Jungkook woke up dazed and slightly concerned about Lalisa's (never-before) good mood. It's clear that she's been up way before he did - did she even sleep last night?? - because on the kitchen counter, she's set up a big breakfast for two.

She said she ordered it so it must've arrived at least twenty minutes before he got up and out to the living room. During breakfast, she smiled and asked him a lot of basic questions that the persona was almost unrecognizable. It's as if she's finally making an effort in getting to know the real him and letting him know more pieces of her.

She told him how she used to love the bus rides to school when she was little, because she could fog her breath onto the window glass and draw whatever she likes. How her mother used to pack her a chicken sandwich in Saran wraps for lunch, and she didn't have the heart to ask for a different lunchbox because the elder thought it's been her favourite. 

She told him about Elandrew...how they have snow 9 months a year and for the rest of the 3, she would wake up hopping to the blinds to see the sun - marking the calendar bittersweetly before she went to sleep as another blue-skied day ended. She has that luminous smile when she told him about a small, hidden waterfall that her father once brought her to. That the water was blue and warm, and there were many singing birds around.

All throughout Lalisa telling him about her childhood, Jungkook just sat there, feeling a little overwhelmed (and not just by the information). I mean...I like when she's smiling at me like that but I also like how she was before... It's confusing, really. His mind can't seem to move on from bits and pieces of their last conversation on the bed last night but he'd still go back to where she started. How she was thrown away...like a trash instead of an actual human. 

It broke his heart hard to hear it and he knew he would have cried even harder if she hadn't let him hold her in his arms. More than ever, he is now determined to show how precious she is despite the cruel beginning. 

He wants to be with her. He wants to protect her. He wants to show her that she deserves only the best things in life...and he wants her to smile and laugh more than she could cuss. He wants to bring her to his parents, and he wants to bring her to the Pincha's ruins. Between that, he wants to go wherever she's going. Whether it's here or the snow in Elandrew...and its 3-months of blue skies. We'll go on a bus ride to the waterfall and she can draw whatever she likes.

Wrapping his arms around her tiny waist from behind on the Ducati, he can't help but tightened his hold, every time he thought about it. The good type of questions...one after another, started invading his mind since they left her apartment. From 'how would she feel if I tell her what I want now?' to 'will she like the sunset as much as I would?', but none that he could asks out loud. 

"You don't mind if we drop by somewhere, do you? Only for a minute or two..." She turned to ask when they're stopped at a traffic light.

His answer of 'I don't mind, Lisa' was quick because why in the world would I mind if I get to spend more seconds with her?? After that, his smile was basically taped along the ride - his heart already blossoming with a field of sunflowers and daisies over the thought that one, Lalisa is now his Lisa...and two, she's finally opening up to the idea of having him around. She even asked for my permission!

Jungkook kept thanking his lucky stars until they slowed down at a housing area in Yeonnam, a town just next to his. She stopped the Ducati and cuts off the engine altogether in front of a gated townhouse, marked with the number '26'. Is she visiting someone? The porch looks clean and its landscape, trimmed. Maybe it's her house? The house she wanted to give to Jisoo? 

He's unsure of whether he could ask because there's no single movement from the girl in front of him. It's like she's thinking (or staring) while being fixed in her seat. About 2 minutes after, the wicket gate opens - with a woman who looks about the age of Jungkook's own mother and a teenage boy coming out. She said her house is empty...so maybe not her house then! Who is she waiting for - 

As soon as the woman turned and found them on the bike, her tracks are halted and her expression hardened. As Lalisa slowly takes off her helmet, Jungkook began feeling worried. Do they know each other - why does the woman look alarmed? Not even a minute passed and suddenly, the woman dragged her teenage boy by the hand and went back inside, closing (and maybe locking) the gate behind.

He felt rather than hear Lalisa's chuckle before she leans the bike on its stand and got off completely. Jungkook trembled in balancing himself before he stuttered, "What - where are you going?"

She didn't answer. She didn't even glance back. Lalisa kept walking straight towards the gate and when she climbed on it to jump into the porch, his earlier non-existent anxiety tripled up within a second.

. . .

