—First life. St. Vincent's Hospital, year 2027—

Jimin made good of his words by sticking up to me more each day and for staying instead of running.

I was slowly getting better after the last relapse while he was recovering from his, and I was finally no longer under the 24-hours watch list which I have been placed on so the guys no longer spent the night nor they were wasting most of their time with me.

The first night I was finally being left on my own without my guardians, Jimin peeked into the bedroom after the nurses were done making their last rounds of the night and the lights had been switched off.

"No brothers around?" he asked me with a sly grin. I noticed that he was wearing his sleeping attire with a long coat on, and his fuzzy slippers which made it possible for him to walk around without making too much noise. He looked warm enough to wrap my arms around to defeat the room's cold temperature that I had to resist grabbing him closer to me.

Or maybe I just missed him.

"Nope. They've finally decided that I'm a big girl and let me be," I answered him while shaking my head.

"Good," he said, before he quickly made his way to my bed. I carefully scooted over so he could slip beside me. It took us merely seconds to get ourselves comfortable as we got entangled under the covers, having been used to do this a few times before already ever since the first time I spent the night with him like this, when we would take turns to visit each other and stay the night.

Jimin lied on his side, his eyes meeting mine as he pulled me closer by my waist. "Hi there," he whispered, smiling softly to me.

"Hello," I said to him. "Did you memorise the nurses' rounds schedule to slip away?"

"What if I did?" he looked down with an evil grin.

"You are so bad," I chuckled, while his grin only widened.

"What? It's not like they can kick either of us out anyway," he defended himself and made me laugh.

"I missed you today," I whispered to him once we came down from laughing, suddenly feeling sentimental now that he was here. His presence always did that to me. He made me feel safe and secure each time my loneliness was close to taking over.

Jimin smiled, suddenly obvious how tired he looked but hid it well when he placed a kiss at the tip of my nose. Sighing deeply, he tightened his arms around me. "Sorry, it was a long day. The doctor gave me some vitamins and I could barely stay awake after taking it. Then I got a few visitors in the afternoon. My cousin dropped by before she is off to the States with her husband and kids, and they brought in a few old friends to see me. I got so caught up with them for a couple of hours. Then I got so exhausted after they all went home that I wasn't allowed to make any trips outside of my room."

Pulling back just enough to look at him, I creased my brows. "No—I wish you would've told me. I could have met her," I sulked. Jimin had told me time and time again about his cousin and how close they were that I had grown curious to see her. I have wanted to see another part of his life and to be able to meet anyone who knew him personally the way he got to know my brother since we have been together.

Jimin appeared surprised to see how disappointed I was to miss out a chance to see his family and chuckled softly. "I'm sorry, it was an unplanned visit, after all. I would've invited you if it wasn't," he said to me with pleading eyes. "Another time, maybe."

If there was anything I knew well about Jimin was his reluctance on making promises for the future. And now he was finally making one, perhaps completely unintended. I refused to let it slide, but too afraid to ask for more only to have him reel back from it. So I said nothing and chose to respond to him with a kiss instead.

"Alright, then. It must have felt good to have someone coming to see you," I told him, once I remembered how lonely he had been for a long time before we met.

It was quite a while ago when Jimin confided in me about how people in his life had left him one by one for the past few years. First, it was his friends and his dance crew that got distant after his car accident years ago which took his ability to dance. Then his family and closest relatives once he had gotten ill, though it was more to his fault when it happened, when he shut himself from everyone to deal with it on his own. The only one remained was his cousin, who would stop at nothing to be by his side.

"It goes to show that no matter how much you've pushed people away, at least some of them would find their way back to you," he hummed softly, before looking down to meet my gaze again. "Even if their return isn't always welcomed."

I could not help but chuckle bitterly when I knew exactly what he meant. "I have nothing to say on that one, but I understand what you mean."

Yes, people would come and go. And though I despised the fact that Jungkook was back only to make my life harder than it should, I was grateful to have a part of what I had lost back to me when my brother came to find me at my darkest time. Even if it was almost far too late for us to mend what had been broken.

Sleeping beside Jimin was heavenly. Especially when I had his arms around me, holding me tight, our bodies melding perfectly together that it helped me forget about being stuck in the hospital for some time. I had never slept so good and the next morning felt brighter when his face became the first thing I saw.

The second night, he came in without saying a word and nearly jumped onto the bed as if he could not get to me fast enough.

He was strangely silent and his eyes were unusually dark and distant for a moment before he finally had me in his arms. I tried to question him about it, yet I feared to hear the answer to his odd behaviour. All he gave me was a smile as he reached out to pull me against his chest. Though I could clearly hear the exhale of relief he gave away when I held him in return.

