K i m J i n h e e

I stepped out from the elevator to the parking basement and walked to my silver Benz. My car keys jiggled and echoed in the basement, making my mind wander off to yesterday's Masquerade party.

I remembered I almost fell off my three-inch high heel. Yeah, apparently that was how much a loser I was. But that was not the point. Thankfully, I managed to grab onto someone's shoulder to keep my balance.

I couldn't figure out who the man was as he had his face veiled behind a lace black mask. His muscular built sported an expensive-looking suit as it had gold-stitched designs that contrasted with dark back-color. It was like a designated suit for a royalty.

His appearance and ambiance were so mysterious, so recherché, that it irresistibly magnetized me towards him. But other than his enigmatic visage that had been affixed in my mind, his voice... His attractive, dark, raspy voice somehow kept ringing in my ears in a loop, as though I had hit a snooze button on it.

"Careful there, princess."

Only hearing those three words from his perfectly-sculptured lips, and his strong arm around my waist, I was completely enchanted. For the first time ever, I was intrigued by a stranger. I felt like I wanted to know more about that mysterious man. His ardent mien somehow breathed out a wave of familiarity over my heart.

But knowing how fate had always hated being on my side, I had missed the opportunity to express my gratitude, and also get to know him better. After he had balanced me on the ground, his lips slowly quirked up into a small smile over his intense brown eyes, then he gave me one of those charming nods and walked away.

At that moment, I could only stare at his back view. His gym-honed physique from behind looked so damn attractive, and his naturally groomed hot-toffee hair bounced at his graceful strides.

Wait, hot-toffee hair? Why among all hair colors in the world, it had to be hot-toffee color? Now it just reminded me of that Taehyung guy...

I let out a heavy sigh and quickly shoved away the thought of him, because the last thing that I wanted to be reminded of was the last encounter with him in his hotel room — the very night that actually made me question about my identity. Him, whose presence left a strong impact on me that without realizing, I became nervous even at the slightest thought of him.

Whenever the image of him lit up in my mind, I could literally feel the butterfly tattoo on my shoulder burning, as though the ink was reminding me who I really belonged to, and I couldn't run away because I was marked with his initials.

"Running away my princess?"

The sharp pain suddenly struck me, making my head erupt in blinding white pain, and the only thing that I could do was to grab my head in frustration and hold onto my car's hood for support.

"Why wouldn't I notice the girl that I'm craving the most?"

The illustration of picturesque Garden with night light that I saw in my dream flashed again into my mind, but this time, the blurry faces of the couple standing in front of the fountain turned crystal clear. I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Taehyung and I were locking gazes ever so romantically, and ever so slowly, the distance got closer until we were lip-locked.

"Call me oppa."

The canvas shuffled to one luxurious bedroom, where I was seated at the bedside while Taehyung was laying on the bed with a teasing smile on his face.

"No."

"Baby girl."

"I said, no, Taehyung."

"Sweetheart, just for once."

And then my head whirled in pitch darkness and I could hear myself screaming out in pain. I had totally lost all my strength and my knees instantly gave away. I expected to fall onto the stony ground, but before I could make a free fall, a strong hand managed to wrap itself around my upper body and support me.

"Hey, Mia! You alright?"

I couldn't tell who it was as I was pressing onto my temples, trying to ease the pain. I felt that person carefully picked me up and put me in the passenger seat of his car. When the pain in my head was slowly siphoning away, I blinked for a few times and adjusted my vision to the particular guy.

"L-Lorenzo?"

I was in utter surprise to see my boyfriend's manager entering the driver seat with his usual flirty smirk. I looked around his red Honda to search for any sight of Ray, but there was none. It was just Lorenzo and his stupid smirk.

"Hello, gorgeous."

There you go, Lorenzo and his thick British accent.

"Why are you here?" I turned to look at Lorenzo again, this time with a little frown. What was he doing here when he was supposed to assist Ray in Paris?

"I appreciate your excitement, luv. But if you are looking for your man, he's still in Paris. I just came back for an urgent matter." He raised one brow with a hint of impishness before he started the engine of his car.

When I didn't reply him, he glanced at me and let out a lazy smirk. "Aw, don't make that face, Mia. I'm offended that you are not happy to see me."

