In Plain Sight [BTS THRILLER]

Chapter 28

Not long after both Taehyung and Jungkook leave that morning, Jimin wakes up. He struggles to get himself up, seeing as he was now suffering from a massive headache. Using his arms to prop himself up, he looks around before using his phone to check the time. Just as he's checking, he receives a message from Jungkook that reads: "We'll be back home later, Chim Chim. -Kkukie" Jimin allows a soft smile to spread onto his face.

Jin wakes up to see Jimin smiling at his phone. Before even two seconds have passed, Jin notices something. "Chimmy..." Jimin looks up at Jin, snapping out of the state of pure happiness that he had just entered. "...were you crying last night?"

Thinking for a moment, Jimin suddenly recalls last night's events. He had fallen asleep in Jungkook's arms after crying quite a bit. "Ah. Yeah. How did you know?"

Jin points to Jimin's face. "Your eyes are swollen." Jimin quickly touches his face in disbelief, noticing that his eyes did, in fact, feel a bit puffy. He jumps up and rushes over to the bathroom to take a look in the mirror. Jin can see him frantically touching his face, clearly distraught over the appearance of his eyes. "Jimin. Are you okay?"

"It's so bad! My eyes look horrible..."

"Calm down, Chim-Chim." Jin gets up himself and slowly walks over to the bathroom. "We'll put some ice on it to make the swelling go down."

"Do you really think that'll work, hyung?"

Jin nods, softly grabbing the young man's arm and leading him into the kitchen. "Come. We'll get the swelling to go away. If not, then I'll call out. Okay?"

"No, hyung... Don't waste a sick day on me..." Jimin says worriedly as he sits down at the kitchen table. Jin gathers some ice from the freezer and places the cubes into a small sandwich bag before handing it over to Jimin.

Jin chuckles softly, sitting down in the seat next to Jimin. He leans forward and smiles warmly before continuing the conversation. "It's okay, Jimin. I can spare a sick day."

"Thanks, hyung..." Jimin leans his head back and closes his eyes before resting the ice on top of them.

After about 15 minutes, Jin can't delay getting ready for work any longer and must make a verdict. He removes the bag from Jimin's face only to see that the swelling hasn't gone down much. "Well? What's the verdict?" Jimin asks worriedly.

"Umm... the makeshift ice pack hasn't helped much." Jimin pouts before gently laying his head on the table and wrinkling his brow, clearly upset that he'll be the cause of Jin missing work. Jin places his hand on Jimin's shoulder and bends over to meet Jimin's apologetic gaze. "Chimmy. Really. Don't worry. I won't be penalized for missing a day of work. I'm very rarely absent." He then stands back up and grabs his phone. "I'll just go call and we can spend the day together and relax." Jimin gives no answer. "Alright?" The young man nods, sadly, before Jin smiles and walks off to make a call to his boss.

About a minute later, Jin comes back. "What happened, hyung?"

Confused, Jin scratches his head. "There was no answer." He sits down while staring at his phone. "I guess that I'll text him?" Jin begins to text, still perplexed as to why his boss won't answer. Jimin watches sadly as Jin's fingers seem to glide across the phone's touchscreen effortlessly. "So, Jimin...," Jimin shifts his eyesight up towards his good friend's face. Not looking up from his phone, or slowing down, once, Jin asks, "What were you crying about last night? Is that why Jungkook was hugging you in his sleep?"

Jimin sighs heavily and sits up, slightly slouched over. "I... was crying about Namjoon-hyung, Yoongi-hyung, and Hoseok-hyung... Oh, and Kiwi, too."

"Wait... Kiwi?" Suddenly, the realization washes over him like a wave. None of them had seen Kiwi ever since Jimin had gone missing. Everyone must have been so distracted, and preoccupied with other things, that no one even noticed the fact that Kiwi had been missing for days now. Jin looks at Jimin with a serious expression as he furrows his brow. "Jimin. What happened to Kiwi?"

Jimin opens his mouth to speak, but pauses. His face soon takes on a dejected expression. The atmosphere of the room changes to that of a dark and heavy one; almost feeling as if there were something physically weighing the roommates down. "She's dead..."

Jin gently touches one of Jimin's hands. "What happened to her?" Jimin looks at Jin, who is staring at him with eyes full of compassion as he awaits an answer. Jimin wipes his left eye, trying his best not to cry again. Jin scoots his chair closer to Jimin.

"I had to kill her...," says the younger, his voice quaking and cracking slightly as he fights back tears.

"Why?"

"Set made me do it. I don't even remember doing it. He showed me a video of me killing her..." Jin is speechless. He simply sits, frozen in place. "I... betrayed her... I killed her... She must have been so confused and scared." Jimin sniffles as he wipes his eyes.

Jin forces himself to move and embrace his young friend tightly, rubbing his back in an effort to console him. "It's okay, Jimin."

Jimin shrinks and begins to cry even more. "No. It's not okay. I'm a bad person. I killed Kiwi when I promised her that I'd take care of her. None of this is alright."

The older man places his hand on the top of Jimin's head. "It's okay Jimin. None of this is your fault. It's Set's." Jin shushes Jimin and tries to calm him down. "You did a good job of holding this in. None of us even suspected that anything had happened. I'm sorry that I didn't notice sooner." Jimin doesn't respond. "Namjoon would be so very proud of you for being so strong." The only sound to fill the kitchen after that was Jimin's sobbing. Jin hugs Jimin even tighter as the young man continues to grieve.