How did Ina know Jimin? 

Yoongi has always wondered but never dared to ask. Ina and Yoongi had both mentioned the young boy enough times to be aware that they both knew him and that they both liked him. 

"He's hard to miss in a school filled with hateful people," Ina smiled.

°˖✧Ina's Flashback✧˖°

Ina was about 11 years old when she first came in contact with a boy named Park Jimin. He was a shy guy who sat at the very front of the class. Ina, unlike him, would sit towards the back with Chanyeol. Chanyeol always gathered unwanted attention and since he always insisted on being glued to her, she had no choice but to also be surrounded by jealous female attention.

The third month into the school year, Chanyeol had left, leaving her and all the vengeful women behind. This also left her without a friend, since having him stuck to her also meant others didn't approach her for fear of getting trampled by the jealous girls who bullied her. 

Ina was alone, her body full of bruises from jealous girls' kicks, or being tripped enough times to last her a lifetime. On one of those many days when she found herself falling in the cafeteria, the bell rang, and everyone left for their 5th-period class. Ina knew she'd be late. She knew she wouldn't make it to class, so she cried. For the first time since she was a kid, she cried.  The trickling of cafeteria milk and the smell of canned fruit filled her hair, Ina used her palms to clean her teary eyes. She wished to disappear, to be alone and never be bothered again, her sobs echoing in the mostly empty cafeteria. However, a small fluffy hand extended its way towards her. Ina looked up, her face directly meeting that of a short guy with dark brown hair.

"A-are you alright?" he timidly asked, Ina, shaking her head no as a response.

The boy looked about her age, his worn-out clothes unbefitting of his soft and gentle features. He was almost as short as Jungha at the time, who was only 8. Ina could still feel her steaming tears roll down her cheeks. The young boy used his thumb to clean it off, grabbed his old sweater from around his waist, and handed it to her. He started throwing away the food around her body, placing her tray in its designated area before going over with some napkins and cleaning her hair and shirt to the best of his ability. He was unlike Chanyeol, who brought her only misery and hateful looks. No one noticed them. No one even turned to glance at them. They were ignored by everyone, even the teachers. 

Helping her up, Jimin walked her to the restroom, Ina washing off the stains on her face and as much of her hair as she could in the small bathroom sinks, tying it up in a bun when she was done. Walking out, she again noticed how everyone disregarded them, Jimin standing still near the door, his eyes staring at a book he was holding. Glimpsing up, Jimin smiled shyly.

"Done?" he asked softly as if to not break the calm atmosphere. 

Ina nodded, Jimin putting up his book and muttering "great!"

Without giving Ina a chance to think, Jimin grabbed her arm and pulled her to follow him. Both of them ran out of the hall, Ina struggling to keep her backpack on her. Jimin just smiled when turning back to peek at her. He gave a small wink and looked towards the double doors of the side entrance of the school, both of their legs hitting the tile floor hard. Ina's eyes widened. He surely wasn't considering skipping class, right?

It was like the wind was knocked out of her. Both of them jumped through the doors and towards the woods behind the school, lunging past the cement steps and into the dirt path that led to it. It was cloudy, the chilly air of October making Ina shiver. She continued to follow silently, watching as the once skittish boy from her history class changed into a ray of smiling sunshine. His body language was relaxed, and his hand hastily let go of Ina's, Ina only then realizing she had been following him for several minutes. They had reached the top of a hill, a clearing shown in front of them, the fresh smell of grass clearing Ina's sinuses. Jimin walked over to some nearby rocks and sat down, gently touching the moss covering them.

"By the way, my name's Jimin," he said aloud, Ina glaring at him confused and a bit flustered.

She thought, "So now he's introducing himself?" but for some reason, she couldn't be mad at him. His face was impossible to get mad at. 

He looked so unbothered by anything, uncaring of social norms or formalities and so in love with nature. The way he stared at the trees and continued to smile while skimming the bushes made her think he was both a little insane and a little out of this world.

"I'm-"

"Ina. You are the talk of the school after that boyfriend of yours left," he interrupted, much to Ina's annoyance.

