Lee Jiwon's POV
They say that expect the unexpected. Life may be unfair but it is full of surprises in different ways either bad or good. And earlier, it surprised me to know that Jimin accepted me for who I am. I was surprised that he's really a nice person. He was really the Jimin that he showed me and introduced to me.
But it makes me want to keep myself even further from him. He doesn't deserve me. If I enter his life deeper than being friends, it will turn out to be chaotic because sooner or later, my secret will come out. No secret can ever be hidden forever.
I left the clinic after he said those moving words to me. If I were somehow like other girls, I might have fallen for it but I am not. I'm different. It moved me, yes, but I know my place and my limitations. The us that he wants cannot exist.
It can never happen.
He lets go of me. I walked quickly out of the clinic and didn't wait for him to speak more nor allowed him to stop me. I still have thirty minutes before my class resumes and I decided to come to the rooftop of our building.
The arrangement makes me calm. All the blooming flowers colorful and bright, my eyes is left satisfied. It reminds me of our garden when I still live with my parents.
Everyday, I watched my mom water her plants on the garden every morning. She really took care of them so much, like a baby that was so fragile. I always admired my mom. She looked so astonishingly beautiful; her fair skin was glowing under the sun, her long and silky raven black hair was flying and dancing with the morning wind, and her smile that was bright as if it could light up your world ㅡ an effortlessly beautiful woman.
I wonder why my father really got captured by that bitch who became the cause of our family falling apart.
How is my mother's garden now? I wonder if its beauty was maintained or that bitch destroyed it and it became a place for something new now.
Who wants a broken family? No one. But when he looked at me coldly with those eyes when I was begging for him to stay and when he left, I hated him.
My mother was all by herself. She was an only child from a not-so-wealthy family. Both my grandma and grandpa are dead so we have no where to go and mom was only left with not much of wealth from her parents and she used it for the apartment that we are staying in, the furniture and stuff and some for Dawon's education and mine.
When I was fifteen, I decided to have my own bank account. Little by little, she added probably 10,000 Won every month on that account until I helped her when I was eighteen but after her death, we used some of my money for her funeral and now, because of stripping, I add more money in my account. All of it for her and Dawon. All of it to fulfill her dying wish for Dawon and for me.
Realizing that I only had five minutes left for class, I decided to come down and go to my finance class.
"I heard Iris will be the opening dance for tonight. You going?" I heard Taehyung say to Jimin as I passed by the lockers. Dang it! I took a glance at him to see how he will react now that he knows that I am Iris.
"Hmmm, yeah," he said casually then avoided Taehyung's eyes. He suddenly smiled like weirdo, like a girl who got noticed by her crush. I sighed, shaking my head in disbelief before leaving the scene. Jimin is super weird... really really weird.
Dismissal time; I gasped after someone held my hand and took me with him. With the familiar masculine smell and back features, I somehow relaxed, knowing who the person was but I became confused. "Where are you taking me?" I asked.
"Just somewhere. Come with me," he answered. I stopped walking and took my hand back saying, "No."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to do something against your will, if that's what you're thinking."
"I'm not even thinking of that though. Defensive, tss." I rolled my eyes.
He suddenly took my hand again and pushed me inside his car as soon as we arrive. Before I could even go down and escape from him, he sped up the car, leaving me to sigh in annoyance.
"Yah, Park Jimin-ssi, even though you know me already, it doesn't mean you can push me and take me to somewhere without my permission," I complained.
"Shut up, babe."
Wait... Babe? What? "The hell with the endearments, Jimin?! Pull over!"
"Nope," he said, popping the p sound. "Just chill there, baby. You're already hot yourself." He looked at me and winked in a flirty way.
I rolled my eyes and just remained silent and allowed him to drive off to somewhere I don't even know. I just can't win over his stubborn head. Tch.
"What are we doing here?" I asked, seeing Dawon's school outside. "Picking up my brother-in-law."
My eyes widened in shock of his words. Seriously, what has gotten into him? He smirked and suddenly leaned close to me - the proximity of our faces making me feel uncomfortable. "Look, baby, reject me or not, I don't care, because I know for sure that soon, you'll be calling me 'baby' back."
Using my hand, I smacked his face away from mine. Yup, smack. "Yah, don't get too confident, Park Jimin. Yeah, I consider you my friend but that's it."
"Let's see about that." He went down of the car and shouted my brother's name while waving his hand. My brother hurried his pace and gave Jimin a high five. "Ayo, Jimin hyung!"
Jimin hyung? 'Hyung' what? The last time I checked, Dawon dislikes Jimin's presence. What the hell is happening?!
"Hi, noona!" Dawon greeted as soon as he sat down on the passenger's seat behind.
"How's school?" I asked.
"Tiring as always, but since hyung will take us out, I feel so lively today!"
