Thank you to those of you who have not given up on this story. I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update.
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Jimin's POV
I sit at my desk, going over some of my clients' files, chewing at the tip of my pen.
I have several different people whom I'm seeing at the moment.
My last client walked out of the room just a moment ago. He's an Ice Skater but he says that his partner is the devil.
I also have a guy who's convinced he's a robot, another who is a ballet student who was starving himself for awhile; not to mention the old man I see every now and then with Alzheimer's, there's this kid who's afraid of love, another who think's his rabbit can turn into a human, and a Soccer player who mostly just likes to get advice about life problems-
The door bell from the front of my building jingles and I can see the dark haired young man walking toward my office door. I smile a little to myself and wave for him to come into the room. Last but not least...Jungkook, my most recent patient.
"Good Morning, Mr. Park." He says teasingly, as he bows.
"Good Morning, Mr. Jeon." I say back to him, taking the cup of coffee from him that he's handing to me.
He's come so far over the last week that I've been working with him. You might remember the incident that happened in my apartment when he began to have an episode in his car and I let him sleep on my couch afterward.
Since then we've taken a different approach to his healing.
"What're we doing today?" He asks, shrugging off his jacket.
"Well, I was thinking about possibly meeting up with some of our old High School friends. However, I know that you're still nervous about seeing many people right now. So it's just an idea. What're your thoughts?" I ask, taking a sip of my coffee.
I can see that the idea makes him nervous.
He bites at the corner of his lip.
"What if...we did something different instead?" He says shyly.
"What did you have in mind?"
"What if...we go back to our high school?" He asks.
I feel the color drain my face a little.
"W-Well..." I fiddle with my pen for a moment. "I'm not sure I mean...what if there are students there and-"
"It's a Saturday, Jimin-ssi." He chuckles at me.
"B-But what if someone catches us-"
"Then I'll think up some way to get us out of it." He smiles at me gently.
...But what if all those memories come flooding back?
"Y-You know you sound like you're in high school again when you talk like that." I say shyly, blushing a little. "You always used to be the one who got me to do crazy stuff." I chuckle, thinking back to all the times we snuck out during class field trips and got caught falling asleep in the library, or even hiding under the slides of the playground when we were in middle school during recess so we didn't have to go back to class. He was always the adventurous one~
"Come on, pretty please?"
I take a deep breath and grab my keys.
"Let's go." I smile at him gently.
~At The High School~
"Jungkook-ah it looks like the school is closed down." I say nervously as he holds my hand and pulls me near the back doors of the gym.
"Remember how the school always forgot to close the second bathroom into the school?" He says, looking back at me with a sparkle in his eyes.
"B-But Jungkook-ah we could get in trouble-" He says nothing, only runs toward the window we always used to sneak in and out of.
It gives me the chills being back here. Even though it's Spring and everything is beautiful and the School's grounds have been freshly cleaned, it feels like I'm adventuring into the tomb of a mummy. The air around here feels weird and the smells are too familiar. It makes my guts churn a little.
We get to the window and it suddenly doesn't seem as high up as it once used to. Even I could probably jump up to it now without Jungkook's help.
"You stand guard." He says, and without questioning, I assume my same guarding position that I always did when we were doing something we weren't supposed to.
He fiddles with the latch for a moment and I hear him chuckle.
"Hey, it's open." He says to me and my heart begins to pound with playful excitement. From the corner of my eye I watch as he places something small in his pocket that he took out of the window.
"You first, come on." He says.
"Jungkook I can do it myself now-" He doesn't wait for me to finish, he simply lifts me up and helps me through the window...just like old times.
...the rule was that I would go first always, that way he would never leave me behind.
I land on the other side of the boys bathroom, scrunching my nose at the smell of the old bathroom.
"Oh hell, did it always used to smell this bad?" I whisper to Jungkook as he comes through the window.
"Probably." He giggles a little, holding his breath as he guides us out of the bathroom and to the hallway.
The whole school is dark and quiet; almost like the scene in a horror movie right before the jump scare.
"Do you remember how to get there?" He whispers to me.
"I-I think so." I answer nervously.
"Lead the way then."
Quietly we walk down the hallways, and I can feel a piece of me fill with some kind of nostalgic peace.
Even though I know we're adults now...it's as if when I turn and look at Kookie...he's back with that same haircut that he thought was so dope and I thought looked so hot on him, but it was so 90's and cringe. It's like I've walked through a teleport, or started dreaming about back then. In my head I can hear the hustle and bustle of the other kids in school, and I can see the way he walked so confidently with his bag and mine over his shoulder as he talked to me about some personal record he broke...again.
