Ten Months Later

Jimin felt a strong sense of Déjà Vu as he sat in the waiting room of the now familiar Asan medical center, waiting for his annual checkup. He looked around the room, surprised that he recognized so much from.. What was it? Ten months ago? “Park Jimin?” His attention was turned back to the present as a lady in bright yellow scrubs walked towards him. Her nametag read “Kim Eunha”.

“Hi, I’m Nurse Kim, will you follow me for your checkup?” Jimin gave her a lukewarm smile and got up. “Oh, you can leave your jacket in the waiting room.” She said. Hmm, that’s odd, Jimin thought. But he did as we was told, and followed Eunha Kim into a bright white room. She was a nice nurse with a soft voice and tinkling bell laugh. Before he knew it, the checkup was over.

“Congratulations, Park Jimin, you are perfectly healthy. Didn’t you come here around 9 or 10 months ago for-- what was it?” Eunha’s brow furrowed. “A broken wrist.” Jimin happily completed. It’s nice that she remembers, he thought. “Well, we will see you again in 12-14 months, Park Jimin-Ssi. Don’t forget your jacket on the way out,” she added. Jimin walked back through the waiting room and picked up his jacket.

A faded yellow slip of paper fell out. Jimin picked it up, puzzled. It read, “Jimin, it’s Tae, from the hospital. We should meet up sometime. Here is my contact information. Call me!” Included was an email and a phone number. Suddenly a memory stirred. Taehyung, that boy who had cheered him up immensely when he was down, telling him stories and jokes. Jimin told himself that they would never meet again, but deep inside, he knew it was fate.

A happy, bubbly feeling arose inside of him as he took out his phone and inputted a new contact. Jimin pressed the new contact, and then typed, “Hey Tae, how are you?” Only a few seconds had passed when he got the all-caps response, “GOOD! IT’S BEEN SO LONG!” Jimin chuckled to himself. He had clearly not forgotten the innocence of Taehyung.

He paused, and then typed, “Would you like to meet tomorrow afternoon at the Caffebene?” Jimin’s heart fluttered when he saw that Taehyung was typing. Then came, “Sure, is 3 ok?”. Jimin subconsciously smiled. “That’s great. See you then.” As Jimin slipped his phone in his pocket and walked out the door, he felt like dancing. The little encounter had brought a touch of joy to his day, and he didn’t know why. What mattered was he would see Taehyung again.