Chapter Text
I set the plastic cup in my hand down on the edge of the table. It slid under my fingertips like a thin tremor, the plastic making a faint sound. I looked at the crowd gathered in front of me.
The light drizzle of rain wasn’t bothering anyone. People who didn’t even notice the drops falling into their hair seemed as if they were living in another world rather than inside the air itself.
The event had been announced about a week ago. They had wanted to do something as an excuse to mark the end of summer. We were by the lakeside in the forest close to the center, a place usually chosen for such parties.
Yellow lamps were strung along ropes stretched between the trees. The dim light spread into the darkness like a soft line. The forest’s harsh and dark form had almost taken on a sweet warmth with this light.
Small artificial candles were floating on the lake; the light reflected on the water was blurred by the ripples of raindrops. Old chairs and tables had been left scattered around carelessly. People gathered in groups, leaning in to talk to each other despite the loud music, occasionally getting carried away by the rhythm and dancing.
“Good thing I brought my jacket.”
I flinched when I heard the voice. Jungkook was next to me. As he placed the thin jacket he was wearing over my shoulders, he paused for a moment; as if he was weighing whether I was really cold or not.
That was when I realized… I was trembling.
I was about to roll my eyes, but the feeling of cold got ahead of me and settled on my shoulders.
Just then Taehyung cut in.
“That’s Minnie as always,” he said with a grin. “The type who says ‘I won’t wear anything even if I’m cold’ and then ends up freezing.”
I lifted the cup in my hand and looked at him. “If you don’t want me to throw it, shut up.” Even though my narrowed eyes should’ve shown my irritation, he must’ve found it funny because he laughed.
“Oh, God please don’t. I’m not afraid of anything as much as I’m afraid of an empty plastic cup,” he said, mockingly raising his hands in a defensive position.
Just as I was about to say something, Jungkook leaned slightly into my line of sight, smiling in a way that clearly showed he didn’t want me to continue. The rain had started to drizzle more heavily.
“Jungkook, tell your brother I’ll deal with him later.”
“Jungkook, tell our friend I’m here and I can hear him.”
Jungkook sighed.
“You two can continue later,” he said in a calm tone. “Let’s go now. I’m hungry.”
While so many people were dancing without caring about the rain, we were walking through them. I didn’t want to get wet. I had just recovered from being sick. I also didn’t want to end up hosting these two men again in my house, which already barely had space for even one person, where I would inevitably end up staying in bed for days again.
Scenes kept flashing in my mind one by one.
Jungkook trying to make soup on one side, while Taehyung tried to make me feel better by playing games… and me just crying and complaining because my fever wouldn’t go down.
They had both helped. They hadn’t left my side until I recovered. They had slept on the hard floor mattress. That was why I didn’t want to host them. I didn’t have the same conditions as them; my home didn’t have the comfort they were used to. A hard floor mattress, an American-style kitchen, a second-hand TV with burn-in marks on the screen… I felt self-conscious.
They had never acted like they confirmed what I was feeling. On the contrary, they were relaxed, but even if they didn’t make me feel that way, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about it.
Jungkook placed a hand on my waist to guide me since I couldn’t see ahead. We had moved away from the party area. The car was parked far away since vehicles couldn’t enter this side. The path that had been bright when we arrived in the afternoon was now covered in darkness due to evening falling.
When Jungkook’s arm briefly left my waist, I turned to him. He was looking at Taehyung. Taehyung was walking a few steps behind us.
I noticed him nod slightly. Since I couldn’t hear what he said, when I turned fully toward them, he turned to me, smiled, and walked closer.
“Jungkook is going to take my car, Jimin, let’s go.”
“Why would your car be here when you came with us?”
When I looked at Jungkook, I saw him looking toward the forest; his neck muscles were tensed enough to show he was irritated. “I gave my car to a friend. I didn’t want him to hit anything on the way back. I saw him leaving the party, he was quite drunk.”
I nodded faintly, but my eyes were still on Jungkook. He looked at me to reassure me and gestured with his head. “You two go. I’ll come after you. The car is nearby.”
“There was that burger place Jimin ate at without us and liked, let’s go there.” He emphasized the “without us” part.
I hit Taehyung’s shoulder once. “Let’s see if you’ll like it with us, Jimin? Maybe it tasted better in a scenario where we weren’t there.”
Jungkook had already started walking back in the direction we came from. So he was going to get the keys from the kid. Taehyung put his hand on my shoulder and pulled me closer, encouraging me to walk.
“Since there wasn’t someone constantly stealing my fries and drinking my cola before me, it tasted better, you know Tae?”
