COME BACK HOME ➤ KIM TAEHYUNG

HIS TRUTH | page 13

The scenery was beautiful.
We had moved to a familiar place on top of a hill, sitting at a table, the night sky above us.

I couldn't focus on the nature, I needed answers.
"What happened to you?"

He took a deep breath, before looking up at me with the most serious stare. "Do you know of... the major car accident that happened two years ago?"

My breath hitched.

"The one that was all over the news-"

I had to cut him off. "Yes. I know what you're talking about."
How could I forget something like that?

The car accident that happened just 5 minutes from my university.

I was fortunate enough to not lose anyone but not enough to not see people die and someone get impaled right in front of my eyes. I regretted walking the longer path home every day.
I shut my eyes tight at the flashbacks, I didn't want to remember the scene, I had nightmares for months. I felt my fingernails digging into my palms, I felt my pulse in my throat, I was beginning to sweat-

"Riza.."
He put his hands over my fists, forcing me to open them. I released a shaky breath I didn't know I was holding, I shook my head in an attempt to rid myself of the memories of that day, I let him interlace his fingers with mine.

"I just had bad timing," he forced a chuckle, "I called a cab, I just had to pick up some of my friends' things from school, he was sick. That cab happened to get caught in the crash. I was in the back seat, so I got lucky. I survived. I wish I just walked that day."

He was there too...
The crash, it was brutal. He really was lucky. I had to take another deep breath in an attempt to steady my voice. My hands were shaking, he seemed to have felt it, since he squeezed my hand in comfort.
"How do you know you're in a coma? How are you so... all-knowing?" I asked carefully.

He licked his lips again, glancing away for a moment before turning back to me. "I jump between states. I don't know how it works, I either see nothing and am paralysed but hear everything going on around my real body..."

"Or?" I urged, raising a brow at the man.

"Or I'm here. In this dreamland. I can go anywhere I want but I'm always alone," his eyes held sadness, "I was at the start anyway, you appeared after a couple of months. I thought I was saved when I saw you for the first time."

I frowned, trying to remember our first meeting but my mind couldn't recall it. "I don't remember our first meeting."

"I thought so, I'd rather you didn't remember it anyway," he grinned, making me smile at him. I was confused but his grin was too contagious to resist.

I pursed my lips as a thought hit me: "Do you know why I started barging into your dreams all of a sudden?"

"I have no idea," he shook his head releasing his hands from mine to brush his hair back, "you don't know how long it took me to even realise that you were an actual person and not from my head."

His words sounded awfully familiar.

"I hated you when I realised you were just a dream-traveller or whatever you are."

My eyebrows raised at his words, I was quick to defend myself: "I never did anything bad to you."

"Exactly. You were like a robot. You were just... there. And then you left for a hours and then just came back, you just told me about your day, your life but you sounded like a robot," he paused, rubbing his neck, "I was jealous. You could wake up. I couldn't."

I felt my heart ache for him. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head, turning his gaze to the scene around us. "It's not your fault. You helped me not go crazy in the end. And you're much better now that you're aware."

"I'll visit you when I wake up," I smiled at him, staring at his side profile, I was nervous about his reaction, even though he told me to go see him myself.

He didn't look at me but he smiled.
"Good. Maybe a kiss will wake me up."

My eyes widened: "Kim Taehyung! I'm not kissing your comatose body!"

He laughed at my reaction. I enjoyed making him laugh, I was afraid his laugh would become a favourite sound of mine.
"You'll be waking up soon now. If you see Jung Hoseok while visiting me, tell him you were in love with me or something."

My eyes widened.
Again. His last few words shook me enough to make me not realise that I had just found out that Jung Hoseok was a friend of his.
"What?! Can't I just say we were friends?!"

He shook his head, a teasing grin on his face. "Not believable, we knew everything about each other. He'd be suspicious of you claiming to be a friend of mine. A heartbroken girl in love is the perfect cover."

I groaned at him, his laugh wasn't enough to make me smile this time. "Can't I say I'm your long lost cousin and I just found out about you?"

"I don't want you to be my cousin, Riza," why did it feel like I was being scolded by him? Would I really be a bad cousin...?

Taehyung seemed to have noticed something I didn't, since he grabbed my hands again and leaned closer to me. I felt my heart beat a little too fast.

"Bring me strawberries and chocolate, they're my favourite. And say we met in Daegu. Hoseok will be convinced then. And go to sleep early tonight, please."

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04.07.2020
hm i'm going trough a bad time rn for no reason again this sucks