Darling

- 11 -

I'm offering you guys a double update because the ending of this chapter isn't fun, it's a long one (7k words) but it's all good until we reach the second POV, maybe make sure you have time to read the next chapter as well before going through all of it. It might just me overthinking it but I know how books can affect a day and I don't want to be behind a bad one lmao

Either way, I hope you enjoy!

"This is really good! You two are amazing cooks" Jin muses as he takes the first bite, and when Hoseok takes one of his own, his bright eyes as he looks up at us with wonder makes Jimin and I grin proudly.

Now seated at the table, Jimin and I side by side with Jin in front of me and Hoseok next to him, the table is prettily garnished with different side dishes made by the two men, they did a wonderful teamwork and everything looks splendid, the tastes ones that will go well with what my twin and I made.

"It's a recipe that our mother taught us a long time ago, we added our little twist through the years but it remains just as good as the one she would make us when we were young" Jimin explains happily, it's always a wonderful feeling when the things she made us learn become useful, it's something that we know will always link us to her, we grasp onto them for dear life.

"Your mother? You sound like you're very close to her" the eldest asks us with interest, our good mood when mentioning her making him believe that everything's well, but when I'm first to lose that spark in the eyes, his smile falls a little.

"We are" I answer simply before taking a bite of the food in my plate, Jimin scoots his chair closer to me and wraps a gentle arm around my back to comfort me, his mind knowing where mine is taking me, I fear that every visits will become worse than the last from now on.

"She resides in a nursing home in Seoul, we try to go visit her at least once a week and we stick to a regular schedule as much as possible to make sure we don't take her by surprise, or to avoid her waiting for us only to end up disappointed when we don't stop by, it's... well it's getting a little harder to do now with her condition" Jimin adds and the two men nod softly, their hesitation on how to react understandable, what can they say to that?

"She has dementia, it's... she's reaching quite an advanced stage, she already forgot about us" I let out quietly to answer their silent question. "She still pretends she's fine thanks to all that she wrote in her notebook but..." I shrug softly, eyes filling with tears that I try to push down by biting on my bottom lip, the unsaid words heavy in the air.

There's only so much written notes can do.

"Oh sweets... Jimin, we're so sorry, we didn't know" Hoseok mumbles quietly, he looks like he just got his heart pulled out of his chest while Jin's eyes are the mirror image of mine. He reaches out from over the table to take my hands in his, fingers warm and soft around my own.

"Is that why... when you came over yesterday because of Namjoon's allergy, when you communicated with Taehyung through your phone only, you couldn't speak, could you, sweetheart? Did you two go see her then?".

Jimin tenses his arm around me, he doesn't think he'll ever get used to me losing my voice because of strong emotions, the way my body reacts now something that scares him, because what if I turn mute for longer one day? I usually get my voice back after resting, but what if one day it doesn't work anymore?

I nod my head as I stare at the way Jin's fingers caress my knuckles, it's so sweet and it warms my heart like only Jimin knows how to do, it makes me want to trust them with so much more than I normally would with a stranger or someone I just met.

"Yeah... I've started becoming mute when we leave her, my voice only comes back after I've fallen asleep, as if my brain needs a reset and this is the only way to do it. It happens now when I go through big shocks or overwhelming emotions, it's probably a mental thing but I don't know how to stop it from happening, it's a little scary".