HOW. IS. THIS. MAN. REAL.

Maybe we're all dreaming the same dream at the same time and that's all he is- a dream- because I literally cannot wrap my head around how pretty he is.

...

It might get heated again

•••

You step out of the shower and wrap your towel around yourself before heading for the door. With a short glance to the right, you catch yourself in the mirror out of the corner of your eye. For some reason, you can't help yourself. You turn your head to look at at yourself fully.

There are bags hanging under your eyes. You can hardly see yourself through the burriness- whether it's because of the steam from the shower or your sleep-deprived eyes, you don't know.

You sigh, switch off the light, and leave the room before you start loathing yourself.

It's been three months since they took him back to Korea. Your therapy so far has been proving effective- however slow your recovery may be. You don't want to think about him though or you will begin to regress again.

You enter your bedroom and head straight to the closet without turning on your lights. It's easier not to hate yourself if you can't see yourself. You've gotten used to moving around without lights on and avoiding the mirrors in the house.

Cassandra has been trying her best to help you see the good parts about yourself, which is nice of her, but it's no use. Everyone except her has ditched you by now.

All of your old friends from before you moved here have forgotten you. Autumn too. Even Sammy mattered to you a little bit. Everyone at school avoids you. Jimin was all you had left, and he was taken away too, with no promise of return.

If everyone you thought loved you back isn't allowed in your life, then what worth could you possibly have?

After putting clothes on and dropping your towel in your laundry basket, you leave the closet and go back to your desk to do your homework.

When you flip the lights on, you have to shut your eyes until they can adjust to the brightness. You wish you could dim them, but mom won't let you put anything over the light bulbs because it's a fire hazard, and she doesn't want to go buy any of a different color.

After ten minutes of sitting in your desk chair and staring at the first question on your homework page, you can't bring yourself to focus. You can't stop thinking about him. You need a break, but nothing is distracting enough to keep you from thinking about him.

No matter how hard you try, he's always there, lurking in the back of your kind, waiting for the right moment to strip you of your defenses.

That moment is nearing.

You can't help yourself. It's been three days since mom put the hoodie back in your closet, and last time you were able to hold off for two weeks, but now you can't hold back.

You get up and walk to your closet, feeling rushed and in need of something you can't quite grasp. Metaphorically and literally, because when you open the closet and reach for the bin with his hoodie in it, you can't reach it.

So you leave the closet again and return with your desk chair.

After rolling it into the closet, successfully bringing the bin down, and opening it on the floor, no amount of words can describe the relief of seeing the familiar hoodie and feeling the soft material. Nothing can describe the underlining remorse and somberness that comes with it either.

You pull the hoodie on, reveling in the warmth that seems to envelope you like a hug. You rub your arms, breathing a deep sigh of relief, and stand up. You put the bin back where you got it and push the desk chair out of your closet, then step out and close the door.

As you close it, you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror hanging from the door. You can't help yourself. You look directly into the mirror to examine yourself carefully.

Your hair is dark and stringy and hangs limply over your shoulders in damp clumps. Your eyes are red and your cheeks are tear stained. You don't remember crying, but that happens often. Sometimes you just don't remember things.

You're pale everywhere other than your eyes, and your cheeks are hollow from lack of food. Your shoulders are slumped forward, causing terrible posture and a sore back.

Sometimes, in moments like these, you have enough care to realize how different you are now than before he left. Way different.

What happened to you?

The moment you think those words, you burst into tears. You aren't you. You are constantly reminded of that by the way your family and friends look at you, and every time you look in the mirror, you realize how true it is.

You used to be so happy, and now you're merely an empty shell of your old self. You're lame and ugly and worthless. The fact that you can't be anything without Jimin makes you feel useless and dumb.

You are nothing compared to who you used to be. That girl is long gone, and it's all your fault.

Riding on the wave of emotions rising in your chest is a surge of anger, jealous and ugly and brutal. It's the anger itself that causes you to act on impulse. It's the anger that raises your fist and drives it into the mirror, shattering the glass in an intricate web all the way to the frame.

