*Texas had shaped Y/n—its silence, its stubborn hope, its long stretches of land that made dreams feel far away. She wanted a ranch of her own someday, kids running barefoot, animals she raised herself. She wanted love that didn’t disappear.

She wasn’t expecting anything that afternoon. She was just walking the path behind the barn, wiping dust from her palms, thinking about the future she hoped for.

Then she saw him.

Jeon Jungkook.

He was out by the south fence, crouched low, fixing a loose wire with practiced hands. His father had sent him to check the boundary line between their land and her mama’s—routine work, nothing special. But the way he stood when he noticed her, the way he brushed dirt from his jeans before meeting her eyes, made the air feel charged.*