K i m J i n h e e

"Why are you leaving me so sudden? You can't do this to me, Ray." I disputed as I held onto his arms firmly, refused to let Ray creating even an inch distance between us.

But when Ray twirled his arms and successfully detached my hands from his, I felt my heart crushed down to my stomach painfully. "Mia... I'm sorry, but you have to let me go."

I let out a frown as I grabbed Ray's luggage and hid it behind me. I gave him an accusing look, while he sighed over at my childish acts.

"It's Paris fashion week, Mia... You understand how much this runway means to me, right?" Ray tried to convince me with his beautiful grey eyes pleading me ever so gently.

My heart softened as his enticing gaze lingered on mine longer than it was necessary. Ray was casting his magic spell on me again, and I couldn't do anything to stop him because the passion in his eyes literally melted my adamancy to make him stay.

"I know... But we were never apart from each other until now... I don't even know if I can hold on for a day without you, let alone one week." I whispered sadly as I circled my hands around his waist and pulled him in for a hug.

I felt Ray embraced me back, a soft sigh escaped his lips. "Do you want to come with me?"

Upon hearing that invitation from him, I tensed up. Ray slowly pulled away and looked straight at me, but I couldn't say a word to him because for a moment there, I was tongue-tied.

Ray smiled a little when I looked away from him. "You're thinking about your new job."

"Ray..." I slowly looked up at him and bit my lip out of guilt. Ray had guessed right again.

"I know, Mia... I know how you're always so passionate about your job. I understand that, because I feel the same too," Ray spoke softly, his hand gently caressing my hair. "Jasper and your parents are well-informed about my departure. I'm sure they will take a good care of you while I'm gone."

I stayed quiet as I felt bitter at the thought of Ray was leaving me.

"I promise I'll come back to you. Just for one week, stay at your parents' house and behave, alright baby girl?" Ray held my chin and smiled at me.

"I'm gonna miss you lots..." I snuggled into his embrace and inhaled his fragrance for one last time.

"Me too. I love you, Mia." Ray kissed the top of my head and pulled away. "Come on, give me a goodbye kiss."

I tiptoed and pecked on his lips. Ray smiled lovingly as he caressed my cheeks, his gaze was sad and I could see that he was trying his best to hold back his emotions.

"Bye, Ray..."

"Bye, luv."

___________

I walked into the lobby of Grand Milennium to grab some of my stuff for the one week stay at my parents'. As usual, Peter greeted me cheerfully, but this time, he held something in his hand. "Ms. Kwon, you have a package for you."

For a moment, I blinked in wonder at the package, yet I received it with a smile and muttered a soft thanks to Peter. Once I have reached the penthouse, I sat on the couch and opened up the box. I raised my brows in surprise when I saw a familiar stuffed bunny and a photo again.

It was the same stuffed bunny that Jungkook brought to the café yesterday. A sense of guilt instantly tainted my heart as the thought of Jungkook crossed my mind. Somehow, I couldn't forget his tear-stained face when I gave him a cold shoulder yesterday. And the frustration in his look last night when he tried to coax me... Was I being too mean to him? Did I actually... hurt him?

I let out a deep sigh and looked at the photo. In the photo, Kim Jinhee and Jeon Jungkook were dressed up elegantly as they showed their wide bunny smiles. Jungkook had his arm draped over Jinhee's shoulder while Jinhee poked Jungkook's cheek playfully. Their bunny smiles looked so alike... A smile eventually crept onto my lips as they looked so happy in the picture, as though they had a close bond of a brother and a sister.

I dropped my smile when I was escorted back to reality. I frowned at myself because I couldn't understand why I had to smile at the thought of a... stranger? I turned the photo around and saw some words were written on the back.

'Thank you for the surprise, Jinhee noona. It meant so much to me, really.'

Surprise..? I was left puzzled as I couldn't understand the statement at all. It seemed like so many things had happened between them. Huffing out a frustrated sigh, I kept the picture in the box and dismissed the thoughts of Jungkook, but the moment I stood up from the couch, my vision turned pitch black as I felt the familiar electricity zapped through my senses like an exposed wire.

"No. You look cute, noona."

"Wow, smells good! Noona, did you make all this?"

"Noona, you look different tonight, in a way that allure all the men subconsciously."

"Sorry, sorry, noona. Haha. I caught it in the garbage tank outside."

