▌│█║▌║▌║▌║▌║▌║█│▌│█

• ▌│█║▌║▌║[ ღ ]║▌║▌║█│▌•

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
「　four ; puzzle pieces。 」━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

NO THOUGHTS, HEAD EMPTY just jaemin staring into oblivion as he knew he would flunk his chemistry class. apparently, the professor gave an assignment and if he only paid attention till the end, he would've been aware.

jaemin slammed his forehead to his desk, creating a loud thud. since he was quite early (hoping he could ask his classmates what the homework was), it was only him in the classroom and he could make as much noise as he pleases.

well at least that's what he thought.

jaemin lifted his head and behold; dazzling in the darkness was a girl covered in fireflies. jaemin couldn't be bothered to open all of the lights, so he opened the lights that only benefited him.

he was actually kind of thankful he didn't open all the lights. because now, standing in front of his desk was firefly girl. jaemin could clearly see the firefly that was on her. the insects never left her, and were only on her or around her.

jaemin stared in awe. "what the hell am i dreaming?" jaemin thought.

"can i see your arm?" she queries.

jaemin snapped back to reality-- or what he thinks is a dream. "uh, what?"

she let out a groan before she grabbed jaemin's left arm. her name was gone. she shot a look at jaemin. "why did you erase it?"

jaemin gasps as he stands up from his seat and starts pointing at her. "you! did you write on me!?" jaemin spat out questions. "a-are you hwayoung?!"

this time, hwayoung gasps. holding her chest to calm her down. "you remember my name?"

"well, you wrote on me, so..."

hwayoung takes a step back from the newly gained, very useful information she just obtain. he might've forgotten me, but he remembers the traces i left. how?

tears were watering her eyes as hwayoung couldn't contain the happiness building up inside her. he's my key.

hwayoung rushes to jaemin and pulls him to a hug. jaemin tried to push her away but she didn't budge. instead of continuing to push her away, jaemin halts and simply stares when he notices the fireflies are not going or even touching his body. all of them were stuck on her.

"trust me okay?" hwayoung smiles weakly even though she knew jaemin wouldn't notice.

jaemin snapped out of the fireflies and successfully pushed her away. "i don't even know you."

hwayoung pulls out a sharpie from her bag and grabs jaemin's arm. "what are you-" jaemin tried breaking out from her grasp, but she was freakishly strong. on the exact same arm, on the exact same place, hwayoung writes her name on his arm.

"please don't erase this one..." she said meekly before she stretched her lips into a small smile.

the lights of the classroom opened and it startled jaemin. "oh, nana. you're early..." one of jaemin's classmates, jeno, utters before a line of students came in the room.

jaemin simply smiled at him before he returned to his seat. before he knew it, the lecture started and jaemin found himself spacing out again. as the lecture goes on, jaemin had no thoughts, head empty, as he stared at his arm. jaemin had so many questions racking his brain that he knew only hwayoung had an answer for.

after minutes of zoning out, class was already dismissed. jaemin would normally be mad at himself for not paying attention the whole lecture, but he had so many questions to be answered to care.

jaemin sat on his chair until all of his classmates were gone, and now only him and hwayoung were alone. before jaemin could rush over to hwayoung, hwayoung beats him to it.

she dragged her chair across jaemin's desk before she settled down. hwayoung pulls out a notebook and hands it to jaemin. jaemin raised a brow at her. "what's this?" nonetheless, jaemin grabs the notebook from her.

jaemin examines the cover before jumping in. the notebook had a plain white cover with a drawing of a cherry blossom tree on the side. "simple but cute," jaemin thought. without wasting anymore time, jaemin flips through the first page and there written at the very top was; day one.

written below it were the key to jaemin's answers. he has been losing fragments of his memories lately, and it looks like those fragments were in this notebook. as jaemin red the detailed scenarios scribbled down neatly on the notebook, it was all coming together.

like missing puzzle pieces, these notes on the notebook were able to fill in the memory gaps jaemin had. jaemin was silent, but he was really in awe of how much his memory was lost.

