Nari || Friday, June 12
I wake up to the sun shining through the window and onto my face. I smile and my eyes slowly flutter open. The tenderness and comfort of Jungkook's embrace instantly making me feel warm and fluffy inside. I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I can finally breathe without my heart aching. I feel weirdly energised. This has been the best I've felt all week. I think I'm ready to discover the truth of Yuri's death. There are no more tears left for me to cry.
I look up at Jungkook to see that he is staring down at me with a soft smile on his face. His skin is glowing and the bags under his bright eyes have vanished. I want to reach out to touch his face and kiss those soft rosy lips of his, but I just grin at him as we stare at each other. He looks so handsome. How can someone look so perfect when just waking up?
"Good morning," he whispers and pecks the top of my head gently.
"Morning," I say and he strokes my hair as I nuzzle against his warm body.
I feel so calm and so at ease when I'm around Jungkook. I feel like I can tell him anything and he would just listen; he would trust me as much as I trust him. We don't feel any remorse or betrayal from being together because we know that Yuri could never be disappointed in us; she would want us to be happy. Even if Jungkook tells me he still loves my sister and even if I'm still upset that she's gone, nothing feels forced or awkward between us.
We stay hugging each other for a while longer before Jungkook eventually gets up to make us some breakfast and I head to the bathroom to wash-up.
---
I immediately smell the delicious breakfast when I leave the bathroom and make my way to the dining room. My eyes light up when I see a plate of sausages and scrambled eggs on the table. I quickly take a seat and lick my lips in delight. Jungkook chuckles from seeing my excited expression as he places two cups of steaming coffee on the table before taking a seat.
"This looks so good," I say as I pick up my fork and begin munching on the food in front of me. "Mmm..."
"Glad you like it," Jungkook says and laughs as I stuff myself with the tasty food.
Jungkook begins eating too and he himself seems impressed by his cooking skills as he nods his head as he eats.
After stuffing ourselves with food and feeling full, I decide to confront Jungkook about starting our investigation on Yuri death. The thought has been on my mind the whole morning. Even though the atmosphere around us feels so much lighter and merrier, I cannot ignore the thought of Jennie's sudden text lingering in my mind and I cannot calm my eagerness to start delving deeper into finding out what drove my sister to take her life. I just want to get out of the house and start doing something to find out what happened.
"I was thinking..." I say hesitantly and bite onto my lower lip. "Since Jennie hasn't been responding to any of your texts after she told us she might be able to help us... I was thinking maybe we could visit the cafe she works at and see if she's there?"
The grin on Jungkook's face falters and his expression becomes serious as he ponders before replying, "Are you sure you're ready to see her and listen to what she has to tell us?"
I nod determinedly and Jungkook sighs as he rubs the nape of his neck.
"What if she's not there?" he asks.
"Then..." I say. "We can always ask her co-workers and see if they know anything. I just want to do something; I don't want to sit around and wait any longer. I'm ready to face whatever we may encounter."
"Okay," he says with a sudden firmness in his tone. "Let's go."
---
Jungkook opens the glass door of the cafe and a bell rings as we step inside. I notice that there aren't a lot of people; I see several people sitting by the large window of the cafe and a few sitting further inside the cafe. Most are chatting away with one another, whilst some are busy on their phones as they sip on their drinks. The peaceful atmosphere of the cafe and the chill music playing through the speakers makes me feel pleasant as we make our way to the wooden counter where a young woman stands with her back facing us. She turns around to greet us with a cheerful smile when we approach the counter before telling us to wait for a minute and going back to brewing the cup of coffee. I look around and don't spot Jennie anywhere.
The woman slightly bows at us before moving away from the counter and places the freshly brewed cup of coffee on the marble table where two young men are chatting amongst each other.
"How may I help you?" the woman asks with a smile as she goes back behind the counter and is ready to take our order.
"We were wondering if Jennie is here?" Jungkook asks and the woman furrows her eyebrows.