The glass doesn't fall at first, but then you punch the mirror again and again until it can't hold itself together anymore. Just like you, the broken reflection of yourself falls out of the mirror frame and onto the floor. All that's left is the dull brown cardboard backing.

You stop crying, as if that was all it took to calm you down. An eerie silence fogs your ears and muffles all other sounds.

You can see everything clearly- the glass on the ground, your shaking hands, the red that is somehow all over your legs and knuckles- yet there is no feeling. You're numb on the inside and numb on the outside. You see the red, which you assume is blood, but you don't feel pain. You feel nothing.

The room around you blurs, and then clears up again. You're on the floor now. You're not crying. You're not even sure how you got here.

The moment you sit down though, your hearing clears up in just enough time to hear a loud knocking on your door. It flies open, banging into your dresser behind it and swinging back again.

Your mother rushes in, pushing the door away when it tries to close on her. "Y/n, you screamed, what's-" she is cut off by the loud gasp that escapes her when she sees you.

You screamed? You don't remember that.

Mom runs to your side and kneels down. Lily is right behind her, looking just as shocked. Their eyes are so wide and scared that you begin to worry.

"L-Lily," mom says, taking a deep breath. You can tell she's trying her best to keep her cool. Is she mad at you? She must be. You broke your mirror. "Take her to another room and clean her up, please."

Lily kneels next your mother as she cups your face and examines your entire head. "Y/n, what happened!? Are you okay!? You're- you're wearing the hoodie again."

You open your mouth, but nothing comes out. You're as confused as they are. You don't know what came over you or why you couldn't control yourself.

For all of three months, you haven't tried to hurt yourself or anything even close but now, here you are, on the floor, sitting in a pile of broken glass.

Mom purses her lips and scoots over to give Lily space. "Go with Lily okay? She'll help you get the glass out of your legs."

There's glass in your legs? That would explain the red. You blink a couple of times and give a small nod, letting Lily take your hands and help you off of the ground.

"Come on," she says. "To the bathroom."

You follow lily out of your room and into the bathroom to clean up, and the entire way there, as the shock and confusion slowly fade away, you're left with the realization of what you just did.

That's when you begin to feel the pain.

•••

Waking up next to Jimin every morning gives you a feeling you can't quite explain. It's a peaceful bliss, like you could lay here next to him forever, yet you also feel eager and excited. Like, so happy that you can't control the smile that takes up half of your face, and you have to hold your breath and clamp your hand over your mouth to keep yourself from giggling out loud.

Along with that, you want to get up and jump rope for ten minutes just so you can hop up and down for some reason? But you also want to turn on your side and look at Jimin's face, and memorize every little piece of him that you can because thinking about him makes you feel happy.

You don't have a jump rope, so you settle for turning on your side to look at Jimin.

And then you have to close your eyes and hold a hand over your mouth again, because you feel so giddy that you might actually explode. There's a bubble of laughter rising in your throat right now and you can feel it getting bigger and bigger, making it almost impossible to breathe.

You've only been smiling for about three minutes and your face is already sore.

You're going to spend the rest of your life with this boy. You won't accept any other option.

Jimin turns on his side to face you.

You open your eyes and look at him. He's still asleep, cold and covered in goosebumps. You grab the end of the blanket and pull it over his shoulder, then wrap your arm around him and tuck your head down to put your cheek against his chest, right over his heartbeat.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Steady and strong. Just like him.

A quiet giggle escapes your lips as your focus drains away. You hold your breath and turn your head into Jimin's shoulder to stifle the laughter before it erupts into something loud enough to wake him up.

It's too late for that.

Jimin's hand reaches up and tangles in your hair. "Mmm good morning," he says. His voice is low due to just waking up.

"Morning," you reply, muffled by his shirt. You let your breath out and turn your head away so you can breathe again. The giggle comes back, so you cover your mouth again before it can come out of your mouth.

"You keep squirming," Jimin says. "Do you need to get up and run around or something?"