He laughed and nodded. “It was all so you wouldn’t gain more weight.”
-
“I won’t reply.”
Taehyung looked at my phone screen with a disgusted expression. “He really seems like he likes you.”
I shook my head no. He didn’t like me; he just had a weird obsession.
“Who is it?” Jungkook took the phone from my hand and handed me the hot coffee he was holding with his now-free hand. His eyebrows were furrowed as he read the messages.
“Obviously some idiot,” Taehyung commented mockingly, referring to the message.
Jungkook’s eyes shifted to me. He was probably wondering why I hadn’t blocked him. I, on the other hand, avoided his gaze and took a sip of my coffee.
“Kyungsoo?” he asked, reading my reaction. I gave a faint nod.
He was someone from the past. And every time I remembered those moments, my nerves got worse.
At the high school we all attended together, thanks to Jungkook and Taehyung, I didn’t have a single male or female friend around me. Throughout all of high school, my chances at anything were basically ruined because of these two. Of course, I had talked to a few people here and there. I had actually gotten along pretty well with a boy named Kyungsoo. Even though he was older than me, we were the same height; he was a senior, and I was two grades below him.
We met during his gym class. Instead of running, he had come into the counseling room to escape. That’s where we met. I was trying to complete an assignment given as punishment, and in the empty classroom I had only been sitting for five minutes when he came in too.
After that, we did my assignment together, talked, and formed a nice bond.
Our first week had gone quite well. Taehyung had sensed something but didn’t say anything, while Jungkook… was just Jungkook. I didn’t understand him.
Everything was fine—until graduation at high school.
After a good month with Kyungsoo, just as we were close to officially defining what we were, I completely distanced myself from him because of what he did.
Before graduation, he had called me to an empty gym. I wasn’t expecting my first real kiss to happen in a dirty room where sweaty bodies had been.
His slender but strong hands pinned me between him and the locker, his cherry-colored lips… everything happened too fast. Unexpected.
To be honest, it was good. The way he moved his lips skillfully, his tongue fighting with mine, pressing himself into me for more… I tried to pull away when they announced graduation over the speakers. But he held me, even if I pushed, he smiled. I think he thought I was playing some kind of game with him.
But as I flew back like a leaf, he realized the seriousness of it.
When Jungkook grabbed him by the collar, he didn’t say anything.
He just hit him.
Once. Twice.
Kyungsoo was saying something, but the voices were blending together. “Jimin, don’t misunderstand—”
I stayed where I was.
Numb.
When Jungkook came back to me, without looking at my face, he wiped the corner of my lips.
As if something had been left there.
But his eyes… his eyes stayed on me.
His eyes were still on me.
I was staring at his face without realizing I had drifted off. He, on the other hand, was studying my expression. Probably trying to figure out whether I was upset or what I was feeling.
Taehyung didn’t know any of this. Unlike Jungkook, he wasn’t calm about it. We had agreed to keep it between us. I couldn’t openly say anything.
“I’ll block him anyway now.” I took a forkful of dessert and ate it as if nothing was wrong. Whenever Jungkook acted like this, I always got flustered and didn’t know what to do. I was used to his emotionless behavior.
“I blocked him.”
He placed the phone in front of me. His expression was flat. Right now, I couldn’t understand what he was feeling, and that made me feel even more strange.
Taehyung was completely unaware of the atmosphere between us. He was generally someone who could never focus his attention properly on anything anyway.
“My dad invited you to dinner tonight,” the brunette said while trying to gather the remaining chocolates on his plate with a fork.
“Oh really?”
Taehyung nodded.
“I already told him you’d come. You don’t have anything else to do anyway,” he said.
I had stopped rolling my eyes at Taehyung by now. I did it so often during the day that I was afraid I’d end up permanently cross-eyed. I gave a fake smile.
“I have something very important to do tonight, I can’t come.”
“You can watch your show later. Besides, my mom misses you too. You haven’t come in a long time.”
His mother was a very sweet woman. She was truly like an angel. When we first became friends with Jungkook and Taehyung, back in the early days of high school, I used to go to their house often. Every time I said I liked them, she would make her delicious blackberry cakes. She never treated me differently from her own children.
Their father, though… I had only seen him a few times. He was a strict man. The complete opposite of their mother. I was actually intimidated by him. He was always away for work. Jungkook and Taehyung handled things here.
“I guess I need to think about it.”
“He made cakes.”
“I’m coming.”
Taehyung smiled in victory, while I glanced at Jungkook. He was looking at my phone, which he had placed on the table.