I fluttered my eyes open and saw a canvas of Babylon-blue sky painted above me. I stretched out my hand towards the endless sky, making a few strings of light slip in between my fingers. The sun was so bright.
I helped myself up and looked around my surroundings, a knot slowly formed on my forehead as I found myself standing in a fairy-tale green garden. The air smelled like fresh Spring.
Strange.
As far as I remembered, right now it was supposed to be in early July. And this little detail finally told me that...
This must be a dream.
"Finally, you've opened up to Taehyung." A familiar sweet voice echoed in a distance, causing me to turn around in curiosity. "Look at you, trying so hard to be someone else."
I saw a girl standing before me, wearing a school uniform, her face mysteriously hidden. It was as if she blended well with the garden, her semblance aglow with beautiful flowers gracing her very existence.
"Do I know you?" I asked, stepping closer to have a clear vision of her face.
"This face, isn't it quite obvious to you?" she questioned calmly while watering the flowers. I didn't know if I heard it wrongly, but I could have sworn I heard the smirk in her voice.
I took another step closer to her, and when she turned around to face me, I was left awestruck.
"A-are you... me?" I clutched onto my chest, my heart pounding so loud in my ears when I saw a familiar face—just like the one I saw many times in the photos given by the boys.
The familiar girl put away the watering can and looked at me with a slightly offended expression. "No, silly. I'm Kim Jinhee."
I raised my brows and blinked at her, feeling confused than ever. "But, I am Kim Jinhee too."
I didn't know why it felt strange to admit that Kim Jinhee is my real identity. But then, on another thought, it felt just right to label that name on me.
"Let's just say you are the foolish version of Jinhee." She chuckled and shook her head a few times, as if silently mocking me.
"What? Why are you being so rude to me? You don't even know me." I frowned once again.
"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I do know everything about you and every stupid decision you've made." By this time, she sounded almost frustrated as she strutted gracefully into the patio area of the huge garden.
"What do you mean?" I trailed behind her like a lost little puppy.
"You decided to erase everything about the boys because you couldn't handle the painful truth," she began, settling down on one of the chairs and poured some tea into a porcelain antique teacup, "then when they finally found you, you pushed them away. You broke their hearts like nothing mattered to you. And you even chose a stranger over Taehyung? Unbelievable."
I was left dumbfounded after hearing her tale, because every word thrown out from her was all the truths and it hit straight to my guilty box, making me feel smaller than ever.
"Look, I was confused, okay?" I sat across her, trying to explain. "I didn't mean to hurt them."
"Then you should've at least listened to me. I tried so hard to reach out to you, but you are really a stubborn one." She heaved out a disappointed sigh, then took a sip of her tea to calm her nerve down.
I tilted my head, couldn't really understand her. It took me quite some time until realization finally dawned upon me. "You mean... all the voices that I heard in my head, all the flashbacks, that's all your doing?"
There was a peaceful silence—birds chirping and the flowers nodding to the sound of nature—that was until the twin before me threw me a glare.
"Yeah, but you always blocked me out, so I was trapped inside. I was so near to smack your senseless brain out." She suddenly placed her teacup on the table, and I flinched back. I think I heard a crack on the surface of beautifully crafted pottery. "But thanks to Taehyung, you are finally back on track."
I noticed she hid a lovely smile, there was a certain glow in her eyes as she spoke of Taehyung.
"You do realize that I am your 'missing' memories, right?" she suddenly said, making me look up at her in utter disbelief.
As I slowly digest her words, a sudden flush of adrenaline tingles through my body, and I grasped onto her shoulders in impulse. Because if what she said was true, I was afraid she'd disappear into the thin air if I ever let her go. I know I needed her.
"We don't have much time, Jinhee." She looked at me with a serious gaze, and all of sudden, I saw magical glitters floating in the air, encircling her.
"W-what do you mean?" I began to sound desperate, tightening the hold on her.
"Meet our brother, then you will know everything." She shut her eyes calmly and stood up, walking into a direction seemingly like an endless mist.
"You mean Jasper?" I asked breathlessly.
"Chang Wook oppa," she muttered out an unfamiliar name and looked at me with a meaningful gaze. "But before anything else, I'm sure you have a lot of amendments to do."
As though she noticed the confusion written all over my face, she smiled knowingly and added, "Jungkook, Jimin and Yoongi oppa. The mess won't clean up by itself, would they?"
● ● ●
I couldn't think of anything. My mind was spiraling out of control as I found myself walking towards Taehyung's hotel room at an alarming pace. I knocked on the door thrice, palms sweating with uneasiness.
I waited for a few seconds, and when the door flung open, I was greeted with a sight of Taehyung in his morning state, innocence enameled in his demeanor. With half-opened eyes, his brows furrowed in confusion as he rubbed the back of his neck subconsciously.
"Jinhee?" He blinked a few times to have a better look. He tilted his head, questioning. "Do we have a schedule to–"
"Tae, I think I have met the real Jinhee."
Taehyung looked utterly baffled, trying his best to process everything I said early in the morning. I invited myself into his room, standing in the middle of the room while clenching and unclenching my fists.
"Jinhee," he called out in his hoarse, raspy voice as he closed the door and walked towards me. He was quiet for a minute until he led me sitting on the bedside and gently cupped my face. "Did you hit your head with anything? Let me check."
"No, no. I didn't. I'm fine." I shook my head and wrapped his hand in mine before he could reach for my head. "Tae, I really dreamed about her."
Taehyung arched a brow, looking intrigued. "Okay, what's the dream all about?" he asked while dragging a chair and sat in front of me.
"I talked to her," I said as the dream was still vivid in my mind. "She's mad at me for pushing you guys away, and..." I paused, "she mentioned something..." I trailed off, squeezing my thighs in frustration.
