I'm SOOOO excited for this next stage of the book... I hope you are too, even though you have no idea what's in store! :)
You poor clueless, innocent souls.
"Wait a sec... so let me get this straight." Yoongi stares straight into his sister's amused eyes, his eyebrows quirked in concentration, "You met Jiminie because he was stupid, and he took a dare from your best friend Mina, who thought it was a good idea to try to get you to make guy friends?"
"In very simplified terms, yes." B laughs, her pale face flushing with happiness in a way Jimin can't help but admire. He shoves aside his admiration for her adorable face, in favor of facing his hyung so that he might be able to somewhat predict whether or not he should flee from sudden death.
Hopefully Suga hyung doesn't react as badly as Jin hyung did. Jimin shudders, remembering Jin's last minute trip to the cafe and the embarrassing conversation that followed. Jin takes his job as the oldest and most 'gentlemanly' way too seriously. He almost murdered me, just for wanting sprinkles. Can't a guy get his sprinkles in peace?
"In that case..." Yoongi trails off and stands up, brushing his hands off on his black jeans. Jimin cowers in his chair beside him, expecting the older boy to strangle or at least throttle him, but Yoongi does neither. Instead he walks straight back to the counter, and pulls an instantly flustered and confused Mina into a fierce hug, "Thank you so much, Mina-ssi. I owe you a great debt."
"I- you-" Mina splutters for the first time since Jimin's met her, but it doesn't surprise him in the slightest. Who in their right mind, when hugged by the notoriously emotionless Min Suga, wouldn't splutter and die on the inside? Mina hesitantly hugs the gruff man back, "Y-you don't have to thank me. I didn't really do much."
"For me, it was everything." Yoongi honestly replies, pulling away from the awkward hug to deeply bow at the confounded blue-haired barista, "감사합니다 (kamsahabnida: thank you very much)."
Jimin smirks as Mina hurriedly fans her face and pulls Yoongi up from the his bow with her free hand, pushing him back towards the table with a barely audible 'you're welcome'. Yoongi merely shrugs off her odd behavior and makes his way back to the table, sitting down in his chair with a thump. Jimin wipes the smirk off his face and swallows his nerves, quickly asking his question.
"You aren't mad at me?" Jimin fiddles with his fingers, struggling to keep eye contact with his hyung, "Jin tried to murder me when he found out how I met her."
"Jin knows her?" Yoongi frowns, but shakes his head, "No, I'm not mad at you. You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't hurt her, or say anything hurtful that I know of, did you? Should I be mad?"
"I guess not." Jimin sighs in relief.
That's one less thing to worry about. Jimin turns to watch B nibble on the remaining half of her sandwich, and sends her a pointed look when she moves to put it down. Rolling her eyes, B takes another large bite. But there's always going to be more to worry about, isn't there?
Yoongi watches the silent exchange with calculating eyes that linger on B's too-thin form. He feels his own prediction of Jimin taking better care of Byeol than he can coming true right before his eyes, but he doesn't want Jimin to replace him. Not yet. Maybe later Jimin will take care of Byeol all on his own, when Yoongi has his own girl to take care of, but not now. For now he's still Byeol's oppa; the most influential person in her life, and the one that makes sure she's always happy and safe.
"How long has this been going on?" Yoongi picks up his mug and sips his warm coffee casually. Both Jimin and B turn sharply to look at him; their eyes equally bright and questioning. Jimin tilts his head.
I told him not to ask about her family and her weight, but he is her family, so I can't really object to him asking either, can I? Jimin glances over to B in apprehension. I hope she doesn't blow up at him like she does to me. He's already worried about her enough as it is; I don't want to dump all the rest of her issues on him all at once. I think... I think she might have a lot of issues. He'll probably have a heart attack.
"What do you mean, oppa?" B's voice is subdued and sweet; quite unlike the sass-filled eye rolls she gave Jimin less than a minute ago, "We've been meeting up for a little over two months, if that's what you mean."
"I meant..." Yoongi stares at her bony fingers, pausing to collect himself as he feels the familiar sense of self-loathing bubbling up in his gut. Maybe if I hadn't left her, she wouldn't be so sickly thin. Yoongi slides his hand across the table and intertwines his fingers with hers, "How long have you been this thin, princess? You're too thin, and it's... it's scaring me."
It scares me too, hyung. Me too.
"I..." B pales, and hangs her head in shame. Both Jimin and Yoongi watch in distress when she squeezes her eyes shut tightly, trying not to cry any more than she already has, "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize," Yoongi sighs, rubbing circles in the soft skin of her palm, "Just answer my question, Byeol-ah. Why haven't you been eating enough, and for how long? Are you managing alright financially? Or is it something else?"