He's just teasing, but you really do want to get up and run around. You still wouldn't be opposed to that jump rope.

"I feel so energetic for once," you say, rubbing your cheek against his chest and squeezing your arm around him. He giggles and circles an arm around your waist, then rolls onto his back, pulling you on top of him in the process. You prop yourself up on your elbows so you can see his face again.

Jimin's eyes are swollen since he just woke up. They're hardly open, still adjusting to the light of the sun pooling on his face from the window. He smiles when he sees your face, which turns his eyes into slits that he can hardly see through. His skin is glowing. His hair is messy. His chest rises and falls evenly with every breath he takes. Your eyes fall down to his throat, where his Adam's Apple bobs a he swallows.

He's beautiful, in every sense of the word.

You can't resist the urge to lean your head down and touch his nose with yours. Boop. You giggle again.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Jimin asks, not sure whether to be wary or just roll along with it.

"I love you," you answer, beaming. "If that's not reason enough to be happy, then I don't know what is."

Jimin pulls your head back down and pecks your lips. "You're so precious," he murmurs. "I love you too."

You kiss him again and then scrunch your nose. "We should brush our teeth," you say. "And hair. I'm sure mine looks like a mess."

"It's like, balled up and frizzy on one side and limp on the other."

"Okay then let's get up."

"Wait, not so fast," Jimin says, closing his eyes and laying limp on the bed. "What's the rush?"

"Come ooonn, I wanna get up." You push up on your arms so you can roll away, but Jimin pulls you back down, eyes still closed, smiling. "Just a little longer."

"Okay." You relax, head resting on top of his collarbone. You take a deep breath in and let it out through your nose.

It's only about three seconds before you just can't be quiet anymore. You lift your head up again and push back up with your arms, sighing. "Yeah no I can't settle down," you huff. "Can't sit still."

You sit up and get off of Jimin, then scoot to the edge of the bed. He reaches for your hand and pulls it toward him.

"If you lay here with me for five minutes, I'll tell you a secret."

This gets your attention. You look at Jimin, eyebrows raised. "A secret?"

Jimin's eyes are open, giving you this... this look. A look that makes you feel really special. He looks so captivated by you. You feel your face warm up a little as he continues to stare, unaware of all the little thoughts zooming around in your brain. That one look from him has all of your insecurities flying out the window

You tilt your head a little when he doesn't say anything. He blinks, as if he didn't realize he was staring, and shakes his head a little.

"Yes. A secret."

"What secret?" You ask, laying right back down next to him. Jimin sits up a little so he can reach the end of the covers you pushed away and pull them over you.

"You'll find out. In five minutes."

You reach for your phone under your pillow and turn it on. "I'm gonna set a timer then."

Jimin lets out a huff of amusement and lets his head fall back on the pillow, teeth showing in his smile. "Nooo," he says. He covers your phone with his hand and gently pushes it back down, then slides it back under your pillow. "Just come here."

"How will we know when it's been five minutes?"

"I'll tell you."

"But how-"

"Shhh don't worry about it. C'mere."

You lay down comfortably and stare at Jimin, right into his eyes. He doesn't want to wait only five minutes, he wants to go back to sleep. He wants you to go back to sleep so that you won't wake him up again.

If he doesn't estimate five minutes correctly, you'll drag him out of bed yourself.

This is the second staring contest of the morning and you're beginning to feel a little burnt out because of it. If you stare at him any longer, you'll get flustered.

"You're pretty," you murmur. Jimin's eyes seem to sparkle.

"I know," he says, trying to be flirty, but his cheeks turn pink and he hides his face behind his hand.

You giggle and ruffle his hair, then scoot closer to him. "Okay, I'll do what you want," you say. "Because you have to go back to the doctor today."

Jimin rubs his nose and moves his hand away from his face. "I forgot about that," he says quietly. "You make it so easy to forget things."

You rest your arm over his and play with the hair on the back of his head. Despite it being tangled because of sleeping, it's still soft. Fluffy. You close your eyes and continue to play with it.

