Taehyung’s POV:

Jin and Ahri walked through the door, arms full of groceries. “How was it you guys~” I asked, rubbing a towel on my head, soaking up the excess water. “It went fine. I’ll get started on dinner after we put everything away.” Jin said, taking out the last few things from the bags, placing them on the counter, deciding what to make for today.

“Hey you.” I smirked towards Ahri, she looking away from me, Jin noticing, but going back to what he was doing. I furrowed my eyebrows, shrugging my shoulders. “Ahri, do you mind helping me with dinner?” “Sure, what do you need?” she skipped over to Jin, grabbing the bowl from his hands as I left to change. I sat on the couch flipping through the channels, not really entertained by anything that was playing, laying my head back onto the cushions, ultimately falling asleep.

Jin’s POV:

What are you making? It smells really good!” she asked me, bringing her nose closer to the bowl. “It’s kimchi ramen, I haven’t made this for the boys in a while.” I said reaching into the sink and grabbing a colander. “Here, grab this and just hold it over the sink, be careful, it’ll be hot.” I handed her the colander as I began draining the ramen. She started lowering the bowl, staring off into space. “Ahri.. Ahri..?? Ahri!” “Huh- OW!~” she yelled out, burning her finger on the hot water. I placed the bowl on the counter, immediately looking at her finger. “Ahri.. I told you to be careful. What were you looking at-” I looked up, realizing Taehyung was in the exact line of her vision. I took a deep breath, seeing something was definitely weird here.

“Hmm, what happened..?” Taehyung mumbled, Ahri’s yell waking him up. “Don’t worry about it, Ahri just burned her finger, I’ll take care of it.” I said grabbing another small bowl from the cabinet, closing it seeing Taehyung and Ahri’s eyes meeting, Ahri turning around, bumping into me flustered. “I’m sorry..” she softly said, looking at her irritated finger, Taehyung quickly falling back to sleep. “Just keep your finger in there for a few minutes. Go and sit on the couch while I finish here, and keep your finger in there.” I said, handing her the bowl, filled with cold water, nudging her away from the kitchen.

She sat at the very end of the couch, looking more than just awkward. Taehyung woke up again, feeling a shift in the weight of the cushions. He looked over to her, patting the empty space next to him, Ahri hesitantly moving a bit closer, her eyes fixed on the floor. He put his hand on her cheek, rubbing it gingerly before readjusting himself and closing his eyes once more.

I strained the rest of the ramen, placing the rest of the ingredients for the dish on the table. “Ahri, come on let’s go see how bad it is.” I gestured to her, walking towards the bathroom. I opened a few drawers, sitting her on the closed toilet seat. “Ah, here we go.” I said, finding the cream I needed, pulling out a small box of bandages. I kneeled down, now eye level with her. “What happened back there hmm?” I started, squeezing a bit of cream onto my finger. “I just.. I, I just got distracted..” she stuttered, trying to find her words. “Were you looking at something?” I said, rubbing some on her wound, and placing the cap back on the tube. “I spaced out for a bit.” she replied, crossing her legs.

“Are you sure about what you told me back at the ma-” “I told you I don’t like him. It just throws me off how nice he is sometimes.” she defended quickly, avoiding my eyes. “Are you sure? It’s okay, you can tell me if-” “I said, I don’t like him.” a bit of aggression in her tone. “All right, all right. I’ll stop.” I finished, wrapping a bandage around her finger, her getting up and leaving immediately after, leaving me in the bathroom, putting everything away.

“Something isn’t right, this makes no sense.  I thought her and Tae.. where like, almost a couple. Taehyung doesn’t seem to notice anything different from her.. She said that she thinks he likes her, but he’s confessed to her already, she even agreed-” these thoughts filling my head as I finished shoving things back into their respective drawers. My body felt cold, realizing what’s happening.

“She doesn’t remember..”

“No.. this late into her recovery?” I questioned myself, trying remembering what the nurse told us. “The location of her injury is related to behavior and memory, so she might be a little off for a bit, but that should turn to normal after a week or so.” “After a week or so..” those words ringing in my mind. I tried acting normal when she told me those things back at the market, but I couldn’t help but let it throw my head for a loop.”

I walked out of the bathroom, not realizing how long I was in there. I felt a bit unsettled, now knowing the severity of the situation. “First those cups and plates.. then the phones and wallets..” I began realizing as I continued with dinner, not wanting to be obvious, choosing to wait until better timing to tell everyone. After a few minutes, Ahri ran up to me, wrapping her hand around my arm. “So Jin, what are you making! It smells awesome.” a wide grin upon her face, glancing over to the counter. “Kimchi ramen.. I told you like 10 or 15 minutes ago, when you were helping me.. Remember? Right before you hurt yourself.” I said, examining her face.

“Oh.. right, Ye- Yeah! I just forgot for a bit.” she looked down to her hands, her face neutral before a smile firing back up. “Do you need anymore help?” she questioned, still gripping my arm. “Well, I’m just about done. If you could do me a favor and wake up the other boys. I’ll start setting the table.” I finished, sending her off.

The boys all gathered at the table upon hearing that I had made one of the favorite dishes. Hoseok coming first. “Wow hyung, you do love us.” he said, running over to me and hugging me like a scene out of a drama. I pried him off of me, not wanting to spill the bowl in my other hand. All the other boys sat at the table, all accounted for except Jimin. I looked around, not seeing Ahri either.

I grabbed a glass from the sink, filling it with water, and walking over to set it on the table. Just then, the two of them came out of Jimin’s room, cracking up. “What took you guys so long?” Yoongi asked them, all the boys attention turning to the two of them. “I was just asking her something.” he said catching his breath and sitting down. “Hm, well guys I hope you like it, Ahri helped me too.” I said, making her blush a bit. “Thanks lovely~” Taehyung commented, shooting her a look from his seat. Her eyes widened and she just looked to her food and started eating. Taehyung looking over to me confused, his eyebrows furrowed as he started eating.

