Art of Deceit

XII

CHAPTER TWELVE
feather

"You okay?" Dawn asked as she caught up to me.

"Hm?" I turned to look at her, "oh, yea. I'm fine." I said as I looked to the ground. It had only been a week since I said goodbye to Taehyung but I was already starting to miss him. Even though for a short period of time, I had grown comfortable with our daily conversations and midnight rendezvous. 

There was something about him that made me forget everything. My guilt, my thoughts, he managed to distract me from them. Now that he was out of the picture, I was back to facing my mind alone.

"I was meaning to ask you something—" She trailed off slightly, and before she could finish I started.

"I'm sorry," I finally got it out of my chest. "For snapping at you a week ago. You were simply looking out for me—"

"No, no! This isn't about that. Don't worry, I forgive you." She smiled at me. For some reason her eyes didn't reflect the same energy.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to join me for Jungkook's birthday dinner tomorrow." She stated.

"Don't you think it'll be a little odd for me to be there? After the whole thing with Taehyung." I say and she shoves me playfully.

"I don't even think he remembers that. Come on, it'll be fun! I'll ask Annora to come too. We need to unwind and destress." She let out with a breath. "Senior year has been stressful enough."

I walked down the streets, going back home, alone. A subtle breeze played with my hair, drifting past lazily as it made its presence known. As I continued walking, my phone buzzed with a text from Jimin.

"Where are you?"

I unlocked my phone to respond but in that second, something flew across my face, startling me. It landed in front of me and I realised it was a white feather.

I cocked my head to the side to get a better look at it when I noticed an inky black creeping up from the tip of its vane. I stared at it as my undivided attention focused on the change of it's colour.

An eerie feeling crawled it's way up my back, the same feeling I had in the art museum that day with Taehyung. I reached forward to pick it up, wanting to have a closer look at it but before I could, my phone rings and I jump.

"What?" I spat, being jumpy.

"Mum wants to speak to you," Jimin said through a cough. "Where are you?" The urgency in his voice caused a shrill of panic to surge through me.

"Walking home, what is this about?" I asked, the thought of the feather slipping out of my mind completely.

"Yeona."

"Mum, what's wrong?" I gasped as I entered the living room, only to see her crying softly. I had refused to speak to her ever since she made Taehyung leave the auction but I couldn't carry on with it after seeing her cry.

I looked up at Jimin, hoping that he'd shed some light on the situation but he simply shrugged, his brows creasing into a frown. He took a box of tissues, placing it in front of my mother right before taking a few pieces, blowing his nose into it.

"This damn cold." He spat under his breath bitterly, going back up to his room.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." My mother smiled, wiping a stray tear with a piece of tissue paper. "I just got off the phone with Mrs Lee." She took in a deep breath to stabilise her breathing. "They're clearing out some of Yeona's things."