"Obviously," My reply was immediate as I rolled my eyes.

It had always been like this with Lorenzo. I couldn't help but be sarcastic whenever he was around. Probably it had to do with him being the lady-killer of the town, or he seemed insincere in every way, to me at least.

I never really liked him as Ray's manager in the first place. He was a responsible manager, I would give him that, but there was something about him that gave out a sign of warning, like he was a cloaked figure with a whole bunch of impending secrets. 

"You were going to your workplace, right? I will drive you." Lorenzo was about to pull out from the parking lot, but I quickly stopped him.

"No, it's okay. I can drive." I smiled at him, attempting on showing him that I was fine now.

Without waiting for his reply, I opened the car door, but only to be greeted by the sound of the car being locked. I snapped my head to Lorenzo and furrowed my brows in disapproval.

"Sure, who are you kidding?" He snickered with a wide smirk.

"I can manage, Lorenzo. Thanks for the concern by the way." I emphasized as I feigned a smile towards him.

"Did Ray know that you keep having flashbacks from your past?"

Lorenzo's inquiry caught me off guard for a moment. I dropped my smile as I couldn't find the relation between my boyfriend and my refusal on his ride.

"No, he didn't," I answered him anyway. Ray did not know that the flashbacks had become so frequent now. When I saw a meaningful grin slowly spread on his face, the bulb in my brain suddenly lighted up with an answer. 

"Did you just threaten me in your most subtle way, Mr. Malarkey?" I crossed my arms as I eyed him in full of seriousness, but also with a tinge of confusion.

It wasn't about how Lorenzo had learned about my amnesia because the obvious answer would be Ray. They had been best buddies for the past four years I had known them, so I couldn't really be mad if Ray decided to inform Lorenzo about my disorder. After all, best friends shared secrets with each other, right?

At this point, I was just confused why Lorenzo had to threaten me that he would tell Ray about my flashbacks so just that he could drive me to work. It was strange to see him suddenly looked so authentically concerned about my condition.

"Well, you can say that." He shrugged off innocently and finally pulled out from the parking lot.

"Seriously, Lorenzo?" I gave him a stare.

"I just witnessed how you almost fainted just now, Mia. And I'm also aware that letting you drive alone will only put your life at risk. I know this might sound funny, but as your boyfriend's manager, I actually care about you too." Lorenzo slightly turned to look at me, his dark eyes surprisingly shone with sincerity, as though he meant every word he said. 

"Yeah, it does sound funny." I retorted emotionlessly, and this time I saw Lorenzo looked away in defeat. I almost could hear his expression sighed out a 'I'm so done with this cold-hearted girl.'

"I just picked up a package from Peter." Lorenzo handed me a wrapped gift box.

I looked at the box with no interest because it seemed like I already got used to receiving a package from the boys after I had spent the day with them. I opened it and instantly I laughed out loud when I saw a light blue horse stuffed doll.

Ignoring Lorenzo who looked quite surprised with my outburst, I wiped my tears off and examined the stuffed doll that looked exactly like Hoseok oppa. For no reason, it just felt hilarious to look at the doll.

Then I saw a picture inside the box too. I picked it up and suddenly didn't know how to react when I saw myself and Hoseok were smiling happily in the picture as we wrapped a hand around each other's waist. We looked like we were best friends as we were holding onto this yellow crown light stick. Were we in a concert?

I turned the picture around and saw bold letters were written on the back.

'It's hard to be the one who stays. But you have proven to me it isn't about the matter of time, it's about the person that we are waiting for, whether they are worth the wait, or not. The wait was totally worth it, and because of you, I didn't miss the chance to see my noona again. Thank you, Jinhee.'

As usual, those meaningful words would leave me in wonder. I pressed my lips into a thin line and ignored the curiosity because I didn't want to go through another painful flashback.

"Are those flowers from the same person too?" I asked Lorenzo as I noticed a bouquet of Orchids in the backseat.

Upon hearing my inquiry, Lorenzo tightened his grip on the steering wheel professionally, while the other hand he reached out to the backseat to grab the bouquet and handed it to me.

"It's from Ray," He said with that meaningful smile of his again.

