May 18, 1867

Dear Diary,

It hasn't been too long since my father passed away, but my mother has already moved on. As if nothing ever happened. She has moved on and is planning out her life along with mine.

She has begun to talk about a "very agreeable young man in town". I wouldn't have cared half so much if she left it at that. But no. Every monologue of her's ends with a suggestion that we should invite this man for tea. She then secretly looks over at me to see my reaction. Of course, I pretend I do not hear.

Sometimes I just wish I could run away. But wherever will I go? What about Joy?

Yours

Seulgi

August 23, 1867

Dear Diary,

I've been spared a great punishment today! Probably it has been put off for a later date.

On most days, I usually get up very early because mother almost always sleeps late into the morning. This gives me many hours of alone time, during which I don't have to be on the lookout for her or worry about her meddling with what I do; as soon as she wakes up she is bound to ruin my mood, so I always keep this in mind and try to be an early bird. First of all, I do some chores which are absolutely necessary to be done before my mother wakes up. Then for the next few hours we—Joy and I—play around or take a walk down the main road, sometimes taking detours to kill time.

But today, as I couldn't rouse Joy up, I decided to go alone. Not two steps out of the veranda, and I spotted him lingering on the opposite side of the street. He had his back to me, so I shot a glance over my shoulder just to make sure no one was watching and dashed across the lawn into the street. He turned around and when he saw me walk over to him, he glanced past me and raised an eyebrow inquiringly. He seemed a little surprised and concerned to see me. I told him that everyone was still in bed and not to worry. With that he eased up and started walking. Without meaning to, I too fell into his step and walked beside him talking about this and that. It happened that he was going to his grandmother's place to get some firewood and as the place wasn't so far away I decided to tag along.

Tacitly, we tried to slow down our pace knowing we wouldn't be able to spend time like this again sooner. As we strolled in a leisurely pace, we sighted a woman coming towards our direction. I recognized her first because she visits our place often enough as she is one of my mother's close friends. The woman must not have seen us, because she didn't pick up her pace nor stop walking as she might have done if she had seen us, walking hand in hand at such a time of the day. She was exactly the kind of person who would stop dead in her tracks, raise her eyebrows for a mile if she see's something worthy of gossiping. Fortunately, we knew the sight of our linked hands would've sparked a rumor, so we turned to our right into the thicket of bushes before she could spot us and after some struggling found ourselves in a clear path.

When we got to a safe distance, I became aware of my racing heart. I thought how I would've become mincemeat had the blabber-mouthed woman seen us. The horrible thought made rounds in my mind till I momentarily forgot the person beside me. When I finally glanced sideways, I caught him staring at me, his head tilted and I caught a vestige of a smirk on his lips before his expression became somewhat neutral. He looked away and my heart rate quickened again, though it now was a different kind of beating.

"Don’t worry, she couldn’t have seen us—"

"That was close though." I blurted out, glad I got a topic to talk about till we reached home—It helped to stop the blush creeping up my face.

He’s always been kind to me but since father died, he’s been so much kinder it seems he’s trying to make it up for the loneliness I feel. But there’s a limit to what everyone could do for others. And he’s doing everything he can.

Yours

Seulgi

* * *

Jimin felt stiff all over. He couldn't believe he had been in one position the whole night, slouched over the desk. No wonder he found it laborious to even lift his arms or move any part of his body for that matter. As feeling returned to his muscles and the numbness faded away bringing a dull ache with it so did his foggy memory clear with snippets from the previous night. He would not believe he had spent a part of the night reading an old diary if he didn't wake up with the pages all about him. But there they were, in front of his eyes, the worn-out sheets of paper he had perused thinking they were genuine. But now he wanted to slap himself for having thought they really were pages from a diary which belonged to a girl who had lived and tragically died in the 1800s.

Jimin pushed out of his chair, gathering the papers in one neat stack and as he did so, his eyes landed on her name. It was surprising how effortlessly a young girl's image formed in his mind as though he had always known her. As though he had always associated the name with the girl in his mind. Had he seen her somewhere? Was it a dream? An illusion? Now that he was racking his brain, he vaguely remembered waking in the night. And calling for her, for Seulgi—It might have been a dream. Then seeing the girl. Those curious black orbs looking down at him. He desperately wished he could draw the line between reality and the dream or illusion. But he could not—only his head began to hurt.

So he decided it must be because of the uncomfortable sleep he drifted into while being too much into the diary that conjured up the image in his mind.

* * *

Over the rim of his coffee mug, Jimin looked over at where his mom, busy tending her beloved plants lining the raised wall of the veranda, hummed to an endless song. Like his mom had said, he didn't feel like cut off from the rest of the world or anything. True, it was quiet here but not the kind of depressing quiet of a lifeless day or that of lazy afternoons when nothing seems to stir. It was a peaceful kind of quiet broken by a car passing along the road every half hour or so; or the sight of sauntering tourists with their cameras; or the gentle breezes which lapped at the overhanging branches of trees shaking them back to life so that the quiet never became too much.

Jimin's dad came out, followed by Jungkook. Oblivious to the new company, his mom continued singing, her voice rising in pitch every now and then so that Jimin and the others caught some of the words. They couldn't help but smile at the humorous adaptation she had done to an old song. Before long, the stifled laughter behind her pulled her back to reality. She turned around with a scowl on her face.

