"Ah, I'm so conflicted!" Hye exclaims. "I thought he was a good guy—a potential boyfriend for sure!"

My cheeks redden as she continues.

"I never thought he'd be part of the bad guys."

I nod slightly as I let a tear make its way down my cheek. I didn't expect this either, but I'm definitely angry about it.

"Sometimes I think it's all a dream," I find myself saying, "that this will all be over and Jimin won't be a traitor and he'll be my bodyguard again." I sniffle.

"Yeah, honey, I know it's difficult. You trusted him with you're life—literally."

I don't bother to smile at a response like that as I normally would.

"I want to visit him." I say firmly. "I think I need to hear it from Jimin personally to believe it. Even though he confessed, something just doesn't sit right with me. This isn't the Jimin I've learned to love."

"Lee Kyung Mi!" The girl on the other end screams. "You trust too easily! Don't you dare go near that man; his only goal was to hurt you!"

"But...if he wanted to hurt me, don't you think he would have done it sooner? I mean, why bother waiting?"

"I don't know, girl, maybe he had something to gain by getting closer to your dad. Information, maybe?"

"Ugh!" I drone out, flopping back into my bed. How is this even possible?!

I can hear the whisper of his voice, feel the empty space he once encompassed, register the ghost of his warm fingers over mine. It's like he's haunting me.

I shiver.

"Oh, my dad's calling on the other line. Lemme put you on hold."

"No, it's okay, I need time to think. I'll just end the call now. Bye, Hye."

"Bye."

+++

Appa has been so paranoid about who to trust now that, instead of getting me a new bodyguard, he's taking on the role of protecting me and keeps a tracker on me at all times. Still, that paranoia has been spreading to me lately.

The other day, I saw someone with a black hoodie pulled over their head and gasped, only to see them take it off a few seconds later to reveal it was one of my classmates.
And just yesterday, there was a guy who was behind me in a cafe line smiling really creepily, and I was sure that I would get attacked from behind--but all that smiling happened to be at the employee working at the register to whom he proceeded to hit on.

I hate not feeling protected. I hate feeling weak and unsure.

I hate that I miss him.

"This is all just a dream, right?" I mumble. "Yeah. It's gotta be."

Turns out dreams really do come true though.