I didn't say anything as I just looked at the beautiful bouquet in silence. Sometimes, I couldn't understand why he was willing to replace Ray in doing these little things for me. And why couldn't Ray understand when he asked Lorenzo to do all these sweet gestures for me, it actually didn't mean anything unless he did it himself.

"Oh, speak of the devil, he's calling." I heard Lorenzo's phone rung in the car. He then swiftly pulled over to the curbside and answered the video call.

"Dude, where's my girl?"

That sweet voice that I truly recognized instantly sent a smile lighting up on my face.

"Hello to you too, mate." Lorenzo drawled out teasingly as he still refused to show my appearance in the video call.

"Get lost, bastard. Where's Mia?"

I burst into laughter at Ray's usual impatience. Lorenzo rolled his eyes dramatically before he passed his phone to me.

"Hi, boyfriend." I greeted Ray with a simple smile. But I felt my cheeks heated up a little when I saw that he was partially naked, showing off his chocolate abs.

"Mia, I missed you." Ray didn't waste any time to confess out his sad longing. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't pick up your call or reply to any of your texts. This runway is literally killing me."

He let out a deep sigh and pouted a little. It was cute to hear him whining out. And I knew he wouldn't show this side of him to just anyone. It was just me, and probably Lorenzo.

"It's okay, Ray. As long as you are having fun." I assured him with another warm smile.

Through the video call, even though Ray looked worn out with his little dark circles under his eyes, but his charming smile on his face told me otherwise. It was after all a job that he truly loved, and I was sure that he enjoyed the tiredness as well. 

"Did you get the flowers?" Ray asked as he leaned his head back on the couch and let out a wide grin. I nodded and showed him the Orchids.

"Thank you, Ray," I slowly let out a meaningful smile at him. "'I will always love you', right?" I asked him as I knew the exact meaning of the flowers.

Ray looked like he was momentarily surprised before he let out a deep chuckle.

"Yes. It's always you, baby girl." He leaned his head on his propped up hand and slowly smiled at me.

"Hey Ray, could you help me zip this up?"

A husky voice intruded our video call, and my smile vanished almost promptly. Then I saw a tall blonde girl showed her bare back towards Ray, asking him if he could help with the back zip of her glittering dress.

"Sure. Um, Mia, I gotta go now. I will call you again."

Before I could say anything, Ray gave me a sad smile and ended the call. There was an abrupt silence in the car as I saw Lorenzo gave me a calculated look.

On the other hand, I felt a strange sensation creeping into my heart, it was almost threatening and dangerous that subconsciously I balled my fists to suppress the intense feelings. This hard pounding against my chest, was it anger?

"Hey... You okay?" Lorenzo asked as he looked at me worriedly.

I pushed my hair back in irritation, while the other hand I returned Lorenzo's phone to him before it became a victim of my pent-up fury.

"Don't say anything," I muttered in an attempt calm and fixed my gaze on the window. The Orchids was now left abandoned on my lap.

"I will just drop you off at your workplace. No words until then." He gladly conceded and the car was once again in filled with dead silence.

___________

I couldn't focus on my work at all. I had made too many mistakes that I noticed Lola and Esra had been planting their worried gazes on my back. Even though I tried my best to focus on my task, but the image of naked Ray and that tall model blonde girl just beat me right to it.

What was even more frustrated, I still couldn't figure out what was these strange feelings that kept pricking at my heart and slowly undermined my self-defense. I felt truly bothered and confused.

But these strong feelings, for some reason, it looked familiar. As though I had seen people around me wore this frustrated and surly expression just like mine.

Then it slowly hit me.

Ivy's sullen expression when she saw me and Ray flirting in the office. And... Taehyung's pained expression when he witnessed me and Ray at Billboard.

I let out a scoff. Don't tell me... this is jealousy? I didn't know that jealousy could be so painful and torturing that for a second there, I thought I was capable of killing a person off for touching my boyfriend.

Oh God, what's happening to you, Mia? You are not killing anyone because of this stupid jealousy. Let's take a deep breath and not think too much about it.

Upon declaring that in my head, I was startled when I heard something broke and shattered to the ground. Did I manifest too much animosity into my being that I could literally hear my heart breaking into thousand pieces?

"Um, I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

I turned around and the broken dinner plate on the floor came into my view. I looked up and saw a guy at the table was bowing apologetically at me. He was wearing a black beanie over his head, a red and black checkered cardigan on top of a white tee.