"Set your mental timer," you say, still restless. "Because in five minutes, I'm getting up."

"Aw come on," Jimin huffs. "Why do you have to choose today to be so energetic and happy? What even happened to put you in such a good mood?"

"I dunno," you admit. "I just woke up feeling happy. If I stay here for too long though, that's gonna stop. So five minutes, kay?"

"Yes ma'am."

And then it's quiet.

A few moments later, Jimin speaks again.

"By the way, I don't have a secret. I was just gonna say I love you."

You open your eyes and pout at him. "There's no secret?"

"You already know everything about me."

"Not everything."

"I haven't led a very good life. You know all the highlights."

You kiss him and then back away, closing your eyes and smiling.

"Well then... I love you too."

•••

You spit your toothpaste out and grab the little cup on the sink to fill it with water.

Today is Friday. It's been about four days since you left the hospital. Jimin gets his stitches out today, and then you get to make plans for the rest of the time you will be in Korea before going back home.

You miss mom and Lily, and you are so excited to bring Jimin back so he can see Cassandra and Nathan again. You also want to introduce him to Kieth. You've had a few text conversations with him lately, and all feelings of awkwardness have left completely. You guys are acting just the way you did before he found out about Jimin. Comfortable and friendly.

You've completely forgiven him for the things he said a few weeks ago.

There's something about the idea of introducing him to your boyfriend that makes you feel prideful. You want to show Jimin off to everyone and tell them that he's the love of your life. You want to climb a mountain and shout about how happy you are at the summit.

You're so delirious and happy today for no reason that you wouldn't be surprised if you somehow accidentally took drugs in your sleep to get this way.

You swish water in your mouth for a moment to get all the extra toothpaste, then spit it out into the sink and wipe your mouth with the back of your hand. You stand up straight and smile really wide for the mirror so you can see your clean teeth.

"Sexy mothertrucker," you say to yourself, shooting the mirror with finger guns. Then you put your toothbrush in its case and back into your toiletry bag.

When you open your door, a shadow blurs past you down the hall, leaving behind a breeze that moves your hair. You blink in surprise and look down the hall to see who it was.

"Mian- Sorry!" Taehyung calls over his shoulder in his deep voice and cute accent. "Food!"

Jimin had an accent like that when you first met him, but as he got used to speaking english, it went away. It comes back sometimes when he talks really fast.

You sigh. Food? You just brushed your teeth.

It won't matter in about five minutes, because the taste of toothpaste will leave your mouth.

You step out of the bathroom, still holding your bag, and follow Taehyung to the end of the hallway. He skips along to the kitchen and leans on the counter across from Bongcha, Minji, and Namjoon. You scan the room for Jimin, but he isn't there. He's probably still waking up.

You roll your eyes, smiling.

Namjoon is peeling potatoes over the sink, Minji is grating the naked potatoes, and Bongcha is frying them in a pan over the stove. Fried hash browns for breakfast, it looks like. Bongcha spots you and beckons you over. "We're almost done here," she says. "Come on over."

"Unless of course," Namjoon says, "you're looking for Jimin. In that case, he's changing shirts."

You nod and hold up your toiletry bag. "I'm gonna put this away first. I'll be right back."

You walk back to your guest room and push open the door. Inside, Jimin is sitting crisscross on your bed, fixing up the buttons on his shirt. The knife scar on his chest peeks out over a corner of the shirt, serving as a blunt reminder that he was almost murdered last year.

You shiver.

Jimin lifts his head up to look at you as you walk in and toss your little bag into your open suitcase off to the side. "Pretty," he says, giving you a little smile, then he refocuses on his shirt buttons. Your phone buzzes right next to him and he looks over at it.

"Oh, Kieth has been texting you. I was gonna bring your phone to you but figured it would be fine to just wait for you."

"Kieth is texting? It's like, late at night for him."

"Not that late. He's probably texting you now in case you're awake."

"Huh." You walk over to the air mattress and sit down, picking up your phone to read the notifications.