"He was not my boyfriend. He was just a nuisance to be fair. A friend I accidentally made," she corrected. 

"Well, whatever he was, he sure got you into a lot of trouble, hu?"

Ina sighed, defeated. He was right. After Chanyeol had left, she was rather lonely. No one approached her, more like avoided her, until Jimin came along that day. 

"Want to be friends?" he asked without hesitation.

Ina stared at him blankly. He was weird. He was strange. Above all, he was kind, caring, and compassionate. He too was alone.

"Another accidental friend? Sure, how bad could it be?"

◇

Flash forward three years and both of them had become the best of friends. Not only had he grown taller than her, but he had also become far more mature, and more protective than before, and Ina could finally feel at ease around him. She used to always have to keep her guard up, and be the protector, not the protected, but it was different with Jimin. She was different when around him. They had spent three years together, Jimin outgrowing clothes he had borrowed from Jungha and soon even the oversized hoodies Ina had bought him. He had also become far more handsome, but so had many other guys in class, Jimin hiding behind his odd nature to keep other girls away on purpose, just so he wouldn't do what Chanyeol had done to her. She had taught him about the world he saw, and he had taught her of the world she didn't see. They spent many days laying in the summer sun, drinking warm coffee under the dying leaves, and sleeping under the stars.

Ina had sat in the library many times playing with his hair as he read, she had fed him many meals when he skipped lunch or ran away from home, and had even let him sleep over with her and Jungha. All three were best buddies. All three lived life freely.

"Do you think I'll ever be taller?" he once asked her.

Ina chuckled, staring at the cover of his book. She read the title, "FLY".

"Stay this way Jiminie. Don't ever grow wings and leave us. Don't grow any farther, don't leave me," she mumbled to herself. Jimin smiled to himself, his ears turning pink.

They shared more than the love of silence together. They shared love for one another, pure love. Innocent love. He had fallen in love with her, he had fallen in love with the warmth she brought, and so did she. She had fallen in love with his smile, his way of pulling her out of danger, and his honesty. 

Honesty.

 Whenever Ina brought it up, a knot would build in Jimin's throat, for there was only one thing Jimin was hiding from her. 

Who he really was. 

He would eventually have to tell her. That or continue to live a lie. He was used to it, used to living a complete lie, a life that wasn't his. This life, the life of a human, felt like it did not belong to him. He was chained up and pulled to the past by an unbreakable chain, an inescapable barrier. 

"Ina, I need to tell you something," he began, his heart speeding up.

Ina was so excited, she could not recall what but it was something she couldn't help but ramble on about, that for the first time in their relationship, their unspoken relationship, she did not hear what he had to say. 

A few weeks later, Jimin disappeared. Rumors spread throughout the campus, some more hateful than others. The day before he had disappeared, so too had Chanyeol reappeared. Many speculated that Ina had traded him for Chanyeol and that he had killed himself. Some even went so far as to call Ina a witch, a slut. How could she trade him for Chanyeol only now that he had returned? But it was all a lie.

The day Chanyeol had returned, Ina had confessed to Jimin on their way home from school.

"I love you," she had run up to say.

Jimin had gone off after seeing Chanyeol hug her during class. He didn't want to admit it but he was scared of losing her to him, of losing himself and becoming too jealous to stand at her side. It wasn't like they could live happily ever after, especially with his secret life, a life he could not bring her into for fear of getting her hurt.

"I don't care about him the way I do about you. Jimin I only love you," she had admitted.

He looked happy for only a second, but then the fear began taking over again. What if she hated who he really was? He was a man who could kill living creatures, resurrect the dead if he so pleased too, and even put a spell on her to keep her to himself. He had the blood of those who could only obsess over women and enslave them. How could she love someone like him? How could she love a monster?

"Ina we can't-"

She didn't care.

Ina walked right up to him, grabbed both his hands, and kissed him. She closed her eyes and kissed him. At first, he kissed back. So long he had longed to be able to savor her lips, to be able to protect and stand by that wild girl who stood before him. But it was too late. He was being watched, he was being monitored and she would be in danger if he did not go back, back to the village he was forced to call home.

