“You do know that stabbing the porridge with a spoon isn’t going to fill your stomach right?” Jaehyun snapped Jimin out of her reverie. She gave Jaehyun a dazed look and Jaehyun just let out a sigh, thinking that she must really be sick to be acting like this. Jimin was not the type to simply day dream out of nowhere. She was pretty alert most of the time. It was just her personality.

But seeing her like that was a first even for Jaehyun, and it was worrying.

He stretched his arm across the dining table, checking her forehead again and it was extremely warm. “Come on. I’ll put you to bed.” Jaehyun stood up and offered his hand to Jimin but Jimin just stared at his outstretched arm. She ignored it and went on to eat her porridge. Jaehyun widened his eyes in shock at her hostility towards him. Did he do something wrong to make her angry? He put down his arm, letting it fell down to his side as he sat back down on the chair.

He continued eating his porridge, occasionally stealing glances towards Jimin. Jimin didn’t even bother looking at Jaehyun as her whole mind was filled with Taeyong’s words. She had been trying to wreck her brain, forcing herself to remember what she had forgotten. She had lost bits and pieces of her memories after her parents were killed in front of her. Yes, literally killed in front of her. She could barely remember Jaehyun, but she actually did remember him.

Being a doctor herself, she knew that it was because of trauma. The bits and pieces that she had forgotten was a defense mechanism that her brain had unknowingly created. It was a defense mechanism against the most painful memories that she had so she did nothing to remember them since she knew it would hurt her. Why would she try to remember something that would hurt herself? It was like self-harming.

But after meeting Taeyong, and him telling her that they knew each other before made her force herself to break through the walls that her brain made for her own safety. It was rather futile but she tried. She knew she needed a trigger to break through the defense mechanism.

“Thanks for the food.” Jimin simply said and went to wash the paper bowl before dumping it into the recycle bag that states ‘paper’ in front.

“Are you angry with me?” Jaehyun stopped Jimin from walking to her bed by blocking her way. Jimin looked up at Jimin who was around Taeyong’s height. This position reminded her of what happened in the morning just now, when she was forced to look up at Taeyong as she leaned against the fridge. Jimin closed her eyes, reminding herself that it was Jaehyun, her best friend.  

“I’m not. My head’s just hurting.” Jimin said and side-stepped Jaehyun, who was looking at her back moving further away from him.

She went to the washroom to wash her face, trying to clear her thoughts. Jaehyun waited for her outside, leaning against her closet. After she washed her face, she left the washroom, walking past Jaehyun and went straight to bed. Jaehyun just stared at Jimin’s unusual attitude towards him. She had never brushed him off like that before. Not once. They might have fought and argued several times, but at least they would talk things out. They had never once left each other hanging like what Jimin was doing to Jaehyun.

Jaehyun frowned, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion and slight annoyance.

He sighed and dragged a chair from the desk to Jimin’s bedside. “I’ll stay here for the night to take care of you. After you’re better, you better tell me what’s going through your head.” Jaehyun said, giving Jimin a look that dared her to decline. Jimin however, wasn’t at all intimidated since her mind was already filled with senseless thoughts. However, it was also wrong to keep her best friend in the dark. He had told her every single thing about himself, what put him in a bad mood or what not, and she too had told him everything about herself.

The trust they built over the years had made them free of any doubts that they had in each other. And she didn’t want to start breaking the trust that he had in her. It takes years to build a sturdy trust, but it takes a few seconds for that trust to crumble down into nothing but dust. She didn’t want to take any risk and Jaehyun was too valuable to her for her to lose.

Jimin turned her body facing Jaehyun and looked up at him. She was lying down on the bed, getting ready to fall asleep.

“I want to remember.” Jimin suddenly asked and Jaehyun blinked twice in confusion. Not knowing what she meant. Jimin gave a small smile and took his right hand, cupping them in between both her hands and bring them to her chest, just above her s.

Jaehyun was undoubtedly bewildered at that sudden action but calmed down in just a few seconds. He gave Jimin a small smile and caressed her forehead with his left thumb. “Remember what?” He asked, looking at Jimin with his soft eyes.

“The memories that I lost. I want to remember them. I tried so hard but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t even remember my parents faces nor could I remember the murderer and his accomplice.” Jimin said, tears started welling up in her eyes as she tried to picture the image in her head again. But the faces were all blurred. She couldn’t remember anything about her parents. She remembered the times she spent with them but the faces were completely blurred off. How was that even possible?

She didn’t even have a picture with them. Well, she had some but all of them were gone.

“Why do you want to remember them suddenly? You’ve never asked about them before.” Jaehyun said, confusion evident in his eyes, so was worry. He wiped the tears before they managed to roll down Jimin’s temple. Jaehyun had met her parent multiple times, but he had never seen that one picture that she had with them. Maybe if she showed him the picture, he might’ve told her whether they were really her parents or they were just another couple that had taken care of her once.

