B.

twelve

Jimin ended up telling Taehyung the truth, though he couldn't look at him at all when doing so. Or, at least as much of the truth as he was willing to give away.

"I stayed with my family this weekend. On Saturday, my stepbrother was messing around, and I was in the way," Jimin admitted, looking at his bruise in the mirror. "I didn't realize what was happening until it was too late and didn't get out of the way in time. It was a misunderstanding."

Taehyung was still for a long time. Frighteningly still, as if he weren't even breathing. While his facial expression looked empty, there was something as fiery as hell in his eyes. The very atmosphere around him trembled with rage.

Taehyung finally closed his eyes, inhaling deeply for several seconds. When he finally opened his eyes again, Jimin was relieved to find that whatever anger he'd seen (or, rather, whatever anger that he felt) had faded. 

"You mean an accident?" Taehyung asked. He was leaning against a wall protruding outward beside the skins with crossed arms. His brows were raised, his expression appearing to be unimpressed.

Jimin nodded, finally looking at Taehyung. "Yes, an accident."

Taehyung pierced his lips. He didn't seem to believe Jimin, but he didn't press any further about the topic.

"Why did you come back in here, anyway?" Jimin asked, trying to shake off his anxiety. 

Taehyung bent over and swiped a discarded jacket from underneath one of the sinks. Standing upright, he held it out and said, "I left this behind. Must have thrown it far enough when removing it that I forgot about it."

Jimin nodded, fixing the collar of his shift. It felt like it was suffocating him. Looking for any excuse to get away and have time for himself, Jimin said, "Well, anyway, I have to go run some errands."

Taehyung nodded as if he understood, but asked anyway, "Errands?"

Jimin rolled his eyes, feigning irritation as he pulled at his shirt to reveal the new litter of hickeys Taehyung had given him. Taehyung grinned when he saw them. Jimin said, "Yeah, thanks to you, I have to go stock up on concealer and finishing powder."

"Make sure to get plenty," Taehyung advised in a teasing voice as Jimin strolled past him, "since you're going to be dealing with that for the rest of the semester."

"Yeah, yeah," was Jimin's reply as he left.

As the outside breeze hit him, rustling his hair and making him shiver, Jimin made his way toward his dorm room as fast as he could. He doubted Taehyung would follow him, but he didn't want to get to anyone else. He just wanted to get back and do his homework in peace. He felt exhausted and now his bruise was prominent on his mind as it throbbed on his shoulder.

Just as Jimin reached his room, his phoned buzzed. It was a text from Sungho.

How's your back?

11:46 pm √