~Two Days Later~

Food food food food food food food you love food

You knock on Tae's door. Apparently Jimin is at basketball, but you didn't think he had it today. It's Sunday, so no dance. Normally basketball is practicing like literally every day, but you thought this was a special case since the coach was doing paperwork. Oh whatever, it's not a big deal. All you know is that it's six o'clock and you're starving. Tae invited you over for dinner and you couldn't be more grateful.

"It's open!" his muffled voice calls. You softly smile, entering. As soon as you walk in, the smell of pasta hits your nose. You slowly close the door behind you, looking and seeing a round table set up in the corner of the room. The lights are dimmed, the main light coming from candles placed around the white tablecloth. You blink, staring in shock. What the actual fuck Kim Taehyung? You thought Tae was gay! What??? Is he about to... no, no way. Oh no is this a setup?

You gulp, locking the door. "I'm here. Tae where are you?" you call. You hear fumbling down the hall, so you sigh. "Take a seat, close your eyes," a muffled male voice calls back. "Should I really trust you?" "Yes! Please!" With another sigh, you decide to sit, closing your eyes. "This better be worth it and not me being kidnapped." When you get no response, you're slightly confused but don't press.

Eventually, footsteps echo in the room, the sound of crinkling filling your ears. "Okay I lied, don't sit. Can you stand?" You instantly do, snapping your eyes open when you recognize the voice. "Park Ji-" You cut off as soon as your eyes meet his form. He's all dressed up in a suit, his hair changed from short and brown to black and fluffy, his face touched up with some makeup. You blink in shock, mostly because that's not all: he's holding flowers.

He sighs, taking a step forward and holding out the roses. "One night. That's all I'm asking for. One night," he whispers. When you meet his eyes, you realize he's not kidding. Well... one night can't hurt, right? He's fighting for you, no one ever has before. The least you can do is hear him out. So, you nod. "One night and that's it." He sheepishly smiles as you take the bouquet of roses, bringing them close to you. Gosh, when's the last time anyone's ever given you flowers?

You can't stop the smile that spreads across your lips as you smell them. "Thank you," you mutter. He hesitantly walks forward, placing his hands on your hips. To even your surprise, you don't push him away. The bouquet stays in between the two of you, but that doesn't stop him from leaning forward, gently kissing your forehead. You go still from shock when he pulls back, giving you sad eyes. "I'll explain everything. I promise. Here, I'll keep these on the counter until we're done eating, okay?"

You nod, letting him take the flowers away from you. "Sit, I'll take care of everything," he urges. "I can help, it's really okay." He shakes you off, "let me do this. Please?" At his pleading gaze you accept, sitting. The table is all spruced up, a fork and knife laid out for you, candles around, a fake plant in the middle as a centerpiece. It's honestly fancy... or at least, fancy for an apartment table.

He comes over, placing a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs in front of you, then places one on his side. When he sits, you look up at him expectantly. "So... it was a setup." You chuckle, "I got that much. Where's Tae?" "Uh... he may or may not be walking with Jungkook." You raise both your brows, "may or may not be?" "Okay so Tae kind of... said that you wanted to meet Jungkook near the nature preserve but your phone ran out of charge so you couldn't text him yourself."

You start putting it all together, "oh my God, Tae likes Jungkook?" Jimin nods. "Aww that's adorable, I'm happy for them." "Really?" You hum, "of course, they'd look cute together. I always knew Tae liked men, but I had an inkling Jungkook did too." Jimin goes quiet for a moment, making you concerned. Neither of you can eat until he says what he wants to, so you stare at him, and he stares back.

"I'm sorry," he finally lets out. "For?" "For acting like you were just a hookup. You weren't. You never were. These past two weeks not a day has gone by where I didn't think about you. Even before the sex all I thought about was you. You were the first thought when I woke up... my last thought when I went to sleep... I haven't fallen for anyone in so, so long that it scared me. That's no excuse, I know, but I thought it was only lust. I really did, but I was wrong. I was so scared of falling for you that I made everything worse."

His confession makes your heart pang, but still, you're hurting. He cast you aside like you were nothing. "Can we start over?" he asks, making you sigh. You lean forward, placing your elbows on the table. "On two conditions." "Name them." "One... tell me how I know you won't do what you did again." "There's nothing I can say to convince you, I can only show you. I wanted this," he pauses, motioning to the romantic area, "to be a way of showing you that I'm serious about you. You're more than lust. You're more than a hookup. I've never been so wrong in my life."

You frown, nodding and absorbing his words. "Alright... two. Tell me why you're scared of falling for me." It's not an easy demand to make, you know you're slightly selfish for wanting that answer, but he was selfish first. You think after what he did to you, you're allowed to know the truth.

"Dahyun..." he mutters, rubbing his temple for a moment. "Her name was Dahyun. We dated for years. Three, actually. We broke up right before college. Luckily she didn't follow us here, but that doesn't change how much she..." He shakes his head, "I found out that for two of the three years we were together, she was fucking other guys. She was using me for image and status since I was co-captain of the basketball team. She wanted free tickets, after-game parties, hang outs with the boys... she wanted everything except me."

He fiddles with his fingers, "and when I finally found out, I was going to break up with her... but she wouldn't let me. She threatened me, saying that she'd tell all my secrets to the whole school. Pin the breakup on me, say I was the one cheating. And since she was a great actress, everyone would believe her. So, for the end of my senior year I stayed with her. She manipulated me into giving her what she wanted. If I didn't want to go on a date, she'd show me an embarrassing picture of me in the morning. If I didn't want to have sex, she'd show me a picture of my dick. If I ever wanted to break up with her... she had videos of me... yeah..."

