Jimin had barely slept after seeing who he thought was Jungkook in the park. He kept tossing and turning and reliving the moment when he called out his name and there was no spark of recognition by him. It made him feel crazy to think that a dead man was walking the streets of Busan.

It was 6:30 in the morning now and Jimin was getting ready for work. His body was on autopilot, going through the motions of brushing his teeth, showering, and getting dressed. He was too numb on the inside to be present. Seeing that man was like opening a healing wound and all of the anger and sadness he thought he’d worked out about Jungkook came flooding back to him. He was afraid that if he flicked the emotional switch back on, he’d start crying and never stop. He’d get the urge to destroy everything in his house because for some reason, breaking things eased the sting ever so slightly but never completely. As a reasonable explanation for yesterday, he’d chalked it up to the anniversary of his death approaching and exhibiting some kind of PTSD hallucination him.

He reached for his phone which was on his nightstand and turned it back on. He’d turned it off yesterday because he hadn’t wanted to talk to anyone after the incident. Now, he needed to check it to make sure his boss hadn’t sent any last minute emails for Jimin to pick up paperwork from a smaller, local office. There were no such emails, but there were three unread text messages. One was from Hoseok, sending him Yoongi’s number, and two were from an unknown number. The first read:

I really liked hanging out with you today and I was wondering when you were free next.

The second:

This is Yoongi btw, Tae gave me your number bc I realized I never asked you for it.

Jimin pocketed his phone and felt a twinge of guilt for not responding to Yoongi, but he couldn’t bring himself to answer him and strike up a conversation. All he wanted to do was have this day end as soon as possible so he could crawl back into bed and forget about everything.

All of his things were still spread across his coffee table from yesterday because as soon as he returned home, he turned his phone off and got in bed. He was unable to fall asleep, so as the sun went down, he replayed every moment of his relationship with Jungkook on repeat until he passed out.

The ride to work was fairly uneventful and he got there around his usual arrival time. He went to the front desk to clock in with the receptionist, Jaewon, who greeted him cheerily. She had been working the desk job here for as long as Jimin had been there.

“Good morning Jimin, how are you?” she asked as she scanned his ID card and entered his arrival into the computer.

“Alright, you?”

“Wish I was home with my dog.” She gave Jimin’s ID back and looked at him carefully. Although they didn’t know each other very well, she could tell something was wrong with him. Jimin was pretty much an open book, a stranger could tell how he was feeling.

“Are you sure everything’s alright?”

“Yeah, just tired.” He pocketed his ID. “Have a good day,” he said with a smile and left to go to the elevator. Once at his floor, he weaved through the various other glass cubicles of the other accountants to reach his office. The office had an open floor plan, but everybody had their own room rather than an open, condensed cubicle format. Jimin was thankful for this because it allowed him peace and quiet to do his work, or in this case, to stew in his negativity in silence.

He unlocked the door, flicked the lights on, and turned his computer on. The documents he’d been working on before the trip are where they were before he left, in a neat stack next to his keyboard. He pulled up his work calendar and was reminded that he’d have to present about the business deal from Russia. Although he had everything he needed for the presentation, he still felt unsure about it because he wasn’t in the right headspace for it.

As if on cue, he heard a knock on the door. He called the person to enter and in stepped his boss.

“Just wanted to make sure you were ready for today,” he said. His boss, Kisoo stood at least six feet tall and looked to be in his late 30’s. He had model high cheekbones and a strong jawline with hair that was always combed to perfection suits that were always crisp.

“Yeah, I got it.” There was a sadness in his voice that Kisoo picked up on. Jimin looked away from him and went to work on his computer while Kisoo stood there trying to decide if he should pry. He was Jimin’s boss and he could be a hardass on him, he knew that, but he did it because he knew what it took to stay in this business. He knew Jimin was a good worker and qualified to do anything that was thrown at him, his age making his skillset even more impressive.

“Was there something you needed?” Jimin asked, noticing that Kisoo was still there.

“Is...is everything okay…?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not yourself, I can tell.” He moved over to Jimin’s desk and took a seat in front of him. He softened his voice and said, “I know you’re not nervous, you could present this in your sleep. Is there something you need to tell me?” His voice wasn’t accusatory or angry, he was genuinely interested in trying to help Jimin because he’d grown to feel like a father figure to him.

