thantophobia [ HIATUS ]

three

jieun's pov

i combed almost every single room possible, from the store rooms to the studios in the deepest corners, but jimin was nowhere to be seen. with every second that passed by, i grew more and more afraid that the exact same thing may happen again, that jimin might leave me without a word again. unknowingly, those four words that seemed so meaningless brought so much trauma to me.

as i finished searching the rooms on the basement floor, i took the lift to continue searching other levels. from the corner of my eye, i caught a glimpse of a pink coloured post it stuck on top of the number buttons. plucking it down, i read the words written on it:

go to the place where we first met, for a surprise you'll never expect.
- j.m

i read the note over and over again. what exactly was going on? so... jimin didn't go missing? nevertheless, i followed the instructions as i recollected in my mind those familiar memories.

it was a saturday morning. while others enjoyed a relaxing day, i had to work multiple part time shifts to earn extra money. it was my first shift of the day, which was to deliver some dance props and costumes to a dance studio company. as the truck arrived, i helped in unloading the boxes. i was instructed to move them to the third studio on the left hallway of the first floor. after knocking on the door politely, i entered. inside was a man who had orange hair, practicing various dances from pop to contemporary. his moves were smooth and elegant, yet sharp and precise at times. he noted my presence and smiled warmly at me before offering to help me carry the boxes. ever since then, i would meet him during my shift and it was what perked up my boring day. soon, we began to exchange our contacts and i finally got to knew his name — park jimin.

i pressed on "1" and arrived on the first floor in no time. running as hard as my legs could bring me, i rushed to that particular studio. it was dark inside and i switched the lights on. jimin was nowhere to be seen, leaving me dejected. on the mirror on my right was a similar looking post it. i took it down and read what seemed like the next set of instructions:

friendship lingers in the air, while we dance like we don't care.
- j.m

i immediately understood what it meant and went towards the second location, while thinking about the past happy memories.

it had been 6 months since i first met jimin and 3 months since we had been together. jimin had promised that he would introduce me to a very special group of friends some day, and today was the day. as i arrived at the studio, i saw him scrolling through a list of songs on his phones and when he noticed me, he brisk walked towards me and pecked lightly on my forehead. just then, a group of 6 other guys who seemed not much older or younger than jimin arrived behind us.

"umm i'm sorry, are we disturbing anything?" one of them with a rather deep voice spoke with a hint of teasing.

jimin punched him playfully in the stomach and the guy giggled. soon, we proceeded to introduce ourselves. i got to know that their names were seokjin, yoongi, namjoon, hoseok, taehyung and jungkook, and that the meaning of bangtan, which they called themselves, was to guard against something, so the name means that they will boldly defend their music and their value.

all of a sudden, hoseok suggested, "jieun-ssi, how about showing off some of your dance moves? i heard from jimin that you're quite good."

i side-eyed jimin upon hearing those words and all he did was shrug his shoulders in a cocky manner. i was reluctant to go up but amongst the cheers, i had no choice but to do so. dumb dumb by red velvet began playing and i was too embarrassed to dance. thankfully, they decided to dance together with me so i let it all out. we had so much fun that laughters and cheers could be heard every now and then. a continuous list of songs played and by the time it ended, we all laid down on the floor tiredly.

i found myself standing in front of one of the studios on the second floor. i bravely pushed open the door, hoping to find jimin inside. but i was disappointed once again. i looked around for another post it and indeed, i found one on the loud speaker, which read:

where we spend most of our time, loving you seems like a crime.
- j.m

i had a feeling that this was already the last hint of the hunt, and that there would be something at the end of it. trying to cheer myself up a little, i smiled lightly to myself before going up to the final location.

+

please appreciate my efforts to find rhyming words for the hints okay :-)
anyway i'm sorry this update kinda sucked, but i can promise y'all that this story is gonna have an awesome ending WINK WONK
back to doing homework now BYE