We looked at each other in silence, the lights from outside the window and the dim night lights around my bed illuminating his face softly inside the dark bedroom. His hands trailed down my waist while his eyes seemed to search for something on my face, looking completely lost and unsure. His touches were gentle, but each tip of his fingers never failed to trace every curve of my body, as if he wanted to memorise everything. He patiently traced up my body, before his fingers travelled to my arms, shoulders, hair, being careful and cautious on every light graze he made like I would either break apart or disappear under his touch.

My eyes began to flutter to close when he began tracing my neck, touching the most sensitive parts of my skin at the nape of my neck which made me shiver. That was when I felt his lips brushing my forehead, his warm breath falling on my skin when he whispered, "Is it okay if I touch you like this?"

"Yes," I told him, though my voice came out as a whisper and it was barely coherent when his light touch and kisses took my breath away. "It's okay, Jimin. Touch me."

Yet the moment I opened my eyes, he suddenly stopped and pulled away.

I reached out and cupped his face with my trembling hands, tipping his face up so he would look into my eyes. "Is something bothering you?"

His eyes flickered for a brief moment and his smile did not exactly reach his eyes when he answered, "No, there's nothing wrong. It's just—" he stopped, looking slightly reluctant for a moment before he leaned to me, pressing his lips on my temple. "I just want to hold you."

I could clearly hear the desperation in his voice and my chest instantly grew tight. I was suddenly overwhelmed with emotions and fear. Fear of the future, fear of losing him, fear of losing this. Pulling his face to me, I kissed his lips gently. The way his lips were trembling when he melded them on mine only let me know that he was feeling the exact same thing as I was. And that he had something to hide.

Something he was not ready to share with me.

"Hold me now, Jimin."

Jimin wasted no time to wrap his arms around me, holding me close to him and pulled me so he could kiss me on my lips. His kiss was quick to grow deeper, desperate, until the two of us fell breathless on my bed. I didn't fail to notice how his breath was heavier, slower, but he distracted me by kissing my whole face with feathery kisses, branding me with his lips along my jawline then down my neck, where he found my pulse and sucked gently at it while he pulled me until our hips came together.

It had been a long time since I have been intimate with anyone. It had been long since the last time I shared my bed with my former husband and made love to him. My body was already hyper-sensitive, craving for a warm touch, and it felt even more intense knowing that it was Jimin who was touching me, loving me the way I have wanted to be loved.

My blood raced through my whole body, my chest felt warm as I arched my body against his. His knee came between my legs, nudging them apart for him to slip one leg between them, and his thigh came pressing at my center just as his kisses grew hotter around the column of my throat.

All of a sudden, it felt like we were wearing too many clothes and there were too many barriers between us. I whimpered his name, begging, pleading, even if my brain was too muddled to decide what to ask of him first.

But somehow, he knew what I needed.

His lips found mine again, shutting my soft moans as his tongue slid inside, dancing with mine. His hand reached up, finding my breast where he rested a palm over my mound, kneading my soft flesh over the thin top I was wearing to sleep. I could feel his thumb brushing against my nipple, making it hard. The simple touch made my whole body shiver, and then my core began to pulse with the desire that I thought I had lost. He pressed his thigh harder against it, returning each throb of my desire with a delightful pressure that sent my body come to a jolt.

As I slowly began to give in, my hips began to move. I started grinding myself against his sturdy thigh. His body was growing thin, yet I could tell that once in the past, he had strong muscles there, right at the spot that was pressing against my throbbing clit.

He slowly began to move. Keeping one hand on my waist and the other at the back of my head, he used them as leverage as he began grinding his hips against me. My body hummed as his stiff member brushed against my pubic bone, and I nearly cursed, wishing that I could put away everything so we could be together, to become one. As I shifted, I managed to slip under him, and he came between my legs, his covered girth resting right at the center of my heat.

"Jimin," I moaned as his lips left mine, letting me take a deep breath while he took his own. His warm breath fell on my skin when his lips trailed down my neck, biting, nipping, all while his soft moan kept escaping from his lips. His hips never stopped moving, his hard cock rubbing against my clit, up and down my covered slit until I could feel myself soaking with my arousal.

"I want you so bad," he whispered, and I nearly teared up, both from his words and from the way waves of pleasure was rising through my body.

"Jimin, please," I whimpered as our hips continued to swivel over the bed, moving against each other as I rubbed my throbbing core against him and he was rubbing his covered mast against my center. I lowered my body, pressing myself harder against him as I moved faster, chasing it as I felt my body coiling tight with the need for my release. I knew he was needing for his own too when he began bucking his hips harder against me.

Jimin's lips brushed against my ear, nipping my lobe while he whispered soft words, promises of how he would take me if only we were not in the confinement of this hospital, this bed.

"I want to take you so bad. I want to make love to you until you scream my name, I want to pleasure you the way you deserve it, baby," he kept whispering to me between his kisses, with a ragged voice that was filled with his needs.