Kieth

Remember that night at the park before you left?
Well I think I understand what happened now
I listened to the song again and it makes more sense

You raise your eyebrow. Kieth wants to talk about that night now? "Hm," you hum, trying to decide if you want to reply yet.

Jimin puts his chin on your shoulder and peers down at your phone.

"What does that mean?" He asks. "Night at the park?"

"A little bit before I came here, Kieth and I went to the park to hang out, and we listened to music. Then-"

"We used to do that," Jimin says. He says it normally, with no decipherable tone, but his face says it all. He doesn't like the idea of another boy in your life that he doesn't know. He doesn't know Kieth. How is he supposed to know what he's like or how he treats you?

Why is that so funny to you?

"We did," you say, unable to keep the grin off of your face. For a moment, Jimin doesn't notice, because he's too busy staring at the messages on your phone. But then he realizes how quiet it is and looks at you.

"What?" He asks. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

You press your lips together to strangle the grin off of your face. "No reason," you say. "Anyway," you nod at your phone, "we only went once. He's talking about that time I broke down crying because one of the songs reminded me of you."

Jimin's entire expression changes within a second. Instead of seeming blank and plain (with a particular irked look in his eyes), his expression morphs into a more sad regretful one.

"Oh," he says quietly, abandoning his buttons. You glance at his scar for a second and then look away, back at your phone, turning a little pink.

"Anyway," you say. You turn off your phone and set it aside. You look back at Jimin with a smile on your face and lean forward to kiss him. Just a little kiss. He lets you have it.

"Wait, what exactly happened?" Jimin asks curiously. Cautiously. "You cried?"

You purse your lips and nod. "I don't want to talk about it. I heard a song, it reminded me of you. He had to take me back home two minutes later."

Jimin stares at you, conflicted. All you can do is stare back at him. You know what he's thinking. He wants so badly to know about everything that happened to you, but you won't tell him, and he's worried about that. He wants to ask you more, but is afraid you'll tell him to drop it- which honestly, you probably will.

You can't hold the eye contact anymore. So your eyes drop back down to his chest where the scar is. You reach for the top two buttons of his shirt and pull them together yourself.

"Where did this shirt come from?" You ask. It's a short-sleeved white button up that you're sure his parents didn't buy for him. It's too nice. Why would they?

"Taehyung let me borrow it. So I could use today as a laundry day and make it easier when I go to the doctor later. It kind of hurts to pull regular shirts on and off. Because I'm so sore."

You nod and kiss his jaw. "Easy solution. Just stop wearing shirts."

What did I just say?

You blink and shake your head, a bright blush immediately flooding into your face. "I-I was making a joke!" You explain. "I was just... joking. I mean why would I um... I guess- I mean maybe just... I'm not... I don't think about- about stuff like that, and- and really, I just-"

Jimin bursts into giggles and hugs you. "You're hilarious," he says. "I know you were just joking."

You let out a heavy breath and hug him back. Good. Because you were totally just joking.

"Although maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea." He drops his voice low and buries his face into your neck to leave kisses all along the side of it. Just soft, feathery kisses.

You laugh nervously. "Ahahaha right? Yeah I- you know, we really do have to go soon, you've got your appointment very soon and the drive to the hospital is like, fifteen minutes, and of course there's traffic and-"

"Baby calm down," Jimin laughs into your neck. Your heart does a backflip. His voice is airy and light- especially when he laughs. "My appointment is in an hour and a half. We don't have to leave until later."

"Um, B-Bongcha and the others are making breakfast."

"Yeah? What are they making?"

"Hash browns."

"Mmm."

"Yeah let's go get-"

"I prefer you." Jimin begins kissing your neck again and slowly pulls you into his lap. You blink a couple of times to process what he just said, then blush a little more, then wrap your arms around his shoulders.

Jimin kisses up your neck, over your chin, and finally reaches your lips again. He leaves a soft kiss there and pulls away to look into your eyes. His mouth forms a self-satisfied smirk when he sees how red you are.

