Dawn | Taegi

Chapter One: Ghost Of You

》We're too young, too dumb to feel things like love《

The sound of the alarm clock became more apparent with every passing second, forcing Taehyung out of his dream. When he finally gathered the strength to sit up, he saw Jimin sitting across from him, brushing his teeth and simultaneously scrolling through his For You page.

"You're awake! That damn thing has been blaring for five minutes now."

"It did?" Taehyung's voice croaked, and he cringed at the sound.

Jimin nodded. "But I'm glad you seemed to sleep well for once." Taehyung saw the twitch in his best friend's flawlessly neutral face, a slight furrow of brows indicating worry. But Taehyung didn't have the energy to comment on that yet, instead choosing to brush it off.

"You better get ready fast; the ceremony in the auditorium is about to start."

The younger replied with a nod, dragging himself into the bathroom. Taehyung quickly washed his hair and changed into the clothes he wore yesterday. He didn't have the nerve to unpack his luggage now. After they arrived yesterday morning, the jet lag set in, and they just chose to sleep and worry about the rest later. Bad decision.

Yaehyung gave himself a once-over and proceeded to accompany Jimin to the halls. The campus was swarmed with students, and little groups of people were just chatting away on the gravel path. Taehyung felt out of place now, especially since he and Jimin got the scholarship at Periham University and even for their core major.

They had the introductory celebrations today at noon and a meeting with their respective faculties later that day.

Taehyung was excited on the inside, yet he was too tired to show it. A few people further away caught his eye because they looked like they belonged to his faculty. They all wore purple-coloured shirts, signifying that they were part of the physical education faculty, and Taehyung made a mental note to change into his before the meeting. He really didn't want to fuck this one up.

As they came closer to the auditorium entrance, someone standing at the side of the doors caught Taehyung's eye. If he had to guess, it was a woman around his age, and she seemed to be looking for someone. Taehyung was about to look away when she caught his gaze, her eyes widening with excitement. Before he could notify his best friend, the woman stood before them, almost dazzling Taehyung with her bright smile.

"What's up! Are you guys Taehyung and Jimin?"

The friends shared a pointed look before returning their attention to the woman in front of them.

"Uh... Yes?" Taehyung answered, his Korean accent still thick when he spoke.

The woman's smile widened the tiniest bit, "Cool! I'm Lisa, and I'm your mentor. I'll help you find your way around campus in the first few weeks, and we could also speak in Korean if you'd like."

Her switch to Korean was smooth and effortless, stunning Taehyung for a second.

"Wow, your Korean is amazing!" Luckily he had Jimin, the friend with the social skills.

Lisa slightly nodded in an almost shy gesture, "Thank you. I take a Korean course for extra credit, so this was a perfect opportunity."

"Maybe we could talk to you in English, and you talk in Korean? So we all get to practice our target language." Taehyung's brain had to overclock to produce that sentence, which showed in the form of a light blush of embarrassment.

"That's an amazing idea!" Lisa chimed in, close to being interrupted by the screeching noise of the microphone inside.

"We should hurry inside; they're about to start."

•••

After the faculties introduced themselves, the students had four hours until their faculty meetings. They quickly found Lisa again, who now had another unfamiliar girl by her side. Taehyung quickly learned that her name was Jennie and that she was in Lisa's Korean course. They seemed somewhat friends, even though they kept a certain distance from each other.

They found themselves in a small bubble tea shop not too far from campus, each enjoying s cold and sweet drink. Jimin and Lisa got to talking quickly, so he was content to space out and watch the people outside. They wore colourful clothing and spoke amongst themselves, and Taehyung couldn't care less. At least he didn't care until he spotted someone with platinum blonde hair walking by, dressed in all black.

He almost dropped his plastic cup, and one of the little orbs got caught in his throat, cutting off his airflow. Jimin got alerted by Taehyung's coughing, patting his back in an attempt to free his friend's airway.

Taehyung eventually gathered himself, but the blonde was long gone.

"Are you alright?" Lisa asked, reminding Taehyung that they weren't alone.

"Yes, I just thought that I saw someone."

Jimin's expression of concern only deepened, and Taehyung knew that his best friend didn't need an explanation. Fortunately, no further questions were asked, and the conversation resumed.

"As I said, since it's the introductory week, you should come to the club with us. It'll be fun, and maybe you can befriend some locals!"

Jimin hesitantly looked at Taehyung, who seemed to be away in his own little world.

"I'm sure that it'll be fun. Maybe we could also cure our jetlag that way!"

Later that afternoon, when Taehyung and Jimin were back at the dorms, Jimin couldn't hold it in for longer. "You thought you saw Yoongi."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement, and Taehyung stopped in the middle of unpacking his bag. "Yeah."

"You don't even know where he is." Jimin sounded almost annoyed, his brows furrowed in concern. "You have to let go."

Taehyung turned around, a surprising amount of anger welling up inside. "What if I don't want to? What if I don't want to let go of the person who made me happier than ever?"

Now it was Jimin's turn to be annoyed. "Well, do you want to always live mourning what once was? I feel weird telling you this, but I'm pretty sure Yoongi is trying to move on too."

Now tears were welling up in Taehyung's eyes, and his chest hurt. Would Yoongi really try to move on after what happened? Would he try to forget Taehyung and everything that they lived through?

"You don't know that." Taehyung's voice was weak, and he couldn't look into Jimin's eyes. Jimin sighed and wrapped his arms around his best friend, a desperate effort to comfort them both.

"You're right; I don't. But we should still go out tonight, just to see what happens."