But then when his lips slowly spread into an awkward smile, I noticed something familiar about him.

It was the dimple guy.

K i m  N a m j o o n

"Sir, it's okay. I will clean it up." Jinhee rushed towards me to stop me from picking up the broken pieces of the porcelain plate.

But it was a second late because I saw my fingers bleed when I retracted my hand from the sharp pieces. For a moment, I didn't even know what I was doing. I was still appalled by the fact that I was seeing Jinhee for real. When she started talking to me with her genuine brown eyes, I just knew it was really her.

"Jinhee, it's good to see you again," I told her and smiled widely at her in excitement. I couldn't seem to control my expression anymore. I was really happy and glad to finally see her again.

Still looking bewildered by my bleeding hand, Jinhee looked up at me, her eyes glinted with worries.

"What are you talking about? It's not good when you just injured yourself!" Jinhee scolded me with knotted brows, looking troubled by the situation that I have caused. She then took a clean napkin and wrapped it around my finger to stop the bleeding.

I slowly dropped my gaze in guilt. Somehow I hated myself for always causing troubles to people that I loved. I just came here to see Jinhee quietly from afar, but who knew it would come down to this?

But deep down, I couldn't really say that I regretted coming to this cafe. Because witnessing Jinhee panicked over my little wound would be the perfect cure after four years of believing that she had really disappeared from our life.

"Oh my goodness! Rapmon, what's happening to you?" That motherly voice that I recognized as the boss of the cafe greeted my ears, and I subconsciously let out a sheepish smile at her.

"Hi, Lola. I'd say that it's nice to see you again, but I'm really sorry. I broke one of your precious plates." I motioned to her broken plate, and instinctively my uninjured hand went around to scratch the back of my neck in embarrassment.

"Don't be silly, Rapmon. It's just a plate. Mia, could you help him with his wound?" Lola kindly helped me up, but her eyes still looking at me worriedly.

Lola was really a nice person with full of warmth. So lovely and affectionate. It wouldn't be a surprise to know that her customers stayed loyal to her cafe not only because of the delicious foods, but also for her admirable and pleasant personalities.

"Sure, Lola. Come on, I will treat your wound in the locker room." Jinhee replied to her boss with a kind smile and aided me to the room she mentioned.

"And Mia?" Lola called her with that strange name again.

"Yes, Lola?"

"After you have treated his wound, I think you can get off from work. Take a rest, okay sweetie?" Lola said and beamed her bright smile afterward.

There was a moment of Jinhee looking at her boss in slight surprise before her lips slowly drawn into a grateful smile.

"Thank you, Lola."

Lola winked at her and proceeded with assisting her customers.

In the locker room, Jinhee and I stayed in a momentary silence as I watched her dressing up my wound. It felt nostalgic to watch her treating my wound because four years ago, she had been doing this for God knows how many times because I kept being clumsy and unintentionally hurt myself.

"BTS's leader, Kim Namjoon-ssi, right?" Jinhee glanced at me once she had clipped the gauze together.

I was taken aback for a second because I didn't expect for her to know my name. From what I have heard from the other boys, she seemed to not have any knowledge on them.

"Just Namjoon, Jinhee." I corrected her formality when it sounded strange in my ears.

Yesterday Hoseok had told me the struggle that he had went through just so Jinhee would start calling him 'oppa' again. Now I could really understand how uncomfortable it was when Jinhee began to address us so formally.

Over the past years, I had been wondering why Jinhee had never called me 'oppa' and why I was totally okay with that either. In the most silent night, I'd ponder a lot in my studio and I think it was two years ago I finally got the answer to my wonders.

Because Jinhee took care of me really well. How do I explain this? In her eyes, she probably didn't see me as a big brother. Instead, she saw the child side of me. I remembered back then if I ever made a mistake or hurt myself again, she would always say...

"Aigoo, our leader-nim."

I had always loved to hear that from her, for no particular reason. It felt like she understood me in a way that no one could. Like how she'd always prepared chopsticks for me whenever I accidentally broke them. Like how she'd always had a fast reflect and caught any figurines collection of mine from falling whenever I bumped into them.

