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Taehyung met Jimin when he was three. He bumped into him on the playground at daycare and from then on the two of them were inseparable.
They coloured together. Jimin always said Tae’s drawings were the best and Taehyung in turn would tell Jimin how much better his Hangul was.
They rode their bikes together everyday after school. Jimin was so much faster than Tae, even if he was so small.
They grew up together and over time they fell in love.
~~
“Mrs. Kim I don’t know what to tell you.”
“You’re his psychologist. You’re supposed to be able to tell me what is wrong with my grandson.”
“He has early onset schizophrenia. This Jimin character is a hallucination. We could try to up his medication but that may just make everything worse.”
“I just want my TaeTae back.”
“Mrs. Kim. As his doctor I don’t recommend upping Taehyung’s doses. He’s not violent, he isn’t a danger to himself or society. He has this one hallucination that unfortunately helps him cope with his lack of friends. He’s healthy. Let’s leave it alone for now.”
“But…”
“Jimin isn’t violent and he doesn’t ask Tae to do things. Tae wants to feel normal and Jimin makes him feel normal. For now let’s focus on that. If Jimin turns then we’ll up his medication, but right now there isn’t any reason to.”
“Okay.”
~~~
“Taehyungie...wake up. It’s time for breakfast.”
A sweet voice calls drawing Taehyung out of a nightmare.
“Just a second Minie.”
Tae feels Jimin’s lips ghost across his cheek. “I love you.”
“Love you too Jimin.”
He grabs Taehyung’s hands and yanks him up.
“You are going to be late for work and if you’re late again they will talk to your grandma about putting you on a different medicine and you know what happens when that happens.”
“I get super sick and imagine a world where you don’t exist.”
“Exactly. And what do we say to that?”
“That how can that me real when I can feel you in my hands?”
“Exactly. I love you TaeBear.” He leans down and kisses Tae hard as if to reenforce how real he is.
“Chickadee.”
“Up. You have to go to work.” He giggles at Jimin’s pout and drags himself out of bed.
~~~
“He told me yesterday that Jimin doesn’t like when he takes new medication because he doesn’t exist.”
“Mrs. Kim, I know you’re worried, but you have to trust me when I say that right now even though it isn’t healthy, it isn’t harming Taehyung to have Jimin around. You could maybe push him a bit more to make new friends.”
“Okay. I just want my TaeTae back.”
“I know.”
~~~
“No! You are not taking that!”
“Yes I am Jimin. You heard the doctor. I have to take it or my depression won’t get better.”
Jimin puts his hands on his hips and levels Taehyung with a glare.
“Aren’t I enough to make your depression better?”
“You know that’s not how it works Minie.”
“I know. I just feel like your grandma doesn’t like me.”
“She loves you Jiminie. You make me happy.”
“Not happy enough for her to not want to take you away.”h
Taehyung watches as Jimin launches himself at the chair in the corner.
“She’s just protective.”
~~~
“Mrs. Kim we’ve been over this, Taehyung is doing fine on the doses of medication he is on. He is thriving. You said he made a real friend a few weeks ago. Someone named Yoongi?”
“Yes, but the Yoongi guy believes Jimin is real and even talks to ‘Jimin’.”
“I know you’re frustrated, but he’s getting better. He told me himself yesterday that Jimin has been going on international trips more often and that sometimes he doesn’t even remember Jimin exists. Let’s wait it out okay.”
~~~
“Tae. She tried to kill me.”
“It was an accident. She didn’t know you were allergic.”
“Taehyung. She asked me at lunch if I liked crab and I told her that I am allergic to shellfish. She knew. I literally told her today.”
“Jimin.”
“No. You can’t see it but she’s slowly killing you too.”
Taehyung just shakes his head.
“You may not believe me now, but soon you’ll realise who is really the one harming you out of the two of us.”
“You’re wrong.”
“If you say so Tae.”
~~~
“So Mr. Park what happened here?”
Jimin looks up at the police officer and shakes.
“Taehyung called me to tell me his grandma invited me over for dinner, that she wanted to apologise for trying to kill me last weekend and when I got here…”
A sob wracks the slender man’s body.
“When I got here there was so much blood. So much blood, just everywhere. Everywhere. She was sitting there in the living room with a knife grinning. I… didn’t see Tae until I turned to run and…”
The cop squats down next to him on the curb.
“The blood. The blood. TaeTae’s blood. She kept saying ‘I’m only doing this because you don’t exist’.”
“Is that when you ran out of the house screaming?”
“Yes.”
“You said she tried to kill you last weekend?”
The shaking man nods, “Yes, she invited me over to spend the afternoon and I mentioned that I’m severely allergic to shellfish. That same night she made pasta with crab meat mixed in with the chicken. I ended up in the hospital.”
“Was that the first time she’d tried to hurt you?”
“No. She would push me off of things and hit me when Tae wasn’t around or looking. One time when me and Tae were kids she broke my arm and then told my parents and Tae that I fell down the stairs and no one believed me when I said she grabbed me and just snapped it on the banister.”
“To your knowledge did she ever harm Taehyung before tonight?”
“She would mess with his medications constantly. She was always trying to convince him that I wasn’t real.”
“What did he take?”
“Something for his depression and something for schizophrenia, he was diagnosed when we were teens but he never had visual hallucinations, he would just hear music and things he described as ‘the way colours feel’.”
The cop writes something on a piece of paper.
“Well Mr. Park we’re going to have the paramedics look you over one last time before we go and then we’ll escort you to your house.”
“Will Tae...Is Tae...did he…?”
“I’m sorry Mr. Park, but Mr. Kim was gone before we got here, more than likely before you got here. There wasn’t anything that could be done.”
~~~
“So what brings you in to see me today Mr. Park?”
Jimin looks down at his hands and shivers.
“I keep seeing Taehyung everywhere. Sometimes he’s getting flowers, the other day he was walking down the street toward our old apartment building. I know he isn’t real, but part of me wants it to be real.”
“Well Jimin that’s not unusual when you lose a loved one, we could try medication if you wanted, but would suggest maybe just giving it some time. You’ve been through a lot of trauma for an extended period of time and your brain is trying to cope the only way it knows how, by giving you the person you want the most.”
Jimin nods and lets out a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll give it some time.”
“Good. Now tell me about your date with Yoongi last week.”