Park Soomi

Sixteen. It was the first thought that crossed my mind as I awakened, the number looming over me as my tired eyes landed on the empty bedsheets beside me. Sixteen days had passed since everything had been settled: no more nightmares, no more threats, nothing. Everything returned to normal.

But sixteen was also the number of days since I had seen Yoongi. I sighed as my gaze then landed on the journal by my bedside. Even the nightmares continued to occupy my worries, even though their disappearance should be a blessing.

I reached for the book, my hand hovering over the cover before deciding against reading it. Sixteen. It was also the number of days I'd been consecutively reading that journal, trying to make sense of what had happened, but more importantly, what hadn't.

But not today. Today was the day everything was going to change. Today was the day I would finally accept that this journey reached a happy ending.

Today was the day for a fresh start.

I determinedly got out of bed before throwing that cursed journal into a nearby drawer. The moment it was out of my sight, there was an instant release of pressure, and I left the room with a relieved smile on my face.

"Morning, sis," Jimin greeted with a grin. "Haven't seen you so pumped up this early in a while."

Jimin was busily moving around the kitchen, humming to himself as he gathered ingredients for a smoothie. I squinted my eyes at his unusually chirpy behavior.

"I could say the same for you. What's got you all smiley, huh?"

"Well, I may or may not be seeing someone..." Jimin revealed, and my face immediately lit up at the news.

"Shut up, you are? Oh my god, I'm so happy for you! Seriously, you haven't been with anyone since—" I quickly sealed my lips, cursing at myself internally. Way to go, Soomi. Always ruining the mood.

But to my surprise, Jimin's cheerful expression didn't falter in the slightest.

"Misa?" Jimin completed my sentence with a chuckle. "You can say her name. Actually, she said something to me that helped me move on."

"Really? What did she do now?" I couldn't even begin to imagine what bizarrely unfiltered things Misa had possibly said to him.

"No, it's not like that. She told me that I deserved better," Jimin revealed. "And I know, I wish I didn't need to hear it from her to finally believe that, but all that matters is that I'm happy now."

"Ah, so long have you two been dating? When can I meet her? Tell me everything."

"Woah, slow down, Soomi. We've only been seeing each other for a week. We're going to the gym right now so maybe you two can meet after."

I smiled in anticipation as I heard a knock at the front door.

"Oh, can you get that?" Jimin asked as he was in the process of transferring the contents of his blender into two cups.

I walked over to open the door, surprised to see who was behind it.

"Jungkook?"

"Soomi, hi! It's been forever," he exclaimed, before pulling me into a hug. "You're never around when I come over."

He's been over a lot after the case ended? I couldn't help but feel disappointed learning this. Where has Yoongi been then?

"Yo, Jimin. Ready to hit the gym?"

Wait, Jungkook's the one he's going to the gym with? I furrowed my brows in confusion as I tried putting two and two together, puzzled by the conclusions my mind jumped to.

"Nice, you made me a shake? Thanks, dude."

"Hey, hands off. It's for Danbi," Jimin exclaimed, smacking away Jungkook's hands.

"Danbi?" I asked, hearing the unfamiliar name.

"Yeah, the girl I was telling you about," Jimin clarified with a smile. Oh, that makes more sense. I laughed internally at the wild thoughts running through my head.

"You're making a drink for Danbi and not me? If it weren't for me, you two wouldn't even be dating," Jungkook insisted with a teasing tone. "I'm like the best wingman around," he said to me, and I laughed lightly at his childish expression.

"Sure, the best wingman. You literally told me to go lift weights in front of her and flex like a total douche," Jimin refuted.

"Okay, that was like the one time I was joking. Not my fault you actually did it. But, hey, in the end, it all worked out, didn't it?" Jungkook ended with a laugh, and I joined in at the image of Jimin awkwardly flexing in front of a girl.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. There's still more in the blender. Help yourself."

I watched from the back as Jungkook and Jimin played around in the kitchen, chatting away as if nothing had changed since the end of the case. It left an unrecognizable pit in my stomach. Jealousy? Frustration? Disappointment?

