31 | THE SECRET THAT STINGS

Jimin was asleep when I entered the room, and part of me was glad. With him dozing, I had the chance to process his state again without plastering on a brave face for him. The fear, the anguish, the guilt—it all overtook me as soon as my guard fell. His feet were elevated like last time, and his expression was drawn into a scowl. The bed was beside a window overlooking the city, and the evening sun streamed in and cast a beam of light over half of his face. I went over and quietly drew the curtain.

There was no use blaming myself for what happened to him—I knew that, but it didn't make it any easier to avoid. I still regretted my lack of caution. If only I'd regarded the warning more carefully, Jimin would be freed of such an unfair burden. Even in unconsciousness where breath should've come with ease, his body remained tense. His brows pulled inward over his shut eyes, and the prominence of his jaw muscle signaled how tightly he was biting down in his sleep.

I reached out and feathered the back of my hand over his cheek, hoping the feeling would somehow translate into his dream and bring him comfort.

Jimin had always been passionate. Where I hesitated to pursue a new interest, he dove in without a single doubt. Where I questioned if I wanted to continue, he committed with resolve. He fueled my perseverance to dance throughout every difficulty that came into my life. Bouts of anxiety as I began high school, my parents' abrupt split, the breakup with Seokjin, all would have otherwise stopped me. But Jimin's dedication to what he loved most made it impossible for me not to seek the same. He had a way of inspiring everyone he knew.

With a faint, bittersweet smile, I remembered the promise he made to me after my parents' divorce was finalized.

"No matter how many things fall apart around you, and no matter how broken you might feel, I promise I'll be here to piece you back together."

He'd kept his word without fail, and that made the whole situation more unbearable. He always presented himself as invincible, always had a smile on his face while he assured me that he was well. But for the first time, he was the one tearing at the seams, and I had a part to play in getting him to that point.

To thank him for lifting me back to my feet after every fall, I crippled him.

Just as a pang pierced my chest and tears burned my eyes, Jimin stirred. With a single inhale and a couple blinks, my expression relaxed. Did he do the same when he needed to mend my shattered heart? Had he been biting back tears and burying his pain too?

"Hey," he said in surprise after his eyes opened to meet mine. "You didn't tell me you were coming."

I hummed. "Should I go then? I hate to be a bother," I teased while making a step toward the door.

He scoffed and grabbed my wrist. "You're not going anywhere, jerk. Come sit."

My short chuckle filled the air, then I sat on the chair beside his bed. Leaning forward, I propped my arms along the bar that framed the mattress, resting my chin on top of my hands. Jimin turned his head against the pillow to face me, taking a moment to read the details of my face.

Even in a hospital bed, he was still searching to make sure I was okay.

"I know we kept texting, but I feel like you haven't been telling me everything," he began, careful to speak low. There was a rasp in his voicea. "I see how tired you are."

Chewing on my lip, I took a deep breath before responding. "Why do you do that?"

His brows furrowed. "Do what?"

"Put me above everything, no matter what. You're in the hospital, Jimin. Your feet-" my voice broke just as he cut me off.

"I'm aware of what happened to me, Jangmi. But I'm safe. I'm being cared for and I'm healing. You're the one who's still in danger right now."

With a sigh, I asked, "How do you know you're safe? How do you know he won't come here to hurt you again?"

"I was never his true target. He used me to communicate with you, and if he wanted to hurt me more, he would've already."

"That doesn't stop me from worrying about you," I whispered.

Jimin's mouth stretched into a brief smile. "I'll be out of here soon, and then you can babysit me all you want. Doc said I'm healing fast. Might be discharged in just a few more days."

That time, my worry finally broke through. He frowned when he saw the way my features shifted. I began to answer before he could ask.

"I miss you, and I want you to come back, but—"

"But you're afraid he'll hurt me again if I go back there," Jimin finished. My eyes closed as his hand raised to smooth over my hair. "I'll be careful. I'll try to avoid being alone like you do—wait, did you come here by yourself?"

"Maybe," I replied carefully under his scrutiny.

"Jangmi." He sent me a glare.

"I know, I know. I need to be more careful. I just really wanted to see you."

