Isn't it weird, how the same fear that has held you back, can become the sword you wield towards victory? How a stranger's hand can give you more warmth and support than any blood relative had ever managed. The voice that was barely audible in your head and the belief that your nervousness will show, being washed away by every step you were taking closer to the people that were your so-called family, simply because he was standing right beside you.
"What a delight to meet you after such a long time...grandfather, grandmother." You halted your steps at a close distance before him and spoke up your greeting, following your words with the right respectful bow before you straightened your posture and observed the shock in their faces.
"Y/N? Is that you?" Your father stepped a bit closer, visibly stunned over the fact that you had attended his birthday party.
You proceeded to take off your mask, just to get a slight satisfaction observing your grandparents' faces twist further in shock.
"Allow me to wish you a happy birthday father. I hope next year you will give me the joy and not invite me at all." The smile you had on your face created some monetary confusion show on their faces for it was contradicting what you had exactly uttered.
"Y/N, I am so glad you came. You seriously look so beautiful and with that mask, I almost didn't recognise you." BreeAhn rushed to your side and hugged you, whispering a 'thank you' near your ear for only you to hear, as she felt touched that you had come for her sake.
"You look beautiful too. I think this green pastel is your colour." You smiled at her meaning your words and you squished lightly her hand before she placed a proper distance from you again, looking way more relieved and happy than she was prior.
"May we know who is the gentleman, next to you?" Your father couldn't help but direct the attention to the silent gentleman that he couldn't even see the face of.
"Allow me to introduce myself Sir-" Jimin spoke in a different tone of voice from the one you were used to, thing that made you look his way with slight surprise and amusement at how he had managed to change his voice to such a degree yet still end up having a voice that was pretty nice to hear.
" Kwan Leo. I am Y/N's companion for this evening. It's nice to meet you. I wish you health and may this night be delighted for you, Sir." His excellent mannerisms were shown by his poster and the way he spoke, but what you were stuck at was the fact that he had made up a name by using a surname from one of the previous characters he had used and the name of the main character of that book you had attempted to gift to BreeAhn but she hadn't taken it.
The name certainly wasn't bad, but you had acted out a scene from that book and it wasn't exactly the most innocent scene or something so him speaking that name, had you look down momentarily, feeling slightly flustered.
"Oh, I already like this guy. There was a character on my once favourite book series with the same name." BreeAhn spoke of what you had thought, making you instantly clear your throat a bit and throw your eyes her way, reflexively but she just smile at you.
"Thank you for coming young man. Since she brought you along I will assume you are a good friend to her, right?" Your father tried to figure out what was the relationship between you but you just linked your arm with Jimin's and with a smile you replied instead of him.
"What he is to me and what I am to him is something that doesn't concern you. Being nosy is a bad trade, don't you think so too, father?" Despite your profound politeness all of them could tell that you were trying to pick a fight but your father said nothing back, as with all those people around and especially your grandparents there, he couldn't allow himself to show a bad image.
"You grew up to be quite a rude person. I shouldn't be surprised." Your grandfather glared at you, as he felt offended by the way you were addressing your father.
"I speak to everyone exactly how they deserve to be spoken to. Of course, occasionally I am way too generous and the proof should be the fact that I am talking to you right now. Shouldn't you be thanking me for even sparing you my time?" The way you were looking at them, had them both feeling as if you were mocking them and the irritation showed on their faces, while BreeAhn seemed to have started to grow nervous, not because she was against you but because she wanted for you to get along with them, instead.
"Mr Kwan, I don't know what your relationship with this girl is, but for your good, I would suggest rethinking this. Women like her, ain't worth it." Your grandmother decided to address Jimin in spite, just to make you feel bad and potentially save this young man from making a mistake, according to her, but her words left Jimin smiling.
