I SEE YOU.

time

Jennie and Taehyung quietly walk on the old bridge inside the forest. She looks up at the skies only to find that it's turning into pigments of orange and yellow. Jennie sighs, adverting her gaze to the river below them.

"I wish I could take a selfie here." Jennie sighs. "But unfortunately, I don't have my phone." Taehyung snickers at her words. "What the hell? Did you just laugh?" Jennie glares at him. "What's wrong with what I said?"

Taehyung shakes his head. "They call it selfie now?" Jennie clicks her tongue. "Don't tell me you don't know what a selfie is." Taehyung chuckles, deciding to not answer her question. "So selfie, huh?" He lets out a 'tsk'. "They call it 'selfie' because narcisstic is too hard to spell."

Jennie crosses her arms. "What's wrong with you and selfies?" Taehyung shrugs, "It's just that ─ people nowadays are just too bold about themselves. I don't understand why they could look in the mirror and take a 'selfie' and when they see that they look pretty, they immediately 'love' themselves." Jennie furrows her eyebrows. "Isn't that what 'love yourself' means?"

Taehyung chuckles once again. "Loving yourself isn't always seasonal. It has to be forever. What i'm talking about is those peope who only love themselves just because they look satisfied with their faces and they think that society will like them the way they do."

"But love isn't like that." He halts, "Love isn't about hearing other people's opinions or judgements or pleasing for their approval." He bites his lips. "And when I see people who likes to throw their asses off to compliments, it confuses me. I mean ─ is it that hard to love yourself without anyone loving you the way you are? I'm sure someone out there will love you."

Jennie blinks. "W-Wow. Y-You sound like─" she breathes deeply to regain herself from his undescribable words. "You sound like it happened to you." Jennie gulps, "Don't you love yourself?"

Taehyung almost chokes on his own air. "I do." He licks his drying lips. "Someone taught me how."

Jennie instantly smiles. "That's great. I'm glad someone out there is guiding you on the right path." Taehyung didn't respond. He just walks quietly, thinking. Jennie fidgets with her fingers, getting anxious because Taehyung has gotten so quiet. She wonders what did she say for him to be so silent like this.

"Are we there yet?" Jennie asks, hoping he would answer. Taehyung's quiet for some reason and Jennie wants to know if there's something bothering him. Also, Jennie wonders how long this bridge can be because it feels like they're walking on it forever.

"Almost." Taehyung answers after his long thread of silence. But his voice has a hint of despair and woebegone feelings. However, she brushes it off.

Jennie begins to shift her weight from side to side; awkward tension feels their air and it almost suffocates Jennie. But she knows this is about the hug. It's nothing to the both of them but Jennie yearns for more of those hugs from Taehyung.

It wasn't romantic nor did it make her feel all giddy ─ it feels a lot more comfty and it's the hug she needed most of the time.

A hug from a friend.

"What do you think about time?" Taehyung abruptly bursts out that startles Jennie. Jennie looks at him. "Wow, I never knew you could talk." She giggles, plastering up her humor.

Taehyung didn't buy it so she quickly stops, clearing her flowery throat.

"Time?" Jennie hums, thinking. "Time is endless? Like what Shakespeare said, "Time is very slow for those who wait. Very fast for those who are scared. Very long for those who lament. Very short for those who celebrate. But for those who love, time is eternal." And he was right." Jennie explains.

Taehyung holds the railings of the bridge, chuckling bitterly. "He was wrong."

Jennie widens her eyes. "What?! Did you just say that William Shakespeare was wrong about his words?! Have you not seen his sonnets, comedies, poetr─"

"I was talking about his definition of time." Taehyung cuts her off. Jennie instantly shuts her mouth. "You see, time is rather than scary."

"In a span of one hour, everything you did there, everything you wrote, you sang, you talked with, laughed with, or even you shared your latest biscuit with, will become a garbage of time."

Taehyung sighs deeply. "In short, whenever time passes by and ends, everything you have done will become a─" Taehyung glances at Jennie.

"A memory." He avoids her eyes once again.

"Isn't it scary? To think that you will just be a wind passing by a person's face and then when time passes by, you will become a part of their memory ─ that will soon be erased." Taehyung lets out a shivering breath.

Jennie couldn't agree more. What he's saying is the truth. It makes her think that what if she is a memory for her family, to Lisa, Hoseok, Jungkook, to Jimin? Or to everyone around her?

Did they forget about her?

"It is scary." Jennie mutters, rubbing her hands on her arms. "You make me hate time!" She pouts. Taehyung says, "I didn't say anything for you to hate time. Everybody knows it's frightful." Jennie lets out a 'hmpf' and then glances at the end of the bridge.

"I don't want to be a memory." Taehyung's deep voice resonates in her ears. Jennie looks up at him again. And when she sees that beautiful eyes being drenched with tears, she melts.

Jennie doesn't know why it hurts.

"Will you let me be one?" Taehyung asks wiping his tears. Sincerity and curiousity loom down on his question. There's a thousand feelings being unsaid in Jennie's mind and all she wants to do right now is to answer him.

Is to let him know that she wouldn't let him be one of the strangers she met by passing by the streets or the ones she met at the cafe when she was in highschool.

Jennie wants him to know that he will never be a memory but a part of her.

Jennie smiles. "Of course not. I wouldn't let you be one."

"I promise."