THE SECOND HEROINE || extraordinary you ff

6. Explanation

For the next two days, I've kept hearing the sounds of pages being flipped and not remembering anything that Namju, Dohwa or Kyung have been telling me or the stuff that we did.

I wasn't sure if it had something to do with my amnesia or that I must be going crazy, but last night I've been having strange dreams about someone. At first, after waking up, I couldn't remember who it was, but during lunchtime, my head started to ache after seeing Jimmichae.

I've heard from my class president that there are no classes for the next two hours since the teachers are having a faculty meeting out of nowhere. So, here I am standing outside the cafeteria doors. I took this as an advantage and pushed the doors of the cafeteria open. I walked inside and saw no one, but then I heard someone using a cutting knife inside the kitchen.

I quickly walked to the entrance of the kitchen and saw Jimmichae cutting some vegetables into thin slices. I sighed in relief when seeing him, but I was feeling a little scared since I wasn't sure if he'd be able to answer my questions right.

I mean, he wouldn't be the first to not answer my questions correctly. The first person that I've asked was Namju and he thought that my amnesia must be acting up or something. Then the second person was Dohwa. He literally thought I was talking about another manhwa or KDrama. I've even asked the hot-tempered, Kyung, who just gave me another weird look and told me to go see a doctor. So, I've given up on asking those three idiots and decided to ask a random stranger.

 And there's no harm in asking Jimmichae my questions, too... Right?

"Miss, lunch is over," Jimmichae exclaims, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You can get something to eat at the Snack Bar. It's near the soccer field."

"Oh, um, sorry," I spoke up in embarrassment. "But, uh, I am not here to eat."

The blonde-haired guy looked at me in confusion and asked with a soft smile, "Then, why are you here?"

I took a deep breath and asked my first question to him.

"Have we met before?"

Jimmichae's soft smile went away in less than a second, but then he recovers real quickly and answers my question.

"No, I don't think we've met before," he says without blinking.

I bit my bottom lip and sighed. "You're lying..." I slowly told him, feeling a little deja vu at the situation that I'm in.

Jimmichae looks at me and throws me another one of his smiles that could make any girls faint. But I am not like any of the other girls.

"And why do you think I'm lying?" He asked me as he looked at his unfinished cutting.

I shrugged. "I'm not sure why, but I just have this feeling that you're lying..." Then my eyes caught something familiar on the kitchen island. "and hiding something from me."

I noticed that Jimmichae started to move slowly towards the object that caught my eye. On my instincts, I hurriedly ran to the other side of the kitchen island and grabbed the object before Jimmichae could get it.

"Damn! I forgot how fast you were..." Jimmichae mutters under his breath, but still loud enough for me to hear.

"So, you do know me! Then that means we've definitely met before!" I excitedly exclaimed, almost forgetting about the object in my right hand.

I looked at it and realized it's a book.

"Wait! Please, don't open that!" Jimmichae pleads as he looks between me and the book.

Before I could say anything, a vision suddenly passed through my head.

I see the same book inside a basket of a bicycle that I'm riding and then out of nowhere, I heard the screeching noises of someone's car tires.

And the vision ended.

I looked at the book once again and back at the blondie.

"I've seen this book before somewhere outside of Seulli..." I spoke up in disbelief.

"W-what?" Jimmichae asked in surprise. "But h-how?"

This time I couldn't help but open the book and when I did, I saw more visions about the book and what was inside of it. I started to shake uncontrollably and felt my legs were about to give way.

"YAH ! HYUN SEOL !" Jimmichae shouts in worry and panic.

The book was then snatched away from me and the visions had stopped as well. My headache came back, but all I could focus on was what Jimmichae said.

"That name... I know... I've heard of that name before..."

Jimmichae's face went hard. His whole body was stiff. I could tell that he is hiding something from me.

"You were in a car accident, Ara," he gently tells me as he holds onto the book tightly. "So, please..." He sighs while shaking his head. "Please, if you want me to answer your questions, can we take it slowly?"

I rubbed both of my temples and nodded my head in defeat. "Fine..."

Jimmichae made me sit on a high chair inside the kitchen and got me a glass of hot cocoa.

"Uh, shouldn't I be drinking water?" I asked in confusion.

The older guy laughed softly and answered, "Trust me, hot cocoa had always help you when it comes to your headaches."

I sighed in defeat and wondered out loud, "How do you know that? I don't even remember the stuff about me. Namju and Dohwa are always the ones who look out for me and tell me stuff about myself that I don't even know..."

Jimmichae smiles happily and says, "Well, it's because I've known you for... to be honest, way before you started studying here."

"Oh, really?" I pushed on with my left eyebrow raised. "Then you must know me before the car accident? And my parents, too?"

"Yes, and yes. I knew them, especially your father."

I sighed. Of course, he'd know my parents. After all, they're Namju's relatives.

"Your father always took my side and took good care of me until he lost his position in the Royal Court."

Wait. What now?

I almost choked on my hot cocoa right there. I looked at the blondie and asked, "What in the world are you talking about?"

Then Jimmichae looked at me seriously and said, "Would you believe me if I told you that we are characters from a manhwa?"

"You're messed up," I told him as I took another sip of my hot cocoa. But I quickly thought about how weird these past few days were and how I've had gaps in my memories. My amnesia definitely has nothing to do with my memory gaps. So, I added in, "But go on. I need an explanation as to why I keep having gaps in my memories these past few weeks- well, technically, these past few months since the 1st semester just ended."

"Here, read this, but don't overdo it." Jimmichae gently places the book on top of the kitchen island. I looked at it for a few seconds and took it. From the cover of the book, I could tell it was a manhwa. As I flipped it open, my heart started to beat really fast. I looked up at Jimmichae to see him pouring some hot cocoa into another mug for himself.  "Go on," he says without looking at me. 

I sighed and looked back at the manhwa. Right then I saw the two pages of the main, supporting and extra characters. I saw many familiar faces and remembered the visions I had from earlier. I've definitely seen this manhwa before the car accident, but how and where did I find it? As I continued to look at the characters and their backgrounds, I suddenly gasped when I realized something weird.

Then I exclaimed in shock, "This is Namju, Juda and... and Dohwa!" I looked back at Jimmichae, who is quietly sipping his share of hot cocoa. I glared at the blondie and shouted, "YAH! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?"

Jimmichae chuckles and looks at me. "Oh, sorry, do I need to look at you and not do anything to make it look like I'm listening?" He asked with a teasing tone.

I rolled my eyes as my answer and asked, "So, my cousin, the other new student, and my best friend are the main characters?"

Jimmichae nods his head. Then I looked back at the characters. "And I'm the second female lead... While you and everyone else are the supporting and extra characters..." I could tell the older guy is having quite a fun time with my reactions, but hey, who wouldn't be? If Namju ever realizes that he's a manhwa character, I'd literally just be like Jimmichae, but of course, I'd try to explain to my cousin better than how Jimmichae would.  "Now that you know, will you listen to me without cutting in?" Jimmichae asked, once again sounding serious.

I held onto the manhwa before putting it back down onto the kitchen table. "Yeah... I'm ready to listen."