Disclaimer: If by any chance there are still some of you who don't know that this story is a spin-off of my Tae fanfic "Obsessed", this is me telling you now. For those of you who haven't read that yet, this chapter might seem a little confusing as it mentions some events that happened previously in 'Obsessed'. However, I've tried to keep it as understandable as possible. Enjoy!
Jimin's POV
"Looks like someone's had an exciting night." I grinned as Jungkook shuffled towards our table, hair tousled and poking in every direction.
"Don't ask," he huffed, plopping down on the seat across from me. "This Quinn girl wouldn't let me go home before dawn."
"Ah I see. So you got lucky?" I took a sip of my coffee while scrolling through my social media accounts.
"Not at all," Jungkook scoffed. "I didn't even make a move on her. She warned me she was into older guys."
"Damn, she did you dirty." I commented, trying to stifle a grin. "But you should have at least tried."
"Don't act so coy," Jungkook's eyes narrowed to slits as he waved the waitress down. "You're the one who owes me an explanation for ditching me like that and leaving me with a tiny girl with the stamina of Usain Bolt. Where did you and Di even go?"
"Oh, you know. We were feeling hungry after that exhausting confrontation with that shmuck who tried to harass her."
"Don't give me that bullshit answer, Jimin." Jungkook said in a low, threatening voice.
"Hey, why are you even interrogating me?" I raised my hands in defeat. "You already know why we left the club."
"I know, I just want you to tell me."
"Fine. We fucked."
"Just that?"
"Just that?" I echoed incredulously. "What, did you expect me to tell you that we played Scrabble till dawn?"
He heaved an exasperated sigh, leaning back in his chair. "Well, that's new."
"What is?"
"You never have sex with the same woman more than once. And now you've been with Diane - how many is it, five or six times already? That must be a new record for you." He pursed his lips in wonder.
Appalled, I gaped at him. "You keeping tabs of my sexual encounters is seriously creeping me out, man."
"I'm just being observant," Jungkook informed calmly. "Do you have any plans to make it official, or...?"
Flabbergasted, I let my hand fall heavily on the table, knocking down my phone in the process.
"Make it official?" I screeched in horror. "What-what what is the matter with you, why would you even say that!"
Jungkook seemed confused by this aggressive and terrified reply.
"Calm the fuck down dude, I merely asked you if you have any serious intentions towards that girl, and you're reacting as if I'm forcing you to walk straight into a pit full of famished tigers."
Realizing I might have overreacted slightly, I let out a heavy sigh, massaging my temples.
"Sorry." I murmured.
"Talk about commitment issues, am I right?" Jungkook said smugly. "I'm just asking because if you were planning on moving forward with her, I'd probably need to warn you beforehand."
"Warn me about what?" I asked, puzzled.
Interlocking his fingers before him, Jungkook cleared his throat and made a dramatic pause, offering me a look of intrigue.
"Homegirl's got issues." He confided quietly.
"What issues? And how do you even know that? What are you, her shrink?"
"Her best friend slipped last night. She didn't give me much to dwell on, but I think Diane's been having some problems with her father. I'd tread carefully if I were you. You know, I'm actually saying this for Diane's sake."
My brows pulled together and my gaze dropped to my lap. Unsurprisingly, this was nothing new to me.
Now, I may not be the brightest, but even I've been able to deduce from my observations on Diane that she doesn't have the best relationship with her father.
For example, she flat-out had a panic attack in front of me, calling out for him in her moment of weakness. Not wanting to invade her privacy, I didn't pry and ask her questions about it. Her mother, I don't know anything about. Truth be told, Diane has never even once mentioned her family. That tells me she's either a very private person, or she's hiding some deep childhood trauma. Or maybe both. All I know about her is she's been working part time to support herself through college. While I find that to be admirable, it's also a sign that most probably her parents are not in a condition to help her out.
Slowly but steadily, I was finding myself more and more immersed in the idea of her. What was Diane truly like? Because on the surface, she seemed very charming, exciting and vivacious. Disarming, even. She was devilish and foxy, and also provocative but not in a cheap, slutty kind of way. Very sexy. Also snarky, sarcastic and stubborn to a nauseating level. Her sass could drive a man insane if only he has no idea how to handle her.
Fortunately, I do know how to handle her.
However, those were all qualities that were pretty evident to anyone who's had the privilege of knowing her for more than thirty minutes. But what lay beyond that? Behind that thin veil of careless light-heartedness and witty humor, that seemingly laid-back attitude?
Congratulations, Diane. You're one of the very few women who have managed to pique my interest.
"Wow, I have never seen you into that much thought. Be careful, I wouldn't want you to overexert your brain." Jungkook stated, glancing over at me with worried eyes and snapping me out of my daze.
