pellucid. + jhs.

sanshisan

DR. choi presses his lips together, "we saw no need to put you in pain once again."

jae's mother looks up with rose eyes,
"i'm so sorry, jae, we are very sorry."

sorry, sorry, everyone's always f.ucking sorry, she thinks.

"and this is where hoseok joins in. you started to talk to him not so long ago, which was about three years after the incident."

"and," jae asks.

"you said that hoseok looked like one of the two men who assaulted you and your sister. the first thing the two people, who saved you, saw was that man on top of you, struggling to break your clothes open."

she folds her arms slowly, taking in the story, "so you're saying... hoseok is the guy who tried to rape me?"

"no... that man is locked up in prison now... and he is very much older than you."

her eyes narrow, "what...?"

"jae, hoseok is a result from the most traumatizing moment in those memories. he's a coping mechanism... and since the man was the face that really stood out to you, for he caused you a lot of fear and struggle, he became hoseok.... i'm sorry jae," dr. choi expresses his words with sympathy, "he doesn't exist."

"no, no," jae croaks out, but every dot starts to connect, "no, oh please, no."

it was impossible. they kissed. they held hands. they made love. they touched. it was real, it was so, so real.

was it really?

no one has ever seen hoseok. absolutely no one. there is no proof that hoseok exists.

hell, she doesn't even know his last name, or if he has a sibling, or if he went to school.

oh f.uck.

"jae, honey, do you need anything," her father asks, very concerned.

"i..," the world started to become a blur, and the last thing she remembered was seokjin saying her name in a frightful manner.