Jimin’s lips parted as if he was going to speak, but then he hesitated. Not out of fear for being called crazy for thinking he saw Jungkook, but because he was afraid that he would speak his emotions into existence. That if he said he felt anxious and sad and hurt, it’d be real, and that was the last thing he needed. Thankfully, Kisoo took the hint.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. But, if you need time off for a few days, that’s fine too. You’re one of the hardest workers here, if you tell me you need time off, I’ll believe you.” Jimin simply nodded his reply and Kisoo returned it before standing up and leaving to return to his own office.

---

Yoongi dismounted his scooter, camera gear in his backpack, and headed towards a secluded part of the beach’s pier. Today, he planned to take photos for his freelance work even though the deadline was next week. He didn’t have anything else better to do at home, and even worse, he was having writer’s block again. All he really wanted to do was spend more time with Jimin.

As he walked, he checked his phone for a message from Jimin. He hadn’t responded to him yet, and part of him was starting to worry if he’d done something wrong. Jimin could just be the type of person who takes days to respond, but he had a feeling in his gut that it was something more than that. Yoongi had racked his brain for anything he may have done to cause things to go wrong, but nothing stuck out.

When he reached the area, he carefully unpacked his equipment and assembled it all so he could begin taking photos. Usually, he liked to go when the sun was at the highest point or around sunset. Those kinds of photos were the most popular.

Yoongi looked through the lens of the camera and focused it on the shoreline. His goal was to get a shot of the sun’s reflection on the water so it looked like it was shimmering, which sounded a lot easier than it actually was. Sometimes, it didn’t always show up properly on film, and in order to get the best chance at getting the picture, the lighting had to be perfect.

He took a few photos, waited a couple of minutes, took another string, and repeated the process until he was satisfied that he’d gotten a few good shots out of it. Occasionally, he’d had to readjust the tripod for better lighting, and even then he figured he’d have to touch up the pictures when he got home. When he was finally satisfied with his results here, he decided he’d go to a different area to change the angle.

Yoongi continued this routine of taking pictures and moving to a different area for three hours. It sounded like a much longer time than it felt, time always flew by when he photographed because it was something he genuinely enjoyed. Photography was his other passion aside from music, so it never felt like hard work. He loved being in the environment and taking the pictures as much as he liked editing the colors and hues and saturation. It was a lucky turn of events that he was able to make money off of it because otherwise he’d be stuck in the service industry. The thought of that alone made him sick.

He reached in his pocket to compulsively check his phone like he had been while he worked and still, there was no answer from Jimin. Instead of letting his negative thoughts consume him, he went to his voice notes to be productive. Most of them were lyrics and a few were beats he’d recorded onto his phone in case he came up with lyrics on the go. He listened to the lyrics first and deleted the ones he didn’t like anymore and then went to the beats. One in particular stuck out to him, so he played it on repeat until he found a flow for lyrics he could write to it.

With his writer’s block slowly melting away, he pulled his lyric book out of his backpack and started working.

---

The presentation went smoothly due to Jimin’s ability to shove his emotions deep down inside of himself in order to avoid them. He’d had to do it when Jungkook first died, which made doing it every time after that easy. However, a ball of guilt was beginning to form in his gut for ignoring Yoongi all day in order to wallow in his self-pity. He was afraid that if he mentioned it to him, it would not only set back all the progress they made in their relationship, but the progress Jimin had made within himself to move on.

When he got home, he immediately texted Yoongi back and apologized for taking so long and that he would love to hang out again any time this week after six when he was home from work. Then he changed into some comfortable clothes and laid in bed with his arm over his eyes to block out the light. A few moments later, his phone chimed beside him. He lifted his arm enough to read the message:

Okay, just let me know when you want me to come over.

Is everything okay?

Jimin typed back: Yeah, just tired.

Do you wanna talk about it?

His fingers hovered over the keyboard as he decided whether or not he wanted to tell Yoongi what happened yesterday. He felt in his gut that he could, but his fear of being rejected made him hesitate. And then like a flood, he remembered all of the times Yoongi had opened up to him about his past. Jimin replied.

What if I told you I saw Jungkook yesterday?

What do you mean?

I was running in the park and I saw someone who looked like Jungkook, only I could have sworn it was him. I called out his name, but he didn’t respond, didn’t even look up at me. But I know what I saw.

How could you have seen him if he’s dead?

I don’t know. It probably wasn’t him because he didn’t respond to the name, but there was something about him that made me just know that it was really Jungkook.

Well I know dead men don’t walk, so either he’s still alive or you saw someone who looked extremely similar to him.  

Yeah, I’m probably just freaking out because his anniversary is coming up.

Even though Jimin sent the message to Yoongi, every fiber in his body was screaming that there was something more to it all.