"Umm, Jungkook? Have you heard anything from Yoongi recently? How's he been?"

"Yoongi? I haven't seen him too often, but he seemed to be keeping himself busy. There's a lot of backed-up casework at the agency right now."

"Yeah, but you're still able to make time to come over..." I muttered to myself. It wasn't until after the words escaped that I became aware of the fact that both of them could probably still hear me. "Sorry, it's just that I wanted Yoongi to come over and take a look at some of my compositions, especially this last piece for Seokjin's album. But he always seems to be unavailable." I found myself instinctively trying to cover up what was really going on, even when it was no longer necessary. But Jungkook seemed to catch on to what I was thinking regardless.

"You know Yoongi. When he gets invested in something, it's really hard for him to take time away from it, especially when it has to do with work. He puts his one hundred percent into it."

I could tell from his tone and the look on his face that he was trying to reassure me, but I only felt more discouraged and uncertain. Regardless, I responded with a small smile.

"But why are you still working on Seokjin's album, by the way?" Jungkook asked.

"Well, I know he wasn't interested in finishing, but we were so close, and I was really invested in the album. So I'm just polishing up the song in case he ever changes his mind," I responded with a shrug.

"Oh...have you not heard the news about Seokjin?"

"W-what do you mean?" I asked with a quizzical look. There was an evident shift in mood in Jungkook's expression as his gaze lowered to his feet. Both mine and Jimin's eyes were laser-focused on him.

"Seokjin was classified as a missing person a while back. Yoongi and Mr. Kim had discovered some unusual activity around his supposed apartment. There was no sign of him there, and no one has been able to contact him. I'm sorry. I thought you knew."

"Yeah, well, I should've known," I muttered, fumbling through my pockets for my phone. Have fun at the gym. I'll see you later."

"Wait, Soomi."

I sighed, reluctantly stopping in my tracks as Jungkook's concerned voice reached my ears. He approached me, bringing me off to the side and away from Jimin's questioning and worried gaze.

"I didn't want to say this earlier in front of Jimin, or to worry you, but Yoongi has been investigating Jimin's missing stepbrother. He found something a bit alarming about his father...that he was convicted of murder. A-and he's going to confront him today—Soomi, wait!"

The second the word "murder" left Jungkook's mouth, I hastily left the room before he could have the chance to stop me.

My fingers typed away on the device in my hand, and just seconds later, my phone began ringing at an excruciatingly slow pace.

Would you please just pick up your goddamn phone for once, Yoongi?

As I expected, the call went right to voicemail like the many other previous ones.

"How could you not tell me what happened to Seokjin?" I blurted out the words the second the beep went off. Unknowingly, I found myself pacing back and forth in my room, hand rubbing my forehead in frustration. "I get that you're busy. I do. But I thought you'd at least have the decency to keep me in the loop if you were investigating a murderer. And not just a few three-word texts here and there."

My pacing suddenly came to a halt, as my gaze landed on my nightstand. I rushed over to the drawer, pulling out the book I so confidently stashed away just a mere hour ago.

I flipped through the pages, reliving memories and images that somehow felt so long ago and yet so recent at the same time. Is this it? The reason why this stupid thing has been bothering me so much these last few days?

Perhaps they were simply a manifestation of all the fears and anxiety that this dark period brought. In fact, that was the most sensible explanation. Yet, as I landed on the pages detailing my growing worries over Seokjin, I wondered if this genuinely was just all a coincidence.

Was some sick person, or some uncontrollable, higher power, behind it all? And were we all truly safe?

In this moment, I finally pinpointed the source of anxiety troubling me for the last sixteen days: that the scariest part of it all was that I didn't have all the answers.

"Yoongi, I-I'm just worried. Please call me back soon."

——
{a/n}

Thank you so much for 10k reads like what? This is so crazy, I never imagined I would ever reach this milestone but I'm so grateful to all the readers who've helped me reach this point! To both new and old readers , thank you so much for your support. I would love to hear your thoughts on the story as we're getting closing to reaching the end!