Jinhee protected those things that I loved before I broke them. And for the whole time she wasn't with us, one by one, everything began to fall and shatter into messy pieces. There were countless of broken KAWS figurines in my room, broken facilities in the dorm, and...

Broken hearts of my team.

"Thanks a lot for this." I showed her my now mummy-wrap finger and smiled at her.

"No big deal, leader-nim." Jinhee let out a soft chuckle as she closed the first-aid kit and put it back to the original place.

"How do you know my name, by the way?" I asked her, propping up one hand to support my chin.

"Are you kidding me? Who wouldn't know the dimple guy who gave the speech on Billboard? Everyone has been talking about you, Namjoon. The hot dimple guy." She told me with a teasing smile, while I laughed at hearing her labeling me as a hot guy.

"The hot dimple guy, huh?" I chuckled and shook my head in disbelief at how everything had been going perfectly well lately. It still felt like I was over the moon. Winning an award at Billboard, and... seeing the real Jinhee right in front of me. How amazing was that?

"This city is amazing. I love it here."

"New York has been pretty much crazy and hectic. After all, it's the city with the hottest gossips, the flamboyance fashions, the grandiose buildings–"

"Not to forget the amazing artists too," I cut in, and Jinhee nodded at me in agreement. "Shall we hang out together today? I'm planning to meet a great artist." I casually invited her and perked up my brows at her, waiting for her response.

"I don't mind hanging out with you. But somehow I had a feeling that you won't tell me where we would be going, right?" Jinhee took off her pastel pink apron and glanced at me with a knowing smile.

I stood up and shrugged my shoulders. "Well, curiosity killed the cat," And slowly I let out a mysterious smile. "But in your case, curiosity killed the little bunny. Get changed, I will wait for you outside."

I sent her a cheeky wink and heard her small laughter before I walked out of the locker room.

___________

"So, yesterday Hoseok taught me on tango dance. I wonder what I would learn today." I heard Jinhee voicing out her inner thoughts as we were walking side by side down the street.

I have to admit that her fashion seemed to be so different now. With a green bomber jacket and black tee, and a black choker around her neck, her new fashion screamed out 'I'm a badass girl. Don't mess with me'.

Deep down inside, I was worried for Taehyung. It was hard enough for him to live through the four years without Jinhee. Now that he finally found her, and the cruel fate decided to torture him with Jinhee and her amnesia. When would this misery end by the way? Give us a break already.

"I'd say something that you weren't really good at doing, but you'd color me impressed with yesterday's performance. So, I might have changed my mind." I looked at her and let out a proud smile.

Even now, I still remembered the palpable astonishment when I watched the perfect sync of Jinhee's and Hoseok's dance moves yesterday. They even left the audience speechless, and that would include me. Now that she danced better than me and Jin hyung, where does that leave us?

"Wait, you were at the party last night?" Jinhee stopped walking and turned to look at me quite taken aback.

"Yeah. I finally got the chance to meet Keone and Mari in person. They were so amazing last night." I shoved my hands in my pocket and smiled widely when I recalled the event last night.

But when Jinhee didn't move an inch from her place, her distracted expression told me something else. A meaningful smile slowly spread on my face as I watched her silently pondered on something. Something that everyone could figure out pretty easily.

"He was there." I simply told her and tilted my head, smirking.

A seam formed on her forehead when she heard me. She clutched onto her chest and an unwelcome blush crept into her cheeks. But knowing that I was still there, she tried to conceal her bewilderment and pretended that nothing had affected her. When clearly, her action stated otherwise.

"What do you mean by that?" Jinhee asked and fixed the strap of her bag to cover up her embarrassment.

I couldn't help but laugh out in amusement at her failed attempt of nonchalant. "Your expression is asking about Taehyung, Jinhee."

"No, I did not."

"Sure." I drawled out with a teasing smile. Jinhee rolled her eyes and refused to talk to me afterward.

After fifteen minutes of walking, we finally reached The Magic Shop recording studio. I rubbed my sweaty palms in nervousness as I was a minute away to meet the said great artist that I have mentioned to Jinhee. While Jinhee just innocently watched me and giving me a strange look.

"Hey Steve! What's up?" I smiled so wide that I thought my lips might break because of too much excitement.

