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[ Chapter 25 ]
❛The Jeon Twins❜
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"TWINS?"
Amara looked between Hope and Jungkook who sat with her at their usual table outside of the kitchens. They had soon left Namjoon alone again in his room to rest, not wanting to risk him choking himself out again if they were to keep bothering him with questions.
"Who do you think he's on about?" V asked as he came to sit with them suddenly, placing his food down as he sat next to Amara.
The three gave him an incredulous look.
"Are you that thick?" Hope asked the boy as he tilted his head, his brown eyes narrowed. "I think he means Amara and Jungkook." He specified sarcastically.
"We do look the most alike after all, apparently." Jungkook adds.
"So you two are brother and sister? Same mom, same dad?" V moved his finger between the two, his eyes wide at the sudden fact.
"No, they're cousins," Jay's usual sarcastic voice blesses the foursomes ears as he came to sit with them. The head runner pushes V aside so he could sit in between him and Amara. "Of course they're siblings you idiot."
"Are you okay, V?" Amara asked him. "You didn't hit your head at all? Fell off your bed?" She continued. The brunette leaned over Jay and raised her hand to place the back of her palm on V's forehead, for dramatic reasons. Both V and Jay swatted her arm away.
"I'm fine!" V exclaimed. "Just confused s'all. It's not like we have any other siblings here."
"That we know about." Hope countered. V didn't respond verbally, he only rolled his eyes and went about eating the sandwich Jin had kindly made from the leftovers of yesterday's dinner.
"Ever seen that happen before?" Jungkook asked Hope, swiftly changing the subject.
Hope looked at him, his face suddenly sombre. "What Namjoon just did? No. Never. But then again, no ones ever tried to tell us what they remembered during the Changing. They always refuse. Joon tried to— must be why he went nuts for a while."
Jungkook paused in the middle of chewing. Could the people behind the maze control them somehow? It was a terrifying thought.
"We have to find Gally," Hope said through a bite of carrot, changing the subject again. "Bugger's gone off and hid somewhere. Soon as we're all done eating. I need to find him and throw his butt in the slammer."
"Seriously?" Amara scoffed in disbelief, surprised by the news— although she wouldn't say she was disappointed. She hoped Gally had disappeared and would never show his face ever again. It would make her, and she was sure a lot of others, the happiest person alive.
"That shank threatened to kill you both and we have to make bloody sure that doesn't happen. That shuck-face is gonna pay a heavy price for acting like that— he's lucky we don't banish him. Remember what I said about order." Hope said.
"Yeah," Jungkook breathed out heavily. If he heard someone remind him one more time of keeping the peace and order, he may just throw himself down the boxes hole. . . and not by accident. He wondered if Amara or anyone else felt the same as he did.
Amara frowned. "Why can't we just banish him? It'll make a lot of us happy." She suggested.
Jay stared at her. "Believe me, it would make us happy," he laughed. "But we can't just rid someone because we don't like them. It would send Hope's order way out of whack." He gestured with his hands for effect.
Amara rolled her eyes, but she knew that he was right. If they were to banish Gally, then everyone would be coming up to them and complaining about one another, hoping to get the other banished for something as simple as looking at them funny.
"Here's how it'll play out, Kookie," Hope grabbed the boy's attention. "You're with me the rest of today— we need to figure things out. Tonight, the Slammer. Then you're Jay's, and I want you to stay away from the other shanks, apart from us of course, for a while. Got it?" He asked him.
Jungkook was more than happy to oblige. Being left mostly alone sounded like a great idea. "Sounds beautiful," he smiled before clapping and rubbing his hands together. "So Jay's going to train me?"
Jay leaned over and slapped Jungkook's shoulder. "That's right— you're a runner now. I'll teach ya. The maze, the maps, everything. Lots to learn. I expect you to work your butt off, like my Amara did." He rubbed the girls head and she smiled proudly, frolicking in the attention.
"I will," Jungkook promised.
He was shocked that the idea of entering the maze again didn't frighten him all that much. He resolved to do just as Hope and Jay said, hoping it would keep his mind off things. Deeper down, he hoped to get out of the Glade as much as possible. Avoiding other people was now his new goal in life.
The group then sat in silence, quietly finishing their lunches, until Hope finally got to what he really wanted to talk about. He sighed as he pushed his tray away from him to signify he had finished. He turned and looked straight at Jungkook.