Jungkook didn't know why but his first instinct was to call his mother. Trembling, he informed her that,

"Something's about to happen! I don't know if it's good or bad, eomma...but I just want you to know that it's my choice to be here. You have to trust me on that, and no one else. You have to...and you have to come help!"

In between that and giving his location, his mother consistently shouted at him for some context. But of course, Jungkook couldn't give her that because he doesn't even know what's going to happen! He only knows that if he doesn't climb that gate fast and chase after Lalisa to stop her from doing whatever she planned to do, he will definitely see that land of fire in his mind coming to life.

Once he reached the top of the gate, he saw a glimpse of Lalisa entering the house by the front door. Where did she get that metal baseball bat - fuck, you need to jump, Guk!! 

"I don't know you - get out!!" 

He heard the scream just as he gets back to the ground. There's a sharp pain in his knee as it was hit with the concrete upon his not-so-impressive landing, but he couldn't make the time to soothe it. That wasn't Lisa's voice - 

He heard the first harsh sound of hard-hitting, crushing glasses - then,

"Please...please, I don't owe you anything! Just leave me alone!!" 

It's still wasn't Lisa's voice! When he finally reaches the door, the sight halted his tracks. Pieces of broken glasses, small frames, books and flowers are scattered on the floor. The unknown woman is cowering at the far end of the wall opposite him, while the teenage boy hides behind the dull white, large sofa. 

The hanging, wooden shelf on the wall to his right already broke - it's two panels had been beaten out of their nails - and Lalisa is standing straight in the middle of the living room, right where the coffee table is.

"It seems that you do know me," She says calmly, much different than the disaster displayed within this space. "That's why you've been busy, right? That's why you ran?"

Without so much of a warning, she swung the bat in her hand onto the coffee table - shattering the glass and shocking everyone in the room, including Jungkook himself. 

"You changed your name - everything - just so I won't find you! You knew..." She laughs almost madly and he can barely recognize the girl he thought he'd gotten to know well enough by now. "You fucking knew that I'll be coming for you!!" Lalisa then stormed towards the framed pictures on the wall - swinging the metal on every piece of happy memories with as much force as she can.

Jungkook couldn't speak. He can't even move - too shocked to be witnessing the rage that had somehow taken over his girl! What brought upon all this anger? Why is it directed to the woman - who is this woman?!

"Eomma!!" The boy cried in terror, just as Lalisa jumped her way around the sofa.

"Who should I break for the twenty-years' repayment?" A wicked smile crept up on her lips. 

He thought he memorized those smirks before but this is an entirely new look. It's mixed with hell-bent anger...with perhaps agony and dejection - as if they are all gathered at the gates of hell, ready to break her lose. Those eyes are different...as if it's not even Lalisa's.

"No, please...I - I was young! Don't hurt me!!" The woman pleads and Lalisa halts her tracks. From her, Lalisa shifts her amused, impish gaze onto the son.

"You hear that?" She said to the boy, who is shivering with fear. "I want you to remember this for the rest of your life. She doesn't care if I hurt you - she just cares about herself -"

"No!!" The scream from the woman was ignored by Lalisa's sudden bashing on the television. 

"I fucking survived!! Tell me you're proud of me, eomma!! Tell me!!" 

'Eomma'? This...this is her mother?! It is now plain to see that this is the 'purpose' she spoke about. Lalisa is putting every ounce of strength she has - as if it contains every pain, every loneliness...every harsh words that were perhaps said to her, about her...by anyone or everyone, and by herself. 

"I only wanted to see your face - am I still that disgraceful flesh that you won't even let me see your fucking face?!" Sparks of the electrical fire flew across her body but she didn't care one bit. "This is the daughter you abandoned in the fucking trash - tell me that you're proud of this piece of garbage for making it this far! Tell me you didn't fucking mean it! That you wished you left me somewhere better - that I could stay in your fucking life instead! Just once, let me fucking look at you!!" With tears streaming down her face, she screamed with all her might.

When she started charging towards her 'eomma', Jungkook finally 'woke' up. This isn't her! This isn't the girl who cried in my arms last night -

"Do you know how lost I felt??" He saw her tightening the grip on the bat while the woman backed herself away to a corner, her face gasping with unspoken horror. 

Jungkook began walking...and then he is running. 