I clutched onto my chest as the old film of Jungkook and Jinhee passed through my mind like lightning. It was simply a brief moment of flashback, but it felt like someone just pierced a shard of ice through my head — that was how painful it was whenever a tiny piece of memories resurfaced and filled in the gaps in my memory lanes.

The moment I opened my eyes, I found myself kneeling on the floor again. My cheeks drenched with tears, and I was internally crying as the shrieking pain slowly faded away from my system.

At that moment, I had the silent will to fight the intense pain whenever I remembered a piece of memory. I believed I could withstand it. I didn't mind if those rush of memories came back to me. But why was I cradling onto my chest when I felt the pain struck my head? The uncomfortable pain that had always been tugging in my heartstring, I still couldn't understand that.

P a r k J i m i n

I walked into the Crepé cafe, anticipating on seeing the girl who just miraculously appeared in our life back, my best friend, Kim Jinhee. The soft bell rang as I made my entrance, and she was just there, turning around to welcome the customers with her wide beautiful smile...

Except that her smile instantly dropped the moment she caught the sight of me.

"Welcome to Crepé cafe. How may I help you, Sir..?" Jinhee approached me hesitantly as she was scanning my puppy costume with askance.

For a moment, I was taken aback as I quietly studied the new image of Jinhee. The day after Taehyung and Jinhee bumped into each other in the hotel room, he had been frowning over her new attire. He openly stated that he hated it.

Now that I looked at her, I think I kinda agreed with Taehyung. Because I hated it too, with all my heart. She just looked... so cold. Like, icy cold. So different from the real Jinhee. Jinhee used to appear so bright with her sweet smile. She loved to dress up femininely with her favorite flowery skirts. With every light step she took, she would emanate out a pleasant warmth to the people around her.

But right now, stood before me was somewhat an arrogant-rebellious-mysterious looking girl that people would usually call 'Bae' in Instagram — with a denim jacket on top of her whole black attire, and not to forget her high-heeled black boots. She had put on quite a noticeable amount of makeup too. I assumed maybe it was because she had been living in U.S for quite a long time — that she probably had accustomed to their culture. But nonetheless, Jinhee still looked beautiful, just like the old times.

I calmly took a seat, propping up my hands on my palms and blinked at her innocently with my puppy eyes. "I'm lost. Can you help me find my best friend? Her name is Kim Jinhee."

But Jinhee's warm eyes immediately clouded with darkness as soon as she heard the name of Kim Jinhee. I held back a smile as I expected this defensive side of her. That was why I pretended to be in the mission of finding her. Because the Jinhee right now didn't like to be called as Jinhee.

"You see, Mr. Puppy, my hands are quite full here. Would you please leave?" She muttered so coldly under her breath.

I chuckled inwardly. Jinhee and her stubbornness. When would she ever realize that she was actually acting like Kim Jinhee herself and not Kwon Mia? Because as far as I remembered, my childhood friend, my first ever crush, Kwon Mia, would never act so rebellious like her.

"Hm, but Mia, I need to find Jinhee. I really miss her... And I have nowhere to go... Can't I just stay here, pretty please?" I stretched both of my arms and hugged the whole table, squashing my cheeks against the surface. But oddly, I didn't hear any reply from Jinhee, so I looked up at her and saw that she was surprised.

"W-what did you call me?" She slightly stammered with her words as she still planted that quizzical look on me.

"Mia...? You're Kwon Mia, right?" I asked, acting along so that Jinhee would at least let her guard down. I had to admit that I felt uncomfortable whenever I called her with that name. It was after all my first crush's name — who also had already passed away six years ago.

"Y-yeah," Jinhee looked dumbfounded, but I just smiled at her knowingly. Baby steps, Jimin. Baby steps.

There was an awkward moment of silence before Jinhee took out her small notebook. "Okay... What do you want to have–"

"You," I cut her off with a teasing smile.

Jinhee was taken aback by my reply, but then, she just let out a chuckle. "Look, I'm not–"

"No, Mia. I need you after your shift ended. We need to find my best friend, Kim Jinhee, remember?" I raised my eyebrows at her, reminding her of my mission to find 'her', and also to check the tattoo on her right shoulder.

Jinhee closed her notebook and beamed me a forced smile. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Puppy, but I'm doing the closing today. So–"

"Mia, your shift has ended! You can go home now, have a nice day, sweetheart!"

