29

Day 27/29

Today was a pain. I had a French pop quiz and I wasn't prepared at all. I had forgotten to review the vocabulary from yesterday's lesson and now I knew my French grade was going to plummet. I found myself thinking about how great it'd be if I had a life and brain like Jungkook's. I pinched myself for the thought and sighed, trying my best to sit through the rest of my classes. Jimin had joined me for lunch again. He seemed more hyper than usual as he couldn't sit still in his seat. His smile was twice as big and he was full of laughter the whole period. What did the kid have for breakfast, ten pounds of sugar? At the end of lunch, he looked excited and told me to wait for him after school before leaving for his next class.

I dragged myself out of the school building after the last bell. Three days. That's all I had left to help Jungkook, but we were still on each other's bad sides. As I walked towards the school gates, I spotted Jungkook and took a deep breath, building up the courage I needed to ask him if we could walk home together, but before I could say anything, I felt someone grab my arm. I was tugged back into the person's arms and I looked up to see a smiling Jimin.

"Did you forget? I asked you to wait for me by the gates."

"Oh, right. Whoops, my bad. Are we going somewhere?"

Jimin nodded and spun me around before leading me away from the school. As we left the gates, someone harshly bumped into Jimin's shoulder. He was in the same uniform as us and he was around the same height as Jimin. I had never seen him around the school which

I thought was quite strange because his pastel pink hair would have caught my attention from a mile away. The boy turned his head back to glance back at us and apologized in a fake and insincere tone with a smirk playing on his lips. I was about to say something to the boy about it when Jimin just shrugged it off and pulled me away before I could open my mouth. I decided to forget about it and asked Jimin where we were headed, but he told me it was a surprise and refused to tell me.

It took us thirty minutes to get to the secret place which turned out to be an outdoor ice rink. I thanked myself for wearing stockings today as we went inside to rent skates. I never really had much experience with ice skating, but it looked pretty easy from what I saw on television so I wasn't really worried about it. Turns out, I was wrong. So wrong. I had fallen more than five times within two minutes of stepping into the rink. Jimin couldn't help but laugh as he helped me up. He was surprisingly good at skating as he made several rounds around the rink while guiding me. Finally, feeling frustrated after all my failed attempts, I pouted and gave up. Jimin laughed and refused to let me out of the rink.

"You can't just quit like that, Jimin."

"I can and I will. You can't stop me."

I tried to stand up again, but unable to balance myself on the ice, I ended up falling again. I grunted as I let a string out curses leave my mouth. I was tired and my bottom was cold and numb from falling so much. Jimin had to help me up again, but instead of letting go of my hands, he took hold of them firmly and

looked me in the eyes with an assuring gaze.

"I'll teach you, just push off one foot after the other. You don't have to go so fast, just go at your own pace."

He smiled as he started skating slowly backwards, pulling me along with him by my hands. I took a deep breath and gave it one more try. I started out slowly, one glide at a time, and ten minutes later, I was making rounds around the rink without help. Jimin skated next to me while holding my hand.

"See, you did it. The power of love can make anything possible."

"Pft. You're impossible, Park Jimin."

"Impossible to resi-"

"Don't say it. Just shut up and skate, you dork."

I rolled my eyes and cut him off before he could finish the phrase I heard him say before at the carnival. He pouted before laughing and picking up his pace, pulling me along with him. We ended up skating for two hours before leaving. Both our feet were sore, but we were full of laughs as we left the ice rink. Jimin bought the both of us hot chocolate on the way back home. When we reached the intersection, he pulled me the other way, away from my house.

"Let's go to the park. I need to tell you something."

Jimin gave me a hopeful smile causing me to give in. Our walk to the park with silent, only the sound of our breathing being audible. I caught Jimin glancing at me several times and he averted his eyes elsewhere every time we met eyes. It was strange, but I decided to ignore it, too tired to figure out why. When we arrived at the park, the sun was already setting.

