Chapter 20; Frabjous Day, Frabjous Surprises.

It was, once again, the harsh reality.

───── ❝ m.yg. ❞ ───── 

Yoongi had just returned home. He plonked down onto his couch throwing his backpack somewhere on the floor. Then he remember about Haru's present and decided to check it out, he chuckled as he pulled out the box, thinking that this was very cute of her.

It made him feel bad since he had ordered her something, but it hadn't arrived yet. He just hoped it would arrive sometime today. 

When he opened the box, he saw a perfectly-folded paper and ten chocolates beneath it. Yoongi smiled and ate a chocolate humming at how good it was before putting the rest away. He didn't want to ruin his appetite for tonight since he'd be going out with his girlfriend. 

After putting the chocolates into the fridge, the man sat back down, opening up the paper. He grinned at the sight of Haru's messy cursive handwriting. 

Dear, Lil' Meow Meow,

I know there have been some tensions recently, that we might've been a bit distant. But we are still us. You're still my number one, and hopefully, I am still your number one. Honestly, it felt great to make up with Haneul.

I couldn't really sleep last night because of a nightmare, so I made you and Jimin these chocolates, I hope they're good, or at least decent. Sorry if they are not up to your standard, Chef Min. 

I know you hate Nutella, so I only gave you the chocolates with the white and milk chocolate filling. And although you're a fucking weirdie for hating Nutella, I still love you.

With lots, lots, lots, lots of love, Ms Nuisance.

Yoongi closed the letter, placing it onto his table coffee before cracking a loud laugh. He thought that the letter was lovely, and his heart kind of broke when he heard about his friend having another nightmare. He just hoped that she'd have fun tonight with Jimin. 

Jimin...

After yesterday, Yoongi was really growing fond of the guy. 

...

Yoongi adjusted his tie, smiled at himself in the mirror and decided that he was ready. He walked into the parking lot and took a seat in his car.

Soon, he found himself in the middle of the road, stuck in traffic as usual. To his luck, he had decided to leave forty minutes early when the restaurant was only twenty-two-ish minutes away from his house.

All of a sudden—yet not really because it was almost predicted by Yoongi—it began pouring. 

Yoongi tapped his index finger to some adagio romantic song on the radio against the steering wheel as he looked out of the window. This thing, that he and Haneul were meant to meet under the rain most times, sounded like a cheesy K-drama B-plot.

After his boring drive, he had made it to Haneul's apartment although they planned to meet at the restaurant. Of course, Yoongi had to stop by to purchase Mrs Shim's flowers. He parked his car right in front of the shop, hoping not to bump into Haneul. 

'Yoongi-ah!' Mrs Shim exclaimed happily as she noticed him entering the store. 'You're looking very handsome in this dress shirt and tie. And oh my Gosh, what a nice hairstyle! You remind me of my husband when he used to be younger and work at the office of some company.'

'Thank you, Mrs Shim.' Yoongi glanced down shyly. 

 'You're here to buy your girlfriend some flowers on Valentine's day, aren't you?' she asked knowingly.

'Of course! I would like a massive bouquet of red roses, and could you please add a few white roses here and there mixed into them?'

Mrs Shim nodded and instantly got to work as Yoongi followed her around the shop like a lost kiddo. 'Um, I wanted to ask if it was possible to request a flower delivery?' 

'It sure is!' Mrs Shim looked up at him with a smile as she started wrapping up the red roses into a beautiful black paper. 

'Well, could I ask you to deliver some flowers to my friend tonight?' 

'Of course, sweety!' Mrs Shim grabbed a white paper and a pen, 'Please write down the address, and if you want to put a note in there, we can do that too. What flowers would you like, son?'

Yoongi was then, as he wrote down Haru's address, in conflict. If he also gave Haru red roses, it would be kind of weird although those were her favourite flowers. So he decided to ask Mrs Shim for some help.

'Um, I'm kind of struggling because you see, my friend also loves red roses, but it'd be kind of weird to give her the same flowers as my girlfriend. So I am really unsure of what I should do.'

'Ah, I see! You could send her some yellow roses since they signify friendship,' suggested the old woman who was finalising Haneul's bouquet.

'Sure, that's great!' Yoongi said as he finished writing the details on the paper, sliding it back to the florist. 'You can send them any time before, um, I think before nine p.m.?'

'Yes, that works, son. I'll have this kid that helps us with delivery give you a hand.' Mrs Shim turned her body towards a white door on the left side of the cash counter that was never quite opened and yelled, 'Hyung-ah! Come here, please, will ya?'

