Chapter 29
It was dark bliss until I felt the intense light of the sun on my eyes. I try to readjust my head, but nothing seems to stop the light from hitting directly on my face. I move again, but this time I hear a muffled grunt.
My eyes open and I find myself staring into his hazy eyes. I lazily blink while we continue to stare in silence.
"...can you move your head?" Jimin asks suddenly.
"What?" I question, my voice a bit rough.
"My arm is asleep."
Finally realizing that I was laying my head directly on his arm the entire time, I jolt up in alarm, my head smacking the headboard of the bed.
"Ahhhh my head!" I bring my hand up to my head trying to feel if there is a bruise. From beside me, I hear him snicker at my pain and I just about consider smacking him.
"Meanie," I mumble, "What's with you these days! Always laughing at me!" I grumble to myself as I slowly get out of bed.
He laughs, "I can't help it. You're too easy."
Just then I turn on my heels and grab the nearest pillow. His eyes turn wide as he tries to scramble out of bed. "Easy huh!" I end up chasing him around with my pillow weapon in my hands.
"Ahh! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" His eyes squeeze shut as he turns his face away from my blows. He shouts at me, "Stop hitting me!"
We finally head downstairs, grabbing some slices of toast. As I take a bite out of my slice, I notice specks of jam on the corners of Jimin's lips. I smile knowingly at him and he looks at me with confusion.
"Your face," I say and he smirks at me.
"What? It's incredibly handsome." He pushes his hair back from his forehead.
The jam on his face made it hard for me to take his words seriously, "No idiot. You have jam on your face," I giggle. His eyes widen while he frantically tries to wipe off the jam.
Across the room I hear the television being turned up in volume. We both look in that direction trying to listen to the news.
"-Police are on the lookout for the suspect. There are a few witnesses in the neighborhood where the killings took place. The rogue hybrid was said to be sighted around Southland View Drive-"
I find myself hurrying over to the breaking news. A rogue hybrid? Killings? That doesn't make sense. Even though hybrids held superior strength compared to humans, the government has placed so many restrictions on their kind. They aren't even allowed to be outside without an owner otherwise they're sent to detention centers.
"Police say that victims were mauled. Many beaten to death. Limbs torn off and left to bleed to death. Even children are said to be ripped to pieces along with their family members. View discretion is advised the following images-"
My heart drops into my stomach as I watch the slaughter and carnage from the footage. My breakfast threatening to come right back up, I still manage not to look away from the horrible scene.
"This is just awful." My mother watches the news report on the couch, "How did it manage to do so much damage in such a short amount of time."
My stomach lurched as I looked back at the TV. A little girl was shown almost completely blurred out but the imagination doesn't fail to fill in the holes of what she actually looked like with all the discolored blood around.
"The mayor warns people to stay indoors during night and to call the police if any suspicious activity is seen. This attack will definitely damage the 'Chae case' going on. Many critics believe that this unforeseeable disaster will lead to more regulation policies being placed on hybrid ownership."
"The Chae case?" I ask.
My dad speaks, "Chae Minkyu. He's been fighting for hybrid rights in court. Word around town says that he's in a relationship with his hybrid. Ridiculous if you ask me-"
"Uh-" my mom interrupts, "aren't we going to be late for work honey?" My dad lets out a sigh as he checks his watch.
"Let's go. See you later Y/n."
Both of them leave, the house left for the two of us again. I look back to the TV as the news channel continues to report on the killings. But how? How does something like that happen? Where does a hybrid get the experience to kill?
Jimin has killed before.
But he's not like that. He's different. He's kind. He's-
This just proves there's more of them like him. What if it's in their nature? Their true instincts could be suppressed by society. How long do we have before they-
Stop it Y/n! You're going to drive yourself crazy.
I stayed there in my own world arguing back and forth with myself that I didn't even notice Jimin speaking to me.
"Y/n," His hand rests on my cheek, "are you okay?" My eyes focus on him. His worried face calmed me down a little, but the seed of doubt was already planted.
I manage to smile back, "Yeah, I'm fine." I pull back and my hand subconsciously touches my neck. He looked at me like he wanted to say something, but he held back.
Why does he do that still? What is he wanting to say? Why can't he just say it?
My phone rings interrupting my thoughts. I reach into my pocket and press the phone to my ear. The conversation only goes on for a couple minutes before I hang up on the police officer. I look up to see Jimin patiently waiting, wondering who called me.
"The police cleared the investigation at our house. We could go back if we want to."
Just thinking of that place gave me the chills. My life really turned upside down once I moved there.
"Are we going back?" he asks. His hands make their way around my waist this time, pressing closer to me. It was like his whole life he's been starved of physical affection that he craved it so desperately. I leaned into his touch as I replied.
"I don't know yet, but I do need to collect some things." I mumble against him. Gently, I press my lips against the temple of his forehead.
"Come on. Let's get ready and then we can grab some of our things from there."
---
The key slides into the lock on the front doors. I remember it like it was yesterday that I first stepped into this house. The lock clicks open and those enormous doors open, beckoning us to enter. I take a deep breath before making my way inside.
Hurriedly, I begin to grab my things that I had forgotten to retrieve from earlier. I visited each room, one after another, turning the lights on and remembering where everything used to be. A light layer of dust rested on all the items in the house causing me to sneeze at least a couple times.
I finally arrived at the room where I painted all my canvases. The old paintings were still sitting there frozen in time. Like a movie put on pause or book with a bookmark in it. I walked around admiring the frozen moments in time. Eventually, my feet stopped at the last painting I had just worked on.
The lush grass and the crystal sky made my chest burn with longing. It was almost bittersweet as I stared at the half done painting. Sunlight poured from the adjacent windows, filling the room with life and memories.
Down the hallway I could hear Jimin's steady footsteps climbing up the stairs. My hand quickly reached for a nearby covering, throwing it over the canvas before he made his way up here.
"Y/n? You up here?" I hear his voice shout.
"Yeah," I walk to the door, "Just looking around I guess." He looks at the leftover paintings behind me.
A frown forms on his face, "You should take one to your parents' house." I look back thinking for a moment.
"Let's put our things in the car first." I reply.
After an hour we bring all the things we need to the car. Jimin ended up getting a whole stack of books from the library while I managed to get the things we actually needed like clothes and important files.
He acted like a little kid in a library trying to grab all the books he could carry. Let's be honest he probably dropped some on the way and was running back to collect them.
While he goes back to collect his books, I find myself sneaking back to the art room to grab that one painting I really wanted to finish. Frantically, I stuff it into the trunk of the car, trying to fit it in with all of our other things while simultaneously trying not to damage it either. I shut the trunk close just before Jimin made his way back.
"You got everything?" I ask as he sets the books in the back seat.
"Yeah, you?"
I smile a little lighter than before, "Yeah let's go."
The car's ignition turns on, the vibrations of the engine spreading through the body of the car. I take one final look at that house. I kinda did miss being there. You know before all of this happened. Living with your parents again just isn't the same.
"I want to go back one day." I say. Jimin doesn't reply for a while although I do hear a small whisper after some time.
"One day." He repeats.
One day. One day things will be normal. One day this will be all over. One day everything will be perfect in our lives. And until then I'll be waiting.
OMG "Still with you" is so good! Jk always melting our hearts.
Also anybody else watching BangBangCon The Live next week! I'm so excited to see them in all the camera anglessss.
Thanks for reading!