old cigarettes | min yoongi

lxii.

donghyeon winced as minjae, jinju, and youngil looked confused.

"you mean us...?" minjae asked, her eyes quickly shooting glances at suga, who looked equally as confused.

your gaze stayed on donghyeon, barely blinking. "no, you three are fine. but he isn't."

he flinched. "look, nari, we can talk about this properly. i was never given a chance to explain-"

"i don't see why you need to explain anything you did. you abandoned me. full stop. period. end of conversation, and end of chances. leave." you interjected, the others looking between the two of you with looks of confusion. minjae stuttered something, but didn't build on it as she watched donghyeon leave the room, his head hanging slightly.

"nari, what...? i'm missing something here." jin-ae said, titling her head at you. "i thought you didn't mind him? i thought it was only chiaye that was a bitch."

you ran your free hand through your hair, trying to calm down before the nurses rushed in. "google him and have a closer look at his face. you might not be able to see it, but it's him."

jin-ae, still having no clue what you were talking about, pulled out her phone and googled him. as pictures of him taken by some fan sites popped up, her brain made the same connection yours had. "oh my god..." she put a hand to her mouth.

"i'm so confused right now. can someone explain what's going on or...?" suga said, looking around the room in confusion.

jin-ae turned her phone around to show suga the picture she'd pulled up on google taken by one of donghyeon's fan sites during the second stage. "y'know how we were talking about better luck with boyfriends? this is the guy who, well... used to be nari's boyfriend but then kinda disappeared off the grid a year or so ago."

you'd been staring slightly at the ground next to suga during this, just thinking. but you had a feeling that he wasn't going to get the whole picture unless you told him, no sugar to soften the blow. "he was my boyfriend for a few years, since high school, actually. but when our parents died in the car crash, he just... disappeared. never answered my texts, never anything." you paused to look him dead in the eye. "he abandoned me at the time where i was hurting most, both mentally and physically. and now he's back. but i didn't recognize him because he'd changed his name, and i'd blocked out every memory of him while i was still in the hospital before. i didn't want to remember him, but it seemed my subconscious still did. that's why he felt so... off. i don't know why he did any of this, either..."

after you finished, the room fell into silence. minjae, jinju, and youngil stood in the corner of the room, awkwardly shifting their feet. none of them knew what to say or do. jin-ae, apparently having had enough of the awkward silence, cleared her throat. "so, who are you guys? i'm jin-ae, nari's little sister."

minjae held out her hand to shake. "i'm minjae. nari's started calling me minmin, though." she turned her head towards you with a deadpan expression. "thanks for that, by the way. now, everyone in the group chat's calling me that. i'm stuck with that nickname forever."

you smiled tightly, trying to expel the sadness and anger from your system, but it didn't really work. "no problem, minmin."

minjae rolled her eyes but smiled as jin-ae shook her hand. jinju ran a hand through her blue hair before bowing politely at jin-ae. "i'm jinju. i tried to convince jina to come with us, but she didn't feel up to it. she's sick at the moment and she didn't want to make your situation worse by giving you her cold, nari."

you smiled again, but this time a little more genuine than before. "it's okay, tell her not to worry about it. i hope she gets better soon."

"stop worrying about others for once, will you?" minjae said, taking a seat on the edge of your bed. "you've literally just survived being hit by a car. you're allowed to be selfish."

jin-ae giggled. "i don't think selfish is in nari's vocabulary."

youngil, who had been silent up until this point, stepped forward, a bouquet of flowers in his hands. "i got you these, as kind of a... get well gift." you grinned at youngil, tapping your finger against the bedside table for him to put the flowers there. after he gently sat them down, you lent over to smell them. they were so beautiful that you couldn't even put them into words. or maybe it was just the feeling of having friends and loved ones around you.

it was a major contrast to the last time you'd been in the hospital. last time, it had just been you and jin-ae, and the two of you had just sat in silence. and even then, jin-ae wasn't around much. she was out with her friends, expelling her pent up emotions with alcohol and partying.

but now, you had suga, minjae, jin-ae (who was not out partying), jinju, and youngil with you. it was like your dream from last time coming into the flesh in the form of love, security, and hope.

however, a part of your mind nagged at you. was the car crash merely a coincidence? surely two car crashes couldn't happen to the same person within two years. the odds that one person would be hit in their life was miniscule, so how could it happen to you twice?

and there was something else... before you lost your consciousness, someone had tried to help you up, telling you something. you couldn't quite remember, as you were blinded by the pain. was it the driver who had gotten out? you had no room to figure who it was at the time, as straight after that, you blacked out.