"Take the pill and sleep quietly now Taehyung, I don't want any excuses." Hoseok hands me a bottle of water.
"Okay okay fine, stop acting like my mom," I eye him while drinking the water. Jeongguk laughs. He's standing near the door of his room.
"Jeongguk and I will be in the control room if I find you awake I swear-" I wrap my arms around him and pull him into a hug.
"Hoseokie, I know you're scared after what happened last night. It's okay, hmm? Chill."
"Okay, now sleep-"
"No wait," Jeongguk comes inside, fishing something out of his pocket. "You have a letter... and a parcel." He hands me a small rectangular box wrapped neatly in brown paper. Who could it be? My eyes light up immediately when I see the familiar, squiggly but beautiful handwriting.
𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎: 𝑳𝒆𝒆 𝑱𝒊-𝑾𝒐𝒐
𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒅, 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒔
2753 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂
"Whoa...it came all the way from Australia," Hoseok is peeking in. A huge smile forms on my face as I hold the parcel close to my heart. Finally! Ji-Woo has written to me for the first time since I came into service.
𝑻𝒐: 𝑲𝒊𝒎 𝑻𝒂𝒆𝒉𝒚𝒖𝒏𝒈
𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒘𝒐𝒏, 𝑼𝒏𝒊𝒕 𝑳𝑪54
𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝑲𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒂
"Ooooh, someone has a special girl in Australia," Hoseok attempts to tease me when he watches me grin like an idiot and open the letter. Jeongguk remains silent and watches me explain mine and Ji-Woo's relation to Hoseok.
"We're only friends! And also...she's my only friend," I explain hurriedly, as I can't wait to open her letter. "We had always been together since kindergarten. But she moved to Australia with her parents when we were in grade six and I was all lonely but she never forgot to check up on me 'till now-"
"Okay okay, understood, Tae," Hoseok raises his hands up in defense.
"Yeah," I fumble around with the packing paper.
"Read this and go to-"
"I'LL SLEEP HOSEOK," I desperately yell at him. He laughs and then goes out after Jeongguk, shutting the door softly behind him. Inside the package, there's a folded piece of paper and a neatly wrapped present on which is written:𝑶𝑷𝑬𝑵 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑳𝑬𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑭𝑰𝑹𝑺𝑻 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑮𝑰𝑭𝑻-𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑹𝑺𝑻𝒀 𝑯𝑼𝑴𝑨𝑵!I chuckle at the truth and open the letter.
𝑴𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑻𝒂𝒆, 𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑷𝒀 𝑩𝑰𝑹𝑻𝑯𝑫𝑨𝒀!! 𝑰 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 '𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 (𝑻𝒐𝒐 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉, 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒚 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕). 𝑨𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒂 𝑯𝑼𝑮𝑬 𝑯𝑼𝑮𝑬 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚. 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒆𝒔, 𝑰'𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕. 𝑰 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒐. 𝑰'𝒎 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎 :) 𝑨𝑵𝑫. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒖𝒚 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒉𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒈𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝑭𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒙. 𝑮𝑶𝑫. 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑰'𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆,𝑻𝒂𝒆!! 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚, 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖? 𝑯𝒐𝒘'𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆? 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆? 𝑨𝒏𝒚 𝒖𝒑𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔? 𝑴𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒑 𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈? 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒚? 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒆𝒕. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒓, 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒘 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑰'𝒎 𝑺𝑶𝑶 𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑼𝑫 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝑻𝒂𝒆𝒉𝒚𝒖𝒏𝒈-𝒂𝒉. 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝑻𝒂𝒆. 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍, 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒀𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑶𝒌𝒂𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕. 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌. 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒕. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏. 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅. 𝑴𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔. 𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆. 𝑻𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒉𝒖𝒈, 𝑱𝒊-𝑾𝒐𝒐 (𝑷.𝑺.- 𝑨𝒔 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒓, 𝑰'𝒎 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒌𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅'𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆. 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉. 𝑯𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 <3)
Multiple emotions surge through my head as I finish the letter. I immediately noted my replies in my head while reading the letter, and the moment I get hold of a paper and a pen I'm gonna write back to her.
