April 2008

It was a weekend and Chaeyoung again decided to escape home by pretending to go on and study, but the truth was, she was at the market of another city – trying to see if there was some new Big Bang merchandise she could buy to give to herself and Dahyun.

She should have been at the library, writing her thoughts down but even since the encounter with that librarian, Chaeyoung could not find the courage to go back there; she feared that a side she wanted to keep to herself would be discovered. So she settled on writing poems at fast food chains; it was not the best place for she can her thoughts louder in the library than in a busy food place, but at least no one was watching her.

Chaeyoung frowned, thinking again of that librarian.

Yoongi, she remembered his name.

Her frown grew as she scolded herself for thinking of him again. She couldn’t deny that she was intrigued but not curious enough to let him see through the cracks of her heart.

Soon, the frown on her lips was replaced by a toothy grin. She found some stickers.

She loves Big Bang and was always amazed at how talented they are, but the smile couldn’t leave her lips as she imagined Dahyun screaming with just some stickers. Dahyun was on a whole different level in terms of fangirling and Chaeyoung loved that side of her too.

She was walking in the streets, about to take the train to go home, but then she saw a familiar face. She pretended not to notice and was about to walk pass him, but he called her name.

“Fancy seeing you here, Chaeyoung.”

She rolled her eyes before facing Ravi, “It’s not nice to see you though.”

He let out a scoff and Chaeyoung was about to walk away but he held onto her wrist. She shrugged his hand away out of reflex and glared at him.

“I have them,” Ravi said, eyes boring onto her skull.

“What?” Chaeyoung blurted.

“I have those pictures of you and Teacher Kim,” he smirked.

Her gaze faltered but she tried to put up a strong façade, nonetheless. She denied, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

He chuckled darkly, “It was not easy to get them, you know. They are the official evidence for your almost expulsion from school. The teachers tried to hide them after you voluntarily left. But thanks for my connections, I was able to take a picture of some copies. Wanna see?”

Ravi was expecting Chaeyoung to just curse at him and leave but the fact that Chaeyoung stood there meant that she was intrigued. He smirked before pressing some keys on his phone. He then showed her a picture of her and Namjoon holding hands while walking.

Chaeyoung was beyond angry – she hated those pictures.

She was too careful to even keep a picture of Namjoon in her wallet because she was afraid that people would know. But then, they were still discovered with some stolen photos of their moments together.

Chaeyoung reached to snatch the phone from him, but Ravi quickly hid it away, chuckling.

“I told you that this day would come where we would be trading pictures,” Ravi spoke, “Come on, Chaeyoung. Delete those pictures of us in your phone.”

She remembered what he was pertaining to. No one has been bothering Yugyeom now that she kept that photo in her phone. It was the sole reason why Ravi and his bunch had stopped bullying Yugyeom.

“No,” Chaeyoung firmly replied.

Ravi let out a scoff and took a step close towards her, “Do your friends even know? What if I give these to them? What if everyone in your new school knows that you’re actually a who went for her teacher?”

She raised her hand to slap him, but Ravi caught her arm in no time. He kept holding onto her wrist hard, making Chaeyoung wince in pain. There was actually no way she could escape from his grasp – he was physically better than her in all aspects.

“You little brat. What makes you so brave?” Ravi spat.

But then to Chaeyoung’s surprise, Ravi was shoved backwards. She turned to her side and found that librarian she was trying to avoid.

“Get lost,” Yoongi bellowed.

Even Chaeyoung felt the deadly aura that Yoongi gave. There was something in his cold stare that made Ravi retreat.

“I’ll be waiting for you to contact me Chaeyoung,” Ravi said, “If you take too long, you know what I’ll do.”

“Why the hell are you still talking?!” Yoongi screamed, “I said, get lost!”

When Ravi had walked far enough, Yoongi turned to Chaeyoung. He was about to ask whether she was alright but then he noticed how she was trembling. Her gaze was casted downwards and even her lips were shaking. It looked like she was about to cry but she fought hard for tears not to escape her eyes.

Without saying a word, Yoongi took her wrist and started dragging her. Too lost in her thoughts, Chaeyoung merely followed until she noticed that he had brought her in a small restaurant.

“Where are we?” Chaeyoung finally found her voice.

“I work here after my shift at the library,” Yoongi replied, “I couldn’t leave you shaking in the streets, but I can’t miss work too. You can stay here for a while just so you can calm your nerves.”

He gestured for her to take a seat in one of the empty tables. She heard him ask one of the waiters to give her some food. She was served some chicken cuisine and she was told by the waiter that it was actually Yoongi’s complimentary dinner for working.

“Where did he go?” Chaeyoung asked the waiter, pertaining to Yoongi’s whereabouts.

