My Cute Co-Worker

14

"D-do you c-consider us f-friends?"

Author POV

Jungkook's stomach twisted in knots as he forced himself to verbalize his burning question. He had come to the realization that Jimin always just referred to him as his 'co-worker' each time the older had introduced him to someone important in his life. This baffled him in more ways than one.

Did Jimin really only see him as someone from his work whom he hangs out with?

Maybe friend could just be inferred and not something he necessarily states explicitly.

Perhaps it is because he allowed people into his life in stages and he hadn't yet achieved that highly sought after status of being 'Jiminie hyung's friend' yet?

Or was it possibly due to the fact that Jimin sees him as something else? He really hoped this was the case...

Meanwhile, the unexpected question had caught Jimin off guard causing his heart to flutter. He wanted to just say one of his smooth pickup lines, but figured it would be too much for his shy co-worker. He just decided to answer the question somewhat truthfully for the time being with the hopes of confessing his feelings for the younger in a more mellow way.

"...of course I consider us friends!" Jimin replied with a nervous giggle, hoping his dongsaeng wouldn't be able to hear the difference in his voice.

The elder's voice broke Jungkook out of his racing thoughts, but the adorable laugh really only partially made up for his heart shattering answer.

"Friends. Of course. I don't know why I would expect anything else," Jungkook thought.

"You consider me as your friend too, don't you?" Jimin asked with a slight pout.

"O-of course," Jungkook mumbled out nervously, trying to hide his disappointment.

"I would never offer to pay for my dongsaeng if I didn't consider them a friend," Jimin said with a smile. "And I only have three dongsaengs: you, Tae, and JiHyun. All my other friends are older than me. Although JiHyun and I are more than just friends, but he's still my dongsaeng," he added with a shrug.

In Jimin's mind this was the perfect set up to segway into his own feelings, but Jungkook couldn't help but feel even more dejected.

'There's that name again...' Jungkook said to himself.

Jimin's mother had said he reminded her of this JiHyun person, but he forgot to ask his hyung who he was. Clearly he was a person that his cute co-worker cared about, because Jimin just said that he considered them to be 'more than just friends'.

Did Jimin have a crush on this person?

Was JiHyun his boyfriend?!

The thought made Jungkook's heart ache as he leaned his head against the window. Sometimes when he got too overwhelmed he cried or fell asleep to escape his painful emotions. And right now definitely felt like a sleeping moment. So that's what he did... Jungkook closed his eyes and willed his tiny heart to stop hurting so much as a single tear cascaded down his cheek.

Jimin on the other hand had his eyes focused on the road, so he didn't even notice that his shy dongsaeng had gone to sleep. He just carried on with their conversation as normal.