My eyebrows shot up in surprise as I heard both different statements at the same time. But when I saw Jinhee bit her lip and averted her gaze from me, I didn't waste any time to figure out who was the fibber anymore. Because Kim Jinhee had never really been good at deceiving people. She was always that obvious.

I let out a disappointed sigh and gave Jinhee a pouty look before I stood up and slowly sang, "Liar, liar, pants on fire."

__________

I waited for Jinhee after I had changed from the puppy costume to a red and black leather jacket with torn black jeans. Like usual, I would put on a hat and wore a black mask to hide my identity from our passionate fans.

The café's soft bell rang again. I flicked my eyes and saw Jinhee came out from the main door, at the same time, hearing her mild goodbyes to her co-workers. As she walked down the pathway, I bounced off from the wall and blocked her at the end of the pathway.

Jinhee flinched from her spot and quickly defended herself with her fists. "Who are you?" She asked, firm and strong.

I quickly put out my palms towards her, asking her to calm down. Phew, that was close. Jinhee's Taekwondo skills actually still scared me because she could really be a tough fighter, especially if she was blinded by anger.

"It's just Mr. Puppy, Mia. Don't be scared." I drawled as I pulled down my mask, giving her a wide goofy smile.

"Oh," That was all she said as her brown eyes slowly appraised my outfit. "You look... different." She remarked, still looking at me with a hint of amazement.

"I know," I took off my hat and raked my blonde hair with a smirk. Jinhee chuckled at my action and shook her head.

"By the way, what's your name again?"

My smile vanished instantly upon hearing that simple inquiry from her. Because hearing that, it suddenly reminded me that Jinhee really had lost all her memories about us.

Jinhee looked at me in wonder when I didn't answer her, my throat thickened as I felt my heart ached at how easy it seemed for her to not care about our precious memories together.

"Ah, I'm sorry if I offended you with my question. I just recently know about you guys from TV–"

"Jimin... My name is Park Jimin." I answered her and cracked out a smile. I couldn't help but cut her off because I knew her explanation would only hurt me inadvertently.

"Jimin..." She called out my name softly and slowly let out a smile. When she noticed that I had been staring at her, she dropped her smile, somehow looking flustered by herself. "Why do you think I'm Mia, when your other friends... I mean, that Yoongi and Jungkook guy called me Jinhee? Are you perhaps... just pretending with me?" She began to look at me cynically.

"No, of course not. They're just an idiot for thinking that you're Jinhee. Because you clearly don't look or act like her at all." I bluntly pointed out.

It was the truths, anyway. The way she dressed up right now, or the vibes that she had been giving out, didn't feel like Jinhee's. I recognized how Jinhee's presence felt like, and right now, I just felt none.

But again, I didn't mean that she wasn't Kim Jinhee. I was sure Jinhee was inside her, we just needed to think some ways to inflict that side of her. Just like how she acted all rebellious a moment ago.

"Thank you for accepting me for who I am, I appreciate it a lot." Jinhee smiled at me, her eye-smile squinted in slight happiness.

I just shrugged at her with a small smile, though I felt a pang of hurt in my chest when I saw her relieved expression, as though everything had been giving her a hard time. Were we stressing her out? I pondered silently.

"But, Mia, are you hiding from someone?" I changed the topic as I noticed that she tried to cover herself up with a black hat.

"Yeah, some paparazzi are still following me because of the dating news of Ray and me," She huffed out a tired sigh as she brought up about her new boyfriend. "And... the news about Min Yoongi..." She hesitantly continued as we walked side by side down the street.

"Yeah, I heard about that," I nodded and smiled sadly. "Yoongi hyung can be stubborn sometimes. But the fact that he was willing to go to that extent, to change his lyrics... and to meet you in person, let's just say that you're really special to him, probably on the top of his 'someone-that-I-care' list." I told her as I looked at her with a meaningful gaze, but Jinhee only frowned at me, as though she couldn't understand why she had become someone so special to Yoongi hyung.

She would probably know if she remembered everything in the past. Every single pain, every single struggle and every single hardship that we had painstakingly went through together. She would only understand if she remembered all those...

"But that Min Yoongi guy got the wrong girl," She chuckled bitterly and shook her head, as though she meant to say everything was ridiculous, the thought of her being 'Kim Jinhee' didn't make any sense to her. "I'm not Kim Jinhee. And right now, we are looking for her, right?" Jinhee turned to look at me straight in the eyes, as if trying to find something in it.

