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Chapter 7

  Before:
Jimin's POV:

  The first thing that I noticed as I woke up was that my head hurt so much, I thought it could burst.

  The second was that I was neither in my own bed nor in my room.

  I was still wearing my costume from the night before. My shoes were off and I was covered with a duvet.

  It was a one room apartment. The mattress that I slept on was pushed against the corner of the room, facing the kitchenette and lying next to a sitting area.

  The place was shoe box sized, yet the cleanliness made it not seem suffocating.

  It was Taehyung's apartment. His leather jacket was lazily thrown over a chair.

  A door from the other side of the room opened, probably the bathroom. Taehyung stepped out, fully clothed, and his hair was still wet.

"Did you sleep well?", a sudden wave of embarrassment hit me as I looked at him.

"I did, thank you. Sorry for troubling you last night, I shouldn't have drunk so much.", my fingers played with the white duvet.

"Don't worry about it. Are you hungry? I will make you some coffee and a hangover cure. You can go shower, I will give you some clothes to wear as well.", he acted indifferently as always. Maybe I hadn't made a fool out of myself. Or maybe I did but he just chose to ignore it.

  I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth with an extra tooth brush he gave me. As I left the bathroom, I didn't notice that I put the toothbrush next to his own instead of throwing it in the trash.

  As we left his apartment, I realized that this was my second time coming to his neighborhood since the first time that we had met each other. The area looked the same as it did during the night, except you could see better the peeling paint on the buildings, and the damaged cars parked all over.

  We didn't say much as we had breakfast in a small restaurant not too far away from where he lived.

  The atmosphere was tense the entire morning. At least it was for me. I didn't remember saying anything to him last night that would make him act differently. Then again, I didn't know if this was all in my head since I was still embarrassed for letting myself go a bit too much.

  I had gotten drunk before, or at least tipsy, but not to the point where I had to squat over at a friend's place with little memory from the previous night.

  As I got behind him on the motorcycle, I assumed that he would be taking me straight home, but I noticed that we were driving in the opposite direction after some time has passed.

  I didn't say anything and let him drove wherever he had planned.

  We arrived in an unknown neighborhood-at least unknown to me.

"I like to come here from time to time. I do come here mostly at night though, so I don't promise you that the view will be the same.", I followed him until we reached an area that overlooked a part of the city.

  Taehyung sat on the only bench, and I followed suit.

"It's a nice view. How did you find this place?"

"Randomly. I like to drive around at night, to clear my head mostly. I found this place one night, and liked it enough to come here more often.", he didn't look at me, he kept his gaze forward.

"Did I do or say something last night?", he laughed at that.

"You said something. I don't know how to take in what you said but I don't mind it.", he still wasn't looking at me. I didn't need to hear more to know what he was talking about. I don't remember much of what I did last night, but I still remember the thoughts that I had throughout the entire day, and the butterflies that I felt whenever I looked at him.

"I'm planning on leaving."

"What? Why?"

"Don't take it personal. I always thought of leaving this place, and I finally have enough cash aside that will keep me going for a while. It's not much, but it's something.", his voice was as monotone as if he was telling me what to get him from the grocery store.

"Where do you plan on going?"

"I don't know. Nowhere in particular. I'm going to see my cousin down south, and then I will go wherever I feel like going. It's what I always wanted to do. I can't keep staying in the same place all alone."

"You have me.", he finally looked at me. He always looked collected, as if nothing would ever affect him.

"You're a good person, Jimin.", I closed my eyes as he put his hand on my cheek. I leaned into his touch knowing that I shouldn't.

  I grabbed his wrist as he tried pulling his hand away. Afraid of losing his touch.

"Jimin.", said in a soft voice. If I could hear my name coming out of his mouth for the rest of my life, I would.

"Please don't leave.", Please don't leave me were the words that I didn't dare say.

"I can't do that, angel.", that was the first time that he had called me that. I felt something break inside me. He shouldn't be calling me this, moments after he told me that he wanted to leave.

  So, I kissed him. I kissed him, thinking that that would change his mind. Still holding his wrist in my hand, I leaned in and I kissed him.

  I was going to pull away since he didn't respond, mentally cursing myself in my head for kissing him without his permission.

  He pulled me in closer as I was about to pull away. His free hand holding the back of my neck in place.

  It wasn't a rushed kiss and there was no tongue involved. It was slow and it was painful, as if this was our goodbye. I didn't want this to be our goodbye.

  His hand was still on me as we pulled away moments later. Our foreheads leaning on one another. I didn't dare open my eyes, too afraid of what was going to happen once I did.

  He kissed me again. I let him. It was different this time. He took his hand out of my grasp, both his hands now on the sides of my face.

  The moment was over as we heard someone approaching. Both pulling away quickly, I sat further away from his on the bench.

  I had been so caught up on him that I had completely forgotten that we were outside.

  A guy in sports gear, running, passed by us, not spearing us a single glace.

  We sat in silence for a good moment once he left. I couldn't think. I couldn't think about what he said. I couldn't think about the fear inside me when he said that he was leaving. I could still feel his lips on mine. I wonder if he's as dazed as I am.

"Let's talk about what I said some other time.", some other time, that means that there is still time left for him to possibly change his mind.

  He said that he had been planning on leaving for a long time, so I couldn't just believe that he would change all of his plans because of me. Yet, I couldn't help but let myself hope.

  We sat in silence watching the city in front of us until mid-afternoon.

  As he dropped me off, we parted in silence. The only thing that gave me hope that this wouldn't be the last time that I saw him was the fact that he said that we would soon talk again 'some other time'.

A/N: I keep repeating BTS's words for the 'Dear Class of 2020' in my mind like an old broken record...
-E. DIGGORY