"I've only been dieting for a month and a half," B mumbles. Yoongi widens his eyes. Dieting? B continues, interrupting Yoongi's dark thoughts, "I'm only it doing for my job, because my boss told me I had to. Otherwise I don't really care about my weight, oppa. It's only because I don't want to disappoint my boss. I don't... Jimin's been making sure I eat something, even when my boss tells me not to, so... so I don't feel quite as sick when I eat, now."
Jimin inhales sharply. Even though it doesn't surprise him that she's having a hard time stomaching food- that much is to be expected when you hardly eat for days on end- it's still painful to hear. Jimin looks up to see that Yoongi isn't taking it much better. His normally passive dark eyes are a frightening mix of angry, disappointed, determined and scared.
"I- I don't mean to feel sick, oppa." B rushes on, trying to cover up the information she didn't mean to let out, gripping Yoongi's hand tightly, "I like food. Scratch that: I've always loved food. But I just... I don't want to let my boss down, and get fired, and then food started making me feel a little sick after a week or two. Should I-- do you think I should stop now? ...I should probably stop now, shouldn't I?"
She was never this straightforward and honest with me. Being with her 'oppa' really drags the truth right out of her, doesn't it?
"Yes." Jimin and Yoongi agree simultaneously. B nods her head sadly, already expecting this answer. Jimin reaches out to hold B's other hand, and she smiles weakly at his supportive gesture. Jimin wonders how his hyung can sound both stern and gentle at the same time when Yoongi continues, "Keeping in shape is a commendable thing, Byeol-ah, but not when it's taken this far. Your boss obviously has a twisted idea of what healthy weight is. If you diet any more, your stomach might start rejecting food altogether. That's hard to come back from."
"I know." B whispers.
"But it isn't that bad yet," Yoongi smiles, relieved that she's at least still eating, "And now oppa's here to make sure it doesn't get any worse. Will you let oppa help you eat healthier, just like Jiminie has been helping? Will you try to eat more often from now on?"
"I-" B looks from her patiently waiting brother to Jimin and back, her eyes slightly panicked, "My boss might fire me if I gain too much weight. He'd notice, for sure."
"If he fires you for having a healthy BMI, then I'm suing him and you're never gonna have to look at his ugly mug again," Yoongi deadpans, visibly angry. His face softens with every passing second, unable to stay mad when looking at his little sister's scared expression. The Yoongi that Jimin has seen today just continues to become kinder than Jimin's ever seen before, "Please, princess. For me?"
"For us?" Jimin pitches in, using his best puppy dogs eyes, and pouting cutely to the best of his ability.
Please agree. Please agree.
"You really think it's best, oppa?"
"I do." Yoongi nods stoically, "Your health is always more important than your job."
Jimin is equally touched and surprised when B turns to him with wide eyes, waiting to hear his opinion on the matter as well. Jimin's heart swells in his chest knowing that she trusts him and values his opinion almost as much as her own brother's.
"Seeing you like this hurts me, B-ah." Jimin keeps his voice level, broadcasting calm to the anxious girl, "I want you to eat on your own as well, not just when I feed you."
"If you both want me to... then-" B bows her head and nods weakly, her usual harsh manner completely subdued, "-then I'll stop dieting."
Jimin and Yoongi sigh in relief, and Yoongi lets go of his sister's hand to pick his mug back up and continue drinking his delectable coffee right where he left off.
"It'll be hard, though, oppa." B frowns, resting her chin on her palms, "I work a lot, and everyone there is always keeping an eye on me to make sure I'm sticking to my boss's diets. I'll have to sneak out to eat."
"Not a single one of your coworkers thinks this diet is unhealthy?" Yoongi rumbles in disapproval, slightly disappointed in humanity, "They all support it?"
"They- they just don't want to get fired." B corrects quietly, finding a sudden interest in her nails, "Like me."
"I know finding a job is hard, but you shouldn't choose your job over someone else's safety." Yoongi mutters, taking a large bite of his coffee cake to suppress his wrath. He mumbles around the sweet cake, crumbs of cinnamon and sugar all around his mouth; his childish messiness drawing a smile from both of his companions, "That's just not right."
"Yeah." Jimin agrees, sipping at his own coffee, feeling a lot less stressed now that he knows Yoongi isn't going to kill him, and that B will finally try to eat on her own, "If your boss ever tries to make you do something you're uncomfortable with, you just call one of us, okay B-ah?"
