⊰ ＦＯＲＴＹ ＴＷＯ ⊱

TELL ME

Stepping into the bedroom, my heart immediately kicked into overdrive upon seeing my mother. She was laying in nearly the same position I'd last seen her in, only now she was awake - alert even - as she turned her head to face me.

It's working.

"You- Anna said you were here," she croaked, struggling to sit up. I rushed to her side instinctively, placing a hand on her shoulder to stop her from moving.

"Careful! You're weak, you have to take it easy," I said, trying to ease her back down but she resisted.

"No, no. Let me look at you," she ordered, reaching up to place her hands on my face. My eyes met hers directly for the first time, and I was shocked to see that she was crying. "My Katherine," she whispered.

Her words and the way she was looking at me sent a wave of relief over my whole being. My shoulders dropped as all the weight of my fear lifted away. Am I finally catching a break?

"Mom, I'm so sorry-"

"Ssshh, I'm just... I'm so happy to see you. I never thought I'd get to talk to you again," she cried, pulling me in to wrap her arms around my neck. I choked back my own tears as I hugged her.

"I thought you hated me," I whispered brokenly.

"I was angry for a long time, but losing you was the worst thing that ever happened to me. I never should have told you to leave," she said with regret, clinging to me like I was about to vanish again. "I thought I'd lost you forever. It hurt so much even just to hear your name."

"I messed up, Mom. I'm so sorry for what happened. For what I did," I apologized, though I knew nothing I could say would ever make up for that night.

"I know, I know," she replied soothingly. "I've had time to come to terms with what happened. I know it wasn't something you meant to do, and I'm sure it was hard for you, too."

"So you... forgive me?" I asked, still terrified of the answer. I was shocked that she wasn't furious to see me.

"Yes baby, I forgive you. I hope you can forgive me too, for sending you away instead of trying to help you deal with such a terrible thing. I'm sorry you were on your own for so long," she whispered.

"You're forgiven, even though you never needed it in the first place. And I wasn't alone," I said, pulling back and setting her against the headboard. She looked at me questioningly until I continued. "I met these... pirates. They took me in-"

"Pirates?!" Mother exclaimed, appalled. My eyes widened at her drastic change in demeanor.

"Yes. They're pirates, but they're good men," I said, only for her to object again.

"I'm not so sure it's possible for those two traits coincide," she raised her eyebrow skeptically.

Sighing, I said, "Maybe you'll understand once you meet them. They saved me and took care of me. They're like family now."

A speck of hurt passed over her features, but it left as quickly as it came, "I'm glad they were there for you, but I can't say I'm happy about you living with pirates. Were there even any women with you? Don't tell me you were on a ship with a bunch of pirates and you were the only female," she said worriedly.

Her motherly side was quickly coming out, and while normally I would have rolled my eyes, I only found myself grateful to be scolded by her. I smiled.

"There's another woman with us," I answered. She doesn't have to know that I was the only female up until a couple of days ago.

"Good," she replied, visibly relaxing only for a few seconds until another thought struck her. "Are you... Are any of them interested in you?"

I bit my lip as the image of Jimin recently resting his forehead on mine came flooding through me.

"Maybe," I said.

"Well, whoever they are, you're clearly smitten." She narrowed her eyes knowingly.

"Why do you say that?" I asked, pursing my lips as I tried to look neutral.

She scoffed, "You're redder than a tomato. It's not too hard to figure out."

I felt my cheeks burn even hotter at her observation. "I'm not smitten," I said stubbornly as I sat in the chair beside her bed.

She sighed, looking at me carefully. "You've fallen for a pirate of all people. Couldn't you have just met a blacksmith like your father?" she asked, unaware of the pain that jolted my chest at her words.

She doesn't know that he died. She thinks he just disappeared or left.

I wanted to tell her what I knew, but she continued before I could say anything.

"Is he here with you? I want to see him for myself," she stated, looking at me expectantly.

"Right now?" I asked nervously. She nodded, blinking as she waited for me to move.

With a sigh, I got up and walked to the main room where everyone was hanging out, finding that Anna had joined the group and was talking to Namjoon and Jungkook. As I stepped past the wall, multiple eyes flicked over to me curiously. I found Jimin's gaze and threw my head to the side, gesturing for him to follow me. Looking surprised, he quickly got up and walked back down the short hallway with me. I stopped at the door, turning to face him.

"She wants to meet you. She thinks you're a pirate, and we should probably keep it that way. Wrapping her head around sirens might be too much for her right now," I warned, earning a nod of understanding from him.

"Okay, but why does she want to meet me out of everyone?" he asked curiously. I stilled, scrambling to think of an excuse that wouldn't embarrass me.

"No reason," I said. Real clever, Kat. Great job thinking on your feet like that.