"you're the only one who sees me..." jaemin cocked a brow at hwayoung, that's why she explained further. "the first day, i just found myself in this classroom. i tried leaving but i couldn't. a lot of students enter this lecture hall yet, none of them sees me. i tried talking to my friends but they couldn't hear nor see me either.."

hwayoung looked up and had a weak smile plastered on her face that caused jaemin's heart to ache. "my last class was chemistry, so like a normal student, i paid attention to my class and went about my day. on the first day; i was really in need of a pen so i asked you. but then i remembered no one saw me, but when you lend me the pen, i was so happy. it meant you saw and heard me. i wanted to tell you everything in my mind, but class was ongoing so i didn't. so after class i was given slight hope that my friends would see me, but they didn't. and that crushed me-- it crushed me so much that i wasn't able to tell you. you, who i didn't even know was in the same chemistry class as i."

jaemin eyes sparkled in wonder. "w-we go to chemistry class together?" jaemin asked as he tried to recall the time he saw her in his class, but he couldn't remember seeing her.

"apparently so... but i don't remember seeing you in it. that's probably because you're so quiet." —the two chuckled— "the second day came, and the whole day, i kept thinking about talking to you. so when our class came to this room, i was so happy. it was the only time i looked forward to because i know you can talk to me. but, you didn't seem to remember me. i found this very strange and at that moment, i was just confused. it happened for two weeks. i simply wrote down everything that happened in our first meeting and onwards. and i couldn't be more delighted to let you see this."

hwayoung's hands travelled up to the desk to hold jaemin's. jaemin looked up and met her eyes. her eyes were filled with sorrow and pain as she spawns the words, "i hate it here. no one sees me, and the only person who sees me forgets me every single day."

hwayoung traces her name on jaemin's arm. "please, remember my name."

jaemin wasn't a guy who would typically get emotional in small things, but this? he wouldn't even expect himself to shed a tear. in the end, here he was; eyes watery as tears trickled down his cheeks. there was something about hwayoung that drew him to her. she was irresistible.

jaemin abruptly grabbed a pen from his arm and started scribbling on his arm. below hwayoung's name, there was a little note. "na jaemin, hey it's me from the past. you better tattoo this name on your arm or else you're a dead man."

hwayoung let's out a soft stifle chuckle as she covers her mouth. hwayoung smiled sweetly at jaemin and in her eyes, jaemin knew how thankful she was. she just couldn't express how. just a little tmi; jaemin doesn't want to get a tattoo.

not only because his parents didn't want him to, but because it was painful. jaemin didn't know why he jumped into such a rash decision, but it just felt right.

jaemin was suddenly pulled away from his thoughts when his phone started ringing. jaemin retrieves his phone from his pocket, sliding his thumb across the screen before putting his phone near his ear.

before jaemin could greet, or at least say something, the person on the other line beats him to it. "jaemin! where in the world are you?!" jaemin's mother continues on to scold him.

he rolled his eyes before he saw a clock from his peripheral view. 7:28PM, the clock reads. jaemin gulps before he heard his mother hang up on him out of anger. jaemin knew he would be in big trouble once he got home.

"i-i have to go." shaking, jaemin hikes his bag over his shoulder.

"i'll see you tomorrow..." the two exchanged a weak smile before jaemin rushed out the door; completely forgetting the fact that his memories would be wiped away.

before he could undo it, it was already done. jaemin stepped foot outside the classroom and forgot everything. jaemin felt like he forgot something, but he forgot what that something was.

jaemin had the urge to run back to the classroom, but it was too late. jaemin checked his watch and it reads, 7:31PM. jaemin lets out a sigh, knowing his parents will kill him once he gets home.

jaemin bolted out of the campus and went home. tapping his shoe impatiently on the pavement as he waits for the bus; he holds onto the strap of his bag. that's when jaemin noticed a name on his arm. it was the same as before, but this time there were writings on the bottom.

"na jaemin, hey it's me from the past. you better tattoo this name on your arm or else you're a dead man?" jaemin reads out loud. jaemin eventually guffaws as he was getting kinda ticked off by this woman doodling on him as if he was some piece of paper.

"tattoo? ha— past me is so gullible. would he really think i would tattoo a girl's name on my arm? pfft-- not me idiot. not me."

· · ─────── · ✦ · ─────── · ·