The Affinity

Chapter 31

I finished my food quickly hoping to leave as soon as possible, for a moment I thought we were about to leave after he finished his food, but that wasn't the case.

Suddenly, a group of the staff brought out a cake with more wine, all singing the dreaded birthday song. The wine. The cake. The singing. I couldn't do it. It was too hard pretending everything was okay. I ran out of the empty restaurant trying to catch my breath that had escaped me since the moment he mentioned my birthday. A gust of cool wind hit me as I stepped outside, relaxing my shaking bones. I tried so hard to hide my fear but now there was no escaping it, Jimin would blame himself if he found out that this was the last thing I wished for. I closed my eyes taking in the fresh air, feeling free.

Then a familiar pair of arms wrap around my middle. He didn't say anything, just held me. I was grateful, I didn't want to talk right now, I just wanted to be.

I took in a deep breath welcoming his deep musky scent that always seemed to put me at ease. I looked into his deep brown orbs. "Can we go home"

He simply nodded.

~~~

I beamed straight towards the bathroom in Jimin's bedroom as soon as we were home. I freshened up hoping that would bring my mind back to my usual self. I stepped out of the bathroom finding Jimin with a bottle of beer in one hand and his body perched on the side of the bed, his posture slumped. I sat next to him, grabbing the beer from his hand and downing a sip. The taste burned my tongue, I never liked beer. He was about to grab the bottle back, so I got up and dumped the rest into the sink before throwing it away.

He chuckled at my actions, before getting up and grabbing my arm. He pulled me downstairs all the way to the backyard where he made me sit down on the couch next to him. We sat in silence for a few minutes until he finally opened his mouth to get answers to his burning questions. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, although I wasn't entirely sure if I was, but being here with him made everything feel like it was going to be okay.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he continued.

I wanted to, but I couldn't even fully understand why I had reacted that way. I didn't have the answers he was looking for. "I...I do, but..."

He looked at me intently like he already knew, as if my unspoken words had told him everything. He knew me better than I did myself. He knew why I was hurting even if I couldn't form the words to explain it myself.

"I'm sorry Chae, I noticed you weren't feeling okay and I should've realized that something like this would only bring back bad memories. But baby, you should've told me this wasn't something you wanted, I never want you to suffer. This, this is real now and I love you more than anything, so please don't hide it from me." His words were soft and hurt. I inadvertently hurt him because he thought I didn't trust him enough to confide in him.

I grabbed his hands in the palms of mine. "Chim, I trust you more than anyone, I just didn't want to ruin everything, especially because you did all of this for me. I thought I could bear the memories for one night, but I was too weak to..."

"No, you're not weak." He interrupted me. "Chaeyoung, you took over your father's company with ease. You have led it to new heights that your own father wasn't even able to do. But that isn't the only thing that makes you strong, you're forgiving. I thought I had lost you forever after you learned the truth, yet you chose to see the good in me, to believe me."

I kissed him. I could never get enough of the feeling of our lips touching. I pulled away from him. Regretting every moment that I could no longer feel him on me.

"Everyone in my life had hurt me and I felt so foolish for living that lie for so many years. But the truth behind your lie made me realize I don't regret choosing you and I never will. Even so, I know you're still keeping things from me and I guess I should be grateful because we both know I wouldn't be able to stomach all of it, but I need to know everything you're doing. I agreed to help you and that's what I'm going to do."

"No. We both saw what happened tonight, over my dead body will I make you go through anything like that again. I love you too much to make you relive all of it. Chaeyoung, I won't allow you to push yourself because of me."

"This dread that I constantly feel will only go away if I face them...tell me where you're keeping Jackson."

"No."

"Fine, then I'll just ask Lay."

"Chae, please I don't want you to get more caught up in this. You just had a panic attack not even an hour ago because of this mess and the last thing I'm going to do is make it worse."

"You keeping things from me doesn't make me uninvolved, but oblivious. I can't, Jimin... I don't want to feel that way ever again like everything I ever knew was a lie. So just tell me now. I'm going to help you and nothing is going to change my mind."

He looked deep into my eyes hoping to find some uncertainty. But he wouldn't find any because there was nothing I was more certain about than this. He finally nodded to request knowing I wasn't going to let this go so easily.

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I am so sorry for not updating in a while, I was caught up in personal stuff. Anyway, if you liked the chapter, please don't forget to vote!