https://youtu.be/it1UZcMsJSE

Love - Finding hope

"Why can't you just accept it, Jimin? It's not a favor. It's the payment of the service and hard work you have put in. Please, just say yes." Rosenow asked Jimin as they stood in the middle of the new, empty art gallery building.

"I practiced because I had to. I spent eight years becoming a doctor. Would it make sense for me to abandon it? Perhaps no. But I never wanted to become one." Jimin rebuked, entangling his fingers in his hair while pressing them down over his skull to keep the headache at bay. Not, wanting to stress his wife during her pregnancy, he was holding back a lot.

"Is it only because it's my father who is offering it to you?" Rosenow looked down, hot tears brimming in her eyes.

"Look, Rose..." Jimin's voice subsided further as he walked toward the lady. "You should trust me. I know what I am doing." He cupped her face and made her look up.

The woman blinked her eyes but the unshed tears still fell onto Jimin's hands as she nodded. "Why are we fighting so much?" Her voice was so broken that Jimin knew they had to talk.

"I know," he heaved a strong sigh. "I am sorry. I shouldn't be discussing it, especially now."

Rosenow stepped closer and hugged her husband close. Jimin let his arms around her carefully. "Let me take you out for lunch. Relax and we can talk at home." He offered and felt the lady nodding.

They left the gallery and Jimin drove to the restaurant. The optimally warm sunlight filtered through the glass windows as Jimin turned on the radio to relax his mind and body. The ride was calm and silent, but they were far from peaceful.

Jimin was lost after years of studying and medical practice. He did get good grades and under the pressure of many things, he caved and got married immediately after graduation. Post-wedding, Jimin didn't think he could be more in love, at least that was how he wanted himself to feel. He wanted to walk away from the memories, from a burden that was weighing down on his chest, a pinprick that was left somewhere inside that he couldn't reach.

As they sat at the table, Jimin helped and served the food to his wife. Rosenow smiled, looking with concentration as Jimin elegantly picked up his chopsticks and ate silently. She couldn't wish for a better husband. Jimin was perfect in every sense. "Can I ask you something, Jimin?" The man's brown eyes peered up and he nodded, reaching his hand over to Rosenow so she could hold onto him. "Do you feel guilty?"

Jimin smiled. "Guilty for what, dear?"

Rose played with the words inside her head, wanting them to sound reasonable when she uttered them. "For not acknowledging his feelings."

Jimin's hand under the table closed in a fist and he palpitated. I did acknowledge his feelings, but never returned them. He thought.

Rosenow definitely didn't want to bring a certain boy up, but Jimin's self-destructive behavior lately led her to think that way. "I know you are kind and it is understandable if you do feel guilty. Just talk to me. I can't reach you, Jimin. You have to let me in."

It was true. When he couldn't find Jungkook, he had missed all the timelines to get into an MS, and also, he didn't want to do it, let alone one offered by Rosenow's father. He knew what would he get into.

Not only did he end up doing what he didn't want, but he also accepted the offer to practice as a cardiologist at his father-in-law's hospital during his two years of MS right after the wedding.

"It's been six years, Rose. I don't think I feel guilty anymore." Jimin assured, but he was far from blameless. He blamed himself for not stopping Jungkook when he could. He tried to find the boy day and night, only because he couldn't have it on his conscience that someone had to leave medical school because of him. From the list of registered medical practitioners to the international enrollees, he looked everywhere and hoped that he would wake up one day and find Jungkook. He held himself responsible for ruining a potentially exceptionally promising career.

"I am sorry, I didn't mean to bring him up." Rose wiped her mouth, looking around to avoid eye contact. This subject has always been sour. For years, she stayed tight-lipped and observed Jimin change entirely. He definitely wasn't a talker since the beginning, but after a few months of the wedding, he stopped talking altogether. Only spoke when he needed to, ate a little, stopped dying his hair, only smiled when he had to reciprocate, and stopped living it felt like.

A certain familiar voice made Jimin and Rosenow look up and petrify. "Taehyung," the lady managed to break the slicing silence after a jiffy and Taehyung flashed a small smile at her before his eyes moved to her very pregnant belly.

"Rosenow," Taehyung walked slowly towards their table and put her hand over the lady's shoulder to prevent her from getting up as he leaned down and pecked her cheek. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Rosenow desperately looked between the two ex-best friends, wanting her husband to take the lead, but Jimin couldn't say a word. "Join us. Are you here with someone?" She offered at last.

"Yes, sweetheart. I am actually with a friend and I won't want to disturb a little family time." Taehyung answered politely and looked briefly at Jimin.

"It's completely fine by us if you don't mind. Tell him, Jimin." She wanted the two to reconcile and hadn't a clue that the wounds between them were deeper than they looked.

