Park Soomi

"I-I was there? But how is that possible? There must be some kind of mistake," I stuttered in disbelief.

"You were there, but you and your mom hid in a different room when the commotion started. Since you didn't see anything, she couldn't give too much valuable info as a witness, and you couldn't act as one for obvious reasons," Yoongi explained.

I felt dizzy, my head spinning at a hundred miles an hour, with everything I thought I knew ripped from me. Any sense of reality had shattered, and something in me wanted to fight this, struggling to believe Yoongi's words. But somewhere amid all the turbulence, a tiny shimmer of clarity peaked through.

If I was actually there, I could help Jimin figure out what happened to his family.

"What if I did see something? I have to figure out what I remember from that night."

"What?" Yoongi seemed taken aback. "No, you don't. Are you insane? Soomi, you were what, three or four? You're not going to remember anything. And even if you could, I would never ask you to do that. We'll find another way to figure out what happened to Jimin's mom and brother."

"Yoongi, if I was there, I need to try at least, don't I?" I insisted desperately. A part of me saw the insanity of it all, but I was just trying to find some good out of a distressing situation. "Come on. There must be some more details about what happened in the case files. Tell me. Maybe it will jog my memory."

"You're not making any sense," Yoongi spoke sternly, placing his hands firmly on my shoulder. "I'm not going to let you be more involved in this."

"Please, just help me. I have to do this for Jimin."

"I know this is all hard to take in. But you wouldn't want Jimin to do something like this, even if it were for you, right?"

I bit my lip, recognizing the truth in his argument. "No, but that's not up to you or Jimin to decide. Look, Yoongi, I'm tougher than you think. I can handle it."

Yoongi remained quiet, but he eventually let out an exasperated sigh, looking back at me with tired eyes. He knew I wouldn't back down anytime soon.

"You were on vacation with your parents. According to your dad, Jimin was still staying with Kim Minjun and Jangmi at the time. You were at a family vacation house, a cabin in the woods."

As I listened attentively, my ears perked up at the mention of a cabin in the woods. I racked my brain for any recollection of owning a family cabin, but my mind drew a blank. What did cross my mind, though, were the eerie nightmares. I vividly recalled the heightened sensation of fear as I ran through the forest in my dreams, that same fear consuming me now as my breathing grew shallow.

"Minjun testified that Jangmi had finally told him the truth about Jimin's identity. He was furious, and he had been drinking. He knew where your family was, and he stormed over to the cabin that night with Jangmi. After you and your mom ran off to hide, a fight broke out between Minjun and your dad."

My breathing continued to quicken, but a new image eclipsed my vision, incited by Yoongi's words. I was in a pitch-black room, with only one dim streak of light seeping out of the slightly cracked open door. Everything else was a bit muddled: incoherent screams in the distance overshadowing Yoongi's voice, the feeling of pressure over my lips as if someone's palm were lightly pressed against them. But one thing remained strikingly clear.

I was trembling in fear.

"...and when Jangmi tried to break them apart, Minjun accidentally stabbed her with a broken bottle." Yoongi's voice pierced through once more.

And my vision suddenly flooded with light, darkness replaced with the image of a bloodied hand, grasping tightly at the shards of a dull, forest green bottle.

"Soomi! Soomi, are you okay?"

I finally snapped out of it as I found myself back in Yoongi's arms. "I-I'm okay," I shakingly replied.

"Oh, thank god. You were shaking like crazy." Yoongi sighed in relief.

"We have to keep going! I think I remembered hiding out in the cabin. A-and I saw a hand holding a bloody bottle. It must've been Minjun."

"No, we're done here. I'm not going to stay a moment longer if you keep acting like this!" Yoongi asserted. I was about to argue further when he gestured at me to stop while pulling out his phone. He looked down at it with a concentrated stare before returning his gaze to me. "I promise, we can figure things out without tapping into any memories."

"But how? You said you've already exhausted all your options."

"The text I just got. It looks like Minjun has finally agreed to see me."

At first, I felt relieved that something useful finally came through. But that was a short-lived feeling soon replaced with concerns and doubts. "How do we know he'll be truthful when he killed Jimin's mom? Not to mention, he was drunk that night, and some details could be a bit hazy."

He hesitated briefly. "Whatever insights he has still beats you remembering what happened that night." Yoongi put away his phone, and it seemed like he was getting ready to leave again.

"Wait! Are you leaving right now?" My voice was small and pathetic, but I didn't care at all.

"I'm not seeing him just yet...but I was going to prepare for when I do."

I couldn't hide my disappointment. "Any chance I could convince you to stay for a quick meal?" I asked hopefully. His silence ate away at me, but everything became whole again when he shot me a smile.

