The Dusk Gallery | Taehyung x BTS

Just Breathe

Taehyung sits up a little when Daehan tells him this new shocking piece of news.

"They're dead?"

"No, not really. They're like you. They're in between life and death, just like you are right now. They may not be in a gallery like you. Sometimes they're in a restaurant, sometimes a movie theatre, a toy shop. It varies"

"Wh...I'm so fucking confused hang on. So they're also going through multiple lives, with multiple guys?"

"Mm, yes this particular lot are. Different guys, different lives".

"So let's take Yoongi for example"

"Love number two"

"Y..yeah? Sure, love number two. Does that mean he KNEW that whole time that he was also in that life new, as was I, and he just never told me anything?"

"No no no" Daehan laughs out, "It's not like that. The Yoongi you were with was the original owner of that life. That was the actual life of that Yoongi. That life is in like an alternate universe for you right?"

"Right".

"So that was fine. The Yoongi there was all good. The original. He didn't know you were new to that life. However..."

"So wait if I chose Yoongi..."

"So! The yoongi that you would see, if you chose him, and ended up back in your core life, well THAT Yoongi would have also jumped into THAT life. The life of an artist couple, with lovely morning sun rises and all that. But he would have been placed in that life at a different time to you. With the original Taehyung from that life".

"So when he joined that life, it would have been the same life, just with...the me that actually HAS that life right?"

"Yes. So if you did choose Yoongi, and you both met, you would have both experienced that same life just at different times. You know you got there when you did. Yoongi might have gotten there a month before, or a week after. So yeah, if you met up in your core life, you'd both be aware of each other. You both would have felt that same love".

"Okay one more time let me see if I got this. I was in that life with the original Yoongi from that life. At some point, maybe before or maybe after me, the Yoongi that is currently half dead, was also in that life but with the original Taehyung from that life. The "me" in that universe would have been normal. And if I chose yoongi, he will remember me from when he came to that life? Just like how I would remember him from that life. Even if... the dates were different and all that"

Wow that was a lot for Daehan to keep up with
"Yes so it would be the case of like 'omg when I was there, we like watched the sunrise together always' and Yoongi would go 'omg yeah we did that too. But then we also took a trip to a lake' and you would be like 'omg we didn't do that. Sounds nice tho'"

"Wow. Thank you for that riveting play by play Wait I just thought of another question".

"Christ give a guy a break, my mouth is so dry"

"Oh shut up that's such a lie"

"Yeah that's true, I'm lying" Daehan chuckles "Go on then, ask me".

"What would happen if I chose Yoongi, but Yoongi didn't choose me? Or Jungkook or Jin ectera?"

"You see, the thing is. The in between knows. Whoever you choose, that person will also choose you too"

"What if I change my mind last second though? What if I pick someone who the in-between didn't expect me to pick"

"Nope" Daehan said, excentuating the P. "That means that final choice is right. Your change of mind was meant to happen".

"So you're 100% sure that whoever I choose, will also choose me too?"

"I know it" Daehan confirms.

"So they're all...they're all almost dead? In their own in-between?"

"Yes they are"

"They all committed suicide?"

"No! No, no. God no. A couple did. One's in a coma, another just out of surgery and conked out. You never know when the in-between will come to give you that second chance. All seeking the same thing"

"Thank god. I hate to think that some of them suffered like that...I hate thinking they wanted to die".

"That's how they'd feel about you..."

"You think they care?"

Daehan rolls his eyes, "Of course! They're in their own in-between right now, maybe finding out the same information, feeling complete and utter love for you, and also worried that you wanted to die".

"That makes me feel kind of horrible".

"See? People care that you die Taehyung. It's not you alone in this world".

"Have they been in the in-between as long as I have?"

"In the in-bewteen no time passes Tae. The time they spend in the lives are different yes, even years sometimes".

"Wow, the longest I had was like a month and a half, or was it two? Three?, or something with Jin".

"It changes person to person" Daehan tells him. "Any more questions?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe not yet. I think you answered them all. The guys are in their in-betweens, the person I meet will also know me from that life we had. Although that is kind of fucked up.."

"Why is that?"

"If I chose Jin, we'd meet, be ecstatic, and then think back to our two boys that we don't fucking have in this life".

"Yeaaaaah. This whole system is perfect. I did tell you the life wouldn't follow, and he would know that too from whoever is with him in his in between. So yeah it would be sad. But the most overwhelming feeling would be the one of love, and care, and affection you guys would feel towards each other. Honestly the kids would be kind of like a foggy memory. You would remember them. But it would be the love for Jin that would be the overwhelming factor"

"Okay. I see. Cos honestly, if I saw Jin right now, without Minho and Junie, I would break".

"Didn't take you for the dad type".

"Neither did I"

"Go on then Tae. Pick another regret, or choice. Let's get a move on".

Talking to Daehan all this time had definitely calmed him down a little. He was still upset and mad of course, but he did have enough energy in him to go back to the Decision Painting.

All of the past ones are blue. Only the two sentences remain.

So he drags his finger over the sentence which starts moving, and changing.

If I had never left Daegu

He closes his eyes and waits, knowing the gallery will erase everything for him. A kindess in one way. But a sick one.

And suddenly he is looking at himself, in a room with a wall of mirrors. With someone dancing in the background.