Jimin repositioned his head on the pillow, fixing his gaze on the ceiling. "Couldn't you have asked Jungkook to bring you? Or Hoseok?"

I stilled at the mention of the brothers, flashes of my near-kiss with one and my multiple kisses with the other. Then the glow of orange, the brief nightmare, the scars, the necklace that sent Hoseok running.

"There's so much I have to tell you," I said, to which he took a deep breath.

"Okay."

So I told him everything, starting with the night that Taehyung walked me toward my dorm. I mentioned how he warned me about Hoseok, and how he told me that the necklace he gave me was for protection. I recounted my chase with The Hood, how he confirmed that he was willing to show up in person, which of course, made Jimin furious. Then I shared about how I remembered nearly everything of my history with Jungkook, and how I'd grown closer to Hoseok.

"What do you mean by 'closer'?" Jimin pressed when I trailed off. My hesitation had him narrowing his eyes. "You like him, don't you?"

I sat back, straightening in the chair. "I do."

"Why?"

My head shook at his bluntness. "I just... I know it sounds lame, but we have this connection, like we understand each other even without speaking. And as I've gotten to know him better, all I can believe about him is that he's good."

"And what if you're wrong?"

My eyes snapped to his. "What makes you think he's not?"

"I do think he's good, but that doesn't mean he isn't dangerous." His eyes held mine meaningfully, and my heart thudded into my ribs.

"Why do you think he's dangerous?" I asked quietly. "What do you know?"

Jimin shook his head, finally breaking his gaze away.

"Jimin?"

"I don't know how much I can tell you. I mean, you remember everything with Jungkook, but not about Hoseok, right?"

It took me a moment to respond, stuck on why it mattered to him. "You know more than I do."

His face set firm, proving me right. Another secret revealed. Another secret I didn't even recognize was being kept from me to begin with. How much had he still not told me?

"I've known all along about Jungkook and Hoseok. I didn't hang out with them when we were kids because they were your friends, not mine. But I remembered their faces. And during my freshman year on campus, I met Jungkook. I didn't recognize him at first, but he had this old polaroid photo of you two, and I remembered him after I saw it. When I told him I knew you too, he wasn't surprised. He already knew who I was."

The echo of the camera's click and Jungkook's faint laughter rang in my ears. We were on our way to the treehouse when he'd stumbled over the grey device. His grin was as bright as ever when he picked it up, pulled me to his side, and snapped a photo of us. It turned out to be the only film left, and Jungkook called dibs on the picture before it even finished printing.

"Wait, so you knew that I had a history with them even before my first day?"

Jimin nodded, watching my reaction apprehensively. "I knew they were brothers because you told me they were back when we were kids. I still remember how they just up and vanished one day. You stopped hanging out with them, and I tried to ask you what happened, but you didn't answer. It was like you closed down whenever I mentioned them. I told my mom about it, and she just said that you must've been sad and wanted to pretend it never happened. So I did too."

"But what about when we were older? Why didn't you ever ask me about them?" I asked, trying to keep all my emotion at bay. You should be used to these revelations by now, shouldn't you?

Jimin ran a hand through his navy locks. "Years had passed by then, and honestly, I was just glad to have you to myself. I know it's messed up, but I was okay not knowing what happened since you seemed fine forgetting about it. It wasn't until last year that I found out you had actually forgotten."

"So Jungkook told you that my memories were stolen? Why did he trust you?"

"That's where I'm not sure if I can tell you yet. It has to do with Hoseok—"

"Does it involve the past that I have with him?"

I could see him swallow, and my stomach dropped. He didn't have to say it for me to know.

"Not exactly."

Jimin knows what Hoseok is. He knew the entire time.

Biting my tongue, I braced myself before speaking. "Does it involve who he is?"

His eyes were alert as they scanned mine. "You could say that."

"What he is?" I corrected, and Jimin's frown deepened.

"Yes."

"So you knew. This whole time, you knew what he was. You knew about the legend. Did you know about The Hood too, before I even got here?"

"Jangmi, how do you—"

"I just..." I laughed under my breath, a bitter taste in my mouth. "I trust that you were trying to protect me too, like they were. But it hurts knowing that the one person I thought was being honest to me this entire time was actually keeping a secret even longer than they did."

