I walked out of CEO Jung's room after hearing the shocking news. Before I had time to think about it, I bumped into Jimin.
"Hey Jungkookie, why are you so down," he asked me while scruffing my hair.
"Hyung!" I yelled trying to fix my hair after being annoyed with him.
"Sorry Jungkookie. I'm just happy that I got to spend a whole day with Halla," he grinned from ear to ear.
"Halla," I questioned. I could feel my ears perk up at the mention of her name.
"Yeah," his grin appeared never faltering. "Jungkookie. I know you're younger than me, and have never experienced love before..." he scratched the back of his neck and avoided eye contact. I could sense his nervousness on the topic, since I knew where he was heading. "...but, I think I may more than like Halla."
I didn't know what it was, but something inside of me twisted, and it wasn't a nice feeling either. It was more of a knot feeling, and overcame my whole body.
"You like Halla?," I questioned again, more as confirmation. I don't know why I asked because I knew he had liked Halla since the first time he brought her up in a conversation. I could see the way his eyes smiled when he said her name.
He scratched the back of his neck looking anywhere but me as he nodded his head.
"You should tell her," I wanted to say aloud, but something refrained me from doing so.
I don't like Halla, do I? No, you don't. I couldn't possibly like Halla. Especially since Jimin had basically just called dibs you idiot.
I mean, the only girl I've ever liked or loved other than family was, Minyoung. There was no doubt if I found her again, that I would not have a change in heart.
But Halla... she seems to have changed my heart. And I still don't know if I could accept that.
Replying finally, I decided on, "You both have gotten pretty close since she's been here, hyung. No reason why you wouldn't like her."
"I'm thinking of asking her out." What? "Don't tell anyone, okay? I know if PD finds out, my butt would be toasted. Plus, I'm not even sure if I will."
"What do you mean?" I asked calmly while feeling like I was fighting some internal battle that I couldn't understand.
"Halla told me she's planning on leaving back to America after the party. I really don't want her to leave... and plus I really like her. So why not just get her to stay a little longer?"
"So you're asking her out to make her stay longer?"
"No, no, no," he replied speedily. "Since I like Halla, and I want her to have a reason to stay longer, I want to ask her out," he said emphasizing the 'want'.
"What if she says no?" I didn't want to bring down his spirits, but there was also the chance of her leaving earlier than she planned due to it.
His face fell, and I immediately regretted stating the fact. I knew my words were more harsh-sounding than they were meant to be, but I couldn't help that I spoke what needed to be said.
"Jimin.." I said after he didn't respond.
"You're right, Jungkookie... I was totally caught up in her saying yes that I forgot what would happen if she said no."
I felt like a total douché. "Jimin, I didn't mean that. I just..."
"I know, I know," he looked back up at me and gave me his small smile which turned into a smirk.
"You're a good little brother," he said while ruffing my hair up again.
"Yah! Hyung!" I yelled again, fixing my hair.
"If she rejects me, I'll be okay. It's better to take a shot than regret not doing so later. Right?" he smiled patting my back.
"Right." I smiled back at him.
...
"You can't back out now, you already promised me!" I was about to walk into the studio, when I heard a voice say. It sounded like Yein.
I quickly ran behind the wall of the room to listen more clearer without them seeing me. I know it sounds bad that I was eavesdropping, but I currently needed to be in the room with Yein to work on our song, but it seemed like she had company.
"I know what I said, Yein. But I honestly don't know if I could go through with the whole plan. It's pretty risky if you think about it," the other voice had said.
"You know I can't do it by myself. I'll look like a fool in front of Jungkook oppa."
Me?
"Yein, I love you and I want to help you, but think about it. If things go wrong.."
"That's If, Halla."
The other person is Halla?
"Yein, they could sue us."
I didn't understand what they were talking about, but I had an urge to know. Especially since I was brought up in this conversation. Also if it had to do with lawsuits, it sounded pretty important.
I heard a loud sigh and then Yein speak again more harshly, "Whatever then, Halla. This was me giving you the opportunity that you didn't have the first time due to you know... your family issues."
I took that moment to turn and take a peek at them, and saw Halla looking at Yein, speechless.
I couldn't stand it anymore, and decided to make an entrance.
"Hey Yein, ready to start writing that song?!," I said in a loud, cheery voice. The one that makes everyone cringe.
I took a glance at Halla, and saw her eyes becoming glassy as she looked down avoiding eye contact with me.
"I should get going," she announced with her head down.
"Is everything alright?," I subtly glared at Yein. She stared at Halla in a regretful manner, than looked back at me, shaking off the look and replaced it with a cheerful one.
"No. Everything's great," she lied to me.
"Okay then, should we start the song then?"
With that she seemed to have snapped out of her daze, and looked...worried?
"Uh...yeah...uh...," she responded looking around the room.
"If you're not up for it today, we can do it later?" I added in to assure her.
"That would be great," she said a little too quickly.
"Okay, so I'll see you later than," and with that I walked out trying to find Halla.
As I walked out of the SH building, thankfully Halla was in a daze, because she was only a couple of blocks away and still in sight.
I plugged in my earphones and followed her path thinking more about what CEO Jung and I had talked about earlier.
Minyoung is CEO Jung's granddaughter. The realization had still not hit me yet. So the reason Minyoung and I lost contact was because of the CEO. I didn't know whether to be angry or confused about this. Where would I even find Minyoung? How do I even know if she's still alive? It has been almost 10 years since she went missing, and I have no idea where the starting place should be.
I had already made it into the park on the playground when I saw a small black figure on the rocks. It took me a few moments to figure out that Halla was no longer in my sight since a few minutes ago when I started thinking about Minyoung.