But their conversation was halted when the soft keys of the piano resonated in the place.

“There,” the waiter pointed and Chaeyoung saw Yoongi behind the grand piano at the stage.

Chaeyoung could not stop watching him creating peace with his piece. There was magic in his music that captured her.

May 2008

Jungkook felt that his heart was racing uncontrollably – fear of infinite unfortunate possibilities was roaming in his mind. If he could, he would’ve teleported to another place just to be sure that everything was okay. To his misery, traffic was already visible just in front of their school.

He muttered a curse underneath his breath. He asked himself is he should just start running until he could catch a bus.

“Jungkook!”

He turned around and found Jimin with his bicycle.

“Come on,” Jimin told him, “I’ll take you there. It’d be faster with this.”

He need not be invited twice – no, he did not have the luxury to waver and wait for a second invitation.

Jungkook could also feel the panic in Jimin as he was traversing through the traffic, sometimes nearly missing some people and things on the street just so they could be faster. When they arrived at the hospital grounds, Jungkook ran as fast as he could to the emergency room.

He was huffing when he talked to the doctor.

“It’s not an attack,” the doctor informed him, “But she might have been suffering from irregular heartbeats. The oxygen failed to reach her head, making her lose consciousness. She might be down for a few days, so she needs to be confined.”

Jungkook closed his eyes as he rested his head on the wall before breathing a sigh of relief. Being in the hospital was bad news enough but he knew that the situation could have been worse. He was just grateful that his mother was still breathing – that her heart was still beating.

Jimin watched as Jungkook slumped down on the chair.  It was almost the same scene when they first met – Jimin was at the hospital accompanying his mother for her checkup when he saw Jungkook in the hospital corridors. Jungkook gave him no explanation; he was just caught red-handed. Every information that Jimin knew afterwards were things he discovered on his own out of concern for Jungkook.

“You can go back now,” Jungkook turned to him, “Thank you for accompanying me.”

“Will you be okay?” Jimin asked.

“Hmmm,” Jungkook nodded, “Last year was worse and I survived that. I’ll be fine. I’m not new to this scenario, anyway.”

“Still,” Jimin insisted.

“Classes have not ended, Jimin. You should go back,” Jungkook argued.

Jimin gave a sigh before promising, “I’ll return after school.”

Jungkook knew that there was no way that Jimin would take a no, so he merely nodded.

Soon, his mother was transferred to one of the rooms. Jungkook merely watched her as she slept, observing every rise and fall of her chest – afraid that at some moment it would stop. He was praying that she would flutter her eyes open, smile at him and assure him that everything was okay.

Hours passed by and as he expected, Jimin came straight from school but what surprised Jungkook was what Jimin had brought with him.

“Hey, Jungkook. The teachers missed you at school,” Dahyun spoke, “No one can answer the equation at the board.”

When Dahyun came, she gave a small bow to his mother then proceeded on acting as if there was nothing wrong – as if the situation they were in does not harbor questions and seek for answers. She merely talked about school and what he had missed out and Jungkook played along, listening and commenting here and there. He was actually thankful that Dahyun was making it seem normal for he did not know how to act if he was suddenly confronted.

When Jungkook gave out a yawn, Jimin then told him to rest, promising that he and Dahyun would stay to look over his mom and wake him up if something happens. Jungkook protested at first, but without knowing it, he succumbed to sleep in his seat.

By the time he woke up, it was only Jimin who was in the room with his mother.

“Hey,” Jimin greeted, “How’s your rest?”

“Good enough,” Jungkook answered before he asked, “Where did Dahyun go?”

“She went home to get a change of clothes and some food,” Jimin replied.

There was silence between them before Jungkook asked, “Why did you bring her?”

He looked at Jimin and the latter could only apologize.

Jimin knew that Jungkook did not want anyone to know. After all, Jimin wouldn’t have also been informed if he hadn’t discovered it himself.

“She kept asking about you. I couldn’t lie,” Jimin explained, “Well, I could try but Dahyun can see through me.”

Jungkook sighed and Jimin felt that he had given him a burden.

“Don’t worry, she promised not to ask questions,” Jimin assured, “She wouldn’t force you to explain or say anything as long as you would let her stay.”

“You didn’t tell her everything?” Jungkook furrowed his eyebrow.

Jimin shook his head, “I’m sure that Dahyun is willing to wait for the time that you’re willing to tell her your story.”

Dahyun came back the next day at the hospital, saying that Jimin was late because Seulgi was able to trap him for a while. She complained on how she had problems riding the bus because she couldn’t ride Jimin’s bicycle. Jungkook smiled at her story for it reminded him of their encounter.

