Trainee | 박지민

XXXIII

33

warning: vulgar words and actions

Mia enters the cafe with a bucket hat and a mask to hide her identity from the world. Although she should be avoiding popular places, in case Soojin truly has gone mad and tried to hurt her, she'd immediately receive help from the flock of crowd.

She spots Soojin by the middle of the room, well dressed up. Soojin waves and smiles while flicking her long wavy hair.

She seems totally fine, in fact, she looks dazzling.

"Hello eonni," Mia slightly bows her head before taking her seat. Soojin opens her arms for a hug, but Mia didn't feel completely comfortable being that close to her yet.

"Long time no see!" Soojin puts her arms down and falters with her smile from the rejected hug. "How have you been? Congratulations on your debut! Do you want to order something?"

Mia forces herself to smile. "Actually, I'm not planning to stay long. I just wanted to clarify something," she hesitantly speaks.

"I have a feeling I know what it's about. Is this about Jimin?" Soojin's mood drops and her vibe starts to grow intimidating. Mia nods her head, feeling small from the girl before her. "I can explain, I don't know what exactly he told you, but I will admit that I was in the wrong." Soojin looks down apologetically, shocking Mia at her easy confession.

"Why did you do it?"

"I'm the type who gets jealous easily, and I also admit that I'm not mentally stable. I didn't get to debut, and you probably know that I liked Jimin, and nothing was just going right in my life," she sighs as her eyes start to swell up. "And I want to change, I want to get better and I want to ask for forgiveness. I drove Jimin to ruining your relationship and making him feel down to the point of enlisting in the army early to get things off his mind, and I'm so sorry." She shakes her head in disappointment, palms covering her crying form.

"Eonni, stop crying, you'll ruin your make up," Mia softly says, grabbing Soojin's hand in comfort.

Soojin giggles at her remark, "I always missed your little jokes," she carefully pats her wet face dry.

She calms down a few moments later, hand drying her face. "Again, I apologise Mia. I really don't know what else I can do."

"It's okay, for now, focus on yourself. You said you wanted to get better, I'll always be here if you need me eonni," Mia reassures her.

Soojin nods her head, "I've been seeing the therapist for a couple of months now, and it's helping a lot."

"That's great, I hope you'll recover soon."

They continue chatting over things they've missed since their trainee days.

"It's been fun meeting and talking to you again eonni, but I have to go soon. Just text me if you want to meet up again," Mia looks at her watch, nervous that she has to be back at the dance practice room before their instructor comes back.

"Are you going back to practice? I'll walk back with you," Soojin also motions to stand up.

"No, it's okay-"

"I also have something to manage in the building anyway." She cuts off Mia, leaving her with no choice as they leave the cafe together.

"Let's cut through the park, I kind of have to be there really soon." Mia speed walks through the trees as Soojin follows.

"You know, I've been seeing the therapist right?" She continues to tell stories, making Mia confused at her repeated statement. "Well, to be honest it really hasn't helped. All they say is bullshit. They don't understand me," her tone is dark this time.

"Huh, really? Do y-you maybe want to find a different therapist?" Mia turns to face Soojin.

"I TOLD YOU NO ONE UNDERSTANDS ME!" She breaks, her cute innocent figure cracks.

"Eonni," Mia stutters as she steps back from the menacing girl.

"JIMIN DIDN'T UNDERSTAND ME, HE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND MY LOVE FOR HIM! I told him I was willing to do ANYTHING FOR HIM. And what," she scoffs. "He chose YOU? Jimin chose YOU and the company chose YOU, and YOU took EVERYTHING AWAY FROM ME!" She continues to yell at the top of her lungs, taking steps forward toward the frightened girl.

"Eonni, I didn't take anything-"

"THERE YOU ARE AGAIN! BULLSHITTING! EVERYONE JUST LOVES TO BULLSHIT NOW DON'T THEY?"

"Please calm down, I-"

"NO! YOU DON'T FUCKING TELL WHAT TO DO BITCH! JUST SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Soojin hits her fisted hands on her thighs in frustration. Mia now knows the mistake she entered, she didn't listen to Jungkook's warning.

"YOU DON'T DESERVE ANYTHING! WHAT YOU HAVE RIGHT NOW, IS WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO HAVE! YOUR LIFE IS SUPPOSED TO BE MINE! YOU DON'T DESERVE IT, YOU DESERVE TO DIE!" She pulls out a sharp silver metal, and jabs it towards Mia, who luckily dodged it.

Mia runs but Soojin chases her. Mia's heartbeat increases rapidly and starts to panic. Tears blurry her eyes a little bit as she begs for Soojin to stop.

Soojin yells and screams at her, continuing to chase her like a starving desperate animal. Mia focuses on picking up her pace, dodging left and right between trees, but her tears uncontrollably run just like her legs.

"HELP! PLEASE SOOJIN, STOP!" She continues to beg, turning her back to the psychotic girl without stopping her run. Her fear and bpm grows beyond the monitor as she shows no sign of stopping. Mia bumps into a solid figure. She turns around, seeing a hooded Jungkook with his earphones.

She grabs his hand and drags him to run. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?" He's concerned for the panicked girl, who's panting and clearly getting exhausted.

"SOOJIN! Behind, she has a knife!"

Jungkook looks back at the crazy witch with her sharp object on her left hand. She's completely lost her sanity, her hair flowing everywhere, tangling and messing them up. But her eyes are all focused on the running prey, seemingly excited for a feast.

"What the- okay, Mia I have a plan," he grabs her hand this time, helping her run as she is slowing down. "I just need you to run for a few more while, okay? Maybe a minute maximum," Jungkook looks at her for her confirmation, but the girl only cries more, but is obviously trying her best to suppress it.

"Okay I'll try," she says, putting on a brave facade, but completely terrified for his and her life.

"It's okay, I'll make sure nothing happens to you. Just run towards there, okay?" He squeezes her hand in reassurance and the girl nods her head.

Mia steers to the right, running for her life.

Mum, dad, I love you, thank you for all your sacrifices for me, and Jungkook, I hope you stay safe. I hope my friends will all be healthy, happy and live a long life, especially Jimin.

Her tears grow heavy, thinking about her last thoughts, especially about the special boy she holds in her heart dearly and the thought of not being able to see him anymore. She wouldn't be able to say her thoughts and feelings to him.

I love you.

She starts to accept her fate if this would be her end, as her body fails to find the energy to keep going.

Jungkook who's hiding behind a tree follows Soojin from behind whose eyes are only on the delicious prey. He wraps Soojin's flailing arms down before tackling her. She yelps and struggles as Jungkook manages to grab hold of the knife and throw it out of her reach. Soojin is facing the ground, her hands behind her. He holds her down as he dials the police on his phone.

"Mia! I got her!" Jungkook yells to indicate that Mia could stop running. Mia sighs and smiles in relief before her head tingles, making her dizzy. Her heartbeat and a high pitched noise take over her whole sense of hearing. Eventually her sight darkens as she falls to the ground, unconscious.