You swear he wasn't this flirtatious and bold before. Even after you knew him for like, three months. He gets more and more dangerous the more confident he gets, and you're just letting him get away with it.

Jimin kisses you again, then leans back until he's laying on the air mattress with you sitting up on his lap. You look down at his face. He's mesmerizing. His eyes are closed, and he's wearing a peaceful expression. The sun through the window shines on half of his face, lighting his skin up in a golden color.

You really found the prettiest human being alive and he's all yours. Every last piece of him.

"You're right," you say. "We do have an hour before we have to leave. So... if everything was up to you... what would you have us do with that time?"

Jimin opens his eyes and looks at you- all of you, not just your face. When his gaze returns to your eyes after scanning your whole body, he reaches for your hands and laces your fingers together.

"You don't want to know what I'd do if everything was up to me."

A flurry of thrills flaps around in your stomach, making you feel lighter.

"Why do I not want to know?" You ask, staring intently at Jimin as if looking away would be losing a battle.

Jimin bites his lip, contemplating whether or not he should say anything.

He moves his hands to your waist and pulls you down. You lay over the top of him and prop your elbows up on either side of his head, your hair draping down, creating a little cave where it's just you and Jimin.

He stares at you a little longer, lifts his head up and kisses you, then pulls away so he can tell you.

"First," he murmurs, getting ready to list his thoughts off.

But the next thing he says is in Korean. You don't understand a word of it.

It's still so attractive though, and you don't take your eyes off of his except to look at his lips.

Jimin slowly traces his fingers up your spine, touching so lightly that you almost don't feel it.

"Second," he says, and then goes off again in Korean.

What exactly is he saying? Is it sweet and adorable or is it more intimate than that- like, way more intimate?

One of his hands stays at the top of your spine, right at the base of your neck. The other slides back down your body all the way down to your leg, where he wraps it around the back of your thigh.

"Third," Jimin says, his voice quieter now, as if sharing a secret. A secret you won't find out, since it's also in Korean.

As frustrated as you are that you don't know what he's saying, it's still a big turn on. You want him to kiss you again.

You want him to do what he pleases and have his way with you.

What a foreign thought.

You don't think things like this.

Why do you feel so different when you're around Jimin?

Jimin stops speaking and squeezes the back of your thigh to signal that he's done. "But we don't have enough time for that," he says, in his normal, cheery tone, as if he didn't just make you feel things you've never felt before. "You'll just have to wait."

Jimin smiles innocently and pats the back of your leg to let you know that he is about to let go.

You lean down and capture his lower lip between yours, eager to get something out of the way before you leave this room. Jimin is so taken aback by the force of the kiss that for a moment, he is frozen. But then he kisses back, and his hand wraps tighter around your thigh than it was before, and he slides his other hand into your hair.

Something tells you that you will be okay with not knowing what Jimin said for a little while. Maybe he said it in his language because those are things that he can't tell you right now. He won't risk it. For your own sake.

Which you're really grateful for.

But you would still be okay with pushing the limits, even if it's just a little bit. In fact, you're craving for something new.

You pull Jimin's hair back gently as you kiss him, searching for any sign that he wants you to stop.

There aren't any signs.

You break the kiss just when it gets sloppy, but instead of stopping there, you go straight for his throat. You've never made a hickey before, but now is always a great time to learn.

You get busy with that for the next few minutes. Jimin is usually the one to do things like this but now it's your turn. He pulls his hand out of your hair and wraps it around the back of your neck, choosing to rub the skin there with his fingers.

He breathes heavily underneath you, and sometimes, his voice escapes him in breathy sighs and tiny chuckles.

It takes a few minutes for you to decide that you're done, but you can't seem to stop. You want more. You rely on the strength of your legs and your core to keep you up as you move your arms and bring your hands to the top of Jimin's shirt, still kissing his neck.

You start with the top button. It takes a second, because at first, your fingers are so eager to get it undone that you forget how to unbutton, and they end up fumbling around uselessly. And then Jimin's hands disappear from your body, only to take your hands away from his shirt.