I feel like I'm back to blushing at everything he says, and secretly loving the fact that he only tucked half his white shirt into his black pants, and always left the top few buttons undone to show off his collarbone.
Meanwhile I was dressed head to toe in perfect uniform, sleeves buttoned and the wrist and buttons up to the top with my tie done properly and my shirt tucked into my pants with a new shiny belt on. We were so opposite, and yet there was some mysterious thing that made us always want to be around each other.
I wore glasses back then too, and my hair down in front of my face to cover my eyes in case Kookie caught me staring.
To everyone in school he seemed so stuck up, and he was; but when he was with me...he listened to what I had to say, and he broke me out of my shell and got me to do a few risky things, that I wouldn't trade back for the world.
"Jimin-ah?" He says, waving a hand in front of my face.
I blink and cover my face a little so he doesn't see how hard I'm blushing. "Uhm, s-sorry about that." I giggle stupidly. "I just zoned out for a bit." I walk ahead of him to the gym door.
"Sheesh, you zone out now just as bad as you did when we were back in school." He teases me.
We are back in school stupid...
I open the door and peak my head inside, luckily the coast is clear and we're able to sneak inside.
"Yah, do you think they've replaced any of the benches since we were in school?" He asks, smiling at me.
"Of course, Jungkook-ssi. This is a proud school full of prestige and-" With a grunt he turns around a bleacher and begins to laugh at the thing he once wrote into the back of the bleacher.
"I can't believe it's still here." He laughs, waving me over.
"What does it say?" I ask as I walk closer to him, leaning in to read it.
In very horrible handwriting I'm able to make out the words:
Mr. ShAnG hAs OnE SmAlL PcKg
"Does that say Mr. Shang has one small package?" I ask, face palming myself.
"Yes." He chuckles, turning the bleacher back against the wall.
How was I ever in love with this immature idiot?
I avoid looking into the corner where...it happened.
"Yah, do you remember that one game when I made that three-pointer and won the championship?" He asks, and I nod my head. But I only remember it vaguely.
...It's been so long..at least for everyone else it has. And yet, for him it's as though high school ended just the other day. Everyone else has had years of memories piled on after high school... nobody cares anymore...and yet..here he is trying his best to act like nothing happened... I can't imagine if I woke up one day and suddenly lost everything I've become within the last 6 years.
I sit on the bleachers as he goes to the supply closet, grabbing out a basket ball and starts dribbling it around the court before making a few shots...and of course only he can wake up after a 6 year coma and get a perfect basket.
I pull out my notebook and begin taking notes.
Client: Jungkook
Notes:
-Client seems to become more focused when talking about things that happened several years prior to the accident.
-Client is good at physical activities.
-Client has the mental state of a high school student.
-Clientsssss
My pen falls out of my hand as the basket ball accidentally bumps into me.
"Yah!" I whisper shout at him. "Watch where you're throwing that thing!"
He smiles at me as he jogs after the ball. "Well, it wouldn't have hit you if you would've been focused playing and not writing in that notebook~" He teases, sticking his tongue out at me.
I gasp at him. "Oh, it's so on you little brat." I take off my jacket and set my notebook down.
"You ain't got no skiiill~" He teases, dribbling the ball around me as I chase after him.
I forget all about the therapy and the notes. We play just as we always used to, and I find out I'm better at basketball than I remember being.
Each time I get the ball, he's quick to pick me up and steal the ball away from me, but I'm not mad about it.
As he tries to make his shots, I jump on his back and try to cover his eyes.
Our laughs echo through the gym and soon enough we're laying on the wooden floor laid out flat like snow angels, laughing and trying to catch our breath.
"That was a workout." I say breathlessly.
"Yeah. I had no idea how out of shape I was." He chuckles and I slap his hand that's just inches from mine.
"You're way the hell more in shape than I am." I scold him.
"You're right. You're so lazy, Jimin-ssi. You should work harder." He giggles and I roll over to kick his leg.
"Yah! You're such a bully." I laugh. "I didn't mean for you to make fun of me!"
"I'm just teasinggg." He laughs. "You're my idol, Ahjussi." He bows to me jokingly.
"That's better."
For a moment we lay quiet on the floor, each smiling to ourselves until finally Kookie breaks the silence.
"I'm sorry for hurting you all those years ago, Jimin-ssi." He says gently.
I feel my throat close up and my veins go cold. Don't talk about it...just leave it alone.
"It's in the past now." I say coldly, trying to move on from the subject.
