How long can it last?

2020

It was funny how life fleets yet you're still there living the same. Flowers wilts in cold, but bloom again in spring. People grow old but sometimes feelings remain.

Life is a fast pace, it's a fleeting memory but it's your choice to move on or hold it as long as you can. And so is, love. It happens just a blink of an eye but it can also fade like how rainbow vanishes less than an hour after a great storm.

As for Lisa and Taehyung, forever didn't last that long.

Jennie might not say it but as much as she was heartbroken with her parents love story she also adored it like a kid who couldn't move on from her favorite fairytale.

Namjoon saw his girlfriend alone on the balcony of her room. She was staring at the moon, a habit of hers when she feels sad. Namjoon take the blanket on her bed as he walked towards her and wrapped it around his girlfriend to warm her up.

"Your grandpa fell asleep on the couch again, you should be resting too."
He hugged her from behind as he kissed her temple, Jennie softly smiled at this sweet gesture.

"I couldn't sleep." She murmurs with a tiny sigh.

"What's bugging your mind?" His chests rising and falling against her back, Jennie contentedly put her arms on the top of his as they swayed with the nonexistent music.

"Them." She hummed, still looking at the moon to calm her beating heart.

"It's tragic, Joonie. Dad said he still loves her, he said he was the happiest being with mom and no one could replace her in his heart." This time Jennie turned around to face her boyfriend. Namjoon just listens to her, it must be really sad and complicated living in a home where your parents never really had the happy ending that they should've deserve but they both know they can't blame the fate.

Jennie look at her side where she carried earlier a photo of her and her mom on a picture frame. She heaved a deep sighed and wrap her arms around her boyfriend's torso and hug him close as she softly mumbles,
"He have the deepest affection for her but the sad thing is, she could no longer remember him."

1998

It's been weeks since Taehyung never left their side inside this white building. He may go out a little bit to change clothes in his home but he stays with them 24/7 most of the time.

Being with his two girls were enough to complete his day but as long as the days passed by he can't help but to wonder that there's definitely wrong with her.

Taehyung came knocking on the office door of Lisa's doctor. He dashed his way in and saw Mr. Manoban with him. He bowed at the both of them as a respect before he asked the doctor about Lisa's condition.
"Doc, why can't she still remember me?"
The two old man exchanges looks, hesitating wether to tell Taehyung the truth about it.

"You said it was just a matter of time." He take a few steps closer with them, realization washed over him in alternating waves of pain and numbness. But he still hopes for the best, he needed to try, he needed to believe, because if no one could? Who will be?

A threatening construct pain building up inside his chest.

Taehyung was about to ask one more time when Mr. Manoban stood up and look at him firmed.
"Stopped this already, young man."

"No dad, I need to know what's wrong with my wife!" Taehyung gulped the lump in his throat as his hands formed into a tight fist.

But both man were in pain for what happened to Lisa. The man behind the car accident send himself to the police and admitted his crime, but Lisa's father blamed Taehyung for what happened to his only princess.
"You have no rights with my daughter. You did this to her." He firmly command. Taehyung shake his head in disbelief.

"Stay away from her from now on." The old Manoban glared at Taehyung one last time before he went back on seating.

The latter was speechless. A tear rolled onto his cheek, but he didn't care; it's the least thing that matters to him right now.
"W-what? You couldn't do this to me, sir. We're married."

"A marriage I didn't agree on."

Taehyung slowly take a few steps closer to the man as he unashamedly kneeled down in front of him.
"Sir, please I'm begging you. Don't do this, I love Lalisa." He was a crying mess, he just want to know what's wrong with his wife because it's not a simple amnesia anymore. But the even worse thing happened when Mr. Manoban opened his mouth and say the words that terrifies Taehyung to death.

"You choose young man, you stay away from my daughter or you won't ever see Jennie again." His eyes were round and wide, completely shock about the choice Mr. Manoban gave him. Taehyung's eyes produced more tears, this is so wrong because in the first place he mustn't choose anyone of them because he deserves them both. He is legally married to Lisa and Jennie is his daughter. He have all the rights for the both of them, all the rights to be with them.

His head dropped in defeat, eyes fixed on the floor, as he whispered through the tears, "Did I really commit some unforgivable sin, sir? For you to punish me like this?"

Tears soaked the floor beneath him as he waited for any sign of mercy.

But Mr. Manoban's voice was cold, cutting through the silence like a blade. "My daughter can no longer remember me because of you. Every time she recalls anything, it slips away the next morning, and she wakes up with no memory of it. Do you really want to know the sin you've committed?"

And then, it happened. The walls Taehyung had built around himself—his strength, his hope—collapsed in a single moment. His world shattered, and the crushing weight of his actions settled in. Everything he thought he knew, everything he believed in, crumbled before his eyes.

2020

As they swayed at the nonexistent music and Jennie rested her head on his chest, her lips began to lift into a content smile.
"But you know what's magical, Joonie?" she murmured, her voice soft. Namjoon shook his head with a small chuckle, humming in response. Jennie's arms tightened around him, a gesture of love and gratitude. In this moment, she truly felt lucky to have him in her life.

She continued, her voice tinged with nostalgia, "She may not remember anyone, but every time I ask her if she's ever fallen in love before..." Her words trailed off as her thoughts drifted to an earlier conversation with her mother. The memory was vivid in her mind—her mother, with a smile, handing her a piece of her favorite chocolate, a gift from her dad.

Jennie puffed her cheeks, trying desperately to hold back tears. She fought to stay composed, but the emotions welled up inside her, uncontainable. "Mom will smile at me and say... It must be nice falling in love with your best friend." The words were too much, and she buried her face against Namjoon's chest, her tears breaking free.

Namjoon, ever steady, gently patted her back, his presence a calm anchor in the storm of emotions. Jennie took a shaky breath, her tears subsiding as she managed to lift her head and smile, though it was bittersweet.

"Somewhere in her heart, the feelings are already inked in there," she continued, her voice steadier now, "like a tattoo. No matter what, no matter how many years pass."