Reversed

☆42☆

The reply never came.

* * *

It was just before dawn when Jimin staggered back into the dorm.  He was exhausted.  He had beaten himself up mentally and physically.  His feet now were throbbing as was every other muscle in his body.  As he kicked his shoes off inside the door he turned and almost bumped into Namjoon coming down the hall. 

"Coming in late, huh?"  Namjoon held a bottle of water in his hand.  He looked his fellow member over carefully.  He noticed the dead look in Jimin's tired eyes and he felt curious and an urgency to help. "Want to talk about it?"

Jimin wearily shook his head from side to side, keeping his eyes turned towards the floor.  He wasn't in the mood for another lecture from his leader.  He tried to move past Namjoon but felt a strong hand grip his forearm.

"C'mon," said Namjoon lowly, dragging Jimin behind him. 

Jimin winced as his footsteps fell heavy on the floor, causing prickles of pain to creep across his soles. Once inside Namjoon's studio, he collapsed down onto the floor pillows.  "Please let me go to bed," he said softly, staring at his hands, now neatly folded in his lap.

"Nope. Not till you tell me what's going on. You've been practicing or working out.  Either way, you've done it too long and I can tell you're exhausted.  But why you did it for that long is what's got me curious, Jimin.  'Fess up."  The elder member folded his arms across his chest as he sat down in his desk chair and and slowly swiveled left to right and back again. 

Jimin sighed and ran a weak hand through his hair.  Just raising his arm made him ache.  "You were right," he whispered.

"About...?"  Namjoon did his best to wait for Jimin's slow replies, but it was a hard job. 

"The girl."

Namjoon let out a heavy sigh and his chair stopped moving.  He could see Jimin was struggling to speak but he left him to work out his own answer.

"We came home. I found her holding the hand of another man.  Plain and simple.  You were right."  Jimin's voice took on a bitter tone and it made Namjoon's physically hurt to hear it. 

"What did you see?"

"Tae and I saw her holding another man's hand.  Her coworker to be exact.  You were right, hyung.  She wanted stable and normal."  Jimin felt his eyes become hot and he quickly blinked back any tears that crept into them.

"If you're sure that's how it really is, then I'm very sorry for you, Jimin.  But maybe it was a misunderstanding?"  Namjoon tried to get the younger man to think about the situation from a different perspective.

Jimin shook his head firmly.  "I know what I saw.  You won't have to worry about me being distracted anymore, hyung," he said as he struggled to his feet slowly.  "I'll focus and be back into the groove of things, one hundred percent."  He licked his lips and quickly turned towards the door.  "May I go?" he asked softly, waiting for permission to leave.

"Mm. Sure," hummed Namjoon, watching as Jimin quickly left his studio.  He frowned slightly.  His friend was obviously hurt deeply.  Until he was able to move past that, his promise of being back in the game at one hundred percent would just be a far away dream.