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This story is dedicated to you if you have ever been abused by someone bigger, stronger, and seemingly more powerful than you.  You are not alone.  You are infinitely precious.  And the trauma you endured is not your fault.  Know that you are so loved.  And whatever trauma you have been through – it does NOT define you.  You are a beautiful rose, a lovely lily, a most precious gem.

Rated M for Mature.  This story deals with some difficult topics and involves some graphic situations.

Yoongi stayed with her into the evening.  Together, they made dinner for Julieta and Tia.  He and Stasia had decided during their second shopping trip to cook a feast for tonight.  They made a lot of food and invited Jin and Tae.  As they were getting the table set up for dinner, Jin pulled Stasia to the side when he followed her into the kitchen to help her bring the dishes to the table.

“Yoongi’s birthday is Monday.  We’re going to throw him a surprise party,” he whispered.  “We’re thinking we should do it here.  Would you like to help?”

She nodded eagerly.  “Text me.  I’ll have Julieta send you my number.”

Jin nodded as Yoongi entered the kitchen.  He gazed suspiciously at Jin.  “What’s up?”

Face innocent, Jin opened wide eyes.  “I came to help Stasia carry dinner to the table.  We were discussing recipes.  She was telling me that she made a delicious dessert.”

Stasia’s eyes widened in shock.  She’d said no such thing.  How did he know?  Her eyes wandered to the caramel slices which she’d just removed from the fridge.  

I guess Jin has eyes in his head.

Yoongi grinned.  “Ah, yes!  The famous caramel slices.  You’ll love them!”  He met Stasia’s eyes.  “Jin likes sugar,” he chuckled.

“But oddly enough, Suga isn’t that fond of sugar.” Jin was the one laughing now.

“You know my name isn’t Sugar, Jin!” Yoongi burst out.

Jin nodded.  “But most of the English-speaking world thinks there’s a connection!”

Yoongi shook his head, though he knew it was true.

“I’m not sure I’ll like them much though, Yoongi.”  Jin glanced at Stasia. “Sorry, but there’s chocolate on top.”

Stasia frowned apologetically.

Each carrying a dish, they all headed to the table.

—

The next few days moved more swiftly than Stasia would have dreamed.  Julieta and Tia were there Friday night when she returned from work, and they spent a good part of the weekend with her.  She could tell they were trying to set her at ease.  They were both very sweet in their own way.

Once Yoongi had established that Julieta and Tia were there for her, he pulled back a little.  He had a very busy schedule set for the next few weeks as the guys prepared for their upcoming tour.  But he checked in with her every day.  He even came to visit her in the evening most nights for a little while.  Often, Jin and Tae would come with him.  A lot of times the six of them would play a game or watch a show together.  Stasia found herself relaxing around them all.  She had never had a group of friends like this before.  It was amazing.

How strange that as she recovered from the most traumatic experiences of her life, and as she stepped into a time that would test her fortitude and perseverance, she was suddenly surrounded by a group of such beautiful souls.  She had cried herself to sleep Sunday night.  But not from sorrow.  From gratitude.  For them.  

Monday night, they did surprise Yoongi.  He thought he was just coming to see Stasia.  He had even told the guys that as his birthday present, he wanted to spend the evening with her.  He was going to take her to dinner at his favorite restaurant.  So they all played along.  At the end of dinner, she invited Yoongi back to her house.  He went along willingly enough.  He didn’t think that she even knew it was his birthday.  She hadn’t said anything.  Nor had he.

But when they arrived, stepping into a dark kitchen, suddenly the lights came on, and several people shouted, “Happy Birthday, Yoongi!”

His eyes grew wide as they traveled swiftly around the packed kitchen.  Jungkook, Jimin, Jin, Tae, Hobi, Namjoon, Breeze, Julieta, and Tia were all grinning at him.  Finally, his eyes came to rest on Stasia’s face.  He suddenly grinned.  

“All along, you knew today was my birthday.  Didn’t you?”

She smiled.  “Yes, but I didn’t want to give the surprise away.  I made you a little something to celebrate.”

He scowled.  “Don’t tell me it’s a salted caramel tart.”

She laughed.  “Nope.  It’s Pavlova.”  She moved to the side, and he discovered that hidden behind her had been a gorgeous mountain of fresh berries on top of a whipped cream covered cloud.

