* * *
Prisha.
She wasn't an only child but she was the only girl child, she grew up having to live with the constant chaos which are her brothers and that made her craved for a sister, someone she could discuss anything and everything with, someone who was sweet and kind, someone who can make her feel special, someone who sees past her exterior features and considers her a friend and a sister.
And she has now found that person who happens to be Ione. Her best friend.
She has always admired Ione from afar not wanting to cross the boundary line that her profession has drew between them. She admired her nurturing and tender ways to the people close to her heart, she admired her confidence that never made her shied away from being proud of being in a polyamory relationship. She admired her intelligence as she was studying to become an oncologist, she admired her healthy way of living, her beauty, her way of talking and carrying herself in situations or normal interactions.
Prisha saw all she wanted in a big sister in Ione, someone who would care for her, someone who would love and cherish her, someone who would be able to keep up with her silly and childish ways, someone who would listen to her and be there for her.
And she never knew that the time will come when she will eventually be a part of Ione's life, even if it was through the cancer but she couldn't tone down her happiness for that reason only. And she was even happier to be there for Ione in the lowest time of her life.
Ione has become someone that is super close to her heart, someone she wants protect from any form of harm, she wants to do her best to make sure her best friend and big sister is going to get better and feel light once again.
She also really wants to keep to the promise of not doing anything to both the jerks and the bitch but how can she ignore that gnawing feeling that is making her stomach churn of disgust as she keeps seeing Hana bounce happily around in the hospital?
How can someone be so bad and heartless to be happy about another person's misery?
How does she have the heart or guts to approach one of those men and seduce them knowing fully well they are in a relationship with her patient?
How can someone be so bad?
She couldn't ignore it. The feeling to teach Hana a lesson while still keeping to her promise to Ione. She lost the strength especially when she overheard Hana bragging about her new celebrity boyfriend to other female nurses in the break room. She kept babbling on and on about so many things about the unknown celebrity.
She had no shame to even describe how good he is in bed and hefty in pocket.
Hana kept smiling like she has won the jackpot as she kept on talking about how he was going to take her out, take her shopping and how serious the relationship is getting.
She even mentioned marriage in a sickening squealing voice but the other female nurses couldn't help but awww at her.
They didn't know shit. They didn't know Hana, their fellow colleague is one of the devil incarnates on earth. If they knew, they wouldn't awww but they would ewww at the whole thing she was proudly spewing.
She wanted to wipe off that irritating smile off Hana's face.
So there was no questioning her reason for being dressed up and walking into a bar at dusk on her day off to meet up with an old friend.
"Prisha! Over here!" Her old friend hailed her over to the corner of the bar that was dim. Prisha smiled as she gracefully walked up to her old friend, the moment she got to the person, she was pulled into a tight quick hug.
"Gosh, you've gotten prettier and sexier." Her old friend commented, gesturing for her to sit.
"Soft," Prisha chuckled, "I should be the one saying that." She eyed her friend's chest.
"Ahh this," Soft laughed, grabbing her clothed breasts while staring at Prisha, "Boob job, they are very useful in the moment of persuasion." Soft added. She's a Korean woman, model shaped body with a blonde hair. Ever looking confident.
"You haven't changed." Prisha shook her head, "You've gotten worse." She laughed.
"I have to get worse so I can stay on top of the game." Soft shrugged. Soft wasn't her old friend's real name but that's what everyone calls her which was the utter opposite of who she is. "True." Prisha nodded.
"So..." Soft dragged, "What made my ex-partner in crime called to meet up all of a sudden?" She questioned, gazing teasingly at Prisha as she sips from her beer.
"Do I need to have a reason to see you?" Prisha squinted her eyes at Soft, "Or don't you miss me?" She quirked her brows.
"Oh darling sweet Prisha, I do miss you. None can be compared to you. All the girls I've been with can't match your beast mode in bed so I very much miss you. Plus I missed causing chaos with you." Soft leaned forward and rasped, smirking as she finished talking then leaned back into her chair, licking her lips.
Prisha smiled as she shook her head, "I miss you too but not for that reason, Soft, cos I'm busy fantasizing about two people in my head everyday." Prisha teasingly eyed her.
"Is my Prisha finally in love?" Soft gasped, ready for the juicy answer.
"She is but hasn't made the big move yet." Prisha smiled shyly, her demeanor changing from confident to shy as she thinks about her two colleagues she's massively crushing on.
Thanks to Ione's advice, there's been progress but nothing intimate or romantic so far. Just platonic. She's taking her time to see if it's really all worth it.