"All these years of trying to find you - not knowing why you threw me away like some fucking filth -"

He caught a close glimpse of her raising the shiny metal, and he knew she was ready to swing the anguish away. Jungkook ducks down - shielding the woman just in time - and he felt the hard hit across his shoulder...right where his wound was sown. The pain is sharp and obvious but it is nothing compared to the outright worry he has for her. The drumming in his chest reverberates across his body and it is dangerously loud and hard.

Opening his eyes and looking up, Jungkook finds her standing in complete desolation. She blinks and more tears fall. Her pretty, round eyes have now reflected a little life. Lalisa backs away with uneven steps...and her mouth drops as if to gasps, 'What have I done?'.

She looks around for a while, looking like a lost little girl, and the sorrowful sobs that was never there began flooding the room. Lalisa fell on her knees with the hardest...possibly the loudest cry that he has ever heard or seen. It was too raw that Jungkook hadn't realized when he started crying too. All he could think of was getting to her.

"You're okay - you're okay now!" With heavy breaths, he circled his arms around her and picks her up to sit on his lap. "Please...please stop..." Jungkook starts whispering close, rocking her back and forth like a child who needs comforting...protecting. "I get it...I got you, okay? I'm with you...you can stop now,"

. . .

"What's gotten into you? Do you know how much trouble you could get?!"

Jungkook could not pay attention to the hissing of his mother. Nor could he look up to the scrutinizing gaze of his father. His mind has been a messy cave with only two questions in repeat. Is she okay? Where is she?

The events at Lalisa's birth mother's house felt like a blurry shambles of reality. He'd seen her eyes in its numb state before, but nothing prepared him for the kind of bleakness it held when she trashed the entire living room apart and almost hurt the woman. 

"I can't believe you've been lying to us about where you've been! You didn't even tell us that you got that cut - Jeon Jungkook, look at me when I'm talking to you!"

But he can't. He still can't. His eyes are still pooling with dread and regret. I shouldn't have called eomma...we could've run. I should have let her run to wherever she feels safe - I can go wherever she takes me to! Then she wouldn't be taken away from me...by people in uniforms and gears and - and -

"Jagi...this can wait until we get home," He heard his father said and Jungkook's not even sure where will be the right place to explain himself. "What's taking them so long?"

The man then left, probably towards the nurse's counter to demand signing him off.

Where did they take her? Is she here...somewhere here? Then I want to be here! I don't want to leave her! "Eomma..." He called. "Did they tell you...where they brought her?"

"That's what you're asking?? You're the one who's hurt, Guk! Not her!" 

"Eomma...please..." He sighed and another tear drops to the floor. "Please tell me...I need - I need to see her! It - it wasn't her...it's just..." Jungkook can't control the sobs anymore. 

It was surreal...almost unreal even, that he'd seen the worst side of her. Every words that came out of her mouth in that house was filled with such rage...such need. It's a shock to his system and it's only now that he's finally able to cry it out. 

He felt the soft rub on the back of his neck shortly after and he knew his mother had ran out of words to shout at him...for now at least. Everything made sense now...why she chose to be in Heulg. Why she prefers there instead of here. She has so much fury in her...directed to that one person who is supposed to nurture her - calming her the way eomma is calming me. 

"I want what the mommy sloth and her baby has. I want a love that is so unconditional - despite the fragility and vulnerabilities...despite me not having any powers to move on my own..."

Her answer came back in his mind. That was why she cried over the spiders last night too, isn't it? She only wanted to feel the truth in her mother's actions. She said we're only going to drop by for 2 minutes...and she said she only wanted to see her. Maybe the rage was triggered when she wasn't allowed the intention she deserved?

He looks up and found blurry visions of his mother...as well as the many bodies walking around in the hospital foyer. None of whom he wanted to see the most. Lisa...where are you? No one could answer the question in his mind. They can only glance at him weirdly for being a crying mess. 

"Guk...it'll all be fine. We'll go home and everything will be alright. You'll be safe," His mother said. 

"At the end of their war, you'll find where they stand. The good...or the bad. Sometimes they can't even tell the difference anymore," He recalls what she said to him again.

Lalisa-ssi...wherever you are, I hope you're well. That you feel much, much better now. I hope you're done fighting your war...and I hope you're able to see the difference.

. . .