September 12, 2018
Jin’s POV
 

                I decided to start over. After the encounter with my mother, I spent some time assessing my options and finalized the steps I wanted to take next–I still planned on joining police academy. While waiting for the next exam date, I would work at the bakery and help out my mother. The last few days were spent moving my belongings to her house and catching up with her–precious time I had missed out on for the past two decades. These events alone kept me loaded, so when my former high school classmate texted asking to catch up over drinks, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to unwind.

                Tossing the paper towel I used to dry my hands in the trash, I exited the bathroom and walked back to where Hoseok was only to find that he was no longer there. The building wasn’t too spacious, so it only took a few glances for me to find him at the bar, flirting with a random–standard male behavior at a bar.

                Thirsty, I strolled over to put in a request for an iced water. Eyeing Hosoek and his girl, I watched as they leaned in for a kiss. The girl’s eyes were half-closed and her legs unsteady, indicating that she was indeed intoxicated–Hoseok looked no different although he had more leverage since he was seated. Watching them made me feel uncomfortable, so I diverted my attention elsewhere.

                Out of the blue, a female voice cried out from beside me, “Jisoo, no!”

                Jisoo…?

                I looked over to find Jennie struggling with her heels–which seemed to have caught onto a chair leg. If Jennie was here, it would only make sense for her friend to be the same Jisoo I knew. Shutting my eyes, I I had a feeling I knew what was happening just behind me, but I tried to reason it out.

                That girl couldn’t have been Jisoo. She NEVER dresses like that. And making out with a random stranger at the bar? HAH! Even more unlikely.

                But with curiosity tugging at me, I had to check for peace of mind. Pivoting around, I took a few steps closer and watched as the girl’s facial features came into clear view.

                Disappointed and angry for some reason, I sternly questioned her without realizing it, “Jisoo…? What the hell are you doing?” Instantly regretting it, I realized that I was in no place to be controlling her decisions–but I just didn’t like seeing her like that.

                Jisoo stopped just before her lips met Hoseok’s and peered up at me like a deer in headlights. Hurrying over, I gently pulled her over to the side and held her by her arms. Looking into her eyes, I watched as the weight of her eyelids fought against gravity to stay open–her pupils hopelessly searching for something to stabilize on, “Jesus Christ, how much did you drink?”

                “Hmm?” she hummed sillily. “Hey, it’s you!” she stated loudly when she realized who I was. Jisoo then reached up at my ear lobe and tinkered with the silver earring I was wearing, “This looks really cute on you.”

                I blushed in embarrassment, not sure how to feel at our sudden physical contact. To avoid further complications, I pulled away and helped her onto a stool so she wouldn’t fall over. By the time she sat down, Jennie approached me with creased brows, “Hey J-Jin, sorry… Is that guy your friend?” she took a quick look at Hoseok, who was now knocked out on the counter–a puddle of drool collecting just below his lips. I grimaced.

                “Yeaaaaaah,” I confirmed. “Sorry, I should’ve watched over him more carefully,” I said absentmindedly, my eyes still fixated on Jisoo who was cluelessly looking up at the lights with open in awe.

                What a child.

                “No, ugh. I should’ve watched over Jisoo… S-She gets freaking weird when she’s drunk–I’m sure you can tell haha...” Jennie tried to make light of the situation, but we both acknowledged the unspoken awkwardness. Rubbing at her temples, she placed her hand on a stool to maintain her balance. It was obvious that she was having a hard time functioning herself, “I’m… Gonna take her home now.” After fumbling through her purse for a good minute, she finally found her phone and punched in her passcode–it vibrated in disagreement, signifying that she had entered in the wrong numbers. Bringing the screen closer to her face, seemingly for a better view, she squinted her eyes, trying to discern what was happening, “I thought… I had the right numbers...”

                Weary of everyone’s dysfunction, I grabbed Jennie’s phone and dropped it back into her bag, “Here, let me call us all a cab. I’ll drop Hoseok off first and then we’ll stop by your house.”