His gaze stung to hold, but I did anyway. His eyebrows knit together in guilt, lips etched downward.

"You can be mad if you want to be. I'm angry too, at the fact that I had to choose between telling you and trusting them. But both of them... even without you being here, I could tell how much they cared about you. Knowing how important you were to me, I recognized that same love in them. And if they loved you as much as I did, you must've really been in danger if they were willing to let you forget them."

"I still don't understand. Why did they even tell you everything in the first place?" I asked faintly.

"I didn't know if you would ever find out about Hoseok. Neither of them wanted you to know. They never planned to tell me either, but I ran into them fighting in the dorm room one night. And when I say fighting, I mean throwing punches. I was supposed to be gone for another hour, so I guess they let their guard down." Jimin paused, shutting his eyes for a moment. "They didn't hear me at first, so I stood there long enough to see Jungkook clock Hoseok right in the jaw, and the hit knocked one side of his mask off. I remember hearing him growl, and then I must've made a sound, because they turned to me and then I could see everything—his eyes, his teeth, his face." He stopped and found my eyes again, checking to see my response.

Teeth? Face? What did he see that I haven't yet?

"And then?"

His brows twitched at my lack of surprise. "And then I blacked out... Came to hearing them arguing over what to do with me. Jungkook said something like, 'If he knows, then he can help us protect her. We just have to get him to trust us.' So after they noticed me waking up, Jungkook tried to explain things to me. Hoseok stayed at a distance, I guess to not freak me out. And I would've tried to get out of there if he wasn't blocking the door and I wasn't absolutely terrified of him. But then Jungkook started mentioning you, linking everything back to you, and that was enough to at least get me to listen."

"So they told you everything? Just like that?" I questioned.

He nodded, and the sting worsened. "They pretty much had to. And Jungkook told me later on that he planned to tell me at some point anyway, once he could convince Hoseok to allow it. But I don't think Hoseok ever would've agreed if I hadn't seen him that night."

"Didn't you doubt them or think that maybe they were lying to you?"

"Of course," Jimin sighed. "I wondered if maybe they were the ones who were obsessed with you, and the third boy they told me about was actually the good one, or that he didn't exist. But like I said, when you truly love someone, you know when another person cares for them as much as you do. And I'd known Jungkook for months by then. There just wasn't much reason for me not to believe what he told me, especially if they were trusting me with Hoseok's secret."

I was at a loss for how to feel. It hurt to discover how much he kept from me, but at the same time, I understood that he did it for the same reason that Jungkook and Hoseok had—to protect me, to preserve my memories. But there were details that still failed to make sense.

"If you knew about the third boy, why didn't you try to stop me from enrolling?"

"All we knew was that he would go wherever you would go, so it was better to make sure you did come to IUA so that we could keep protecting you."

"But even now... if you recognized Jungkook and Hoseok, wouldn't you remember the third boy's face too? Or his name?"

"I only saw him once, and it was at a distance. This was back when we weren't as close yet, so I didn't feel as comfortable asking you who they all were. You had always been a bit secretive when it came to the three of them in the first place. Basically the only thing you ever told me was that the first two were brothers."

He paused, and I had difficulty reading him. He seemed... guilty.

"Jimin?" I softly called, to which his eyes returned to the present. With sorrow, he looked at me.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I'm the only one who could've remembered. I'm the only one who could've known who he is."

"No," I shook my head, moving to carefully sit on the edge of his bed. I reached for his hands, letting him meet my gaze again before I continued. "You didn't know, Jimin. You were a kid. We all were. So don't you dare feel responsible for any of this. I'll remember, okay? The rest of my past will come back to me, and we'll know who it is and we'll stop him. I'm sure of it."

Jimin squeezed my hands, and his bottom lip quivered before he spoke. "I never would've done any of this if I didn't believe it was for your good. I've only ever wanted what's best for you," he said past a cracking voice.

His expression was falling apart, and I let out a shaky breath as I leaned forward to hug him. "It's okay. You don't have to hide anything anymore. I'm not mad at you."

