Always In The Back [Hanahaki!HopeMin/JiHope]

Chapter 2 - Burn.

[JIMIN'S POV]

I remember the day everything fell apart perfectly. The day Hoseok walked out the studio's door without even looking back to see if i was still there, i remember it. I remember walking home with silent tears streaming down my face, i remember always looking over my shoulder, always hoping that Hoseok would be running toward me to apologize, realizing that he forgot i was around, but that never happened. I was always alone. I used to have him, but now i was just completely alone. I remember looking at pictures of us, recalling memories,l I remember the following days too...

I remember Hoseok always denying me, worse than he ever did.

Back in the day when he did not want to spend time with me or was busy, he used to tell me why. He used to comfort me. Now, when i ever tried to say hi to him, he cut me off.

"Sorry, not today. I'm busy."

"I'm busy."

"Can't talk."

He replied immediately to my messages, when i would send them... And deny me. Actually... sometimes he didn't even respond. He'd tell me he had something else to do that day, then, later, he was posting pictures with that damned whore on social media.

I waited.

And waited, for a message. But he never texted me.

Not even when i would text goodnight to him.

But i never blamed him, for a while at least. I put the blame on her. She was an evil siren, she stole Hoseok from he, he was trapped under her spell...

But at least, after a while in which the two have practiced, i was contacted to come and record them dance together, so they could see their progress and see what they could improve. But i was always in the back. Hoseok never even spoke to me once while i was there. I was an object. I was a walking talking camera to capture their love. Their glances.

How she smiled at him, how he smiled at her... how they touched, how their spirits danced together, with their bodies, with their shadows... And how i always sat in the back.

I was always in the back, watching him, taking care of him. Ever since we were little, naive kids. And he replaced me with a total stranger. With this annoying, attention seeking bitch.

And while they sat away, taking a break, drinking a sip of water, talking, laughing without me... not even seeming to he aware i was present and alive, i took pictures of her. Maybe i could put them to use somehow, to draw away my sorrow, i could do whatever to try and ease me in this hole i dug up and hid myself inside, after she took away my only friend. And i was all alone. No shoulder to cry on, no kind words from anyone, no one to tell me that he just wasn't worth it.

I was no longer surprised Hoseok didn't even notice i was around or gone. I was glad he never noticed me crying as they practiced, i was glad he never looked back when he left hand in hand with her...

And when i got home, i knew what to do. I printed out the pictures i took of her. Small, little pictures, and took them with me to the bathroom.

You see, a bath would always help me clear my mind... soothe me. The warm feeling of the water embracing my body, soothing me, comforting me... it was all i ever had. As i cried, tears would drop into it, and the water would absorb my sorrow... And i would leave the bathroom, refreshed and content. That was what i needed, as always. So i filled up the tub, and got inside, feeling the warm hug of the water around my body, and i closed my eyes fondly.

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Jimin hunched over as he stared at the picture in his hand, outlining every detail and feature of that girl. Every small detail, every piece of her, every inch of her, he hated every little thing about her. He kept wondering... what did she have that he didn't? Her lips weren't sexier, her face wasn't thinner, her eyes weren't warmer, her hair wasn't prettier, her skin wasn't clearer, her voice wasn't sweeter, her humor wasn't funnier, so why did Hoseok like her? Was it because she had other friends? Was it because she could dance like him? Was it because she was happier? What? What in the world was it?

Jimin reached for the lighter on the sink beside his tub. And he brought it down, smiling at the picture, and chuckling as he brought the tip of his lighter to the first picture of the girl.

"Burn... You evil creature..." he murmured with a smile, flicking his lighter open. The flame popped alight, and caught the picture's edge, and slowly devoured it with it's beautiful, red light. Jimin watched her face crumble into ash before his eyes over the tub's edge. Once the fire nearly reached his fingertips, he dropped the paper onto the floor beside the tub, and the picture simply disappeared. Just a crumbled piece of ash and a bit of dust.

Jimin stared at it, for quite long... a small, yet dark smile on his face. He took another of the printed pictures, and did the same thing to it.

Over.

And over.

And over.

Until the pictures of her face, of her, her existence, were all ash and dust, which earned a final grin from Jimin as he stared down at his 'artwork' with hate and amusement.

"If only that really was you...~ Oh well... I'll make sure you will be, somehow. I'll make sure you'll suffer. You took everything away from me." Jimin spoke to nobody.

"Burn."