He never woke back up.
Yoongi never woke back up from his dream.
Does that mean?
"You died in your sleep..." Jimin put the puzzle pieces together as he watches Yoongi's head bob up and down. His shoulders going slump, neck resting back, and eyes shooting up towards the night sky where he stared in complete zone.
"That's why I'm here," Yoongi mumbles defeatedly, "I'm stuck here, stuck in my own mess."
Suddenly, Yoongi's hands twitched abruptly. A foggy dark aura swept over him and Yoongi couldn't help but clamp his eyes shut. Darkness swoon around him and so did voices, noises, shatters, and screams. He felt as if he was getting pulled across the river, towards the house, and back down the patchy forest. His breath began to shorten and he could feel his intake decrease by the second. Naive Jimin didn't catch the unexpected detail about Yoongi. Blinded by the fact that Yoongi had died in his sleep, it never crossed his mind with what was happening beside him.
"But you should be able to get out thou-"
"But I can't!" Yoongi explodes. A sudden wave of dark air pushed within every direction from where Yoongi was, causing Jimin to bury his face into his knees with his arms wrapped around them. "I'm cursed to stay in this world! The only way I can get out is if I find someone who truly loves me! Someone who cares about me! Because of Woori, I'm here! Because of her betrayal, I'm stuck in this tortures place! Because of her selfishness, I haven't gotten out of this place in 500 years!"
The trees that were slowly swaying began moving back and forth, picking up its speed. The gentle wind that did no harm began putting pressure in whatever was in its way. The now raging river began making fast waves soaring down the waterfall. Jimin looked up, bringing his hand up to his face as he tried to avoid small particles getting inside of his eyes. Feeling the harsh wind blow through his soft brown hair, Jimin saw Yoongi staring effortlessly at the river, clenching his fist until all he could see was white.
Was he doing this? Was Yoongi making this happen!?
"Yoongi! Please stop whatever you're doing!" No answer. Yoongi who ignored Jimin's pleas, blocked out all of his surroundings as he continued.
*Snap!*
Looking up, Jimin's eyes widen as he sees the long yet heavy branch break in half, ready to fall down on them any minute.
"YOONGI!" Jimin shouts. This was a life or death matter, he needed Yoongi to stop NOW! Holding his breath hoping, just hoping the tree branch wouldn't fall, Jimin ran over and shoved Yoongi out of the way just in time for the branch to make its way down onto the wet damp grass and into the river. Standing in front of Yoongi, Jimin began screaming for him to stop.
"STOP THIS RIGHT NOW YOONGI! STOP!! STOP IT!!"
Yoongi who looked past Jimin , still didn't bother to look at him. It was as if he was stuck in a trance. Feeling the ground begin to rumble, Jimin staggered a bit as he lost his balance. Grabbing both of his shoulders, Jimin held on for dear life, hoping, just hoping that this last chance would work.
"YOONGI!!" Jimin shouts. "PLEASE.. STOP!!"
"Yoongi!"
A girls voice.
"*Gasp!*"
Everything stopped. The wind, the raging river, and the trees stopped. So did the ground. Opening his eyes, Yoongi gasps as if he was possessed. Jimin who too opened his eyes, sighs in relief. "You almost killed us!" Jimin yells. Looking around him frantically for the voice, Yoongi pushed Jimin off of him. "D-did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" asked Jimin in pure confusion.
"Soh-" he pauses.
"What?"
Shaking his head, Yoongi rubs his temple with the palm of his hands.
"N-nevermind.. you're not her.."
"Who's her??"
Yoongi knew. The moment he tells Jimin, Jimin is going to freak and ask hundreds of questions that some, Yoongi may not even know himself. All of these years, he's had this world to himself. Well at least to an extent with a few hundreds passing by in his world, but having a full conversation about what this world is really about with someone who came here from his dream? This would be the second time that this miracle conversation would happen.
"Promise me you're not going to freak out?" Yoongi mumbles. Jimin wasn't sure of what to say, so he said what anyone else would say. "I promise."
"Well...she was my girlfriend from 12 years ago.." he murmurs as he sits back down.
"Girlfriend? You had a girlfriend?!" What kind of fantasy world was this? Now Jimin had thousands of questions.
"Basically.." Yoongi sighs. "Anyone who comes into my world becomes my girlfriend, and yes, that's counting the other 400+ girls over the past 500 years who became mine. Obviously not forcibly, it was their choice and all because the dark glorified thought of having a boyfriend in their dream world mesmerized them. They really thought it was romantic and pursued it with me, so I said why not, I mean I have nothing else to do in this world right?"
"Wait so there were more girls?" questions Jimin.
"Yes, there were more girls. When I first entered this world, I was just as confused as you. I had to learn and solve everything myself in here."
"So if there were more girls, what happened to them?" Yoongi knew he should've never said anything. That was the jackpot question. "They weren't the one for me," he nonchalantly replies.
"But the girl from 12 years ago was?"
