21st February

"You're picking the wrong strawberries again, Tae Tae!"

A young, seven year old Taehyung looked up to the old woman with worry in his eyes.

"Nooo!" he stared at the unripe strawberries in his tray. "Not again!"

"It's okay, Tae Tae." she put her hand on his shoulder. "Look here-" the lady guided Taehyung to a plant with the perfect bright red strawberries dangling down. "You see how even the colour is?"

Taehyung attentively nodded his head.

"It travels from tip to tip, right?" the woman's finger trailed the berry top to bottom. "When you find such a berry, that means it's perfect to pick." she clipped the stem of the fruit and put it in her grandson's tray. "And always remember, pick part of their stems with the fruit, alright?" she smiled.

Taehyung's eyes sparkled at the fruit, and he made a determined face. "Alright!!" he nodded enthusiastically and went ahead to look for ripe berries.

"Like this one, grandma?" he picked a big, juicy strawberry and held it up for her to see.

The lady in the straw hat smiled. "Exactly! This one is perfect! Now, your mission is to find five more of these and then we'll head on to your violin lesson, okay?"

"Okay!" Taehyung then ran off into the aisles in search for the perfect five.

Taehyung and his grandmother had a very close bond with each other. She'd raised her grandson for most of his life, as his parents were overseas for an average ten months of the year. From taking him to school, or to his violin lessons, to teaching him the basics of life, Taehyung's grandmother was his everything.

Side by side, they'd walk everyday to Taehyung's violin lessons. As they walked, they'd talk about everything Taehyung did at school that day. When Taehyung was in a class high enough to join after-school activities, the drama club used to be the one topic that Taehyung never stopped talking about.

As a young boy, Taehyung had always been eager to learn many different things. It started with harvesting strawberries, then to playing the violin and then expressing his talent in acting.

As years passed by, Taehyung grew older and more mature, his various skills became as smooth as a clear stream of water. But his grandmother had aged as well, which brought along several downsides to her health. The most painful being, her ability to think or remember anything. She was slowly forgetting everything.

Soon it came to the point when they stopped walking together, as she needed to be in a safe environment most of the time. Which in turn stopped their conversations about Taehyung's school and the drama club.

They stopped picking strawberries together, because her hands were weary. They had lost their gentle, delicate touch. All her hands did, were tremble, due to her age.

His grandmother couldn't even recognise Taehyung anymore. In the rare occasion that she did, it would only last for a small fraction of time and then she'd go back to questioning who he was.

But, the only thing she did respond to, was Taehyung's violin. It was the only thing that got the occasional happiness and joy on her face.

"I have a competition tomorrow, grandma." a twenty year old Taehyung said, kneeling down on the ground beside his grandmother's armchair.

"I know you can't come-" he smiled weakly. "-but, could you wish me luck?"

The elder look down at him. "Wish you luck?" her voice was croaky.

"Yes." his eyes glistened with hope.

"What for?" her pace of speaking was slow.

"For my competition, grandma." he replied patiently.

She looked out of the window, into the woods. She said nothing.

"Grandma?"

Her expression was dull and grey. The weather outside was getting gloomy by the minute, just like her face.

"Come on, Tae!" a heavy male voice called from the living space. "We're going to be late."

Taehyung clasped his grandmother's hand in his. He closed his eyes and squeezed her thin wrinkly fingers softly and kissed them, as if to say 'Take care, I'll be back soon.'

He got up and turned to leave the room, when a woman walked in. She was the nurse who came over once in a while for Taehyung's grandmother.

"Take care of her." he told her.

"I've been doing this for years, Taehyung." she smiled. "You don't need to worry. I'll take care of her, you worry about your competition."

"Right." he pressed his lips and nodded.

"Taehyung!!" the voice shouted for him from the other room again.

"I am coming!" he responded, and went to the living room.

"Taehyung, we're going to be late!" the male voice said.

"We won't be, uncle."

The man got Taehyung's violin case and handed it to him. "Come on now, everyone's waiting for you at the door."

Outside, his aunt, cousin sister and Jimin were patiently waiting for the two.

"Finally!" the aunt let out a sigh when she saw her husband and nephew.

Hurriedly, they got into the car and drove off to the city, to Taehyung's University.

On reaching their destination, Taehyung led the group to the auditorium where the event was about to take place.

"You good?" Jimin asked Taehyung and walked with a faster pace to match his strides.

Taehyung nodded his head.

"You're nervous, aren't you?"

They reached the auditorium. It was buzzing with a large crowd.

"Yeah." Taehyung said slowly as he looked around at the amount of people he'd have to perform in front of.

