ALWAYS You: Swan's Shadow [YOONGI] (Book 3)

Chapter 5

The blaring afternoon sun pierced through the mosaic windows of the church hall, sweltering the inside of the church like a greenhouse.

Soo-ji awoke in her makeshift bed on the floor, sweating from the stuffy air with a pounding headache. She groaned as she felt something weird on her.

Forcing her arms up and reaching just directly under her chin, a cold wet flannel was neatly tucked in to ease the massive purple bruise emerging under her skin. Next to her was a bucket of cold water. She looked around, barely able to keep her swollen eyes open and was rather surprised to find herself alone.

Hushed voices can be heard outside. Dropping the wet flannel into the bucket, Soo-ji groggily headed outside to find Seokjin screwing nails into the battered TV that he dragged outside so that he wouldn't wake Soo-ji whilst he did his DIY, Namjoon and Taehyung were in the nearby trees, shirts off, sweat glistening their toned torsos as they chopped down trees to cook dinner for tonight.

"You're awake!" Taehee chirped, appearing next to her out of nowhere. As always, the cheerful Taehee was like the sun itself, ready to brighten up anyone's day with a radiant smile like hers.

"Oh!" Taehee gasped dramatically, staring at Soo-ji's neck with her big brown eyes, "the bruise is going down! You couldn't even imagine how bad it was this morning! It was absolutely hideous like a disease! At least Yoongi's efforts haven't gone to waste, he spent the whole damn morning cooling it with cold water!"

Soo-ji snapped her head up to look at Taehee at the mention of Yoongi's name.

Despite saying harsh words to him the night before, the last thing she expected was Yoongi tending to her wounds without a single ounce of hesitation. Seeing her silent state, Taehee hooked her arm with Soo-ji's, gave a small smile and turned her body in the direction where Yoongi was. 

Yoongi, calm and alone, in the distance tended to Soo-ji's parents' graves. He wore a tired look on his face; the dark circles under his emotionless eyes told her that he hardly had any sleep but he still worked tirelessly to pull out the weeds nearby and giving the gravestones a gentle scrub.

"You guys fought, right?" Taehee stated rather than asked, "he's been really quiet all day."

Soo-ji sighed, answering Taehee's question. She looked down, unable to watch Yoongi. To say that Yoongi looked upset would be an understatement. The impassive expression on his face was as clear as day that he was completely torn inside. And to know that he spent all morning cooling her bruise down and now cleaning her parents' graves, Soo-ji would be lying if she said she wasn't moved at all. As a matter of fact, her guilt ate up her insides, tearing her conscience apart into nothing as her emotions stirred into a confusing mix of remorse, heartbreak and shame.

"Dinner's gonna be ready soon," Taehee's small voice interrupted her thoughts, "well-" Taehee looked behind her, "when those two over there get on with it."

Soo-ji looked behind her too. A few steps away, a pot of water was launched above a fire pit by a strong tree branch embedded into the soil while In-ah and Jungkook prepared the meat and vegetables that Soo-ji brought home.

Sniffles and sobs filled Jungkook's ears as he patiently cut the chicken into small chunks on top of a tree log. He rolled his eyes, holding himself back from driving the knife into In-ah next to him who sobbed uncontrollably into her book as she stirred the pot.

"L-Lucas is saying goodbye to Alana..." In-ah whined to whoever was listening, referring to the main characters of her romance book. "H-he told her to not wait for him anymore b-because he doesn't know if he can e-ever come back!"

"How's the potatoes doing in the pot?" Without much of a glance at the weeping In-ah, Jungkook reached over, grabbing the wooden spoon from her hand and continued stirring. Nodding to himself that he was satisfied the potatoes were almost done, he belted his hip out, pushed In-ah out of the way and proceeded to put the chicken in.