Jimin just gave a tight smile, not answering to his question. She didn’t want to tell him about Taeyong because she was afraid he would overreact. Instead, she closed her eyes, her throbbing head taking a toll on her body. Her mind was drifting away from reality as Jaehyun’s hand was still in between hers. She was seeking comfort that only he could give.

Jimin woke up, feeling a weight around her body. She tried hard not to wince when she felt the pressure of weight was making her feel on her wound. She opened her eyes and was greeted with Jaehyun’s sleeping face. Both of their faces were so close with each other that Jimin became so flustered that she could feel heat rushing to her cheeks. What the hell is he doing on my bed? She thought to herself. 

They did share a bed together multiple times, but that was when Jimin gave Jaehyun to do so. She didn’t recall giving him the permission to sleep on her bed last night, she just let out a soft sigh and looked up at him. When she did, her cold compress dropped down onto her eyes, making her winced in shock, unintentionally waking Jaehyun up. He was a pretty light sleeper, so small movements like a wince could wake him up.

Jimin put down the cold compress as Jaehyun opened her eyes. “Good morning.” Jaehyun’s morning voice greeted. His voice would become extremely husky in the morning, like anyone else’s. He gave her a small smile and Jimin just returned him with one of her own.

“What are you doing on my bed?” Jimin asked, trying to resist the urge to kick him down the bed. She disliked her personal space to be invaded without her permission and Jaehyun was no exception. Jaehyun just threw Jimin a sly smile and pulled her towards him making her let out a yelp in pain when the pressure was on her side where she was shot at. Jaehyun noticed it and looked down at Jimin worriedly.

"What's wrong?" He asked when Jimin's eyes watered unwillingly when she felt the pain.

"N-nothing." Jimin stuttereed and Jaehyun frowned.

"Bull." Jaehyun cursed and Jimin winced at the harshness of his voice. He knew Jimin inside out, and she couldn't lie. Even if Jaehyun was to rob a bank and she was supposed to cover for him. Instead of helping him escape, she'd most likely stutter her way to have him captured. She was the worse liar that Jaehyun had met, so it was a fortunate thing for Jaehyun in a way. Jimin had no way of lying her way out of anything, but instead of lying though, Jimin was extremely good at hiding her emotions.

She tend to be rather emotionless when she was troubled with something and when that happens, even Jaehyun had no way of getting to her besides the sympathy card of course. Which he used last night. 

"I'm fine, really." Jimin said, practically pleading for Jaehyun to let this go but Jaehyun wasn't having it. Looking at the way she exclaimed in pain just now, it must've been her abdomen that was hurt. Jaehyun sat up a pulled Jimin's shirt up, startling her. She had not expected Jaehyun to be that straightforward. At least he stopped directly below her bra, so her abdomen was completely exposed to him. He frowned when he saw the blood seeping out of the gauze pad. Why the hell was there a gauze pad in the first place? 

Jaehyun gave Jimin a glare, slightly angered that she hadn't told him that she was hurt. Jimin didn't meet his eyes and wanted to pull her shirt back down but Jaehyun let out a hiss, stopping her movements. Jimin just sighed in defeat and let Jaehyun opened the gauze pad. She was going to be in deep trouble. If it was just a stab, she could just pass it off as it being a cut, sort of. Oh, who was she kidding. Jaehyun was a doctor as well.

"Did you get shot?" Jaehyun frowned, looking at the cleaned wound. It wasn't common for korean citizens to have a gunshot wound, so why the hell did Jimin have one? 

Jimin pursed her lips, not knowing what to answer. Either way, he'd squeeze the information out of her, but she needed to at least try keeping what happened between her and Taeyong a secret. Jaehyun looked at her and his frown deepened when he saw Jimin pursing her lips. "What are you hiding from me, Jimin-ah..." Jaehyun asked, his eyes pleading her to tell him.

Jimin kept her lips pursed tight, telling Jaehyun and no matter what he did, she wouldn't say anything. Jaehyun's eyes water slightly and he looked away, making Jimin feel guilty for keep secrets from him. "I'll stitch the wound again." Jaehyun said and got off the bed, causing the bed to bounce lightly. Jimin relaxed her lips as guilt was eating her alive. She didn't even know why she was protecting Taeyong for, at the risk of her friendship with Jaehyun. 

Jimin turned to face the ceiling the same time Jaehyun sat on the edge of the bed. He put the first aid box on the other side of the bed and took out a couple of gauze pads, a tube of sodium chloride and some sutures to stitch up the wound again. He removed the undone sutures with a pair of forceps, throwing them on top of a sheet of plastic that he prepared on the bedside table.

