Interwoven ✔️

5~ Alien

I looked up when I heard the sound of the bathroom door opening. A few moments later a quite bare Jimin with nothing but a skimpy towel around his waist walked in.

I couldn't help it. My eyes immediately swept over his bare upper body appreciatively, taking it all in. The Marks covered his chest and abdominal area the most, transforming his torso into a web of shimmering silver lines.

And speaking of the abdominal area, oof, I really did need to start taking notes on this guy's workout routine. Something fluttered a little in my stomach.

"Feel better?" I asked, suppressing the feeling.

Jimin crossed the room and jerked his arm towards me. "You tell me."

I leaned forward. The injured skin around the Marks was more of a soft pink now than the angry red it had been a little bit ago. Thankfully the Marks weren't bleeding anymore. "It appears better. It just looks like you might've gotten a nasty burn."

Jimin withdrew to the other side of the room with an unimpressed grunt. "Should've healed all the way by now," he muttered.

"What was that?"

Jimin opened a drawer and pulled out several pieces of clothing. "You've learned in school haven't you? Us Outworlders have regenerative healing factors in our blood that allows us to heal from cuts and injuries within the minute."

I did learn about that in school though it had slipped my mind. Mainly because I was absolutely mystified how superglue could even cause so much damage on his skin in the first place.

"The fact that this injury isn't closing up as fast is... interesting," Jimin finished, pausing to glance down his arm once again.

I could sense the other word he'd been wanting to use: concerning.

Thankfully when I'd finally managed to free him after twenty minutes of painstakingly dabbing warm water all over his body, we only found one other place where the Marks had been irritated from the glue on his leg, though it was nowhere as bad as the damage done to his arms.

"I'm sorry."

He shrugged as he pulled on boxers underneath the wrapped towel, never mind that he was basically getting changed right in front of my vulnerable eyes.

"It's your funeral," he said cheerfully. "I have yet to figure out how I'm going to win the next round but I promise you it's going to be memorable."

I grimaced at that. "No but seriously, Jimin." I leaned forward. "If I'd known the glue was going to hurt you like that I never would've done it."

He paused and glanced over at me. A curious glint shone in his eyes. "You're kind of a different little biped, aren't you partner?"

I frowned. "Huh?"

"I believe you, Jiyeon." Jimin shrugged. "I'm sure you didn't know. Even I don't know why the glue caused my Marks bleed." He paused. "It's just, most humans I've encountered really don't care about Outworlders."

Surprise filtered through me at that. "You guys live among us though," I pointed out. "You guys work with us, play with us.... You're integrated in our society. Do we not care for you?"

"You do know that labor laws are different for Outworlders than they are humans, right?" asked Jimin quietly.

No I hadn't.

By now Jimin had slipped on some jeans and he discarded the towel around his waist. "The average working hours for humans is 8, right?"

I nodded.