In a dark part of Jeongguk's mind, it feels like a prison sentence.

The wait to be discharged from the hospital. And even when the day of his discharge comes, the process seems to go by gradually. The boy ends up sitting through a lengthy, serious one-way conversation with his doctor, who essentially provides an overview of his current physical state and how long it's expected to be before Jeongguk's legs recover. Thankfully, there's good news there: the paralysis is only temporary, and largely because of them not being used for a two week period. Naturally, the impact from the vehicle had damaged them, too, but according to his doctor, Ms. Kim Hyorin, the "miracle boy" managed to escape permanent paralysis by a larger margin than expected.

Granted, his head didn't turn out so lucky. But it will heal, she says. Jeongguk can expect recurring headaches for a while; however, on a positive note, the intensity of them should start to relax quickly and improve over time. He's advised to have patience.

And to realize how lucky he is. With how hard his head was struck, Jeongguk could potentially have woken up with severe brain damage, an inability to speak at all or remember anything from before losing consciousness. He could have woken up with permanently blurred vision or an acute lack of attentiveness to his surroundings, but according to Hyorin, Jeongguk has already taken massive steps towards his recovery.

Although his lisp and struggle with finding his words may stick with him, speech therapy is an option. As is physical therapy for a speedier recovery of his legs. But again, Hyorin assures the boy there's no major long-term effects that he needs to stress over.

So right now the only thing Jeongguk is stressing over is Jimin.

At the news of his permission to be discharged, the boy's family already sets out on their way to Seoul to pick him up. And again, Jeongguk can't wait to see them and Taehyung.

But he refuses to go home just yet.

Not until he sees Jimin again. Not until he can speak to Jimin again.

As it had been the day Jeongguk came out of his coma, Taehyung is the first to greet him with tears and open arms - although it's a bit more difficult this time with Jeongguk in a wheelchair, Taehyung finds a way to make the hug just as warm as if the boy were on his feet.

"Stupid hospital, I freakin' hate hospitals, stupid doctors-"

"Tae, c'mon..." Jeongguk sighs deeply as his friend reluctantly pulls away from the embrace. "I didn't...didn't like it...either, but they were...helping me."

"Gukkie, are you feeling better now?"

"I will," he says to Hyungi. The little boy tugs at his arm, gazing up at his older brother with wide, expectant eyes. "I will."

"We're ready to take you home whenever you are."

His father's voice is what drives the nail into his brain. Jeongguk shakes his head furiously, ignoring the surge of pain it brings for a brief moment.

"What's wrong?" His mother reaches out to brush the boy's hair out of his face. "Don't you want to go home?"

"Mom, I can't, I can't yet." Jeongguk's breath hitches. "He'th here, in Th-eoul, I can't...I can't leave yet-"

"You mean...that boy you came here to see?"

He nods, once again, more aggressively than he should, given his head's fragile condition, but he doesn't care. "Hi-th name'th...Jimin." Stupid, stupid lisp.

"That's a common name, Jeongguk-"

"Park Jimin," he blurts out, "it'th Park...Jimin...I have to..."

For a minute no one says anything. They all watch Jeongguk, his parents with the greatest puzzlement and concern on their faces, yet they wait anyway for the boy to sort through his thoughts and get out whatever it is he's trying to say. But it seems after a while that he can't.

"I'll help him."

Taehyung is the first to speak up. Eyes fixed on Jeongguk, expression painted over in a bittersweet mixture of sorrow and determination.

"If Jeongguk says Jimin's real, then he's real. I'll help  find him. If I have to cover the entire city with my damn footsteps, I'll help Jeongguk find him."

He's on the verge of tears - Taehyung, that is. Jeongguk is left to simply watch his friend but soon he's fighting back his own urge to cry.

"Jeongguk, is that what you really want?"

"Gukkie, are you not coming home yet?"

To Jeongguk, it isn't an option. It's a necessity. Something he knows will haunt him the rest of his life and drive him to misery if he doesn't do it now. If he leaves Seoul without seeing Jimin.

"I need to."

It's obvious his parents don't love the idea - but they love their son enough not to drag him away from the reason he traveled here alone in the first place. After all he's been through. Jeongguk knows in his heart they won't turn him down.

Even if they tried, Taehyung would have something to say about it.

There isn't much that follows the conversation after that. Some hugs, more I love you's, be safe's, and a quick decision arrived at that Jeongguk's parents will take Hyungi on a little trip around Seoul until Taehyung and Jeongguk can find this boy they're looking for.

Granted, that they find him today.

Jeongguk doesn't have his phone.

Apparently, the way the hospital discovered his name and were able to contact the boy's family had been through his ID which he had on him at the time of the accident. But Jeongguk's phone hadn't been found.