"Yes, I've noticed that Diane has issues but so does everyone. I don't see what does have to do with me or why we're even discussing it." I shrugged, turning my face away.
"For heaven's sake, Park Jimin!" suddenly Jungkook exclaimed, his fist colliding with the wooden surface of the table and managing to give me a full-on jump scare.
"What is the matter with you, why are you yelling!" I shot back with the same amount of heated emotion.
"It's because you... you... you're just so fucking dense!" Jungkook fumed, chest heaving with indignation.
"What?!" I shrieked.
"You so clearly care for Diane! You may not say it or act like it, but I'm someone who has known you for so many years and can read you like an open book. Believe me, you would not have so much as glanced her way if she didn't interest you. And you straight out went out and sought to see her again at the same place you two had met, secretly hoping she'd be there. Isn't this telling you anything? Aren't you the least bit aware of your own feelings?" Jungkook questioned. "Are you that oblivious?"
"I honestly don't know how to respond to that." I breathed, caught off guard.
"Why do I even bother anymore," he shielded his forehead with his hand. "You're like the world champion in the 'running from your feelings' Olympic category."
"Okay!" I caved finally, embarrassment flooding in as soon as I spat my answer. "I... I'm not indifferent to Diane."
"Well now we're getting somewhere." Jungkook murmured. "Go on."
"I'm not as ignorant as I look. I know something's up because otherwise I would not have spent the night at her place without having sex with her. I didn't feel the need to even make a move on her. But, I... just... ugh," I groaned, pinching my nose. "I never do this."
"And now you don't know how to sort those feelings out."
"I have no fucking idea what to do." I admitted. "This is so weird, because- because-"
"Maybe because the last time you felt like this for a woman, you were deeply hurt by her rejection?"
Bewildered, I stared at Jungkook, at a loss for words.
"And maybe, just maybe, because that woman never accepted you when you so desperately longed for it, you fear that no one would ever want to?"
"I..."
"And you're afraid that you're unworthy of being appreciated for who you truly are. Because you've been judged for so long."
"That..." I murmured dejectedly. "Pretty much sums it up."
Jungkook's forehead creased with sympathy as he peered at me.
"You need to somehow work through these insecurities of yours or else you'll always lead an empty and loveless existence of fucking your way through life."
Dumbfounded, I looked at him quizzically. "You're surprising me."
"I've been reading a lot of books on self-improvement recently." He confessed shyly.
"Nice."
"Anyway," Jungkook went on. "Here's what you need to do if you want to leave all of that in your past-"
The tiny bell over the door suddenly rang, announcing another customer's arrival. Jungkook's words of wisdom became background noise to me as she walked in.
There she was, standing at the door. My past.
And also the root of all my insecurities.
Clad in a pair of loose mom jeans and a plain white t-shirt, she waved at us and graced us with a large grin, her eyes as warm and kind as ever. Her hair a mass of vibrant fall leaves, stretching a little bit above her shoulders.
She looked so different compared to that night I first saw her in the club. When he saw her, too. Taehyung, my then best friend and rival, laid his eyes on her at the same time as I did, too. And thus began the most excruciating saga of my life, watching the first woman I had feelings for fall in love with and cry for another.
Even though Y/N had taken the role of a devoted mother nowadays and Taehyung's girlfriend, there was still the spark of mischief scintillating in her brown eyes, the same spark I had fallen head over heels for that night I first saw her in her little black dress.
"Look who it is!" Y/N cooed, leaning over the baby carrier she was pushing towards us. "It's your favorite uncles, Taeyangie!"
"Taeyang!" Jungkook exclaimed, rushing towards the little man giggling cutely.
Endeared, I observed the whole scene unfolding from afar, watching as Jungkook crouched before Taeyang and took his tiny fingers in his hands. Taeyang laughed, a sweet laugh that could make all your troubles go away.
Same as me, Y/N's eyes filled with joy as she watched her son envelop Jungkook's neck with his chubby arms. She glanced up to meet my eyes and as soon as our gazes locked, my heart inadvertently skipped a beat.
Motherhood became her. Taking care of and loving Taeyang brought a glow to her face. She was as beautiful as ever, but somehow she looked... happier.
In the past two years, I've been struggling to come to terms with that. It's hard seeing the person you felt strongly for in the arms of another. Even more so when I thought it was me who could make her this happy. It wasn't until I saw her smiles whenever Taehyung said something to her or played with her hair absently. Whenever he'd take their son in his arms and kiss his head gently and her eyes would fill with tears of happiness. The sight was so wholesome it tugged at my heart.
Would I feel that way someday, too?
