Edited
AN: Oh my word...the errors in the last chapter... just... do I even speak English...ლ(ಠ_ಠლ) ...(－‸ლ)
Nari froze. She stared at the middle of the table after she heard his words. Her breath froze and she felt like something horrible was about to happen. Her mind screamed for her to run away and just forget any of this ever happened, even as her heart begged her to stay and hear the end of the matter. She felt so torn at that moment.
"Let's just stop," Jimin repeated, causing more pain to hit her heart.
"S-s-stop what?" she whispered, forcing herself to drag her eyes up to him. She hoped above everything that he wasn't about to ditch her, especially when she had just started to feel invested in the relationship. She saw his eyes, glossy with unshed tears. It broke her heart all over again and more tears spilled down her cheeks.
"Jimin, please," she whispered before he could speak. "What can I say to convince you? I know it's hard to just take my word for it, but Jimin, I haven't lied to you. I've-"
A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips and he looked away, quickly wiping away any tears that threatened his manly image. He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. "Nari, what I mean is, let's stop with this issue. I don't want to talk about it again. I am choosing to believe you now and I'm sorry for doubting you." He picked at the tablecloth as he spoke, his nervousness showing through his actions.
Nari blinked a few times. "What? You aren't mad at me anymore?" She felt like a hopeful child and she became embarrassed at herself.
Jimin laughed softly. "I don't want to be. It will take me a little bit to move on from this but I want to. I'm sitting here across from the most beautiful girl in the world. My anger with you melted the moment I saw you sitting there. I think there's a few other people I should be more angry with." He pulled in the corner of his bottom lip and the gesture made Nari's heart race.
"I don't want you to distrust me," she said softly, timidly reaching her hand across the table to rest on top of his. "I'm loyal to this relationship for as long as it lasts."
Jimin swallowed at the touch of her hand on his. It was cool and soft. He stared at her hand for a moment before her words registered in his ears. "As long as it lasts? Are you expecting it to end?"
"Hm? No!"
"Are you hoping it will end?" he asked, staring her down. He felt her hand begin to pull away and he quickly laid his free hand on top of it. "Because I'm not doing either of those. I'm not hoping, or expecting it to end." His eyes became dark and smoldering.
Nari felt vulnerable and tried to pull her hand away only to have him hold it tighter. She stopped trying to fight and simply left her hand in his own warm ones. She felt like her heart was going to beat right out of her chest.
"I appreciate that, Jimin," she said, trying to smile, but failing. She wanted to hide under the table as she felt a full blown cry coming on. It wouldn't last long though as she suddenly felt two arms surrounding her. The scent of his cologne increased because of his closeness and his warmth comforted her. Her shoulders shook slightly. She had been under so much stress since the incident and now it was all releasing.
Jimin held her small frame close and let her cry. He began to feel bad about the hurt he had caused her. He pulled back and held her face in his hands, wiping away the last few tears with his thumbs and his eyes searched her face. "I'm sorry, Nari," he whispered. "Please forgive me. I should have trusted you."
"No, there's nothing to forgive. You had every right to be upset." Nari was loving the feel of his hands on her face and her eyes closed as she just relaxed into his hold.
Jimin smiled fully, the smile even reaching his eyes as he watched the girl he was holding. He decided to bring some brevity to the situation and quickly removed his hands, watching as she startled when her head slipped forward. He giggled and stood, pulling her up with him. "Let's go somewhere and walk or something. I want to spend some time catching up."
"Can't we eat first?" Nari felt bad leaving plates full of food that she knew Taehyung was paying for.
Jimin looked down at the plate, his mind automatically calculating how much he would have to work out to work that off.
"Jimin, eat with me. Then we'll go for a walk or something. Okay?" She smiled softly and tugged him back towards the table. She and Gina had had several chats about Jimin and she vaguely remembered Gina mentioning the fact he was super self-conscious about his weight. Could this be why Taehyung told her to eat a lot? She smiled encouragingly, and sat down, feeling victorious as he slowly sat back down. She watched him lick his lips and swallow as he stared at the steak in front of him. "Looks good, doesn't it?"
"Better than it did a few minutes ago," he mumbled. He began cutting into the meat when he felt he was being stared at. He raised his gaze to find Nari staring at him with a silly smile, face resting on her arm that was propped up on the table. His eyes shifted from side to side and back down to his plate. "Why are you staring?" he mumbled, shoving a small bite into his mouth and chewing slowly.
Nari giggled. "I'm just in awe of how handsome you are, Park Jimin."
He laughed from embarrassment and covered his mouth. "You don't have to suck up to me. I already forgave you," he said, his cheeks now feeling hot.
Nari cut her own steak and placed a bite into her mouth. She swallowed and then her curiosity got the best of her. "Why do you worry about your weight so much? Jimin, you're perfect. You're handsome and cute all at the same time." She felt a bit forward in her statements but she truly wanted him to know he was one gorgeous man.
"I dunno," he muttered softly. "When we debuted, I was kind of chubby."
"Chubby?! I saw those debut photos. You were adorable!" She was feeling more confident in complimenting him as the moments ticked by. He was her boyfriend after all. It was her job to make sure he felt good about himself at least. Now that the whole photo incident was over with and he hadn't rejected her, she was feeling so relieved that it emboldened her to say what she wanted and how she truly felt about things.
"Haha! Well, I disagree. But I also had great abs." He grinned and patted his stomach area absentmindedly. "Somewhere along our second or third year though, I didn't get a lot of time to work out. At least, I didn't prioritize it. I tried to tell the fans my abs were 'sleeping' but some of them won't let it go. I guess it just makes me feel like I've let them down somehow. So I'm working on getting those abs back. It's important that my fans are happy, you know?" He didn't normally like to talk about this topic with anyone but he was feeling more relaxed around Nari. He wanted to discuss things with her. His thoughts, his hopes, his dreams. He was frustrated with himself that he had doubted her and assumed she would cheat on him with barista boy, or whatever his name was. He was determined to make it up to her tonight with the concert and he started to feel a bit excited.
"I like you just the way you are," answered Nari feeling suddenly shy.
Jimin watched her talk and his heart flipped around in his chest. Yoongi's words from yesterday about Jimin loving this girl went ringing through his ears. He watched her speak and he wanted to keep hearing words come from that mouth for the rest of his life. He watched her hands with their thin, beautiful fingers, move things on the table and he could only imagine how it would feel to be touched by them. The smile she now wore on her tear stained cheeks was a smile he wanted to make sure stayed there from now on. He looked back down at the steak and in an effort to calm and distract from his raging hormones, he practically attacked it, wolfing down the rest of it in a matter of minutes. If Nari liked him just the way he was why should he care if he had abs or not? Why should it matter if he felt he had chubby cheeks or not?
Nari ate slowly, watching as Jimin dug into his food with a sudden interest that hadn't been there before. She smiled around her fork and continued eating. He was so cute to her right now. She felt her cheeks warm and she averted her gaze.
When he finally leaned back and sighed from being so full, the pair smiled at each other with a satisfaction of full stomachs and full hearts.
And their evening hadn't even yet begun.
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AN 2.0 : I felt I owed you guys an update after leaving you with cliffhangers for the last few chapters. I'm surprised you guys don't throw me off that cliff. Anyway, this is short compared to yesterday's update (which was almost 4,000 words in case you wondered...no? Just me? Ok...) but I wanted to give you something because you guys deserve a break. I hope it wasn't a disappointment to you and that you'd enjoyed it. I also realized I haven't done many author's notes in this book. Haha! One point for me. Happy reading, y'all. See you in the next chapter!