I squinted more as I was getting closer and saw the figure moving a little bit. I walked faster seeing that it was a living person. It was only until I was about twenty feet away that I could clearly see who that person was.
"Halla!" I yelled running towards her. I ran as fast as I could, and pulled my cellphone out of my pocket dialling 1-1-9 as she was not responding to me at all.
I was so worried that I started panicking, because nothing like this has ever happened before. I could feel small tears forming, but I tried hard to suppress them. I wouldn't dare to let them fall, especially in front of her.
"Halla, wake up please. Wake up," I tried shaking her, but nothing was working. I could see blood from her head running onto the rocks. I took off my black jacket and placed it under her head.
As I held Halla's lifeless body in my arms, I noticed her arm pointed in a direction above her. I looked towards the upper direction and saw a a small object that looked like it was made with yarn. I went to pick it up since it seemed so precious to her.
Picking it up, I was flooded with emotion. I knew exactly what this was. I looked back at Halla's body laying there and looked between her and the object. It was the bracelet I had given Minyoung, no doubt. It even had the mistakes on it that I knew so well. Even if half of it was burnt, part of our names were still attached to it.
Before I could think further, the ambulance showed up and paramedics filed out in a hurry seeing her body there on the ground. A gurney came out with them and she was hoisted onto it.
"Are you a friend of hers?" a paramedic asked out in a hurry.
"Y-y-yes sir," I stuttered out still in shock.
"Are you riding in the ambulance with us?" he followed out with.
"Yes sir," I nodded out more surely than before. I hopped on behind them, and held Halla's hand as we were brought to the ER.
I picked up my phone and tried dialing Yein, once again. It went straight to her voicemail for the thirtieth time and I didn't know who else to call. It was weird because she usually picked up my phone calls the first time on the first ring. I had thought about it again, then called Jimin. He picked up on the second ring.
"What's up Jungkookie?" he asked in a cheery-smiley-voice.
"It's Halla." My voice was cracking from nervousness.
I could hear him tense up, "What happened?"
"I'm in the hospital. Hurry and come." I didn't even need to explain because Jimin hung up right after I had told him which hospital we were at.
"Will she be okay doctor?" I had asked as the doctor came out of the room.
"Are you her immediate family?"
"No, I..." I hesitated the last part. "I'm her boyfriend. She doesn't have any family. She's an orphan. I'm her only family."
He nodded his head in understanding.
"She'll be alright. She's unconcious due to the blood she lost from the impact with the rocks, but thankfully it wasn't too much. You can go in son," he smiled giving my shoulder a shrug.
As he walked away, I quietly opened the door to her room. She laid there asleep with a white bandage around her forehead.
I walked over to the chair beside her and sat down.
I kept staring down at the burnt object in my hand trying to understand.
There's no way...is there?
I thought about the song I heard her play the other day. There was no doubt that it was Minyoung's song. But, Halla is a completely different person. Minyoung was a loud and obnoxious child.
Maybe I'm just over thinking this.
There's also the possibility that she could've just found it. If the bracelet isn't hers I could ask her if she knew who gave it to her.
iYeah. that sounds good.
As I was lost in thought, I could see movement from my peripheral vision. I saw her eyes moving under her eyelids even though they were still closed.
"Halla," I spoke softly. "Are you awake?"
Her eyes were still closed, and I could see her struggling to open her eyes. Her fingers moved a little, and I knew she was awake. I immediately pressed the large button on the side of her bed to call the doctor to come in, and her eyes had fluttered open right after. She looked straight up at the ceiling before landing her eyes slowly on me. Her expression was emotionless. She only blinked at me and stared. Before I could speak the doctor had came in with a nurse by his side.
"Can you please leave sir, I need to check up on Ms. Halla here to see if everything is alright."
I nodded my head, and proceeded out the door. I felt my phone vibrate in my side pocket and fished it out. I saw Jimin hyung's name flash across and slid the green answer button.
"Jungkook!" I heard immediately as I pressed the phone to my ear.
"Jimin, where are you," I questioned.
"I can't make it. Our choreographer called Hobie and I in to view our next stage and I can't get out of it."
"No worries, she just woke up, and the doctor's checking up on her right now."
"Oh, good," he heaved out a relieved sigh. "Let me know if anything else comes up."
"Sure thing."
After our call ended the doctor came out of the room. I immediately stood up to hear what he had to say.
"Will she be alright sir?" I asked him.
"Are you a guardian," he asked, looking at me quizzically.
"I'm her boyfriend." And there that word came out again. Almost naturally this time. I couldn't help but lie, because if the doctor didn't tell me what was going on, nobody would ever be able to know.
"I see," he smiled a little bit and nodded. "Well, the reason for her to faint was due to her accident from before. It seems like she's just piecing things back together. You can go in and see her now," he gave me a wink and motioned me to go into the room. He walked away soon right after and all I could give was a bow of thanks.
Accident from before? Piecing back together? What does that mean?
I entered the room once again, and was welcomed with a small smile on Halla's face. Her bandage was now replaced with a bandaid, and her hair was more calm looking.
"You okay," I whispered out into the silence.
"Just peachy," she said in a quiet hoarsely voice.
She tried to sit up, and I helped her in doing so by pulling her pillow up for her and holding her arm for support.
"What happened," she questioned, and her voice sounded so weak in the process.
"I don't know. I found you at the park on the rocks."
Her eyes widened and she nodded her head, probably remembering the event that happened earlier today.
I suddenly remembered the bracelet that I had so many questions about. So many questions that I wanted to ask her, and I couldn't wait any longer.
"Halla."
She looked straight at me with such an innocent and tired face that I couldn't remember what I was about to say. I had to break eye contact with her just to focus.
"This.."
I pulled out the bracelet from my side pocket and showed it to her.
"Where did you get this from?"