"You know you can always come to me when you're having problems right?" Jaehyun suddenly asked and Jimin looked at him. Jaehyun felt her eyes on him and returned the gaze.

"Are you being chased by loan sharks?" He asked, looking serious and Jimin blinked in confusion.

"Loansharks?" Jimin asked and Jaehyun nodded.

"That is the only thing that I could think of at the moment. The only reason why you were shot. Am I wrong?" Jaehyun asked as he continued where he left of. Jimin bit her lower lip once in a while when she felt the stinging pain on the wound. 

"I'm not indebted to anyone." Jimin said and Jaehyun paused a while before he continued pasting the adhesive tape on the gauze pad after he finished stitching the wound. 

"Then what happened? Most importantly, why the hell were you trying to hide this from me?" Jaehyun asked, his eyebrows furrowed. He was feeling extremely frustrated. Jimin was his best friend and he would do anything for her. Anything. If she needed a million US dollars, he would do anything to get the money. If she needed a bodyguard, he would hire a specialist for her. If she needed to kill someone, he would hire an assassin to kill the person for her. He was willing to sacrifice his life for her, but why was she still hiding things from him?

Jimin looked away from Jaehyun, signalling him that she didn't want to answer his questions. Jaehyun just sighed and said, "Fine. Be that way then." 

The ride to school was quiet. Jaehyun had tried to keep Jimin at home since she was still running a slight fever and her wound hasn't healed yet but she was rather persistent in attending school since she had already missed a whole day yesterday. Apparently, missing a day would mean missing out a lot for Jimin. Well, it was partially true, since she was a University student. If she misses a day, it would mean that she missed out a whole topic, so she would have no choice but to self-study for that particular topic. That was why she hated missing school since she at self-studying. 

After he parked his car, he had stopped Jimin from exiting by pulling her hand as soon as she opened the door and was about to leave the car. Jimin looked back at Jaehyun and he was giving the face that told her that he wanted to talk. She groaned internally and closed the door again. 

"Do you really not want to tell me how you got that gunshot wound?" He asked for the umpteenth time and Jimin let out a sigh, leaning her head against the head rest of the seat. She turned her head to look at Jaehyun and he was still looking at her. He really wanted to know how she got shot and he really wanted to help Jimin.

"It was an accident. I got in between a fight and I got shot." Jimin said, partially lying but her voice didn't shake, lucky for her. Jaehyun frowned at her words, debating in his mind whether it was a lie or it was the truth, he couldn't tell.

"Did you report them?" Jaehyun asked and Jimin shook her head making him frown deeper. Jimin noticed this and let out a deep breath through her nose before looking away from him and faced the windshield in front of her. 

"It was an accident and the person who shot me had treated me personally, so I didn't think there was a need to report him. Can we just let this slide?" Jimin asked, turning back to Jaehyun. She sounded annoyed when she asked the question and it made Jaehyun scoff in disbelief. How was he supposed to let this slide? Why the hell did Jimin let this incident pass so easily?

Jimin was rational and had always been a 'by the book' kind of person. The Jimin that he knew would call the police even if the person treated her. Was she threatened? She would've told him if she was, right? 

Jaehyun ruffled his hair in frustration before leaving the car and slamming the door so hard that it made Jimin flinched. She pursed her lips as she saw Jaehyun paced to and fro in front of his car. She hated making Jaehyun angry, but she desperately didn't want Jaehyun to know that it was Taeyong who shot her. Taeyong knew something about her lost memories and no way was she going to let Jaehyun report Taeyong. She clenched her fist on her lap, trying to resist the tears that had watered in her eyes. 

Guilt. It was eating into her heart but she was desperate. 

"The girl, she's their daughter isn't she?" His father asked, not looking up from the documents that he was reviewing. Taeyong didn't reply his father and just continued looking at him. He knew what his father was going to tell him to do, and he also knew that he won't do it. He can't. He was raised to be machine, a cold-blooded killer, but there was only one person that he wasn't cold to. In fact, he felt emotions that he had never known before when he met her. 

He had vividly remembered the first time she approached him, with a teddy bear in her arms and a lollipop in . She had placed the lollipop in her left cheek to talk to him. Her big round and innocent eyes staring down at him as he was squatting at a corner of his room, silently crying as his back was burning in pain. He was punished for talking without permission and she had came to his mansion when her parents were visiting. 

She had opened the door to his room out of curiosity and had approached him, asking if he was okay. It was the first time someone had asked him that and it was the first time that he felt cared for. 

"Kill her." Were the only words that had left his father's lips and Taeyong felt his heart dropped to his stomach. He clenched his fist that had been dangling on his side before letting out a soundless sigh.

"Yes, father." Were his answer before leaving his father's office.