"That was delicious!" Eunwoo gushed as she stretched her arms. "We have to go again sometime."
"Sure," Parker smiled as they stepped into the car. He started the car up and stared at the steering wheel. "When is she gonna tell me about it?" Parker asked. "But I don't want to sound desperate bringing it up."
"Ready to go?" Eunwoo giggled when she saw Parker's startled expression. "Or were you planning to stay in the parking lot tonight?"
"Oh, sorry. I was deep in thought again," Parker smiled and drove out of the parking lot.
Eunwoo looked at her lap as she bit her lip. "The reason why I'm here right now was because of a positive trigger, which was the romance movie. It was the same with Jeong with the dolphins." She chuckled. "He kept talking about them to us for a few days and about the plushie that you bought too."
"I'm glad that he likes it," Parker smiled, keeping his attention on the road. "Um, does Jumin know the reason why he has DID? Or have June told it to him?"
Eunwoo shook her head. "He doesn't know the full reason. He only knows a small part about it. I do know about it, but I'm scared that something bad us going to happen if I share it with him."
Parker furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait, so you do know and he doesn't?" Parker asked. "How?"
"Because I'm the Gatekeeper and Internal Self Helper in our system." Eunwoo chuckled at Parker's puzzled expression. "The role of the gatekeeper is to keep all the memories in check. I'm the only one who can access the, and as I quote from Min, "Dark Forest" where all of the memories are stored. I can give control to the other alters and push them back when in need. I also help the others make difficult decisions when they're in a dilemma."
"That sounds like a lot," Parker commented.
"It's a pretty tough job, but I'm happy to do it," Eunwoo smiled.
"What about the others?"
Eunwoo hummed as she played with her hair to think. "I wish my hair was longer," she thought. "Jumin is the Core and Host. The "original" personality and the one who fronts the most. Min is an ANP or Apparently Normal Part. He, like Jumin, doesn't hold any trauma memories. Min just tries to live his life quietly and loves anything anime and video game-related. He loves to talk about his love for them, but I can't understand the hype about it," she laughed softly. "Unlike Jumin is Min thirteen years old."
"Thirteen?!"
"He isn't the youngest though," Eunwoo laughed. "Jeong, who is six, is the Child Alter and is a Trauma Holder. He's the one to keeps the memories from abuse away from Jumin. His anxiety level is high and was diagnosed with depression a year or two ago when he showed up. He's not the best with people, but likes the ones that he knows well."
"It's cool that you talk about all of this, but are the others okay with it?" Parker asked. "Because I don't want a fight to break out between all of you."
"It's fine," Eunwoo replied as she waved him off. "I asked them already if it's good and they said yes... except that Kyung wanted to tell you himself in person. Kyung is the Protector. It's basically what the name says. He protects us from when someone threatens us, is rude to us, or becomes physical. It may sound weird, but he's also one of the Caretakers. He loves Min and Jeong like they're his own children and said multiple times that he'd die for them."
"For real?" Parker asked and burst out laughing. "I need to bring that part up sometime." Parker's laughter died down and his expression became more serious. "How old is Kyung?"
"He's twenty. And he has his hair dyed," Eunwoo replied. "In our mind, I have long, dark brown hair with highlights which I miss!" She cried and cleared her throat. "We can talk about our appearances another time. Anyway, the other two alters, Kiran and Taeyang. Taeyang is a Persecutor and also a Trauma Holder. They try to harm the body to get the others under their control. Taeyang did that in the past but now, he does his best to cope with the trauma and tries to protect the others in his own way."
Parker saw the stoplight turn green and stepped on the gas. "How is he like?"
"He's more... the annoying type," Eunwoo laughed awkwardly. "He tends to be a little narcissistic and can act arrogant sometimes. Like an arrogant rich guy in a novel. But next to all that, he does show that he cares about us. Fun fact, he always has his black hair slicked back and loves to wear all fancy."
"What about... Kira?" Parker asked, hoping that that was their name.
"Kiran," she corrected. "She's very bubbly. She's one year older than Jumin and is the caregiver. She takes care of us and soothes us when we're distressed. I love that she's always positive, even when it's stressful." She smiled fondly as she looked out of the window. "Next to that, we have some that only contain out of certain memories and we don't have any "dead alters" yet, who are not actually dead, but don't show themselves anymore."
"Would your mind look like a mess with all the things happening? Or is it like an office with a huge table where all of you sit?" Parker joked.
"That'd be funny," Eunwoo laughed. "But our mind is more... it looks like..." Eunwoo thought about how she could describe it. "We all live in a house in the middle of nowhere with a huge forest surrounding us. The house has two floors and looks antique. A huge garden and a brick wall are surrounding the house from the forest. The others can't enter the forest except me and you already know why."
"But still." Parker tried to hold his laughter. "The dark forest. Sounds like something in Zelda."
"What is Zelda?" Eunwoo asked. "Min likes to talk about a guardian from that but I don't understand it."
"I'll show you when we get home."
"Get home?" She echoed. "Are you bringing me home?"
"Jumin wanted to stay over, so we're going to my house," Parker explained and pulled up in the driveway. "And we're here." He turned off the engine and got out of the car as he tossed the keys in the air.
"And where am I supposed to sleep?" She asked as she got out of the car, a little scared of his answer.
"Where else? With me on my bed, of course," Parker replied.
"What?!"
Comments (0)
See all