'Yes, Ma'am,' a guy, who seemed to be slightly younger than Yoongi, yelled back. He ran out of the door, wiping his hands with a cloth as sweat dripped down his forehead. 'Sorry, I was just rearranging all the flowers in the storage.'

'No, it's okay, Hyun. Could you do me a favour and deliver a bouquet of yellow roses before nine tonight?' Mrs Shim asked and passed him the paper. 

The light-brown-haired tall guy bowed, his bangs getting into his eyes. He accepted the paper and disappeared back into the room where he had come from. 

'Who's the kiddo?' Yoongi inquired as he leaned against the counter only to receive a flick in the forehead from the florist. 

'Kiddo? You're about the same age!' she scoffed, 'He just comes to help out on weekends and holidays. He's a nice guy. I feel bad for being unable to give him a decent salary.'

'I am sure that he's okay with his pay since he's still working here.' Yoongi smiled, taking out 100,000 won and handing them to Mrs Shim before receiving the flowers. 'Thank you so much! Happy Valentine's Day!' he waved at Mrs Shim, she waved back and Yoongi quickly exited the shop. 

'Gi-ah, what are you doing here?' he heard that sweet, feminine voice brimmed with confusion and froze in his spot. Fuck, thought Yoongi.

'Ugh, Haneul! I wanted to make this a surprise but I guess it didn't work out...' he sighed as he turned around to face his smiling girlfriend. She looked stunning today, as always. 

Haneul laughed, her usual bright red lipstick making her face glow even more. Her outfit made Yoongi's jaw drop. 

A long-sleeved, burgundy wrap dress reached all the way to her ankles. Haneul wasn't as bad as Haru when it came to colours, she could wear things other than black once in a while. He noticed that she was also wearing the golden earrings that he had gifted her last year for her birthday. 

'You look amazing!' Yoongi chirruped, uncomfortably grabbing her hand as he lead her to his car so that he could put the huge bouquet down. 'Wow, wow, wow! You even wore the earrings I gave you.'

Yoongi's gummy smile appeared as he snuck his hand around Haneul's waist, using his other hand to brush it against her cheek. Haneul demurely stared back up at him through her eyelashes coated with thick black mascara. 

'It's okay, I still appreciate it!' she suddenly spoke up, wrapping her hands around Yoongi's midriff, pressing the side of her face into his chest. 'And you look great too, you look like a high school heartthrob. But more realistically, a university heartthrob.'

They both guffawed and decided to finally make their way to the restaurant. The ride was calm without too many words being exchanged as various chill, antediluvian songs spoke in the couple's stead.

When they were still in the car, after a few quiet minutes, Haneul placed her elbow against the door. 'Why do you think it always when we're going somewhere together? Or when we just are together? Is that a weird coincidence all the time, or is it a bad thing?'

Yoongi briefly turned to scan Haneul who was still gazing out of the window. 'Why does it need to be a coincidence or a bad thing?' he smiled, making Haneul turn to look at him curiously.

'You see, it's like a constant reminder of the first day, or well, should I say "night" that we met? Anyway, it doesn't need to be something that we need to think or worry about. Plus, rainy days are beautiful. They gave us so many memories, why should we throw them into a negative light?'

Haneul could have started a whole 'negative' conversation on how she was left alone so many times on rainy days because of Haru and whatnot. She could have complained and argued. But she didn't. There were so many things she could have said, but she didn't.

Haneul, instead, just smiled and reached to put her hand over Yoongi's. 'Thank you, Gi-ah.'

'For what?' 

'It's cliché but... for everything.'

'It's cliché but... your welcome.'

They both grinned ear to ear, their hearts beating in synch with some upbeat song blasting from the radio. And ere they were aware of it, the pleasant ride was over and they had made it to 'Seoul Sushi'. A name as original as the occurrence of memory loss in K-dramas.

'The name isn't great, but the food surely is,' said Yoongi as he grabbed Haneul's hand walking up to the restaurant, knowing that it'd be a great night. Or at least, he thought so.

───── ❝ do haru ❞ ─────

Haru was in a huge, huge dilemma. She couldn't decide on what to wear. After a whole ten minutes of looking through her closet, nothing felt right for tonight's date until her eyes landed on a very nice-looking shirt. But there was a problem... it was not black.

Haru contemplated it for a couple of seconds. A surplice white top that she could've easily matched with some black bootcut jeans, or really, any pants. But she wondered if wearing something like that would've been too simple for a stake house date.