"So, what did you need to tell me?"

I

threw away my finished hot chocolate in the trash can as we walked into the park before turning to Jimin with a curious smile. He took a deep breath as he let go of my hand and stood in front of me. I stuffed my hands into my skirt pockets to keep them warm while waiting for Jimin to speak. I felt the amulet in my right pocket and my smile slightly faltered as I remembered the events from the night when it cracked. I closed my fingers around it before letting out a quiet sigh. I returned my attention to Jimin who finally looked ready to speak. What he actually said, I could have never been prepared for.

"I love you."

I was shocked, completely caught off guard. His eyes were sincere as he looked me right in the eyes. I froze in place as a horrible feeling started to churn in my stomach.

No... No, no, no. This couldn't be happening. I was dreaming, right? Jimin, Park Jimin, no. You can't do this.

The world around me began to turn mute as my thoughts invaded my head. I watched Jimin's lips move but I couldn't hear him. All I could hear was my terror-stricken heartbeat and my panicked thoughts. I forced myself to take deep breaths as I tried to hear Jimin's voice. By the time I had finally managed to unmute the world, Jimin was staring at me, waiting for my reply. I opened my mouth to speak, but as I met Jimin's eyes, I couldn't find my voice. I didn't know what to do. I had been in love with someone that didn't love me back and now I was loved by someone I didn't love back. Looking back to everything, I didn't know what was worse; to be broken or to break

another soul.

I knew it hurt. People always made it poetic. They said that you'd learn something from it and that it'd make you stronger, but they were all lying. It just hurt. For a long time, it just fucking hurt. Because the person you loved wanted someone else, and you weren't good enough.

I felt the tears prickle my eyes as I thought back to the horrible wrenching pain I had felt when the person I had fallen in love with told me that he was in love with someone else. I clenched my hands into fists and I felt the jagged edges of the crystal amulet dig into the palm of my hand. I wished that I could have fallen in love with Jimin instead of that asshole I had been told to save, and I cursed everything and anything I could think of for the unfairness of life. I felt the tears escape my eyes as my vision clouded. I wanted everything to stop. I wanted life to stop, time, the world, anything that could stop me from saying the lines that I never wanted to say to anyone, to stop. But this was life. There was nothing but betrayal, inevitable sadness, and unfairness in it.

"I'm sorry, Jimin. I can't return your feelings. I've fallen in love with someone else."

I glared at the ground, unable to meet his eyes after rejecting him in my trembling and cracking voice.

"What..? How could you do this, Jimin? You already know about my past, how could you be just like her?! Who? Who did you fall in love with? It's him, isn't it? You fell in love with Jeon Jungkook, didn't you?"

Jimin's voice was cold and angry as he spoke in disbelief. I stayed frozen, too

ashamed to tell him that he was right; too ashamed to tell him that despite knowing his past, I did the same thing as the girl did to him.

"Goddammit, what has he ever done for you?! Nothing! He did nothing. I did everything I could for you and you still chose to pick him over me?! Am I really that bad? Do you really hate me that much? Why? Why won't anyone accept me? I love you, Jimin, why don't you love me back?!"

I took a step back as Jimin took one forward. Little by little, slowly, he took one step after the other with his hands crumpling into fists. My eyes flickered from his fists to his eyes as I backed away. As he continued to walk forward, his eyes flashed two familiar colors for a second before reverting back to normal. My eyes widened as I saw them flicker back and forth. My heart raced in horror as I remembered the colors from before. The ominous black with the hints of venomous purple along with the rich, blood red. The two colors that struck fear in me that one night be had appeared in my room. The colors that were replaced with a soft cocoa brown were back as I heard Jimin's voice come out in a threatening low growl. As I continued to walk back, knees seemed to give out from skating so much for the first time earlier today. Jimin took this as a chance and before I knew it, he had lunged.

