The Epilogue
"Daddy!" The man quickly turned around as he saw a girl who just got out of the kindergarten, ran towards him. He kneeled as he spread his arms as the girl quickly hugged him.
"How was school, baby?" The man released the small figure out from his embrace as he asked, smiling sweetly at her.
"It was fun! We were asked to draw our family portrait today! Look! This is you, me, and momi! We are a happy family!" Jungkook smiled faltered as he saw the drawing. He pressed his lips into a thin line before he smiled back as he raised his eyes level to look at the little girl in front of him.
The portrait that was held by the girl had a signature at the bottom right of the drawing block, Jeon Hana.
-
3 years ago.
"Jungkook!" Mary quickly ran towards Jungkook with Hana that was also doing the same while holding Mary's hand firmly. Jungkook brought his puffy face into his palms as he did not want anyone to watch him looking this miserable, yet again.
Jungkook was sitting in the waiting section as he stared at nowhere. His puffy eyes did not even blink as his breathing from time to time would hitch. He slowly brought his eyes to his right thigh as he felt someone patting that thigh of his.
That's when he saw Hana's face came into his sight. Her eyes were almost the same as him. He quickly pulled his inner lips against his teeth as he contained his sobs. His tears rolled even more before he hugged the small figure in front of him.
"She didn't make it... She's gone..." Jungkook cried out loud, not even trying to cover his sobs in front of Hana, not even care about people seeing them, seeing him without any disguise that covered his identity. Slowly, their sobs echoed together through the air. Mary collapsed on the seat next to Jungkook as she could not believe what she just heard.
Her best friend was gone.
Anne was confirmed murdered.
Hours passed, Jungkook was in the morgue where Anne was brought to. She was kept here first before the hospital got the family's consent to proceed with the post-mortem on her body to confirm the murder was the cause of her cause of death.
Jungkook felt numb after crying for too long and his puffy eyes were just glued to Anne's lifeless body that was lying in front of him. Tears rolled again on his cheeks but his expression did not change, still emotionless.
He then could feel a pat on his shoulder as he turned his head to the person beside him. He saw Hoseok smiled bitterly at him. He just arrived in Ulsan just now with the members after they got the news.
His sobs started to escape again as he dropped his head onto Hoseok's shoulder. His body was trembling as he cried out loud for God knows how many times he did that within this day. Hoseok quickly holds him as he stroked the youngest back.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Hyung... I didn't take care of her... I'm a bad boyfriend... She's gone, Hyung... She's..." Jungkook's body collapsed and nearly met with the floor but Hoseok was quick as he caught Jungkook's body to stay in his arms before he called for help.
Jungkook opened his eyes lit as the light from his surroundings came into his sight, hurting his eyes and as a reflex, he closed them back with a frowned visibly on his forehead. But, he closed them longer than it was supposed to be as a few tears rolling down his cheeks slowly.
He gulped his saliva, hard as his chest was crushed, remembering every bit of those incidents that happened like a nightmare. His other half was gone and he felt like a hopeless boy who was lost in the woods. His sobs finally made their way out from his mouth as he crumpled his body on the bed, gripping firmly on the duvet that covered him.
"Kook? You up?" Hoseok just got back from the cafe as the members were having their dinner now. Jungkook was out for almost two hours and now, he was letting out the sound of misery until Hoseok could even feel the wall was slightly shaking due to Jungkook's wailing.
He pursed his lips as his eyes trembled, looking at the miserable boy crying his eyes out, mourning over the love of his life's death. Hoseok then decided to leave him for some space as he stepped out from the room, closing the door behind him before he leaned on the door. Even from the outside, he could hear Jungkook's cry from how loud his sobs were.
He brought up his face as his eyes met with a few familiar faces and he just shook his head to tell them that he's still not in a good shape. His act resulted in them sighing heavily, as they looked over to the little girl in Yoongi's arms, sleeping after crying over her mother's death.
The next day, Jungkook was called to the police station to help with the investigation as they need him to tell them the details of the murder case. Jungkook's face was emotionless as his eyes were bloodshot, staring at nowhere as the entrusted cop for their interrogation now entered the small room.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Jeon." The cop greeted him but as expected, Jungkook just stayed still, not even bother to greet the cop back.
