The Veil: Between LIFE and DEATH

Chapter 7: Our First Encounter

Comfortable.

Yes, I feel really comfortable right now. More precisely, I feel comfortable in his embrace.

But why? How is it that I feel so at ease in the arms of someone that I don't even know?

No. This isn't right.

I forcefully shove his body away from mine, breaking our embrace. He then looks at me with a gaze I find hard to describe, but deep within me, I can sense his disappointment with my action.

But why should I care about his feelings? What matters now is the truth. I demand, "What do you mean by what you just said? What do you mean Jiyeon and I are the same person?"

"Every person surely has their own world, a world that makes them confused between imagination and reality, and you were trapped in that world. Jiyeon? She's just a character in your own created world. You bring to life what doesn't exist and manipulate your own thoughts. Jiyeon is indeed a part of your true self. But she's also a place you dump all those memories you wanna erase and forget." said Taehyung, his voice is calm despite of the gravity of his words, as if he had been witnessing this truth for a long time and finally able to let it out.

"You mean... my life has just been a hallucination and all my memories with Jiyeon is fake?" I exclaimed, my voice laced with disbelief.

"Life?" He chuckled softly, his voice tinged with sarcasm. "...if you call your current state as 'life'."

"What's wrong with my current state?" My voice cracked with desperation, the echoes reverberating against the nonexistent walls. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY LIFE?"

He seemed to have begun to lose his patience with me, also raising his voice in frustration. "YOU WERE LANGUISHING IN THE HOSPITAL FOR A MONTH NOW, LOCKED IN A BATTLE WITH DEATH BECAUSE OF YOUR OWN ACTION!" He paused, trying to hold back his emotions before continuing with a pointed intensity, "At that very moment, you chose death without hesitation even a bit, but now, suddenly, you cling to life?"

"I chose death?" I muttered in confusion, my memory a foggy abyss, I don't remember anything. Yet, as I gazed upon my hand, witnessing it slowly fading, once again disbelief gripped me. "Andwae...andwae..." I whispered, fear coiling around my heart like a suffocating serpent.

As if sensing the torment I'm experiencing inside, he suddenly grasped my hand and gently caressed it, seemingly comforting and assuring me that it's still there, even though it's nearly vanished from view now. While at it, his lips moving, still explaining, "After your spirit left your body, you started hallucinating that you have a twin. I know you were like that because you want to escape from that pain.The pain that you weren't able to escape even after you chose death. The pain that you no longer feel in your created world, but Jiyeon did."

With a hesitant gaze, I lifted my face. "How do I know you're not deceiving me? I don't know you. How can you be sure I'll trust you?"

"You can trust me this time. Because I... " His words trailed off, his expression revealing the pain he harbored within. And finally, while looking deeply into my eyes, he said it...

"Because I am the memories and the pain that you most desperately wish to forget."

Flashback
-2 years ago, 17 years old Jieun's POV-

"Woof woof," Mochi's sudden cheerful bark compelled me to glance downward. With a wagging tail, Mochi nudged my leg, enticing me to join her game. Her and I exchanged glances, as if silently debating who would run first. At last, I sprang to my feet, giggling as I dashed off, with Mochi in hot pursuit.