Because I couldn't seem to remember whatever dream-Jinhee had told me. There was just an image of the graceful her, her lips moving, but no sound could be heard.
"Hey, hey, Jinhee..." Taehyung in all his calmness tried to make me focus on him, it was as if he knew what was going on in my head, and he understood me like an open book.
"Don't push yourself. Take it easy, alright? I'm here with you." He gently took my hands and embraced them with his warmth, reassuring me.
I closed my eyes and tried to recompose myself with slow breathing. When I opened my eyes and saw a soft smile lit up on his face, the heavy feeling in my stomach began to unclench and subside.
"You actually don't believe me, do you?" I looked up at Taehyung, pressing my lips.
"Of course, I do."
I let out a sigh and shook my head in disappointment. "I don't know what's real anymore. I sound crazy, and you must think–"
"Us," he suddenly cut in, authentic brown eyes looking at me deeply, mirroring to his souls.
I raised a questioning eyebrow. "What about us?"
"We are real."
I was momentarily taken aback by his words. And for the whole minute I was quiet, he brought my hands near to his petal soft lips, and he lightly glazed it over my knuckles with eyes closed—to the left and right, upwards and downwards.
I noticed lately Taehyung loved to play with my hands or my hair while hearing me talking. It seemed like he picked up a new habit.
And dare I say, it was pleasantly alluring.
I couldn't help smiling at him when he always caught me off guard like this. "But I do remember something else from the dream."
"What is it?" He still had his eyes closed, probably his head fuzzy from the deep slumber.
"Jinhee mentioned about you," I said, and Taehyung suddenly looked up at me, his lunar shaped eyes glistening with stars. "She's glad that you are here, trying to help me with my memories."
"R-really? She said that?" His expression was bewildered, but his lips slowly spread into a smile of disbelief. A happy kind.
"Yup, she looked like this," I was excited as I grabbed a clear glass on the nightstand and cleared my throat, began to mimic the dream-Jinhee, "but thanks to Taehyung, you are finally back on track." I put down the cup and smiled shyly to myself, batting my eyelashes.
Taehyung burst out in hearty laughter, truly entertained by my acts. Looking at him, I couldn't help laughing along because he looked so innocent; childlike and angelic.
"You look exactly just like her, no one can beat you to that." He propped up a hand against the vanity table and let his head rest on it, a mischievous grin slowly formed on his lips. "I'm curious, did Jinhee wear pink pajamas in your dream too?"
"No, she's wearing a–" I stopped mid-sentence when I noticed Taehyung wasn't looking into my eyes anymore, he was looking something below me.
I followed his gaze and almost cussed out loud when I realized I was still clad in yesterday's pink silk pajamas. Because after having that dream, I instantly woke up, splashed my face with cold water and stomped out of the room.
"You look the prettiest walked in with a bare face and pajamas," he said, a look of veiled amusement crossed his face.
"Oh, shut up, Tae." I tried to act nonchalant, though knowing that I was blushing right now.
But to be truthfully said, it was not the first time Taehyung saw me in this kind of state. With the amount of dance practices and rehearsals, countless cups of coffee and working till late night, waiting for delayed flights and dozed off between short drives, I was sure we had seen each other's flaws.
Yet, he still looked perfect in my eyes. And with his deep brown eyes staring at me with full of affection, I'd like to take that leap of faith—that he felt the same way about me too.
"I gotta go now." I got up from the bed and walked towards the door. But just as I walked past Taehyung, I felt my foot stepped onto something and suddenly my world tilted backward.
An involuntary gasp escaped my mouth, and I felt a pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist before I landed into Taehyung's lap, sitting on top of him on the chair.
"Woah, Jinhee. Careful." Taehyung and I were both shocked with what happened, but he was quick enough to recover and check if I was injured anywhere. "Are you okay?"
"My foot hurts, what's that? I think I heard a crack," I frowned and trailed my eyes on the floor, just to see a broken object on the floor.
"Oh. My. God," said Taehyung, his voice shook with a hint of fear. "Jinhee, look at what you've done..."
"Crap. Taehyung, help me–"
"Hyung, wake up. Let's eat–" A masculine figure stepped in, his doe eyes widened innocently as he saw the scene unfolded before him.
It was by instinct, I quickly jumped off from Taehyung and extended my palms towards the young man, a sense of guilt began to grow inside me. "J-Jungkook, I can explain..."
"I will just pretend I didn't see anything." Just as quickly as he stepped in, he swiftly turned on his heels and walked out of the room.
But his step suddenly halted into a stop, making Taehyung and I tensed up in our spot. It was as if in slow motion, I saw how his head turned and his black eyes inspected the broken object on the floor. Then, he looked at me, to Taehyung and to the floor again.
"My Iron Man toy..." he whispered, kneeling down and picked up the items. In his left hand was the body, and his right hand was the head, "It's broken."
"Jungkook-ah, I can–"
He let out a soft sigh, wide shoulders slumped in sadness. "Never mind." With that, Jungkook finally walked out and closed the door on us.
"W-wait! Jungkook!"
A U T H O R ' S N O T E
hello everyone, it's been a while.
i know right, i finally update, like finally!
i really don't remember when was the last time i updated this book, but please know that im trying to collect back my talents after almost two years.
i'm sorry if this chapter is simple and not interesting.
i promise i will do better as we move forward.
as always, tap the star and leave a feedback.
thank you for reading, lovelies and stay safe!
🌹
Much love,
ℓynie
»»———— ♡ ————««
T E A S E R
"Jungkook-ah, take care of my girl, alright?"
"Don't worry, hyung. I have more muscles than you, so I surely can protect my noona better. Bye."