Jimin's Pet | Park Jimin (a hybrid story)

~~Twenty-eight^.^

Poppy~
"What do you think..." Hae started to say, but went quiet in the middle of her question.

I looked up to see her staring over my shoulder, the stormy look at odds with her normally happy pixie face. Turning around, I saw Alora slip out of sight, hurrying down the hallway towards Jimin's room.

Hae leaned toward me and hissed, "How do you not scratch her eyes out every time you see her?"

I shrugged. It had been a few weeks since Alora had started popping into the apartment at all hours of the day or night. Jimin must have given her a key, because sometimes, like now, he wasn't even here.

I was used to her presence now. In fact, if I was truly honest, I'd have to admit that I'd probably like her if the situation was different—but it wasn't, and I didn't.

It still hurt my heart every time I saw her. Some days were better than others; I was managing—barely managing, but still, managing.

I turned back to Hae and said, "It's not her fault. She makes him happy, I guess; at least, happier than he was with me."

She shook her head. "He doesn't ever seem happy to me. Don't forget, I saw you two together all the time. I know what he looked like then; that was happy Jimin. When was the last time you saw him smile?"

I picked up another tortilla chip and scooped up some salsa, popping it into my mouth before I answered, "I don't ever see him smile. I don't ever see him at all."

Not technically true.

Every so often, when I was with one of the others, I would have that weird prickly feeling of being watched. I'd look up to catch Jimin's eyes on me. In those moments when our eyes locked, it seemed he couldn't look away. I would swear there was intense sadness hidden behind his expressive eyes, but obviously I was just imagining it.

I shook my head, "Jimin's fine..." I waved my hand towards his bedroom where his very hot girlfriend was now doing who-knows-what. "...obviously."

"I don't think so," Hae responded. "The switch from you to her was too sudden. Something about this whole thing doesn't feel right to me. I kind of want to confront her and find out what's going on."

She pushed back her chair to go do just that.

"Don't you dare!" I said, grabbing her wrist to stop her. "It's not our business."

"But..."

"No, Hae!"

"But..."

"Sit back down; right now!"

I sensed someone behind me, just as fingers gripped my shoulders. Hobi leaned down and lightly kissed my cheek. He straightened up and teased, "Yeah Hae, sit your fine ass back down."

Hae smirked in Hobi's direction as she sank back into her chair. "You think I have a fine ass?"

He scowled and pulled out the chair next to me, joining us at the table. He looked at me, and then he looked at Hae, measuring his words.

"Of course you do. You know you have a nice ass.  You work hard enough for it at the gym."

I grinned as I saw something I never thought I would see—Hae's cheeks flushed in embarrassment as she looked at Hobi in surprise. Obviously, he had caught her off guard with his answer.

I looked over Hae in a new light; I had never really noticed before how cute she was. She had a small face, and her trendy hairstyle really set off her high cheekbones. As Hobi implied, she spent a fair amount of time in the gym and her form reflected her hard work.

I wondered why I never heard her talk about any boyfriends—or girlfriends. It occurred to me I didn't even really know which she preferred. It was hard to believe she didn't have one or the other, or at least someone she had her eye on. How could I not have this kind of information about her? She was my best friend.

Some kind of friend I am.

I blinked hard, my brain suddenly coming back to the conversation at the table.

"What are you girls up to today?" Hobi asked, helping himself to some chips and salsa.

"We're going to the new theater down by the river," Hae told him. "Want to come with us?"

I looked at her in surprise. We had talked about going, but we hadn't decided yet. I sat there looking at her questioningly; she sat there looking at Hobi expectantly.

That's when the thought hit me.

Knowing how Hobi felt about me, I hoped I was wrong about how Hae felt about him. But seeing the look on her face right then, I thought that was unlikely. 

"Really? What's playing?" he asked, stuffing more chips and salsa into his mouth.

Hae opened up her phone and brought up the list of movies. Hobi slid his chair closer to her and they put their heads together to choose a movie.

I smiled at Taehyung and Jungkook as they came into the kitchen looking for something to snack on.

"Can we have some?" Tae asked, gesturing toward the salsa.

I slid the bowl toward him, as Jungkook leaned over Hobi's shoulder, also looking at the movie list.

"Are we going to the movies?"

"Well, we are, but I don't remember anyone inviting you," Hobi shot back, teasing him.

Tae pulled a chair from the other side of the table and slid it in between Hobi and I. He sat down and pulled the bag of chips closer.

"What are we going to see?" he asked, licking salsa from the corner of his mouth. He pulled out his phone and his thumbs moved with incredible speed as he quickly texted someone.

"How about this one?" Hae murmured as she pointed at her phone.

"Yeah, that looks like a good one," Jungkook answered, as both he and Hobi nodded their heads. "I've been wanting to see that one."

Taehyung looked over at Hae's phone and, picking up his phone again, began to type out another text. When his phone chirped a few seconds later, and then two more times just seconds after that, he picked it up yet again.

"The others are coming too. They'll meet us there. They're finishing up at work right now," Tae said, reading from his texts.

He slid back his chair and picked up the bag of chips and bowl of salsa to take with him. "I'm gonna go get ready to go. See you guys in a few minutes."

We all dispersed from the kitchen and went to get ready. I could sense Hae's excitement. She never really got to hang out with the members much outside of work.

I pulled her down the hall with me and we were just about to Yoongi's room where I stayed now, when Alora came out of Jimin's room. She was frowning down at her phone, but looked up and smiled at us as she passed by. We turned to watch her go.

"I'll see you two in a little bit," she said as she spun around at the end of the hall and waved. "I'm happy things have settled down enough that we can all do things together. I mean, if things have to be this way for a while, then we might as well get to know each other."

I froze at Alora's words.

Do things together? Get to know each other?

Hae looked at me with wide eyes. "Oh shit," she whispered.

"The others are coming too. They'll meet us there." Tae's words suddenly popped into my head.

"Oh, hell no."

I shook my head and stomped into the bedroom next to Yoongi's.

"KIM TAEHYUNG! WHAT DID YOU FUCKING DO?"