"MEI!!" Mika barreled towards me and rammed into me against the lockers.

"Ow! Mika!" I yelped as my shoulder painfully collided against the hard metal. "What is wrong with you today, child?"

Mika's eyes shone. "Guess what, guess what, guess what," she gasped, jumping up and down.

"You dislocated my shoulder, that's what," I grumbled, rolling said shoulder gingerly.

"You know Kim Namjoon right?" Mika wiggled her brows at me.

"Um, the quiet kid who sits in the back of our physics class? And why are you wiggling your eyebrows?"

"So, I maybe snuck into an underground club last night," Mika started, slowly twirling a strand of already curly hair around a finger. "And I saw Namjoon there!"

"What?" I gave Mika a skeptical look. "You mean, the nerdy, tall, know-it-all goody-two-shoes guy in our class was at an underground club?"

"Yep. He's a performer." Mika nodded without hesitation. "And let me tell you, Mei, he's hot ass hell when he gets into the groove. He raps like crazy and damn his sexy hoarse voice got me all turned on and stuff. Man, what would I give to have a taste of his—"

"MIKA!" I shrieked in horror.

"What?" Mika blinked at me innocently.

Right then an arm slung around my shoulder and I looked up to see no other than Jungkook had joined us. My stomach did its usual flip of excitement whenever I saw him. The kick off game was tomorrow and I knew that if Jungkook was truly a man of his words, I was going on an official date with him.

"Why is the little chipmunk screeching at the top of her lungs on this fine morning?" Jungkook raised his brows.

"Jungkook, I wouldn't date her if I were you." Mika shot me a bland look. "I think her ears are too innocent for the arts of seduction and lust."

"What?" Jungkook stared.

"You know what, both of you are hopeless!" Mika threw her hands in the air. "At this rate neither of you are going to get laid until you're ninety!"

"That's not true," I protested weakly.

"Imagining getting laid by Kit Harrington doesn't count, Mei! Plus, he's married," Mika said flatly.

My jaw fell open as my best friend exposed me. Jungkook looked like he was severely regretting ever coming over to the two of us.

"Great, and now that I've made this situation sincerely awkward, I take my leave." With a sweeping bow, Mika turned around and left Jungkook and I standing in the middle of the hallway at loss.

-A Fine Morning-

"Mei?"

I close my locker and turn to where Min Yoongi stands. A boy from the later years of my high school career. A boy whose hair is always brighter than everyone's future under the Curing.

This month is hair is a soft orange.

"Yoongi, what's up?"

Yoongi has never been one to beat around the bush. When I first met him, his brutal honesty and bluntness made me dislike him, hate him almost, along with his heritage. Now, after everything that's happened, this characteristic is one of the main reasons why I respect and trust him.

"So Jungkook, huh?" He folds his arm. "Him coming back really brings a flood of memories back, doesn't it?"

"You don't say, Sherlock."

"No, I mean..." Yoongi sighs under my withering glare. "Brings back memories back when we all used to be in a group. Him and you, Namjoon and Mika, me and Jimin... all of us were so close back then."

I bite the inside of my cheek. "Yeah." My voice sounds ragged. "We were." I glance up. "And how's Jimin doing?"

Yoongi's eyes flutter close momentarily. "He's still in hiding. I've seen him a couple times in the past months. But he's weak, Mei. Very weak. It's only a matter of time before the Curing finds him and drags him back in. And you know what happens to Returnees when they go back in a second time."

I do know.

Because that's what happened to Mika.

And that's why Namjoon is gone too.

"Yoongi," I begin hesitantly. "Do you know if it's possible... to crack back into Jungkook's past memories like Jimin did?"

Yoongi's reaction is immediate. "What the hell are you suggesting, Mei?" He hisses venomously. "You saw what happened to Jimin when his memories cracked. It practically destroyed him. Even now he's one hair breadth's away from breaking entirely. You would have that happen to Jungkook?"

I look down at my feet, ashamed.

Yoongi's right. How far will I go to try and bring back the Jungkook I know? Is it even possible? Once your memories are taken, there's no recovering them back. There's only cracking your mind, and I've seen what that does to people. 

It never ends well.

❁❁❁