I swallow my comeback and looked away from her, afraid that she would find out about my real purpose of meeting her today.

"Why must it be me anyway?" Jinhee clasped her hands behind her back, looking at the vast blanket of blue sky without much emotions.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused at her question. Was she asking why she had to be Kim Jinhee?

"I mean, out of all people here, why did you choose me as your travel mate to find your best friend?" She repeated her question with a blank expression. My eyes continued observing her every movement and silently compared to how different she was from Jinhee.

Because... Jinhee was never this emotionless. She would usually have a smile or a frown on her face. I silently huffed out a sigh. It was kind of hard to figure out the 'new' her right now.

"Because you're the only Korean here, my English sucks." I scoffed at hearing my pathetic side as I walked behind her at a steady pace, keeping a good distance between us. This was not good... I began to feel upset by how we were not close like four years ago.

The specific memory of Jinhee and I walked down the street near our apartments flashed through my mind. I remembered how we used to tease each other, and we would laugh at every little thing. But right now, why we were like this, Jinhee-ah?

"Okay... So where do we find this Jinhee girl?" Jinhee stopped and turned around, looking at me with her innocent bright eyes. Masking my sad face, I let out a broad smile at her and run towards her.

"I don't know, she can be everywhere. But first, ice cweam!" I chimed in excitement as I looped my arm with hers and dragged her to an ice cream parlor.

__________

"Three scoops of Hazelnut chocolate chips, and three scoops of vanilla lime for my friend here," I ordered to the female cashier and beamed her a kind smile. She nodded and received the cash from me without any suspicion that I'm a member of BTS.

But strangely, I sensed that dark aura of suspicion from the person who was standing beside me. Jinhee was looking at me with her knotted brows, and I could only reply her with an awkward chuckle.

"Why are you looking at me like that, J-M-Mia?" I quickly covered up my stupid stutter. Now Jinhee was narrowing her eyes at me. Shit.

"How do you know that I like vanilla lime?" She asked as she continued torturing me with her doubtful eyes.

"I'm just guessing! Did I guess right?" I lied as I quickly flashed her a wide grin, trying not to make my nervousness obvious.

Jinhee arched a suspicious eyebrow to me, and that was the moment I knew I screwed up so bad.

When I couldn't handle her long stare, instinctively, my defensive hand went up to the air and before I knew, I had pushed Jinhee quite roughly with my uncontrolled strength, and because Jinhee was light-weighted, she was blown to the side like a passing wind.

Nah, just kidding. She fell to the ground with a bewildered expression.

I gasped loudly at what I have done, so did Jinhee.

"Jiminie! What the hell?!" She cried out, but nevertheless, she received my helping hand and immediately covered her reddened face with her black hat, since the other customers were looking and chuckling at how funny the situation was.

"Ji-M-Mia, I'm so sorry!" I panicked and wanted to help her dust off her bottom, but she immediately glared at me and I put up my hand up in defeat.

"Um, sir. Your orders are here..." The cashier put both ice cream cones on the stand with an awkward smile. I guessed she had witnessed everything too.

I nodded at her and grabbed both cones before hurriedly followed Jinhee who had already made her way out of this embarrassing hole.

__________

"Mia. Come on, are you still mad?" I nudged Jinhee's arm with my elbow, controlling my strength this time and made sure not to hurt her again.

But Jinhee wouldn't even spare me a glance as she just focused on her ice cream. "You pushed me, Jiminie. I'm hurt."

I let out a laugh when I saw Jinhee sent me a cute glare of hers, her pink-tinted lips pouted a little. Then, I casually slung an arm over her shoulder. "That's why I paid for your ice cream too. I'm sorry. Let's call it even, alright? Cheers?" I winked at her and brought my ice cream closer to hers for a cheer.

There was a moment of consideration before Jinhee let out a soft chuckle and combined her ice cream with mine, meaning that she had decided to just forget about the embarrassing incident. With that, a winning smile slowly spread across my lips.

But that did not last long as well, because when I pulled my ice cream cone away, it had unintentionally taken a big part of Jinhee's ice cream. Both of us were too shocked that we stared at each other with rounded eyes.

"What the–? Jiminie, you took my whole ice cream!" Jinhee whined out dramatically as she looked at her poor ice cream with her almost teary eyes.

