I'm Fine

Epilogue: I'm Fine

Namjoon entered the group therapy meeting room to find it completely empty.

Confused, he turned and looked at the clock on the TV. The time was 6:00PM, time for his IOP meeting to start. He sat his messenger bag on his desk, paused, and rechecked the TV screen to view the date. It was indeed the correct date and time, but none of the six members were in the room.

Namjoon felt a sinking feeling in his stomach and his thoughts began to churn, one bubbling over the next.

'Did I not make it clear that there was more to learn today?'

'Did I say something wrong at our last session?'

'Did they think I wasn't a good counselor?'

The sinking feeling turned into knots as the last thought played in his mind several times. Each replay louder than the next. Lost in thought, he didn't hear the footsteps come up behind him. It took a soft tap on his shoulder to startle him out of this intrusive thoughts. Reflexively, he gasped and his shoulders shot up to his ears. Turning around, he saw Seokjin, Hoseok, Yoongi, and Jimin standing in the room near the doorway.

The anxiety in Namjoon's stomach was replaced with a shameful warmth to his cheeks.

Namjoon blurted, "I thought you all weren't going to come today..."

The four looked at each other quizzically.

"You're kidding, right?" Hoseok asked, face twisted in confusion.

"We wouldn't miss our last day with you," Jimin followed, giving a smile so big that his cheeks swallowed his eyes.

The four parted to reveal Jungkook and Taehyung walking carefully through the doorway together precariously balancing a small cake on top of a box.

"Surprise!" The six said in unison.

Namjoon's brain stopped functioning for a moment. He checked the date again on the TV to be sure, but he confirmed it definitely wasn't his birthday. His brows furrowed deeply in confusion and he pouted.

"W-What is this? It's not my birthday," Namjoon stuttered. The cake now in close view, he was able to see it was decorated with simple white frosting and pieces of sliced fruit rimming the edge of the top. In the center, "Thank You!" was written in chocolate piping.

Namjoon said nothing, still unable to comprehend what the cake in front of him meant.

"It's our last day of group therapy together and... we..." Jungkook began to speak, but panicked when all eyes turned to him. He looked at Taehyung for help finishing his sentence.

"We wanted to thank you for everything," Taehyung finished.

"You helped us all a lot and... while it isn't much, we wanted to show you how grateful we are for these past eight weeks with you," Seokjin said.

Jungkook and Taehyung handed Namjoon the cake. He stared down at it, his vision becoming blurry.

"Thank you," Namjoon said, taking a moment to look at each of their faces. "Thank you... You have been a very special group and it's been incredible working with all of you."

"I bet you say that to all your groups," Yoongi said, exposing a smile that showed more gums than teeth.

Namjoon let out a sharp bark of laughter and tilted his head upwards, trying to keep tears from falling. One slipped out and made a wet trail down his cheek.

"See what you did Yoongi, you made him cry!" Jimin said, rushing to Namjoon to take the cake and sit it on the desk.

With his hands free, Namjoon wiped his face hurriedly. "No, no, no... I just... I've never had a group come together like this and... It's just a very special thing to have experienced."