jimin had woken up much earlier than he should have, with half an hour until sunrise. no matter how much he tossed and turned, he couldn't fall back asleep, so he got dressed and pulled on his jacket, checking to make sure jungkook is asleep before he left the apartment.
he walked (not drove) a kilometre to a park that he and jungkook had visited on their tour. it was a bit chilly but jimin didn't mind as he continues his walk, and stopped to sit on a bench. he hasn't meant to walk so far but now that he was here, he had tired himself out. so he laid down on the bench gently and closed his eyes, not meaning to fall asleep but drifting off anyway.
***
when the young man woke up an hour later, he wasn't sure what he had expected. but 13 missed calls and 11 messages was nowhere near his thoughts.
he had seven messages from jungkook
jungkook: hyung where are you
jungkook: hello
jungkook: pick up your phone please
jungkook: is everything alright
jungkook: where are you
jungkook: seokjin hyung doesn't know where you are either and hobi hyung's not answering
jungkook: did your phone die?
and the following messages from seokjin.
seokjin hyung: jungkook told me you weren't home
seokjin hyung: where are you?
seokjin hyung: please give me a call
seokjin hyung: i'll pick you up
he rubbed his eyes tiredly and pulled out his phone, and called seokjin.
"jimin!" he answered immediately.
the sleepy boy rubbed his eyes and hummed in response.
"where are you? what are you doing?" seokjin immediately started asking questions. when jimin told him that he had fallen asleep at the park, he got an earful.
"you fell asleep by yourself?" the older shouted. "do you realize that you could've been kidnapped or worse?"
"i did," jimin whispered softly.
the man sighed over the phone, and his tone was gentler this time. "why don't you take care of yourself, jimin?"
said man sighed. "i don't know."
"did you call jungkook?" seokjin asked. "he was about to call the police, but i told him to wait another half hour. he was so worried."
jimin frowned. "why would jungkook even be awake? it's still early..." he wondered out loud, and checked the time. 7:07.
that's when it hit him.
"oh! jungkook has to get to his shoot!" he stood up quickly. "i gotta go, hyung. i need to get home as fast as possible, i need to drive jungkook to his shoot."
seokjin, who listened to all of jimin's realizations, only shook his head before voicing his thoughts. "don't leave, jiminie. i'm already on my way to the park. just wait one minute."
jimin smiled to himself and started walking towards the park entrance, waiting for seokjin's car to drive up to the front.
it didn't.
***
jimin held his hair in his hands as he breathed deeply only because he could. at the moment, perhaps seokjin couldn't.
"family of kim seokjin?" the doctor called out into the waiting room.
the short boy stood up shyly and raised his hand. when the doctor came near, he dropped into a bow.
the doctor bowed back slightly and straightened up. "i'm doctor anh, and you're kim seokjin's..." he trailed off.
"i'm his friend." he said. "we work together."
the doctor nods. "well, the car crash he was in," the doctor looked up at jimin, checking to make sure he knew about the crash. he did.
"it sent him forward in his seat because the car hit him from behind. he had on his seat belt, which saved him from life threatening injuries. however the car he was hit by was going at a rapid pace, and the speed gave him a case of whiplash. it's not too severe, however."
jimin closed his eyes and tried to will his tears away. this was all his fault. seokjin had been coming to get him. he was acting irresponsible.
and seokjin paid the price.