"Hey." Jimin tugged on his shoulder and turned Taehyung to face him. "I know this is huge, but don't let the crowd overwhelm you, okay? Think of granny when you play, hmm?"

Taehyung let out a shaky breath.

Jimin squeezed Taehyung's shoulder. "Win first place for her, okay?"

That made Taehyung's face crack into a small smile. He looked into Jimin's eyes. He couldn't have been thankful enough to have a friend like him.

Taehyung hugged Jimin. "You have no idea how grateful I am to have a friend like you."

Jimin pat his back . "Yeah, yeah. I know." he pulled himself away. "Now hurry and go, your professor must be waiting. And all the best."

Backstage, Taehyung sat in a room assigned to the participants of his University, running the notes through his head back and forth. His head moved with the melody in his mind. He was still nervous about getting everything perfect, after all, it was the hardest piece he'd ever have to perform in front of hundreds of people.

"Are you all set?" a sweet voice asked him.

Taehyung looked up and found his professor looking back at him.

"Yes." he replied.

The woman smiled. "Good. And Taehyung, it may be a very overwhelming crowd to perform in, and the judges may be a bit over the top, but no matter what- do your best!"

The event ended after a display of three hours worth of instrumental performances back to back. Outside, the dull weather was slowly clearing to a bright blue sky, and the Kim family and Jimin were headed back home.

"I knew you'd win." Jimin said.

Taehyung grinned as he stared at his trophy.

"Of course he won!" his elder cousin sister butted in. "He captivated the judges with his over-dramatic expressions." she started teasing her brother by making exaggerated faces at him.

Jimin laughed out, while an annoyed Taehyung nudged her. "I didn't do that!" he protested.

"Oh yeah you did!" she laughed and gave Jimin a high-five.

Taehyung scrunched his eyebrows and turned to face his friend. "Are you on her side?"

Jimin giggled, making his pudgy cheeks perk up. "Well, she isn't wrong-"

"See?" Taehyung's sister raised her brows at him.

"I got emotional with the piece, okay?" he said back and folded his arms.

"Alright, alright all of you." his aunt called from the front seat. "Stop teasing him, you all are like little kids! By the way, Tae, Grandma will be so proud of you when you show her that trophy."

"Yeah." he smiled softly and looked at the trophy.

"Why don't we have a feast tonight?" she asked. "You should call your family over too, Jimin. And we'll have a small party!"

"Yeah! You definitely should!!"

Just then, the aunt's phone rang.

As the others talked at the back of the car, the air at the front got heavy. The woman's face had shock written all over her face as she looked at her husband in the driver's seat.

"Are you sure?" she asked worriedly. Her husband kept glancing at her every second, trying to read the atmosphere.

"Okay, okay." she nodded her head hastily. "We're coming."

"What's the matter, hon?" the man asked worriedly.

"Drive home fast."

She didn't specify anything, but her husband understood the uneasiness in her eyes and sped the car without questioning. He knew something was up.

On reaching home, they saw the nurse outside, waiting for them.

Taehyung frowned. 'Why did she leave grandma alone? Is she sleeping?'

His aunt rushed out and gently placed her hands on the nurse's arms. "Did you check everywhere?" her breath was puffy and short.

"I did!" there were tears flowing down her cheeks. "The greenhouse, the backyard, the entire house- I didn't fin-"

"Shhh!" the other woman hushed her down.

Taehyung approached them with a confused look on his face. "What's wrong?"

"Taehy-" the nurse's voice was trembling.

The boy's face fell in despair, he was thinking of an awful scenario, he didn't want it to be true.

He ran inside the house, to his grandmother's room. He stood at the door of the room and saw no one in. The armchair was empty, so was the bed. The room was silent.

Behind him, all the others had followed him in, but he pushed by them and searched the entire house for his grandma. Soon, the other members were rushing around the house, but she wasn't anywhere to be found.

"Where did she go?" Taehyung faced the nurse.

"I-I d-don't know-" she sniffled. "She was asleep! So, I just went to get some-"

"YOU KNOW YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO LEAVE HER ALONE!" he shouted.

Jimin held onto Taehyung's arm and restrained him. "Taehyung, calm down! We'll find her, okay?"

"I've called the cops." Taehyung's uncle informed.

"The cops?" Taehyung questioned briskly. "Wait-no-" he swished his hand away from Jimin's grip and frowned frustratedly. "How far do you think she's gone? She couldn't have gotten too far!" he turned to the nurse again. "Are you sure you checked everywhere?"

The nurse nodded. "The entire backyard, behind the greenhouses- I checked everywhere! Even the chicken coop!"

