𝐫𝐞𝐜. ; cover shop

Epilogue

"Are you sure you want to do this?" your best friend asks you, a look of uncertainty in her eyes.

You nod your head, none of the warnings your friends and family have given you deterring you once your mind was made. You've invested too much time to turn back now. You felt like you knew Kyoko and Jungkook personally. You were invested into their story, their happiness, and you couldn't be satisfied with the last tape you found being Kyoko's ending. What happened after she found out she was the stalker? Why did Kyoko do what she did? Was she even aware of what she was doing? You couldn't believe that she killed Jungkook willingly, she was in love with him. Anyone with eyes could've seen that.

That's why you had to do this.

As you held an envelope tightly to your chest, you quickly stepped out of your friend's car before she could protest any further. "Just be careful," she sighs, "I'll be waiting out here for you when you're done." She hoped this would finally satisfy you and that this would be the end of what seemed like an obsession with Kyoko and her tapes. Maybe after this, things could finally go back to the way they were; YOU could finally go back to the way you were.

As you stood at the receptionist desk, your hands trembling, and your stomach doing flips from nervousness, you did your best to gather up the courage to speak. "I-I'm here to visit a Kyoko Uchida. Does she still live here?"

The middle aged woman that had been preoccupied with typing at her keyboard behind the desk had finally taken the time to glance at you. She gives a demeaning glare over her bifocals. "Do you have any blood relations to the patient?"

"Well, no, but-"

"I'm sorry, but only relatives can visit Miss Uchida as her condition is very unstable."

"But ma'am! I really need to see her," you protest, not willing to give up just yet.

The woman sighs. "Young lady, Miss Uchida has been in this facility for years and has only had one visitor all of this time. If the patient was so important to you, then where have you been all of this time?"

You couldn't believe the audacity of this woman. How was it her place to say something like that, she only works here. She doesn't know your circumstances or your relationship with Kyoko, which technically, you weren't even sure of your relationship with her. Despite that fact, you were still prepared to argue with the woman until she let you see Kyoko.

Before you could even open your mouth, another voice jumped into the conversation, startling you.

"It's alright," the deep voice spoke with lightheartedness, "she's with me." You spun around to find the owner of the voice. You scanned him up and down, trying to see if the stranger was in any way familiar. You eyed him suspiciously. He didn't look like anyone you knew. Why would being with him mean anything?

The woman purses her lips before asking for your name to put into the visitor log. You stood on the tips of your toes to peak over the desk and see the name she wrote down for the stranger standing next to you.

'Kim Taehyung', it read.

The receptionist listed off directions on how to get to Kyoko's room in a mechanic manner. You already felt lost before even starting, but the man you assumed was Kim Taehyung placed his hand on your back, directing you to walk with him. It seemed he's been here a thousand times. Might he be the one visitor that the receptionist mentioned? That would explain why he was able to get you through.

"I don't believe we've met," Taehyung states, extending his hand out for you to shake, offering a warm, boxy smile. Under any other circumstances, you'd be flustered by the man's charms.