The Girl I Almost Met | Jeon Jungkook

#invisible

Tala~
Looking over the astonished crowd of wedding guests who speculated amongst themselves which of Tasha's conquests had objected, I tried to find the voice in the crowd. The ceremony had come to a screeching halt, as one would expect in this situation. It was not very often that anyone actually voiced an objection when the minister posed the question. Several heads were turned towards a particular place in the back of the room, pinpointing his location. I stood on tiptoe so I could see better, but some people had stood up and were condemning the young man for his actions. I could not see a thing from where I stood.

"Who spoke up?" the priest called out, hoping to gain some control over the room, which was on its way to becoming quite disorderly. "Everyone please sit down and let us deal with this minor difficulty."

Minor difficulty? I almost choked at his choice of words; I would think this was a monumental problem, especially when I heard Jisung's broken tone as he questioned Tasha.

"What did you do? My forgiveness is not inexhaustible. You understand that, right?"

My sister's face had lost all color, making her cosmetics look unnatural even in the soft glow of the candles surrounding us. Shaking her head, she grabbed Jisung's arm and pleaded with him not to over-react. She was sure this was just a mix-up of some kind.

The priest tried again, "Would the gentleman please come forward?"

There was a disturbance in the crowd as a young man shuffled into the aisle, never taking his eyes off my sister as he slowly made his way forward. The closer he came, the more my chest closed in on me. If I'd needed confirmation of what I believed had happened last night, this was it.

Step by step he came closer, confidence in his feelings shining from his wide dark eyes. Step by step, I died a little more inside.

"It's a mistake," my sister insisted, her pleading voice shrill and filled with fear. "I don't even know him. Jisung, you have to believe me." She pulled at Jisung's arm, trying to direct his attention back towards her, instead of towards the beautiful young man coming for his bride.

"I can't watch this," I whispered, as yet unable to take my eyes from the one I had stupidly set my hopes and dreams on. "I'm sorry, Jisung. I should have told you everything. Only you know how much I didn't want this to be true."

Jisung shook off Tasha's vice-like grip and stared down the aisle, "Tala, isn't that your... bus stop hero? Why... what... what is going on?"

Tears threatened to overflow as I answered, "Ask Tasha. She can tell you the same sickening story she told all the girls in the dressing room earlier."

Jisung looked down the line of girls at my side to see the cheeks of the other bridesmaids blooming in embarrassment. Not one of them could look him in the eye.

"It's not true though," Tasha asserted, "I was just making things up. I flirted a little bit last night, but I didn't actually..."

"Tala, is that why you were escaping earlier? Because of this?"

"He was at the club last night. I saw him and his friend—she was beckoning them to come to her."

Jisung's sympathetic look was just about my undoing. Here, in this situation, where he was the one being wronged at his wedding and in front of a crowd of people, he was concerned about me. I would be the first to agree that he was too good for Tasha, but I also knew that his love for her was true and steadfast. He did not need me to hold his hand through this, but I still felt bad that I was about to bail on him.

"I can't be here—not while he declares his love for her, of all people," I shook my head miserably, willing Jisung to understand. He was the only one who knew I had fallen for a man I'd yet to meet, the same man that was now almost upon us.

"Go. There's no reason you need to be here for this," he ordered.

"Why does she need to go? This doesn't have anything to do with her! This is my hour of need and she's my sister. She should stay with me!"

I hesitated for just a second, realizing the only way to flee was to go right past the one I'd hoped to avoid.

"Go on; get out of here!" urged Jisung, reaching over to give me a gentle push.

Gathering up the voluminous skirt of my dress in my arms, I turned without thinking and ran for the stairs to leave the dais. As I did, the priest announced a small break in the ceremony while the important parties went into the antechamber to discuss whether to proceed or not.

As I descended, the bundle of skirts in my arms brushed heavily against the young man being ushered up the same stairs I went down; even this did not break his unwavering gaze, still on my sister, even as she continued to protest knowing him.

What had I expected? He had never noticed me. I had foolishly set my heart on someone who didn't even know I was alive. For my entire life, no matter the situation, I had always been hidden deep in the shadows of my sister's blazing personality. I was the quiet one, the plain one, the dependable one—the invisible one.

I continued—no, I sprinted—down the aisle and out of the castle without a thought as to where to go. All I knew was I could never look at my sister the same way again, and I would never again sit at the end of that bench at the bus stop, waiting for something that would never happen. It was time for me to step into the light and be seen; it was time for me to learn how to shine.

Taehyung~
Most of the people there were interested in the circus happening on the platform between the bride and groom, craning their necks in order to get a good view of someone else's misfortune. But I watched, with extreme interest, the girl in the plum colored dress. Why did she look so familiar to me?

The way she kept her eyes locked on Jungkook did not escape my attention. Hers was a pained expression that reminded me of the way Jae looked at me when I, yet again, hurt her.

It wasn't until she had fled down the aisle and Tasha had turned to watch her go that I realized why she looked so familiar.

Oh my gosh! Jungkook, you are such an idiot.