Jimin sat panting profusely on the huge rocks along the side tracks. "Fucking hell, do we still have a long way to go?" He hissed, gasping for air.
"Yeah, we haven't made it to the waterfall yet," Taehyung said. "Are you sure you still want to go—"
"Ah, Taehyungie~"
"Yes baby, wait a second. I also need to look after my friend."
Jimin gazed intently at the girl who was on Taehyung's back as the taller was carrying her. She was known as one of Taehyung's girlfriends. This girl is so annoying. He swore at her in his head, his lips quirking in annoyance.
"It's fine." Jimin said, "You can go first. I promise I'll catch up with you later."
"Are you sure?" Taehyung was hesitant to leave Jimin just like that. "Hoseok has already gone ahead. I'll ask him to walk with you."
"Ay, there's no need for that." Jimin shook his head while waving his hand. "Let him spend his time with his friends. I'm all good. I only need 5 minutes to rest before catching up to you."
The girl let out an exasperated sigh. "Taehyungie, you heard him, right? Let's go."
Taehyung's face tightened, his rage nearly consumed him as her whiny ass began to irritate him. She had been complaining about Jimin's slow pace in front of them for the past 20 minutes. He would have thrown her off the cliff if it hadn't been for the fact that she was his girlfriend.
When Jimin noticed Taehyung started to get pissed because of her, he quickly let out a light chuckle before tapping the boy on the knees. "It's all right." He nodded while smiling. "Go ahead. Be careful."
"You stay here, okay? Don't go anywhere until Hoseok comes to you." Taehyung said and quickly left Jimin to look for Hoseok.
Jimin then opened his bag and took out a bottle of water to drink, feeling almost as if he was being dragged for a chance to breathe. His entire body was in pain, and his skin had almost lost all color, turning chalk-white, which worried everyone who walked past him.
He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to stabilize his breathing and drink the water before putting it back in his bag.
"Look at what we have here."
His hand came to a halt as he reached for the zip of his bag. His entire body froze as he recognized the voice very well. He backed up slowly, and he was right when their gazes collided. It was Sang-Hoon.
(Sang-Hoon, the fuckboy who left a burnt scar on Jimin's hand.)
Jimin poked his inner cheeks, unsure what to do as he watched them climbing the uneven ground towards him.
"What are you doing right here?" asked Sang-Hoon as soon as he stood in front of Jimin.
"Shut up." Jimin slapped the taller's hand away from his face as the latter tried to caress his cheek.
"Grumpy," Sang-Hoon chuckled. He threw his water bottle behind him and, without fail, one of his members caught it. He crouched down in front of Jimin and smirked widely. "You know, I was thinking the other day..."
"Go away, fuckass." Jimin grabbed his bag and rose to his feet on the ground as he was planning on running away but he gasped when Sang-Hoon drew him back to sit down, eliminating the chance of him running away safely from the gang members.
"Hold on, Park Jimin. What are you rushing for?"
"I have no business with you," Jimin stated as he yanked his hand free from the boy's grasp, a momentary expression of discomfort crossed his face as he felt very unsafe being surrounded by them.
"I know," Sang-Hoon said, nodding and smirking evilly. "Then let's start a business, shall we?"
"Stop your nonsense." Jimin attempted to flee once more, but this time Sang-Hoon entrapped him within his arms that had terrified Jimin to the gut.
"What are you doing?!"
"You know, I didn't realize you're quite cute when you're upset," the taller said, smirking. "The expression on your face," he said, touching Jimin's lips with his thumb. "I absolutely adore it."
Jimin jerked away and turned his head to the side, attempting to avoid the boy's hand caressing his face. "Seriously, let go of me!"
Sang-Hoon leaned in close to whisper something into Jimin's ear. "I'll tell you something about myself that you may not have known."
"I'm not interested." Jimin pushed the boy away from him on the chest since the latter was standing too close to him and making him feel uncomfortable.
However, it has caused him to experience pain, causing his eyes to become glistening with tears in a matter of seconds. Sang-Hoon had a firm grip on his hair, pulling his head to the back.
"Stop fighting. I didn't want to cause you any harm. Stop trying, okay?"
"Let go! I-It hurts!" Jimin grabbed the boy's hand and tried to force Sang-Hoon to let go of his hair, but the grip became even more tightened, causing him to scream loudly.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!?" he muttered violently under his wavy breath. "You're hurting me, asshole!"
Sang-Hoon laughed sinisterly. "You know, I've got a big gay crush on you."
Jimin's eyes blinked slowly, his lips parted in silent surprise at such a sudden stupid confession. And before he could process to what he had just been told, Sang-Hoon placed a sudden kiss on his lips, widening his eyes impossibly.
"But I never get a chance to tell you because you're always with that bastard, Jeon." He licked his own lips, smirking at Jimin's flushed face. "And it was also because of you that I got kicked in the face by him."