Curious, he asked, “What is that?”

“It’s a meringue cloud topped with fresh whipped cream, strawberries, blueberries, and red raspberries.”

His face brightened.  “So…not too sweet?”

She grinned.  “Nope.  It’s not very sweet at all.  And I made several, so there’s plenty for everyone.  I made you a big one.  But everyone else gets their own mini version.”

He wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms.  And then cover her in kisses again.  Instead, he simply smiled.

“Come on, birthday boy!  Let’s carry these to the table.  We’ve all been waiting to try these all night long while you two were lingering over your fancy dinner,” Jin teased Yoongi.

Everyone grabbed their own Pavlova except for Yoongi, whom Stasia told to go sit down.  “I’ll carry yours out in a moment,” she added mysteriously.

He raised his eyebrows but left her alone in the kitchen as a herd of people accompanied him into the dining room.  Into the pile of whipped cream, Stasia stuck ten candles, two on one side and eight on the other to form the Korean equivalent of his age.  Twenty-eight.  Though, he was really only twenty-seven in her world.  Then she lit the candles and carried his whipped cream and meringue birthday cake out to the table.  She set it before him, and they all sang “Happy Birthday” to him.  Then she ran back to the kitchen for her Pavlova before sitting down next to Yoongi.  She glanced around the table.  Everyone had waited for her.  She was shocked.  She turned to look at Yoongi.  

“Go ahead, birthday boy,” she echoed Jin’s appellation for Yoongi, “you take the first bite.”

So he did.  He found it utterly delightful.  He smiled at her around the cream cloud and its berries pleasing his tongue in that moment.  Almost as much as the girl sitting next to him delighted his soul.  He grinned at her and happily devoured the tiny mountain before him.

Everyone else enjoyed it too.  But Jungkook found himself mostly thinking of how much he missed Hyejin.  Maybe it was time he told the guys about her.  Clearly, Jin and Tae had joined Namjoon in the owning-their-girlfriends department.  And it appeared that Yoongi was falling for Stasia.  So why did he continue to hold himself back from telling them about Hyejin?  Even Hobi had made a special friend in Japan.  And everyone knew Jimin was in love with an Irish girl living in Paris.  

He sighed.  He couldn’t explain why he’d wanted to keep Hyejin to himself all this time.  Really, they were just friends.  They hung out together.  Playing with 22.  Beating each other at various video games.  She shone in certain ones.  Some other ones Jungkook excelled at.  He just loved spending time with her.  But he might see her more often if he told everyone about her.

Just then, a knock sounded on the front door.  

Suddenly, Breeze piped up, “Jungkook, would you mind answering the door?  I made a new friend this past week, and I invited her tonight.”

Jungkook just stared at her, then he looked around the table.  No one else seemed surprised that Breeze would invite a new friend to Yoongi’s birthday party.  He glanced down at his plate.  He was the first one to finish.  Maybe that’s why she’d asked him to answer the door.  But it was Julieta and Tia’s house, so why was Breeze asking him to answer their door?  He glanced at Julieta questioningly.  

“Yes, Jungkook, please be a darling and get the door.”

He bowed his head to her and stood up.  Suddenly, as he walked towards the door, he got a sinking feeling in his stomach.  What if they were all trying to set him up?  Yes!  They must all feel sorry for him.  Thinking he was the only one without a girlfriend.  Oh, dear.  This was going to be problematic.  He already felt sorry for this girl.  Whoever she was.

Full of trepidation and wondering how to let her down easily, he opened the door.  Then his mouth fell open.  He looked around.  “Hyejin?” he whispered.  “What are you doing here?”

“Breeze invited me.”

“Breeze?  How do you know Breeze?”

She smiled and leaned towards him.  “They’ve found us out, Kookie.”

“Who?”

“Who do you think?”  Her eyes were dancing with laughter.  “All of them.  Your friends.”

Tae?!  He swung around and found them all standing behind him.  His eyes found Tae’s.  

Tae shrugged.  “I didn’t tell a soul, Jungkookie.  Jimin found out, and he told everyone.”

“Hey!” Jimin punched Tae.  “You ratted me out!”

“Well, it’s the truth!  I can’t have Jungkookie thinking I betrayed him.”

“Betrayed him?  Wait!  You knew about him and Hyejin?”

