Timeless Snow ✓

Ch. 83 - Last Call

There was no changing his mind. He had decided his fate, and not even a god could talk him out of it. You could see the determination sparkle in his brown eyes like sprinklers on the 4th of July. Wrapped together in a blanket nestled atop a snowy mountain looking down on the city seemingly lit with stars as it glowed in the night. That moment of perfection, how you wished it could last for an eternity. The world was wild and unpredictable, but the two of you always seemed to get the short end of the stick. Lowering your head in frustration, a piece of your soul cursed the universe for its torment upon the both of you. 

Taehyung began to shift as his hands unwrapped from around you, leaving the blanket in his place as he began to reach into the pockets of his pants, fishing something out. You looked at the metallic brick before turning your head to meet his gaze with a raised brow. His lips strengthened as he chewed on his words. 

"You don't have to say goodbye." No. Quickly your head cast down. You didn't even want him to suggest it. You knew he was right; you knew there was one phone call you needed to make, even if leaving without a word would be much easier. "Tell him what he needs to hear before we're gone..." Shutting your eyes, you shook your head as the tears rolled. You thought you were safe from the torment of goodbyes, but only one needed to be made now.

"I can't." You cried. Raising your hand, you rubbed your palm into your eye socket to try and stop the tears. "H-How am I supposed to do that?!" Sobbing, you sunk into yourself at the idea of saying goodbye to your big brother broke your heart to pieces. He didn't deserve this either, to go through all of this tragedy, yet you were the only one in control of it. Staying wasn't an option, it was no longer possible, and you knew he would blame himself for an eternity if you took your own life. 

"It's beautiful to have something that makes goodbyes so incredibly hard," Taehyung whispered as he leaned into you. With one arm around your shoulders, he rubbed at your arm under the blanket, trying to calm you. His head rested with yours as he closed his eyes and held you. He knew this was hard and didn't expect you to tough it out. Your choice was impossible with a forced decision. "One day, we will see him again when he joins the after many years from now, so this isn't goodbye. It's just 'Seeya later.'" 

You remained crying in his embrace for a long few minutes. A shakey, gloved hand reached between you and took hold of the brick-shaped electronic. "Do you want privacy?" Taehyung asked as he rubbed at your back from over the plaid blanket. Shaking your head back and forth, you gave your answer silently. Your words were locked in your chest, your brain in hyperdrive as it tried to formulate what you could say to your brother to make this easier. You searched your mind like a lost library in an underground bunker with millions of books, looking for any literation that could spare him the devastating feeling of losing someone you've loved your entire life. 

You jammed your thumb into the power button on the side and started up the device. Modern technology is so advanced that you can contact anyone in the world with anyone else seamlessly. A few hundred years ago, you would have been called a witch for even imagining a device as sophisticated as a cell phone. Taehyung had turned his phone off to ensure it wouldn't ring while you were asleep in the car, as well as a sense of paranoia that someone would try and track his GPS to find them.

As soon as the phone booted up and the screen loaded the background, a picture of the two of you smiling happily in a slice of life. Your blurry eyes stared at the picture as the corner of your lips twitched upward. The device began to vibrate rapidly as dings chimed off. '56 missed calls from Jimin.' You gave a fake number to your parents for Taehyung's number. The last thing you needed was for her to find out Taehyung had been a nurse at the hospital you were institutionalized in. They would have likely been the ones to track his GPS if you had given them the correct number.