After pushing her away and running to his house, he packed his things and left for the village. He packed his things and did not return, crying day and night, and cursing the life he had to live. 

As if by fate, Ina would find him, however, standing in the middle of the forest. And from then on she would visit. And from then on she would see him as often as she could, up until she came across that pale white figure of a man, the one named Yoongi. Several weeks after accidentally bumping into him she had no longer heard of Jimin. He had truly disappeared, he had truly gone away, never to return.

°˖✧ End of Ina's Flashback✧˖°

"So you two were close in the human world?" Yoongi questioned.

Ina smiled, tears welling up in her eyes at the word "were".

"He was more than a friend. He was family. He was home, he was my everything," she choked out.

Yoongi could tell it hurt her to say those words. He too felt pain every time he thought back to Jimin. Yoongi had also known him, but unlike Ina, he had known that guy since he was a little boy. Both Jimin and Yoongi were outcasts in school in the village. No one would talk to them and soon that same empty feeling that pushed them apart from everyone else pulled the two closer. Both Jimin and Yoongi shared that loneliness, and Hoseok, another one of their classmates, would also join them after much hesitation. All three of them spent many childhood years together. After Jimin left for 3 years, Yoongi became closer to Hoseok, but as soon as Jimin came back from the human world, it was as if he had never left. He was still as in love with nature, still as smiley and unwavering as before, but he could tell that something pained him. There were times when he would stare off into space, where he would speak of leaving and never returning. Yoongi and Hoseok would often brush his words off as the rambling of their little old weirdo, but Yoongi could tell, that something was calling out to Jimin, someone had given Jimin the taste of happiness, one he wanted to return to. Yoongi's friendship was unwavering, and his love and care for the young man were like that of siblings.

Even after Yoongi caught Jimin wielding magic, Yoongi still stood by him. Yoongi had been the one to find the edge of Igna's barrier, and with his help, Jimin was able to freely use magic. Yoongi blamed himself, however. If he had told him not to use it, maybe he would still be alive. If he had intervened, maybe it would be Jimin who sat there next to Ina and shared her struggle with her. 

"He was a good guy, he really was," Yoongi said to himself, his tone saddened.

"Yeah. No one could make you laugh like him. No one could make you appreciate the world like him. I miss him," Ina added, her tears finally falling.

Yoongi sat quietly. He didn't want to disturb her. She needed to cry, just like he had cried after he buried his friend. The tears in her eyes wouldn't stop no matter how hard she tried, leaving long clean tracks down her muddy face.

Yoongi turned away, his tears betraying him.

They both sat there silently, letting their tears fall, none of them saying a word to the other.

"Did he die peacefully?" 

Yoongi didn't respond.

Ina felt sick to her stomach, the thought of Jimin dying a horrific death making her want to tear whoever or whatever had killed him to pieces. Ina began hitting Yoongi's chest, her cries becoming louder. She was angry, she was furious. Her one job and she had failed him.

"I could have protected him, I should have been there. It's my fault, I shouldn't have let him go away-"

"Hush, hush, I know it's tough but we can't be crying here, we might get eaten. It's ok to feel hurt. Just know he was buried under a large and beautiful tree on the outskirts of Igna, far enough from the barrier to where you can go visit. I can take you once this whole thing is over and I save my mom. I promise," Yoongi said while pulling her into his body.

She became quieter, taking his words into account. She let his hands wrap around her, her face pressing against his muddy shirt.

"I promise."

°˖✧♡✧˖°

🐨I honestly did not think I could get this done today but I made it short and sweet so that it's hopefully not too confusing with all the other information I have thrown at you all.

I hope you enjoy and thank you for the votes and comments, they are what keeps this book going!!

Song's on Spotify that correspond to this chapter:

◇ BTS Still With You by Jungkook

◇ BTS Lie - Smyan Piano

◇Don't leave me - Funguypiano

◇ BTS 4 o'clock by DooPiano

Mama KoalaBeaw

~♔~