Jungkook sat over the dining table, eating his small portion of sprouts with some boiled chicken when Mee brought him the cold-pressed juice. "How is Jimin doing?" He asked, looking up at the lady who sat at an empty chair.

"He gets bored. This morning, I heard yelling voices so I ran to him and it turned out he was screaming out of frustration." The lady replied with isn't it obvious look, but it didn't do much to Jeon Jungkook's outward steely resolve.

"I suppose he needs to be taken out," he continued eating, not bothering to look at Mee so the woman stood up and commanded the man.

"Take him out tonight after dinner."

"Right now?" Jungkook questioned Mee as though she was the one to call shots here and he was an obedient kid doing what was told, suddenly forgetting his authority. "I need to arrange a crutch stand for him first. I can't take him just like this. It's risky, he could get hurt again."

"You underestimate your strength, honey," Mee turned around and made a beeline towards the hall. "You are well capable of holding him."

Jungkook sat, hands stopping him from eating, and he simply got immersed in thoughts. It felt wrong to go near Jimin when the bronde was gorgeous and he was into pretty men. If he somehow ended up making a move, it will have been the worst thing because he was the one who had put the man in this mess in the first place. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get any sign of Jimin's sexual orientation.

Being gay, he could tell when the other person was too, but it was complicated with Jimin and it made him crazy at nights when he couldn't find sleep and thought of the beauty living in the same house as his. At times, his levee filled up to the brim and he impulsively decided to go knock on Jimin's door to sit with him and try to find out somehow, but he couldn't impose.

His heart and legs were in sync as he trudged towards Jimin's room, but the mind was playing another game. It was telling him to stop, but he put it aside and kept walking regardless until he was standing right in front of the bedroom door and knocked. "Come in, Mee."

With a big sigh, Jungkook opened the door and looked up at Jimin while gnawing at his bottom lip. The man was struggling to get to the bottle so he lurked and grabbed it for him. "Jungkook," Jimin intoned in surprise. "Thanks." He nodded after accepting the bottle.

"Why do you look so surprised to see me?" Jungkook now chuckled softly, pulling the chair to sit in front of the bed.

"I have been here for almost two weeks now and you have disappeared after you last visited. Can you blame me?" Jimin smiled, opening his mouth by sitting up and pouring the water inside.

"Yeah," Jungkook's cheeks turned red at the sight in front of him so he looked down to break the trance. "The last time I brought you flowers myself was when your boyfriend was visiting you."

Though Jungkook was obvious, he wanted to get a confirmation for sure, Jimin spluttered out of the water and began to choke and wheeze. It widened Jungkook's eyes and the years of training kicked in. Like a professional, he was holding Jimin close while tapping his back rather harshly.

Just as the bronde's nasal passage cleared up after throwing up the remaining water that was stinging, he breathed and held Jungkook's hand firmly to just revel for a few seconds.

The trainer's heartbeats increased at the proximity and he didn't tear his eyes away, wanting to take in delicate features at the moment. That was until Jimin chuckled and fell back on the bed, jostling Jungkook to senses. "I don't have a boyfriend, Jungkook," he was shaking his head and laughing, which almost felt like cruel to Jungkook. "Tae is my friend. He and Hobi Hyung have been with me since high school. We have studied in the same school and then got into the same college. I did have a girlfriend though."

Jungkook slid away but remained at the bed, listening intently and finding Jimin's expressions turning sour to grim in just a second. "What happened?" He asked very slowly, remembering how Jimin was so gloomy after his breakup that he had to turn towards Mikrokosmos. "Of course if you want to say. I don't intend to make you feel vulnerable and hurt."

"It isn't awkward at all," Jimin scoffed sourly. "She was a junior I had eyes on. Everyone told me that my obsession was toxic because she was someone who would turn towards anyone who showed her a teensy bit of interest and I used to run after her to bring her back every time she did that. However, it changed when she committed to me when we came to college. I was treated for granted just because I used to care about her and she knew that. She exploited me and my feelings for her."

Jungkook listened and couldn't understand how could Jimin exist at such an end. He was a man out of the world. If it was up to him, he would give Jimin the world and tell him every day how special he was. "Do you love her now?" The man questioned cautiously.

"After she said no to my marriage proposal?" Jimin scoffed. "What do you think?"

"I think that you are ashamed of how she treated you and you let her, but most importantly, you are angry at yourself for still loving her."

Jimin was tongue-tied at Jungkook's answer. Had the man been a little friendly in their first meeting, Jimin would've had an entirely different impression of him. But given how he was so blunt and downright rude, it surprised Jimin that Jungkook cared enough to understand his feelings. He looked at his plaster-laden leg, unable to speak for a moment.