On the other hand, I burst out laughing at how unbelievable the situation was. Jinhee was glaring at me again, and I couldn't help but reaching out to her and caress her head gently. Jinhee was always cute like this... Oh Gosh.

"Okay okay, calm down, little kitten. Let's exchange our cones then." I offered her mine to cheer her up. Jinhee didn't complain much as she accepted mine.

I watched her and let out a happy smile, because I noticed she had been calling me 'Jiminie' for a few times now, just like the old times...

"This flavor tastes good too." Jinhee simply commented as she enjoyed the mixed flavors ice cream.

"Of course, Mia. No one could resist chocolate ice cream," I chuckled and slowly let out a mischievous smirk at her. "And also chocolate abs."

Jinhee turned to look at me when I patted my abs. There was a moment of staring silence before I erupted into laughter when I saw her rolling her eyes because she couldn't seem to handle my cockiness anymore.

"Aren't we forgetting something?"

"About what?" I blinked at her.

"We are supposed to find your best friend." Jinhee reminded as she gave me a long stare.

But I just let out a meaningful smile at her. "How about we try to find her at that festival?" I pointed at the mouth-watering food fairs that were held open on the verdant green spaces in NYC parks.

"Are you sure we can find her there?" Jinhee asked, looking reluctant.

"Let's go and take a look. It's rude to say no to foods by the way." I remarked, making Jinhee let out an amused laugh.

I guessed Jinhee had already familiarized at how I was easily lured by the enticing smell of foods, especially if it were foods that belonged to others. It had always been a tough battle, even tormenting if I was on diet. I always believed this one theory that food would taste much better only if we shared it with people around us. That was why I loved to steal other people's foods, especially Jinhee's and heard her cute whines afterward.

We walked around the festival while holding onto each other's hands so that we wouldn't get separated from the large crowd. We moved constantly from one booth to another and bought some snacks to munch on while marveling at any interesting section of the festival.

Until there was this one sports section where you needed to work in pairs and go through five challenges in a limited amount of time. I looked at the poster and saw the grand prizes that were proffered for the winners of the particular event.

1st Prize : 3 Days 2 Night Trip to Hawaii

2nd Prize: A candlelight at Merchants River House

3rd Prize: iPhone 8 Plus

Food. I'm going to win the 2nd Prize.

"Mia, do you want to participate in this event? Please please say yes, I have been wanting to taste the trending menus in that famous restaurant!" I pleaded with my puppy eyes as I clasped my hands under my chin and pointed at the second prize eagerly.

Jinhee laughed, somehow amused at my craving again. "Yeah, why not." She replied with a confident smile and took off her denim jacket. With that, I fist-pumped in the air with a big smile.

Half an hour later, Jinhee and I helped each other with our stretching, and while at that, we listened to the organizer as she explained about the challenges.

"Okay guys, I will explain about the five challenges here. You need to finish every challenge in 60 seconds, or you will be disqualified. In the first stop, you have to tie your legs together with your partner, bring as much water as you could with the red cup and fill up the blue basket until the water level reached the red-marked level."

"That's quite easy." I nodded with much confidence.

"At the second challenge, you can take off the rope and climb on the long monkey bars until you reach the cookies point, each person at one time. That's where you have to jump on any of the hanging threads and finish off the cookie."

Jinhee and I exchanged a look. "Cookies." We said in unison with raised brows and burst into laughter.

"Moving to the third stop, you guys have to flip all the hundred red cards to green cards. And proceed to the fourth stop, where you need to do hundred push-ups with your partner on top of your back."

"Woah. That's a lot of push-ups. Jiminie, will you be able to handle my weight?" Jinhee looked worried as she bit her bottom lip.

"Don't worry, trust me on this," I told her and assured her with a wide smirk.

Four years ago, Jinhee used to help me with my morning workout by sitting on my back. So I don't see the problem of doing the same thing right now with her. In fact, her presence here only energized me to work even harder. Even though I had stopped working out because of her, but at that moment, I was only concerned about the second prize as I could literally feel myself burning with the strong desire to win.

"Lastly, both of you need to run to the tracks and ride the two-seater Go-kart, drive for 3 laps and whoever manages to pass the finish line will be the winner! Are you guys excited now?"

"Yeah! Mia, let's do this! Chimmy chimmy team is ready!" I shouted loudly at the starting line, feeling puffed up to finish all the challenges with Jinhee. While the other thirty-two participants looked at us with competitive gazes.