She then took her notebooks out of her bag and said, “You should thank me for this. I listened in all classes today for my notes to be complete so that you could study them. Gosh. It really drained all my energy. I guess studying is really not for me.”

“Kim Dahyun listening in the class. What a miracle,” Jungkook teased.

“Exactly!” Dahyun exclaimed, her voice a little too loud and it made Jungkook chuckle.

Jungkook flipped through the pages of her notebook but at the corner of his eyes, he noticed that Dahyun was stealing glances at his mother. He saw the soft gaze in Dahyun’s eyes, but she was biting her lips as if preventing herself to say the numerous questions in her head.

She knew nothing about his mother. He wasn’t even the one who told Dahyun his mother’s name. He didn’t even explain how she was doing.

They were both waltzing, avoiding the big elephant in the room.

“Jimin’s notes last year are way better,” Jungkook broke the silence, snapping Dahyun out of her thoughts, “I should have been classmates with him.”

He expected her to retort to his comment, but she asked, “Jimin gave you notes last year?”

He took his gaze off the pages of the notebook and met Dahyun’s stare. It was then that he realized that Jimin really told Dahyun nothing. Jungkook his lower lips, contemplating and in the way that he hesitated, Dahyun knew she asked a forbidden question.

“Sorry,” she apologized, “You don’t have to answer that.”

Dahyun gave him smile and something tugged at his heart at the way Dahyun still respected his silence. He hasn’t given her any clue but Dahyun kept staying. She kept helping him. She kept giving him warmth.

“Yes. Jimin constantly gave me notes last year,” Jungkook said, “He frequently visited us at the hospital. It was the sole reason I could keep up with school.”

He looked at her and found her just staring. Curiosity was all over her face, but she did not ask questions again – as if she was willing to savor any information that he could give, no matter how little.

He knew that Dahyun was talkative – she was one of the loudest in their class. But rare moments like this made him realize that she was a good listener too.

She was like a furnace giving off warmth, and the comfort made him go out of his shell.

“I lost my father in an accident shortly after graduating middle school. Mom’s heart had always been weak,” he started, “My father’s death gave her emotions she couldn’t handle. Her health further deteriorated to the point that she went into comatose last year.”

He knew he was tearing some walls down for her. He expected it to be frightening – but it was actually liberating – as if he was unloading a heavy burden in his chest.

“It took half a year for my mother to gain consciousness; another half to recover from her vegetative state. We’ve been away from the hospital for around six months now until this happened,” Jungkook continued.

“W-Will she be okay?” Dahyun asked, her voice cracking.

“Hmmm,” Jungkook nodded and assured her, “It’s not a heart attack at the very least. We’re just waiting for her to wake up.”

He sighed before continuing, “I wanted to stop going to school last year; I was barely there, anyway. Mom needed me more in the hospital.”

A smile then crossed his lips, “But it was Jimin who kept doing things for me. He was the one who kept explaining to the teachers. He updated me with all the lessons. On the days that I have to take make-up examinations, it was Jimin who volunteered to stay in the hospital.”

“I am glad… that he was there for you,” Dahyun said, “But you don’t have to keep this a secret you know.”

“I didn’t find the need to tell anyone,” Jungkook shook his head, “It’ll just bother them. I don’t want to be pitied.”

“Pity is from strangers,” Dahyun retorted, “You have people now who care a lot about you, and I am sure that they would want to hear your worries so that they could help.”

“How can you be so sure?” Jungkook tried to kid, “Are you their spokesperson?”

Dahyun grinned, “I know because I am one of them.”

She then stood up and walked towards him, pulling him close towards her.

“I don’t need a hug,” Jungkook protested as he buried his head on Dahyun’s torso.

“Then why are you hugging me back?” Dahyun furrowed her brows as Jungkook’s arms s towards her back.

“To make things less awkward for you,” he retorted.

Dahyun chuckled but instead of letting go, she brushed his head in a comforting manner, as if Jungkook was a child in her arms.

“You must have suffered a lot,” she whispered, “You don’t have to carry this all by yourself.”

In the way that her voice started cracking, Jungkook knew that she was already in tears.

“I’m sorry we weren’t there before but we are here now,” Dahyun sobbed, “We’re with you, Jungkook. We’ll stay with you both in the brightest days and in the darkest nights. You don’t have to feel alone.”

He said nothing, but he pulled her even closer, and Dahyun let their cries resonate in the room.

Hello! Happy Tuesday!!! Haha. After much contemplation, I gave up on the first person POV. Haha. There's just too many characters to switch to and fro and I have too many scenes in my head I want to compress into one chapter. Ugh. I don't think I would change back the first six chapters I have written to a third person POV like this one. Let's just treat it as some sort of very loooong character descriptions. Hahahuhu. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please don't forget to comment and vote! Thank you!