Beastly Beauty ✓

12. The Sketchbook

Staring into the screen were eyes gleaming with ferocity, cheeks tainted an angry crimson - a red that nearly matched the wine-colored hair that framed the very same face.

Nari was calm.

I, on the other hand, had let myself grow heated. The pain I carried within me had risen over time and needed to be released.

"You're right. I was only thinking of me when I made that bet with him," she spoke impassively, "What I did was wrong, but what I'm trying to do now is make it up to you. I didn't have to reply to you. I didn't have to warn you about Jin, but I am because I don't want you to get hurt by him a second time. And I'm afraid it'll be more than your emotions that will get hurt this time around."

The slow breaths that filled my lungs weren't enough to rid my fury, but they managed to ground me just enough to feign calm.

I thanked her for the warning, asked her to send any proof she might have of Jin's stalking, then proceeded to end the call.

There was no hesitation from Jimin. He pulled me into his embrace the second I set the phone down. With my back against his chest and his arms encircling me from behind, his warmth, rather than heating me up, seemed to cool me down. My flaming cheeks no longer burned and my pounding heart ceased to race.

"You have every right to be angry," his velvet voice muttered into my hair, "She hurt you. They both did. But I don't want to see this take hold of you."

"I know, Jimin. But telling you about the real reason behind our breakup and now talking to her... I feel like it just happened. Like I'm living through it again," I said weakly.

"You're not, Jangmi. I know it's painful but you're already worked up about this letter thing. I don't want you to have even more weight to bear."

I began moving and he released me, allowing me to shift so that I could face him. "Then I have to confront Jin about this. The sooner, the better."

He frowned, concern sparking in his eyes. "I don't know if that's a good idea."

"You said it yourself, Jimin. I need to let this go as soon as possible but I can't do that until I get to the bottom of it."

"But what if he is the person sending you those letters? What if he really is dangerous like Nari says? If you confront him, we don't know what he might do."

I grabbed his hands. "I get what you're saying, but if he is the one behind all of this, I truly don't think he plans to harm me. I mean, this is Jin we're talking about. He would never physically hurt me."

What he said next cut deep, though I couldn't blame him. His words were right despite bringing a painful twinge with them.

"I'm pretty sure you never thought he would break your heart either."

~

The next hour was spent bickering back and forth about what to do and what not to do. We couldn't come to an agreement on whether to confront Jin or not, or even how we would confront him if we did. As the clock continued to tick away and we had still failed to come up with any shared ideas, we agreed to wait until we could think of a unified plan.

Jimin begged me to get some rest, but I protested as it wasn't very late yet and I still had too much turbulence in my mind to allow for sleep. Reluctantly, he agreed to start a movie with me.

Only halfway through the live-action Beauty and the Beast, Jimin's phone rang.

As I quickly pressed pause on my laptop that Jimin had resting on his thighs, he answered the call.