Jinhee laughed at my enthusiastic side, or probably at our team name that I had suggested, but nonetheless, she gave me a squeeze at our holding hands and smiled warmly at me.

"Ready?" The organizer held onto the gun and aimed it at the sky. Jinhee gave me another squeeze, probably she was nervous.

"Go!"

With that, I marched– No, I meant to say... Jinhee and I waddled like penguins to the blue basket and filled up the red cup as our legs were tied to each other. I couldn't help but laugh at how hilarious our back-and-forth motion was, while Jinhee kept telling me to be serious, but eventually, she laughed out loud too. As the time was reaching the last second, our basket had reached exactly at the marked level.

The judges passed us, so using my strength, I snapped the rope between us and continued running to the monkey bars.

"Mia, you should go first," I told Jinhee and she nodded. Without any hesitation, she jumped and hooked onto the monkey bars, passing along them with no troubles.

A proud smile slowly spread across my lips as I never expected this side of Jinhee. It seemed that her stamina had improved, and looking at her hour-glass figure, it was apparent that she probably had been working out a lot too.

"Jiminie, your turn!"

I was knocked out of my thoughts when I saw Jinhee was trying her best munching down on her big piece of cookie. I chuckled and quickly climbed on the monkey bars to reach Jinhee. I finished off my cookie in one bite, and spontaneously bit off Jinhee's cookie that was sticking out from her mouth. Jinhee looked at me, taken aback, while I sent her a playful wink.

"Jiminie, I swear stop stealing my food! Gosh." Jinhee whined again as we ran to the next point. I threw my head back, laughing out loud, though there wasn't anything funny. I just had fun teasing Jinhee.

We flipped all the red cards pretty easily as I started flipping from the starting point and Jinhee started from the endpoint. There were about 20 seconds left the moment we met each other at the middle line.

We moved to the next point and I readied myself in a push-up position. I waited for Jinhee's weight on my back, but there was none. So I looked up and saw that Jinhee looked hesitated, biting her thumbnail now.

"Oh, Mia. Don't hurt my pride now. Trust me, I can handle you. C'mon," I tilted my head and convinced her with my charming smirk.

Jinhee huffed out a guilty sigh and sat on top of my back. "Are you okay, Jiminie?" She asked as she held onto my shoulders for support.

"Never better. Hold on tight, lil kitten." I told her and started off doing a hundred push-ups at a steady pace.

Along the struggles, Jinhee continued cheering on me and encouraged me to hang on there with much passion. Jinhee had always been like that. That was how I managed to do my diet in the past, because of her beautiful words of encouragement. She had always been there to support me, to have my back.

"Let's go!" I grabbed her hand and we ran to the last stop, which was the Go-kart race.

When we had reached there, I helped Jinhee with her helmet and belt before I pressed the gas pedal with all the energy I could muster.

"Are we at 2nd place right now?" I asked Jinhee. Jinhee slightly stuck out her head to scan the number of Go-karts on the tracks.

"There are two groups ahead of us. One is the newlyweds, and the other is the two teen boys. So we are the third..." She told me as I focused on making a sharp turn.

"So we just need to beat those two boys. Heh. Mia, make sure to hold onto your belt." I chuckled and pressed the gas even harder. Jinhee let out a mild shriek at the fast speed, but at the same time, she was laughing at how good it felt like as the strong wind hit our face.

I turned the stirring wheel to the side a little and bumped the right side of the boys' kart. They instantly whipped their heads around and narrowed their eyes.

"Yo, dude. Take it easy!" One of them shouted. I turned to look at Jinhee when she let out a scoff.

"What did they say?" I asked, clueless.

There was a moment of silence before Jinhee replied, pouting a little. "They said to move out of their way, and they called us losers."

My eyebrows squinted in anger, and the burning desire was now boiling even stronger in my heart. "Oh, they did not," I said, irritation dripped in my voice.

"They did. I think it's time to show them what you got, Jiminie." Jinhee beamed me a meaningful smile, her brown eyes glinted with a tinge of impishness.

I let out a chuckle and cracked my heads. "They are seriously messing with the wrong person."

With the mindset to teach the boys a lesson, I cut in at every sharp edge professionally and managed to win over the boys. I could have won over the newlyweds too, but Nah. They needed the Hawaii trip to make babies. Oops.

__________

"Thank you, Jiminie, for this beautiful dress." Jinhee smiled appreciatively at me as we silently watched the scenic night view of Hudson River, enjoying ourselves in the serenity of the night.

