¢нαρтєя 31
«ωнσ αяє уσυ?»
❦

"you see, the thing is..." yeona fidgeted in her seat. "I had a brother back when I was little. when we got abandoned by our alcoholic parents, we lived in our house alone. I was too little and I don't remember much, but I remember well enough how he took care of me, gave me all he had and all of himself."

"what happened?" jackson frowned, understanding where this was going.

"he went out of the house to buy food one day and apparently our parents owned some precious painting that hung in the living room." yeona continued. "I was waiting for him, but this unknown man broke in to steal that painting... since I was the witness, he had to get rid of me."

"do you not remember who the man was?"

"not at all." she responded. "he stabbed me in the stomach and ran away... I remember the horrible pain I felt and how I slowly started loosing strength and consciousness. but the man returned. i recall being picked up and carried to our nearest hospital, but then I blacked out."

"so he saved you afterwards?" he asked.

"I guess so." she chuckled quietly. "when I healed I was sent into an orphanage where I received daily consultation on suicide and all... I have no idea why. but that's the past, long story short, I was mad and was desperate to find my brother so I decided I should run away. I trained myself everyday, thought of ways to escape and one day, when I turned fifteen, soojin saw me aggressively punching a pillow I hung up on a tree branch. she offered me to join her and in return, she'd free me from the orphanage."

"damn..." jackson exhaled loudly. "I tried so hard to get into the gang while you were simply noticed."

"I guess it was meant to happen." she said. "it instantly got to me – I could train myself until I'm the best, that would make me privileged and I would be able to use that to find my lost brother."

"you went through so much and still are just for your brother... you're amazing, yeona." jackson smiled. "how long has it been? you're still keeping it up."

"I just hope he's alive... I lost count of years." yeona closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "but in reality, I'd be happy to at least find his grave. I just wish to know where he is... even if he's not searching for me. the only thing I have left from him are memories and this golden necklace with my initials on it."

jackson came up to yeona and gave her a tight hug. yeona wasn't used to something so sweet and loving, she was the complete opposite, but the reason why she hung around jackson was because he was the complete opposite of her. he was gentle and caring, just like jungkook used to be back when they were together. jackson was a reminder of the reason yeona was still on her feet.

"sorry, I know you don't like hugs." jackson began to pull away only to feel yeona hug him tighter. he felt something drop onto his shoulder and it took him a moment to realize she was crying.
he patted her back in a calming manner and in a matter of minutes pulled away.
"I'm glad you told this to me. it's important to talk about such things, don't let it sit inside."

"sorry, I hate being weak." she mumbled. "in any case, now it's your turn – tell me the plan."
her red and swollen eyes were now dark and determined.

"eager, aren't we?" jackson smirked and went back to his seat. "well... listen up..."

❦

"yeona... it's me." jungkook whispered waiting to see the girl's reaction.

she stayed silent for a moment.
"who are you?" she whispered back. "I don't know how you found out my name, but don't think I'll believe a word you say."
her hand pressed hard and jungkook felt less and less air enter his lungs.

"y-yeona..." jungkook's hand was able to reach for the photo in his pocket, he took it out and showed it to her. "it's me – jungkook."

her grip loosened as she looked at the photo. her eyes softened for a moment but then went back to being dark and jungkook understood she needed more proof.

"this photo was taken five months after your birthday..." he mumbled. "I didn't have enough money on your birthday, so I waited and bought you that golden necklace you're wearing right now... with your initials on it."

"what...?"

"remember how we sat outside on the grass during summer nights?" jungkook looked right into her eyes. "I told you stories and you'd make new, different endings for them. and on sundays we'd try and make cookies together, but they were always burnt because we turned on the TV to watch tom and jerry and forgot about them."

yeona fully let go of jungkook and backed away slowly, looking at jungkook as if he were an alien.

"your favorite color was yellow because it was the color of happiness, you hugged a bunny plushie gifted to you by our mom every night despite knowing that she left us... along with dad." he felt tears prickle his eyes.

"no... shut up..." yeona raised her eyes, looking at jungkook. she felt tears escape her eyes and roll down her cheeks. she couldn't believe this... no way.
"I... I can't... what?"

jungkook walked up to yeona. he hesitated. she looked scared.
"I... I understand it will be difficult to interpret this..." jungkook exhaled. "I have been searching for you all my life... at first I wasn't even sure you're alive, but I decided to search and search in hopes of finding you dead or alive."

"so many years have passed..." she cried and slid down the wall, curling into a ball.
jungkook crouched down and carefully placed his hands on her shoulder's finding it hard to believe this was really her – his lost sister.
"how did you know...?"

"your necklace." jungkook pointed out. "I noticed it during our last fight... I wasn't supposed to do this, I wasn't supposed to come here and meet you now, tell you this but I couldn't..." tears found their way back into jungkook's eyes. "I couldn't wait any longer, I had to come here and see you... I don't care about what will happen."

yeona raised her head and started crying loudly.
"jungkook..." she jumped into his embrace, loving the warmth she felt. this really was jungkook... her brother she has been searching for all this time. it felt so familiar to be in the arms of someone who she hasn't seen for years. "I can't believe this."

they stayed like that for a long time. despite the coldness of the night, it felt warm to be in each other's arms.
it felt so unreal. even though both have changed a lot, now being able to see one another's features closer, they saw the resemblance – jungkook still had his childish, big eyes filled with galaxies, and yeona's smile could be recognized in a thousand others.

it wasn't awkward at all to sit on the ground in silence, they enjoyed each other's presence and touch, smiles and tears.

"your hair grew so much... I remember it barely reaching your shoulders." jungkook smiled somehow being proud of himself for raising such an amazing and strong girl.

"you became so buff." she laughed. "you fight so well now."

"you fight amazingly! and I'm sorry for cutting you earlier." jungkook viewed the bandage on her arm. "does it hurt a lot?"

"it's alright." she responded. "in any case, I don't think we should stay here any longer."

"we should meet up." jungkook suggested. "I want to know how you've been, what happened to you and just everything."

"jungkook, I'm scared... we're rivals now and if we announce that we're siblings nobody would pity us and end this war." she said with a hint of sadness.

"you're right..." jungkook rubbed his eyes in frustration. "what are we going to do?"

"I don't know... I really don't know, jungkook."

❦