~ 삼십육 (Thirty Six) - J~
"Noooooo...I can't...I really can't..." I whined for the third time today, not wanting to move as Sophie just stares at me before shaking her head.
"But Jimin, we're already here."
"I know...but..."
"And you can't keep practicing without them. You guys are a team, a group of 7."
"I...I know..."
"But?"
"But...I'm shy."
"W-what?"
Her face was in slight disbelief as I laughed nervously.
"After I stopped seeing them that day, I'm shy to see them again."
"Oh, you're nervous..." She trails off with comprehension as I just nodded in response, a sad smile plastering on my face.
After spending the entire night with Sophie - me showering her with lots of love and affection through ways that only I knew would make her happy - it was time for me to resume back to my normal busy schedule, for it was coming towards the end of the year and we often had many activities planned for us during this period. It was also after the long meeting with Hoseok, Sejin, and the other managers yesterday, that they had announced they were no longer gonna make exceptions for me.
This meant that starting today, I was to join back with all the other members for practice and filming activities.
But, I wasn't mentally prepared at all.
While I had already made amends with Hoseok before and during our car ride to the building, even stating my excitement of wanting to see the others, the fear of how they may react actually worried me. Although this wasn't the first time that I've been engaged in a cold war with them, this was the first time that I've chosen to actually leave the dorm, leaving and avoiding them without any explanation.
Thinking back, I really was a glorified asshole.
Sophie grab onto my hands now, squeezing them gently as I glanced towards her forlornly.
"I think it's okay to feel nervous, I would be too if I were you." She agrees before she pulls my hands up to her mouth when no one was watching, kissing it sweetly. "But I don't think that they're actually angry at you, just more of worried. I mean after all, we did end up causing quite a commotion with our fight that day..."
"Yeah...me. I caused it." I said guiltily but she shakes her head in disagreement.
"No, we caused it together." She says calmly as I opened and closed my mouth, unable to rebut back to her as she just continues. "It's because we were both at fault, that we ended up worrying them, making them want to intervene."
"But I...I left them...I didn't want to see them."
"But here you are now, getting ready to have practice with them for the first time this week." She says encouragingly. "I think they'll be really glad to see you. In fact, I think they can't wait to see you."
"Really?"
"I'd believe so." She says with a small smile, leaning up to peck me on the lips once just as Kwanghee opens the door of the lounging area, calling us over with his hand as a signal to me that the others had arrived and had just reached in the dance studio. I nodded back to him as I stretched my hand out to entwine my fingers with hers; of which squeezes my hand back for support.
"It will be fine." She reassures me once more as I nod with a small worried pout.
I was really grateful when I woke up this morning and saw a text from Kwanghee and Sejin stating that Sophie was allowed to come watch us for today's practice, something that reassured me because firstly, I refused to leave her alone in my apartment out of fear that something may happen to her while I'm gone; and secondly, she'd probably be bored out of her mind if she was left there - her stuff was at the dorm - plus, I've yet to properly explain to her about that apartment's existence.
That apartment that I bought just for us.
We walked down the corridor as Kwanghee opens up the studio's doors, and I could feel all eyes on us as we walked in, Jungkook even taking a pause on removing his coat as they stared at us both before their gazes fell down to our entwined hands.
The atmosphere in the room was comparable with the cold weather today.
"Ahh, Sophie ah I'm glad you safe and sound! I was worried when you did not come back last night! Only until Hoseok told us." Seokjin was the first to break the ice.
"Sorry, Seokjin Oppa! I forgot to message that I'd be spending the night with Jimin." She apologises, letting go of my hand to chat with him as them shifted towards her, checking up on her while I was left alone, just I as expected. Hoseok turns towards me worriedly but I avoided his gaze, quietly moving towards the back of the room, walking past their bags as I was about to dump my stuff at the other corner when a voice chimed in from behind me.
"Why are you putting your stuff there?"
"Oh...erm I just t-thought.." The words were like a ball of lump stuck in my throat.
"Don't be silly."
Yoongi grabs my bag off my hands now as he shifts to dump it together with theirs, just as I felt another hand grab on my shoulder and the person spins me around.
"Jimin ah, have you eaten breakfast?" Taehyung questions, the warmth in his voice throwing me off as I stared at him for a good second before nodding feebly. "Oh, what did you eat? I had eggs on toast!"
"Um.."