He can't call Jimin. He can't text him. Ask him where he is, how he's doing. The crochet figurines account had been deleted, too, tragically, as that was Jeongguk's immediate follow-up plan.

Jeongguk can't let him know he's okay.

Not yet, anyway. But he's determined. He, his one track mind, and Taehyung.

They spend the day passing through the streets of Seoul, with Taehyung pushing Jeongguk in his wheelchair as they both scan the faces of everyone they see - it's not the most effective way to go about it, but there's not much else they can think to do. Other than stopping the occasional passerby to ask if they know a Park Jimin. Needless to say, not much luck there, either.

As Taehyung guides him along Jeongguk does his best to root through his brain for anything that might remind him. Anything, from however long he spent in Seoul before the accident, anything that could point him in the right direction. He doesn't remember what Jimin's house looks like - or if it even looks the same as it did in his dream, for that matter.

If only Seoul were a smaller city.

If only there weren't so many people, so many tall buildings and houses and shops. If only Jimin weren't such a common name.

Determination is one thing, but looking at the circumstances from a logical perspective, things don't look good.

Several times throughout the boys' search, Jeongguk's mother calls Taehyung to ask if they've made any progress. If they've found him yet. If Jeongguk has changed his mind and wants to go home yet.

Every time it's the same response. But Jeongguk feels himself growing weary and discouraged beyond belief, to the point where his heart is drowning inside his chest, and it aches.

"Tae, what if he...loth-t...faith in me?"

A hopeless whisper. A negative thought escaping his head. At first, Taehyung says nothing in response and simply continues to wheel Jeongguk down the sidewalk. Neither of them have a clue where they are at this point. Then again, they didn't from the start, but that isn't any more reassuring.

"Tae, I-...I'm-"

"Hungry? Me, too. Let's stop here for lunch."

Whether it had been planned or conveniently timed, it takes Jeongguk aback as he's suddenly finding himself being turned by Taehyung and carefully pushed through the door of a small diner.

After a few moments of silence between the two, the boys are seated by a young man who kindly asks if they would prefer a booth or table - they both agree a table would be best right now. For Jeongguk to get out and back into his wheelchair just to sit at the booth would be a literal pain, whereas he can much more easily stay as he is when eating at a table.

But honestly he really isn't in the mood to eat.

Neither is Taehyung. Jeongguk can tell by the look on his friend's solemn face.

The both end up ordering coffee and nothing else.

And even that seems hard for Jeongguk to stomach right now.

"He left me no trathe of him..." Sniffling, the boy wraps his fingers around the coffee mug in front of him. "My phone ith...gone, I don't remember...I don't remember hith number, hith...hith account ith gone, too, it'th all gone, Tae..."

Gone. Such a bitter word, and the way it crawls up Jeongguk's sore throat is even bitterer.

"What if he...doethn't...want...me to find him...?"

"Do you really believe that?"

He shrinks into himself at Taehyung's sharp tone and ever sharper gaze.

"Look, Guk, I don't know jack squat about Jimin, other than the fact that you two have some sort of connection I could never dream of having with you, and that's all I need to know."

"Tae-"

"Don't you love him? Isn't that why you came here?"

Like a match across his chest, Jeongguk feels his heart burn from the genuine intensity of his friend's words. Strict-sounding, but they were spoken with a certain tenderness Taehyung only displayed to him.

Jeongguk purses his lips and soon brings himself to nod slowly.

"Good. I thought so. Can I say something?"

He furrows his brow at Taehyung. "Of courthe you can..."

"Yoongi and I are dating now."

So casually spoken. Jeongguk takes a moment to process the confession, all the while staring speechless at Taehyung who stirs his coffee in silence until it appears he grows bored with it.

"...I had never really thought about it before...I mean, before these past couple weeks...about Yoongi. But he was there for me every day and listened to me cry about you and how I was terrified of you losing your memories among other things..." He inhales deeply, shaking his head seemingly in disappointment with himself, then exhales again. "At one point I asked him how he could do it. Why he did it. Why he put up with me. I pressured him into confessing to me without even realizing that's what he was hiding from me. And you know what, Jeongguk? I could actually believe him. And you know what else? Yoongi's pretty darn cute when he smiles. Like, I'd almost consider letting him be first player in Mario Kart if he smiled."

It draws a soft chuckle from Jeongguk, who can feel it in his heart that this was Taehyung's intention. To make him laugh - not that his words weren't sincere or anything. Jeongguk knows they are. And that, in some form, brings him joy.

"As soon as you're finished your coffee, we'll keep looking for Jimin, okay?"

A difficult pill to swallow. Keep looking.

Keep looking, through Seoul's busy, crowded streets, for a boy who, although Jeongguk remembers what he looks like, he can't go around showing pictures of Jimin's face because he has no pictures of him. Nothing to go by except whatever is in his head.

An unreliable source.