"Yeah, I think so," he replied before leaving a quick peck on my lips. It was small, but I hadn't felt joy like this in a while.

"You better not leave me hanging like this for that long again," I warned, my lips unknowingly forming into a scolding pout.

"I won't. Not again. I-I guess I'm just not used to having someone waiting for me," he admitted. "I've never had someone to return to after a long day of work, so I just always let my day turn into days, then weeks."

I smiled lightly, hearing him grow vulnerable even for just a moment. "Well, you have me now. So make sure to return to me."

I stared into his eyes for as long as I could, because despite what he said, I didn't truly know how long it would be until I could lose myself in those eyes again.

━ ⋆⋅❈⋅⋆ ━

Min Yoongi

"Kim Minjun?" My eyes met those of the man who sat behind the glass pane. My first instincts were to examine him, his demeanor, body language. But all I could gather was a man both tired and annoyed.

"In the flesh," he responded with a grim smile.

"Min Yoongi. You've been awfully hard to get a hold of."

"I'm not very keen on talking to those in authority."

"Or you've got something to hide?" I pressed, just with enough force to hopefully get some sort of reaction out of the man. All he did was raise an eyebrow and stare with bored eyes.

"Not that I can think of. But it seems like you think I might be hiding something, so try me."

I could feel my face twitch slightly hearing the way he spoke. Like he was some smart ass with better things to do. But I kept my composure and reluctantly took his snarky punch without retaliation.

"Park Taesuk. That name ring a bell?"

"Of course. It's hard to forget the person who got you put in jail."

His voice confused me. I expected to hear some sort of resentment or see signs of hateful animosity, but his voice felt empty. He delivered the line as if he were monotonously recounting an uneventful day.

"You say he's the reason why you're in jail. Why do you blame him?"

"With all the questions you got, you must've been nosy enough to do your research, right? So you know the man had a kid with my wife."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean it's his fault you got drunk, murdered your wife, and left both his and your son motherless. So, is there something more to the story, or are you just placing blame out of resentment?" There were a hundred reasons why I wanted to see Minjun. Find Jimin's brother. See if his feelings towards Prosecutor Park gave reason to suspect him for all the atrocities the family had gone through.

But there was one thing in particular that had been driving me insane. I couldn't let go of it, even the possibility of Prosecutor Park's involvement in the murder. The man was many things, but he couldn't be a murderer too.

At least that was what I wanted to believe, because how could I let Soomi find out about this?

"Just 'cause I was convicted, doesn't mean I did it."

"Then tell me." I could sense he was reluctant to elaborate further, the way his confident demeanor diminished with the way his eye contact fell.

"I've had plenty of people shoot me down. I don't need to hear that from you too."

"I didn't go through all that effort to come to see you and not hear your version of the story," I insisted.

He folded his arms, staring me down before finally answering. "It was Taesuk. Stabbed her in the stomach the second he ripped the broken bottle out my hands." There it was. After all these years he still held on to this story. Unless it wasn't a story after all.

"Do you have any evidence to back that up?" I asked, not because I didn't believe him, but because I wanted his argument to be outlandish, to throw out any reason for me to believe anything he says. "You were drunk. And it's not like you have a clean record of violence before the incident."

His face fell, hearing me allude to the domestic abuse claims that were cited in the court case. And seeing his reaction, I knew that the claims were true.

"I wasn't...the best husband, but I still didn't kill her." He looked up at me, clearly recognizing that I wasn't satisfied with his answer. "You don't have to believe it. I was there, and I know it's true."

I frowned, realizing this line of questioning was going nowhere. He's not giving me anything. Time to switch gears.

"Fine, then let's say your story is true. You must have a lot of anger towards him. So much so that you want to get even with him?"

"Like you said, no one's gonna believe me. And what can I do locked up in here? No point in holding on to grudges in this place when there's nothing you can do 'bout them. You'd understand if you were in my shoes. It'd destroy you from the inside out."

At this point, I grew frustrated. He wasn't giving me any of the answers I was expecting, and I couldn't quite read him, whether he was lying or telling the truth. Everything about him was just unusual.

"Seems like we've wasted enough of each other's time." He moved to stand up.

"Wait." I sighed. "Your son. What happened? All records of him disappeared when he was six."

"He died," he said dully. "Shortly after Jangmi did."

"There's no record of his death."

"Didn't feel like having his death registered after having my wife taken from me too. Why, you don't believe me?"

I squinted my eyes at the man, anticipating what more he had to say.

"234-5 Goksinri, Hwado-eup, Seongju-gun."

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{a/n}
Hope you all enjoyed the new chapter! I really appreciate all of your support, and I'll see you all in the next update!