Untitled, 2018

Chapter 50: So Suddenly

Riti
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I walked into the restaurant, my hair damp from the sprint I made from the taxi to the restaurant's door, holding onto that pendant around my neck. I told the server the alias under which the room was booked, and he walked me to a screen door in a hallway. I took my boots off and stepped in, only to see an old man sitting alone, his back facing me. I turned around to tell the server he had brought me to the wrong room but he had already disappeared around the hallway bend we had arrived from. I sighed and stepped out, only to hear a voice call out to me.
"You're in the right place. For now."
I turned to see the old man facing me now, and yelped in surprise when I saw his face. A full long goatee, a neatly coiffed head of pepper hair, and a full black long coat which gave him grim reaper vibes. His round glasses sat low on his nose, and he had a mischievous smile on his face.

"You don't want to go in there now."
I threw my hands up in defeat. "And who are you?"
"A man sitting alone with two meals. Come, join me. You won't feel hungry anymore in a bit."

"Ominous, but okay," I said, rolling my eyes and shuffling up to the table to sit across from him.

I left the two bags in my hand by the door, one carrying Jin's present, and the other carrying something I'd run across and immediately wanted to buy for Jimin. It wasn't the most expensive but it was still pretty good quality— a pin of a prettily drawn rose in a box that looked almost identical to the one from The Little Prince. I'd been rather pleased to find it at a store at all.

The man across me slid a bowl of rice over to me. I'd learned better than to question what he said too much. He got me in and out of trouble, and judging from the situation, I had complete faith I was going to be in trouble soon. So might as well enjoy some meat.
I started eating the pieces of meat he had grilled for me already.

"So, what do you desire?"
I thought about it while eating, and reached across the table to take his kimchi. "I don't know, I guess."
He slid the bowl to me along with a fried egg. "See? That's your problem. You don't even know yourself. How could you know what you desire?"

"Mmm I think you told me that before when I was back in my dorm." I chuckled at the memory. "Wow, that day feels so fuzzy in my head, like a dream."
He looked at me innocently. "I didn't say anything to you," and proceeded to wink. When I ignored his antics, he cleared his throat and proceeded. "Why don't you tell your guy you like him?"

I scoffed. "That's weird. He's not my guy. He doesn't like me and there's no way it would ever work out. Besides, he has his own problems to sort out." I thought about it. "You know what? That's what I want. I want him to sort his problems out."

Goatee man shook his head looking disappointed. "Why don't you think about yourself? Have some faith, you're not so lame."
I looked at him, mumbling in annoyance. "Don't call me lame."

He smiled again. "Sort his problems out? Well, anyway, be careful what you wish for." He pointed behind him and I noticed the screen door behind him was a little ajar. In a quick second right then, I saw two figures speed-walk by, not noticing us at all. One had blue hair, and I got up when I saw him.

I slowly walked up to the screen door and turned my head around the corner, only to directly make eye contact with Baek Hee. We looked at each other in surprise and I almost facepalmed at my stupidity. Shouldn't have turned. Suddenly, I heard from the room next to mine in a loud, familiar, pitiful voice: "I'm sorry."

Sorry? Right away, I connected the dots and realized what Jimin was going to do.
...
I covered my mouth in shock and looked Baek Hee in the eye in horror. She raised an eyebrow as if to say: I won.

I looked at her incredulously. Did she think I wanted to steal her boyfriend? I glared at her before whispering: Cheater. At that, her eyes became wide as footballs and her stupid smirk was wiped away. In a flash, she entered the room after Jimin, flipping her hair as she did, leaving me there, still wet, holding the bags in my hand.

I looked back into the room I was just in. It was empty, unsurprisingly.
Insane. I wanted to scream. Jimin is insane! Rather than break it off, he made it more official?! Did he not understand anything? I kneaded my head with my free hand and tried to calm down.

This was the end of it.
I don't know what ended, but it was the end. I knew in my heart I couldn't hang out with Jimin like I did, I couldn't cheer him on like I did, couldn't spend time doing dumb things with him like I did. He had someone else by his side now. Officially. And it wasn't me. It never was me, but with the way things were before, I could at least, somewhere in my own crazy imagination, pretend.

I leaned against the Bangtan room, unsure of what to do. As of right now, I knew I couldn't enter and intrude on something too personal for me to be involved in, but I also had Jin's birthday present in my hand.
And of course, considering the bigger picture, I didn't know what to do either. I had thought, maybe, that Jimin had seen reason, had hoped beyond hope that he'd seen... me. But now it was all over.

I stood up straight, a little wobbly, to leave, when the screen door reopened and Jin emerged this time. When he saw me, he wordlessly closed the door behind him and pulled me into a short, comforting hug. I simply looked at the floor, unable to say anything.
He bent until his face was at my level, and asked me quietly, "Did you know?"
I finally looked at him and smiled, a little more ruefully than I'd have liked, and nodded. "Accidentally found out. That's how we got close."
He nodded and smiled pitifully.
I didn't know what was going through his mind, but he changed the topic to get my mind off things. "What are those bags?"
I looked at them, having almost forgotten they were there. I finally found the ability to move again and squeaked, "Oh!"
I handed the larger one to him. "Happy Early Birthday. It's my present."
"Is it expensive?" He asked jokingly.
I responded seriously. "Not in the least... it just seemed like the only thing you wouldn't have had, or even have thought of buying."
He looked at me, amused, before bursting into a small laugh.
"I hope you didn't buy me ladies underwear." I tried to smile weakly at his joke.
"Thank you," he cleared his throat and indicated the way into their room. I shook my head with a smile. "I can't."

Jin looked at me as if asking Are you sure? I nodded again, my smile feeling more forced and sad by the second. When I felt like I was probably going to start tearing up, I hugged him saying "Happy Birthday" again, promptly turned around, and jogged down the hallway and then outside. I had my boots in my hands, and quickly put them on before stepping off the front carpet. The rain mocked me and beat on my head even harder; I hadn't even called a taxi. But it felt a little comforting, listening to just the patter of the rain envelop everything.

I stopped after walking a block and just stood there with my face to the mid afternoon sky. The little pendant on my collarbone felt heavy as it weighed down my chest.

It really was a strangely pretty day, for everything to change so suddenly.