                Reading the understandable skepticism that grew on her face, I expected a rejection to follow my offer–and I was willing to take it. Two drunk girls getting into a cab with a sober male would be an obvious red flag, especially if they weren’t close enough to be drinking together.

                After a moment’s thought, Jennie looked at me with hopeful eyes and surprisingly accepted, “Okay. We’re depending on you.”
 

                “Cheese… I want cheese!” Hoseok childishly whined as I helped him into the front seat of the cab, “Cheese makes a happy meeeeEeeEEeeee!”

                “Bro, shut up!” I hissed before taking a look at the driver, who was staring at me funny. Quietly chuckling in substitution of an apology for bringing this show upon him, I quickly ducked out of the car and prepared to help the other two into the backseat. Jisoo’s arm was draped over Jennie’s shoulder–the both of them struggling to stay upright, although I pitied Jennie more for having to carry most of the weight since Jisoo was practically unconscious by now.

                “Here,” I said before extending an arm for Jisoo. Jennie obliged, transferring the weight over to me, sighing in relief the moment she was free. Carefully, I assisted Jisoo into the middle backseat while Jennie crossed over to the other side before I could help her. As soon as she sat down, her head fell back onto the seat and she fell fast asleep–just a few seconds later, she was snoring loudly. Jisoo, on the other hand, had already been unconscious eras ago. Scooting her closer to the middle, I squeezed into the last available seat and shut the door.

                Again, Hoseok began mumbling random crap, causing me to cringe in humiliation, “Yo yo yo! It’s J-Hope i the house. Who do we love? J-FREAKING-HOPE! WoooOOoOOO!”

                Looking into the rear-view mirror, I could see the cab driver shutting his eyes in dismay.

                I didn’t blame him.

                With Jisoo on my back, I made the extra effort to be gentle in placing her down onto the couch opposite from Jennie’s. The moment I positioned her into a comfortable situation and tucked her in with a blanket, I stretched my limbs in relief–it was finally over. Even my day off wasn’t truly a day off–but I guess the interesting events that happened tonight were something for me to ponder on.

                As I took a short breather, I observed my surroundings. The rest of the house was dark–the only source of light being moonlight streaming through the small silvers of the blinds that covered the kitchen door. Although unable to see the detailed layout of the living room, I had a feeling that Jisoo’s house was quite spacious; as someone who practically lived in a mansion, I was familiar with all the dead space and loneliness that often filled such a large house. Secretly, I wished I could see a family photo or token that possibly could tell a deeper story about Jisoo–but I quickly reprimanded myself for wanting something so personal. Realizing that I was probably overstaying, I prepared to depart for home.

                Just as I stood up, I could hear a faint whimper coming from somewhere on the couches. Squinting hard in hopes to adjust my vision in the darkness and find the source of such a sound, I made out Jisoo’s figure under the cover. Her shoulders were trembling, her breathing irregular. Whispering to herself, I assumed she was experiencing a nightmare some sort. Unsure of what to do, I froze in place–waiting for a sign to coerce for my involvement. Soon, her breathing quickened–sending her gasping in fear.

                “N-No…” she muttered desperately. “Don’t do it…”

                Anxious, I dared to seat myself back down beside her–softly shaking her at the shoulders, “Hey, are you alright?”

                She continued to whisper incoherent words, causing me to worry even more. Tossing and turning, her lips began to quiver in terror as if trying to cope with the images playing through her mind. Grabbing onto her hand under the blanket, I gave it a tight squeeze–hoping that it would help her in some way.

                Suddenly, she jolted awake with eyes wide open and wailed, “DAD!”

                Now, her breathing was even faster than before. Still gripping tightly onto her and scared less myself, she looked down at our touching hands then back up at my face–her eyes distant and foreign as if she couldn’t recognize who I was. I quickly glanced over to Jennie, desperately hoping that this outburst wasn’t enough to wake her; I didn’t want to face any more awkward situations that I already have for the night. Thankfully, she was still fast asleep.

                “Jisoo are y-you okay?” I repeated, this time hoping for an answer now that she was seemingly conscious.

