16 août

Monday, August 16, follows Shelby Anderson Barnum from a strained morning at home to her first visit to the University of California, Los Angeles, and an unexpected encounter with Jungkook Jeon’s older brother. The date brings two opposing currents into view: Shelby’s excitement about a long-held educational hope becoming real, and the silence surrounding Jungkook’s recent accident and family conflict.

A strained morning at home

At 9:11 a.m., Shelby comes downstairs dressed for the day and finds Jungkook in the living room looking at his phone. Nothing has changed since Saturday: he has not explained either his irritable behavior or the accident, and the unresolved silence leaves her sad. At breakfast, the two share the house without easing that tension. Jungkook joins her at the kitchen island, his eyes on his cereal and his immobilizing sling prompting repeated complaints.

Shelby appears absorbed in her phone, but after finishing breakfast she puts it away, loads her bowl into the dishwasher, and gets ready to leave. She does not look at or speak to Jungkook. He responds with a small, frustrated gesture, pressing his tongue against the inside of his cheek. The departure makes their distance concrete: Shelby has a destination of her own, while the explanation she wants remains withheld.

The university visit

Shelby drives herself to the university in a Ford Mustang and parks in the visitors’ lot. Seeing the campus façade, she brightens and takes several photographs to send to her father, who responds to them. At reception she receives a visitor badge and documents, then joins a group of prospective students. Their guide, Sara, introduces herself and leads them around the campus.

The visit gives Shelby room to show an enthusiasm she has been holding back. She follows the group, looks around with evident joy, and sends photographs to Cassiopée Smith and Dorcas Peters, as well as Namjoon Kim. Namjoon replies with a message. The tour continues through the university’s corridors and lecture halls; after midday, it ends. The campus is not merely a new location on her itinerary: it is the realization of a dream she had held since high school, and a glimpse of a future she can pursue independently of the unsettled atmosphere at home.

An unexpected meeting at Blu Jam Cafe

Rather than return immediately to the house and Jungkook’s distance, Shelby goes to Blu Jam Cafe. While waiting for her order, she notices a man seated nearby who looks strikingly like her boyfriend. She remembers that Jungkook has mentioned an older brother and wonders whether the resemblance explains some of his anger and unwillingness to speak.

Shelby approaches him to ask directly. The man confirms that he is Jungkook’s older brother, Ye-jun, and asks who she is. Shelby identifies herself as Jungkook’s girlfriend and asks what happened between the brothers, since Jungkook has refused to tell her. Ye-jun’s response begins to expose the family history behind the silence: he recalls being frightened by Jungkook’s repeated violence and devastated when their father, Dong-hyun, subjected his own child to cruelty. The encounter turns Shelby’s solitary campus day into a point of access to a conflict Jungkook has kept from her, though the date’s events do not yet resolve the distance between them.