Somewhere in Time || A VKook Saga

[Eighty-two]

Jung-kook snapped his eyes open and spotted another person not too far away from where he stood. He finally saw Taehyung, the man whose hair had become silver with each passing season, and even though he had aged, his love for him had not.

"It's been a while," Taehyung said, as if it's no ordinary coincidence that he was there. After a distinct pause, he continued. "Well, aren't you going to say something?"

"Taehyung.... what are you doing here?"

"This is what you call Fate, and her name is Sae-ron."

"Oh."

Taehyung laughed as he pointed his cane towards Jung-kook. "You are still the same."

"Pardon me?"

"I mean, you're easily surprised, and when you are, you take your time recovering from it. Must be that fall from the well."

"You.... you remembered?"

"Vaguely, I do. Of course, I had some help," Taehyung smiled wistfully.

"Then you also recalled, how....how you almost died... what... what my family did to you...."

Taehyung inched closer and held out his free hand to touch Jung-kook's cheek. "Shhhh. Enough about the past. We have lived long enough to endure that pain again. Don't you think it's about time to let that go?"

With a tear in his eye and a quiver in his voice, Jung-kook responded, "How can you easily forgive me, after everything that happened to you?"

"Because there's no love without forgiveness, and there's no forgiveness without love," Taehyung quipped.

Jung-kook snorted. "I didn't realize you're a poet."

"No, I just quoted that from some dude on Google."

"I'm surprised you even know what Google is."

"Hey, this man of yours isn't as incapacitated as you think I am. My legs may not be as nimble, but my lips still are. Care to try?"

And so under a cherry blossom tree, two hearts once torn asunder, joined somewhere in time.