Epiphany

Sunsets are supposed to be beautiful, Jimin thought as he was escorted down a marbled floor with golden lit walls by two woman in golden masks around their eyes. Taehyung leading in the front.

People all over the world watched the sun set together, admiring the swirl of color painting the sky as the star disappeared over the horizon. It was celebrated in paintings, weddings, photos, even in tattoos. Yet Jimin, steps echoing down the foreign corridor, couldn't understand why. A sunset was an end, a falsehood painted in bleeding colors only to pull in a night sky filled with darkness. It was a death in a way.

That's how he felt about Jungkook. Someone painted in bright colors of friendship and beauty, a false warmth around him. Heat that sung in Jimin's body when they touched, in his chest when he walked into a room, only to set like the sun the second Jimin dug too deep.

Nothing added up. The mask, the apartment, the flyer, the lies. Jimin's thighs still stung from how fast he'd ran from that apartment the second he was sure Jungkook was asleep. If his memories wouldn't come back to explain the last six years, there was still one more person who could.

It'd been raining heavy. The drops hurt his skin like bullets and caused the air to fog as Jimin tore through the apartment door. Taehyung - moving and breathing and very much alive - was already waiting in a dark car in front of the building. Like he knew Jimin would run from Jungkook the second he could, certain Jimin would catch Jungkook in a lie. Taehyung had rolled that right shoulder back, gave the apartment building a long look, before he swung the door open and helped Jimin jump in.

Jimin didn't remember much after, only that Taehyung talked in a hushed voice to the driver about the apartment and the rain before he sat back and started to type something on his phone. Jimin didn't bother speaking up during the car ride, didn't even ask where they were headed, as his focus was mainly on keeping the sobs in his chest at bay.

He felt betrayed. Jungkook, after all his hot chocolate and talk of movies and comfort on the bathroom floor, lied to him. Tricked him. Allowed him to believe that he was somehow his friend, a man that would protect him and support him and help Jimin not feel alone through this mess of a new life that he had woken up to. He was supposed to be his friend, above all else. And he'd lied over and over and over again.

It really wasn't until that van door shut and the apartment became a small speck in the rear view window with Jungkook still asleep inside of it that the terror hit Jimin. Since the day he woke up to this new body and new apartment and new fancy clothes with a new fiancé to supposedly share all of it with, he felt truly alone.

And there he was, running out of an apartment that he couldn't honestly tell if he had ever lived in, from a man he wasn't fully sure he had ever really known, into a black van on the other side of the street. The rain was cold but the city street was empty. No car lights to shine his steps and the street lights were off, casting the puddles into shadows trying to drag Jimin's feet and anchor them to the ground as he had ran.

The goosebumps on his skin never lessened as the car took them to a massive building about an hour or more out of the city. It was secluded and hugged by the ocean on one end and trees on the other, built like it could house royalty some long time ago. Each minute Jimin's heart rate only increased, the chills more frequent down his spine despite his best efforts.

The fear, the all consuming feeling of uncertainly over his missing time that Jungkook managed to tape over, finally burst open. Jimin's lungs suffocated from the impact. He couldn't see, couldn't think, beyond the all-consuming fear pouring into every inch of his body. So strong it could kill him. The wine-scent of the building was familiar and strange as he walked through the front door, everyone in golden masks across their eyes. Silver flowers adorned the walls and golden lights pooled over head as he was escorted down the hall he currently found himself in, each step echoing like the ticks of a clock.

His heart said to run, to push away his masked guards and pound his feet against the ground as far as his body could physically take him. But his mind cried for calm, despite Taehyung's physical difference and the choking cold air around him, Jimin trusted his old friend. Taehyung had been right about Jungkook, maybe he was right about this whole SADA thing too.

Taehyung had to have answers - or at least would lead Jimin to them. So he walked, down the paths of cinder smelling air and golden veined marble, towards a heavy door that spanned from the floor all the way to a beautiful arch scrapping the ceiling. Roses were craved into it's frame to be in infinite half bloom.

"Don't speak until directed to." Taehyung said as he stopped in front of the door. He gave a nod to the woman behind Jimin who stepped back and Taehyung fixed the cuffs of his own sleeves. "You're about to meet the president of SADA, so I'd chose your words carefully in there."

Jimin thought of the rain hitting his skin as he was pushed through the doors. He didn't get a chance to reply before he felt the world around him spin, memories shaking themselves behind the cages in his mind, ones he couldn't recall but could feel scream at him. Jimin shook the feeling off, glancing over at Taehyung before taking in the beautiful office he'd stepped into.

There, sitting in a lush velvet seat behind a marble desk, was one of the most dangerously beautiful men Jimin had ever seen. He wore a pink dusted suit, one which flashed that same memory across Jimin's mind of walking through very similar halls as a freshmen looking for Taehyung or Jungkook.

The man smiled, it stretched across his face as perfectly as if painted on, causing his eyes to almost sparkle.

"Welcome home Jimin, my name is Kim Seokjin. I can't possibly express my joy in having you finally returned to us."

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A/N:
Summer freeeedom!!
Also BTS three album comeback?? The demos?? Not ready
- Vio