After the sports event, Jinhee and I had took a quick shower in the hotel to refresh ourselves up, separately, of course. I also had gifted her a raspberry mid soft dress for our dinner. Jinhee was surprised by the gift and tried to decline it, but using my irresistible charms, I had successfully convinced her to accept it.

"No, thank you, Mia," I said, a soft smile drawn on my face as I looked into her beautiful eyes deeply. Thank you for coming back into our life...

"Today was fun. Did you see how pissed off the boys were when we won the cash?" She giggled a little. I joined her laughter, satisfied at how I had beaten the arrogant boys in the race.

"But it's a shame though," she said as she moved her gaze to me, her chin on her propped up hands.

"Why?" I asked her, worried if there was any lack in today's adventurous date with her.

"We didn't manage to find your best friend," she finished with a sad smile. "I hope that we can find her as soon as possible, you look like you have been missing her too much." Jinhee extended her hand and put her hand on top of mine to console me.

"No, it's all right," I told her and let out a mysterious smile. I removed her hand from mine, but instead, I held firmly onto hers.

"She's right here, right in front of me."

Jinhee looked awestricken as she took her time to process my words. Her expression slowly contoured in confusion when she couldn't seem to understand my words.

"W-what do you mean, Jimin?" She furrowed her brows as she tried to pull her hand away, but I resisted and placed her soft hand on my right cheek. My heart pounding so hard against my chest as I felt the extreme anxiousness at this specific moment. Because...

She just called me 'Jimin'.

"I saw Jinhee in you. So, there was no doubt, that you are Kim Jinhee, my lil bunny." I finally confessed and smiled warmly at her.

But on the inside, I truly dreaded for her confrontation. I felt like she would run away from me, that was why I had to hold her tightly like this, I couldn't imagine if she disappeared on me again.

But when Jinhee suddenly stood up and successfully removed her hand from my grasp, I felt my heart plunged with a hollow ache, making me unable to move. I watched her as she quickly stormed off from the restaurant, her flared-shaped dress flowed as the night breeze brushed past her figure.

Park Jimin, you have to get to her! The voice at the back of my mind screamed, finally making me come back to my senses. So I quickly dashed out of the restaurant and desperately searching for sight of her.

Relief washed over my being when I saw Jinhee walked away in a specific direction. Even from the back, I could tell that she was annoyed by the high heels because she couldn't run. I easily caught up with her and block her way again.

"Jinhee, I need you to listen to me..." I was breathless as I grabbed her arms and tried to calm her down. But Jinhee resisted and pushed me away. Then she glared at me, and it wasn't one of those cute glares anymore, it was one that smoked with much anger, the one that actually scared me off.

"I don't listen to liars, Jimin-ssi." She coldly stated with much intensity. My heart slowly cradled in darkness as her voice echoed in my head...

Now it was 'Jimin-ssi'...

"Didn't Jungkook pass you the message? I told you guys to forget about me and move on," She continued as she held onto the strap of her bag in a guarded stance. "I don't want to have anything to do with guys anymore."

With strong determination in her eyes, she walked past me, as if I was invisible to her after I had labeled her as Kim Jinhee. It seemed that she would do just about anything to cross out anyone who labeled her identity wrongly. Well, to her at least.

"Jungkook couldn't say anything because he locked himself up with Yoongi hyung," I spoke out darkly when I couldn't find the strength to stop Jinhee anymore. I could only hope that my last words would at least soften up her heart. "He cried a lot last night, Jinhee."

The sound of her clicking heels stopped. I breathed out nervously as I turned around... and saw Jinhee was still there, standing silently under the street light, still safe in my sight. I couldn't even blink my eyes because I was afraid the image of her would fade away instantly, just like a puff of smoke.

"I don't have any intention of hurting anyone's feelings. So if you don't want to be the next victim, then please... Stop searching for me." Jinhee looked like she was in pain as she forced out those words, tiny crystals in her eyes. The locked of her fists and her crushed voice was the evidence that she was frustrated by everything.

I smiled bitterly at her words — her hurtful words — crumpled my heart like it was all mattered. How could she possibly ask me to stop when I only remembered the desperation to save her at her last moment?