And to her luck, something suddenly popped up in her head. Last year, Yoongi had convinced her to buy a relatively expensive burgundy, asymmetrical neck, gathered-sleeve jumpsuit. It was perfect. At first sight, she instantly knew that was the perfect clothing item to wear for such an occasion.

However, an unexpected knock on the door thwarted her from picking out her shoes. Haru groaned and opened the door, a gentleman in a typical red uniform smiled at her, passing her a box.

'Valentine's present from Mr Min Yoongi,' Typical Red Uniform Guy said. 

'Ah!' Haru exclaimed both, wittingly and in amazement. 'Ah, I see, thank you so much!' she smiled back, waving at the guy and shutting the door.

The excitement caused her to do a kooky dance with her shoulders as she opened the box. And she was over the moon to figure that it was an elegant pair of black heels. Perfect, she'd wear them tonight. Then, Haru noticed the small card in the corner of the cardboard box.

To Ms Nuisance,

Hope I happened to find shoes that match your fit today. Have fun with lover-boy!

With love, Yoongi.

Simple but cute. 

After dressing up, Haru looked at herself in the mirror with satisfaction as she put on her silver Bajoran earrings. Haru made sure she had everything she needed in her bag and she slipped on a coat before making her way to the stake house. 

A twenty-minute taxi ride later, the sign 'J's Stake House With Soul' shone brightly just above a fancy glass door. Haru almost felt rich as she walked inside, her eyes finding Jimin quickly. He waved at her and she felt like a model walking down the red carpet. 

'Hey, you're looking awesome,' said Jimin as he stood up and helped Haru take off her coat before placing it on her chair. 

Haru scanned Jimin, who was wearing a loose-fitting silk dress shirt matched with some tight black jeans. 'You're looking great yourself,' she replied whilst taking a seat. 

They both looked at the menus and Haru's jaw almost dropped when she saw the absurd prices this restaurant was offering. She wondered what could she have ordered to feel less guilty about the final bill for tonight. 

...

After they had finished dining, having fun and funny conversations all throughout, Jimin drove Haru to her house. As they stood in front of her door, he asked, 'Did you really have fun or was I a little boring?'

'No, no, it was seriously... seriously the best Valentine's Day I have ever spent in this dull life of mine! Thank you so much for everything, Jimin.'

'Hey, no need for formalities. I, um, really like spending time with you, Haru.' Jimin grabbed her hands in his. 'Maybe, if you're ever ready after we spend some more time together, we can get serious...'

'Of course, Jimin. I'd love that.' Haru stepped closer, pressing a kiss onto Jimin's cheek.

Haru's heart was beating so fast, as it always did in his presence, and she just didn't know how to control it. So all she did was close the gap between them and press her lips against his. The kiss was long and quite literally breath-taking. 

'Good night, Haru,' said Jimin as he stepped off the doorstep, walking away into the darkness just like he had done on that one evening Haru and he had aimlessly walked around. 

With a feeling so delightful that a frabjous spring morning couldn't beat, Haru stepped into her apartment. She sighed, placing her hands on her chest in an attempt to calm down her heart.

She turned on the lights, not knowing that her heart wouldn't only calm down soon, indeed, but that it would stop.

Once the living room was illuminated, Haru stepped further into it until she reached the couch. She stared at the gruesome scene before her eyes silently until the situation had been processed and then, she let out a scream so loud it would have been heard all the way to France.  

Haru screamed over and over again. She shrieked in the hopes of bringing back a creature that had been stabbed and tortured to death. She begged for this to be a dream. As if everything could replay ever since she turned the lights on, and that this time, it would have been okay.

But this wasn't a dream.

It was, once again, the harsh reality. And Haru wondered, just why in the fucking hell did it always need to be her to witness such cruel deaths?

'Yoongi...' she whispered to herself, 'Yoongi...' she kept on mumbling until she reached for her phone inside her bag. After dialling his number twice, he finally picked up.

'Hi, Haru! How did your date go? Are you back home yet? Haneul and I are still—'

'Yoongi, please, I beg you. Come to my house.' Haru looked back down onto the floor, starting to tremble. 'P-please, I can't look at this anymore... I can't look at Yeongi's dead body.'

'I'm fucking sprinting over.' 

Then he hung up.

