Alive II Yoonmin

32

"No more secrets?"

The words linger in the still environment as Jimin looks down at the mug full of tea. The steam reaches just at his chin which moves seconds later. 

"No more secrets, whatever you want answered I will answer for you as best as I can."

Finally. 

"What the hell is experiment Afterlife?"

At the word Jimin head perks up, he nods his head as he finishes sipping from the cup. In the meantime I take a cracker from his plate. Once his thoughts seem to have been uniformed in his head, he clears his throat and my curiosity. 

Scientists trying to play the role of god. You, well the team, tried creating a path to a stimulated afterlife. You got people together from all over the world to help create a stimulation for the dead and later wanting to advance it so other's could join the deceased who lived in only his or her mind."

"Did it work?"

His face looks clueless but not completely. Jimin's small hand raises to the air and he turns it from side to side to show he himself is unsure. My next question relates to the first, were there any participants. His answer was yes and when I asked who, he points straight at me. 

"Why do you think you were in a coma for three years Yoongs? What lie did they tell you when you awoke. Oh! Actually let me guess." He says with a fake smile. "They told you there was an accident in a lab and you got struck with something in the head or something along those lines right!?"

The male seems awfully excited to hear the answer to his question, it freaks me out the slightest bit. I broke his illusion as I took myself back to the day I was fully awake. The information of how I ended there was disclosed but I was told I'd eventually find out and I guess I did. At the news that his theory was not one bit close, Jimin pouts but continues on to talk. 

"Well you asked me to put you to sleep since I was the only one that was insane enough to do it."

"Insane?" I repeated. 

Jimin shrugs. "I guess. No completely sane person would agree to such a thing, you could've have died you know. You use to call me your little psycho, it was a cruel thing to call me at first but I guess it makes sense now. Don't get it wrong though, I wasn't trying to kill you. I knew how much this project meant to you so I did it because it'd make you happy, even if we didn't know what the outcome would be. Although you might think me out of my mind I assure you that your old selves would be very happy with all this if he was still here. This whole experiment was your life Yoongi, whether it may seem it or not, it was." 

I dedicated my life to an experiment?

"If you're mad at me for putting you into that coma," Jimin's hand touches mine and his eyes meet my own. "I'm sorry. I didn't know this would happen but we can still bring you back if that's what you want-"

"No!" 

Both of us are take aback by my sudden outburst. I myself could not believe I had responded so quickly to the proposal. Although it took me by the surprise, the answer, I do not regret it. The old me sounds just so terrible that I don't think I'd like to return to him. He played with people, their feelings, he seemed so emotionless like no one else but himself mattered. I was a selfish man and that's not someone I want to revert to. 

"You don't have to if you don't want to but you should still be aware of who you were so that you don't become it again. Is there anything else you wish for me to tell you?"

Closely I watch as his lips touch the rim of the white mug for a sip of the hot beverage. I had so many more questions to ask. 

"Yeah, why are you unsure if it worked? I had no memory when I awoke. I knew nothing of anything or anyo...." I trail off as I realize that saying anyone would be 

"You remembered someone?" Jimin leans in closer like he watched to catch every syllable of the name I was going to say. 

The answer was sitting right in front of me. 

"Me?" Jimin's eyes widened. "You remembered me? Oh Yoongi!" 

Excited to hear he was my first memory, he jumps from his stool with joy and joins my side of the counter on the stool besides me. He kisses my cheek and that leads to my next question. 

I gesture between us. "What is this, or what was this?"

The male eyebrows furrowed for a few seconds until he catches my gist. He presses his lips together then sighs. "This is a complicated and long story I'm not sure you want to hear out."

"Well you're wrong." I tell him. "No more secrets, remember?"  

Jimin nods his head, his expression was looking in a way depressed. 

"Fine. We met when you were close to finishing school while I was nowhere near doing so. It was a cemetery. I was by myself visiting my mother when I caught sight of you by a grave, for a second I thought you had crawled up it." He chuckles. "But no, you were visiting a friend."

"A friend?" I ask. "What friend."

"He...He's a whole 'nother story Yoongi." Jimin exhale and puts his head down as though he struggled to even think of the mysterious friend. Eventually he moves on from the pained memory of the deceased. "Let's just say that friend, got you here." 

A friend got me here? I ask Jimin to elaborate but he promises he will, just not yet. The topic at hand is us and he intends to keep it that way so I let him. Our meeting was short the very first time but the more we encounter each other, the longer they got. At last after our fifth meeting I invited him out for a coffee where I learned more about him. It was where he began developing feelings, or so he says but for me he can't say the same. 

"You were more interested in the fact that I was in medical school than me as a person but I was young and falling stupidly in love with you so I kept you close. Eventually, you considered me a potential lover...even though you had one."

"Hoseok."

And the return of cheating Min is back! I really hate myself.

"Yeah, Hoseok. Well things progressed and you kept me a secret from the team. I wasn't even marked down as a member because obviously you wanted no one suspicious of us. Like I said, I was so dumb and you basically had me wrapped around your finger so I played along cause sharing you was better than not having you at all. Well that is also why we got this place, you wanted me close but not enough so this was the alternative." Jimin gestures to the apartment with his hand that he then uses to wipe away a falling tear. "And there's more to us but that's the overview. Anything else?"

What an overview, seems like that on it's own is more than just a summary. I am the slightest bit afraid of my curiosity to know more. The end of that conversation is the start of tears and my arms finding their way around him. He lets his head fall on my shoulder while I apologize but he shakes my head, asking me to stop. 

"Why not? I've been the worst." 

"You haven't."

It's awfully nice to say such thing but it's not the truth. 

"Jimin I have, just take my apology and let me feel a little better about myself. Even if you don't want it please just take it Jimin...please."

The words are lot more pained than I intended them to come out but what is done is done. I squeeze him tight and let him silently weep on my shoulder. 

"You're not like him."

"That's not entirely true." I mumble as I think back to things I've done recently that could very well be used to compare me to my old self. Fleeing from Hoseok, indulging myself in him, and the oh so many lies I have told. Jimin however keep shaking his head, he lifts it and faces me. 

"No, you're better." 

~'~'~' 

I just had a war flashback to the second book. 

Hope you enjoyed! 

{Ciel1l}