1 The Countdown

Jimin is cursed.

When he was seven, he was one of the kids who were hit by one of the rarest disease in their land, the Countdown. The Countdown is a strange disease that courses through a child's body. It slowly mixes with their blood and sets a specific time until your heart just simply stops beating. Once you get hit by it you'll lose all hope, for there is no cure. His mother was devastated when she found out one morning that Jimin was affected when she saw the numbers that seemingly look like a clock plastered on her only child's chest decreasing slowly as each seconds passed by.

It says "02:06:17:06:21:04" (Years:Months:Days:Hours:Min:Sec:)

Two years. Jimin only had two years left to live and it hurts his mother for not being able to do anything. So they both traveled from town to town, hope never leaving his mother's heart as she pursued one witch to another, trying to find a cure for her child. It was then when they stop on a certain small town with only forty to fifty people living there, that they found someone who can help.

"I don't have enough magic to stop the curse, but I do know how to delay it." That was what the witch said as Jimin's mother led him inside a cave where the witch started her ritual. Jimin laid there on the cold hard ground, listening to the witches words as she casted an unknown spell inside Jimin. The child closed his eyes.

When the ritual ended, Jimin can still remember how his mother's body fell, her once beautiful features and always smiling face were replaced with a lifeless one.

Her eyes that seemingly sparkle every time, void from any emotion. It was then where the witch told him that his mother sacrificed her remaining years to give to her only son. He remembers. He remembers it all.

Even the last thing the witch said as they buried Jimin's mother in the ground,"You'll be able to live happily, without the Countdown coursing through your blood when you find your bloodmate. That's the only thing I can do to you, child. I cannot lift the curse but the spell I put in you can cure it if you find that special someone. Your mother helped me a lot and this is my way of repaying her." The witch looked at him with a small soft smile, "You'll know it's him when you see him the same time the first snow falls during your last year of living."

And that was the start of Jimin's journey. He's now on his 20th year of living, thanks to his mom who passed her remaining eighteen years to him when he was supposed to die two years later.

He still dreams about her. The soft melodies she used to sang to him when he was young, the touch of her delicate hands as she brushes Jimin's fringe away from his eyes, her whispers of "I love you's" and "You're going to be okay, Jiminie" is what keeps Jimin going for the past years.

Jimin let out a small sigh as he drank the remaining cappuccino in his cup. It was nearing winter, he noticed, when he felt the cold breeze touched his skin as soon as he stepped out from his favorite coffee shop.

Winter is coming, which means the first snow is going to fall anytime soon. And Jimin is on his last year, which made him panicked a bit because until now, he never found his bloodmate. He glanced at his watch as he waited for the bus to take him back to his apartment.

06:07 PM

He still has twenty three minutes left for him to be able to watch his favorite night show.

He let out a small huff as he looked up at the sky, it was a dark night, there are no stars lighting up the heavens and Jimin smiled to himself sadly.

Even the sky knows how dark Jimin's life is.