"I would like to assure you, your niece over here, is exactly what I want and need in life. To me, she has a soul that you would never see while looking at your reflection. She has a heart that blind people, soaked in egoism would never see." The way he subtly was offending them at every sentence that he was finishing, made you look his way with thankful eyes, because not only he was being mean- when you knew that he never is that towards anyone and for any reason- but he was doing it, so you won't feel guilty for being passive aggressive. Because you weren't alone.
"Young man, don't you think you are overstepping your-" Your father displayed his annoyance as he protectively stepped before your grandparents and glared at Jimin but he cut his sentence.
"I am not gonna allow anyone to insult Y/N while I am present. No matter how rude I may come off, her feelings are under my protection and if you don't like that, may you all collectively should watch out your words more. " The subtle threat he gave him, had Bobae, get by his side and hold his arm, guessing that your father must be furious at that moment.
"Once again, have a happy birthday father. I hope you won't mind that we will excuse ourselves and go on to enjoy this party. " You butted in, partially to help your father save his face, and partially because you have had enough talking to them.
You turned around to leave but Jimin didn't follow you immediately. Instead, he stared down at your father for a bit more and then took a step closer to him, to have him face to face, then he lowered his voice, so only he could hear what he was about to tell him.
"That's not how you win someone's heart. If you want her forgiveness and her love, you should stop being a coward." With no hesitation he turned around and followed after you after he uttered those words, that left your father speechless for a moment, just observing the stranger's figure walking away after he had displayed the audacity to call him out.
Bobae tried to lighten the atmosphere immediately after, by making a silly comment and soon changing the subject while your sister kept following your figure with her eyes, and witness Jimin reaching by your side, by the buffet at the side.
You looked at him with a gaze that seemed vulnerable to her and noticed the way your eyes got slightly teary as your escort cupped your cheek then proceeded to take your mask from your hand and put it on you.
The way he positioned his body to guard you against unnecessary eyes on you and the way he left his hand caressing your hair softly, had BreeAhn slightly smiling for the sight filled her with relief. Finally, you had someone by your side that seemed to be capable of looking after you.
She tore her gaze away after that, happy that despite everything you were gonna have a good time at this event and also looking forward to getting some moments to speak with you later on, for now certainly you had a topic to talk about. Because undoubtedly in her eyes, you looked like you had feelings for that man and she couldn't wait to hear all about that.
"You know, when you get teary eyes they sparkle so beautifully. Maybe I should add this to the list with the things I find appealing to you." Jimin joked in an attempt to lighten your mood from the whole encounter that you had shown it or not, had had a certain emotional impact on you.
"Oh shut up and be serious" You cracked up at his words and lightly hit his chest while you simultaneously appreciated his try to diverse your thoughts.
"That ain't happening tonight. So how about you settle with the silly me." He jokingly hit you back, way more lightly than you and way too lightly to even be considered a hit for you only felt his fingers brushing against your shoulder briefly.
"I thought you liked looking cool and classy." You giggled as you replied to him and he took hold of your hand before he started taking you along in whatever direction he had in mind.
"I do, but no one knows who I am here so there's no pressure. I will be whatever is best for your mood tonight." His words made you think that he seriously was determined to turn the tables of your mood every time they could possibly ruin it and that somehow made you feel a weird warmth inside that you hadn't before.
"Oh my, if this isn't Y/N, long time no see." One of the cousins that you hadn't seen for ages got on your way, right as you were almost there, for Jimin had been taking you towards a balcony he had spotted and had thought of as a better and quiet space to pass your time while enjoying a drink.
"Indeed it is so. How have you been, Ryuna." You replied halfheartedly as she wasn't an individual you were ever fond of and from what you remembered she used to be a pretty snob person that almost made you wonder, what had made her come and talk to you.
"I am doing awesome as always and judging by what I see, you aren't doing bad either." She spoke as she was scanning Jimin with her eyes, rather shamelessly, making her words seem like they had an implication.
"I am glad you are doing-"
"May I ask who is your companion?" She interrupted your small polite reply by making obvious to you the reason for her coming over.