For four years, I regretted every second for not being able to save her. It hurt like hell when I was reminded that I couldn't even save my best friend. I had always thought that maybe I could have saved her if only I pushed myself a little bit more at the last second. All the 'what ifs' were literally killing me whenever I was wandering in my own thoughts. Now tell me, Jinhee, how the hell could I stop?

I took calm steps towards her, wrapped her hands in mine and placed it gently on my chest. "But you're the only one who can heal these painful wounds," I let out a weak smile at her. "I used to like you a lot, you know? So please don't hurt chim chim's feelings, Jinhee-ah."

Jinhee looked so surprised by something, her eyes softened as she let me hold onto her hands. I heard my own voice broke just now... Was I crying?

"Jimin..."

"I was the first one that needed to give up on you, Jinhee. Because that was the only way so that I can help the other boys. Do you know how hard it was to let someone go when you badly didn't want to? It's fucking hard for me. I was depressed again. You left me without any farewell... Just like how Jihyun did seven years ago." I poured out all my pent-up emotions for all the times she wasn't here with me.

For all the times she didn't stay with us...

"I lost my best friend four years ago, and I watched my other best friend slowly lost himself for four years as he waited for his love to come back, unknowing, lost, and delusional. It's damn painful to watch him slowly drowning..."

"For four years, I don't even know how Taehyung managed to fight the pain of not having you by his side. But right now, he's holding onto you, Jinhee. Four damn years, and he's still waiting for you. I have never seen him so alive after he found you again, so right now, I'm helping him to get you back, Jinhee. We can't let you go. Because you mean so much in our life..." I embraced her into my warmth tightly, just as much as I had been missing her in the lonely nights of four years.

"If I come back, will I be happy?"

I was taken aback when Jinhee whispered those words in my ears. So I pulled away and looked at her in disbelief.

"O-of course, Jinhee. We'll make you the happiest person ever!" I replied her energetically, a full-blown smile naturally crept onto my lips as I wiped away my tears with the back of my hand.

"What if I can't remember anything..?" Jinhee asked again like a lost kid.

"We will help you, Jinhee. I will be here, by your side, always." I cupped her cheeks and smiled warmly at her.

"What if I remember the bad memories as well?"

My heart collapsed when I heard that one inquiry from her. "H-huh?" That was all that I could reply from the aftermath of the great shock.

"I'm sure I've had bad memories with you guys as well, right?" Jinhee slowly asked as she looked directly into my eyes, searching for an honest answer.

I kept my silence. I didn't even realize when did I remove my hand from her cheeks, and at how I had repelled myself from her.

"Jimin, why can't you answer me?" she continued asking, her voice was heavy as she tried to dig out the answer from me.

"J-Jinhee... T-that's because..." All the muscles on my face dropped as I couldn't look at her in the eye anymore. Heck, I couldn't even say anything to her.

It had never crossed my mind that all her bad memories — her selective amnesia, the loneliness in her childhood, her depression, her escapism from the President, the truths about Mia, and that one tragic event — would all come back to her one day if she finally decided to remember.

"Now you understand why I don't want to remember about my past?" Jinhee asked quietly as her eyes darkened with too much emotion, "Because it's not as easy as you think, Jimin. Every time I remember, I have to face the unbearable pain over and over again. It takes too much effort to just remember the littlest memories, the uncertain memories."

Jinhee shook her head, her expression painted with frustration again, but this time, she looked even more vulnerable... and helpless.

"You can't just decide to let me remember only the good memories. We all know there would always be the consequences, and that means, if I make the decision to remember, the bad memories will eventually come back and haunt my whole life."

Jinhee exhaled out a shaky breath and dropped her head. "I'm so sorry. But you guys have to let me go... Goodbye, Jimin-ssi." She apologized, turning around and finally walking away from me.

I slowly closed my eyes in despair, hearing my heavy breathing as the pain kept pressing down my chest. When I opened my eyes again, the mist of tears blurred my vision, and...

Jinhee no longer stayed safe in my sight.

A U T H O R ' S N O T E

This is actually breaking my heart.
I hate how Jinhee keeps on hurting them, but again, it's only logical for her to act that way.

Baby steps, my dear readers.
Everything will be okay, and the happiness will slowly bloom after all the heartbreaks.

Hang in there, for Jimin, and for other boys as well.

Happy Holidays to my dear readers
🌹

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Thank you for reading 💖

Much love,
ℓynie

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T E A S E R

"Believe it or not, I'm really good at waiting for people to come back, y'know. So, don't break oppa's heart, alright?"