Nobody Knows | Jeon Jungkook

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Four months later

It's dark, with only a crappy street lamp giving me enough sight to see, shining several feet away from us. The bulb has changed over the years from what was probably a bright orange to dark orange, flickering every so often. A warm hand rests in mine, blocking the cool summer wind.

A breeze hits my face and the salty smell mixed with seaweed reminds me of home. Of a place, I will finally see again after two years. Namjoon's tall figure prevents me from seeing where we are walking, but I trust him nonetheless.

I still don't know what could have happened in his life that practically forced him to fake his death and that should already be a reason not to trust him, but it's not exactly like I have a choice. Or like I would want it any other way. After all, he is Taehyung's cousin.

I've enjoyed his company and he's always been nice. Maybe he's not as nice as I want to believe when he's worked for Nikolai and for maybe even worse guys, but he didn't really have a choice. At least that's what I've been able to grasp from Taehyung's enigmatic narration.

Anyway, I don't want to know much more than I've already been told - or withheld - because sometimes it's better to leave things in the past than to poke around in them. That's what I've learned from my stay here. And I don't think I would ever return here again.

The thought of visiting places I hadn't been to, exploring the other side of the globe, and being free had always excited me. That excitement was then taken and torn and trampled into a thousand pieces.

Still, I have no regrets. I consider myself lucky that through all the negative things I met a person who turned my life around a hundred and eighty degrees. I don't know where I would have been with my past mindset today. Probably already back in Korea looking for a new thrill only to be disappointed because there isn't much more than parachuting that I haven't done.

I would be on a desperate journey for something new, not realizing that nothing would satisfy me because I have always been looking for the wrong thing. I had to meet her to realize that I was just a boy. Young, naive, and carefree. She changed me into a man who would risk everything he owned for the really important things in life.

She was a woman, broken and empty, yet so strong and willful. And with each blow, she grew stronger and stronger and is now the woman I always saw in her. I don't know how she did it, but I am so damn proud of her.

And when I look down at her as we walk along the shore to the boat that will grant us the freedom we deserve, a happy smile finds its way onto my lips. I lift our joined hands and press a kiss to her knuckles that make her look into my eyes.

She smiles the most beautiful smile in the world, filled with hope for a better future. I just nod, confirming the glow in her eyes. Everything will end here and now, and nothing from the past will be able to haunt us anymore.

Maybe we won't be able to erase all the bad memories from our minds, but that's not what we're trying to do anyway. Without knowing where we come from, what we have been through, none of us would appreciate the beautiful things we will build together.

We have grown together, we have risen from the ashes several times over, and we would be nothing if we forgot all of this. Maybe it seems like we are running away from our truth, but in reality, we are creating the only true life for us.

Our journey is not an adventurous trip, we are not going on vacation. We are changing our lives because no one is giving us life. We create things for ourselves because otherwise, we would only be puppets in the hands of the wrong people. There is no one left to control us anyway, to bend us the way they like. We are free.