Jinyoung's Secrets

— Two weeks after Jinyoung's funeral —

You still remember that day as if it was yesterday.

Only a little over two weeks had passed after Jinyoung's funeral when your world was made to spin out of your control.

It all happened when he came into your path.

On the day you met him, the weather had been terrible. Like an omen, rain had been falling continuously since early morning. Thunder and lightning painted the sky, while the heavy rain seemed like a curtain of falling water each time you looked out the window. It was almost as if nature itself had become in tune with your emotions.

Still overcome with grief, you had been living as if you were constantly hanging by a thread. And it wasn't just the loss of your fiance that kept you feeling this way. It was also the loss of your future which had been written so eloquently that you were grieving for at the same time.

Just like the sky above, everything about your future seemed daunting, dark. Not even Yoongi's sudden, non-sensical proposal could change the way you were looking at your new, unforeseen life waiting ahead of you.

That was the reason why you stayed behind.

The terrible weather may have had a factor in holding you back from leaving your father's office building on time, but you had your own reasons to stay behind.

For the past two weeks, you have been throwing yourself deep into work. Taking over Jinyoung's duties hadn't been easy. Yet, you were more than happy to accept the responsibility as it gave you the perfect excuse to have extra hours at the office, given that there were still so many things that you had to explore from his abandoned work. Added to it your own duties and your new responsibilities which you had gotten after becoming your father's right-hand person, and your life soon became a steady current of working, sleeping, and going through the motions while the world around you, time, and life overall continued to move fast forward.

It was the bare minimum of what life could have been, yet you took it all. It was the only way you knew how to survive at the time, to remind yourself that you were still alive, while preventing your mind from drifting into dark places. For a while, it helped you deal with everything, even if it meant having to spend most of your late afternoons sitting in the conference room with your father, the board of directors, and his corporate lawyers to handle all the legal matters which Jinyoung used to be a part of.

By the time you finally decided to call it a day, the sky had grown dark. The rain had yet to wane. Yet, unlike before, the rain simply continued to drizzle, enough to soak everyone passing by the sidewalk on foot—which, in your case, would be you. The dark cloud was still dense, even without a sight thunders, and the sun had long descended through the horizon.

You leisurely made your way down to the lobby, covered in your thick coat and your umbrella in hand, ready to fend yourself against the drizzling rain as you started making your way home. You stopped to stand under the canopy at the main entrance of the building, taking the moment to watch the rain and breathe in the cool, fresh air. It gave you a sense of peace, helping you clear your mind. It felt like a good change being confined in closed spaces for hours, leading you to hope that the walk home would make you feel a whole lot better as well.

You were fumbling with your umbrella when a voice gently called out to you.

"May I help you with that?"

Startled, you raised your head. Expecting to see one of the security staff offering you some help, you were surprised to find a complete stranger speaking to you. He was standing a bit to the side, hidden from the main entrance, appearing like he was waiting for someone. In one hand, you saw him holding a folded umbrella, while his other hand was tucked inside his coat pocket.

Noticing your attention on him, the man offered you a smile.

"It's a bit late. Are you heading out? Why don't I walk you instead?"

You straightened up at his offer, ready to refuse—just like how you had done so for many other offers from the other staff at work today—yet couldn't find the words to say. You simply kept your eyes on him as he began approaching you. It wasn't until you finally got a closer look at his face that you realised how familiar he looked. Except you couldn't quite remember who he was or where you met him before.

"And you are?"

He had a gentle, unalarming smile when he came to your side. "Forgive me if I startled you. I tried to see you earlier, but they kept telling me that I had to make an appointment beforehand," he said with a light scoff.

"You must be wondering why I'm here. We've met before, a few times. But I suppose I've never truly introduced myself properly," he added, answering your unspoken question as he pulled out his hand from his pocket to offer you a handshake. "I am Detective Jeon Jungkook. You may call me Detective Jeon, or perhaps Jungkook, since I am off duty right now." A flicker of a smile came to his face when he added, "Jinyoung also did the same before whenever we met."

Hearing your late fiancé's name from his mouth, your breath was caught, and you gave him your full attention. "Jinyoung? You knew him?"

A wry smile came to his face when he nodded. "You must have questions, and I'll be happy to answer them for you." He began glancing around as if surveying your surroundings before adding, "But it might not be wise to have this conversation out here."

Curious, you looked around as you wondered why he was being cautious. By the time your gaze returned to him, the young detective had his wide umbrella opened and he smoothly extended his hand to use it to protect you from the rain. "Why don't we talk while I walk you to the subway?"

You pressed your lips together. "You seem to know quite a bit about me," you questioned him, realising now that you were the one he was waiting for.

"I only know enough that you haven't been driving your own car for quite a while," he calmly said, smiling. "And I knew enough to know that getting stuck in bad weather wouldn't be pleasant. After the long day you just had, you might end up wishing you had your car with you today."

You let out a bitter laugh. You knew that trusting a stranger, during this dire time, would be a terrible idea. But your curiosity was drawn, and you wanted to hear what the detective wanted to say.

If he was so willing to come see you in this bad weather, surely he would have a good reason to seek you out.

So you made up your mind with a nod, before stepping into his umbrella. "Of course, Detective. Lead the way."