I squeezed my eyes shut as I screamed, holding out both my hands in front of me. I waited for an impact but it never came. Instead, there was a loud clash and I slowly opened my eyes to be blinded by an intense luminous light. There was a familiar figure who was surrounded

by an electric blue glow standing in front of me.

"Get out of here!"

The figure yelled at me viciously as he turned his head to the left to look at me.

A golden yellow.

I caught sight of the color and my eyes widened. He had finally returned. I glanced down at my right hand to see the crystal amulet glowing once again, but it was a different kind of glow. Before, it gave off a beautiful teal light. Now, it glowed a deadly, murderous red.

"Did you not hear my orders?! I said, run!!"

Frightened by his venomous tone, I rose to my feet and dropped the amulet before racing out of the park. My heart felt like it was about to explode as I ran as quickly as I could. Home. I needed to go home. Tears still falling from my eyes, I frantically looked around for a source of direction. I had no idea where I was. I just knew that I needed to get somewhere safe and that, right now, was my own room.

After minutes of running nonstop, I could feel my heart burning and my lungs straining. My legs felt like giving out, but I didn't let them. I kept the same pace that I had started out with and I didn't plan on slowing down until I was in the comfort of my own room. Though, unaware of my surroundings, I slammed into something. I fell forward and let out a loud gasp as I was short on air from running for so long. My vision was blurred with tears, but I was able to recognize the person with just the structure of his face. Jungkook was shocked as he spoke in an alarmed and surprised tone.

"What the hell? Jimin? What's going on?"

This

wasn't good. I didn't want him to see me like this. I quickly looked around and recognized the remarkably large house, finally figuring out where I was. Jungkook asked what was happening once more, but still at a loss of words, I got off the ground and just made a dashed for home without explaining. There was a burning pain in my ankle, but I ignored it and finally found my way home.

At the front door, Taehyung was waiting for me with an angry but worried look. He was covered in cuts and bruises and his clothes were stained with dirt. The cut on his right cheek was still bleeding, but he ignored it as I collapsed into his arms. My breathing was loud and pained from the lack of oxygen. Taehyung carried me up to my room and laid me down on my bed. When I had finally caught my breath, I sat up and stared at Taehyung's backside as he stood turned away from me. He was massaging his temples while occasionally sighing.

"You're... You came back.."

He stayed silent as I spoke to him. His hands moved from his temples to across his chest, but he stayed turned away from me.

"Thank you.. For saving me back th-"

"You didn't listen to me, Jimin. God, you never do."

"H-huh?"

"I told you specifically to stay away from him, didn't I?"

Taehyung finally turned around with an angry glare on his face. His arms were crossed tightly across his chest as he raised his voice.

"H-how could I..?"

"What do you mean 'how cou-"

"How could I when he was the only one to save me from my loneliness and self-pity!?"

I screamed back at him in frustration as I stood up from my bed. Taehyung became silent, looking taken aback. After a few seconds, he finally heaved out a sigh and let his arms drop to his side.

"Fine. I'm sorry. If I hadn't left you this would have never happened. I was put on prohibition from duty for revealing my past and also for being unable to fix your habit. See, it wasn't fully my fault."

I could only stare at him with tears piling my eyes again. I was relieved to see him again, yet also angry that he had left without giving me a warning.

"Hey, don't cry. Alright, it was all my fault. I'm sorry."

Taehyung pulled me into his embrace as he apologized again. He wrapped his strong arms around me and whispered comforting words as my tears started to spill again. My hands grasped his shirt tightly in my balled up fists as my heart ached. His embrace was warm and soothing, something I had needed for quite some time now. Taehyung rubbed my back in calming circles before talking again.

"This was a scarring memory for you, I know, but you've got less than two days left and I can't let you give up just because of this. I know I'm pushing you, but I can't let you be ruined by the punishment from failing to save Jungkook. I know you can do it, Jimin. Don't give up on him, you're almost at the finish line."