Jimin narrowed his eyes suspiciously at me, but I didn't let him press further as I moved to open the door. As we walked in, my mom immediately leaned forward to catch a glimpse of the man that was behind me, and I had to resist the urge to turn around and pull Jimin away with me.

"Mom, this is Jimin. Jimin, this is my mom," I introduced them, watching anxiously as Jimin outstretched his hand towards her. She eyed him for a moment before slowly reaching out to shake his hand.

"So you're the one that turns my daughter into a blushing fool," she said, sounding more lighthearted than I'd expected. Jimin glanced at me, his own rosy color splashing his cheeks.

"I'm not-" he stopped as my mother laughed.

"I see she makes you blush, too," she smirked, "You know, I'd really like to talk to you privately, if Katherine will let us."

"No way," I said automatically, making her frown. Jimin looked between the two of us before turning to my mom.

"You can talk to me with Katherine here, right?" he asked gently. She scanned his face before slowly nodding.

"I just had a few things to ask you, and I thought you may be more likely to answer them without her here. But this is alright, I suppose," she said as she adjusted her position, wincing.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly, noticing that she'd paused to take a deep breath. She nodded.

"I'm good. This is the best I've felt in a long time, actually," she admitted, casting a knowing look at us. "But you two were expecting that, weren't you?"

Jimin and I glanced at each other in surprise, neither of us knowing how to respond.

"What do you mean?" I asked apprehensively, playing dumb.

"I was awake when you two came in here to have me drink that... vile liquid. It tasted like salty fish water, you know?" my mom said as she scrunched up her nose. "But whatever it was, it's really helping."

"Good," Jimin replied, sounding relieved.

"What was it?" she questioned, waiting patiently for the answer I was frantically trying to come up with.

"Salty fish water," Jimin said playfully with a shrug. Mom squinted at him before a smile tugged at her lips. Then she laughed.

"Alright fine, you don't have to tell me. It's probably better that I don't know, anyways. But thank you," she said sincerely, looking quite pleased with Jimin. My heart skipped as I realized how relieved it made me that they were getting along.

"I'm just glad you two have a chance to talk to each other," Jimin said, and I caught a hint of melancholy pooling in his features.

Something about the expression on his face and the way my mom was looking at him made me change my mind, deciding that maybe it would be good for the two of them to talk privately. Whatever she wanted to say, it seemed she was holding back since I was still there. I would just ask Jimin about what happened later.

"You know what? I think I'll step out for a little bit. I need to do something, but I'll be back soon," I announced, causing both of them to face me in surprise.

"Perfect. I just have a few things I want to discuss and then he'll be free," Mom said easily, smiling at me.

"Go easy on him." I eyed her one last time before throwing a slightly sympathetic look to Jimin. He appeared a bit nervous, but he also seemed prepared for whatever conversation was about to happen.

"No promises!" she sang before I walked out and closed the door behind me, silently praying that things went well and that she wouldn't embarrass me too much.

When I entered the room where everyone was still sitting, Yoongi was the first to notice me. I held his gaze, wordlessly communicating that I needed to speak with him. Relief and nerves painted his face at once as he gave a slight nod, understanding that I was finally ready to talk.

I waited for him to whisper something to Dawon, then he stood and I led him out the front door, aware that outside was the only area we could talk without being overheard or interrupted. I moved to sit on the steps of the small porch and waited for Yoongi to join me. Once he finally did, I spoke first, getting right to the point.

"You hurt me, Yoongi. I know you had your reasons and I know you believed at the time that keeping it all a secret was best for everyone, but that doesn't change the fact that you deceived us and let us believe something that you were pretty sure wasn't true. It's too late to go back and change anything, but I hope you can understand why it was so upsetting to us. I deserved to know that you still had hope that Dawon was alive, and Hoseok especially deserved to know if there was even the tiniest chance that his sister wasn't dead," I stated candidly, letting out everything I'd been thinking.

"I know. There's nothing else I can say except that I'm sorry. I'm not going to give you more excuses. I made a mistake, Kat," Yoongi said quietly, his eyes wavering with regret and guilt.

I held his gaze, wanting to read his reaction to what I asked next. "Why did you pursue me if you had that hope in the back of your mind that you would see her again? Was I just a placeholder until you could find her? I hate having to ask this, but you can't blame me for doubting if your feelings were ever even real for me."

Yoongi frowned deeply, trying to gather his thoughts, then finally he said, "I never wanted to fall for you, Kat. I was so afraid of caring for someone in that way and losing them all over again. I tried to keep you at a distance because I knew from the beginning that you were an amazing girl and I knew if I let my guard down I would fall hard. That's why when you first confessed, I pushed you away. But as time went on, my feelings for you just continued to grow. I finally gave in, and it felt so good to let myself feel again. I know you think I only saw you as a second version of Dawon - and I won't deny that you did always remind me of her - but I didn't fall for those small similarities. I fell for you, Kat. For your odd habits and your tendencies and your unique personality. But in the end, I just..."

