The rest of the week was mostly uneventful, except for Jimin beginning to recall more and more about his past. Jimin made little progress with Mrs. Jeon, she was responding less and less to questions about her trauma and Jimin didn’t know what to do about it. He tried many different approaches but nothing seemed to work. He also couldn’t get her to talk no matter how much he tried. He was becoming discouraged by all his failed attempts but reassured himself by reminding himself he’d only been treating her for about three weeks.

While Mrs. Jeon was becoming more and more reluctant to answer questions about her past, she was still open in other ways. She interacted with the people around her more and had begun to take care of herself more instead of relying on Taehyung and the other nurse. She would also spend more time outside her room, she’d go to the garden or walk around the mansion. She had also begun to smile at everyone, small smiles but smiles nonetheless. This caused Jimin to completely rule out his hypothesis that it might have been Avoidant Personality Disorder since she seemed to be more social.

Jimin sighed while he thought of other ways he could approach Mrs. Jeon’s past. It was the day before he would be leaving for his old university to give the guest lecture and attend his college reunion and so he was working on a small presentation he’d use to give the lecture. He also prepared note cards in case he forgot what he wanted to say and needed some ideas. When he was finished with that he began to rehearse a little just so he got the gist of what he’d be saying. When he felt thoughtfully prepared he smiled to himself and put the material into the briefcase he’d used for work.

He then picked up his phone and dialed his aunt’s number. She’d texted him earlier to remind him he hadn’t called her for his weekly phone calls that he’d promised her, so he decided that it was late enough that she’d be awake now to receive his phone call. After a few rings, she answered the phone groggily.

“Hello?” he heard her say in a sleepy tone.

“Hi aunty, did I wake you? Should I call back later?” Jimin asked pretty certain that he should.

“Ah Jimin! No, no, I was about to get up anyway. I actually slept in this morning, normally I’m up by this time.” She replied with a yawn.

“I see but really if you’re tired you should sleep. I can call back later.” Jimin reasoned.

“No, it’s fine honey. I’m awake. So how have you been sweetie?”

“Hmm good though a lot has happened since we last spoke.”

“Oh? Like what?”

“Well for one, I’m officially dating Jungkook...” Jimin trailed off wondering how his aunt would react. He knew she wouldn’t discourage him from dating Jungkook, but he was also sure whatever her reply would be would sound worried.

“Really? Well..um..when did this happen?” she asked.

“The same day we talked but at night,” Jimin replied.

“And you’re only telling me now?” She chuckled.

“Yea, sorry,” Jimin responded he was sincerely sorry.

“Well...If he makes you happy then that’s all I can ask for.” She continued.

“He does aunty. He makes me really happy.” Jimin said fondly.

“Good. He better. So what else happened?”

“Hmm well, I saw Namjoon again a couple days after we got together. I finally vented my anger to him...and told him that we couldn’t be friends so long as he thought he still loved me...So I guess it’s really over with him now. Our friendship I mean.”

“Yea...it sounds like it. But you did the right thing, honey. You made your boundaries clear and if he really wanted to rekindle your friendship he’ll respect your decision and abide by it.”

“Hmm...I know he will. I know he won’t come near me anymore until he can finally tell himself he’s over me, but I’m not sure if he will want to be my friend after that.”

“Only time will tell honey.”

“Yea...so another thing I wanted to tell you is I’ve been getting my memory back,” Jimin said and then waited for a response, he was really unsure of how his aunt would react to that. Even if she’d been telling him stories about his past, Jimin always got the feeling she didn’t actually want him to remember. He’d just ignored that feeling because she’d never explicitly said it, unlike Mrs. Jeon. Jimin vaguely wondered if he should let Mrs. Jeon know that he was starting to get his memory back. He’d had a few visions about her and some interactions he had with her over the course of the week.

“...You’re getting your memory back?...Since when? What triggered it?” She questioned uneasily.

“Um..a while now…” Jimin paused realizing if he told her exactly when he’s started remembering he’d also have to tell her he took his mother’s file without her permission. He wondered if he should admit it or lie. He bit his bottom lip and then decided to be truthful.

“And..um...please don’t get mad at me for this but what triggered it was a photo...a photo that you had in a file with my mom’s name on it..in your office.” Jimin continued hesitantly.

“...Jimin are you saying you took a file from my office without my permission?” She asked sounding upset.

“...Yes?...I didn’t mean to, I was just really curious what was in it...and since mom’s gone I thought whatever was in it couldn’t be confidential or anything, so I just peeked, but then saw the pictures and then I brought it back with me to look through the rest. I’m really sorry.” Jimin apologized sincerely.

“...I trusted you Jimin. How could you do this?” she asked sounding hurt.

“I’m really sorry aunty...but you lied when I asked you if there were any photos. You told me you’d burned them all.” Jimin said somewhat accusingly but he knew he was in the wrong.

“Because I wanted to keep you safe! I don’t want you to remember! It was a traumatic experience for you, you couldn’t handle it and so you repressed the memories! What good would it do to remember it now?!” She yelled through the line.

“But you’ve been telling me stories about it! That could have triggered it also! So what was the harm in letting me see pictures?” Jimin argued.

“When I told you stories, it was from my perspective. All you could do was try to imagine what I was saying. It was unlikely you’d remember from just that. But pictures? They show you snippets of fro