"Do you fancy a walk?" Jungkook asked, suddenly smiling at the irony when Jimin's eyes turned to him to glare.

It made Jungkook cackle out loud. "Come on, it wasn't as dark as I could've made it sound. I can help. Besides, you have been stuck in the room for almost two weeks. You are gaining weight if you ask me."

It now made Jimin gasp as his hands immediately pinched his cheeks, checking if he really was gaining, and to his dismay, he could feel the fluff where once were cheekbones. "This is all because of you. If you hadn't been a bitch so supreme, I'd be walking on my feet." A fit of sudden anger washed over Jimin.

"Hey, come on!" Jungkook raised his brows at the man. "It happened because you couldn't let go of your ego."

Jungkook knew he was under another attack as Jimin turned to find something to throw at him, just anything, but the trainer was quick to nab the vase and bottle away from the table and stifled a high-pitched laugh.

When the playful cackles reached Mee's ears, she grinned while cleaning up the kitchen. Jungkook lived alone so she hardly heard the man's voice in the house unless he was over his phone, talking. But she felt delighted for the fact that Jungkook was allowing himself to indulge in a company.

"Mee," Jungkook called her name and when she turned, she saw the man supporting Jimin, his one hand went around the bronde's waist while the other was hooked below his arms. Jimin was maintaining his balance well on his right foot as he held onto a crutch in his right arm. "We are going out for a walk. Do you want ice cream?"

"No," the lady shook her head, waltzing towards the two and tucked Jimin's streak of brown hair falling over his eye behind his ear. "You two should have fun."

Jimin felt odd at Mee's inconspicuous smile that had Jungkook stealing his gaze away from her as he began to walk with him. "What was that about?" Jimin mumbled, elbowing Jungkook's ribs.

"Her life's agenda is to see me happy."

"There's nothing wrong in that. You are lucky you have someone like her. My parents never cared for me this way. At least not as long as I can remember."

"You know, Jimin," Jungkook suddenly picked the bronde as they neared the elevator and helped him inside, gently putting him down. "I have a theory on love. I feel... That everyone takes the amount of love they want to receive before taking birth and they bring it with them when they are born."

Jimin had an intrigued smile on his face as he listened intently now.

"Once we are born, it scatters away into pieces and we don't have to find it. We keep living our lives and stumbling across the happiness and love we have brought with ourselves and spread around earlier. You should be rest assured that yours is also scattered somewhere. It is sometimes hard to find, but you will meet it eventually."

Jimin smiled with the heartfelt conversation. He'd once read about the horn effect and the halo effect. The halo effect was a good impression someone gave and the horn effect was a bad first impression. It was true when his lecturer taught him that people tend to believe that if someone had a first good impression on someone, they would always see them as an angel with a halo shining on their head and vice versa. But right now, the horn effect he had from Jungkook was turning into a halo effect.

As they got out of the elevator, somewhat cool air struck their skin. "I can walk a little, Jungkook. You don't have to be on your guard like this."

"It's okay because if you break your right foot too, it will for sure be on me," Jungkook answered, softly smiling and keeping his gentle hold around the man's waist and gaze on the ground.

The bronde felt liberated somehow with a broken foot and in the arms of a stranger. Reveling in pain and overthinking was what he was doing all this while. What would it feel like if Kim-Bee reciprocated the same intensity of feelings that kept his my occupied? He knew that he was done with her now albeit it hurt him.

He came looking for Jungkook's training center for the same reason, but he realized now that he didn't need it at all to move on. Hoseok might've been his best friend alongside Taehyung, but they had stopped supporting his relationship long since he was still in college Kim-Bee had cheated on him the third time and he forgave her. Perhaps, what he needed was a non-judgemental friend that he was finding in Jungkook.

The trainer made him settle down on the bench of the park and was buying ice cream from the truck when he heard someone's voice. "Who is this Bratz doll?"

When he turned, his body bubbled with fury as his gaze fell on a man approaching Jimin. He could tell that the man was advancing himself because he had seen Jimin's crutch and he must've assumed that the bronde was defenseless.

"Why don't you keep your filthy mouth shut or I will do it myself by cutting your dick off and shoving it in your mouth."

"Got a spicy tongue on you, honey?" Jimin's breath hitched in fear when the man suddenly leaned in front of his mouth and the next thing he saw was Jungkook pushing him to the ground with a punch and a shriek ripped free from the stranger's mouth in pain.

25 Mar 22