Jimin can feel his heart racing furiously. It wasn't because of the kiss, but everything around him was spinning. His chest tightened and he felt the urge to vomit. He drew his hands back to push Sang-Hoon away from him while struggling to breathe. But something caught his attention when he began to realize his left hand was on glitch; the same thing happened back then at the school swimming pool.
His eyes widened in alarm while his face grew ashen.
"Fuck off!" he yelled as he shoved Sang-Hoon hard to the back, causing the boy to stumble and fall on top of one of his members.
"Yash!" Sang-Hoon screamed in frustration as Jimin quickly escaped from him and ran down the track without looking back. He quickly stood up and straightened his shirt. He was prepared to chase after the boy but his friend intervened.
"What?!" he asked, furious.
"Don't squander your energy." The boy said while pointing to Jimin's bag, which was lying on the ground next to the huge rock. "He'll come back to get his stuff."
Sang-Hoon's tight jaw loosened, breaking into a huge devil smirk. "Take it. Don't give him back until I say so."
"Alright."
***
"Please, not right now. Not right now..." Jimin began to panic, hiding his glitching hand beneath his shirt. He was running down the track that led in the opposite direction to the top of the mountain and a chill of fear making him walk even faster.
"Wait until I find a place, blood shit."
He was stumbling down as quickly as he could, ignoring the discomfort in his chest.
"Hey, where are you going?" One of the students stopped him, but he quickly bowed down and apologized before slipping out of their grasp and fleeing.
"Hey," another student tried to stop him as he ran in the opposite direction. "You're going the wrong way."
"Yeah! That's something I'm aware of! But I need to go back—"
Jimin hissed as he had accidentally crashed into someone. "I'm sorry. I was in a hurry—"
"New Face?"
Jimin's face twisted into a terrified expression.
Jimin grumbled lowly and moved to the side to escape, but he had already reached a dead end as Jungkook's big body was standing in front of him.
"Can you tell me where you're going?" Jungkook asked, blocking Jimin's path. "How come you're so pale?"
"It's nothing. I really need to go." Jimin attempted to walk away, but Jungkook stopped him by grabbing his hidden left hand beneath his shirt.
"Wait a minute! NO!"
"What are you hiding?" Jungkook grasped Jimin's hand and yanked it from his shirt but his brow furrowed when he found that Jimin didn't have anything in his hand.
Jimin had forgotten how to breathe because he was so terrified. He stood rigid with terror, staring at his hand, which was no longer glitching and looked just normal than ever. He was confused for a moment but he was too overwhelmed to move.
Jungkook finally let go of the boy's hand and turned to face Jimin. "Where are you going? You're going in the wrong direction."
Jimin couldn't seem to process anything. He was staring at his sweat-drenched left hand and he thought for sure that his hand was glitching before. There was no doubt about it. But now everything was back to normal.
"New face?" Jungkook softly ruffled Jimin's hair as he noticed Jimin wasn't paying attention to him. "Is everything all right?"
Jimin's knees trembled and quaked, threatening to give out, and Jungkook was quick to catch the boy in his arms.
"I swear, New Face! Say something. Tell me if you're okay or not." Jungkook attempted to maintain the balance on Jimin by allowing the boy to hold onto him.
"New Face?"
"I'm...Okay. Just tired, that's it." Jimin's voice cracked and tightened.
"Okay, I get it." Jungkook nodded and brought his hands up to cup Jimin's face and examined the boy's pale look in worried. "You're killing me. You look as if you're going to pass out."
"I..." Jimin gave an uncertain smile to the latter.
"What?"
"...don't think I can walk."
Jungkook nodded "I can tell. It's fine, just get on my back." He immediately crouched down in front of the boy and waited for Jimin to climb up on his back. And he was surprised that the boy didn't complain like he usually did.
Jimin suddenly felt as if he was losing the strength to even open his eyes. He leaned closer to the taller's body and hid his face in the crook of Jungkook's neck, grunting lowly.
"New Face, you're so light. You're getting thinner by the day. Are you sick?" Jungkook asked softly, carefully carrying the boy on his back as he climbed the uneven tracks.
"Yeah, I don't feel good," replied Jimin in between a suffocated whisper.
Jungkook let out a sigh. "You should've told me you're not feeling well. I would have stopped you right away."
"Look at who's talking," Jimin scoffed.
Jungkook chuckled, "Well, I have my reason."
"Sure you do."
A minute had passed, Jimin's hands went back to glitching while they were talking, and he didn't realize it since he had his eyes closed. And seconds later, he felt the motion come to a halt as Jungkook abruptly paused from walking, forcing him to open his eyes.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you walk—"
"What is wrong with your hand? New...Face."
"My hand? Why—" Jimin's brows shot up in surprise, staring in fascinated horror at his glitching hand.
"N-New Face..." Jungkook was also starting to get panic. "W-What's happening?"
Jimin's jaw trembled in fear, making it hard for him to speak. "I...I don't..."