"Be patient, doll," he whispers. You think at first that he means you should wait longer before you go pulling his shirt off, but then he takes over with the buttons himself and manages to get six loose within four seconds.

You wait patiently, still latched onto his neck, for him to unbutton his entire shirt. Then you remove your lips from his throat and make a trail going down between his collarbones, over the little dip at the top of his chest, and ending on his scar, which feels different than the rest of him.

You spend the rest of your kisses right there, right where he was hurt the most. You bring your hands back down and smooth them over his stomach, then wrap them around his bare waist. His skin is so warm and smooth.

And he's so, so skinny.

It was hard to really notice before, since you've never touched him like this, but he actually seems skinnier than he was before. As if he's somehow losing weight instead of gaining any at all.

You stop kissing him and lay your forehead over his chest. You can feel his heartbeat, pounding fast and hard. Yours is probably the same.

"You done, love?"

Jimin's voice is like silk. Smooth and soothing but at the moment, way out of your price range. You can't afford to lose yourself to him right now. You still have many important things to tell him (like, an entire year's worth of "stuff"), he has to be at the ER in an hour, and you're sure if you keep going, someone will walk right in on you to tell you breakfast is ready.

You'd like to at least have him covered if anyone walks in.

But something here is not right, and you're not sure what.

You sit up on Jimin's lap and look at him. You mean to look at his face, but you can't help it when your eyes stray away. Jimin props himself up on his elbows and looks at you too. "Are you okay?"

You stare at the scar on his chest. It stares back like a burning reminder of one of your worst memories- the night that it happened.

"Yeah, I just..." you trail off. You reach forward and tap your finger on the scar. "This just..."

Jimin pushes you backward a little bit so he can sit up, then places his hands behind him and leans into his arms. He's at your level now.

"I know," he says quietly. "It isn't something you want to remember."

"It's not just that. It shouldn't even be there in the first place."

"Don't worry about it," Jimin says. "Hey, look at me." You tear your eyes away from the scar and look instead at his face. His eyebrows are furrowed just a little bit, but his eyes are calm. He looks calm.

Someone knocks on the door.

"That'll be for breakfast," you say.

Jimin looks at the door. "We're coming!" He says loudly. Then he looks back at you and bumps his forehead lightly against yours.

And then he pulls away again, blinking a couple of times. "Oh, wait, I forgot." He calls out again to whoever is on the other side of the door, but this time in Korean.

You giggle. "Cute." You wrap your arms around him- underneath his shirt, of course- and tuck your head into his neck, just to feel the heat of his skin against yours. He's so warm.

He shifts all of his weight onto one arm so he can wrap the other one around you and hug you back. For that long, peaceful moment, you stay like that.

Then you take a deep breath and sit up, hands returning to the bottom of his shirt. "Okay," you say. You begin buttoning his shirt back up. "Let's go eat breakfast."

•••

April 7

So much happened today. If my writing here is smudged, it's because I'm crying.

It happened. Gavin tried to hurt me today. I didn't know it would get this bad again. I don't want to think about it right now but writing in this journal is the only consistent thing in my life right now and I need to let it all out.

I was heading to my bus to go home after school today and Gavin grabbed me and dragged me to the janitors closet again. We hadn't been there ever since the whole thing happened in November.

He started yelling at me and I started crying and he didn't like that so he pushed me and I fell and I tried to get out of the closet but he wouldn't let me get out so he cornered me and started beating me up. He wouldn't stop hitting me and kicking me and I am covered in bruises head to toe right now.

I don't remember much of what happened after that but I can't stop crying and remembering and I wish Jimin was here so bad and I can't breathe and

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Just so you know, that cut off was intentional. :)

Also, I can't figure out a way to give this sequel a nice rising action and climax without making it super angsty and sad, and I want this to have a happy ending. So this is just gonna be a somewhat slow-moving story. I'll try to make it enjoyable though.

...unless of course, you guys would like that angsty ending. :)

Have a good day/night!<3

-L