"He is my boyfriend." The way she was behaving and eyeing him got you annoyed enough to instantly cut her hopes with a simple sentence even though what you had said was a lie.
A lie that had had Jimin's heart speeding its rhythm out of happiness for he had never lived the feeling that could come from you, calling him yours. He almost lost his composure right then and there but thankfully you excused yourself from that lady immediately after and dragged him along towards the balcony he had previously wanted to take you.
Once out in the clean air of the night, the cold breeze made you understand why there were so few people around there and most would hurry to go inside after finishing their cigarettes.
"I would so stay here through all this event if I could. The cold is way better that those annoying people." You uttered as you reached the edge and looked ahead, admiring the beautiful garden that lay ahead.
"Your boyfriend huh." Jimin didn't seem to be willing to let you carry the subject away and leave that single word you uttered prior pass by without the proper attention, for it felt slightly unfair to him. You had messed him up so casually and you didn't even know.
"Oh please don't tease me about that. I just said it to get rid of her. We are obviously friends." You replied with a light smile on your face, without bothering to look his way.
"Friends...are we really that though?" He couldn't help but be honest and you turned to face him with a slight confusion all over your face.
"What do you mean? Aren't we?" A glimpse of sadness started rising inside you as you witnessed how serious his face had fallen and the slight anger that existed in his aura which you took notice of.
"I would like to say that we are but facts would contradict my words." His reply double your confusion and made you step closer to him while looking at his eyes and only for he had his mask on.
"I don't understand. I haven't done anything that hurt your feelings, have I?" You started feeling slightly insecure and your mind went into a spiral of overthinking in an attempt to find out what you could have done wrong intentionally so you could talk it out and fix it.
"No, no you haven't done anything wrong." He laughed finally, making you smile back in relief while thinking that he was trying to mess with you again just to joke around.
"You seriously scared me-"
"But I don't believe we are just friends. Friends don't sleep in each other's arms and friends definitely wouldn't know the scent of your body, the softness of your skin." He cut you off and spoke a truth that caught you unprepared and left you momentarily speechless because you couldn't deny any of the things he spoke.
"I am not saying that we aren't just friends now, I am just saying that no matter who was to hear our situation, ain't no way they would call this between us, friendship. Ain't it funny, no one would believe us." He twisted his words in order to get the subject to something lighter and simultaneously cover the fact that he was so close to exposing his own feelings for you, simply because you referring to him as a friend, triggered his emotions.
You fell silent after that, even though he laughed and you smiled back to make it seem like he hadn't just pushed you into a spiral of thoughts. He took his leave to get some drinks for you both after a bit and you nodded your head at him and watched him go. Only so you could leave your face drop once he was out of sight, simply because he was right.
Who would believe you two if you were ever to state that when you yourself didn't think that you would have believed such a thing if someone else was to state that they had done as many things as you had with Jimin, and still refer to that person as a friend only.
It was absurd and the realization of the truth scared you. Who would make a promise to a so-called friend to help them fall in love? That itself now sounded like an invitation for that person to love them more than a friend would. And not only had you asked of him to do that but he had agreed too. What friend would do that, if they had no romantic feelings for the other?
It was frightful, to say the least for the more you kept thinking about everything, the more you were uncovering your own feelings. You even snapped earlier because you were annoyed by another woman eyeing him. Despite her being an annoying person in general, what right did you have to cut the possibility of anything happening between them simply because the thought annoyed you? Heck, it shouldn't have annoyed you this much in the first place. To not even mention all the times you had cuddled with him and enjoyed his warmth along with his smiles. And all the times you had agreed on acting out scenes that were rather bold. Because there was no way you would have done any of those things with anyone other than him. Everything started becoming clear as day and that left you in slight despair for there was nothing that could protect you now. He could easily hurt you if he wanted, he could easily kill your heart and all because you allowed him to slip into your heart without you ever realizing it.
I...already have started having feelings for him...now what do I do?... How am I supposed to undo this?
---To be continued...