Mean to Me | Im Youngmin

Mean to Me - Alternate Ending

Thank you so much for waiting for this although it took me so long to publish it. ㅠㅠ

Please note that this would have been the ending in place of the original ending (i.e., this is still Youngmin and Ji-hye in Ji-hye's "story" and not the "real Youngmin and Ji-hye" in Epilogue).

Enjoy ♡

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It's amazing how days pass by so quickly when they are ordinary, Ji-hye thinks to herself as she makes her way to her safe place, the only space in the entirety of the earth where she feels at peace.

It's not that the past months have been completely uneventful: she graduated high school, got into her dream university taking up a major she has always been interested in, moved out of her town to live in a tiny, quaint apartment all by herself, met new friends from college. Ironically, so much has happened and changed that she is quite overwhelmed by it all.

There is just a part of her that hasn't adjusted to it all, she likes to think, pushing back the thought that maybe, despite all the good things that have come her way, she still somehow feels hollow inside.

Taking her time, she takes slow, small steps and basks in the sun, embracing its warmth, for it comforts her. She inhales deeply, filling her lungs to their capacity as she momentarily closes her eyes.

"I'm so sorry this had to happen to us."

Her eyes shot open as she recalls the last time she was here. Her stomach churns and her mind goes blank.

With each step growing heavier than the last, she reaches Jisoo's resting place. Seeing her twin sister's name brushes a sense of calm onto her.

She carefully places one of the beautifully arranged bouquet of sunflowers atop her gravestone before taking a seat in front of it.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to go back since that day. Life got in the way," she stops before heaving a sigh. "And, ah, well... I also couldn't bring myself to," she admits.

She sits in silence as she plays with the freshly cut grass within reach. "I let him go," she mumbles as she gives a sad smile, as if Jisoo could see it. "I mean, it's just so complicated... The whole twin thing? I think it's too much for me."

"I wanted to fight for it, and deep down, I knew he also wanted to," Ji-hye continues. "But I realized, I can't live every single day of my life with the thought that this face would remind him of someone who has brought so much hurt in his life."

"It would have been so much simpler if we were fraternal twins, you know," she jokes but gets all choked up as she tries to laugh. "Life just has to fuck up not only a pair of twins' lives, but two."

"Everything's just so fucked up, I can't let it get any messier than it already is. So, I decided it would be best if we just let each other be. Days, months, and years will pass, and naturally, we would eventually forget about the feelings..." she stops for a moment.

"Except, I never forgot about mine."

She smiles bitterly after her confession.

She then bites on her lower lip. "I'm sorry, Jisoo." She reminds herself that she didn't go all the way here from the city on her twin's death anniversary to cry her heart out. However, this is the only place where she can fully lay herself bare.