She hugged her knees to her chest in the corner of the room. Too scared to move, too scared to stay completely still. Too scared to be in the light, too scared to be in the darkness. Haru, after tonight's high, was dragged back down as if life was teasing her. She thought everything was going well, but in fact, not.

Sudden banging on the door alerted her. Her chest became tighter and she felt like she couldn't breathe. With only so much reluctance, Haru got up and grabbed a pillow, avoiding looking at the grossness of her cat's murder. 

She pressed her ear against the door, and almost fell backwards when someone started banging on it again.

'Haru! Haru! It's me, Jimin. I heard you scream! Are you okay in there?'

Haru sighed in relief, throwing the pillow away before opening the door.

───── ❝ m.yg. ❞ ─────

'Fuck,' Yoongi groaned as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. 'Haru sounded terrified, I am so sorry, I am afraid I'll have to ruin this night. This time it's very serious, trust me, Neul-ah.' he gave Haneul the most apologetic look, slipping his wallet out before running to the cashier.

When he was finished paying, he returned to the table, grabbed his jacket and as he was about to sprint to his car, Haneul grabbed his wrist. And as much as he expected her to break down and beg him not to leave her, Haneul simply said, 'You're taking me with you. You might need an extra person...'

Yoongi didn't say anything, just nodded, and grabbed her hand properly. The two of them dashed to his car.

After fifteen minutes of driving way over the speed limit, avoiding traffic with all of luck, Yoongi finally managed to frantically park before Haru's apartment. He gulped, gave a Haneul a concerned look and knocked on the door.

As soon as the door was opened, he spoke up, 'What happened—' but he stopped talking when he realised that Jimin was the one to open the door.

Jimin said nothing. He simply moved out of the couple's way, gesturing for them to step further into the apartment. His face was sombre, drained of its usual brightness.

Haneul had never been there, nor had ever met the man who had opened the door for her and her boyfriend, so she cautiously scanned the place. Nonetheless, when she heard Yoongi gasp, she turned her attention to whatever he was looking at.

The shriek she let out was almost as atrocious as Haru's.

A pretty big black cat lay right between the sofa and the coffee table. Beneath him was a river of his own blood that travelled from his stomach all the way to the tip of Haneul's shoes. He had several cuts on his stomach. To make the scene even more gruesome an obvious bit of intestines, although slightly, was visible underneath his dark fur. 

'H-Haru...' Yoongi's eyes met the ones of his best friend's teary and terrified ones. He instantly ran up to her and wrapped his arms around her. 'Did you see who did it???'

'N-no, I just came in and Y-Yeongi... Yeongi was like that.'

Then Haru went into a fit of madness, of pure folly, disbelief and absurdity.

'He can't be dead. He's not dead, right?' she grabbed Yoongi's shoulders. 'That's not Yeongi! Yeongi is peacefully sleeping in my bed! He's sleeping in my bed!' Haru pushed her best friend away, not caring about him tumbling to the floor as she ran to her room.

Haneul ran after Yoongi to try and help him stand. Meanwhile, Jimin ran after Haru, watching her undo her bed, throwing blankets and pillow around. 'Yeongi-ah! Yeongi-ah! I'll give you a treat if you come!'

Once Haru finally realised that Yeongi, her lovely cat, was no more, she fell onto the floor. Tears started pouring like a rainy day. She cried and cried. She yelled and yelled. But Yeongi would never come back.

Maybe to some people going crazy over a cat's death was gormless, but this wasn't just a cat's death. It was Yeongi's murder. And Haru couldn't take it, she wouldn't. 

'I'm calling the motherfucking police,' said Haneul all of a sudden. For the first time, she felt extreme empathy towards her ex-adversary. 

The bell rang before Haneul could dial the number, so Yoongi went ahead and opened the door. His face turned red in embarrassment as a guy with a baseball cap stood at the, holding a huge bouquet of yellow roses. 

'Flower delivery,' said the guy, his voice sounding strange and unnatural for some reason, as if he was trying to make it sound lower than it already was. But no one had the mind or time to care about that.

'Thanks!' Yoongi swiftly grabbed the flowers and shut the door, hoping that the guy from earlier, at the shop, hadn't recognised him. 'I ordered these for Haru earlier today, and they came at a perfect timing...'

Jimin patted Yoongi's shoulder before placing the flowers in the kitchen. And as everyone anxiously waited for the police to arrive once they were finally called, no one noticed Haneul's suspicion. 

↳ TO BE CONTINUED... ❞

Published date: 16/05/2022.

Word count: 3,473.

—jiminandhisjams