Tae looked at the ceiling as he clasped his hands behind his back and began to whistle.

Jimin punched him again.  “You knew?!  And you didn’t tell me?”

“Because he’s a faithful friend,” Jungkook defended Tae, “and he knew I wanted to keep my secret.”  He sighed ruefully, but then he turned back to Hyejin, his famous grin on his face.  “I was just missing you so much and wondering why I’d kept you a secret for so long!”

“It’s ok, Kookie.  I know why you kept me a secret for so long.  When we started hanging out, no one had a girlfriend.”

His eyes met hers.  He’d never called her his girlfriend. Hyejin saw that look.  She rushed to clarify, “Jungkook and I aren’t dating.  We’re just friends.”

Jungkook took exception to her words.  He lifted pained eyes to meet hers.  She read his distress, and it shocked her.  All these months, and despite teasing her, he still hadn’t even tried to kiss her.  She’d really begun to believe that he didn’t have romantic feelings for her.  

When he’d returned from Paris, something had been off.  He hadn’t tried to steal the kiss that he’d promised to come for.  In fact, he had pulled away from her a little.  He’d still come to see her most mornings.  At least when he could sneak away, he had.  But he treated her more like a good friend than a girlfriend.  

She’d been crushed, but she’d hidden it.  Was he just confused? In the beginning, he’d told her he loved her.  He’d even written her that lovely song.  But then she’d never heard those words again.  And he had…changed.  She’d never been sure why.  And she wasn’t brave enough to ask him.  

So she had decided to be simply satisfied with his friendship.  That was a lie.  She wasn’t satisfied at all!  She loved him desperately.  And she was terrified that he’d realized he could do better than her.  He was, after all, the most beautiful man in the world right now.  How on earth could she compete with his millions of fans?  

She had seen him often between the end of October and Christmas.  But after that, his visits had tapered off.  Then he’d spent nearly a month in the United States.  He’d called her a few times.  He’d texted her more often.  But mostly, he’d been silent.  His text messages were short and to the point, mostly just filling in the details of his days spent in America.  She’d gotten the impression that he was exhausted.  And maybe in pain.  She’d watched one interview with him, and he’d been rubbing his shoulder and stretching.  She’d wondered if he’d gotten injured.  But when she’d texted to ask him, he hadn’t responded.

He’d arrived back in Korea in mid-February.  A couple days later, he was on a plane for Japan.  He’d come back a few days later.  But then the boys had been busy releasing their new album.  She hadn’t actually seen Kookie for nearly four weeks.  She knew he’d been crazy busy with comeback interviews and practices.  They were spending a lot of time promoting their new album and their upcoming tour.  

Still, she was heartbroken.  She’d stopped texting him so often.  He wasn’t silent, but he might as well have been for all the content he provided her with.  He simply texted a short description of his schedule most days and told her he missed her.  No “I love you.”  

Yes, she was simply his friend.  His secret friend.  No one knew about them.  Or so she had believed until she’d met Breeze earlier last week.  She still suspected that it hadn’t been an accident.  Breeze had met her at the park one morning and struck up a conversation.  Then she had pointedly asked Hyejin, “You’re a friend of Jungkook, aren’t you?”

Hyejin had been caught off guard.  She didn’t think Jungkook had told anyone about her, but clearly, she was wrong.  So she’d admitted their friendship.  Then Breeze had invited her to come tonight, but she’d asked Hyejin not to say anything to Jungkook.  His friends wanted to surprise him.  Hyejin didn’t really understand why they wanted to keep it a secret.  It wasn’t like she was Kookie’s girlfriend.

—

His friends approved. They liked Hyejin.  If they didn’t, they wouldn’t have invited her tonight.  He realized that in the beginning, he had been worried that they might not approve of her.  Maybe not so much Hyejin herself.  But of him having a girlfriend.  None of them had had a girlfriend when he’d met her.  

Namjoon had acquired one soon after, but Breeze spent a lot of time at the university, and Namjoon was three years older than Jungkook.  And Breeze was a special case.  She’d spent years writing Namjoon a book.  Jungkook had simply met Hyejin at the park near their homes.  He had no great love story to tell.

Now he stared at her.  She’d just said that they were only friends.  Did she not love him anymore?  He was crushed.  He tried to cover up his true feelings by smiling at everyone.  But his joy didn’t reach his eyes.