jaeyeon feels rather stupid when she a few hours later, even after jisung has left, opens the green metal box and takes out the photos again. it's one in the morning by now and truthfully, she has grown exhausted after such a long day. that said, the curiosity and longing for the meaning behind the photos keeps dragging her straight back to the box again and before she knows it, jaeyeon has already spent another good hour on looking at them.
that's also why she, later in the morning, finds herself waking up on the floor of the living room. with a light whimper, jaeyeon slowly heaves her eyes open. the lights still being on from last night, it takes her a few moments to adjust to its brightness. her back hurts but that's no wonder.
rubbing the last hints of sleep away from her eyes, jaeyeon looks around and sees how she's lying on the floor, surrounded by a mess of photos. she turns to lie on her side and the first thing she sees is a photo right in front of her eyes. observing it, jaeyeon recalls and remembers that it was the last one she had looked at before subcounsciously falling asleep.
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an index finger reaches out to it, its tip ghosting over the faces in it. upon seeing photos with such gleeful smiles, jaeyeon fills with mixed emotion; happiness from knowing she must've been very close to such good friends but also grief from the lacking every memory of them.
"will I really be able to find them...?"
with a heavy sigh, jaeyeon sits up from the floor and starts reaching out for the photos; it strikes her how there must be at least a hundred of them and there's still a bunch she hasn't looked through yet.
collecting them in a single bundle, jaeyeon carefully places the polaroid photos in the green box, along with the obscure silver necklace. however, just as she's about to put the polaroid photo inside, she freezes completely.
heart beating fast against her chest, jaeyeon starts feeling dizzy as she slowly lets a thought sink down on her.
"how did I not realize...?"
• • •
"oh? jaeyeon, good morn-" jisung tries greeting when the two exit their apartments at the same time. she cuts him short though, voice full of stress and anxiety.
"jisung, not now!" jaeyeon hurries to say and starts heading towards the stairs.
"hey, what's wrong?"
groaning, she looks back at him, "I'll tell you later, I really have to go!" and with that, jaeyeon runs out of the apartment building, leaving him alone and confused.
jaeyeon doubts she has ever ran so fast as in this moment. people passing by look weirdly at her but it's of her least concern right now. with thousand of thoughts roaming her mind, there's a pain assaulting her head by now but even that, she doesn't have the attention to care about.
the running doesn't come to a stop until she eventually reaches her destination; jaeyeon enters the supermarket for the nth time, somewhat sweaty and hair a complete mess. her breathing is shaky as well, unstable and fast but that doesn't stop her from taking a deep inhale, and before she's aware of it herself, jaeyeon loudly calls out.