"Also, do you want to get mandoo (dumplings) later-"
"No not again! Stop it with the mandoo V Hyung, I swear to god." Jungkook interrupts while Taehyung just pouts, causing the Maknae to just shake his head at him before he suddenly complains. "Hyung has been wanting mandoo again for dinner the past few days that he keeps trying to drag me to eat them with him! He doesn't seem to have limits on eating them either!"
"Ah Taehyungie and his 40 mandoo showdown?" Seokjin randomly pipes in, walking over to join the conversation as Jungkook immediately nods.
"Yah 40 in one sitting? He's crazy! You should have seen him, Jimin Hyung! Scarfing them all down like water!"
"Taehyungie ah, too many mandoo are a no-can-do, you know?" Seokjin makes a pun with odd Konglish as Taehyung just pouts at this point.
"Stop shaming my food choices! Can't I have cravings?" He whines loudly, causing Seokjin to laugh while Jungkook raises an eyebrow at him.
"Cravings?"
"What are you, pregnant?"
"No, I'm just on my period."
"Wait...Huh?"
The confidence that had radiated from Taehyung's voice threw both Jungkook and Seokjin off in confusion before they scrunched their noses up together in disgust, causing Taehyung to giggle, pulling his mouth up into his usual boxy grin just as Jungkook just turns back to me with a smile; as if he and the others had not just randomly complained and slid a whole debate about Taehyung and his 40 mandoo onto me.
"Anyways...Jimin Hyung! Are you ready for practice?"
"How..."
The words were finally forming as the three of them looked at me with concern, while the others who had been evidently eavesdropping, turned their heads towards me as I felt my bottom lip quiver slightly. This was when I realised that Sophie was nowhere to be seen, along with the rest of the staff who were on duty today, leaving only the members and me alone in the room.
So they had left us on purpose, huh?
"Jiminie are you ok-"
"How? How is it that you guys are treating me as if...as if-"
"As if you didn't leave the dorm and ignore us for days? Like everything is normal?" Namjoon finishes my sentence for me calmly as I nodded.
"Well, isn't it quite simple?" Seokjin states now, his hands on his hips as a small smile rests on his face. "You came back to us."
"Oh..." I breathed out as I swore I saw Yoongi cringed slightly while Taehyung and Jungkook reach forward to plant me in a group hug, the other members joining in almost immediately as Seokjin drags Yoongi over, and I was soon engulfed by their many arms. They held onto me in silence, the only sound that could be heard was the patting of their hands against my back or butt for comfort and support.
"You know, I'm just glad that you're fine, that you're feeling a lot better." Namjoon states quietly in the group hug.
"And I'm glad to see that you and Sophie had patched things up too, although it did scare us initially when she didn't return with Hoseokie Hyung." Taehyung adds on.
"I'm still sorry for punching you, Jimin." Hoseok says now, his tone full of shame.
"Well, you should be! That poor boy's got a blueberry-looking nose now becau-"
"Seriously Jin Hyung, stop."
"Aish who are you to tell me to stop Jungkookie-"
"I love you guys."
Everyone stops talking when they heard my declaration, glancing at me in slight surprise before they break into warm affectionate smiles.
"We love you too Jimin." Namjoon says coolly as I nodded gratefully, blinking away a tear that was threatening to slip.
"I really love you guys so so much...thank you all."
"Okay, now you're just getting mushy on us." Hoseok disturbs me after seeing my face as the other members snickered while Yoongi just struggles under the group hug.
"So are we done? Can we let go now?" He comments, but this only results in the other members retaliating by tightening the hug as he lets out a loud groan while we giggled, just as the studio doors open once more, the other staff re-entering as Sophie was casually chatting with one of the stylists, her gaze meeting mine as I smiled towards her immediately.
Everything felt like it was getting back in place.
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Hello! This chapter is kind of a filler scene hence why it's kinda short!! But I hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless ☺️ I just felt that it was needed before we transition towards the next arc of the plot; which would focus on their rehearsals, performances, and possibly little parties 😆🎊 hehe.
Also, I noticed that there are a lot of new readers joining in on this story journey of Jimin and Sophie so far!! So I just wanted to say a quick hello :) Thank you guys for reading, voting, and enjoying my story (I hope), and that I hope everyone's doing well these days!! 💜
There probably won't be any updates till June (I'm gonna be having exams in the coming two weeks), so in the meantime, please stay safe everyone and I'll see y'all in the next chapter!!
P.S. Please stream 'Butter' 🧈 when it comes out (it just had to come out on the day where I have two papers T.T) because I'm hella excited for it!!