"RM! It's good to see you!" Steve Aoki, the American musician and DJ, and was probably in the same age as my uncle, greeted me with such a delighted smile as we shook hands and bumped our shoulders as if we have been brothers for so long.

"Me too. I saw your music video. It was super dope." I gave him a thumbs up on his recent music video released with One Direction's Louis Tomlinson.

"Ahaha thanks man. And this is?" Steve let out a laid-back laugh and welcomed Jinhee with a bright smile.

"Oh my bad. This is Jinhee. A close friend of mine." I introduced Jinhee as I slung an arm over her shoulder casually.

Jinhee looked at me, and there was a moment of hesitation before she turned to Steve and slowly gave him a friendly smile. It looked sincere to me, at least. "Nice to meet you, Steve."

"Me too. Nice hair color you got there." Steve complimented her new hair color and Jinhee's smile stretched even wider. Of course, her unicorn hair color had been attracting so much attention on the street as well.

"Thanks," She chuckled out in slight embarrassment. "I think it was two months ago? I went to the Miami music festival, and I really enjoyed your concert."

"Thanks, girl. You're so cool." Steve patted her shoulder and we began to engage in casual conversation.

Jinhee said she had met Steve for a few times in music awards and I only learned that she had once worked as Ivy Quinn's personal stylist. Her working life in New York was quite a shocking news for me because I didn't expect to hear her very experience working as a stylist. What can I say? The last time I saw her, she was still in our school uniform. Four years had indeed changed everything.

Steve then took out his laptop and let us hear some great piece of music that he had created. It was really an enjoyable moment as the three of us couldn't stop but grooving and bobbing our heads to the extravagantly syncopated flexible rhythm that was mixed against a fixed metrical beat.

I was really impressed with his music style. And eventually, I found myself kept elaborating on the concept until both of us came to the same agreement. Steve was so cool. That four words was enough to describe the very talented producer and DJ. He had shown me something that I had never seen before and it was truly new and fresh to my experience as a record producer.

"I'm sorry to ruin the fun, man. But I gotta go to the other meeting." Steve stood up and hugged me with an apologetic smile.

"Nah, it's okay. It was great hanging out with you, brother." I assured him with a grateful smile. It seemed that I have been smiling for the entire two hours of meeting him and my jaw started to hurt.

"I will come to visit you guys in Korea next week so that I can meet Hitman to discuss about the production, alright?" Steve gave me a thumbs up and I gave him a firm nod.

"Yeah, that sounds great."

"It's nice making music with you. And Jinhee, thank you for joining us today." Steve sent her a warm uncle smile.

Jinhee nodded at him and flashed her sweet smile. "Can't wait for the remix. See you again, Steve."

With that, Steve left the recording studio, leaving Jinhee and me in a comfortable silence as we exchanged a look and giggled at each other after the incredible moment with the great artist.

"Wow. The lyrics are so cool. Especially this part 'Baby watch your mouth, it come back around'. It's hella sexy. Did you write this part?" Jinhee traced the lyrics on my notebook as she was sitting next to me on the swivel black chair.

"I did. But Tayla, our boss, Hoseok, Supreme Boii and PDogg had also helped me out with the lyrics. We shared our opinions and then chose the best one. That's usually how the lyrics were decided." I clarified as I remembered how the lyrics kept on changing as we held a meeting with the songwriters and the producers.

Jinhee was smiling so broadly as she read the lyrics, her brown eyes glinted in excitement and anticipation. "I love the remix preview from Steve too. It's officially done. You guys are going to blow up the Billboard's chart for sure."

"Let's not hope too much, shall we?" I chuckled and shook my head. Even though the thought of seeing this remix hit the chart was pleasant, but sometimes I just had to consider the opposite result too, so that the expectation wouldn't hurt that bad. 

No matter how high the success that we have achieved, at some point in life, we would eventually get tired and crumble down too. We can never remain on top forever. I believed that our fame would someday fade away.

And when that happens, I'd like to believe in our fans. I hope they would always stay by our side. I hope they would keep supporting us until our last moment. After all, we had received so many awards because of our lovely fans. Our Army made everything possible and I was really grateful for everything that they have done for us.