"You should." Soft winked at her, "But that also means you came here for a different reason other than missing me." Soft stated.
"You're right. I'm also here for another reason." Prisha answered and took a big swig of her beer. She needed it to talk about what she came here for because it will definitely anger her.
"I know you too much." Soft gave a smirky smile.
"You do." Prisha grinned sweetly. She and Soft have come from way back in junior high. And they did a lot of mischievous things and caused many trouble too but Prisha moved on from that lifestyle to become a nurse while Soft remained in that lifestyle, becoming the Queen of the Street.
A gangster in another word.
"So what does my sweet Prisha wants?" Soft asked.
"Just for you to return one of the many favours I did for you back in the days." Prisha replied in a sassy tone.
Soft scoffed jokingly, loving the look on Prisha's face, taking her back to those days of troublemaking.
"And exactly what form do you want this favour to be?" Soft questioned, eagerly.
"Let me give you a quick backstory so you can understand where I'm coming from and why this needs to happen." Prisha answered in a serious tone, she took another swig of her beer then leaned forward on the table between them to explain in summary what she needs to be done and why it needs to be done.
"I'm all ears." Soft grinned, a smile Prisha has definitely missed over the years. Soft was a beautiful woman, prettier when she smiled.
"I have this amazing woman as a friend but she was treated terribly by those around her and one of them happens to be my colleague at work. The bitch's name is Hana and she is proud to have slept with another woman's man, no single remorse especially as this amazing friend of mine is sick with cancer and Hana was her personal nurse." Prisha explained, she picked up her beer and drank more of it.
Just the thought of Hana was making her blood boil.
"A nurse did that to her patient?" Soft asked, surprised.
"Yeah. I believe she's sick in the head." Prisha replied, nodding.
Soft chuckled subtly, "I thought I've seen it all but here we are." She shook her head slowly, "She shouldn't be a nurse then, can't you get her license revoked or something?" Soft questioned.
"Well, I could do that but it would expose things that shouldn't be, at least for now so that's why I'm here because you are going to be the one teaching that bitch a lesson on my behalf." Prisha answered with a smug smile as the feeling of seeing the result of this favour on Hana.
"Oh okay," Soft nodded, "Complicated shit, I get. But what exactly do you want me to do to her?"
"Actually it's nothing much but I know it will be much for her." Prisha smiled, "Just tell me already." Soft lightly tapped her fingers on the table she was resting her hands on , "I've missed this." Soft added. Very happy to help her sweet old friend who changed her.
From being totally bad to having conscience while still being a badass.
"You sure do." Prisha laughed, "And what I want is for you shave all her hair off, let her feel just a tinnie taste of something someone who goes through cancer feels. She might not outrightly know it's from my amazing friend but she would still get the subtle insults and ridicule she deserves. One things that is for sure is that losing her hair will hurt, she loves it." Prisha tells Soft who was attentively listening with a devilish smile on.
"Oh my, this is another thrills. I'm gonna enjoy doing this one especially when she deserves more than that." Soft chuckled, rubbing her palm together.
"She surely does but my friend said she doesn't want me to do anything to Hana but I really just can't take it anymore, how she keeps chirping at work on and on about the guy and her plans with him. It's so annoying and disgusting. And there's something I also just found out too..." Prisha rants.
"What's that?"
"She's a fucking racist and you know how much I despise people like her." Prisha answered, she was so irritated and mad just having to talk about Hana which made her call on the waiter for a strong gin. Beer couldn't temper her anger.
"I know Prisha. I remember what happened in school and how you handled that matter intelligently and violently. I'm right behind you on this one even if I don't know your amazing friend, I'm glad to be the one dealing with this bitch on her behalf." Soft says with a smile to Prisha.
Prisha shot her back a smile as they raised their drinking glass to clink it together. Her mind traveled back to when she just got into her high school and there students who didn't accept her because she wasn't full Korean. Her Indian features were evident and she kept being bullied for it until the day she decided enough was enough.
Because of their constant bully, they unleashed a fearless Prisha.
"The moment you stop being scared of them is the moment you take the control from them." Prisha says out loud making Soft to nod. It was how she was able to stop the bullies from bullying her until they began to fear her, making the tables turn.
"Don't worry Prisha, I will make sure no tiny strand of hair is left on her head." They cheered with their drinks to Soft's words.
"Thank you. Don't inflict bodily injury on her to avoid whatever. I trust you to do a very neat job, Soft. And let her know that she should constantly watch back because she wouldn't see the next guy coming her way." Prisha winked. That threat will put Hana in fear mode, she will be scared of the unknown and unseen.
