PITYING THE PRISONER | p.jm

t h i r t e e n - c o r a

"Oh, they all look so handsome!" My mother exclaims. "Look at little Jungkook!"

"Mom, please," I groan, feeling embarrassed.

"Yeah, Jess, please," Dad adds playfully. "You're married, and Jungkook is like, ten years old."

"I didn't mean it like that!" She defends. "He just looks handsome."

"Jungkook is sixteen, actually," I say, but no one's really listening.

The first scene that Jimin appears in is the one of him cleaning the bathroom. Immediately, in typical mom fashion, my mother adds her commentary. "Ooh, I like his hair like that. He looks really good."

"Step off, mom, that's my boyfriend," I joke.

Then the words "SKOOL LUV AFFAIR" appear on the screen, and my dad chuckles.

"Two of those words are not spelled correctly," he comments.

"Shh, honey, it's artistic license,"  Mom shuts him down. Dad just smiles and keeps watching.

At that point, the song starts, and I can see that both of my parents are surprised by what they're hearing. It seems to be good surprise, though, as Mom is already tapping her foot to the beat and Dad's got a smile on his face. He utters a small  "Ooh" when V starts singing. He's always liked V's voice, but why do I know that?

As Jimin confesses to the girl midway through the video, my parents once again begin an uproar. "The only girl he should be confessing to is you," Dad says.

"You have to be kidding me," I say to myself. Dad just laughs.

"He looks good, though." Mom adds for the hundredth time. "Not many guys can pull off that much eyeliner."

"Jimin's a very talented guy," I joke.

Finally, though, after a few more comments on Jimin's high notes, the song ends.

"That was really good, Cora," Dad says. "Your boy's doing some pretty outstanding work, if I do say so myself."

"I'll be sure to let him know that you like it," I say.

"Why not invite him over for dinner?" Mom suggests. "I haven't seen him in awhile."

"He's probably busy doing promotions, and if he isn't, he should be resting," I say.

"Just ask him," Dad says. "The worst thing he could do is say no."

I pull the phone I didn't know I had out of my pocket and proceed to text Jimin:

Hey, are you free? I'm guessing not, but my parents wanted me to invite you to dinner.

I get a quick response:

I won't be around for dinner, but I can make time for lunch. Be there in fifteen.

"Well, you nitwits, he's coming over in fifteen minutes."

"That's no way to talk to your parents," Dad scolds jokingly. Then, to my mom, he says, "I'll help cook."

I sit on the couch, reading to Myungjun while I await Jimin's arrival. I'm still trying to figure all of this out. What is this, anyway? Where am I, what's going on? Have I died? Is this heaven? Or, is this some comatose hallucination? Or is it just a normal dream?

The door suddenly opens and Jimin enters. His hair is black and he's wearing a blue t-shirt and black jeans.

"Hello, Mrs. Abernathy, Mr. Lee," he greets brightly. His voice is a bit accented when he says my mother's name, and it's cute. I can't help but smile at it. My parents return his greeting, speaking in Korean now.