                Jisoo replied with her eyes downcast then began to sob loudly. On instinct, I gave her shoulder a rub in attempts to comfort her, “It was just a nightmare… Don’t worry.”

                As if showing great disagreement with my statement, she began crying even harder–moving closer into me. Shoving her head into my chest, her cries became muffled as she used my shirt as some sort of tissue–wiping her eyes and her nose on it. Disgusted, confused but mostly just sympathetic and sorry, I sat still and let her cry, allowing my rhythmic pats on her shoulder to help recollect her state of mind. At the moment, I knew she probably wouldn’t remember this anyway–for someone who drank so much, Jisoo was definitely still intoxicated and that was probably why her emotions went haywire.

                “I... Just don’t know why everyone keeps me in the dark,” she suddenly croaked, moving her face away from the spots dampened with her tears but still kept her head rested on my chest. “I just wanna know more about my past but no one wants to give me answers. It’s so ing frustrating.”

                I gulped, unsure of the words to say–but seeing Jisoo like this somewhat reminded me of my past, so I drew from my own experiences so I wouldn’t end up saying anything stupid that could potentially hurt her, “Y-Yeah, I know what you mean.”

                “Do you really know?” she sniffled, as if showing contempt for such a bold claim.

                “I do,” I promised, speaking as gently as I could, “Mrs. Kim–er well, my mom I should say–was accused for possession of narcotics back when I was very young.”

                “W-What?” she stuttered, surprised. Jisoo aligned her face with mine–her eyes still half-closed like they were earlier at the bar. Nervously, I returned her gaze, feeling my heartbeat quicken in pace. As a reminder, I had to tell myself that she was too drunk to know who I even was–she probably would have done this with any other guy.

                “Y-Yeah,” I confirmed. “But it wasn’t her. I knew it wasn’t. My dad was a heavy alcoholic when he wasn’t working. He’d come home drunk every night and start arguments with us. Eventually, when work got even more stressful, he resorted to drugs–and I guess that also led him to making horrible decisions such as cheating on my mom with other women.”

                Emotional, Jisoo started weeping again, “Oh my God… I had no idea–”

                “Hey, don’t cry. It’s all fine now,” I reassured. “But yeah. So eventually my dad stopped coming home at night. Eventually he got involved with some woman who threatened to expose his drug use to the police if he didn’t give her a large sum of money. Being the ignorant person he is, he laughed it off and went home only to find out that she wasn’t bluffing–the police was doing a search on our house and they found the drugs. At the time, the only person home was my mom so he selfishly blamed everything on her instead. And because she wanted to protect me, my dad’s company, and our futures, she took the blame so he wouldn’t have to take on the reputation of being an unethical CEO of a leading company. Everything settled quietly and they filed for divorce shortly after. I never saw my mom again after that.”

                “I’m so sorry to hear,” she muttered. “I’m glad everything is okay now. She’s such a good person to everyone and I wouldn’t want her to get hurt like that again…”

                “I know,” I agreed, lightly smiling to myself. “Me too.”

                We sat like that for a while, her face still nuzzled against my chest–her breathing finally evened.

                Breaking the silence, Jisoo said no louder than a whisper, “You remind me of Jin.”

                Although desperately wanting to confirm my identity, I feared that she would distance herself from me if she remembered how we shared such an intimate moment–so I played it off, “Really? Who’s Jin?”

                “He’s a dumb guy I met at the gaming cafe who acts all hard on the outside but is a total softie. Your voice sounds just like his. I wish he was nice to me like you are now,” she elaborated as she loosely held onto my arm.

                “A-Ah, I see,” I stammered.

                “If he was, I would like him just as much as I like you,” she sweetly spoke, so completely unaware of how her words made me want to melt right into her.

Hi guys! Thank you so much for reading once again! ^_^ I hope you guys liked this chapter. Quick question: Are you guys able to see the page dividers? I usually insert divider images to show change in time but it looks like it's not showing up on my end. Please let me know so I can fix the issue for a better reading experience! Much thanks. :)