"Jimin, whatㅡ"
"Hush, baby. Just trust me," he said, cutting me off as he placed his index finger flat on my lips. I glared at him.
On the way to which I don't know where, I kept silent but listened to the boy's converse happily; like brothers catching up with each other's life. My heart fels delighted seeing my brother smiling. He may have me in his life, but it is still different to have a guy to interact with my brother who can relate to him since I know that he can't tell me everything especially when it is related to boys. It is sad that he didn't have the chance to have a father while growing up and unfortunately, we don't have a brother too so I understand how much fun it is for him to have Jimin.
Damn, why did I just realize that Jimin can win over things that are close to me easily especially Dawon?! Aish!!!
"We'll get hair cut," Jimin informed Dawon. I looked at Jimin and noticed that his mullet hair was actually pretty long now and it made him look like an emo (in my opinion).
Dawon agreed. "We'll have inspection next week! But, I don't have the moneyㅡ"
"It's my treat, Dawon. Don't worry. Everything that we'll do is on me, got it?" He bowed down in Dawon's level and whispered, "I need to impress your noona," but not inaudible enough and it seemed as if he really did that on purpose. Tch, he thinks he'll impress me with money? That's petty.
"Sir Jimin, welcome back! It's been awhile!" A female dressed in a brown pencil cut skirt and a light blue button up shirt welcomed him.
Jimin smiled back and bowed. "The usual?" A boy asked but Jimin shook his head. "I have companions. Please give this boy the hair cut that he wants andㅡ" he turned his head to my side, "You want a hair cut? They also do female services here."
I shook my head. "No, I'm good." He nodded and continued talking to the male and female employee. "Please give that beautiful lady a manicure, pedicure, and foot spa," he pointed at me and winked. Wait, "Jimㅡ" he walked immediately going to my side and tapped my shoulder. "Relax, babe, you need this so you can dance better later while I'm watching, hmm?" He whispered, making me blush. He didn't really have to tell me that dancing part, geez.
The staffs lead us to our places and mine was quite far from the boys. The female staff who welcomed Jimin started to do things with my nails. "It's the first time Mr. Park brought a girl with her here other than his sister, Ms. Jiree. How long have you been dating?" She asked.
"Oh, no, no, you are mistaken. We're not dating. He's just my friend."
She raised an eyebrow. "Really? You look good together though."
Can she just shut up, do her job, and not stick her nose on what is between me and Jimin?
She seemed to have noticed that I am not comfortable talking to her that's why she just kept her mouth shut. I closed my eyes and listened to the music being played here inside as I sing-a-long in my mind.
While she was doing my nails on my feet, Dawon came to me looking handsome with his new hair cut. "Noona, Jimin hyung will buy me clothes for awhile. We'll come back for you later, okay?" I nodded and closed my eyes again. This is actually very relaxing.
They came back not long after but I haven't seen Jimin. Dawon looked great with his simple black hoodie, jeans, and black converse.
After everything was done, I went to where Dawon and Jimin was and saw Jimin looking so clean with his new hairstyle, making me freeze from my spot and look at him.
His hair is in an undercut and it is fixed neatly; his bangs apart to show his forehead. He looked very fresh, handsome, and neat, matching with his newly-bought black button up shirt.
"Looks like my new look is better than before. Like it, baby?" Jimin asked and winked. I blinked my eyes a few times and closed my mouth, realizing that I had been staring dumbfounded at him for quite a long time. Geez, get a hold of yourself, Jiwon.
I rolled my eyes in annoyance. "You wish!"
He chuckled then looked at his gold watch. "It's dinner time already. We should eat. What do you want, Dawon?" He asked my brother.
"I want Japanese food, hyung!"
"Dawoㅡ ah yah! Stop dragging me, Park!" I told Jimin as I tried to take my hand back from his grip but he just laughed together with Dawon. Ugh!
Dinner was really great! And I admit that this day became great because of him which made me really happy. As we got home, my sleepy brother went straight inside our apartment to rest, leaving me and Jimin alone outside.
"Hey, Jimin," I called when he took a step away from me. He stopped and faced me with a smile. "Thanks for today, for making Dawon happy."
He came closer to me and closed the door behind me. I'm puzzled from our proximity but nonetheless, I somehow felt safe and warm with our distance.
Gently, he caressed my cheek and he smiled warmly as if it could thaw a cold heart. His eyes were softly looking into mine. "If making him happy makes the person I like happy, then I am very willing to bond more with him. Anything, Jiwon, I can do for you just to prove that I am true to what I am feeling towards you."
"Jiminㅡ"
"Hush, baby," he pressed his finger on my lips. "I don't need your rejection. I won't give up on you because you are worth it. A girl like you is worth the wait and effort." He smiled. "See you later." He walked away while I'm left staring at his form that was slowly going out of my sight. I balled my hand into a fist with it resting on my chest as I could feel my heart pounding inside.
What is this feeling?