Chaeyoung sat on the bed beside Jungkook’s figure, her thumb softly brushing against the skin of his wrist as many thoughts lingered in her mind. After Jimin and Taehyung went home, she had spent her time thinking of the agenda behind her parents agreeing to the unison between her and Junhoe. She gulped, feeling anxious as she thought of the two people that she had looked up to the most being traitors of the village by helping Junhoe to hide the fact that he was a Dual when they were supposed to help the village to get rid of him.

The sound of Jungkook’s door creaking open pulled her out of her thoughts. His grandfather walked toward her in slow steps, holding something in his hands, something that looked precious to him.

“You need a change of clothes,” he began as he approached closer.

Chaeyoung looked down at her dress, completely covered in the already dried blood of Jungkook. She thought of her home and inwardly shivered as the images of her parents came to her mind.

“Please let me stay here longer,” she murmured before looking up at the older man, silently pleading with her eyes. “I will leave once Jungkook wakes up.”

There was the faintest of smile on the man’s wrinkled face. “I am not asking you to leave.” He gently pushed forward his hand that was holding a black garment and she stared at it for a moment. “Get yourself cleaned. You can change into this dress.”

Chaeyoung slowly took the dress from him, her fingers lightly caressing the fabric and glanced at Jungkook.

“I am sure your brother has healed him completely,” his grandfather said gently, sensing how she felt reluctant to leave Jungkook even for a short second.

Before Jimin and Taehyung left, Jimin had convinced Jungkook’s grandfather that he would offer his healing ability to help heal Jungkook. The elder expectedly did not agree at the beginning, strongly refusing the offer but eventually relented as Jimin continuously tried talking him out of it. Chaeyoung could not be sure, but she still felt the elder’s resentment and dissatisfaction toward the Healer’s community in general, but perhaps, he saw something in Jimin that reflected the latter being the opposite image of the Healers the elder had faced in the past.

“After you change your clothes, come outside and eat. I have prepared some food,” he said, and without another word, he exited the room.

Chaeyoung sat in silence for a minute, drawing in her breath and stood up as she made her way out of the room to get herself cleaned and changed her dress to a cleaner one. After she was done, Chaeyoung approached the table and the elder gestured her to take a seat. They ate in silence for the first few minutes before she slipped in her gratitude in between the sips and chews of the food he had prepared.

“Thank you for the dress and the food,” she softly said and slightly bowed her head. When she looked up, the old man gave her a gentle nod and a brief small smile.

“It is the least that I can do for you,” he said. “You have helped me to heal my grandson.”

She shook her head softly. “I did not do much.”

“You have done a lot,” the old man replied and the look in his eyes, although they were displaying his own gratitude and strangely, a fondness, there was a firmness that told her that he would not accept her denial of what she had done to help. “You should never look down on yourself, child. Yes, your brother has completely healed Jungkook, but you did your part, and your part is huge.”

It warmed her heart of hearing that from the old man, feeling touched at his warm words that she was reminded of how Jungkook had always encouraged and comforted her with his own warm words. A smile pulled at her face, bowing her head once more at the old man as she lost words to reply to him.

After they had done eating and Chaeyoung was done with helping him washing the dirty plates and cups, Jungkook’s grandfather sat back on the chair. She was about to excuse herself to Jungkook’s room when he told her to sit back at the chair she had sat on earlier. Feeling nervous, she quietly sat as she chewed on her lower lip, sensing that the older man had something to talk about.

“My wife made that dress, as a gift for our daughter-in-law,” he said before glancing at Jungkook’s door. “Jungkook’s mother.”

Chaeyoung’s eyes went wide for a second, looking down at the dress that perfectly fit her figure.

“You can have the dress,” the old man told her. “Keep it. You don’t have to return it.”

“But -”

“When my wife made that dress,” the old man cut her off gently, “she told me that she wanted that dress to be inherited. She wished to give it to Jungkook’s mother. And she wished that Jungkook’s mother would give it to Jungkook’s wife.”

Her cheeks rose in temperature as soon as she heard the last words the old man said, her eyes immediately looked down at her own fingers fidgeting on her lap. “But I am – I’m just -” she stammered.

“If my wife and daughter-in-law are still alive, they would definitely be happy to give it to you,” he briefly smiled at her. “After all, you are special to him.”

Chaeyoung smiled shyly, nervously nibbling the inside part of her bottom lip as she went back into staring her fingers.

“My wife loved our daughter-in-law very dearly,” he displayed a smile that was obviously sad. “She prepared the dress in secret at dawn every single day, because if she was to do it on any other time in a day, the secret wouldn’t have lasted as a secret,” he chuckled, and Chaeyoung couldn’t help her own small smile forming at the way the old man slowly making himself comfortable around her, telling her stories of his personal life, stories of the people that he loved, memories that he held dearly.

“But on the day that she planned to give her the dress, that was the day… of my son’s betrayal,” he said in a low voice. The anger and sorrow in his voice were balanced. He shut his eyes tight, and Chaeyoung felt a surge of pain in her heart as she watched the old man trying to suppress a painful memory.

He let out a long, heavy sigh after he opened his eyes. Chaeyoung could see that in his head, the memories were all being revived.

“My son was never satisfied with our request to unite him with the woman of our choice. A very amazing woman, our daughter-in-law, Jungkook’s mother. He loves another woman, though. And because of love, he did things he shouldn’t. Because his love toward the woman was stronger than his love and respect for his family…” he swallowed.

Chaeyoung’s brows furrowed as she observed how his fists had tightened on the table. “Because his love for her was stronger than his love for his people…”

Chaeyoung watched as the old man’s eyes shook as he said, “My son helped her escape.” His