Daydream » VKook

[14] Strangers

I remembered now. 

I dreamt of the day I passed the Tandoku Doshi assessment and my meeting with Taehyung. I relived through those moments as best as I could recall. But now, I wasn't sure how reliable my dreams are. They were inklings of my past memory and fragments that hadn't been pieced together. How could I know what parts were true or figments of my imagination? Regardless, I wanted to keep dreaming. I wanted to stay in this part of my memory, where I could experience color again. I didn't want to wake up to a colorless world anymore.

But then I heard a loud gong in my ear.

"Hey, Jungkook!"

I awoke and shot right up at the sound of that damn gong. I hesitantly looked around and recognized that I was in my father's office. I was sitting on a firm mat on the ground and saw Taehyung kneeling in front of me with the gong in his hand and a shocking, yet relieved look on his face.

"Jungkook, are you alright?" Taehyung asked with worry.

"Yeah..." I groaned a bit as I touched my head towards the throbbing pain. "What happened?"

"Uh, well... we were talking near the storage room and then you instantly collapsed onto the floor." Taehyung began to explain. "You hit your head hard, so I grabbed the first-aid kit and activated the instant cold compress. I moved you inside seonsaengnim's office and laid you here on this yoga mat. I put the cold compress behind your head where you fell on it."

"You carried me here?" I widened my expression.

"Yeah, you weigh like nothing." He joked.

I did lose some weight for the last two months due to the accident and grieving. I should really get back on a healthy diet again if my mother would stop making soups and stews.

"How long was I out?" I pondered.

"Maybe about 10 to 15 minutes. With a head concussion like that, I didn't want you knocked out for too long, so the ringing of the gong worked."

I touched my head again and it hurt even more. I flinched at the pain while a curse left my mouth. It was within the same area that I hit my head from the car accident. Could this really have affected my memory that badly?

"Hey, stop touching it." Taehyung advised as he flicked a finger onto my hand. "Here, take some Tylenol and then lay back down onto the cold compress."

He handed me two pills and bottled water. I ingested the medicine and gulped down half the water. I slowly laid down and rested my head comfortably on the cold compress, almost like a pillow.

"Thanks, Taehyung." I expressed.

He smiled back at me and patted my shoulder. "Yeah, of course."

"But I do remember you now." I acknowledged.

Taehyung's eyes widened with curiosity like a cat. "Oh really? What do you remember?"

"I remembered the first time we met." I recalled. "You wished me good luck at my Tandoku Doshi assessment. We even talked for a bit afterward and you congratulated me. And I remembered my father was talking to you. What did he say to you then?"

Taehyung took a deep breath in. "Hmm... I can't recall what he said at that time."

As he spoke, I looked into the pupils of his eyes. I might be overthinking it, but there was something about his eyes that expressed sadness, although he was always so gleeful and free-spirited.

"So then... were we friends back then?" I oddly inquired.

He chuckled within himself. "Yes, and we still are friends."