"Yes, boss. Your message will be loudly and clearly passed to her." Soft grinned. They continued to drink and chitchat more about general things going on for each of them, catching up.
Prisha knew she was going against Ione's word of staying still and allowing karma to play its course but karma are for those who are patient. And she was sure Ione will do exactly same or similar things for her, it's what anyone would do for someone they truly care for and want to protect.
So she was ready to be scolded in the future when she eventually tells Ione what she did but for now it's all about her recovery and bettering her state of mind.
When they finally ended their meeting and information on Hana has been shared to carry out the assignment, Prisha ordered a cab to take her home as she was tipsy and couldn't drive. She brought out her phone and dialed Ione's new number, she already missed her but was super glad Mr Remy existed and was now treating her best friend.
"Hey darl-" Prisha hiccuped, then giggled at her drunk self.
"Hi Pree, what's up?" Ione's low voice seeped through her phone speaker making her subconsciously smile.
"I'm good. Drunk, I think. What 'bout you?" Prisha asked, trying not to stumble on her words.
"I'm laying in bed, receiving my treatment. It's weakening but my appetite isn't affected much so I had a large meal about thirty minutes ago, my tummy is so full." Ione chuckled. Shw could picture her bestie rubbing her stomach as she speaks.
"I'm happy to hear you're eating well. I just wanted to hear your voice before I get home because I'm sure I'd be sleeping straight away." Prisha laughed, her eyes were already drooping so the call was keeping her up.
"You went out?"
"Yeah, caught up with an old friend." She answered. It's been days since she saw the Bangtan men at the hospital but she didn't tell Ione about it as it will only upset her and might drag her recovering progress back to the beginning.
She really wanted to say more to them but held herself back because of Ione. But she didn't feel guilty for what she discussed with Soft because Hana very much deserves that and more.
"Awwwn that's good." Ione yawned.
"You wanna sleep?"
"I'm sleepy but I'll rather stay awake and chat with you." Ione murmured through her second yawn.
"You're cute." Prisha giggled.
"You're cuter." Ione replied, giggling as well.
Prisha felt so good doing what she did as she hears Ione's laughter sound. They kept chatting sluggishly with a lot of laughs in between until Prisha reached home and they ended the call.
Prisha couldn't help but feel she did the right thing meeting up with her old friend to give Hana a tiny dose of her own bad doings.
* * *
The whole atmosphere of the house has gotten sad and cold over the week, they were barely talking to each other anymore after the fight they had that day when they returned from the hospital.
Flashback...
Yoongi barged the door to their house open, aiming for his favourite couch as he immediately plopped on it once he reached it. He was fuming and so was Jimin and Namjoon who were matching right behind him.
Taehyung and Hoseok were quiet. They said no words all the way down here as the others kept expressing themselves with either anger words or guilty words.
Jin and Jungkook outrightly felt guilty and tried to reflect on all that has happened over the month. Asking themselves questions they couldn't answer right away. They knew they had to each think about what happened and what they each did to Ione but Yoongi, Jimin and Namjoon weren't having any of it.
They were just mad.
And they haven't ceased from expressing just how mad they were the drive down here even if it was in a low tone so the driver wouldn't understand what was going on.
"If she didn't want to be in a relationship anymore, all she had to do was talk not pull off this kind of act, getting us all worried." Yoongi huffed, couldn't understand why she would just leave without saying anything. He couldn't see any reason as to why.
"Right. She should have just told us she wanted to break up because I don't understand what game she is trying to play exactly." Namjoon chimed, feeling so annoyed she put them through that kind of stress of having to worry if she was safe or not, all day long and all night long.
Even making both the doctor and nurse insult them.
"Don't people in relationships have problems and all that has to happen was to talk it out, not run away from it. I just don't understand why she would think this was the best thing to do to us. So fucking pissed." Jimin added, his heart was pounding so fast due to the annoyance bustling in his chest.
Weren't they here for her?
So why would she spread news about them not being there for her?
"She told our relationship problem to that doctor and nurse, I can't believe her." Jimin hissed.
"Can you guys even hear yourself?" Jungkook got up and questioned, "Have you just tried to keep quiet to think of all that was said to us today?" He queried, "That's right, it's not Noona-like to do this so don't you think we must have really been bad to her for her to leave without telling any of us. You know how much she values communication in our relationship so don't you think it's really our fault?" He asked them, the guilt building up more and more in him because his main reason was just a total coward excuse and there were some questions ringing in his head he still can't find answers to.
