바보

And she doesn't know where else to look, where to find him.

With half-lidded eyes fighting with the time said by the clock, she vowed to keep them open. Forcing herself to stay awake because she needed to make sure Jimin was fine, that he was still okay.

Outside again, after a hundred steps left on that same snow, June didn't know how or why she found herself in front of the theater. Maybe it's because the play was only a month away or because she thought Jimin could be there dancing - just like he did every other day. But she blamed the gut feeling out of it all.

Hands cold and somehow sleep deprived, she turned the heavy doorknob and walked inside.

She tried to swallow her feelings when she was met with the chairs in neat, staggered rows that reach as far back as the eyes can see, but when she saw the stage and a someone standing on it, she almost choked on the same feelings getting stuck in her throat and they soon came right back up to make her call out his name.

''Jimin!''

But he didn't hear her. He couldn't. Not when the music was so loud.

So she started walking, no, running forward, as the vibration of joy kept shaking her body from head to toe.

''Jiminie!''

She then yelled, his name tasting sweet and bitter almost at the same time. Regardless of it, she'd been smiling so wide, as if making up for the days she hadn't, for the days that she'd lost it for a while.

Though the smile soon disappeared when she noticed there was something off. Jimin still wasn't listening. Was he ignoring her? But she was closer now, he must've heard her. His limbs were moving non stop, his body trapped in a world ruled by music and the thoughts playing inside of his head.

June shivered despite the warm air inside the theater before she stopped her feet, breathing in slowly.

''Park Jimin!''

And he then turned around but he still couldn't see. He was blindfolded, legs confused but his mouth twisted up, unsure of whether he liked whose voice he heard or not. ''June?''

But June bit down her fit of giggles. ''Idiot, are you deaf? I have so many things to tell you and I've been screaming your name for ten minutes straight.''

And his fingers dragged the blindfold down, then turned the music down as well, just so that he can give a sly smile and raise an eyebrow at her while speaking, letting the implications of what June just said sink into her brain.

He did that on purpose, and June hated him for it. Because it would always make her cheeks go red. Even now, when she came up on stage to hit his arm, her cheeks were burning with warmth and her mind was all over the place. ''Ack, why are you like this?''

''Yah, I haven't even said anything!''

''But you were thinking of it.'' June's index finger pushed against Jimin's chest, but he doesn't move anywhere, doesn't even flinch. He just smiles.

That same smile was so villainous and so dangerous, but oddly contagious as he stood under the spotlight, the brightness showing off his strands of hair and longs sleeves both damped in sweat. He must've been dancing for hours.

''What's with the blindfold?''

''Oh, this?'' Jimin stopped and caught his breath, waving with the blindfold in the air. ''It's to help me concentrate.''

And June almost shoved a fist in her mouth to stop herself from laughing so loud, which left the boy squinting his eyes in confusion.

''What's funny?''

''You look like a character that just came straight out of a-'', she cut her own sentence to cackle even more, ''out of a Fifty shades of Grey movie.''

Jimin sighed, annoyed if the reason why she came here was only to tease him. Even though he was doing the same to her all the time, it somehow felt weird to have been attacked by his own weapon. ''Please tell me you didn't walk all the way to tell me that?''

''No, no. I just happened to be in the area and wanted to see the big scary stage with my own two eyes.''

''Really?'' He queried. ''At two in the morning?''

''Asks the one who's dancing in the empty theater. At two in the morning.''

And Jimin rolled his eyes, knowing that he lost the argument this time. ''Fair enough.'' He said, covering his eyes with the blindfold again.

June doesn't say anything.

Instead, she found herself getting lost in the alluring ways he'd move his arms and feet, his fingers tracing something invisible in the air. She knew she should leave Jimin to practice more but quickly figured out that a second or two more of staying wouldn't hurt a soul.

''Are you going to stand here the whole night?''

''N-no, of course not!'' Her heart skipped a beat. ''I just can't wrap my mind around the blindfold, that's all.''

Taking the blindfold off once again, Jimin looked down at his feet, tongue pushing through the inner side of his cheek. Blinking once or twice, his lips pressed in a firm line. ''Fine then.''

He was probably getting tired of her curious and childish-like mind, so he stood inches away from her, wrapping the blindfold around her face.

Almost.

Because he was stopped by a small weight hitting his chest, and the dull pain faded away almost as soon as he made a step backward. ''What was that for?''

She shrugged. ''Instant reflex.''

But Jimin heaved a sigh.

So she tried to redeem herself with an explanation that sounded way better in her head. ''I didn't know what you were about to do so I got scared, I'm sorry.''

''You keep laughing at my techniques so I want to show you how they work,'' Jimin said wearily, once again trying to wrap the blindfold around her head. And he was so natural about it, deft and neatly skillful, an attitude that usually made June's heart skip a beat or two.

Just then, June wasn't able to see a thing, the atmosphere around her turning thick and heavy.

With her sight completely gone, all of her other senses intensified. She could hear the stable breathing of Jimin in front of her. Smell his cologne, mixed with the sweat that coated his skin.

And feeling - instead of seeing Jimin's closeness, she could feel it. In the warmth radiating from his skin and in the way his breath fanned over her neck, so sensitive that it felt like the caress of a single feather.

Slightly overwhelmed and disoriented, she stepped backward, tripping over Jimin's feet in the process, and his arms swiftly enveloped her, holding her protectively to him.

''See?'' He whispered in her ear. ''You thought it'd be easy, didn't you?''

June's tongue turned to lead in her mouth as she grappled for a response that surely wouldn't come.

''What's gotten you so quiet now?''

And when Jimin spun her over in his arm to face her, she let out a small and unexpected gasp. Even if blindfolded, for some reason she had her eyes closed, and her breath hitched inside her throat.

''You can't see a thing now, can you?'' He asked, and she nodded away. ''You can't watch your feet move so you have to feel them.''

Slowly, Jimin trailed his hands down June's sides, planting them gently on her hips as he begins to sway her against him, setting a steady rhythm for her to move to.

Without even realizing it, the pace of their dancing increased, moving from something gentle and professional to something intimate and electric, everything magnified by the fact that June can only work according to the skin against hers.

Jimin's fingers trailed down her neck as they moved.

''That's the whole point of the blindfold...'' His fingers came to a stop at the edge of her jawline, his breath hot against her lips, "not to see, but to feel. To experience a simple sound and a tiny touch, along with all the other senses that we always take for granted."

And soon, the fingers, they were fire against her skin, "That's how dancing works - one thing working with the other."

Then his grip on her released, and he whispered, "Try it, June. Feel it."

A breathless laugh escaped June as she shyly attempted to move to the beat of the music on her own, but something seemed so wrong.

It's not her dancing, or her self-consciousness. It's the lack of Jimin's presence that disconcerted her.

Jimin was no longer there with her.

At first, he thought he was only tired, the exhaustion threatening to take over but it's been days since that same feeling appeared, weeks even, and it was showing no signs of leaving. But he needed to practice, needed to keep on dancing. This is not what he wanted right now.

Maybe he should just sit down.

''Jimin?''

June's voice sounded as if it was coming from miles away.

''Jimin? Jimin!''

His world was spinning, his head was heavy and he was so, so dizzy. But he needed to practice. He needed to keep on going. So he forced a step forward and the music then stopped.

Swiftly, June removed the blindfold to see Jimin's eyes fluttering shut.

And his body hit the ground.