"Yeah, if your friend doesn't mind." Jimin smiled vaguely.

Taehyung straightened up and sighed voicelessly. "I am sorry, sweetheart. Perhaps some other time. He is a business associate anyway."

Rosenow nodded, her face paled a little more. "Okay," she spoke in a dejected voice. "Visit home. The little one would want an uncle when the time comes." She teared up a little and Taehyung's chest felt a pang of underlying pain. The better half or the other half as the world called it was true after all. It was never Rosenow's fault in anything that has ever happened, but everyone ended up punishing her along with Jimin.

"I will not let my little champ be uncle less. Don't you dare think that way," Taehyung pulled out his card as he leaned again to kiss her cheek, and securely placed it in her hand. "It's my personal number. Give me a call any time you need a friend."

Rosenow kissed him back and Jimin saw Taehyung taking a table by the open balcony. In a few minutes, a man walked in. Tall, muscular, and handsome. Jimin saw his dimples as he smiled and how comfortable his friend looked with him.

He can't be his boyfriend because the tall one looks like an alpha male to me. Jimin thought. Totally not Taehyung's type. He smiled at his deduction. Or maybe he is his type, he has changed so much. Maybe he wants an alpha male now.

"You should have tried better than that," Rosenow chuckled softly as she discerned the faint smile in Jimin's eyes, the fondness with which he looked at Taehyung.

"He hates me. What's the point?" Jimin chuckled too, tearing his eyes away from Taehyung and directing them at his wife.

"No, he doesn't. You two need to talk it out. That's all," Rosenow proclaimed, not knowing that they have talked over the years for times more than she knew of. Every time made it worse than before.

"We should head out."

Rosenow nodded.

Clearing the bill, they drove back home, not before waving at Taehyung. "He asked his friend to look at you. He was talking about you."

"No, Rose... He wasn't." Jimin chuckled.

"He totally did. Why else would that man look at you and then back at Taehyung and back at you before giving the fishy smile to Tae?" Rosenow argued and Jimin helped her out of the car.

"You are thinking way too much when you should be relaxing," Jimin held her hand and began to walk inside their private bungalow. "Do you want to take a trip, honey? A relaxing one with spa and shit." Jimin asked suddenly as an idea came to his mind.

"Alone?" Rosenow asked, her hair shining brightly under the sunlight before they stepped indoors.

"Why not? This seems like a perfect time. Our baby is due in the next month. I can drive you there and we haven't really been looking eye to eye." Jimin turned her around by holding her shoulders. "You will get some alone time."

"Why aren't we?" Rosenow looked up into Jimin's eyes with a sad look.

Jimin made her sit on the couch and brought warm almond milk before sitting by her feet. Slowly, he took off his burgundy blazer and placed it over the lady's knees as she moaned in comfort. "Your father already has an upper hand on me, honey," Jimin spoke in the lowest tone, but sternly. Before Rosenow could retaliate, he silenced her. "I never wanted favor and I didn't know what I wanted to do. When he persuaded me that it would be good for us and our future, I couldn't say anything to him. But you need to understand that there is a price that we pay. Nothing is free."

Rosenow gulped the milk down and patiently listened to her husband.

"I am not against your father or the idea of accepting help from family. But it should be a two-way street. If I only take and he only gives, I cannot help but feel pressed under the weight, and one day, it will recoil. I can't bear to hear that he did so much for me and I am not doing something he wants."

"But he is asking you to take over his hospital. What wrong could go in that?" Rosenow's pleading made Jimin want to hug her and keep her close.

"Many things, dear. Your brother would hate me if I did. I have no experience of running a hospital."

"You have no experience in corporate too, or an art gallery you are going to buy," Rose argued, her heart broke, thinking that Jimin still had his reservations, even after years of marriage.

"The corporate is something which is in my blood. I have seen my father doing it since I was born. The hospital is still a hospital. So what if I am not going to be a front-liner in your father's hospital? I will be managing my own hospital. It doesn't matter if it's not as big as your father's. I will be happy to take care of my own place. And I am not stopping my practice," Jimin shook his head with the softest eyes. "I will still operate, but not like before. I will be there to help other doctors in an emergency situation but I want to look into hospital management now, and take a back seat. It will be a new experience and I am sure I will be able to help out the medical practitioners more with my position. And the art gallery is just something I want to do for my passion. It has nothing to do with your father."

Rosenow still didn't think that leaving the practice and accepting the white-collar job was a good idea. After all, Jimin was a brilliant cardiologist. She didn't want his experience to go to waste. But at the end of the day, she knew she would support her husband in any of his decisions.

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16 Jan, 2022