"Jungkook," he began. "I need you to accept something. We've heard it too many times now to deny it, and it's time to discuss it."
Jungkook knew what was coming, but was startled. He already dreaded to hear the words.
"Gally said it. Joon said it. Ben said it," Hope continued. "The girl, after we took her out of the box— she said it too. Plus everything Amara's been saying." He paused, perhaps expecting Jungkook to ask what he meant. But Jungkook already knew. "They all said things were going to change."
Hope looked away for a moment, then turned back. "That's right. And Gally, Joon and Ben claim they saw you in their memories after the changing— and from what I gather, you weren't plantin' flowers and helpin' old ladies cross the street according to Amara. From what Gally said, there's somethin' rotten enough about ya that he wants to kill ya."
"Hope, I don't know—" Jungkook started, but Hope didn't let him finish.
"I know you don't remember anything Jungkook!" Hope exclaimed loudly.
V, Jay and Amara each exchange silent; awkward glances with one another as they all bow their heads to face the table and the food in front of them. Jungkook felt embarrassed knowing they were here and could hear their conversation— he felt like a child getting scolded by his parents in front of his siblings. . . he hated it.
"Quit sayin' that— don't ever say it again. None of us remember, par Amara, and we're bloody sick of you reminding us," Hope made Jungkook aware of that fact and he began to feel ashamed. "The point is, there's something different about you, and it's time we figured it out."
Jungkook was suddenly overwhelmed by a surge of annoyance. "Fine, so how do we do it? I want to know who I am just as much as anyone else. Obviously."
"Watch the attitude, Jungkook." Amara scolds him with a pointed glare and finger. He rolled his eyes but obliged nonetheless.
"I need you to open your mind. Be honest if anything— anything at all —seems familiar." Hope said again. He felt like this was all himself and others was having to say to the two newest arrivals, or siblings he should say now.
"Nothing—" Jungkook started to say, but stopped. So much had happened since arriving, he'd almost forgotten how familiar the Glade had felt to him that first night, sleeping next to Chuck in his hammock. How comfortable and at home he'd felt. A far cry from the terror he should've experienced.
"I can see your wheels spinnin'," Jay smirked as he pointed at Jungkook— he knew he remembered something. It was like he was dealing with Amara again. "Talk." he demanded.
Jungkook hesitated, scared of the consequences once they hear what he was about to say. But then he remembered Amara had never been punished for telling them what she remembered, from what he knew anyway. . . unless she was the few days she was here before he had arrived. He was tired of keeping secrets.
"Well. . . I can't put my finger on anything specific," he began slowly, his eyes scanning across the four sat with him. "But I did feel like I've been here before when I first got here." he confessed.
Amara frowned. "Well I wasn't expecting him to say that." she muttered in a daze.
Jungkook looked around again. "Anyone else go through that?" He asked, before focusing on Amara. "Not even you?" he asked her but she shook her head to say 'no'.
Hope's face was blank before he rolled his eyes. "Uh, no, Kookie. Most of us spent a week klunkin' our pants and bawlin' our eyes out because we were so scared."
Jay suddenly laughed and slapped his thigh. "Poor V here didn't speak to anyone for two whole days— he was that scared. All it took was for me to flash him a smile and he was as good as new." He exclaimed and V sarcastically laughed at him.
Clearly he wasn't happy that memory was brought up again. . .
Jungkook brushed over the comedic memories. "Yeah, well." He paused. He was beginning to feel upset and embarrassed. What did this all mean? Was he different from everyone else somehow and if so, why? Was something wrong with him? "It just all seemed familiar to me and I just knew that I wanted to be a runner."
"That's bloody interesting," Hope examined him for a second, not hiding his obvious suspicion. "Well, keep lookin' for it. Strain your mind, spend your free time wanderin' your thoughts, and think about this place. Delve inside that brain of yours, and seek it out. Try, for all our sakes."
"I will," Jungkook closed his eyes, starting to search the darkness of his mind.
"Not now, you dumb shuck," Hope laughed. "I just meant do it from now on. Free time, meals, goin' to sleep at night, as you walk around, train, work. Tell me anything that seems even remotely familiar. Got it?"
Jungkook nodded his head slowly.
"Same goes for Amara. We need you to start remembering things again— it's been a while." Hope pointed a finger at her and the girls mouth opened wide.