The first few minutes into your walk were filled with silence. The only thing you could hear was the sound of your footsteps and the drizzling rain falling around you. But the silence helped you remember, "I remember now. I've seen you before. That night at the hospital."

"Ah, yes. After Jinyoung's accident," Jungkook said, nodding. "I came right away after processing the scene of the accident."

Nodding slowly, the memory from that day began flooding back to you.

Nine hours. That was how much time it took for the doctors to perform the surgery that was supposed to save Jinyoung's life. The long wait was filled with little hope for his survival, and too many questions that were left unanswered.

What happened?

Why was he driving so late at night, and so far from the heart of the city, where he was supposed to be that night?

Faces blurred together. Events happened a flurry of motions which you couldn't remember. You nearly didn't react when your parents arrived at the hospital, and you were still too shocked to say a word to Jinyoung's family when they eventually came, all looking just as lost and confused as you were. You remembered when the authorities came in, asking questions that no one in the room knew the answers.

That was when you saw Jungkook, approaching you cautiously after his colleagues had stepped out of the room, only to have the doctors interrupting him as they delivered the news of your late fiance's sudden decline during surgery.

"You and your partner came to me offering condolences before asking me about Jinyoung's condition. Something about what he looked like to me that day or if he said something before the accident happened," you mused, remembering vaguely the interaction you had with him that night. Bits and pieces from that night were coming back to you, yet you couldn't remember ever hearing his name or looking at him directly.

At that time, nothing truly mattered to you. Your world was suddenly turned upside down, soon falling into chaos the moment you lost the man you loved.

Shaking his head, Jungkook expressed his remorse. "I regret acting so callously that night. I should've been more empathetic, seeing that you had just lost your future husband," he said, sighing deeply. "But at the time, I was worried that it might have been the only chance that I could get to talk to you."

"Why would you think—" You turn to look at him to ask what he meant, only to give you a closer look at his face. Jungkook kept his gaze forward, looking as if he was lost in his own memory of the night of Jinyoung's passing, while you were brought to a different memory.

An older memory, something which you remembered happening years ago. You recalled sitting in front of the television to keep up with the news. There was a live broadcast being aired that day; a press conference held by the investigation unit handling Min Yoonseok's embezzlement case as they revealed some of the pieces of evidence found and announced his upcoming trial.

You believed, somehow, that you had seen Jungkook on the screen of your television. He looked a bit younger then, and he stood out among his team even when he was standing at the far back of the police line while his superior led the conference at the front of the stage, answering questions thrown by reporters and witnesses who were present.

Before you could mention this, Jungkook spoke first.

"I should take this chance to properly offer my condolences," he said, turning to you with a grim smile. "I'm sorry for your loss. I know how much he meant to you, as I knew how much he cared about you."

"Thank you for saying that," you answered with a small voice which prompted the two of you to continue walking.

"I went to the funeral to pay my respect, and to see if I could have another chance to talk to you. But you and your family seemed to be overwhelmed by the ceremony and the guests, so I chose to step back and give you the chance to focus on your family."

Thinking back to the day of the funeral only made you think back about Yoongi's proposition. Shaking your head, you chose to ignore it and returned the detective's kind smile. "It was enough to know that you took some time to drop by. Thank you for that," you said to him as you continued to walk for a few more moments filled with silence.

But your curiosity got the best of you. "You said earlier that you were at the scene of the accident," you began to speak, nibbling your lips before asking, "Did that have anything to do with the reason why you kept trying to talk to me in private?"

Jungkook clenched his jaw. "Yes, they called me directly to the scene once the report came in," he said with a low voice, adding, "It was unfortunate that I came much too late."

You couldn't quite understand what he meant. But something that he mentioned earlier came back to you. "You made it seem like you knew Jinyoung personally," you dared to question him, "How did you know him?"

Jungkook's eyebrows creased for a moment. "We met a long time ago, under another unfortunate circumstance," he said with a bitter voice, as if the memory of how they met was too unpleasant to remember. "We weren't exactly friends, if that's what you're wondering about. We also lost contact for a while until shortly before the accident when he began communicating with me again."

It was subtle, but you felt the irritation and disdain in his voice which made you wonder what kind of relationship he had with Jinyoung.

As if Jungkook knew what was going through your mind, he began to carefully explain, "I could tell you more, but the story will be quite long and our walk is too short."

He gave you a small smile as you caught the sight of the subway entrance merely half a block away.

"Yet you still had a reason to come to see me today," you said to him instead. "Surely, you hadn't made the effort to travel all the way across the city just to walk me home."

Jungkook let out a soft chuckle. "Jinyoung told me that you are smart and quick-witted. I guess he was right. Nothing goes past through you, doesn't it?" he teased you, before the same grim look you saw from him earlier returned. "I can see now why he became so fond of you at the end."

Once again, his cryptic comment made you curious. Something about his comment made you feel uneasy. It tickled the back of your mind, a voiceless whisper that made you feel like you were missing something. Only you had no idea what it was.

You turned to the detective when he suddenly stopped walking. His silence, and the look on his face made the uneasiness grow stronger. It was at that moment when you realised that whatever he had to say was going to change everything you have ever known about your life, your late fiancé, and the future that you lost.