"Okay, Mr. Jeon. I know you need to rest after what happened to your loved one. My condolences to you. But, I need to ask you a few questions regarding the case since you were there on the day of the incident." The cop turned a few pages of his file that was on the table between them before he looked back up to Jungkook.
"First. Can you tell me what did you know about the relationship between the suspect, Henry Hudson Wang, with your victim, Anne Lee?" Jungkook's heart clenched at the mention of Anne's name. A lump was suddenly formed in his throat, making him hard to breathe but he tried to gulp them, did not want to cause a fuss.
"Based on what she told me, they were once best friends. But, H-Henry holds some sort of grudges towards my girlfriend due to some jealousy."
"Okay. The motive is there. And, can you probably tell me the details of the murder? I know it's hard but please cooperate with us to help us more with the charges towards the suspect." Jungkook, yet again, tried to gulp down the lump that formed again in his throat as he slowly remembered every bit of the incident that happened yesterday.
Almost an hour Jungkook spent in the interrogation room before he stepped out from that said room, feeling like he was going collapse anytime soon. But, Hoseok that just saw his figure out from the room quickly caught him up and helped him walked out of the station.
"Can we..." Jungkook closed his eyes as he leaned the back of his head on the passenger's seat. "...meet Anne first?" He finished up his sentence and Hoseok just smiled at him before he nodded.
Jungkook got out of the car once they reached the cemetery where Anne was buried. He stopped his track in front of a grave where he could see a frame of Anne, smiling widely like nothing bad had happened to her, laid gracefully on it.
He crouched down as he folded his feet and put his butt on those feet before he slowly traced his fingers on the frame on her grave. He smiled widely, trying his best not to break down again in front of his love.
"Hi, babe." His voice was raspy and nearly cracked before he cleared his throat.
"How are you there? Is it cold there? I'm sorry for leaving you yesterday here in this cold weather. You must be so cold." He took a deep breath as he closed his eyes, containing his tears from falling. He suddenly remembered the time when he braced himself and met with Henry this morning.
"Why did you do it?" Jungkook asked in monotone with his dull eyes looking straight towards the man behind the glass window.
"You know why I did that. Don't act dumb. And, it's supposed to be you. Not her."
"I don't know. Why? If you hate her, why I'm your target but not her?" He asked again, pursing his lips to not letting himself get out of control and caused a fuss here.
"Because I want to see her suffer. Just like how she makes me feel throughout these years. She knows about my relationship with my dad, how I always got beaten up by my dad just because I never make him proud. But, she never helps me and won all the matches we had together yet she called herself my best friend. Tch. What a joke." Jungkook already formed fists on both of his hands as he tried his best to not punch the glass window between them and kill him with his bare hands.
"Nothing could justify you being her murderer. Till we meet again in the court." Jungkook's jaws clenched before he stood up and immediately left the room.
"I promise you that I will take care of Hana like she is my world. I love you, Anne and I forever will. Rest in peace and goodbye, my galaxy."
-
Present.
"Daddy. Can I spend some time with Daddy Hoseok? I miss him." Jungkook looked at the girl in front of him in silence as he remembered something. He smiled bitterly at the thought of it as he figured out that Hana asked him that just for that particular reason.
"Yes you can, baby. I will bring you to my workplace and you can leave with him after we are done with work. I will pick you up tomorrow, okay?"
Jungkook has been living away from his members. He was currently living in his own penthouse that he actually bought for him and Anne 3 years ago. Of course, it's before everything started to break apart and the one that should be there with him in that house was already gone, forever.
"Okay, daddy!" Hana beamed excitedly, having the thought of her playing with her biological father. Jungkook already told Hana about Hoseok a year after the incident and gladly, Hana was happy to know about her real father.
"You know, I actually miss you calling me Kookie."
"But...are you okay with me calling you Kookie?" He smiled at the question as he remembered how he broke down in front of Hana every time she called him that. So, Hana, being the smart girl she was, started to call him daddy.
"It's okay. But, it's up to you. I'm fine with anything you call me because despite whatever you call me, I still love you."
"I love you too, daddy." He chuckled at how she had become so clingy. He kissed the crown of her head as they finally started to head towards his car.
-
Today was actually her death anniversary and he always preferred to say alone in his penthouse every year on this very date. He did not want anyone especially Hana to see him looking so miserable while imagining his lover was also there with him.
