Like Sunshine On Snow | p.jm ✔

이십일: connecting the dots

"Jimin?" Gaeul nothing but repeated the name that Jimin had given away in heedlessness. If she could see through the line, she would have laughed her guts out at how bewildered the caller at the other end had turned to be— with one of his palms slapped across his mouth, as if he just spilled an information that was otherwise supposed to be kept confidential.

"Erm, yes... Jimi—"

"Who are you now, Jimin? As much as I remember, Sera doesn't have a friend named Jimin. She in fact doesn't have a single friend besides me, mind explaining your actual motive then, Mr. Jimin?" There went Gaeul playing Sera's over-protective friend once again.

Sure, she was a great friend to Sera and had been by her side to herself bear Sera's highs and lows many a times, but that did not give her the authority to invade into the latter's private life. That was also what had stricken Jimin's mind too when he instead talked back to her rather than answering her queries.

"Not again! I'm hearing that for the second time in a row, and that too within a day. I'm not explaining to you for one more time how Sera and I know each other—"

"The cap guy? You're the cap guy from earlier in the day, right? Who mumbled something like she's mine starting from now onwards? You're that enigmatic guy, aren't you?" Gaeul—out of suspicion— rained down unremitting questions upon Jimin, which in all honesty were only provoking him further.

"Miss Gaeul, listen up. You can interview me anytime for as long as you want, but not right now please. Something happened to Sera while we were on our date and she just fled from me using your name. I'm extremely worried about her... she's not even picking up calls! Can you please check on her first and then continue with your interrogation? Please?" Jimin could be heard gritting his teeth from the other end of the line, his voice sounding a bit muffled as a result.

Gaeul would have objected on the way Jimin had chided her, had it been another occasion. But since it was Sera whom Jimin was concerned about, she just let it slide.

"Alright Mr. Mysterious with a highly doubtful existence, I got you. You don't need to overthink now. I'll let you know as soon as I return from investigating her house. That sounded a little out of place—"

"Miss Gaeul..." Jimin stretched his words as he deadpanned, indicating her that it was high time that she did what she had been charged with— for he was steadily running thin on patience.

"Apologies!" Was what she could exclaim right before hanging up on Jimin.

Something was definitely not right. No matter how many times she had tried to connect the dots, this Jimin guy certainly never showed up in the picture before today. Where did Sera even get the time to meet up and create a bond with him? Moreover, it was pretty unlikely of Sera to get along with someone in a flash. The girl required much more time than that, which Gaeul was thoroughly aware of.

Gaeul did not realize when she ultimately landed before Sera's door after taking five exact steps from across her own. It was true that Sera had been spending much of her free time somewhere else, which otherwise used to belong to her and their collective shenanigans. Maybe Gaeul was not that much of an observer which she claimed herself to be, and simply missed out on those small details.

Still deliberating on what must be so wrong for the man to freak out like that, she pressed the doorbell mindlessly. The buzz was what had brought her consciousness back to her.

Sera did not bother to open the door and entertain her guest at first, thinking that they would eventually get tired of waiting and therefore leave. But slightest hints of a potential situation had always spurred Gaeul to be the most stubborn of them all. Resultingly, she resumed jabbing onto the button until Sera's ears had theoretically bled, and she had decided to cave in at long last.

"What's wrong, Gaeul?" Sera was rubbing her eyes when she opened the door, causing Gaeul to give her an amused reaction. Her disheveled hair and constant yawning were a testimony enough to Gaeul that the woman before her had been sleeping the night away when a person out there was so terribly distraught due to her.

"What's wrong with you, Sera? It's legit eight in the evening, what were doing in your bed? Are you perhaps sick?" Gaeul quizzed with a face so evidently showcasing her concern, while Sera did a tiny, hesitant nod with her head at that.

"My eyes were hurting, that's why I felt like sleeping. I'm sorry for troubling you, Gaeul." Sera mumbled apologetically and by the tone of it, Gaeul could comprehend that something really wrong had gone down while she was with Jimin.

"I'm not surprised," Gaeul lifted up Sera's face with her index finger to study her stress— in case it was washed all over her face, "look at your eyes, they're so puffy. You cried, didn't you? And you can't lie to me, you know that." She had then retracted her hands as she folded her arms across her chest.

Sera stood silent for a few moments before breaking down yet again, and her distorted facial features could immediately suggest that it was the same as what she had done a while ago too. She stayed wordless for an indefinitely long period of time. Even as she ran into Gaeul's arms for a hug in the meanwhile, she did not let out a single word except for some stifled sobs.

Actions speak louder than words sometimes, and this moment was a recreation of that very saying.

"What happened between you and Jimin? I won't ask who he is or how did you meet him, but you should know that he called me to know your whereabouts. Why did you leave him hanging out of the blue, Sera?" Gaeul tried to sift through the suffocating atmosphere that had developed, and surprisingly brought an end to Sera's crying too— which the former was not as completely clueless about as she had seemed.