"You just didn't feel for me more than you did for Dawon," I finished for him, the corner of my lip tilting up softly. Somehow what he said gave me a small sense of peace. I felt comforted to know that he really did appreciate me for who I was, even though he never loved me as much as he loved Dawon.

"I thought maybe I could, at some point. But then when you told me you thought she took up too much of my heart, I knew you were right. I shouldn't have let things happen between us when I had hopes that she was still out there. I was just afraid that if I waited, I would lose you too, and I was terrified of not giving us a chance especially if Dawon really turned out to be dead. It was so selfish of me and I truly am sorry, Kat," Yoongi apologized genuinely.

I took a deep breath and smiled at him lightly, "I know. I guess in a way I understand, since my feelings for Jimin kept growing while we were still involved. It's not really the same, but I do get how you could fall for two people at once, and not be able to control who you have stronger feelings for..." I trailed off, placing my hand on his shoulder, "And you're too important to me for us to not be okay, so I forgive you."

"Thank you," Yoongi whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "You're important to me too, and you always will be." Then he pulled me into a hug, and I could feel myself beginning to heal, not only from my conversation with him but also the one with my mom. Perhaps it was her forgiveness towards me that gave me the power to forgive Yoongi.

~

It took thirty minutes after Yoongi and I came back inside for Jimin to finally leave my mother's room. I was chatting with Tae and Jin when they suddenly went quiet and glanced over at him. I followed their gaze and found Jimin already staring back at me, and I immediately noticed how happy he seemed. My chest swelled at the sight, excitement swirling in my veins upon seeing his dancing eyes that were inviting me over to him.

What on earth did they talk about?

"I'm going to go talk to her again before she goes to bed," I announced, knowing that she would probably want to rest soon. I wanted to ask her how it went with Jimin, but mostly I just needed to spend more time with her. We would most likely head back out in the morning, and I already was anxious at the thought of leaving.

The few people that weren't asleep nodded, and Jimin moved to the side as I brushed past him to head down the hall.

"There she is," Mom said as soon as I opened her door. I stepped in and took a seat beside her bed, grabbing her hand. She looked even better than before, more color having returned to her face. Her eyes were shining brightly with a newfound energy, and it made me so happy that I had to bite back grateful tears.

"How are you feeling? You look good," I commented, squeezing her hand.

"I'm feeling better and better. I suppose I have Jimin to thank for that," she said, sending me a wink. At first I thought it was just her teasing me about liking him again, but I got this gut feeling that there was a double meaning behind the action. I knew her well enough, however, to realize that asking her about it would be a waste of time.

"How did it go when you talked to him?" I asked, watching as her face instantly lit up.

"He's quite a nice young man. He cares a lot about you, that much is clear. And any man that cares that much for my daughter is someone I would be happy to see her end up with," she grinned, tears brimming her eyes.

"Mom," I let out a cross between a laugh and a cry, leaning over to hug her. She easily returned it, sighing deeply.

I wasn't sure what the future held for me or for Jimin, but I was still glad to hear that she approved of him.

The two of us spent the next hour continuing to talk and catch up. She told me about how she decided to move to get a fresh start. She told me about how she got sick, and how horrible she felt that Anna had to take care of her on her own. I told her about how Yoongi and the crew saved me. I told her about the guys, and how important they were to me. I left out Jimin being a siren, knowing it was too complicated to try explaining things to her. As she heard my stories with them, she seemed to warm up to the idea of me living my life amongst pirates.

Eventually, I noticed her eyes drifting closed as they grew heavy, so I helped her lay down fully and tucked the sheets around her, making sure she was comfortable.

"I love you, Mom. Thank you for taking me back," I mumbled under my breath before pressing my lips to her forehead. I left the room after taking one last look at her ever-improving state.

There was one last thing I had to do before I was going to be able to sleep that night, and that was talking to Jimin again.

"Jimin," I whispered after walking up to his sleeping figure. Everyone was out like a light, mild snores and breaths filling the dark room. Jimin had his head leaning back against the top of the couch, his arms crossed over his chest, and his long, slender legs were sprawled straight out in front of him, with his heels digging into the carpet. I shook his shoulder and he grumbled, slowly bringing his head up as he peered at me from under his lashes.

"Kitty? I mean...kitten?" he mumbled sleepily, his lips forming a little pout as he frowned, attempting to concentrate as he looked up at me again. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.

