FOX || P.JM

34

Jimin jumps into her arms without hesitation. Her warmth soothes his tired form and her scent calms him down.

He had been dreaming of this ever since he left.

And then, he feels wet droplets on his ear. Thinking that it's starting to rain, he looks up, only to see her cheeks and eyes red. Her hair is slightly messy and there are bags of dark circles under her eyes.

What happened? Aren't you living a better life without me? Why are you like this?

"I-I thought y-you would forget about m-me." She stutters as the tears that had been pooling in her eyes rolls down her cheeks.

Tears don't only represent fear, they also represent sadness.

He feels his insides swell up with unexplainable emotions as he reaches his snout out and cleans her tears off with his tongue.

How could I have forgotten about you, when you are my whole world?

He looks up at her, eyes watery like hers, ears drooped.

If only I can tell her just how much she means to me. If only she can see it in my eyes.

Pressing himself against her tummy so he could feel her warmth, he finally felt it again. The feeling of home he had been craving for so long.

"Jimin-ah... you didn't forget me, did you?" A familiar deep voice rang from behind Taehee, making the fox look up to see a familiar box-like smile he had never seen on any other human beings before.

Suddenly getting all excited, he starts wagging his tail but stops when his gaze landed on another male with dark brown hair. He cocks his head to one side at the stranger, to which the man mirrors.

"So, this is the fox we've been looking for, huh?" Jin awkwardly rubs the back of his neck while he eyes Jungkook, who slowly nods with his eyes still on Taehee.

"Nice to meet you, Jimin. I hope you don't bite." Jin crouches down to match Jimin's eye level and smiles at him. The fox timidly lowers his head at the man, slowly walking towards him and placing his paw on top of the man's hand.

"Ah... I like you already." Jin grins at him and reaches his hand out to pat him on his head.

Things happened so quickly, Jimin barely had any time to process what was going on. Jin was already on the ground, tackled by two wolves. Taehyung had pulled Taehee by her hand to a nearby tree, helping her before getting up himself.

Jungkook was the only one fighting off the wolves. Kicking and swinging a stick around while he grunts at the effort.

"Jimin!" Taehee's call snapped him out of his trance. He quickly rushes to get the wolves off Jin. There, he recognized the wolves.

Mother's wolves.

After Jin successfully knocked the wolves out, Jimin starts looking around frantically for his mother.

Mother! Where are you?!

 The vixen appears from behind a tree and looks at him with her coldly.

What are you doing?! He growls at her, canine teeth showing and tail straightened.

They intruded our land. I'm merely protecting what's mine. She doesn't move and has no intentions of stopping her gang of wolves.

That's enough, Jinhee. You've gone too far. The old wolf appears, standing by Jimin's side with his head held up high.

Stop this at once before you regret it. The vixen is obviously not shaken by the wolf's threat at all. In fact, this only made her blood boil in anger.

Are you going against me right now? I didn't allow you to train my son so you'll become stupid like him, Sihyuk. Do you have any idea what you're doing right now? You're taking the humans' side! She starts moving closer to them, her steps slow and cautious.

Don't just blindly despise the humans, Jinhee. You didn't even try to get to know them. The wolf is calm and collected as he spoke while Jimin looks back and checks on the humans to see that they're all on the trees now.

They're the ones who killed MY parents! How would you feel growing up alone in the wild?! What do you think made me who I am today?! You're the one judging blindly, not me! Jimin is taken back by his mother's sudden yelling. She was always so composed and she barely shows her emotions.

The four on the trees are practically trembling. Jungkook's eyes shifts from Jimin and his mother to the wolves waiting below the tree.Thinking of ways to distract the wolves, the light bulb in his head lits up when he remembered that Taehyung had brought a neck pillow with him in his backpack.

"Taetae hyung!" He whisper-shouts at Taehyung, who is on the tree opposite to theirs with Taehee.

"What?!" He whisper-shouts back at the younger. Jungkook points to his backpack and continuously mouths 'neck pillow', then starts making a throwing motion,  which made Taehyung furrow his eyebrows in confusion.

"Oppa! He's asking you to use your neck pillow to distract the wolves!" Taehee nudges his arm.

"What? But this one's my favorite!" He pouts, earning himself a light smack on his arm.

"Aish! I'll buy you a new one when we get back! Please, oppa! We need to get out of here!" Taehyung finally pulls his neck pillow out and throws it as hard as he can. The wolves stupidly chase after it.

"Quickly!" She pulls on his shirt, making him panic slightly as he climbs down the tree, the other two boys following suit. Just before they leave, a howl was heard from the vixen's direction, which stirs up Taehee's curiously, making her instinctively turn around.

Her entire body froze when her eyes caught a wolf running her way. Teeth bared, eyes sharp with no intention of stopping until he finally bit into her. But just before he could run into her, Jimin came running in between them out of nowhere.

The wolf's sharp teeth pierce right into the thin skin of Jimin's neck instead, causing him to whimper out in pain.

"Jimin!" Taehee's eyes widen as her legs suddenly feel weak at the sight. Taehyung and Jungkook are shocked too, until anger took over both of them and they stomp their way over to roughly pull the wolf away, leaving Jimin weak on the ground.

Blood gushes out of the open wounds on his neck, which was quite deep. Taehee runs over to him with Jin following close behind. Her hand subconsciously cups over her mouth as she leans down. To her, this is the most heartbreaking sight she has ever witnessed in her entire life.

"J-Jimin..." Gently, she holds onto his head and rests it on her lap, her eyes fill with continuous tears again.

Jimin couldn't move. His body is now limb and he could only stare up at her weakly. She who had meant the whole world to him. She who he had loved with all his heart.

Please look closely into my eyes and see... just how much I love you.

I have never loved someone so much.

I love you, Taehee. I love you.

And at that moment, just before his soul was taken away, she saw it. Everything he had been wanting to tell her. Everything he had been feeling.

She saw it all in his brown orbs, and the pain that had struck her heart later on, was almost unbearable.