"But even still...things from the past will hurt us as long as we let them, and I don't want it to hurt you anymore, Jimin-ssi." He looks at me and it takes all my strength to have the guts to look across the floor into his eyes.
"...Why're you sorry?" I ask.
He takes a deep breath, looking over my face before answering.
"Because...when you love someone then you shouldn't have to be bullied for it. I rejected you so harshly, and I could've been more kind about it. It would've been as simple as telling you that I didn't want to be with you and that the thought made me uncomfortable...but instead I hurt you, emotionally and physically, and it was very wrong for me to react that way."
My eyes are wide.
"I-I don't know what to say..." I whisper to him, feeling my eyes start to sting with tears.
"I can see it in your eyes even now after all these years that it's been hurting you. You must've hated me after I went into a coma."
"W-Why would I have hated you?" I ask, trying not to cry.
"Because...I got to go numb for 6 whole years after that... meanwhile you had to wake up every morning and go to sleep every night with that memory. I would've hated someone if they got to get out of it pain free...meanwhile I was the one hurting..." He says, reaching to touch my fingertips softly. "I'm sorry, Jimin-ah."
This whole time I thought that I was supposed to be helping you let go of the past and look to the future...this whole time I was supposed to be doing your therapy...and yet, somehow you surprised me...the same way you always seem to...you've been the one helping me all along...
"I forgive you, Jungkookie..." I say in a whisper. "...I forgave you the moment after it happened. I never blamed you...only myself."
"Don't blame yourself for falling in love or opening up, Jimin...you're an amazing person and you did nothing wrong. Even all these years later, you've never done anything wrong...I still can't think of another person who's ever been by my side as long as you have."
It's quiet for a long minute as we look into each other's eyes.
"...Was this your plan all along? Was this why you wanted to come here? So you could apologize?" I ask.
"I didn't know why I wanted to come here today. However, when we got here, it was like the old me couldn't stay quiet any longer. For years I had wanted to call you and tell you how sorry I was...but I was too much of a stuck up coward. I couldn't do it. But now, that feeling I told you about before, how it felt like my old self was fighting my progress forward..is gone now. I guess, it was the thing holding me back all along."
"Sometimes you after to take a few steps backward to truly start going forward..." I say softly. "Does this mean you won't be wanting therapy anymore?" I ask, sitting up.
"I still need therapy...but I feel better now about letting it happen. I don't feel like I'm betraying anyone if I move forward with my life now..."
...You probably felt like you were betraying me if you moved on while I was still hurting.
"Thank you...for apologizing, Jungkook." I say softly, looking down at my pants.
"Thank you for forgiving me, Jimin-ssi." He sits up and scoots closer to me, surprising me as he pulls me into his arms for a hug.
The motion feel so strange, and a part of me is afraid that tomorrow he'll wake up and regret treating me this way but... it feels so good to feel his warmth again; to smell him and feel his heart beating...
As he pulls away from me, I hurry and wipe the tears from my eyes.
A few minutes later, we're heading back out of the bathroom window and buckling our seat belts as we start to drive out of the old school parking lot.
"Jungkook-ssi?" I ask, "What was that thing you put in your pocket before when we went through the window?
"Oh it was nothing." He half smiles at me. "Just something I left behind a long time ago."
~Time Skip~
Back in my office, I wait in my chair while Jungkook uses the restroom.
I can see his jacket on the couch...and everything inside me tells me that it's none of my business and that I should just leave it alone..and yet...before I can think twice about it, I'm digging into his pocket.
What I find surprises me.
"A wad of paper?" I whisper to myself as I look it over and begin to unfold it.
It's so small...there's no way that anything could be one it...and yet...
With careful hands, I unfold the worn paper and do my best not to rip it.
The handwriting is definitely Jungkook's, but it's so washed out..
I squint and try hard to read it.
Jimin-ah,
Please don't go to coll?ge...p?ease stay her? wit? me in Busan. You're m? B??tF?ie?nd, and I think I w?nt to k??? U some day.
"What the hell does this even say? I can barely even read it, so many letters are washed out-"
"It was the letter I was going to give you on your birthday when we were Juniors and you first told me that you wanted to move away to school." Jungkook answers and I gasp, looking up at him.
"I-I'm so sorry, I was just so curious-"
"It's fine." He answers, taking the paper and crumpling it back up tiny again before sticking it into his pocket. "We let go of the past stuff. So it doesn't matter anymore."
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Hello, lovelies, I'm sorry for the crappy chapter and the YEAR it took me to update. I swear I'm alive, just very busy.