THE TRANSFER STUDENT

A Fresh Start, Pt. 6

"You found this in the album my dad passed to you, didn't you?"

Jungkook nodded, as he reached into his pocket. "And it came with this."

Jungkook pulled out his hands from his pocket, outstretching his clenched fist in front of Jieun then opening it slowly. There lay a necklace just like the one she'd seen around Jungkook's neck. The one with the photo of Jungkook and Somi together.

"Oh my god," Jieun exclaimed as she reached out with shaky hands, slowly and gently picking up the necklace. "She really left me with one just like yours."

"After leaving your house that day, I kept flipping through the photo album, trying to imagine all the things you told me about Somi," Jungkook laughed softly. "This morning, before school started, I was doing it again. Smiling at the little memories, I wanted to take out that particular photo to take a closer look but that's when I saw the envelope. I was so stunned then, but when I saw your name on the letter, I immediately knew that she had left it there, hoping that you'd find it. And... next to it, there was a piece of paper. It just said, '2 to the right left leg of bed'."

Jieun's eyes widened. "Huh?"

"I was confused at first too," Jungkook frowned. "What could that possibly mean? But after I thought about it for a while, I remembered your room having a loose board exactly where she had described."

"What?" Jieun frowned. "How can I not know about it?"

Jungkook chuckled softly. "It's in the Jeon family genes, I guess. Being observant. I immediately knew exactly what she was referring to, but I didn't know exactly what she may have hidden under there. So I rushed to your house this morning. Your parents were so surprised to see me, but they let me in anyway. They even tolerated with my absurd request to pull open the wooden board. And when I opened it, this was exactly what I found."

Jieun stared down at the necklace again. Somi had not just left her a letter, but also a necklace... one that was just like her own...

"Open it," Jungkook suggested. "Maybe... there's a photo inside it too, just like mine."

Jieun widened her eyes in surprise by Jungkook's request. But she did so anyway, as she finally located a tiny button at the bottom of the pendant and it clicked open. Jieun let out a loud gasp as the same photo, the photo of them on the rooftop - the first photo they had ever taken together appeared inside the necklace. Tears welled up in her eyes once more, as she covered her mouth, sobbing uncontrollably.

She missed her so freaking much.

Jungkook watched quietly as Jieun buried her face in her hands, clutching the necklace in her fist and holding it close to her heart. She sobbed and sobbed uncontrollably, and Jungkook wept along as well. He took one step forward towards her and reached a hand behind her neck, resting her head gently onto his chest. Jieun, now aware of what was going on, buried her head deeper into Jungkook's chest, weeping non-stop.

"I- I feel so bad," Jieun was shaking. "I can't believe that in these past two weeks, I hated her. I blamed her for leaving me behind without letter. But she actually did, I just was too much of a coward to flip through that album after what happened."

"Shh-" Jungkook consoled her, stroking her hair gently. "I was angry with her for a while too, after the incident. Wouldn't it be worse for you? Considering you were confused about what had happened?"

"She wanted us to meet at the funeral, Jungkook," Jieun pulled away suddenly, looking up at Jungkook. "She hoped that we'd find comfort after she had left."

Jungkook nodded slowly, his hand still caressing the back of Jieun's head gently in slow circular motions, as he looked into her eyes. "And that's exactly what we're doing now, aren't we? We found comfort in sharing our memories of two weeks ago, and here we are together again, remembering her. It may be late, Jieun, but we're still fulfilling her last wishes."