Everyone gathered by now. Even Taehyung escaped the captivity and joined us. We made a little sanctuary in the kitchen, leaning and sitting on the counters. Food and drinks are right here, so we don't need to move much.
'So, you're starting work right out of school?' Hobi asks Jimin.
'Yeah. I'm not starting for another month. But yes, I got a contract about a month ago.' He smiles
'So what are you going to be doing?' Yoongi asks
'Well, my priority task will be dancing for whoever they send me to. But, apart from that, I'll be in charge of the groups that are learning as well. I'm supposed to teach them and choreograph for them as well.' He explains
'Hip-hop?' Kookie asks
'Yes, but also contemporary and ballet. I did major in that after all.' He chuckles
'Sorry, Mister I Can Do It All.' Kookie teases, grinning, making everyone chuckle a bit
'Aish. I wish I could do everything.' Jimin sighs. Somehow it seemed like he didn't mean dancing specifically. Maybe I'm just reading him wrong.
'But what about the rest of you? What are the plans?' He asks
'I'm gonna go and find myself a managing job at a museum.' Namjoon says
'I'm gonna do a few auditions and see how it goes.' Jin majored in drama. He would be a handsome actor. I'm sure he'll get a ton of fans
'I'm loving my life. Academy is teaming with people.' Hobi has gained a lot of success with his plan. I love that for him. He deserves it.
'I'm currently working on producing an album for a demo. I want to get a job at a good company.' Yoongi does love his music
'And I'm still arguing with people. One day I'll argue with them, and get paid for it.' Suri says all proud
'And I'm sure you'll win.' Kookie teases her
'And you?' Jimin asks me, looking at me. I haven't spoken this entire time. I was just listening. But him talking to me caused a reaction from all of them. They all looked at him, then at me. You would think God knows what will happen.
'I got an offer from a company that creates and edits mangas and comics. They saw my work from a year ago and want me to join them. So, I'll be doing that.' I smile at him
'A year ago? You already did something?' He asks, sounding surprised. He didn't know.
'Yeah. It's a manga I've been drawing in the past. You saw parts of it.'
'Is it the one you showed me back when you first got into uni?' Yeah. The one where I turned him into a character.
'Yeah. That's the one.' I nod
'Shit. And I didn't even get the first edition. U suck.' He teases
'I didn't create a special signature yet.' I remind him of his own joke, and he chuckles
I did actually save the first copy. And I do have it signed. I don't even know why I did that. Maybe because of a promise I made. Maybe because I hoped. But I did it nevertheless. I have it on my shelf. I didn't even open it since I put it there.
'What about the ones we got, then?' Jin complains
'You got the first prints. Signed. And stop complaining. We both know you didn't even open it.' I tell him off, making him laugh
'I read it.' Kookie says all proud
'I wanna read it.' Jimin says. I was a bit surprised, not sure how to react. Thank God I've got an amazing brother.
'I'll bring you all the volumes!' Kookie is all smiles as he cuts in to break the awkwardness
'I'll be back in a minute.' I excuse myself, heading to the toilet. I just need to calm myself down a little. I can barely speak to him. And I'm not nervous. I'm not anxious. I'm excited. And that's what scares me. I can't get over him and it's killing me.
I got through the crowd and locked myself in the bathroom. I put the toilet lid down, sitting on it. I just needed to catch my breath.
It's fine. I need to get my shit together. We're talking. That's all. Now, if my heart could behave, that would be amazing.
I got out and started walking back. I got stuck just before I got closer to the guys, getting dropped by some random guy.
'Hey.' He smiles at me
I just nod at him, trying to get past him
'Oh, sorry, hold on. Do you wanna have a drink with me?' He asks. He sounded polite, so I tried not to be rude
'I'm sorry, but I'll have to pass. I'm here with my friends. Thank you, though.' I nod again, going around him, but he puts his hand on my shoulder stopping me
'Sorry, could I have your number at least?' He is smiling, but he's still not moving his hand off my shoulder
'Would you mind?' I motion at my shoulder and he reluctantly legs go off me. 'And I'm sorry. I don't think I can do that. I'm just gonna go back now. You enjoy yourself.' I said no already, just leave me be
'What about a dance then?' He stops me again, this time grabbing my arm. He keeps smiling, but he's actually holding me really firmly. I'm just trying to jerk my hand away, but it's not working.
'I think she said no.' Jimin came, pulling his hand off of me. He said it in a stern tone.
I was more surprised by him than this random guy.
'You okay?' He asks me, but he's glaring at the guy
'Yeah, thanks.' I mumble
'Let's go.' Jimin takes my hand to get me away from the guy, but he grabbed my wrist. SHIT. He's holding me right where my bracelet is. I couldn't even focus on the fact that he's touching me, as I was panicking about this.
'I'm okay now.' I jerk my hand away. I don't need him to see it
'Oh, shit. Sorry. I didn't mean to-'
'No, no, it's fine. Really. Thanks for saving me there.' I don't want him to feel bad. He didn't do anything wrong.
We walked back to the group, with him paving the way in front of me.
'You okay?' Yoongi asks. I guess they all saw it
'Yeah. Just some idiot that doesn't know what no means.' I tell them
'Which one is it?' Kookie asks, and I point him out
'Kookie, wanna give me a hand?' Namjoon asks, putting his drink down
'Absolutely.' The two of them look a bit intimidating. Both are pretty tall and buff. They went off to kick out the guy. You're not gonna fight the two of them if you're sane at all. They're big teddy bears, but they look scary. Especially when mad.
'Did I hurt you?' Jimin asks, looking really concerned that he did
'No, no. I'm good. I swear.' I smile. That was damn close.