Your jaw falls open, staring at him in shock. "I eventually got into her phone, deleted all the pictures and videos she had of me. Found some copies on her laptop and got rid of them too. By the end of the summer, I was confident she didn't have anything on me, so I broke up with her. Of course, she'll always have my secrets, but I'm not ashamed of them anymore."

He lets out a breath, "she pretty much broke any security I had left. I thought I couldn't trust anyone, so I hopped around and pretended not to care." Jimin looks at you, and you didn't even realize your eyes were tearing up until you notice his doing the same thing. "You're the only one who knows the details." "What about Tae?" you whisper, your throat throbbing from holding back tears.

"He knows the basics... but he didn't know what she had on me. He didn't know how far she went. I didn't have the strength to tell him. Honestly, I didn't think I had the strength to tell you. But I don't want to lose you. Maybe that's why I said it. Maybe that will answer your first question too." "It does," you mutter, leaning back. "Shit," you add, keeping your eyes on the tablecloth.

"I'm so sorry, you didn't deserve that." "It's still no excuse to treat you like garbage." You shake your head, "that doesn't mean I'm not sorry too. I should have listened to you instead of blowing up at you." He softly smiles, "don't apologize, you had every right to be upset." "But I could have handled it better." He sniffles, nodding, "but it's okay, because I'll always forgive you. Can you... can you forgive me?" You take a moment, meeting his eyes.

"Yes. Yes... I can."

~~~

Jimin watches as she gathers her belongings, him leaning against the kitchen counter. He cleaned up the plates already, so he's just watching her. She stands, walking to the door and motioning for him to follow. He does, standing next to her. "Want me to walk you home?" She laughs, "it's right down the street, if I get kidnapped between now and then I'd be slightly concerned for the safety of our campus."

He chuckles, his eyes locking with hers. "Thank you for dinner... and for trusting me with your story. I know that couldn't have been easy." He smiles, "don't mention it, I'm glad that I finally did something right." "You do a lot of things right, you don't give yourself enough credit."

His heart beats faster hearing those words come from her mouth. He gulps, feeling his throat getting tight. Oh boy. You know what? Fuck it. Why not try? Jimin shakily reaches a hand out, placing it on her cheek. To his surprise, she leans into it, even placing her hand on the back of his.

"Can we start over?" he asks, and she smiles, nodding. "Thank you for having faith in me," he whispers, and she keeps her smile. "Thank you for actually trying... if you didn't, I would've probably ignored you for the rest of your college life." He chuckles, coming closer. She holds the flowers by her side, giving him more room to move closer. He gulps at their proximity, then, he mentally says it again. Fuck it.

He smashes his lips against hers, and almost instantly, she kisses back. He groans against her, feeling the way she desperately kisses him, desperately tries to get closer. He keeps one hand on her cheek, the other falling to her waist, trailing around to her ass and giving it a squeeze. They kiss passionately, their lips smacking against one another's, the faint taste of pasta on their mouths. When she pulls back, he instantly wants more, but she stops him. "I... I don't want to go too fast." He rapidly nods and kisses her cheek. "We won't okay? I promise princess, we won't do anything until you want to. I just..." he lets out a breath, "be mine. Please be mine. I want you, I want you so badly." She's shocked but softly smiles, "can I have some time?" He hums, kissing her nose. "Of course. Don't force yourself into anything, okay?" Her smile widens, "I won't. Don't overwork yourself, you hear me?" He chuckles, "I won't... I promise."

He watches as she slips away from him, her hand now on the doorknob. "Goodnight Jimin... sleep well." He has the overwhelming urge to kiss her again, but he shakes it off and instead smiles. "Goodnight, can you text me when you get home?" She hums, "of course. I'll see you in bio." He nods as she exits, closing the door behind her. He desperately wants to walk her home, but he doesn't want to overstep.

So, he trudges into his room, smiling like an idiot as he lies on his bed. His goal book is in his trash can, him having no need for it. Hopefully her and him will share the goal book instead. He keeps giggling to himself, several minutes passing as he keeps his phone next to him. After what feels like forever, it beeps, making him jump.

╔═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗

Princess <3:

Princess <3: Hey, I'm home.

Me: I'm glad, goodnight baby, I'll see you tomorrow.

Princess <3: Goodnight! And thank you for tonight. I mean it.

Princess <3: I really enjoyed it

Me: I did too. Dream of me <3

Princess <3: You wish Park

╚═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╝

He laughs, staring at the texts with longing in his eyes. Gosh he's falling for her so hard. Everything about her. From her gorgeous smile to her cute little laughs. Everything amazes him about her. He can't wait to see how these next few months go. He's not sure why, but he has a great feeling about it...

Is he seriously already falling for her?

~~~

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter since I certainly did! Jimin's kind of stupid but like what's new? I just want to write all the fluff already. I need a nice, relaxing break after writing Adrift of all things. Like the last few chapters of that story were 12k+ words. Now, keep in mind my writing speed is 102 wpm. So, if we do the math, each chapter for Adrift near the end (if I'm even writing at max speed which I don't 90% of the time) took at least 120 minutes. I'm so glad these chapters don't take that long it gives my poor fingers a break.

Now Adrift fans imagine chapters like the last chapter, Young Forever, and Victory and Death, which were 20k+ words :)))))))))))))))