"She was perfect actually.. I knew she- wait why am I telling you this? All i'm going to tell you is that she was the one for me and that's it." Yoongi really didn't know this stranger well enough to tell his whole tragic love life to him. Jimin would be sitting there for days!
"Okay, but you were the one who opened up to me and told me about this first," Jimin recalls the last few minutes of their conversation. Sure he had a lot of questions, but by taking in this fantasy world slowly will help Jimin put two and two together. Or so he hopes. Yoongi was stuck. He had no choice.
This would be the first time in 12 years that he would share this beautiful yet painful memory with someone. He barely knew Jimin, but if Jimin was willing to listen, why not? And if Jimin chose to believe it or not, that was up to him. "Alright.." he mumbles, trying to sound sad but he was a bit excited to share.
Feeling the corner of his cheeks rise up, Yoongi begins to share his story. It was odd to hear himself speak of this memory. Twelve years ago seemed so long ago yet so much like yesterday. He remembers that night as clear as day. Yoongi was standing by the river, staring across onto the other side. There was nothing but maple trees, pine trees, leaves, flowers, greens, and none other than the sentimental yellow daisies. Such a tragic story behind bundles of daisies. One could even write a play about them and it's story would end as tragic as Romeo and Juliet's. That was a reminder to a piece of his past that he would never forget, but also one he would never go in depth. Yoongi was minding his business like usual. There was nothing to do or to explore. It was best to just stand by the river and listen to the sound of water. It wasn't until the night sky began tumbling in with grey clouds. The bright stars from above vanished and a storm of clouds came rushing from above across the river. Watching as they made their way over him, Yoongi felt off. Why did he suddenly feel... hopeful? The clouds, he learned, appears in his world when someone arrives. The only time they disappear would be when the someone leaves his world, bringing in bright lights to take them back to the real world before vanishing again. It served as a portal for them and an indicator for Yoongi. But Yoongi being Yoongi, was curious to who would enter his world this time. He went to the forest in search for the person and for his own feelings. As he enters the forest, he heard nothing but whimpers and cries. From afar, a girl stood in the middle of the road looking around her, scared to even take a step.
Running over to her, Yoongi asked if she was okay. "W-where am I?" Her voice was nice and soft. She was about 5'4 with braided brown hair and brown eyes. Her skin tone was beige and she wore a pair of black shorts with a yellow t shirt that complimented her. Yoongi must've been mesmerized because it took him a while to respond, yet even when he did, he was a stuttering mess. "I-I'm a, uh.. i'm sorry my name i-is.. wait huh? My name is umm Yoongi. You've entered my world." The girl frowned. "What do you mean?" Suddenly her voice wasn't as nice and soft. It must've took a while for her to understand why she was there, and after explaining to her, she finally eased in with Yoongi. Yoongi proudly showed everything to the girl. Explaining everything in the world for her to understand him. He didn't understand why he was so willing to, but he did. He enjoyed her presence so much as to she, that they both ended up really liking each other. She was everything that he had dreamed of: a living beauty with a free mind. She had never, not once judged him. She listened and talked to him, laughed with him, played with him, and everything more. One day, Yoongi was waiting for her. She had been visiting him everyday for 3 months now as she was now, "his girlfriend." Coming back to his world, a question was raised that led both of them into an argument. Even after telling his girlfriend the horrible truth, Yoongi declined his girlfriends request that led to an entanglement, which later forced her to stop coming back. Until this day, no one has visited since, besides Jimin being the only one back there since the incident.
"Wow.." was all Jimin could say. "I don't blame you for only saying that," Yoongi replies. He felt like he was reliving his past. He couldn't stop thinking about her.
As the night got quieter, Jimin too opened up about the situation that had happened before he appeared in the woods. "I'm sorry to hear that," Yoongi responds, "that must suck, huh?" Jimin couldn't help but bob his head up and down. "The only one that supports me is my youngest aunt. I really don't want to go back. I don't know what I'll face the next day you know?"
"Sometimes you'll wish to keep staying in this world because nothing bad occurs to you.. the outside world won't affect you from here. But once you wake back up, it's hard to face reality and you'll be wanting to come back to this place the moment you open your eyes."
"I wanna come back here," says Jimin as he begins to squint his eyes at a bright light shining onto him. "It's nice to have someone understand you."
"That's why I'm here," Yoongi jokes, but he was pretty serious.
"Ah- that light hurts my eyes," Jimin complains as he tries blocking the view.
"You're waking up, that's why you see it."
"I am?"
Looking down at his hands, Jimin notices as his whole body was fading. "W-will I be alive?" he asks Yoongi.
"I said you're waking up, not dying. I'll see you when you come back again." Yoongi gives a light chuckle and waves to him.
For some odd reason, Jimin didn't want to go yet!
"Okay!" he shouts through the lights. "I'll see you!" Jimin waves one last time as he then disappears within.
~
"*Knock Knock* Jimin, are you awake? I want to talk to you about the dance school."
Speaking of the devil, it was his Aunt Jung.
Yoongi was right, Jimin DID want to go back the moment he wakes up.
TBC