He just got back from her cemetery and he stepped into his penthouse once he put his high-cut sneakers on the shoe racks. Every year, he would go to the cemetery to clean them and leave a letter as he read somewhere that writing a letter to our loved ones would heal us.
The voices that echoed in his penthouse halted his steps as he blinked a few times before he frowned. He fastens his pace towards the living room and he could see Hana, Mary, Manager Lim, and also all the members of BTS were there in his penthouse. He grasped the wall beside him as he looked at them laughing together while Hana and Hoseok playing with Mino.
He also spotted a lot of balloons that were left stranded all over the place. He wondered what was the occasion that made everyone came here to his house.
"Daddy is back!!" Hana caught his figure standing not so far from them as she ran towards him and hugged his legs. He laughed, still in confusion, before he crouched down and brought Hana up in his arms. He kissed Hana's right cheek lovingly before he looked back towards everyone in the living room as he stepped towards them.
"What are you guys doing here?" Jungkook asked as they started to look at each other and chuckled. He frowned in confusion after received that kind of reaction.
"It's just three years and you already forgot what day is today?"
"Anne's anniversary? I just got back from her cemetery?"
"Not that, silly boy."
Suddenly the light was turned off, resulting in him flinch and he spotted a dim light coming from his right side. He turned a little and saw the light actually coming from the candles on a cake.
"Happy birthday to you." The song slowly filled the air around them as he gasped, totally caught off guard.
Yes, it's been three years since he last celebrated his birthday. And, he totally forgot that today was also his birthday. What a pathetic life to have a birthdate same to our loved one's death anniversary.
"Happy birthday, daddy." Hana kissed his cheek that dragged him back from sucked up into his thoughts for too long.
"Make a wish, daddy, and blow the candles!" Hana beamed in his arms excitedly as he chuckled softly. He looked at everyone in the living room that was smiling widely at him and his attention averted to Seokjin who brought the cake just now. He closed his eyes firmly as he started to wish something.
"I have no wish for me but I just want to say how grateful I am to have all of these people with me throughout my ups and downs. I want to wish for all of them to be happy and healthy."
He opened his eyes back with a small smile before he blew those candles on his birthday cake and a loud clapping sound echoed around him. Hana asked him to bring her down and he did.
"Let's live our life to the fullest from now. I'm very sure that Anne also wants that." Seokjin patted his shoulder before he walked towards everyone.
That's right. From now on, he will live his life to the fullest. He still has them with him that stay up until now, despite him kept on pushing everyone away. But, now, he will not push anyone anymore.
Because everyone here was the stars that keep the constellation he made with Anne stay until today. And, it will forever will. This is the cue for him to move on and walk out from this chapter of his life to another new chapter.
-
To my lover,
Anne Lee.
It's your 3rd anniversary. But, I'm still here, leaving you the letter filled with love and sorrow. Did you read my letter last year? Well, this letter basically holds the same content. I want you to read them while cursing my name because of how cringe is it. Don't worry. I promise this is the last time I write a letter to you.
Babe, you know, Hana has really grown into a really smart girl. Oh, she's become a pretty girl too. I could see a lot of boys checking her out like hawk eyes in her kindergarten. Damn, even kids cannot control their hormones when they saw a pretty girl. Just like how I was when I'm with you.
In this letter, I won't blame anyone anymore. I won't blame you, for leaving me, I won't blame myself, for not receiving the stab instead of you, and I won't blame fate, for creating such a bittersweet story for our life.
At least, I was happy when I was with you, even if it's for such a very short period. And, I'm really thankful for that. You colored every single detail in my life and even after you left, the colors remain because our love is still there, continue to maintain our own constellation in our own galaxy. Even if this is my last letter to you, always remember that your name will forever engrave in my heart.
Last but not least, I love you, my forever. May we meet again in another life and let's rewrite the stars together again.
Yours forever,
Jeon Jungkook.
__________
__________
so, hey there. finally, we reached the end of this book. i really hope all of you enjoy while reading this ff and i also hope you guys won't hunt me in my sleep because of the ending, lol.
you need to recap back everything about the characters in this book. they got their own traits and stories. even henry got one. i never plan to make my characters to be perfect just because it's fanfiction. but, i need to make them real, so yeah. hope u understand ;)
i think that's all. thanks again for reading this book until you reached here. i appreciate every one of you for being here. forgive me for every mistake while i was delivering this story to you. i love you all.
lots of love,
jiggukae♡