By Your Side || m.yg

1

A young girl sits on the edge of her bed. She has long black hair and deep brown eyes. She has a plain expression, not bored or upset, but not ecstatic or energetic either. She simply seems melancholy or hum drum. Her room in the institution is very plain, the wall a light blue but bare of pictures or anything. The door is on one wall and across from it is a tall window that has a cage on the outside to prevent patients from jumping out. On both sides of the small room are beds pushed against the wall. Against the wall with the window are shelves tucked in the corner. The bed and shelf system take up the entire length of the room, leaving only a small walk way in between them. There is also a shelf above both beds, one long one that reaches back to the wall. The ceiling, however, is tall and not filled in. Above the patients are beams, wooden ones, supports for the building as a whole. In the middle of them hangs a rectangular fixture, but still manages to emit a good deal of light. On one of the beams, is a piece of rope that is fraying but still looks new at the same time.

The young girl is staring off at the floor beneath her feet, lost in her own mind. She nearly neglects to react to the knock on her door. But when the second knock sounds, she looks up and alert as it slowly opens. In steps a middle aged nurse with a kind smile but looks exhausted at the same time.

"Hello Jiyeon," she says. She speaks softly and slowly to the girl. She simply nods her head back. The nurse seems to perk up a bit after seeing her and smiles a bit more widely, as if about to present something exciting. "You have a guest..." The girl looks at her with a lot of confusion. She never has guests, not like most of the other patients at the institution get. "He's the one the hospital matched you with for the new program." The girl nods as she understands now. The nurse steps back a bit and in walks a shorter man with a long black jacket on. His hair is white and his skin is pale, almost as if to match it. He looks first to the empty bed before noticing the girl on the other side. He bows and looks her over, but not in a rude way, not at all. She nods her head back and shyly looks at the nurse. She smiles.

"Hello," she softly speaks.

"Hello, I'm Yoongi. Min Yoongi," the man speaks. He extends a hand and she shakes it. He takes note of how skinny her hand looks and upon another glance at her body as a whole, she looks quite skinny all over.

"Park Jiyeon," she says and he nods.

"It's nice to meet you, Jiyeon. How old are you?" He asks in typical fashion.

"Twenty one."

"Ah, I'm older," he nods. She nods too.

"If you'd like, you two can get acquainted with each other in here, or in the floor lounge," the nurse suggests. Yoongi looks at Jiyeon who seems much more comfortable here.

"Here is fine," he says and the nurse steps out. The program she referred to is offered by the institution to patients. It is new but has promise. The concept is that previous patients or even those who have been diagnosed with various mental illnesses are paired up with current patients in hopes of creating a type of relationship that will aid the current patients in their recovery. She looks back to her feet and Yoongi looks around the room, trying to find something to start a conversation about, rather than just jump into the illness comparison. He sees a figurine on her shelf above her that looks a bit out of place. Most of her belongings are plain or non existant, a few books and some paper and pens. A few are scattered while most are in a neat pile. There's a couple pictures and tiny items but the figurine that has caught Yoongi's attention is a pop culture figure.

"Are you a fan of BTS?" He asks, gesturing to it. The girl perks up and nods. She suddenly jumps to a squat on the edge of her bed and twists up to face the shelf. She rises and snatches it before plopping back to her seat. If she had been wearing a dress, it would have appeared like a ghost flying, that's how smooth and yet haunting her movement was, however Jiyeon is wearing jeans and an old shirt that clearly doesn't fit her well. Yoongi chuckles to himself and she looks up at him with confusion.

"I'm a member of BTS, actually," he says. She nods. "Do you not talk?"

Jiyeon shakes her head.

"Do you just not talk a lot?"

She nods at that.

"Great," he huffs, clearly annoyed at the slight struggle. "Well, I'm Suga, if you didn't put that together.

She nods as if saying, "Duh I know that."

"Do you have a favorite member or anything?" He asks, in hopes that she will be forced to answer. She points to the figurine, meaning the member it represents.

"Hoseok?"

She nods excitedly.

"Why?"

"He seems nice."

Yoongi looks taken aback by her response, more or less surprised that she said something. He half expected her to write it down.

"He is."

She nods, happy to hear that. The girl isn't some insane fan by any means, only just a casual fan. When they first debuted, a friend introduced her to their music, but rather quickly after her introduction, she found herself in the institution. She still remembers the tune to some of their song and hums them to herself sometimes.

"When did you learn about BTS?"

"A long time ago," she says softly.

"We haven't been around too long..."

"Debut."

"Oh really! Have you heard any of our new songs?" He asks, pretty curious to talk to a fan that isn't screaming or crying over him.

"No," she says sadly now.

"Oh," he sighs. "Do you not get to have Internet access here?"

She shakes her head.

"Do you get any contact from the outside world."

She shakes her head again.

"Does anyone?"

She nods this time.

"So everyone but you?"

She nods again. Yoongi feels a pain in his chest. Maybe the reason she seems so socially inept is because she lacks skills since no one seems to talk to her. She is the only one in the room too...

"When was the last time you talked to someone from outside?"

She shrugs.

"How long have you been in here?"

She holds up two fingers. Yoongi's eyes widen.

"Two years?"

She nods.

"Do you not have parents who visit? Or friends?"

She shakes her head again sadly and looks away. Yoongi decides it's best to leave the subject alone for now. He wants her to like him first, trust him, before chipping away at the real problems and becoming a sort of new confidant. He tries to think of a more light hearted topic. The only things he knows about this nearly silent girl is that she knows only his debut work, she is awfully lonely, and she looks rather ill and ghost like. Suddenly the door opens and the nurse from before steps in.

"How are you getting along?" She smiles. Yoongi and Jiyeon nod.

"Good," she speaks up and Yoongi looks at her.

"Fantastic to hear. Only a little while longer though, the program limits the visiting time. Sorry, Jiyeon," she apologizes to the lonesome girl. She merely nods while the nurse exits.

"You speak to her more freely, why?"

The girl shrugs.

"Do you know her well?"

"She's been with me my whole time here."

"So she's your nurse specifically?"

She nods.

There is silence until Yoongi leaves, as he tries to process all he's learned about the strange girl. She lives alone in a mental institution but has a relatively close bond with her nurse, who has known her the whole time she's been there. She rarely talks but does if needed it seems but won't speak more than a sentence. She has had limited contact with people, considering she gets no guests while others do and therefore gets no news about the world around her. But she didn't seem against meeting him, which means there's potential in that.