***
Taehyung was walking at a breakneck pace as if someone was trying to chase him.
"Stop moving, baby. You're making it difficult for me to walk."
The girl groaned angrily, rolling her eyes before tightening her grip on Taehyung's shoulder. "Why are you walking so fast? Slow down a little!"
"I can't baby. I'm extremely worried about my friend back there. I need to find Hoseok as soon as possible."
"He's not a kid. He can find a way to help himself."
"Seoyoon." Taehyung came to a halt. "Don't act as if you know anything about him. I'm warning you, stop."
She sighed and rolled her eyes once again. "Ugh, fine!"
Taehyung continued to walk, his eyes searching for a familiar yellow shirt that Hoseok had worn that day. He ignored what the girl was saying about her life, narrowing his eyes to focus on everyone's face in front of him.
Until he noticed a white cap and a yellow shirt spotted not so far away from him. And he was right; it was Hoseok who was sitting on the ground by the side of the track.
"Hoseok-ah!" he screamed loudly as he ran up his steps, startling his girlfriend on his back.
"Ack! Taehyungie!"
"Ah, sorry baby."
When he arrived and was standing in front of Hoseok, his face screwed up in confusion when he saw the boy sitting down without a shoe on the left leg. He noticed something when he looked at Hoseok's face.
"What happened?" he asked, carefully lowering his knees and letting go of the girl from his back.
"What? Taehyungie, what are you doing?!" She blurted out once her feet touched the ground, a huge pout was instantly visible on her face.
Taehyung, on the other hand, was focused on Hoseok's leg and paid no attention to her.
"Yah, tell me what happened to your leg?" he asked, began to panic.
"I took a wrong step and sprained my ankle by accident."
"What?!?" Taehyung freaked out.
"He had only sprained his leg. It's all right, baby, let's go!" She whined loudly, yanking Taehyung's shirt from behind.
"Can you walk?" Taehyung asked Hoseok, his face flushed with concern.
"Baby! Did you listen to me—"
"I don't think so." Hoseok said, shaking his head. "Dongho wanted to carry me, but I didn't let him."
"How are you supposed to walk then?"
Hoseok hummed in thought, "Well maybe I'll try to walk—"
"Oh, come on. Forget that. Get on my back right now." said Taehyung before went to help Hoseok to stand up and then turned around and crouched down to let Hoseok get on his back.
"Wait!" exclaimed the girl, her mouth wide open in disbelief. "What are you doing, Taehyungie?"
"Can't you see?" he snarled. "I'm helping my dearest friend."
"Then what about me? Are you serious right now, Kim Taehyung?!"
When Hoseok was already on the taller's back, Taehyung turned around and faced her with an unwavering glare, holding the girl tight in her place.
"I've been carrying you from the start. I don't think it's all that far to the top from here. You sure you can walk on your own, right baby?"
"What exactly do you mean? Are you really ditching me?!"
"I'm sorry but I love him more than anything else," Taehyung stated calmly, not realizing that the word had triggered something in Hoseok's heart after he exchanged glances with the boy.
Hoseok's body became impossibly still, not moving even an inch.
"I'm not going to leave my friend in trouble behind. I'm sorry, baby. I'll meet you at the top! Good luck!"
"Wait! Taehyung!"
Taehyung dashed away from the place while carefully carrying Hoseok on his back. "I can't believe you could make me so worried."
Taehyung said such words again as if they were nothing to him. But it did something to make Hoseok felt butterflies in his stomach.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked, attempting to clear his mind out from the misunderstanding. He didn't want to risk his hopes on the boy any longer.
Having a secret crush on Taehyung had been enough for him for three years. It would be a lie if his heart didn't break into pieces when he witnessed Taehyung flirted with those girls, hugged them and kissed them in front of his eyes.
Plus, he knew that Taehyung wasn't into boys. However, when the taller did such things to him like right now, saying something sweet with a caring and loving meaning behind it, it has once again given him hope that he could have the boy only for him.
"When I saw your expression when you tried to hold your pain, I almost panicking in worried. How can you hurt yourself? Clumsy Hobi."
"You...worried?"
"Of course I am. My friend got hurt and I wasn't there to protect him. How could I not?"
"Ah, I see." So... a friend.
"I'll help you first, then I'll go back for New Boy," Taehyung said.
"Jimin?" asked Hoseok. "What's wrong with him?"
"He's short of breath and gets tired of walking."
"Then why didn't you carry him?" Hoseok almost panicked.
"Because he didn't let me. Seoyoon was being annoying to him. I wanted to carry him—"
"But she didn't let you to. Okay, I see what you mean."
"Yeah, you got it right."
"Then, hurry up! He must be waiting for you. We can't leave him behind when he's in that state."
"I know, I'm trying to walk faster. Don't move or you'll fall."
Hoseok smiled and nodded his head as if Taehyung could see it, and hugged the taller even tighter from behind.
"Aye! Captain!"
"Captain? So sudden?"
"Shut up."