Ara’s arm buzzed for the next few days, right where Taehyung’s fingers locked themselves.  It was an unforgiving grasp hardened by years of experience, his calloused hands telling their own story.  As she dozed off into space, she lost track of helping Seulgi tidy up the lab.

“Hey, watch it!”

She snapped out of her daze just before she ran into the edge of the desk.  She sighed with relief, only to have Seulgi groan.

“You almost dropped the grenade prototypes I’ve been developing.  God only knows what would happen if you did!” she exclaimed.

“Sorry,” Ara mumbled.

Seulgi’s eyes softened to their usual deep brown.  “You seem to have a lot on your mind,” she set her boxes down and sat in a nearby chair.  “Thinking about home?”

Ara’s mind flashed back to Taehyung, and then to her encounter with Namjoon.  “I guess you could say that,” she said, setting her own box down.

“What’s it like?”

“Well, I grew up in the barracks back home.  My parents died when I was young, so the army’s basically my family,” Ara explained, pulling up a chair. “I had a team.  Yoongi was on it. We’d always have a blast at whatever we were doing, even missions.” She smiled softly. “Even though I didn’t travel much, the air and the flowers always made me imagine what it was like to be in a different world.”  She looked down. “Now that I am in a different world, it’s more hellish than I thought it would be.”

Seulgi sat in silence for a moment.  “My parents died too. And my older brother,” she said quietly.  She looked at her hands, folded neatly in her lap. “We…we tried to escape.  To reach the border and seek freedom. Things were really bad in our tiny community.”  She closed her eyes. “We were caught, and they tortured us, one by one. I caught the eye of the commander, and he forced me to volunteer for the ROMAN program.  If I did, he would let my family live.”

Her strong body shook with small sobs.  She hastily wiped her running tears. “Of course, I agreed without hesitation,” she said.  She looked up and locked eyes with Ara. “But they killed them anyway.”

Ara looked down.  “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Seulgi said.  “I don’t want to be pitied on.”  She chuckled as she wiped her tears.  “It’s been years. The program wanted me to forget everything about them so I could become a strong soldier, but…the fact is, there are certain memories a simple program can’t erase.”

It sounded cheesy, but Ara believed it.  She had to grasp onto her precious memories as hard as she could, with her life.

“Anyways,” Seulgi started as she rose to her feet.  She came over and grasped Ara’s shoulder. “I know we’re in the North, and we’re supposedly on the same team, but I hope you get to go home.”

Ara smiled.  

--

Ara found herself retreating to the gym more often.  There was something about putting her body to work and destroying it only to put it back together again, it drove her.

To her delight, the gym was empty, and after she stretched, she found herself in front of a punching bag.  She tightened her gloves and made a few test jabs in the air, feeling the nothingness give away and send a small gust of air towards her face.

She turned and threw a solid punch in the middle, she regained her balance and threw a couple strong punches where someone’s chest would be.

“I’ve missed you.  I’ve missed you so much, so…come back with me.”

Another punch.

“You’re not a monster.”

A hard kick.

“You’re still Jeon Ara.  We can fix this.”

She stopped and leaned her head against the bag, closing her eyes.  She remembered the gentle touch of his lips on her forehead. It was filled with longing and grief.