Afterwards, the boys were stuffed, some lingering back to their respective rooms. Ahri and Jimin stayed in the kitchen, decided to do the dishes. They talked for a bit, one washing, the other drying. “So you think you can do it?” he asked. “Yeah of course.” it’s really no trouble.” she replied, making him smile.

He grabbed a small bunch of bubbles, blowing them onto Ahri when she wasn’t paying attention. “Hey!” she flicked her wrist, spraying water onto him. Jimin grabbed a large wad of bubbles, patting her face, and leaving what looked like a beard on her. Their laughs filling the empty room as she rubbed them off her face. She tried scratching her nose with her shoulders, both hands covered with soapy water. With his hands already dried, Jimin flicked his head. “What are you doing pabo?” he smirked. “My nose itches” “Here, let me-” “I got it.” she pulled her hand from the water, scratching her itch, not caring that her shirt was soaking wet now. “Awh..” she mumbled, looking down.

“You wanna borrow one of mine? Sorry we haven’t had time to go buy your place yet.” he apologized, walking over to his room, opening one of the drawers. “You want a long sleeve or a short sleeve-” he yelled out, expecting her to still be in the living room, not right next to him. “Oh- you scared me there. Anyways, which did you want?” “Hm.. I don’t know, just pick something for me. He grabbed a large grey sweater, tossing it to her. “That ok?” he asked as she examine it. “Yup. Thanks.” she smiled before leaving to the bathroom to change.

Later that night, we we’re all in our rooms, most of us sleeping already. I walked into Taehyung’s room, seeing if he was still awake, luckily, he was. “Hey, you have some time?” he nodded as I closed the door behind me. “Have you said anything to Ahri?” he blurted out, not even letting me sit down first before asking. “Me? About what?” I answered, not understanding his vague question. “I’m not the only one that’s been noticing that she’s been a tad weird lately, right?” he elaborated, unsure of his words.

“Well, I’ve definitely noticed, but her and I hang out a lot, so I don’t know if the others really noticed yet.” I uttered. “What weird things have you noticed.” I asked. He took a minute or two before saying anything.

“She’s distant around me, and whenever I do something towards her or around her.. she gets awkward and looks uncomfortable.” he clarified, the worry apparent on his face. “There’s something about that, something that I just realized today but, half of me is hoping it isn’t true, and the other half is hoping that it is true.” I started, picking my words with caution.

“I think, and I only think this.. but, I think she’s.. losing her memory.” I said, not wanting to hear my own words. Taehyung’s face neutralized, making sure he heard my words correctly. “Why.. why do you say that..?” his words were sparse, he himself hesitant of what to say. “Today.. earlier when we went to the market, she asked me something, and at first she was really nervous about it, initially choosing to not tell me, but I convinced her otherwise.” I explained, taking a breath, my shoulders feeling heavy.

“She told me that she thinks that you like her.” I said, thinking back to the moment it happened. “She.. thinks..?” he spoke, his hands meeting his head. “She doesn’t remember that I confessed to her? Weeks ago?” he added, his eyes darkening. “Any other signs?” he questioned, uneasy. “She doesn’t remember that you guys have gone out at all by the way she acts around you.” I voiced, placing my elbow on the table, resting my head on my hand. “That would explain today at dinner, and we she burned her finger and sat on the couch with me..” he brushed his fingers through his hair. “When she helped me with the food, she asked me what I was making, and I told her ‘kimchi ramen’ and we continued with it. After she burned herself, I sat her down in the bathroom to patch her up, and to put my suspicions to the test.” Taehyung listening to my every word.

“While I cleaned her up, I asked her why she wasn’t paying attention when I told her to be careful, knowing that she got distracted because she was staring at you.” Taehyung’s eyes shifted at the end of my sentence. “I brought up what she told me at the market, since I got the impression that she does in fact like you, and that she’s nervous around you. But she shot me down saying that she ‘doesn’t like you’ and that it just throws her off that you’re so nice around her and how you treat her.” I finished.

Taehyung kept quiet, not knowing how to react at all. His eyes meeting the floor, then his door and random items in room, anything to get his brain working. “Any.. anything, else..?” he asked, hoping I’d say no. “After I asked her about you, she got kind of mad because I asked her multiple times, trying to see if I could get the answer out of her but she stormed out of the bathroom, noticeably irritated by me. That’s when I started putting things together, and concluded that it’s a memory problem.” “So then tha-” he started, “Oh, I’m not done yet. After I put everything back in the bathroom, I went back to finishing dinner, and within minutes, she had her arm around me acting as if nothing had happened. And even then, she asked me what I was making, even though I told her around 15 minutes beforehand.” I finished, a weird feeling in my stomach, hearing myself say all those things out loud.

Taehyung was hugging a pillow, resting his chin on it. “I was really scared of this..” He said, barely audible. “After the nurse told us that she might have memory or behavioral problems, my heart sank a bit.. I noticed when she would mix up where she put my keys and things like that, but I didn’t want to think anything of it.” his eyes on me.

I moved to sit next to him on the bed, draping an arm around him. “So.. what do we do..” he placed a hand over his eyes, rubbing them. “I don’t really know. I can’t tell when it got this bad, but, I think we should wait another day or so. To see if it gets worse or if stays the same. After those days, regardless of whether it gets better or worse, we’ll take her back to the hospital.

“Yeah.. I guess that’s a good idea.” he his lips, taking a few deep breaths. I got up, his words stopping me in my tracks, taking the thoughts right out of my head.

“She’s gotten closer to Jimin.”