"Fine." B begrudgingly agrees, shoving the last bite of her sandwich into her mouth. Yoongi blinks, swallows his giant bite of sugar, and then pulls his phone out of his back pocket.
"Speaking of calling, we still need to exchange phone numbers, princess." The pale man quickly unlocks his phone, revealing a Kumamon wallpaper, and taps his way to his contacts, "And you need to put me as one of your emergency contacts. I want to be the first one they call if you ever get in trouble."
"Okay." B obediently trades phones with her older brother and Jimin watches over her shoulder as she types in Byeol-ah as her contact name instead of Batman.
Why does she give me so much sass, but treats Yoongi like he's a king? Jimin pouts, hiding behind his cup. It's not fair. I want some of the adorable sweetness, too!
After numbers are exchanged, both the siblings hand back their phones, and the silver haired girl beams at the screen for a moment before her soft smile suddenly vanishes.
"Oh." B slowly stands up, her eyes no longer glimmering with the light they gained ever since reuniting with Yoongi. Yoongi's eyes narrow as the girl picks up her coffee, and B gazes at him with wide apologetic eyes, "I'm so sorry oppa, buy my break is almost over. I-I have to go back to work soon. I want to talk to you more, but-."
Yoongi interrupts B by setting his coffee mug down on the table with a loud thump, his peaceful expression shattering.
"No you won't." Yoongi states, completely monotone, "I just found you, and I'm not letting you out of my sight for at least 24 hours. You aren't going back to work, princess. You're coming home with me, eating a full healthy meal and getting some sleep. You can call your boss and tell him that you have a family emergency, and if he insists that you come back he'll have to deal with the likes of me."
"B-but oppa-" Yoongi's single raised eyebrow stops the girl in her tracks, and she quickly sits back down in her seat, "I- I'll just text him."
Jimin finds himself staring at her pretty pale fingers as she taps away at her screen, her dark eyes reflecting the words she's sending to her boss. Just what kind of awful person thinks someone as pretty as her needs to diet to look more beautiful? She's beautiful just the way she is. Jimin carefully watches as she runs her tongue along her bottom lip, a nervous tick she probably picked up from Yoongi when she was younger.
She's Yoongi hyung's sister.
The information finally hits Jimin with full force, and he clenches his hands tighter around his caramel macchiato. She's Yoongi hyung's sister, and I- I like her, don't I? It's harder to admit the obvious to himself now that he knows the girl he's been constantly thinking about for the past two months is the younger sibling of his scariest hyung.
How would he react if he knew that I-- that I like her? He's been separated from her for years, and we're both aware that she's having 'issues'. Hyung's always been the overprotective type; he'll probably murder me if he finds out.
Jimin's adoring chocolate eyes slowly fill with just a pinch of longing, because he knows that Yoongi would never approve of him liking Byeol.
What older brother would let their beautiful little sister date a mess of a person like me? I wouldn't. Not in a million years. I better stay away from her. At least until she's not struggling with work and eating issues anymore. Yoongi might hate me if he knew and I can't risk losing my best friend.
Well... one of my best friends.
When Jimin finally manages to tear his eyes away from her perfect face, he finds Yoongi's calculating gaze burning right into his forehead. The blush that threatens to spread across his cheeks is forcefully covered up with a blank expression as Jimin tries to pretend that he wasn't just staring at the most beautiful girl on the planet.
Yoongi can't find out. I don't want him to hate me.
Yoongi sighs and shakes his head, turning his attention away from an obliviously obvious Jimin and back towards his cuddly looking yeodongsaeng (it means little sister).
"He- he doesn't like it, but he agreed." B smiles up at the boys, the twinkle back in her joy filled gaze, "Can we- can we go to your dorm now? I wanna- ...can I see where you guys live?"
"Of course, princess." Yoongi agrees immediately, his gummy smile as bright as the sun, "Anything for you."
Why do I feel so evil now? I shouldn't, because nothing bad is happening in a while, but for some reason I still do.
This chapter definitely isn't my favorite, but it's alright. Does the conversation flow alright? I'm not super confident in it, but I let it pass anyway. I'll let you guys be the judge.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Don't forget to VOTE and COMMENT to your heart's content!
~singformeangel
PS~ OH YEAH-- FAKE LOVE came out!! I streamed for more than three hours on Friday... And the new album is LIT. Anpanman, Airplane Pt.2, So What and the Outro are definitely some of my new favorite songs... And Top Social Artist two years in a row! That's our boys! I'm so happy for them. <3