"I wouldn't blame you if you were, but I also don't know if I could bear it," he replied in a hushed volume.

For the next hour, I remained at his side on the bed, my head resting on his chest. He ran his hand over my head soothingly, and not long after, I began to doze. Thankfully, I was able to rest peacefully with him beside me.

* * *

Stepping onto the familiar ledge, my hands gripped the cold railing as I stared down past the open curtains to the front of the stage. A male silhouette stood with his back to me, facing the abandoned seats. He was tilting his neck from side to side, then rolling his shoulders, then stretching his arms.

"You coming down, Red? Or are you content just spectating from up there?"

Huffing, I walked to the ladder and scaled down it at a steady pace. As I passed the missing rung, I muttered under my breath, "One of these days, this whole ladder is going to disintegrate, and then we'll be stranded down here."

"An adventure waiting to happen."

Finally reaching the floor, I turned to find Jungkook only a couple feet away. A lazy smile played on his lips, and he'd tied part of his hair back into a bun, leaving the front waves out to frame his face. He wore grey sweats and a black shirt.

"Not surprising that you'd consider that an adventure."

He grinned. "Not surprising that you wouldn't."

A smile made its way to my mouth as it always seemed to do with him around. I was grateful. The lack of awkwardness between us felt more soothing than the cold breeze that came at the beginning of winter.

"Guess we haven't changed as much as we thought," I said, remembering how he always was the one to take the lead when we were kids.

"Must be unfortunate for you," he laughed, "You always said I was an annoying halfwit."

"And I stand by that," I said, laughing along with him.

Before either of us could say more, the platform above us rattled. I looked up to see Hoseok already on his way down the ladder. When he reached the gap, he hopped the rest of the way down.

My pulse skipped from his presence alone, but then as he straightened up and captured my eyes, I had to remind myself to breathe. My heart was a drum that grew louder the closer he came. Every beat must've been audible to him, I was sure—especially knowing of his abilities.

Hoseok's tan complexion stood out against the loose white tee that he wore, along with olive green joggers and white sneakers. His mask was one I'd never seen—a pristine white to match his outfit. Even his accessories couldn't escape my notice, from the silver band around his wrist to the silver chains dangling from the hoops in his ears.

I didn't know where we stood since the other night. I hadn't seen him—only messaged him a few times when he would check in. All I could picture was when he pulled away from me, trying to calm down after his eyes changed for the second time. Leaving the progression of our relationship up to him was terrifying. If he couldn't learn to trust himself, I feared what we started would never be continued.

"You've got the song?" he asked, breaking his gaze from me as he adjusted his gloves.

"Yeah, Yoongi sent it. He said they still have a few layers to add, but it's good enough to use for now."

"And you're sure you want it to be a partner dance?" Amber irises met my brown ones, as daunting as ever.

"I'm right here, you know," Jungkook said as he crossed his arms.

I glanced between them both. "I'm sure. It has to be two dancers."

"Great, we make a good pair anyway. Now let's get to work."

Grabbing my hand, Jungkook towed me to center stage, then I let out a squeak as he playfully spun me into his arms. With my back flush against his chest, I glanced up.

Hoseok was sauntering toward us, and I swore there were red-hot flames behind his eyes.

• • •

A/N: Hey everyone! Glad to see you back :,)

I know things may feel a bit slow at the moment, but I hope these revelations are keeping things interesting. Now that we've finally got a good bulk of secrets out there, we'll be working toward more conflict (and, of course, a few more secrets still to come).

Did it surprise any of you how much Jimin knew all along? Are you upset that he kept things to himself, or do you understand why he did?

Next update, we'll get to see the brothers help Jangmi with her project. Who's excited for that? I know I am.

A big thank you, as always, for returning to support this story. It means so much to me. I've missed being more active here, and I've missed interacting with all of you! I'll try to  hop on more often to reply to comments and such.

Anything you're hoping to see soon in the story? Let me know!

Also, here's a lovely edit done by @MinTaeKooky of Hoseok's scars. Thank you for the fanart, lovely!

See you all soon.

Your happy-to-see-you-author,

Kat 💜

March 9, 2021