•The persistence of memory• [ Taekook ]

Chapter 1: Wanderer above the sea of fog

"Fuck Yoongi. Turn it off!", he somehow managed to whisper, hoping that Jungkook who was making coffee in the kitchen didn't hear.

"I'm sorry! I will do anything...", the voice of the crying woman was successfully interrupted.

Yoongi imperceptibly wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead and regretfully pulled out the tape and returned it to the pile.

At that moment, a young man entered with a small tray of very strong and fragrant coffee. He gently laid it on the table in the living room where he spent most of his time. The detectives shifted a little avoiding the younger man's gaze.

In that cold and messy room, Jungkook sat on the floor between them, his eyes burning, poisoned by all those images of the case. His eyes met Taehyung's for the moment and the older man could feel those eyes of his pressed into his forehead, like some kind of mark. Only then did he begin to feel the whole curse that pursued Jungkook.

In Taehyung's eyes, Jungkook was still the thirteen-year-old boy, lost and scared, that he remembered during the investigation.

However, when he looked at him now, all he could see was a wonderful grown and mature man, with a pale fairy face and soft shaggy black hair. But for a moment he saw that spark in his eyes, it was still shining and wasn't completely extinguished. He could see in his eyes all the galactic boyish dreams but also the still present fear of dreams that would always accumulate in the morning.

"We... have come to tell you something of great importance."

"Is there any progress?", he sat quietly, wrapped in some hope, a double hope that he might finally find the lost piece of happiness again.

"No... it's not about that...", Taehyung continued, looking at the floor. "It's just... fifteen years have passed since the accident... it's gone really fast..."

Jungkook remained silent, frowning slightly at every word the detective uttered. He tilted his head slightly as Taehyung continued. "I don't even know how to start...I..."

"Moon's case expires in a week.", Yoongi spoke up.

"What does that mean?", the younger one asked.

"When a certain amount of time has passed since the murder, the procedure related to the case cannot be restarted."

Seeing that Jungkook's face didn't change, Yoongi continued. "The current limit is fifteen years. If that limit were to be increased, the memories of the incident would fade during that additional time, and the preservation of evidence would degrade..."

Those last syllables deliriously turned into a chaos of nonsense and exaggeration. The young man was already losing the thread of the conversation. He began to reject every reasonable and comforting thought shaking his head.

"Preserving evidence? Memories?", the younger man suddenly stood up, attracting the attention of the detectives.

Jungkook swallowed the lump in his throat and with still sleepy eyes he realized that suddenly everything was lost, especially the time when days were just spaces between his happiness, and his happiness was just a landscape between his dreams.

Suddenly half of the notebooks from the shelves were on the floor from Jungkook's swing of his arms. One of them landed directly in Taehyung's lap. Ready to stand up and calm the younger man, Jungkook spoke again.

"Here! Everything is here, for fucking sake! I saved everything! Look! Why would the memories hatch? Why? Why? Every moment is engraved in my memory and everything is here, look!", at that moment the low line of his voice began to descend, to decline, turning into a wail, into a rasp.

"Here, based on the witness's description, I made a new sketches of his face! Here is everything we know about him! All that I managed to find out about him during all these years! All about his fatal appearance and kidnapping! Detective Kim... Taehyung, here are the results of all my fifteen years of research, statements from the police and anyone who might know anything. In one word, here is the sum of our wavering knowledge of him! If this is not enough, then give me some more time and I will..."

"There is another reason.", Yoongi ignored the sudden behavior and all of Jungkook's analysis, turning his head in the other direction.

"15 years is enough for the culprit to repent and receive forgiveness."

"Enough, Yoongi!"

"Did he maybe repent? Did he ask for forgiveness? Because he didn't ask me! Nor my late mother!", the younger man continued to shout under the impact of these news, of which only an ethereal haze reached him.

"And me? What will I do now?"

At that question, Taehyung bowed his head. He couldn't watch how the golden dust of time slowly destroyed the last atom of common sense of that young man.

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"I told you, Kim! Our arrival here only caused more unnecessary stress.", Yoongi constantly complained to his colleague as soon as they got into the car that they parked in front of Jeon's house.

Taehyung just listened silently to the elder.

"I'm stressed now. We could just send a letter and we didn't have to come. Fuck!Have you seen the face of the boy? Fuck, I'm just..."

"Detective Kim!"

Suddenly his voice stopped and his eyes were fixed on Jungkook's who knocked several times on the passenger side window where Taehuyng was sitting. He roll-down window, they both looked at the younger one.

"You promised! You promised my mother that you would find him! It must not end like this, detective!"

Taehyung felt the weight of his words and the injustice that fell upon that family.

Therefore, he could understand Jungkook's metaphysical revolt and this somehow belated outgrowth of his strength.

After all, he was just a boy then, angry at the whole world. Anger has been bubbling in him all these years like a volcano, like some kind of ulcer. That's why he didn't blame him for the accusations, because Jungkook was right.

Taehyung had nothing to say.

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*Wanderer above the Sea of Fog is a painting by German Romanticist artist Caspar David Friedrich made in 1818.
In this case, Jungkook is a bystander and wanderer trying to lift the fog and veil from the case that destroyed his life. The fog can also represent his memories which, no matter how hard he tries, will eventually fade and disappear. Feeling helpless but still patient and full of faith, Jungkook observes how slowly nature appears, in this case hope, which appears in the form of Taehyung.
If you ask me, a very powerful art which can be interpreted in many ways.