'Good spot Jimina.' Hobi says, and Jimin just nods at him
'Well, he won't be back.' Kookie comes back grinning
'Thanks, guys. I feel like I have a group of bodyguards.' I chuckle
'How about we play some games? It's a party after all!' Taehyung asks
'How about 7 min-'
'No!'
'No!'
Jimin and I both exclaim at the same time, cutting Namjoon halfway
'Some things never change.' Yoongi chuckles
'I think I'm good just watching you guys play whatever you want.' I say
'I'm not playing anything. I'm going to dance. Bye-bye.' Hobi grins as he's getting dragged away by a girl
'Come on, Jungkookie. I wanna dance, too!' Suri bats her eyes at him
'Really? You're pulling that on me?' He smiles fondly, looking at her
'You're lucky it's working.' He kisses her on the forehead, taking her hand and taking her out to the floor to dance
'Weeee!' She squeals, all happy he agreed. As if he would ever say no to her.
'Help!' Yoongi yells, being dragged away by a girl as well. It was quite hilarious. I laughed more than I should
Seems everyone was getting dragged away. Taehyung being one of them. By the same girl as earlier.
'Wanna dance?' A girl comes up to Jimin, tapping him on the shoulder
'Nah, I'm good, thanks.' He rejects her politely
'U sure you don't wanna?' She smiles seductively at him
'Yep. Pretty sure. But he's free.' Jimin pulls Jin towards her, confusing him
'Remember Amina from high school?' Namjoon whispers to me, snickering, watching Jimin struggle to get her away
It made me laugh right away. It was in almost the same exact spot as well. He is a damn magnet.
The girl was a bit tipsy, so she took Jin's hand and pulled him away, leaving Jimin alone.
Namjoon and I were just laughing at him.
'What are you two laughing about? You could have helped!' He's complaining, but he's laughing too
'We were just remembering Amina.' Namjoon says, and Jimin starts laughing even more
'Oh, don't even remind me. She still haunts me in my nightmares. I can still hear that piercing screech.' Jimin shudders
'Well, you two do what you want. I'm going to pick up that one over there.' Namjoon points at a hot girl a few feet away and goes to her
We watched all of them disperse, leaving us alone again. There goes my heart again. I was looking at the ground, trying not to look at him. But I could feel his gaze on me.
He walked over, leaning on the counter next to me. Neither one of us spoke. We just stood there next to each other for a while.
'You cut your hair.' He speaks, breaking the silence
'Um, yeah. I kept dipping my hair into acrylics, so I got tired of it.' I say, looking at my ends
'It looks good.' I look at him, and he's smiling at me
'You went back to black.' I say
'Yeah. I didn't know how to keep it blonde. And I didn't have time to go to a hairdresser's every few weeks. If You-Sa didn't dye it black, I'd have about 16 colors on my head.' He chuckles
'She did a good job. It looks good.' I smile
'Thanks.' He smiles back
The convo died off after that once again. I didn't know what to say. All I wanted to do was kiss him. I missed him so much. I was just trying to keep myself calm and breathing.
'You look beautiful. Just in case it wasn't obvious.' He says quietly. This is even worse.
'T- thanks.' I mutter as I look at the ground. I felt my cheeks burn and I don't want him to see that
'I'm sorry. If I make you uncomfortable just say it and I'll leave.' He said it with his voice almost cracking
'That's not it. I just don't know what to say. We haven't spoken for a long time. I don't know where to begin.' I tell him honestly, looking at him
'I know. I'm struggling just the same. But I promised Jungkook I'd leave you alone.' He says
'What do you mean you promised Jungkook?' I have no idea what he's on about
'He told me that's what you wanted. To be left alone. So I did that. I wasn't going to make it worse than it already was.' He looks sad. And I get why. And Kookie...I know he wants to help. I guess he did me a favour.
'I'm sorry. I didn't know how to cope with everything back then.' I admit. I still don't.
'Nothing to be sorry for. You did what you needed to do. I'm not blaming you.' He smiles weakly
'I really am sorry. I never asked what you wanted. I just did it on my own.' I speak quietly, looking away
'I hurt you. There was nothing you needed to ask. What I wanted wouldn't have helped either one of us.' He just keeps smiling at me. I wish he didn't. He's tearing me apart.
'I hurt you, too. You didn't do it on your own.' I tell him
'No. You never did anything wrong. The situation was just tough and we didn't know how to handle it. Especially me.' He is looking down at his feet, kicking his toes with his heel
'Was it bad for you? After... you know.' He asks, but he's still looking down
'It could have been way worse. I had Kookie and the guys around. I was more worried about you than anything else. You were almost all on your own.'
'I had them in Busan. They couldn't do much as they didn't know anything. But I did see the guys every few weeks and all that. That helped.' He smiles
I scoff a little.
'What?' He asks
'You still have the same tell when you're lying.' I chuckle
'Look who's talking. I've never seen someone smile so much through the pain. I don't even know how you do it.' He argues
'I don't know either.' I sigh lightly
'So you did lie.' He scoffs
'It was easier like that.' I gulp
'It's alright. As long as it helped you, I don't mind.' He nods, almost to himself
'We are really depressing. We are supposed to be at a party.' I say, changing the subject
'We have a lot to catch up on. 729 days is a lot of missed conversations.' He chuckles
'Maybe one day we'll catch up.'
'Maybe tomorrow?' He looks at me
'What?' I ask him, surprised
'Do you want to meet up tomorrow? We can meet anywhere you want.'
'W-why?' I stutter. I don't think I'll be okay being alone with him
'So we can actually talk. I'm sure we both have a million things we wanted to talk about these last 2 years. I know I do.' He says. I saw his fingers grab onto the edge of the counter
'Maybe not just yet.' I say
'Whenever you're ready then.' He nods, smiling kindly.
Is this my Jimin?