Taehyung clicked his tongue and rubbed his tensed forehead.

"She was asleep before you left her?"

"Yes!"

"And how long did you leave her for?"

The corner's of the nurse's mouth twitched. "About twenty or so minutes."

"TWENTY MINUTES?"

Jimin grabbed his arm again. "Taehyung."

Taehyung looked back at him in pain. His eyes were glassy and his hands slightly trembling. He didn't know what to do.

'Should I go and search for her? But where could she be? She couldn't have just walked off to somewhere aimlessly, right? Or did she?'

"Taehyung, calm down. I've called the cops, they'll be here soon."

Taehyung sat down on the couch behind him heavily. There was silence, and the entire room had nothing but tension looming around.

"But-" the nurse started all of a sudden. "-before she slept, she kept mentioning your name, Taehyung. She kept calling for you."

"For me?"

"I-I told her that you weren't home, but she became persistent. She got out a picture of you and her, and kept pointing at you!"

"A picture?" Taehyung gave a confused look, but then shook his head. "Anyway, anything else? Did she say anything else?"

"No! She just went to sleep after that-"

"Where is that picture?"

The nurse lead him to her room and looked around for a bit. "It's not here."

"What was in the picture?"

"It was you and her, with the city at the back-"

Taehyung didn't wait for her to finish and ran out of the house. He knew exactly what place she was talking about.

The gloomy weather was back again and the clouds were rumbling above him as he ran to the woods near his house.

'Please be there, please be there.' he thought constantly as he ran through the woods.

He finally reached a small grassy cliff that overlooked the city. His eyes fell on the stone benches to one side. A figure was propped on one of them. Panting heavily, he walked to the bench and looked at the person. It was his grandmother.

A smile erupted on his face. "Oh, thank god!" he breathed out happily. Her eyes were closed and her head was drooping down, it was how she usually slept, so that was what Taehyung thought.

He sat down next to her and held her left hand. "Grandma, you scared me!"

Her hand was cold, and they didn't clasp his back. "Grandma?"

She did not respond. Her eyes didn't open. She didn't move. She didn't even flinch.

Frantically, Taehyung shook her slightly. "Grandma?" his voice started to get shaky. His throat had a stuffy feeling to it.

"Grandma!" his eyes were slowly getting heavy with tears. "No, no, no, no! Grandma, please wake up!"

He went for her right hand and noticed that she had a small picture in her palm. It was the picture that the nurse talked about. The picture he had taken with his grandma on that very cliff.

Tears fell from his eyes as he called out for her more. She still wouldn't respond.

The sky rumbled and then, one by one, the drops hit the two. The darkness engulfed their surroundings as the rain started to pour down harder. Taehyung couldn't help but weep a bit louder, as the heavy rain's pitter-patter covered his voice.

His eyes closed and he clung onto the limp body, still calling out to her, but nothing seemed to be affecting her. His voice, his body, the rain hitting her face uncomfortably......she was at peace.

His eyes opened, but he wasn't hugging his grandmother, drenched by the rain, sitting on the stone bench. He was in his bed, covered in sweat, panting excessively.

Just then, his phone rang. Still panting, he reached for his phone and looked at the lock screen.

6:00 am- the time showed, and a reminder was up on the notification tab.

Modelling Audition Day- it said.

He let out a low sigh and sat up. He held his head in dismay and stared at his sheets. "What a nice way to start today." he mumbled.

After trying to calm down, he got out of the bed, went to shower and chose his clothes for the audition. He made sure to choose something black, as it would make his features stand out.

In his small kitchen, he set up some breakfast for himself. It wasn't much, just a bowl of cereal. He sat on the counter stool, with his bowl on the kitchen counter. His eyes fell on the roses he had brought home on valentine's, and touched the tips of their petals.

"They are wilting slowly."

His phone rang. It was a text message from Jimin-

"Good morning! All the best for your audition! Come over at Serendipity later, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you." Taehyung texted back.

He set his phone aside, but it rang again. Although, this time, it was a message from Jungkook.

"Good morning! Don't get too nervous today, you'll do great!" And then, a sticker popped up. A sticker of a white bunny doing a 'thumbs up' sign.

Taehyung let out a small laugh at the unexpected sticker. "How cute." 

Note-

> First of all, thank you to all those who read, voted, commented and followed me in the last two days!!! This really means a lot to me!! Thank you for all your kind compliments and support!!!

>Second, Yoongi's new album is FIREEEEEEEEE- OH MY GOSH, it's SOOOO AMAZING!!!! I am speechless~

>Third, Thank you guys once again!! Love you all!!! I hope you all are doing well and have a great day!!!

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