SAY NO | JJK

⠀| ᴄʜᴜʀᴄʜ

the brisk november breeze entered along with her, and she dug her hands deeper into the pockets of her thick coat, after releasing her suitcase handle, to provide them with minimum heat. the shop was almost entirely vacant, but that wasn't much of a surprise; it was, after all, one in the morning.

"hi, could i get a small espresso to go, please?" she politely mumbled to the (obviously) exhausted cashier. she squinted her eyes at him as he yawned in confirmation, and the young man punched in her order before flashing her a weak eye smile.

"that'll be, aw-aww, um, s'cuse me," he yawned and stirred his body awake when he noticed his lack of professionalism. "i always get the night shift, but i didn't sleep well today, so–"

"jimin," she spoke rather assertively, blinking repeatedly at the familiar boy when she recognized his soft tone of voice. "it's you."

"in the flesh," he shot her a cheeky smile, his eyes still struggling to be maintained open. "i'm sorry, but ... do i know you?"

"i-it's me. um ... nina," she mumbled, glaring down at her polished shoes with a frown when he failed to identify her back. her face had undergone slight changes throughout the years. she looked her age now—much more mature. however, she didn't think she'd changed so drastically as to be unrecognizable to her own best friend. his reason for not realizing who she was must've been due to his subsiding energy. he couldn't have forgotten about her, right?

"nina?" jimin tilted his head and swallowed his own saliva before his eyes shot wide open at the sudden realization. "oh, my fu– nina!"

"shh!" she extended her forefinger out to his face and pushed it over his plump lips. "you'll wake the neighbors."

"what neighbors, hoe?!" he yelled despite her blatant disliking towards the loud volume, his initial state of sleepiness vanishing as he fully acknowledged her presence. "you're back. i don't care who wakes up, okay? you ... you're ... you dumb bi–"

"ow! jimin, what the actual hell?!" she stepped away from the counter when he began slapping her shoulders quite aggressively. "what was that for?"

"for leaving me, you hoe," he groaned, stepping out of his tiny work cubicle, hastily approaching her shorter figure, and seizing her into a tight embrace. "you left me for, like, thirty-three million years. i got stretch marks and wrinkles now, i am a great-great-grandfather, and my hipbone is on the verge of shattering."

"chim chim, it's only been four years," she stifled a laugh, breaking away from the hug and stepping back to ogle his developed physique. she hadn't seen or spoken to him since she moved, and if there was something she desperately missed about hanam, it was this endearing maniac.

"technicality doesn't matter to me, hoe. and don't you 'chim chim' me. you didn't even call once, you know? like, i don't know, maybe you could've checked in once in a while to tell me who you did the nasty with, or which teachers you'd consider sleeping with like the little slut that you are. something! you could've at least called to say that you graduated and that your plan to become an engineer wasn't a failure like we all thought it'd be."

"right. thanks for that, by the way," she rolled her eyes as she remembered him telling her that her "stupid ass" wouldn't make it far in college. "and what can i say? i-i, um, i got bad service over there. i couldn't call," she pursed her lips but was, soon enough, overtaken by a sudden feeling of remorse. she sighed. "i'm sorry, chim chim. i don't know. i wanted to forget everything about this place, and, unfortunately, that included everyone in it. but communication goes both ways you know?"

"did you make a new best friend over there?" his bottom lip pushed out into an adorable pout.

"of course not!" she gasped at the thought, hugging his waist to further deny his assumption. "i'm different now—much more independent. i made friends, sure, but only for college-survival purposes. i actually found myself avoiding serious friendships."

"i don't know how to feel about that," he murmured, inspecting her unsmiling face with caution. "on one hand, i'm happy that i was not replaced. but on the other hand, it makes me sad knowing that you've changed. are you, like, one of those bitter and antisocial ol' ladies now or something?"

"what? no!" but he didn't believe her. "chim chim, no," she assured him. "i still love you, okay, butt? i'm just not reliant on others nor am i easily controlled anymore. it's a good type of change, i promise."

"so, you're," he paused for a moment, carefully arranging the words inside his head to keep from triggering any unwanted emotion. "since you've changed, that means that you're ... really over him, then."

her breathing hitched.

"yes."

"liar," he scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest and chuckling at her reaction.

he knew her too well to actually believe her. although, he noticed, she did seem more composed now. perhaps she did actually change for the better.

"park jimin, i swear on my bambam shrine, i am over him. i have been for a really long time, and i don't need you to swoop in and ruin everything with your little remarks that make me doubt my progress. it took so much effort to finally get over him, and i'm not about to relapse into it because of you."

"fucking finally. you literally had to move to another country to succeed in doing that. imagine if moving away hadn't worked, though. you would've been screwed for life," he lightly punched her shoulder. "but, uh, it's great that you're over him. really," he gulped, fidgeting with his fingers as he pondered over a recurrent thought. "because he, uh, well, he ..."

"he what?" she dared to inquire after his voice faded, her cheeks flushing a scarlet tint and a chill running down the course of her spine as she watched his playful grin dissolve into thin air. "jimin, he what?"

"he's," the pink-haired boy was about to blurt out the dreadful news,—he really was,—but the moment his mouth quirked open, he noticed a customer's silhouette creeping up behind the door. jimin pursed his lips to restrain a soft gasp. crap, he always comes in at this hour, he cursed in his mind, mentally scolding himself for not remembering sooner. "he's here."

and when nina turned around to see whether or not jimin's remark had been a foolish attempt to frighten her, she noticed a tall, dark figure trudging towards the closed entrance. her lips dried as she observed his shadowed figure boldly making its way into her life yet again.

~

hello there! i hope you're having a great day. if not, here's a bunny-smile jungkook for u :')

he's so cute wth i wanna cuddle

-サラ