castaway | kim taehyung

26. daydream

[ JEON JUNGKOOK ]

Girl, you got me daydreamin' to dawn.

Standing outside of her room, I internally fight myself to knock on her door. Letting out a frustrated sigh, I admit defeat to myself. Taking a few steps away from her door, I glance down at the bouquet of flowers.

This is the first time I've ever loved someone. This is the first time I've felt the butterflies roaming throughout my stomach. This is the first time I've felt nervous to knock on a door just to see someone special. This is the first time I grew more conscious of how I looked, smelled, acted and behaved.

This is the first time I've fallen in love, and didn't have to stop myself.

"Jungkook?" I look up from the flowers to see Yeri glancing at me with a funny look. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh. I was just... trying to see if Soojung was home." Yeri frowns.

"She's not home right now, she went to the doctor after tutoring me." She says softly.

"Oh, well then, I guess I'll come back later." I smile and she nods her head.

"I'll let her know that you dropped by," she smirks, nodding her head at the bouquet of flowers. "You're pretty whipped for her."

I chuckle, looking at the flower again. I nod my head in agreement.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

→ → →

[ PARK SOOJUNG ]

When you wake up, here you are, out of reality.

A sense of belonging. It was such a foreign feeling. But at the same time, it felt so familiar. It's a feeling that I've been craving to have since the day I started to exist. But it was just too complicated. Life is too complicated.

And finding love too, is complicated. But why is it so easy to let your walls down when you finally find out that you belong to someone?

In this fixed world, I've learned many things. Everyone is fixed to one soulmate the moment they are born. But at the same exact time, there are the glitches, the individuals that co-exist with the lucky ones. If things aren't complicated enough, you're wrong.

Although everyone is fixed to one soulmate, there is always that one case where an individual falls in love with someone else; someone that is not their soulmate. This not only causes an error to the system, but it creates glitch offspring. This is the first punishment.

There are also cases where two glitches seek love in each other. This also causes an error to the system, and glitch offspring are created. This is the second punishment.

But there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. There is always that hope that changes everything.

And it starts with Jeon Jungkook. The man with my named tattooed on his wrist. The man that proves something incredibly controversial. The man that makes me feel like I belong, because I do. I belong to Jeon Jungkook.

"Doc, can you please explain what's going on?" I mumble softly, fiddling with my fingers nervously. He rummages through my folder after writing a few things down.

"Things are much more complicated for you, Soojung-ssi, I'm going to be very honest with you." He folds his hands and glances at me.

"Will I die?" He chuckles, shaking his head. "Oh, thank God."

"It's extremely rare, in fact, you're my first case, where you are a glitch because of your fixed soulmate... but at the same time, you belong to someone who isn't a glitch." He explains. "It's quite complicated."

"It's making my head hurt."

"I know it is," he smiles. "Are your parents glitches?"

I fall silent. "Are they supposed to be glitches?"

"Well," he began, "it's a default for two people - one of them being a glitch and one of them not - who end up together, to have glitch offspring. It's the first punishment."

"My parents..." I trail off. "My mother is not a glitch. My father is, though."

"What I've seen from your test results is something out of the ordinary, Soojung-ssi."

"How out of the ordinary?" He purses his lips into a line.

"You are one of my first patients who's part glitch."

Part.. glitch? I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. He stares at me before nodding his head again to confirm everything that had just come out of his mouth. I choke out a few words but somehow fall silent.

"As I said, it is expected for a glitch and non-glitch to have glitch offspring. However, there is a very slim chance for their offspring to be part glitch and part non-glitch."

"So you're saying that I belong to someone, but at the same exact time, I don't?"

"Confusing as it is, yes." He lets out a soft sigh.

I place my face into my hands. I let out another frustrated sigh.

"What am I going to do?"

"I wish I knew what you could do, Soojung-ssi. But as I said, you're one of my first patients with such a case." He explains.

I start gathering my things, thanking him for his time and for checking up on my condition. As I leave the room, right when I reach the door, I hear him say something. I turn over my shoulder to see him stuck in a trance, as if he had realized something extremely important.

"I think I know exactly what you should do." He whispers.

"You do?" He nods his head.

"This is sort of intertwined with the whole 'listen to your heart, not your mind' concept when it comes to love." He explains.

"Yeah, because obviously it's going to be extremely easy to love someone I don't belong to and someone I do belong to at the same exact time." I snort.

"Well, you did have the permanent surgery." He says. He was right. "Therefore, you don't really have feelings. They're permanently gone."

"But you did say that there are chances of feeling again," I add.

"Exactly." He smiles. "Most of my glitch patients who have gone through permanent removal of the petals tend to gain feelings again, and they're satisfied with them."

"But how is this related to listening to my heart and not my mind?"

"I suggest you to try and find those feelings again. You have two incredibly and equally special people in your life, your mind wants one of them and your heart wants the other. I want you to find love, again, but through your heart. It could hurt you, it could break you, but if you listen to your heart and not your mind, you'll be able to distinguish that feeling between those two people you're torn with."