Homeless, Not Hopeless (JiKook)

11.

"Eomma," Jungkook got down on his knees, looking up to her and he kissed her hand, "I get it."

Mahi dropped her eyes to meet her child's, a sudden grimace coming to her face, "Stop crying. I hate it when you cry."

Jungkook laughed lightly at that, sniffling and shaking his head.

Mahi waited a bit before she tacked on, "You used your credit card to buy a ticket. I knew you were coming down. I invited Jimin over; he said he'll come as soon as he can. When he gets here, I'm going to leave you to apologize."

"Eomma-"

"This isn't about loving him, Jungkook. This is an apology. He deserves it."

The male nodded after a slight pause, "Do you feel okay? Tired?"

"I'm fine. I'll need help going upstairs. I just took my pain relievers and they make me really tired."

"Yeah, I know. You've always been that way with strong medicines."

Mahi smiled and used her free hand to clean Kook's cheeks, freeing them of tears, "We love you, Jungkook. You're my baby boy and nothing will change that, so nothing will change my love for you."

"Love you too," Jung smiled, laying his head on her lap.

She pushed her hands through his hair, her nails that she had recently gotten done at a salon (courtesy of Jimin and Jonghyun) soothingly scratching her child's scalp.

∆∆∆∆∆

Jimin showed up a few hours later, dressed down completely in a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt, with a light jacket that had a hole in it.

"Eomma?" Jimin looked up the staircase, waiting for the sound of her footsteps.

Instead, he heard them behind himself, which caused him to turn around.

"Hyung..."

Jimin crossed his arms and leaned against the stair railing, "Where's Eomma? Is she okay?"

"She's sleeping, still. She took some of her medicine."

"Mm," Jimin nodded, "When did you get here?"

"Um...earlier today."

"Yeah?" Jimin pushed off the railing, "What's the occasion?"

"Momma lied to me. She....she made me mad and I came down here."

"Are you ever not mad at us anymore?" Jimin started picking at his nails, only glancing at Jungkook over the top of his glasses.

"I'm not mad anymore. Momma and I talked for a while....it's all better."

"All better? What's all better?" Jimin scrunched up his nose.

"Me...I...I get it. I know that...what I said to you wasn't nice in the slightest...and I thought I had reasoning for it...but Momma made me realize that I haven't been here. I don't know anything about what's going on with you or her or Appa. She made me realize that I've changed a lot. So...I'm sorry, Jimin-hyung. For everything...especially since I'm sure it hurt your feelings. It would hurt me if anyone said that to me."

Jimin toed the carpet under his feet, smacking his lips before he sighed, "You aren't just anyone to me, Jungkook. We're family...I love you and I care about you. It killed me to hear that you thought of me that way."

"But I don't," Jungkook sighed, leaning against the wall and groaning, "I really don't; I was just...I don't know, angry? I...I was worried that the guy was taking advantage of you. I said whatever popped into my mind and I'm sorry I even thought of that, but...I can't take it back."