I finally open the gift which I've been holding in my hand all the time. I run my fingers over the maroon, leather cover of a spring-bound album. It's the size of my hand and smells like vanilla.
I look up when the door opens. "Taehyung, I know you're not gonna sleep. Wanna come and sit with us?" Hoseok sticks his head inside the gap in the door.
"Umm, sure." I grab the album and follow him out.
"What's this?" Hoseok asks, pointing at the album when we sit down at the table with Jeongguk.
"Birthday gift. From Ji-Woo," I flip it open to find a picture of one-year-old baby Taehyung in a onesie with rabbits on it.
"Aww, look at you!" Hoseok practically melts after seeing that picture of me, making Jeongguk lean in and take a look at it too. He simply smiles.
The next page has a picture of Mum, Dad, and me on some bridge with mountains in the background. Page by page, each year of my life passes in front of my eyes.
I quickly try to cover the next picture of Ji-Woo and me from kindergarten. It was from some dance program, where I was dressed as a tiger (again a onesie with a tail and funny make-up on my face) and Ji-Woo was a fairy. But Hoseok is too quick.
"What the hell-" Hoseok laughs until he chokes.
"TaeTae the tiger," Jeongguk cracks up and joins Hoseok. My cheeks turn pink and I giggle too.
The next pictures are nothing special, just me on a strawberry farm, or cutting cake on my birthday. There's one with me holding my broken tooth and grinning, showing an empty space between my teeth. Silly. Picture-by-picture I grow up a little bit more.
"Tan-ah!" I squeak. It's a picture of puppy Yeontan and teenage me outside the pet shelter.
Then come my graduation pictures, my eighteenth birthday, and more.
"She's pretty," Hoseok observes a picture of Ji-Woo and me from when she visited Korea two years ago.
"Yeah," I rub my thumb over it, smiling.
"Just friends," Hoseok nudges Jeongguk with a goofy grin but Jeongguk doesn't say anything. He simply stares at our picture.
"Hyung," I wail. "I told you she's just a friend. Please!"
"Okay, okay sorry." Hoseok apologizes quickly. The pictures come to an end and now there are just empty pages with slots for new memories.
"She always gives such thoughtful gifts....which reminds me of," I put the album down and turn to Jeongguk. "Jeongguk-ah, if you're free, can we upload songs on my mp3 player?"
"Yeah, um...sure." A da-ding sound that makes us jump. The huge screen behind Jeongguk lights up, displaying 'Major General Seokjin calling...'. Jeongguk rotates his chair swiftly and picks up the call.
"Jeongguk-ah," His voice sounds raspy and worried.
"Hyung, we're all okay. What to do next?" Jeongguk asks.
"First up, erase all our data from the systems over there and store them safely in a hard drive with you. Someone, mostly me, will come and take you out of there...you don't have any fuel in your jeep do you?"
"Nah,"
"Hm, how's Taehyung?"
"I'm good, thanks Jin." I sit up immediately.
"Hey hi, Hoseok's here too?" Jin asks.
"Yep," Hoseok says, popping the 'p'.
"Okay, good. Please stick together at all times, you three, Jeongguk-ah keep an intercom with you and I'll let you know when I arrive. Do not step outside until I come. I can come anytime tomorrow, so keep your stuff ready, okay?"
"Okay," We all say.
"Bye, take care." Beep.
YOU ARE READING
Stay With Me (SWM #1) | A Taekook Series
FanfictionKim Taehyung, a pediatrician with an ordinary life meets Jeon Jeongguk, an orphan, while completing his mandatory military service. Watch them fall for each other as Taehyung joins Jeongguk in missions (and almost dies). . . . Lots of love t...