"Keep going, keep going," Mr. Jeon said motioning with his free hand while bringing his coffee to his lips.

His mom turned back around and bend over a cluster of flowers. But the scowl didn't stay on her face for long. His dad walked up to her and before long, she became the one trying to stifle laughter.

By the time Jimin finished his coffee, he was all smiles. He stood to his feet and nearly caught Jungkook's eyes but this awkward act was made unnecessary when his dad called him.

"Jimin," He turned around and saw his dad walking up to him. "If you don't have anything special on your schedule today, why don't you come along and help me at the office? Will you be busy—no? Alright then. We'll be leaving in a few minutes."

Mr. Jeon partly owned a law firm along with two of his friends. The building they used for the business needed to be cleared before the end of the month for renovation. Only a couple of weeks ago had they found a reasonable place to move into, so Jimin knew there was still a lot of work to do before they would be able to settle and resume their business activities.

His dad turned to go inside the house but stopped turning to Jungkook who was quietly eating his breakfast.

"Want to come with us?"

Jungkook looked up at his dad then stole a cursory glance at Jimin. "Uh no...dad I've a bit of work to do before school reopens."

"Hmm," Nodding, Mr.Jeon turned to leave. Jimin followed him inside, trotted upstairs. Inside his room, he fixed his hair, while taking a mental note to get a haircut soon, then fetching his phone he quickly climbed downstairs. Upon walking out onto the veranda he saw his dad waiting by the car. His mom, presumably from all the efforts of gardening was seated beside Jungkook. Legs stretched, she kept on showing something on her phone to Jungkook who couldn't seem less interested.

"What about this? This? What do you think?"

"Mom anything is fine. Really."

As he stepped onto the gravel path he looked over his shoulder and said, "I'll be going mom," then walked  to where his dad was waiting by the car.

"Bye Jiminie!"

The minute Jimin got in the car, his phone beeped in his pocket. It was a good thing he waited to check it until later on.

"Sometimes it gets a bit boring here for you kids, isn't it?" His dad asked as he put his seatbelt on. "Now, I know you'll say no, but I can understand." He glanced at Jimin and smiled knowingly.

"No, really—I like it here. It's not that bad. Not as bad as I thought anyways."

"Is it?"

"Yeah. Even mom seems to love the place."

"Yeah. She is too happy to have all the space she needs for her plants."

The wrinkles around his eyes deepened as Mr.Jeon smiled, his eyes focused on the road. With affection, Jimin stared at his dad. He was the man Jimin called his dad knowing full well he wasn't his biological father but still knowing that no one else deserved the term better. The car pulled away and in its wake a trail of dust followed till they reached the paved roads of the city. Jimin looked out the window and saw the scenery change; first the green filmy leaves all around him then fewer and fewer trees which gave way to a gray landscape of skyscrapers.

* * *

On the way home, such a contrast of mood had taken place in Jimin that it took a great deal of effort and will power not to get out of the car frowning. He had read the message unsuspectingly, a couple of minutes ago and he couldn't believe a few words from his girlfriend could ruin his day just like that. She had tried to smooth it up, but in reality what she meant came down to the same thing—a break-up.

Anger and hurt broke through him but he tried to keep his demeanor cool till he got to his room. Then what? He wasn't going to cry like a girl for sure. He should've seen it coming, he told himself. And he should've been the one to let go first, not the other way round.

In his haste to get upstairs, he nearly bumped into Jungkook.

"Hyung…" Jungkook said. Jimin’s tensed state made him furrow his brows with concern, but didn’t speak his mind. "Umm, where's dad?"

"He's coming." Jimin pushed past Jungkook and he had his foot on the first step when Jungkook spoke again. Jimin listened without turning around.

"Hyung?"

"Yes Jungkook," Even in his anger, he suspected he replied a bit too harshly. There was an edge to his voice he couldn't help.

"Are you okay?"

"If I'm not, what are you gonna do?"

"What's that tone Jimin?" It was his mom. He turned around and saw his mom's eyes boring into his, her brows furrowed.

Apprehensiveness eating at him he tried to find a way to wriggle out of the situation before his dad came. "Nothing. Nothing...I am just tired." He rubbed his nape awkwardly, unable to meet eyes with his mom.

To his relief, his mom didn't make a big deal out of it. But nevertheless she seemed a bit surprised at Jimin; even though she had an inkling that the brothers didn't get on so well with each other, this must be the first time Mrs.Jeon must have heard Jimin voice it up.

"Well, go and have some rest then. I'll fix something for you,"

"No it's okay. I've had a meal just before arriving. And it's already 6, so I'll skip dinner tonight."

"Alright."

Jimin didn't wait to read the expressions on Jungkook's or his mom's face as he turned around to go to his room. Once he got himself inside the room he fished his phone from his pocket and read the message one last time, letting the words hit him right in his heart and then deleted it. He took a cold shower and without even drying his wet hair properly, he dozed off only to be awakened again in the middle of the night.

___________________________

Hello, readers! I’ve actually broken this chapter into two parts, because it might be too long. This is the first part. And thank you for putting up with this slow tortoise😄💖💖💖