"Why not? Trust me, everything's going to turn out amazing, Namjoon. I saw how you have been working with Steve just now. The burning passion in your eyes, it told me that you will achieve a massive success with this remix." Jinhee looked straight at me, her brown eyes shone with much sincerity as she smiled confidently at me.

I stared at her so long, and I felt my heart began to pick up its pace. Kim Jinhee was the other person on this earth that I was truly grateful for. I swear it had been so long since I last heard Jinhee's motivational speech. The last time I remembered, it was during the second night of our survival audition.

She had always trusted me even though I don't trust myself. Whenever I felt like giving up, she would always be right there, encouraging me. She didn't push me from behind, she didn't put the pressure on me, but she silently supported me. She would gently pat my back and waited until I was fully ready again to face the cruel world.

By that time I was ready for my fight with the boys, she would let out a proud smile and said 'I believe in you, Namjoon. I know you can do this.' I couldn't be more thankful to have her in our life. Where can I meet a girl like her?

"Hey Jinhee, do you want to try rapping?" I suggested and turned to look at her. That was what I planned with the thought of bringing her to the recording studio.

Even though I still remembered vividly how she once rapped to console me in the park four years ago, I thought it would be fun to hear her rapping again.

Jinhee looked at me with widened eyes. She gave me the look as if I had gone crazy. "What? Absolutely not." She emphasized and shook her head in quick rejection.

"C'mon, give it a try. Have you listen to any rap songs?" I tried to cajole her so that she would agree on this.

"Yeah. It's your song 'Cypher 3: Killer'."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise, but slowly I smiled at her while rubbing my lips in anticipation. "That's unexpected. So tell me, which part have you tried rapping to?"

"Um, I think it's Min Yoongi's part?"

I chuckled. Then I grabbed her hand and led her to the recording room. "Okay, go in there and show me what you got."

"What? Namjoon, I can't rap!" She resisted and even tried to escape but I closed the door and broke her escapism.

"You won't know unless you give it a try, little bunny." I let out a playful smile, while Jinhee rolled her eyes at me and threw her hands up in defeat.

I told the recording engineer to play Cypher 3 and saw Jinhee already put the headphone over her head. When the music was turned on, I tried my best to chew my smile when I saw Jinhee started bobbing her head in excitement. I knew very well that no one could resist the powerful beat of our Cypher 3.

"Joshua, please try your best to hold your laughter in. I want to keep this masterpiece no matter what." Joshua was the engineer and he nodded his head with a small smile.

When Yoongi hyung's part began to roll in, Jinhee started rapping her heart out as she was totally immersed into the music. I cupped my mouth as I watched her in the recording room, giving her all, but I couldn't stifle my laugh anymore when Jinhee took a sharp intake of breath and it was recorded also.

I squatted down and laughed out loud while Joshua was shaking in the chair, our laughter filled in the room, and of course, Jinhee was unaware of that because the wall was soundproof.

I guess no matter how many years have passed, some things would never change.

__________

"Great, now you are laughing. I told you I suck at rapping." Jinhee crossed her arms and walked ahead of me in fast pace.

I let out the leftover laughter, yet I grabbed onto her arm and gave her a goofy smile. "Come on, babe. Don't be mad. How about we grab some churros? It's on me." I pointed to the churros stall near us.

Jinhee dropped her arms to the side and pursed her lips in consideration. "How can I resist that? You are not fair." She sighed in defeat, yet let out a wide smile at me.

We ordered the churros and found ourselves seated comfortably on the stairs in front of the tall building of Rockefeller Center. The tall building was glittering in white against the dark night sky. For a moment, I was mesmerized by the view as I marveled upon the tall building. The stairs were also decorated with night light so that the place wouldn't appear so dark in the night.

"Wow. So you get to see this magnificent view every day?" I let out a low whistle and Jinhee laughed at seeing the awe on my face.

"Pretty much, especially from the penthouse." She smiled and enjoyed her churros that was wrapped in melted chocolate.

Without realizing, a bitter smile slowly tugged on my lips. I bet she meant the penthouse that she was living with her boyfriend right now. After what happened in the bar on the Billboard night, we had tried every way to reach out to Jinhee. But we could only get the details of Ray Carlton. And later, we found out that Jinhee lived under the same residence too.