He needs an alone time to think.
They all do.
"It's you guys' fault she left." Hoseok finally spoke but there was so much rage coating his tone.
"What the fuck do you mean by that?" Namjoon got up to match the angry look in Hoseok's face.
"Whenever I ask about her from you, you always tell me she's fine and one of us is with her, if that was true she wouldn't have left." Hoseok replied angrily.
"Are dense or what?" Yoongi got up too, "You say that like you aren't one of her boyfriends, what happened to you staying with her too? Huh?" He quirked, nose flaring.
"Fuckers!" Hoseok pushed Yoongi back, "It's all of yous fault she fucking left."
"Weren't you less busy than us huh?" Jimin stood up and walked up to the small circle they've created, "Weren't you and Taehyung less busy and had enough chance and time to be with her but what the fuck were you both doing?!" He raises his voice.
"It's because of you she left," Jimin poked Hoseok's chest, "It's because you didn't do what you said you would so Don't. You. Fucking. Pin. The. Blame. On. Us!" He says the last part word by word, poking Hoseok's chest until he was plopped back on the couch.
"How dare you?!" Hoseok stood up quickly and threw Jimin a punch in the stomach, making the younger man crouch in pain.
But that single punch turned the whole argument into a full fight amongst the four while the other three sat there in shock and watched. The four now turned against each other, spewing accusatory words that made no sense to even themselves but it was continuously spouted as they kept punching each other.
It went on for another minute before Jin finally talked.
"When you finish killing each other, let me know huh?" He tells them in a loud tone making them halt the fight and insulting words thrown at each other. Their chests heaving, Namjoon and Jimin's nose bleeding, bruises on the other twos' faces.
"Oh you stopped, I thought we were killing each other today." He says sarcastically, making them hang their heads low as they sat apart from each other on the floor.
"So you want to tell me you don't find any sense in what Jungkook said and what both Doctor Geum and Nurse Prisha told us as well?" He asked them.
"You are blaming her and others except yourself for what happened. That's a pussy move right there." He says to them.
"I have so many questions that only I, myself can answer. But the important one is that, do I still love Ione? Do you still love Ione?" He sighs, "Because I don't understand why I did what I did which was staying away from her. Weren't we busier than this last year's ending?" He quizzed.
"We were but we still made time for her. We always made time for her because she's our girlfriend, she's someone we claimed to love and promised care for her but what have we done now and what did we find as excuse... Work." He said the last word disappointedly.
"And whether or not we still love her, we could have done better but we didn't so what we all need is self reflection. Each of us needs to understand why we would treat her how we did. My reasons were just damn excuses and I need to know why I made mere excuses a valid reason to not be there for my girlfriend so I advise you all do the same instead of trying to blame one another because that won't lead us anywhere." He got up, ready to leave for his room.
"Overall, we are the ones who were wrong." He said that and left.
Jungkook silently followed and headed to his own room.
Slowly, one by one, the others left leaving only Taehyung in the living room.
He was crying. Out of immense guilt because he knew not only had he abandoned her in the lowest time of her life, he had also betrayed her.
He had always known at the back of his mind that his actions were intentional but he never wanted to accept it. He wanted to keep seeing them as mistakes.
But seeing how far their actions pushed her to do, he knew something was really wrong with his head for thinking it was okay to treat someone you claim to love in that way.
And now, he wasn't sure if the love he had for her has faded away and that's why he did all he did or if it was just something else.
But what exactly could have made him do all of that without ever seeing it as the wrong thing to do to a loved one?
What gave him the confidence of being a bad boyfriend?
What exactly happened?
What changed?
...end of flashback.
Jungkook sighed and was tired of being cooped up inside his room, trying to avoid seeing any of them. He needed air as he was still stuck with getting the right answers for the questions his head.
The 'Why' and 'If' questions.
He rolled out of his bed, grabbed his black t-shirt crumpled at the edge of the bed and wore it, he had a cream colored shorts on. He used his left hand to ruffle his rough hair that hasn't been cared for in days, he got up and stretched his hands above his head.
Their manager gave them an unarguable week off to recuperate and get their acts together for their upcoming shows. While some appreciated the break like Jungkook, others wanted to drown themselves in more work.
Jungkook hated the fact that some of them were still not getting the facts straight and remained angry, making everyone be by themselves. He could see that this week off was useless to them, but he was trying to make the best of it by retracing his steps from that very first morning Ione had a fever.
He wanted to know how things began to take a new course in his heart that made him clung to the excuse of not knowing how to hold a conversation with her in that state.
