Once complete silence filled my ears again, I slowly opened my eyes, staring down at the fancy floor of the in-between. Letting go of a small breath I was holding, I raised my head, meeting Taehyung’s gaze. He was standing on the other side of the room in the doorway, looking at me with crossed arms, as if he was waiting for me to notice him.

“I really had no idea Yoongi was suffering so much when we were living…” I said quietly, straightening up. “He never told us he was having issues with his mom.”

“We tend to hold back things that make us sad in front of our friends. It’s normal.” Taehyung shrugged. “He wanted to remain happy in front of us. Especially Jungkook.”

“Well if they are together now, that’s what matters.” I smiled softly.

Taehyung nodded and motioned for me to follow him. “Yoongi was a bit difficult, but after him, you should have no problem dealing with Namjoon.”

My eyes widened as I walked behind him through the well-lit hallway. “You found him next?”

Taehyung nodded. “I know you two were pretty close so y—“ He flinched suddenly and stumbled, falling into the wall next to us.

“Taehyung!?” I quickly grabbed onto his shoulders, staring at him with widened eyes. “Are you okay?”

He trembled for just a few seconds in silence and then took a deep breath. “Yeah…I’m fine.” His voice was a bit raspy but sounded convincing.

“T-then what just happened?” I moved to help him kneel down but he gently pushed off my hands.

“Don’t worry about me, hyung. I promise I’m fine.” He moved forward without letting me speak. “Come on. You want to save Namjoon, right?”

I stared at him for a moment before catching up. My gaze moved to his upper back, which looked a bit more swollen than it did before. The cloth was raised a bit and the skin I could see on his neck looked a bit darkened. My eyes narrowed as a sudden eerie feeling washed over me. I even though I heard the very distant sound of a bird screech…

As we continued to walk through the hallway, soon we started coming across other closed doors.

“What are in these rooms?” I asked, glancing at each door as we passed them.

“Those are where our friends are, the ones you saved so far.” Taehyung replied.

“Why are they in separate rooms? Can’t they see each other? Or us?”

“You and me can see them, but they can’t see us. Or each other.”

“What? That doesn’t sound very fair.”

“Even though they can’t see, they can feel.” Taehyung replied simply.

“They can feel us? And each other?” My confusion only rose.

“Yeah. You know, like a spiritual connection.” Taehyung glanced back at me. “Pretty cool, right?”

I blinked. “Yeah…I just never knew that was possible.”

“You never had a girlfriend when you were living?” Taehyung asked with a raised eyebrow.

Thinking he was messing with me, I let out a dry laugh and pushed his arm. “Come on, you know I didn’t.”

Taehyung chuckled and turned back to the front. “Sorry for the walk but we had to switch rooms.”

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow once we entered into another room. “What, is this place up for rent or something?”

“Something like that.” Taehyung chuckled. “Don’t forget we’re in the in-between, hyung. We can’t stay here forever.”

The new room we were now standing in was like a mini-museum, with many pictures lining the walls and several large stone statues placed here and there without any glass to protect them.

“Just two more now, hyung.” Taehyung turned to look at me. “Then we can all go to Heaven together.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked, glancing at the back of his neck. “You scared me back there.”

“I promise I’m okay. Just focus on your mission now. Then everything will be okay.” Taehyung took a step closer to me and raised his open palms toward my face.

I closed my eyes and let out a quiet breath. As usual I felt like falling but it wasn’t as painful as the first couple times. I must have been getting used to it. Then I felt the sudden cold floor of something metal and quickly opened my eyes. I was in a very small, rectangular room with absolutely nothing in it. There was a light coming in from above but I couldn’t quite find where it was coming from. Blinking and getting used to my cramped surroundings, I straightened up and slowly got to my feet. Seeing that there were no windows or doors in the room I was in, I started to get weary, wondering if I was the only one in here. But then a quiet but hearable noise came out from one of the dark corners of the room. Turning my head toward the corner, I couldn’t see anything but the noises kept coming. They sounded like indistinguishable murmurs. As I made my way closer, I could subtly see the figure of a young man crouched down in the corner, his hands covering either side of his head. His deep voice continued to murmur quietly, as if he was reciting a poem.

I swallowed and slowly crouched down to his level. He acted like he didn’t hear me so I carefully raised my hand to rest softly on his arm. This simple action made him jump and take in a sharp breath, immediately dead silent. His head slowly raised, his widened gaze slowly meeting mine. My eyes widened as well. I suspected it was Namjoon, but his whole appearance was nothing like he used to act when we were living. Now he acted like a small, scared child rather than the goofy but charismatic friend I used to know.

“H-hey, Namjoon.” I smiled very softly, genuinely glad to be in front of him now.

His gaze roamed around my entire face as he breathed in and out softly. Then his hands slowly rose up and I felt his fingers graze the side of my face. Once he felt my skin, his entire expression changed. His eyes crinkled and his mouth slowly formed into a small smile. I even thought I saw his eyes get a little wetter.

“You bastard…” He whispered, his fingers holding either side of my face a bit stronger.

I blinked and smiled. “I’m okay. And you can be too no—“ My sentence was completely cut off by him as he suddenly leaned forward and pulled my face closer, pressing our lips together.