Love After Love...

Chapter 33 - "The best dad ever."

~2 months later~

Jieun's POV:
Jimin and I kept in constant touch. We didn't meet very often but we texted quite a lot. It was fun. He was always well spoken and caring. Guilt ate me up whenever he spoke sweet words, but his eyes and smile would make me melt. I was starting to warm up to him. The crying holding Namjoon's photo frame didn't stop though. The pain was excruciating sometimes.

I was wrapping things up at the clinic when I saw Jimin calling. I smiled.

Jieun: "Hey!"

I heard sniffles.

Jieun: "Jimin? Are you okay?"
JM: "Jieun..."

He was crying.

Jieun: "Oh, God. Jimin, talk to me. What's wrong? What happened?"
JM: "Dad... Dad had a heart attack."

I felt like my world was tumbling. Why was this happening to me? What kind of monster is taking this kind of a revenge?

Jieun: "No. No... No, please tell me that this isn't what I think you're telling me."
JM: "He passed half an hour ago."

Jimin was sobbing on the phone. My tears were uncontrollable. He told me the address of the hospital and hung up.

Tears were blurring my vision as I drove as fast as I could. I reached the hospital. I saw Jimin sitting with an elderly lady. I walked up to him and immediately hugged him very tightly. He sobbed on my shoulder and I tried to be as strong as I could but I soon sobbed too. The lady beside him asked me who I was and what my relation with Professor Park was. "He was a father-figure. He guided me a lot and I considered him a mentor," I said. "Are you Jieun?" she asked. "Yes... Sorry, do I know you?" "My husband spoke very fondly of you. He said you were a very promising student. He still has a copy of your thesis," she said, managing to muster up a smile. I teared up again. She soon left me with Jimin. I hugged him again. I drove him home. He really looked like he could use some space and time alone, so I left.

~At the funeral~

Jieun's POV:
Jimin's words were extremely sad. I never knew how much his father meant to him, but now I did. He looked devastated. We hadn't spoken ever since that day at the hospital.

After the funeral was over and everyone left, I stayed so I could check up on him. He sat beside me after he bid everyone goodbye. "Thanks for staying. I really don't feel like being alone today. And I never thanked you for leaving me that day. I couldn't have dealt with company that night," he said. I only smiled.

"He was the best mentor anyone could ever ask for," I said. He agreed. "When I was around 13, my mom left us. Didn't die, she... Umm, she ran away with another man. Sent a letter explaining how she didn't love my father and couldn't live with him, as if that would make things better. I was so angry. Dad was devastated. Everyone in our neighborhood gossiped. Few people said my father was being 'weak' and wasn't capable enough to raise me. But you know what he did? He never hid it from me. He cried in front of me and was vulnerable. Made me feel comfortable enough to cry too. We consoled each other and once, I told him what the others said about him. And he would say that vulnerability is nothing gender-related. Crying is okay... He was always there for me. Because of my mom, I had completely lost faith in relationships and it was pretty much textbook reasons for being the kind of person that can't commit to a woman. But one day, dad called me to sit with him and have a talk. He explained how I can't let another person decide how I need to live my life and what I believe in. He was also part of the reason I stopped casual dating. If I can be half the parent he was, I can say I had a good life. He is the best dad ever. And I know that's a lame thing all kids say when they're young, but he really is... Sorry, was. I don't think I'm getting used to that any time soon... So, when he introduced me to Jinha I was not exactly warm. Half, because I couldn't imagine another mother figure and half, because this meant I would have to share his time with someone else now. Silly, isn't it? But when I saw how happy she made him, I was okay with it. I still don't call her mom but she's okay with that. She said it makes her sound old. Even though she is. She's fun like that. She's my friend. I can confide in her. He really loved her and she him. She is everything my mom wasn't," he finished. I was in tears.

It reminded me of my relationship with my father and how I didn't have any nice thing to remember anymore. Even after Namjoon, our relationship was pretty much the same. He had softened up a little after hearing about Namjoon though. But he still never accepted my choices and taunted me about it. I was too drained to argue back. I had just accepted that this was how it was going to be all my life. But listening to Jimin's words about his father made me envious of their relation.

I wanted that too.