Ink Whisper ~ [jikook] ✓

53

"Jungkook. His name's Jungkook."

"Right."

Jimin nodded. He stared his professor right in the eyes, encouraging him to spill the beans of concern that were unmistakably eating him from the inside.

"As you maybe remember, I mentioned my sister to you before. She also had a similar... problem. The same kind that you have now."

Jimin just nodded and put the hot beverage Mr Kim had prepared bac on the table between them. With all that was going on, he had completely forgotten about Seokjin's sister.

"I wanted to talk to you about her a little bit more. Actually, I didn't tell you the whole truth when we met before because of your-- because of Jungkook."

"What do you mean? What is it?"

Jimin didn't like how Mr Kim said it. He didn't like his tone at all.

A dreadful suspicion crept inside of him, furrowing his brow and making him twist the hem of Kook's hoodie between his worrying fingers.

"I..." Seokjin sighed, running his fingers through his hair in frustration before they settled back around his mug of tea. "At first, she was like you. Tattoos appeared out of nowhere and we lost our minds trying to figure out how a thing like that was even possible. But one day she met that... that man." Seokjin shook his head in disbelief. "Seulgi called him her soulmate. They were attracted to each other like moths to a flame, unable to keep their hands and eyes away from one another for longer than a few minutes. It was instant. The love. The feeling of belonging. The want to protect and never let go, never leave..."

Jimin couldn't shake the warmth he felt inside when Seokjin talked about the bond, as that was exactly how he felt when looking at Jungkook. Everything was better when the older man was there for him. Everything seemed easier with Kook by Jimin's side...

"But that man was a criminal, Jimin. And he did bad things."

The warmth in him faded, instead replaced with a frown on his beautiful face. Jimin's heart started beating faster for a different reason completely.

"He got arrested and put in jail. Seulgi changed so much while he was gone. She went feral. She screamed and cried and the moment I talked to her about letting go, she hit me. It was a mess. She was a mess."

Jimin looked as his teacher stared daggers into his tea.

"W-what happened to her?" The dancer's voice came out as a whisper; Jimin was scared to find out.

Mr Kim chuckled dryly. He was far from amused with all that was again playing through his memories. "That's a good question," he sighed and continued his tale. "She kept getting worse, and new tattoos kept appearing on her skin, even on her face. She was tattooed from head to toe, almost completely covered with that bastard's crude words and dreadful images. She was crying in a corner when I found her, clawing at her cheeks and begging for me to let her see him--"

Jimin gulped.

"Until she just... wasn't. She went limp, collapsing in on herself and losing consciousness as I watched, unable to help with anything. I got Seulgi to bed, left for two minutes to get her a glass of water but when I came back..."

His eyes were confused when he shook his head.

"Seulgi was awake. And she was staring at her hands with a clarity I hadn't seen in her eyes for a long time. But that's not what shocked me, Jimin. Her skin... she was completely untouched. There were no tattoos on any of her fingers, her forearms were pale and clean, her face didn't have any fuck gods written over her eyebrows and she looked at me-- She looked at me and smiled. Relieved beyond words.

"I tried to figure out what had happened but the answer came only when I contacted the prison and asked for the man she had called 'soulmate'." One of the corners of Seokjin's mouth twitched. "They told me he died. And when I asked for when, it clicked. It was the same day Seulgi got her sanity back and under control. A-and then I told her that he was gone and she..."

Jimin had long ago stopped breathing, scared to find out how Seokjin's sister would have ended without her soulmate. He couldn't help imaging how broken he'd be if he lost his Jungkook.

"She felt nothing. She just nodded and sighed, as all people do when they hear about someone's death. It was as if he was a stranger, an unimportant nobody."

Jimin blinked.

What?

"Bu- how- what are you saying? They were soulma--"

"It's not real, Jimin. The feeling she had for him, the irrational attraction to a random person from the day they met. It's not real."

The blonde shook his head. "Why are you telling me this?"

Mr Kim sighed, fingers gripping around the now lukewarm tea, desperate to make a point. "I think you know why, Jimin," he murmured, meeting a set of scared, widened eyes. "I think you know."

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