THE TRANSFER STUDENT

The Truth, Pt. 3

"Me too," Jungkook stared blankly at the wall opposite them. "That's the harsh reality of life, I guess. You can regret all you want, but that's not gonna change anything. So you might as well... let go."

"I guess," Jieun nodded slowly, biting her lower lip. "But it was hard when I thought I was the cause of it. Now that I know I wasn't, I can still blame myself in many ways, asking myself how is it possible that I spent hours and hours everyday with her and talking to her, but had absolutely no clue what she was going through-" Jieun swallowed hard. "Just imagining the hours she must have put into treatment and the whole time, I wasn't there to support her, mentally, physically-"

"Anyone can say that," Jungkook hesitated. "I, too. I can blame myself for my sister's death, I can beat myself up for not being there for her in her last moments. And that was precisely what I did to myself for months. Months after the incident, until I met you."

"You changed me too," Jieun pursed her lips. "You changed me so, so much, Jungkook. You reminded me so much of her, you were the reason why I was excited to come to school every morning. You made me confident, you helped me to find happiness in life once again."

"I guess you could say that was mutual," Jungkook glanced at Jieun. "At the beginning, I hated you. Until Yoojung pointed out that I hated you because you reminded me too much of my sister. And then I realised, she was right. I was hating a complete stranger simply because I couldn't let go of my emotional baggages. So I tried my best to stop hating you, I tried my best to treat you the way I would with just any other classmate. But overtime, I started to find it harder and harder. Not because I hated you - but I began to find solace in the way you acted - it felt so, so familiar. Then familiarity let to curiosity, and curiosity led to... attraction."

Silence fell over the toilet.

"We both remind each other of her," Jieun chuckled sadly. "I guess that shows what an amazing person she was. Her positive, tenacious energy was so contagious, it was impossible to not like her."

"She still lives in us," Jungkook agreed. "That's what she left behind for the both of us, I guess."

"But I still don't understand," Jieun sighed. "If she left you a letter, why didn't leave me one?"

"Perhaps she spent so much time with you that she thought you wouldn't need one," Jungkook shrugged. "She kept a lot of secrets, Jieun, and she did a lot of things none of us can understand. But she had her reasons, maybe you'll understand with time."

Silence fell over the toilet once more.

Jungkook chuckled all of a sudden. "Come to think of it, Somi was an odd one since young. She used to just break out dancing in the middle of nowhere, for no particular reason."

"What?!" Jieun's eyes widened. "She did that since young? She still does that!" Jieun's smile vanished as reality hit her all of a sudden. "I mean, she still used to do that - even when I got to know her."

Jungkook nodded solemnly. "It was such a random quirk that I used to take for granted. Now, I can't even watch her dance anymore."

Jieun nodded slowly. "Did she use to do that weird thing with her tongue when she was young though?"

"What weird thing with her tongue?"

Jieun tried to demonstrate, but failed miserably. "The one that she could make a squiggly line with her tongue-"

Jungkook burst into laughter. "That's actually oddly creepy."

Jieun laughed. "Right? I used to hate it, now I kinda miss it. I guess she picked it up over the years, as a personal talent kind of thing."

"She was really pretty talented at many things," Jungkook admitted. "She knew how to draw, she appreciated art, she sang really well, she could dance too, she was amazing at math, she was good at sports too-" Jungkook faltered.

"Her condition must have hindered her from doing so many things she loved to do," Jieun realised sadly.

"She loved skating when she was young."

"Ice-skating?"

"No, rollerblading," Jungkook nodded slowly, a small grin creeping onto his face. "I remember there was once when we were young that we stole our neighbour's rollerblades together and ran to the park to skate at around 1am in the morning. We got our asses whooped when we returned back home though."

Jieun burst into laughter. "Oh my god, you guys must have done so much fun stuff together when you were young. I always wanted a sibling, but unfortunately, I could never have one."

"We definitely had a lot of fun together in our childhood," Jungkook smiled sadly, a glimmer in his eye. "It was a short but memorable one. Somi did a lot of things that made me laugh."

"Like what?"

"Like that time when I accidentally broke one of the plates at home, and my mom scolded me till I cried," Jungkook smiled as he recalled the fond memories. "Somi deadass stuck the pieces back together with red sticky tape and told me to tell mom she fixed it."

"Oh my god, she was hilarious since young," Jieun snorted, wiping a tear out of her eye. "What else did she do? Tell me more, tell me more."

Jieun and Jungkook spent the next few hours catching up on their fondest memories of Somi. Jungkook shared with her the quirkiest things Somi used to do as a child, and Jieun caught her up with the habits that stuck with her till the final moments of her life.

They both were so invested in the conversation, neither of them wanting to stop. Every now and then, they'd find a common trait about Somi and the atmosphere would get heated up as they both tried their best to describe her to the finest detail as possible.

"-yeah, and she told me that it'd be alright," Jungkook was starting to get emotional again. "Because she said she'd support me no matter what."

Jieun swallowed hard, feeling the tears well up in her eyes once more. Hearing the stories of Somi made her miss her even more. "Tell me more, Jungkook. Please, don't stop."

"She was always so kind and beautiful, Jieun," Tears rolled down Jungkook's cheeks. "She taught me how to love, how to be nice, how to treat others with respect, how to be happy. I- I really, really miss her."

Jieun nodded in agreement, as she placed a hand on Jungkook's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. "I miss her too, Jungkook. And I'm sure she misses us too."

"At least she's finally reunited with mom and dad," Jungkook clutched on to his heart-shaped necklace. "She's really cruel, don't you think? Leaving me alone on this earth without anyone to rely on."

"You're not alone, Jungkook," Jieun looked at Jungkook, tears rolling down both sides of her cheeks as well. "You have your grandma and now, you have me, too. You were never alone and you'll never have to be alone anymore."

Jungkook looked up at Jieun with his sad, sad eyes. The two of them exchanged knowing glances for a while, then slowly, Jungkook placed his head on Jieun's shoulder.

"Can we just stay like this for a while?" Jungkook closed his eyes, resting his head fully on her. "Just a short while."

Jieun nodded slowly, as she reached her hand up and stroked Jungkook's head gently.

"You won't have to deal with this alone anymore too," Jungkook muttered, his eyes still closed. "You now have me, we have each other."

"Thank you, Jungkook," Jieun sobbed. "Thank you."

Silence fell over the toilet once more, as the pair sat there, soaking in each other's presence, listening to the sound of each other's breathing and feeling their hearts beat as one. It felt nice, for Jieun, to be finally able to sit down there, guilt-free, knowing that she hadn't been the cause of her best friend's death.

She had been negligent, but at least she knew now that it was what Somi had wanted. And Somi, who was up there in heaven, was probably looking down at this moment, smiling as she saw her beloved brother and her best friend together, united as one, clearing all doubts, bonding over the little memories they shared of her-

"Jungkook," Jieun sat up straight all of a sudden, staring at him with a look of complete realisation. "You are what Somi left me with."