look at each other, no one knows where to begin.

"I think it's safe to say we both had too many drinks last night", Jake started before taking a long sip of his coffee, "Let's not beat around the bush, we both know what happened"

"We do", you agreed but quite reluctantly.

"We know what happened, but I can't remember it", Jake admitted, nodding to himself.

"I can't remember either", you offered him a shaken smile and suggested, "It should all be easy to put it all behind us, right?"

"I hope so", Jake spoke softly, rising up from his chair and gesturing down to the front door, "As long as it would not make it awkward between us. I'm just going to take a shower and then we can continue with our plans today?"

He continued to watch you and you just nodded, unable to do anything else.

But once he was in the bathroom, you were deep into a contemplation of whether you should tell it to your mom or not.

What would she even say? You were still only nineteen and turning twenty this coming August.

Could this unremembered night might lead onto something else?

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It took time, but you and Jake returned to normal. Except that of course, it wasn't. You've spend the night