"Jennie?" she says with a slight frown. "I'm sorry, but I only started working here a few weeks ago and I don't know anyone named Jennie."
"Are you sure?" I ask the woman and look down at the name tag attached on her shirt and see that her name is Cherry.
"I've never met anyone named Jennie who is working here," she says with certainty.
Jungkook looks at me in confusion and I look back at him just as confused. This has to be the right cafe, I've been here to visit Yuri before. So Jennie isn't working here anymore? But that can't be right, Yuri was still working here with Jennie before her death; Jennie would pick her up every morning to come here...
"But the boss should know," Cherry says. "I'll ask for him to come speak to you two."
"Thank you," we say and nod as she moves away from the counter.
However, the door of the staff room opens and reveals a man before Cherry makes it to the room. She bows slightly to the man who I assume is the boss and she mutters something to him and he nods. The man seems pretty young to be the boss of the cafe; he looks to be around Jungkook's age. His skin looks so flawless. His hair is a dark brown colour and a pair of gold-framed glasses sits on the bridge of his nose.
He smiles kindly at us and gestures for us to take a seat by the large window of the cafe. Jungkook and I sit beside each other, whilst the man takes a seat opposite us.
"I'm Kim Taehyung, the owner of this cafe," the man begins to say and reaches his hand out for us to shake. "You can just call me Taehyung."
He seems so friendly and at ease for a boss, as he keeps smiling at us and talks with a light-hearted tone.
"I'm Jungkook, and this is my... umm... this is Nari," Jungkook says hesitantly but manages to keep smiling.
I thought he was going to call me his girlfriend; my heart unconsciously sinks when he didn't, but I try my best to not let the disappointment show on my face.
"Cherry tells me that you two are looking for Jennie?" Taehyung asks. "Are you her friends?"
"We aren't exactly friends..." Jungkook says hesitantly. "But Yuri is Nari's elder sister and my girlfriend... well umm... ex-girlfriend..."
Taehyung nods slowly and he gives us a sad smile, "I'm sorry about Yuri..."
I tell myself to keep my emotions under control as tears form in my eyes. They threaten to fall, but I don't let them as I manage to keep a poker face. I need to stay strong and not falter every time I hear her name or think about her. Jungkook seems to be having a hard time keeping himself together at the mention of Yuri as well. He takes my hand and squeezes it and a smile gradually appears on my face as he breathes in deeply.
I shake my head gently and say, "So... we were wondering if you found anything unusual about Yuri before her passing and if you know where we might be able to find Jennie?"
Taehyung furrows his eyebrows as he ponders momentarily before saying, "Well, Yuri suddenly decided to stop working here around a month ago. Jennie too. I haven't seen the both of them since then."
They stopped working here around a month ago? That can't be right... Yuri never mentioned to us about changing jobs. Both Jungkook and I are taken aback as we look at each other with our brows raised. Why would Yuri suddenly decide to stop working here anyway? She and Jennie have always been thinking about opening their own cafe one day... so why would they quit their jobs here? I frown as I think about the possibilities as to why my sister and her best friend would decide to stop working here all of a sudden without telling us.
"That's strange..." Jungkook mutters.
"I found it strange too," Taehyung says with a frown. "They told me that they stopped working here to work at a nightclub. They don't seem to be the type to work at a nightclub, so I was surprised when they told me."
"A nightclub?" I say in confusion and astonishment.
I furrow my eyebrows and Jungkook seems to be deep in thought as well. Why would they work at a nightclub instead of this cafe? It doesn't make any sense... why didn't Yuri tell us? Thinking about all this... I suppose it kind of makes sense since she's always out late at night. Yet, she told our parents and I that she's just meeting her friends... why did she lie?
Taehyung nods, "I think Jennie is still working there, so you might be able to find her there. The nightclub is called Dynamite. It's a couple of streets down from here, you'll see it right away."