His fingers were freezing from being exposed to the cold but Hoseok warmly flashed a smile to me. He was patting my head excessively all day and being caring all of a sudden like makes me afraid. What kind of favor is he going to ask me this time?
"Why do you keep smiling at me like that?" I told him as he found a table for us.
"Because I thought I'd never see you again." Hoseok said.
"What are you saying? We literally saw each other the other day." I gave him a look. I'm not even going to lie. I am very much confused with the way he was behaving all of a sudden, "What's happening with you? Do you want to get checked up at the hospital?"
"No. It's nothing." He grinned and picked up the menu. "What do you want to eat?"
I shrugged it off and scanned the list of drinks for awhile, wanting to have something warm, "Hm. I'll have something warm." I told the girl who was taking the orders down. "Hot coffee. No cream and less sugar. I don't want it to be sweet."
"You don't like sweets?" Hoseok asked as if he was hearing it for the first time, ever so attentive to the things I like.
"Yeah. I don't have a sweet tooth." I replied, "I'm a weird girl, maybe I got it from my dad? I don't know but I've always liked everything my dad likes."
Mara was suddenly so bright in his eyes, her laugh like sunshine lighting up his world. Hoseok felt like he was in an endless daydream. He thought he has forgotten this feeling but once again he was reminded of those days. In the garden, under the warm sun, he would watch her as she dream beautiful dreams in her small little cradle. All the little pieces of those happy memories coming back to him and he feels his heart melting.
Mara smiled without worry. He thought he would never be able to see her blooming smile. He wished he was there to see her first steps, hear her first words. Hoseok was glad she didn't have a harsh life when he was separated from him. He could never forgive himself if she suffered alone while he was living a dream of a life; eating well and sleeping well all by himself.
I caught him again, watching me while smiling to himself. "You're looking at me like I'm a newborn puppy."
"Because you are." Hoseok cupped my cheeks in his hands and played with them. "A very cute one."
I blushed, streaks of pink tainted my cheeks. "I-I'm not cute!" I told him and pried his hands off my face. "Cut it out, Jung Hoseok. I'm serious."
"I will stop if you call me oppa." Hoseok caught my hand.
"W-Why?"
"Come on, I'm still older than you. Just try it." Hoseok insisted.
"No freaking way! After all these years, why do you want me to call you that?" And I resisted but his pout was too convincing. I was haunted by it. "Fine. I'll call you that word, but just this once!"
"Wait!" Hoseok beamed and took his phone out, aiming the camera at me, "Okay, go."
"That's cheating! Why are you recording me?" I stood up and tried to snatch his phone away from him.
"So I can brag about it to the guys." Hoseok held his phone way over his headed, holding me away in arms length. "It's not everyday I'll get you to call me oppa."
"Not doing it." I said, crossing my arms in front of my chest. "Seriously, you're really weird today."
"I will wait until you call me oppa." He beamed at her, propping his chin on his hand. "You grew up so well, Mara."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. Has he finally gone crazy? I won't even be surprised if one day, he becomes my patient.
Hoseok only smiled and said, "It means I'm proud of you for being who you are now."
"Well, I guess my mother raised me well. You can thank her next time." I replied, riding along.
Hoseok hummed and nodded his head in approval, "How are things at home? How's Jimin?"
"Everything's fine but Jimin's been kind of.." I trailed off, something has been bothering me lately. I looked at Hoseok again, he was waiting for me to continue, but is it okay to tell him?
"Kind of what?" He quizzed.
"Troubled." I replied, "I worry about him these days. He doesn't sleep and he's hiding things a lot more than usual. I don't know what's happening with him."
...
Taehyung walked inside Jimin's study. He took his time closing the distance between the two of them. Jimin was too busy, staring at his laptop, to even look up at him as he took the seat across him. He waited, fingers playing with each other, crossing and uncrossing his legs a few times before Jimin finally talked to him.
"What are you doing here? I'm busy. Play with Jungkook or something, just don't disturb me now." He said nonchalantly.
"I want to talk now." Taehyung replied. "About that girl, Kang Yi Na. Are you seeing her?"
Jimin massaged the bridge of his nose before looking at his friend, "Are fucking serious?"
"I'm 100% fucking serious." Taehyung met Jimin's gaze. "You know what I mean don't even try playing dumb, Jimin."
"I'm not sleeping with her. There. You got your answer." Jimin cocked his head to the side, slightly annoyed, "I'm not fucking cheating on Mara."
"Then make it clear cause she's been worried about you for days. She said you're keeping things from her." Taehyung stood up and placed a picture on the table, "I didn't give her up so you can hurt her. You better be good to her cause I won't be that good to you if she comes crying to me."
"Did that just come from you?" Jimin crossed his legs, a confident smirk on his face, "Why don't you stop acting like a brat and try taking her from me?"
Taehyung turned back to Jimin, "I would've done that a long time ago if I didn't care about her feelings for you."
Jimin watched his friend as he left the room. The silence once again pulling him back to his thoughts. He began to think when they started to become like this. That stupid plan, it was that childish game that broke their friendship apart, that drove them to the edge.
He heaved out a sigh as he sat back down. Mara wasn't back yet. He was beginning to worry but he was too tired to do anything else so he closed his eyes for a short while, dozing off with his head on the back of the chair and the rest of his limbs in a relaxed state.
Jimin-ah?
Jimin's eyes shot open in response but he was somewhere else, an entirely different place. He looked behind him and was surprised to see himself asleep in his office. He was watching himself from a mirror. Jimin assumed that he was dreaming by how the place looked very sketchy as he looked around. Of course it was a dream.
Jimin, can I trust you with my secret?
It was a girl's voice. Taking a step closer and entering that particular memory, he realized that the girl who was calling his name was Soo Jin. They were both sitting on the steps in front of her house. He saw himself smile at her, a naïve boy, he was before. She leaned close to him, cupping her hands around her ear as she whispered her secret that made the spark in his eyes vanish.
She kissed him, his heart in her hands. A wicked smile played along the corner of her mouth.
Now your lips are sealed. I traded a kiss for your loyalty.
Jimin remembered that day; the day she told him the truth about her parents' accident, that it wasn't just an innocent accident, that she killed them. The night before she cut the brakes of her father's car.
You must keep my secret to the grave. She smiled with her eyes, bewitching him.
He protected her. Too blinded by love, Jimin kept the horrible truth to himself. She hid her real nature. She wanted love so much that she'd do anything to get it. She was evil like that and he never realized how he was an accomplice to the crime. By not telling a soul about what happened, he killed her parents too.
The evidence was there, on that email, the words stabbed at his chest. She was alive all this time and she's watching him, testing his innocence and his loyalty.
YOU KILLED THEM, DIDN'T YOU?
I WILL KEEP QUIET BUT YOU MUST KEEP THIS SECRET TO THE GRAVE.
author's note;
Thanks to bluejaes for a super dope fmv! I'm such a fan!! ❤️