There were so many questions that I wanted to ask her. But I didn't know where to begin, and if she was willing to give me the answers. I didn't know what Jinhee was thinking, but she didn't seem like she was fighting against her real identity anymore. Has she started to open up to us and slowly letting us in? Or she only did that so that in the end, she would push us away again?

I didn't mention about this. But when Jinhee wasn't by my side for the past years, it had also led to a broken relationship with... Soojung. I hated to admit it, but God knows why, Soojung and I would always bicker over small things. In the past, Jinhee would always be the referee to point out our mistakes.

Soojung would tend to act aggressively when I made a stupid mistake, and Jinhee would be there to mend the wounds (mean words) from Soojung. It was actually quite hilarious. But since I had acknowledged how women tend to be dramatic over everything (rolls eyes), I began to give in and accept Soojung just the way she was.

Sometimes, Jin hyung and I would always reminisce on the memories of Jinhee, like how she blended well either with the maknae line, or the hyung line, and the overprotective side of her as she warned the both of us not to hurt her best friends.

"Take care of my girls well, guys. If you guys ever hurt them, I will hunt you down even in your grave."

With those words in mind, I would push my ego away and take the first initiative to apologize to Soojung.

But somehow it had reached a point where Soojung and I thought everything couldn't work out well anymore. For the whole four years of Jinhee wasn't with us, we fought so frequently. And that caused us to seek for our own space. We have our own bubbles now, and we didn't have the intention to poke into each other's bubble anymore.

But even though we have distanced ourselves, I couldn't bear the thought of seeing her hurt. So, at this very moment, I couldn't let Soojung meet Jinhee. It would only hurt the both of them. It was already hard enough for us to accept that fact that Jinhee had lost her memory, I couldn't imagine how Soojung would handle this painful fact. She would probably bawl her eyes out while forcing me to tell her it wasn't true.

"Is 'bunny' her nickname?" Jinhee's voice snapped me out of my deep thought.

"Huh?"

"I mean... Jinhee. You guys keep calling me 'bunny'. Was that a nickname you guys gave her in the past?" She repeated, but she didn't look at me. She just stared blankly at the beautiful view of night.

"Yeah. She used to be our manager in high school," I answered her and propped my hands behind me. "And she would be running around, whether to buy our snacks or chasing the playful boys around. That side of her was kinda cute. So eventually everyone started calling her our 'little bunny'."

I smiled as I mentally added another trait that I loved about Jinhee in my mind. The understanding side of her. I had always thought Jinhee and I had some sort of connection. Or maybe she could relate my feelings to her very well, because she was just like me, a rebellion. After all, both of us were once a runaway teen from our elite family. 

"You are the missing piece of us, Jinhee." I finally breathed out and looked at Jinhee earnestly.

For a brief moment, Jinhee was surprised to hear the sudden confession from me, but from a blank expression, now her face turned serious.

"After you left, you also took a part of us with you. No one really notices, but Bangtan Boys is actually crumbling down. We feel incomplete without you." I took all the courage to continue each word heavily.

But Jinhee only honored me with her silence, and I felt a pang of hurt when she looked away from me.

"Jinhee, come back to us. Bangtan Boys needs you." I reached out my hand and wrapped her small ones around mine.

I heard Jinhee let out a silent sigh, and the troubled look on her face told me that she didn't have the intention to open her mouth, probably because she was afraid that her words would only hurt me.

"You might not remember this, Jinhee. But you once told me that what's waiting ahead is better than to just admit defeat. So in this case of having you back in our life, is a chance that we will never ever let go." I told her those words sincerely from the bottom of my heart and gave a gentle squeeze on her hand.

With a warm smile slowly spread across my face, I looked at Jinhee for one last time and whispered in the silent night...

"Thank you for spending the day with me, Jinhee. You are still amazing as ever. Goodnight."

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

Writing this chapter just made me fall in love with Kim Namjoon. Or was I the only one?

I was quite disappointed that not many leave a feedback on Hoseok's chapter. I'm not sure whether the chapter was boring, or was it because we are now moving onto the hyung line?

Tap the star and thank you for reading, lovelies. I hope to receive a good feedback on this chapter.
🌹

Much love,
ℓynie

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T E A S E R

"Take all the time that you need to heal, Jinhee. We have waited for four years, and we can wait longer, however long it takes."