Quiet | BTS ✓

41

"Ah, there's the sleepyhead," Hoseok announces as he gestures to a sleepy-eyed Aria making her way into the kitchen.

Her hair now in a messy bun, she makes her way to grab a cup of coffee before making her way to stand next to Yoongi, who kisses the top of her head as a greeting.

Aria smiles softly and leans her head against Yoongi's shoulder, taking a tentative sip of the hot liquid before a flash of light erupts from in front of them. Yoongi and Aria glance up at Hoseok, who is holding his phone in front of his face and grinning proudly.

"Cute," he coos before putting his phone back in his pocket.

Aria's eyes narrow as she glares at Hoseok, who just winks in her direction before picking up his own coffee cup and taking a large gulp.

"Yoongi," Hoseok says, keeping his eyes on Aria.

"Hmm?" Yoongi replies, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

"Aria has an appointment today. We are meeting with her neurologist as well as her speech therapist to discuss her progress, and I was wondering if you would like to come with us so you can hear what they have to say," he says, raising his eyebrows at Aria slightly to make sure this is what she wants.

Yoongi also turns his gaze to his girlfriend, who looks up into his eyes and nods in response.

"Yeah I'll come," Yoongi says, smiling and taking a sip of his coffee.

Aria stands on her tiptoes and kisses Yoongi's cheek before making her way to Hoseok to do the same. She sends them both a smile before placing her coffee cup on the counter and making her way back upstairs.

Hoseok and Yoongi watch her retreating figure go towards the stairs before collectively sighing and turning their focus back to each other.

"They're concerned," Hoseok says as soon as they're alone.

"Why?" Yoongi asks, furrowing his eyebrows in worry.

"I'm not sure," he says, shrugging his shoulders. "We've never been called into a meeting like this so suddenly. I got the call yesterday afternoon and they said we need to come in as soon as possible."

Yoongi hums in response, not trusting his voice to conceal his worried state.

~

"Thank you so much for coming in," the neurologist says, gesturing for the three of them to sit at the large table in the room.

Yoongi, Aria and Hoseok take a seat on one side of the table, and the neurologist takes his seat next to Aria's speech therapist.

"Ah, we have someone else joining today, Mr. Jung?" the neurologist asks, gesturing to Yoongi.

"Min Yoongi," Yoongi answers, standing up and bowing in the direction of the two people across from him. "I'm Aria's boyfriend."

"Very nice to meet you, Mr. Min," the speech therapist says. "I am Kim Seokjin, and this is Kim Namjoon."

"I have been treating Aria since her accident, and Mr. Kim has been providing speech therapy for Aria for about a month now," Dr. Kim explains. "And while we have seen tremendous growth and improvement, we do have some concerns."

Aria is seated in between Yoongi and Hoseok, and she immediately reaches her hands out and takes a hand of each boy in her own, squeezing gently in reassurance for the both of them as the two men across from them continue.

"I have been working with Aria on simple words to try to kickstart her brain into re-learning what has been lost," Mr. Kim explains. "While we have made progress with using non-verbal communication, meaning just using her mouth to form the words without using her actual voice to communicate, we still cannot evoke any sort of voice usage."

"And when this was brought to my attention, I became concerned," Dr. Kim says. "I became worried that the damage was more extensive than we originally thought."

Hoseok gulps and sits up straighter and Yoongi bites his lip as he continues to listen, his heart pounding. In between the two of them, Aria is seemingly calm and doing her best to keep the boys on each side of her calm as well.

"But after looking at her recent brain scans, I can say with little to no doubt that there is no physical medical reason why she shouldn't be able to use her voice at all."

"So... what does that mean?" Hoseok asks, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"It means that we believe that the reason she cannot use her voice is something psychological," Mr. Kim says. "Something in her mind isn't letting her voice free. Or maybe it's because she is refusing to use it."

Everyone looks at Aria, who has her eyes trained on the table as she continues to hold Hoseok and Yoongi's hands.

"So now what?" Yoongi asks, pulling his attention back to the people across from them. "What is the plan?"

"I can recommend a really incredible therapist who can talk to Aria and help her sort through everything," Dr. Kim says in a soft tone, smiling warmly at the three of them.

"I believe Aria is making tremendous progress," Mr. Kim adds. "She came in with one simple request: She wanted to be able to mouth a sentence and refused to do anything else until I worked with her to perfect that one sentence. After that, she seemed completely willing to cooperate with my sessions, though there has never been a verbal sound come from her since the sessions have started."

"What sentence?" Yoongi asks, eyes locked on the speech therapist. "What sentence was she so determined to learn?"

"It was 'I love you, Yoongi'," he responds and Yoongi's heart skips a beat.

That sentence, the one she formed with her beautiful lips the night before, is the very first thing she wanted to learn to do before anything else.

Yoongi turns his head to his right to see Aria looking at him as well, her eyes glassy as she smiles at him.

"She worked tirelessly on that one sentence," Mr. Kim continues. "It took her some time to master it, but she was relentless; she never gave up. It seemed to be something incredibly important for her."

Yoongi smiles down at Aria, who is still watching him with a small smile on her face.

"Yes," Yoongi says softly. "It's something incredibly important for both of us."