• promise • || • taehyung ff •

Four

"What's his problem?" I sneered as we walked out of the restaurant. "Like, his brother is so freaking nice, where did Kim Taehyung come from?!" I said, throwing my hands up. Jungkook groaned behind us as we walked. Jimin was silent.

"Ugh, I'm so full," Jungkook burped loudly. I shot him a disapproving look and he shrugged.

"There's something I probably should have told you," Jimin started. I halted and slowly turned towards him. 

"What?" I asked. Jimin pulled at his earlobe. 

"Well, when Taehyung was around Jungkook's age he had a huge fight with his parents. He accused them of being bad people and he told them he didn't love them," I frowned slightly. 

"Wow, what a so--" Jimin looked at me. 

"Just lemme finish will ya?" he said. I pulled in my lips and nodded. 

"I don't know what started the fight, I wasn't able to get all the details out of him; but I'm pretty sure he had been drunk. He told me that he had thrown things around and had made a huge fuss. That weekend he booked a ticket to someplace far away, I think somewhere in Europe," Jimin voice was cracking as we continued walking. "he had booked the trip for a week, because he thought that being away would help him soothe his anger towards his parents; now his eomma had been pregnant with a girl at the time and the fight had caused her a lot of worry and stress and--" he was quivering. Jimin voice was wavering and getting quieter. I put a hand on his shoulder in order to comfort him as we reached the car in the parking lot. 

"Taehyung got a call from the hospital in the middle of his trip advising him to come home right away because his mother's condition was very serious, so like any good son he decided to put away his frustration and go to help his family, because even if he told them he hated them, deep down, of course he still loved them," Jimin was wiping tears off his face now, a lump formed in my throat. Please, don't let this end in the way I'm thinking. I thought inside my head.

"But, when he got there, his eomma. . ." Jimin had been very emotional, even when he was younger, but I had never actually seen him cry. "his eomma, his eomma and the baby had passed---" Jimin choked on his words. I inhaled sharply, my eyes getting watery. I pulled Jimin into a hug. His posture dropped and he fell into me. He just stood there, his body shaking and his forehead on my shoulder. 

"I'm sorry," I whispered with a shaky breath. Jungkook came up behind his older cousin and hugged his waist. "Jimin-ah," I said softly. Jimin nodded against my shoulder. "I'm sorry,"

Jimin slowly looked up, touching Jungkook's hands and wiping away some more of the wetness on his cheeks. 

"Why?" Jimin asked me, I stared into his eyes with concern. 

"Because, I didn't know, and I didn't even care to ask," I said. "I'm a horrible person," I said, looking away. Jimin rose back to his full height. 

"No you're not, he treated you rudely, that's still true," Jimin said. I clicked my teeth and got into the car. 

We rode in silence, all the way to my office. Once in a while we would hear Jungkook awkwardly clear his throat but other than that, no sound. The fifteen minute drive felt like a year. 

~~~

"Gomawo, thanks for the lunch Jimin-ah, I'll text you when I'm done," I said, waving to the boys in the car. Jimin nodded and held up a hand. 

"Bye," he said before driving off. 

"Aish, why does he have to have such an upsetting backstory?!" I complained to myself. "Why can't he just be a rude bastard and why can't I just hate him!?" I whined. 

Why can't I just hate him?