"Yes, it's me. Is it okay if we go outside to talk?" I asked gently. I felt bad for waking him, but I needed to get things off my chest.

"Yeah, sure," he replied, slowly sitting up as he rubbed his eyes. I held out my hand and he took it, allowing me to help him stand.

I brought him outside, deciding that it would probably be best to go on a walk in order to wake him up properly. He followed me down the dirt path under the canopy of trees for a few minutes, and I noticed his pace began to speed up as his drowsiness left him.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Jimin asked softly as he finally came up alongside me.

"I guess I just wanted to thank you again for what you did," I said, stalling.

"You don't have to thank me. I already told you, it was the least I could do considering what you've done for me," Jimin insisted.

"Did you even know if I would be able to bring you back?" I asked as we continued walking.

"No," he responded, "I hoped you would be able to, but I knew it might not work, and I knew I would have to stop you the minute I felt the curse taking hold of me. I was prepared to stay that way if I had to."

I shook my head, "You could have lost your freedom, Jimin. You've been trying so hard to become human, but you were ready to give that up just to help my mother. I still don't understand why."

Jimin abruptly stopped, waiting for me to turn and face him. He gazed at me carefully and intently, possessing a seriousness that filled me with anticipation.

"I did it because I wanted to make you happy. I know it would have been more selfless if I had just done it out of the desire to heal a sick woman, and that was part of it, but mostly I just did it because I care about you," Jimin paused, stepping closer to me. My heart fluttered.

"I hated seeing you so upset about her, and it killed me knowing you came all this way just to not even get to talk to her. I know what it feels like to not have a family, and I didn't want that for you. You deserve to be able to speak with her and to ask for forgiveness. You deserve to spend time with your mom without worrying about her passing away soon. I did it because your happiness is worth more to me than my freedom from the curse," Jimin said, his Adam's apple bobbing as he waited for my reaction.

Words escaped me as I slowly absorbed what he had stated. He's telling you how he feels, Kat. He cares about you more than he cares about becoming human.

"Jimin," I started to speak, but I could find the courage to say what I was feeling. Instead, I stepped closer to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my face into the crook of his neck.

I could hear his breath cease at my sudden action, but it didn't take long for his hands to slowly snake around my hips, pulling me further into him. The heat of his palms burned through the material of my clothes, and I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself, inhaling his pretty scent as my nose brushed his skin. Jimin shuddered ever so slightly, and I couldn't help but kiss the same spot, pressing my parted lips onto the warm skin. He breathed out unevenly and I pulled back to look at him.

His eyes were hooded over, cheeks flushed pink as he stared at me in awe at the simple action.

"What did my mother ask you?" I whispered, close to his face. He trailed his hands up my spine slowly, gliding them over my shoulder blades before finally resting at the back of my neck.

"She asked me how I felt about you," he said almost inaudibly.

"What did you tell her?" I asked, my entire body aching to hear his answer.

"I shouldn't..." he tried to avoid my question, but I brought my index finger up to rest on his lips.

"Don't. Please, don't say that you can't. Just tell me how you feel about me," I whispered desperately, dragging my finger down and watching as it pulled at his bottom lip. Then I cupped his face, waiting for him to speak.

I could see him debating internally, the two sides of him playing a game of tug-of-war as they fought over whether to tell me what he wanted to say or not. Finally, he made his decision.

"I told her that you mean the world to me," he said, his voice growing more confident. His deep brown irises held my own and I felt the tension between us increasing, like an electric wire alive with sparks that traveled between us.

Jimin's thumb brushed over my cheek and then he pulled me forward, placing a feather-light kiss on my temple. Then one on the center of my forehead. Then one on the tip of my nose. Then one on my chin. Finally, he lightly kissed the corner of my mouth, edging along my skin slowly towards my lips. Then he pulled back enough to look at me, and it was the clearest picture of his human self that I had ever seen - alight with passion and care to a degree that left me entirely awestruck.

And unexpectedly, he said the words I hadn't realized I needed so badly to hear.

"I love you, Katherine."

Then I kissed him.

• • •

Authors Note:

:D

Sorry for the late update, I was super busy this week and just needed those extra hours to get this all ready to publish. I hope you enjoyed!

So if you think Jimin and Kat will finally be together, raise your hand 🙋‍♀️

If you think they still have obstacles ahead, give me an X 🙅‍♀️

Oh, and don't worry. The juicy stuff is coming :)

Hope you all have a great week!

AND HOLY SHIT THANK YOU FOR 100K

Please enjoy this beautiful fanart done by saerunkim15, a talented queen ♡ (you may have seen these already if you follow me on insta)

Human Jimin vs. Siren Jimin

I'm in love with these.

-Hoseokiiss ♡

August 12, 2019