A Zombie's Heart

Chapter 22

     The next two weeks drag on. Most of the time was spent relaxing and listening to the calming ocean. I find Jimin sitting by the fire pit alone. Jungkook, Hoseok and Namjoon left to go catch crabs, Abbi and Yoongi went to get more firewood, Kayla and Karissa went to the city to shop along with Jin and Addi. Taehyung is still ignoring me. 

     "Hi Jimin," I say. 

     "Hello." 

     We sit in silence for a few minutes. 

     "So, how are you?" I ask. "We don't ever talk."

      He looks at me and smiles. "Oh, I'm fine, thank you. How are you?" 

     "I'm good. Tired, but good. I'm going to go take a nap."

      He waves at me and I walk to the tent. I lay down on my bed and quickly fall asleep.

***

     I wake up and roll onto my side. There's a small piece of paper next to me. I pick it up and read it. 

     "Celeste, meet me on the big rock when you wake up. I need to talk to you." 

     I get up and walk outside and find Jimin still sitting there. Except now he has a guitar and is learning a new song. I walk past and then jog to the rock. I expected it to be Jungkook or abbi, but I'm surprised when I find Taehyung standing at the top, watching the waves as they crash. He looks over at me. I smile, but he doesn't smile back. He must be mad at me still. 

     "Look Taehyung, I'm sorry."

    "Sit down." 

     I do as he says, and he sits down next to me. We sit in silence for a while until he finally speaks up. 

     "Why did you do it? Be honest about her. I'm confused about what happened between you two as kids and why you hate each other." 

     I take a deep breath. "Me and Kiersten used to be friends, a long time ago. She started talking bad about me behind my back to other people about how she wished I was dead. Or she would do things to make me mad. I never knew what I did wrong. This whole time she was here... I don't know if you'll believe me, but she kept doing things to make it look like I was the bad guy. Every chance she got she would try to harm me, kill me, or make me feel bad talking about you... Then when we encountered zombies..." Taehyung closes his eyes and nods. "Taehyung, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for always acting like a jerk to you. I'm sorry about Kiersten. I know she made you happy, and I took that from you. I was selfish. I should've never hurt you the way I did. I was just scared. I didn't want to move on from my last relationship, and I didn't want to start one with you in fear that I might lose you too. I'll be honest, I was jealous when you and Kiersten were together and she knew it, so she used that against me. You have no idea the regret I have for letting you go...I'm so sorry." 

     "I wasn't happy."

      Confused, I look at him. "What?" 

     He looks at me in the eyes. "With Kiersten, I wasn't happy. I mean, at first I was, but the more time I spent with her, the more I realized she wasn't for me. I missed you. And when she died... I was upset, but I knew about how she was treating you ever since she first came." 

     "Wait, you knew?" 

     "Yeah, but I was sad and angry with you, and I knew if I left her it would cause even more problems. If I would've broken up with her, she would've blamed you and I couldn't risk anything happening to you."

      I look out at the ocean. "You were protecting me...but, you were mad at me when I killed her." 

     "I was mad at first, yes. She was my girlfriend. For the past couple weeks I thought about her and you. I also was thinking about how I would make it up to you after being against you. I figured you were probably not too happy with me either for being on the side of someone who wanted you dead..." 

     "Let's just put all of this behind us and start over Taehyung." 

     He smiles. "Helleow, my name is Taehyung. I'm twenty four years old. I love Panda Express." 

     I let out a small laugh. "Hi, my name is Celeste. I'm seventeen. And I also love Panda express." We laugh and stand up.

      He pulls me into a hug and says, "I missed you." 

     "I missed you too." 

     I look up at him and he kisses my head. I smile, remembering my dream of him. I didn't know how much I needed him until I didn't have him. I'm ready to leave my past in the past. I'm ready to forget about what happened and focus on what's happening now. 

     We pull out of the hug and I turn to leave. "Should we head back?" 

     He sits back down and stares out at the open sea. "No, not just yet." 

     I smile and sit next to him, resting my head on his shoulder.