"Excuse me?!" Amara exclaimed, her eyes and mouth wide. "Why do I have to be pressured into remembering too? Haven't I remembered enough for you guys already? I'm tired." she wines.
"Don't worry about it, tiger." Jay wraps an arm around her shoulder and pulls her into his side. "Don't think we don't appreciate what you've done for us already." he smiled and Amara did too.
"Thankyou," she expressed her gratitude and made no attempt to move away from him, enjoying the closeness.
The three boys sat silently around the table. It was now Hope's and Jungkook's turn to join in with the confused; yet awkward glances being thrown around. They were all asking themselves if they were seeing what they were seeing. . . Jay and Amara seemed really close. Too close.
The two seemed to catch on to the stares being thrown their way.
"What?" Amara asked as she rose an confused eyebrow, her eyes moved over V, Jungkook and Hope.
The three boys all shook their heads simultaneously whilst muttering 'nothing', before they went back to their original conversations. Well Jungkook and Hope did, V just sat and quietly listened.
"Alright then," Hope said. "To begin with, Jungkook, we better go and meet someone."
"Who?" Jungkook asked, but he soon realised the answer as soon as he spoke. Dread filled him again.
"The girl. I want you to look at her till your eyes bleed, see if something gets triggered in that shuck brain of yours," Hope gathered his rubbish up and stood up. "Then I want you to tell me every single word Namjoon said to you and Amara."
Jungkook sighed, then got to his feet. "Okay." He didn't know if he could bring himself to tell the complete truth about Namjoon's accusations, not to mention how he felt about the new girl. However, he remembered Amara was there with him and Hope could just go and ask her if he thought he wasn't telling the complete truth.
Speaking of Amara, Jungkook figured he needed to speak to her about the whole 'twin' thing. All this time since meeting Amara, he knew there was this connection shared between them, something unlike any other here in the Glade. However, he didn't know how to go about the situation. Should he just approach her and hug her, whilst claiming 'yeah! My sister, I love you'. He figured that would be very weird and would probably make Amara scared of him— he didn't want that now.
"If all else fail," Hope said, interrupting Jungkook's thoughts as the two walked. "We'll send ya to the grievers— get ya stung so you go through the changing. We need your memories."
Jungkook barked a sarcastic laugh thinking the boy was joking, but Hope wasn't smiling.
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That evening, Jay and Amara found themselves cuddled in their sheets in their separate beds. Although tired and beginning to drift off, the two were engaged in active conversations. Maybe it was because it brought them both comfort to talk before falling asleep, it always humoured them to see who would cave first and be the one who falls into slumber before the other.
However, tonight. . . something serious was playing on both of their minds.
"How do you feel about all this?" Jay asked suddenly as he turned his head rested upon his pillow to gaze at her. Amara frowned up at the ceiling so he went on to elaborate. "Ya know, Jungkook and the whole sibling-twin thing. . . surely you have something to say about it all."
Amara shrugged and turned to face him too, their cheeks resting upon their pillows. "I mean what am I supposed to think?" She asked him but didn't expect an answer, nor did she want one. "I have little memories and then being told me and him are related. I don't know what to feel. . . it's all so confusing. Overwhelming." she told him.
"Understandable," Jay hummed before yawning.
"I'll speak to him tomorrow," Amara told him. Her eyes were now closed as she spoke and Jay smiled as he listened to her. "After we've took him out running of course. That's if he survives." she joked.
Jay suddenly laughed a little. "The shanks gotta survive a night out in the Slammer first."
Realisation struck Amara. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that." her voice grew slower and quieter, telling Jay that the girl was moments away from falling asleep. He didn't blame her, she has had a rough couple of days as of late.
"Goodnight Amara,"
"Goodnight Jay."
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I know there wasn't a lot of coverage on the whole twin revelation. However, if I was in that situation I believe I wouldn't run to my brother and suffocate him in a hug because it's just a word. There's not feelings or memories behind it, yet anyway, so please give Jungkook and Amara time to accept the fact that they are actually twins and they will soon start acting like them! I just want it to be realistic :)
The first part is also coming to an end... there's maybe ten or a few more chapters until we move on to the Scorch trials... I is very excited to write these characters in the desert ;)
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter anyway and I hope you feel bad for Jungkook who is spending the night in jail, basically ahaahhaha <3