jungkook was at the hospital as soon as possible, but when he heard of how his jitae was he wanted to break down further.
"he's still the same person, he just can't remember anything right now," he was told by the doctors. they all expected his memories to come back, jungkook only hoped they did. to him this was his worst nightmare. they'd come here for a nice trip and days later jitae was found in the river almost drowned. it was hell.
it could be worse though.
elsewhere in the hospital, a woman wailed after having to identify the body of the boy she raised when his parents abandoned him.
jungkook walked into the room slowly, the man on the bed looking over at him confusedly and cocking an eyebrow. jungkook couldn't help but grin from ear to ear, letting out a sigh of pure relief as his eyes scanned over every single inch of him.
"jitae, you're okay," jungkook says joyously. jitae pauses.
"i assume i'm supposed to know you then," he says, sounding like he was sorry for doing so.
"my name is jungkook. we have been dating for two and half years," jungkook introduces, jitae's eyes and mouth fly open in surprise.
"i'm dating you? no way, you're way too hot," jitae says disbelievingly. jungkook just laughs. "how did we meet?"
"well, a friend of mine that has known you since you moved introduced us," jungkook started explaining, sitting down finally, "you thought you had a shot and you used one of those stupid pick up lines on me," jitae burst into laughter.
"i did? oh god, i am so sorry," he laughed, "i suppose it worked though."
"yeah, i suppose it did." jungkook wanted to kiss jitae, to hold him, to simply enjoy the fact that he was back. "so, you remember nothing?"
"not a thing, not even my birthday," jitae frowns, looking at his knees. jungkook looks down too. "when can i leave here? i assume we live together?" jitae asks.
"yeah, we moved in together about a year ago. we live in seoul. and i think we can go home tomorrow morning," jungkook answers.
"do we have pets?"
"no, it just the two of us. our landlord doesn't allow pets sadly," jungkook laughs, "you always said we should get a tiny little dog that was easy to hide anyway." jitae laughed too.
"did i really say that?" he asks in disbelief, jungkook simply nodding. "did i have any pets when i was younger? do i have any at my parents' house?"
"yeah you have a labrador at your parent place, named kiku," jungkook smiles, "you were really annoyed that we couldn't take her."
"i suppose i am now too," jitae laughs. they chatted for a little bit, jungkook mostly reintroducing himself to jitae, which he hated but he could quickly see the love flowing back into his boyfriend's eyes and honestly, that made him happier than anything. jungkook had to leave for the night but he was back early as in the morning.
"i still do get why they had to cut my clothes up," jitae huffs, dressing behind the curtains while jungkook sat on one of the other empty beds in the ward.
"they had to get to your chest to use the defib that's why," jungkook laughed, "if they hadn't you'd be dead." jungkook could joke about it now, now that he had his jitae back. the curtain whisks open and jitae looks down at himself as jungkook looks him over.
jungkook had brought him a white shirt, a navy cardigan that looked like it was too big - that was what it was supposed to look like - and a pair of black jeans. he looked normal now, like normal jitae that hadn't been found half drowned.
"better than the stupid gown?" jungkook asks. jitae smiles and nods.
"thank you, jungkook," he grins.
"you can call me kookie, if you want," jungkook offered, "you always called me kookie." jitae swallowed hard.
"maybe," he spoke and gave weak smile. jungkook nodded understandingly.
"shall we go then? it's a couple of hours back to seoul on the train, plus killer traffic once we get back to the car," jungkook swiftly moves on from what he last said. jitae nods and looks around to check that he had everything.
"let's go," jitae says, walking over to jungkook and holding out a hand. they had been dating a while, not that he remembered but he supposed that hand holding was something normal, so he offered. jungkook paused a moment before taking jitae's hand, threading his fingers between his boyfriend's and smiling.
the pair walked out of the hospital finally, making their way to the roadside to wait for the taxi jungkook told to wait when he had gotten there. almost five hours later they were walking into their first-floor apartment. jungkook unlocks their apartment and they dragged their suitcases inside and jitae stopped, admiring.
their apartment was modern, painted all white with large windows letting in enough natural light that they wouldn't need to turn on the electric lights. right when they walked in was a kitchen, the other end was a living space, and off to the side were the bedroom and bathroom. jungkook went straight to the bedroom to 'unpack'. jitae followed.
the bedroom had enough space for a queen bed and not much else, more large windows filled the space with light and there were two wardrobes in the wall opposite the glass. jungkook put his suitcase in front of one of the wardrobes, so jitae put his in front of the other.
"we have a really nice place," jitae smiles, looking around. jungkook nods.
"you found it, but you weren't really sure until we looked a little more and you saw how good it really was, especially for the price we're renting at," jungkook explained, sitting on the edge of the bed. jitae continued to look around the room. "hey, jitae," jungkook's voice says softly, interrupting jitae's train of thought.
"yeah, jungkook?"
"you hungry? i feel like sushi," jungkook says. jitae nods.
"we can go get sushi," he smiles. jungkook stands and they go do that, heading back out of the house. when their sushi was gotten they head to the han river, to eat, finding a bench.
"we don't have to eat here you know?" jungkook reminds. jungkook was worried it would trigger something too fast, he had been warned about how bad that could be.
"i don't mind, let's eat," jitae says, faking happiness and sitting. he opening his box of sushi. they ate in silence for a while, just the pair sitting side by side on the bench. jungkook ate rather quickly, jitae was slower.
"i'm sorry," jitae suddenly says, not looking up from his little box of sushi but feeling jungkook's eyes trail to him.
"why are you sorry? you have no reason to be sorry," jungkook says, hesitating to grab the second to last piece of sushi, ending up putting down his chopsticks down.
"i do. however i ended up in that river, i've forgotten everything about you," jitae says with a heavy sigh, "we've been together two and a half years you say, and it's like we've started over." jitae huffs and pokes one of the four pieces of sushi still in his box. jungkook turned in his seat.
"don't apologize," jungkook spoke really directly, his tone bossy and strict. "you could have died, jitae, i would rather you forgot everything a hundred times over," jungkook says. jitae draws a breath and looks at jungkook.
"i get how i fell for you before," he says sort of quietly. jungkook exhales and smiles, almost laughing as the pair go back to their food. "tell me about our dates, your... top three."
"top three? you expect me to pick three?" jungkook says disbelievingly, "five."
"okay, top five."
"okay uh..." jungkook thinks for a second, sticking a piece of sushi in his mouth. jungkook looks out at the river. "well there was when i met your parents, i got to see all the photos they had from when you were like... five and six." jungkook laughs with his mouthful.
"no baby photos?" jitae laughs, eating one more piece. jungkook shakes his head.
"you were adopted when you were five, they don't have any photo's of you when you were a baby." jungkook smiled sadly at jitae who paused a second to process.
"i assume i knew that already if you knew that too," jitae says.
"yeah, you always knew," jungkook confirms picking up his last piece of sushi, "you couldn't remember anything about any orphanages or anything, but you were well aware." jungkook stuffed the last piece of sushi in his mouth and closed the box. when jitae caught up and finished his box too, jungkook took it from him to put in the rubbish bin.
"thank you, jungkook," jitae smiled.
"october thirteen, nineteen-ninety-five." jungkook gave no warning, just spoke and walked away.
"what do you mean?"
"that's your birthday."
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