I closed my eyes, picturing how good it would feel to make love to him. How amazing it would have been if we were skin to skin, if we didn't have to worry about getting caught or getting hurt. I pictured how good we would be if he was inside me, filling the void that had been left untouched, and it was enough to send me toppling over the edge.

Just as I felt it coming, I swivelled and pressed harder against his crotch, rubbing my heat until my climax came with pulsing waves. Then he bucked his hips once, twice, until his whole body shivered against me, letting me know that he was right at the end at the same time I was.

My whole body was pulsing, throbbing, while his member was twitching against my core. My heartbeat was pounding all the way up to my ears, our deep breaths echoed against the walls, and it was a wonder that nobody came rushing in.

The room no longer felt cold, as I was filled with heat. I slowly opened my eyes as I struggled to control my breath, and was surprised to find his glossy eyes looking back at me.

"Are you alright, love?" he asked me, beating me into it when I was just about to ask him the same thing.

I could only nod my head for a moment. "Yeah," I whispered breathlessly. "Are you?"

Jimin grinned at me. His smile reaching his eyes this time. He leaned down, catching my lips with his before whispering, "Never been better."

The change in his mood made me breathe out a sigh of relief, even if I could not help but wonder if there was another reason for his unshed tears. Once again, I failed to question it when he caught my lips again, distracting me with his kiss.

While I was still in a daze, he gently moved us on the bed to separate us so we could lie down more comfortably. As he scooted back in place, the bed under us groaned slightly under our weight. The sound was surprisingly foreign since it had not been making the same noises when we were both lost in our desire.

"Uh oh, did we break the bed?" he asked me, eyes wide with fear.

I only chuckled. "I don't know, but I hope not," I told him, before I carefully shifted until I was settled nicely on the bed again. We waited for a moment to make sure that the bed wouldn't fall off before we settled in to sleep, both of us lying sideways, facing each other.

We both knew that we have soiled our clothes, but neither of us made the move to clean ourselves. The need to hold on to each other defeated everything else, and he took me into his arms again, kissing me one last time before he let me lie down with my head resting on his shoulder.

Minutes later, my whole body fell into a comfortable rhythm which settled me into a lull. As our bodies were entwined together, our warmth mingled against the cold temperature around us while our steady heartbeats lulled us both to sleep, and all questions I had hanging on my tongue were left forgotten.

His face was brighter when he came into my room the next night, then the next. Sometimes the conversation would last long enough until we fell asleep in the middle of reminiscing our pasts, while at another time, he would be too distant to talk too much and our words would melt in our heated kisses.

"Any talk about them sending you home?"

It was during the night he came to me with eyes searching into mine, like he was trying to read through me or to figure something out while keeping whatever it was that had been troubling him a secret. After sharing a few kisses and nearly falling asleep to the gentle rhythm of his heartbeat, Jimin pulled back to ask me that question.

A question which I had been planning to talk to him about all day.

"Yeah, I talked about it with the doctors today. My last X-ray will come out in the morning and my therapist wants to see how far I could go around without the wheelchair. They'll decide when to let me go home once they make sure it's safe to release me until my next treatment," I told him. "What about you?"

Jimin smiled at me. "My body won't be ready for my therapy and treatments until another few weeks. It would be a waste of money and resource if I stay here that long," he said, looking pleased to be able to return home, even if it would only be for a short time.

"That sounds good. There's nothing better than sleeping in your own bed, right?"

He gave me a sad smile. "I'm going to miss you. I'll miss slipping away from my room to escape into yours and tuck you in my arms until we fall asleep."

"It won't be too much of coming home for me if I am released from the hospital, however," I told him once I remembered my current situation. "I have no place to call my own yet so coming home means going back to live with my brother."

"Then come with me," he suddenly offered. "With my cousin away, I will be fending for myself. Alone. Why not be together so we can help each other out?"

I perked up to his idea and wondered why I had not thought of it before. "Do you really think we could?"

"I want to try. I want to do everything I could with you. Anything at all."

He leaned down to kiss me again, and this time, despite the lingering weakness in my muscles, the heat from the contact began to spread through me as our lips touched. He gripped my chin and slid his tongue into my mouth, while my fingers tightened around his biceps.

I yearned for him, even more so now with the threat of being apart from him suddenly came between us, suddenly dying to get out of this confining all white and grey room and eager to have a place where I could be together with him.

"I would like that," I finally told him once we came apart. "I want to be with you."

That night, I had a beautiful dream. A dream where there were only Jimin and me together, building a home in a small house with white picket fences, a beautiful front yard covered in green grass and bushes of flowers just like what I had in my childhood home growing up, with a few pets — a small dog for Jimin to play with and a fluffy cat that would sit on my lap. Our home would be filled with love, warmth, and neither of us was in pain.