It didn't make sense to him anymore and he feared he was too late to begin to make amends. He still kept attempting to reach out to her via email even if he doesn't know what he'd say if she gave him audience.
He also hasn't stopped going through the memories of her in form of videos and pictures on his phones throughout the week, and they only made those unanswered questions weigh heavily on his mind. Which is why he needed that fresh air.
But he also craved something else. Something he no longer felt entitled to but couldn't stop his legs from walking towards the direction of her room. Her scent would still be heavily there. He wanted to have it surrounding him even when he knew he didn't deserve to inhale such sweet scent anymore.
He very well knew no matter how the situations was checked or inspected or investigated, he was the one at wrong. He was the one who fucked up.
He breathed a puff of air as he arrived at her door then pushed it open slowly, not wanting anyone to catch him doing this. He just wanted some peace and quiet as he takes whiffs of her scent that tainted the air of this room beautifully and her clothes.
He wondered at some point why she didn't take her clothes.
As he stepped inside and shut the door quietly behind him, he exclaimed, "Geez!" Seeing Jin sitting on the floor by the foot of her bed and holding a framed picture of he and her, with tears stained cheeks.
"Hyung, what are you doing here?" He asked after calming down from the surprise.
"What are you doing here?" Jin rasped back.
Jungkook scratched his neck as he walked towards Jin, taking a seat beside him on the floor, resting his back on her bed as he took a big whiff of the air in her room.
He could smell her.
"Nothing much." He lied.
"Yeah, same." Jin replied, his eyes focused back to the picture he was holding in his hand. It was one he took with her when they went ice skating in January. They both wore matching clothes for the cold weather looking like cute couples. He had rented the whole place for them that day for two hours and he remembered how much fun he had that day.
Her laughter keeps echoing in his ears.
"I avoided her intentionally and unintentionally." Jin breaks the silence that took over the room, "I assumed and trusted that even if I'm not part of the equation, the rest of you will be there for her and take good care of her in my absence." He continued.
"She's so perfect, too perfect that I didn't want to taint those beautiful memories with the ones of when she was sick. I kept reading about her kind of cancer online and they said it wasn't common for someone her age so I took the coward option of saving the beautiful memories of her if she didn't make it than being their for her all through. I messed up real bad." Jin broke into sobs, making Jungkook's chest tighten.
"And it's so disappointing that it took her leaving for me to realise my option was a blatantly selfish one. How could I say I love someone and not be there for them in that kind of icky situation? How could I have been singing love confessions to her ears but not stick to the promising lyrics? How could I have been so bad to her and expect her to still be here?" He cried even more.
"Jungkook," Jin turned to look at Jungkook with a teary messy face, "I fucked up," He lifted the picture and pointed at her beautiful smile, "I've lost her." He cried even more.
"We all fucked up, Hyung. Not just you. We all have a responsibility towards her but couldn't perform it when it was needed. This is all on us, we are the reason." Jungkook says in a way to comfort Jin.
He felt even more guilty. Maybe if he had tried to be there for her even while others aren't, maybe she wouldn't have left. Maybe she would have had someone to talk to. Someone to express herself to.
"Still Jungkook, I'm the oldest. I should know best and lay good examples for you all." Jin replied in sobs.
Jungkook couldn't say more as he listened to his older brother cry out even louder. There was nothing much he could say to anyone, and if truth be told, none of them deserves to be comforted.
Because what they are feeling is definitely immeasurable to what Ione must have felt.
His eyes darted to the small figurine of his Tiny Tan character sitting on the edge of her desk, she always surrounded herself with anything that could keep reminding her of them. She let her love for each of them be known in different and obvious ways. She was never shy of what they had, she was always proud of it. Always proud of them and he couldn't believe just how they all ruined it.
He got up on his feet and walked to her table with Jin's low sob in the background, he reached her table and picked up his small figurine but his eyes couldn't help but catch on to the white envelope right beside it.
His eyes widened as he picked it up to inspect it. His heartbeat picked up in pace and his palm started to get clammy real quick as he read what was written on it.
"What's that?" Jin asked, getting up to come see what made Jungkook freeze with his eyes widened. He collected the envelope from the younger man and read out what was written on it...
"Ione's message to Bangtan."
_____________
[Word Count: 5037]
A/N: Are we finally in that moment?
Who is else is with Prisha?
And Ione has started receiving her treatments. So happy.
Let me know your thoughts on this chapter and don't forget to hit that ★ to vote.
See you in the next chappy.
Dura cares.
~your shy Author. Innocent at that.