Now and then, a nasty little voice in my head would tell me the reason she ended up with Taehyung despite how dysfunctional the two of them were was because I could never make her as happy as him. That may be the truth, since she didn't end up with me in the end.
Maybe I'm not cut out for something meaningful after all.
"Hey." Y/N greeted me sheepishly, tucking a wisp of hair behind her ear.
"Hey." I nodded. It wasn't weird between us anymore, not with Taeyang around. The purity of love he brought into our worlds could not be ignored. I love that little guy with my whole goddamn heart, I swear I do. I would give my life for him. His presence was inviting all of us to be the best versions of ourselves. There was an innocence to his gaze, love given and received.
"Would you mind watching over Taeyang for a minute?" Y/N asked us. "I left Taehyung behind to look for a parking spot and I think I forgot my phone in the glove compartment. Will be right back."
"Yes, sure." I said just as I took little Taeyang from Jungkook's hands.
"Yay, great!" Y/N chirped, spinning on her heel and scurrying towards the exit.
Jungkook observed me knowingly after she was gone.
"I get it, you made your point." I huffed in annoyance.
"You seriously need to sort your life out." Jungkook suggested in a singing voice, squeezing Taeyang's cute chubby cheek.
I glanced down at the baby in my arms. If the connection I shared with Diane was indeed real, then how the fuck do I proceed from now on? No matter how open-minded she was, would she even be willing to accept me and my past? No, not the arsenal of women I had slept with, although this was a little bit too much to digest on its own. I kept wondering if she'd accept Y/N, the previous object of my desires, and her son Taeyang, and also what a big part they played in my life. Already she seemed a bit freaked out when I tried to explain it to her last night.
Dragging her into all of this surely didn't sound like a great idea, and it seemed like Diane had enough problems as it was.
"So when are you seeing her again?" Jungkook asked me, his stare merciless.
"Dunno."
"You do know you need to see her again, don't you?"
I gazed down at little Taeyang in my arms, enjoying the feeling of calm he brought while it lasted.
"I'm not sure, Jungkook. As I already told you, I'm not looking for a relationship."
***
Diane's POV
"RISE AND SHINE!!!!!!!!" Quin roared aggressively, kicking the door to my bedroom open and barging in without shame.
"What the hell is the matter with you!" caught off-guard, I jumped in my bed to shoot her a dagger-yielding glare. "How did you even get in?!"
"You gave me a key, remember?" she grinned, cheekily twirling the key around her forefinger.
"Ugh. Go away."
"Nah."
Still in the clutches of my sleep, I buried my face in the pillow.
"I wanna sleep."
"No," Quinn flopped her form down on the mattress next to me. "You need to tell me what happened with Jimin last night."
"What is there to tell? We had crazy animal sex and then he drove me home."
"Crazy animal sex?" Quinn's eyes gleamed with excitement. "How was it? Please tell me it felt like he was rearranging your guts."
"We fucked so hard we might need to exchange insurance information." I murmured.
She squealed, slipping the pillow from underneath my head and shaking me harshly.
"Just get the hell up, I need more information!"
"Alright, alright!" I groaned, sitting up on my elbows. "I need coffee first."
"I'll make it for you!" Quinn leapt from the bed and ran towards the kitchen.
Rubbing my puffy eyes, I looked around my bedroom. I must have been so wasted last night I had scattered my clothes all over the floor.
The insistent buzzing of my phone on the night stand caught my attention eventually. I reached for it, and looked at the caller ID, only to see it was an unknown number.
Jimin?
He never said he'd call, now that I think about it. And I don't even remember giving him my phone number. But hey, he's a man of power, right? Surely he has ways to get it somehow.
My thumb hovered over the screen and I cleared my throat, trying to find my most seductive, hoarse morning voice.
"Hello?" I said gravelly.
"Hello, is this Diane Young?"
My breath halted in my throat and I froze when I heard a female's voice, sounding very business and urgent at that.
"T-this is she." I almost whispered as a sickening feeling pooled in my gut for some reason.
"Ms. Young, you were put in as an emergency contact for one Mr. Damien Young. Can you state what your relation to Mr. Young is?"
My heart started beating erratically in my rib cage. Beads of cold sweat trickled down my forehead as my insides shrunk.
"I-I'm his daughter."
A very thick gulp made its way down my throat as I nervously anticipated the lady's response.
"Ms. Young, we're going to need you to come down to Seoul General Hospital. We're very sorry for the inconvenience, but there are some matters concerning your father that we need to discuss with you."
The phone fell down on my lap as my whole body went limp.
author's note:
Uh-oh! Is Diane going to be okay?
Do you think Jimin still has feelings for Y/N? 🥺