"We're not going to find him...are we...Tae?"

"I don't recall this being an option."

Another stern look catches Jeongguk by surprise.

"If I remember correctly, you said you had to find him. Do you or don't you?"

Guiltily, the boy nods, feeling his eyes threaten to water again but he manages to stop them.

He and Taehyung are finished their coffees by now, at least what they plan to drink of them. Not long ago, the boys' server stopped by and took and brought back Taehyung's card as payment, so at this point they can walk out whenever they please. So they do. Back outside where levels of activity among the people haven't reduced in the slightest.

The realization of hopelessness is enough to make Jeongguk cry. He wants Jimin. He just doesn't want to do this anymore. Yet Taehyung keeps soldiering on.

Jeongguk has stopped scanning the streets and passersby. He hangs his head in defeat.

His terribly aching head, which he can't hold up anymore.

"Hey, hey, wait, kid in the wheelchair!!"

The sudden exclamation from behind the boys stops Taehyung in his tracks, thus stopping Jeongguk as well. Taehyung turns around already with an offensive look on his face. Jeongguk tries turning, too, but it's not as easy for him.

There's someone speed-walking towards them. A woman, who at first Jeongguk doesn't recognize so he doesn't react with more than scrunched up facial features.

But then she gets close enough.

Not so much of a stranger, Jeongguk's subconscious quickly convinces him. Not a stranger at all.

"I'm so sorry..." The woman appearing in her late thirties stops to breathe, probably not having planned for this to happen, given the immense look of relief in her expression. But she also looks incredibly exhausted.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but I think you have the wrong kid in a wheelchair." Taehyung scowls at the woman whereas Jeongguk's thoughts and words escape him. In response, she begins shaking her head and her eyes fill with sympathy.

"I'm so sorry," she says again, "I couldn't recall his name, I just saw you pass by my shop and I had to catch you before you left. Really, I hope I didn't offend you, but I panicked..." Seemingly in frustration with herself, the woman pours her gaze over Jeongguk. "It's not coming to mind, I feel terrible, Jimin usually just referred to you as his friend, so if he ever told me your name it had to have been ages ago, I'm sorry..."

It doesn't click right away. Denial. Such a strong force of denial.

"Guk, Guk! Can you hear me??"

He can, but hardly. Fuzzy hearing clouded by inner distractions.

"...Jimin..."

"That was his aunt," Taehyung blurts, but Jeongguk isn't sure after how long. "She said you met her when you first came here........Jeongguk, Guk, buddy, we have her address, can you hear me??"

It takes another moment to clear, but thankfully, by then it feels to have begun to sink into acceptance. Jeongguk's heart accelerates. He can't bring himself to speak. Not a word. Nothing. So he sits back with his mind spinning as Taehyung puts the address into his phone and starts their route. It's a fair stretch of distance away according to the GPS, as the boy informs his friend, so they end up catching the bus that will drop them off nearest to their destination.

Forty-six minutes. In those forty-six minutes, Taehyung calls Jeongguk's parents and lets them know what's going on - in his prolonged daze he hears Taehyung ask if he would like to speak to his parents but Jeongguk can't bring himself to reply. So the call is ended, and some time later, the boys are getting off the bus again with the help of the bus driver setting out the wheelchair ramp.

By now Jeongguk isn't quite sure what he's feeling. It's a hectic swirl of emotions, beating against his chest, his head, still in the same state as before. It doesn't feel as though he's breathing. But he knows he is. Just as he knows all of this is real.

Taehyung wouldn't be telling him otherwise.

Leading him up to the front door to this house which looks exactly as it did in his dreams.

He remembers.

"Jeongguk?"

Taehyung's voice startles him. He turns around to gaze apologetically at his friend. "Th-...orry, Tae." A forced chuckle. "Maybe I'm jutht...n-...nerv...outh...and..."

"...and?"

"...afraid..."

"Well, that won't do. Guess I'll have to knock on the door for you."

He flinches. Taehyung steps out in front of his friend, extending his hand and curling it into a fist before knocking several times upon the door's surface. He steps back again.

A few moments later there's perceivable movement coming from inside the house.

Jeongguk hardly has time to brace himself before the door is opened.

There's a boy standing before him now, dressed in an oversized pink and blue sweatshirt which he practically drowns in, sweatpants, his feet are bare, hair unkempt.

Familiar. Vividly familiar. Right here in front of him. Real, as he's always been.

Jeongguk feels his eyes well again with tears but for the first time today, it isn't from sadness.

"Hi, Jimin."

Relief washes over him as he watches Jimin's eyes begin to water, too.

"I...I like your hoodie."

—

this was lazily edited but i wanted to post before i left the house this morning so :D there will probs be one more chapter cus i feel it wouldn't be right to end it right here which is how i initially planned lol