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"Brooke, can you please stop looking through my fridge and help with the lights."

"I'm hungry." Brooke pouted as she dragged herself to my staircase.

My parents like to go all out with Christmas lights, that we actually get dozens of visitors that come by our house every year. It's kind of embarrassing if
you ask me. Imagine your own parents walking around with glow in the dark reindeer antlers.

"How many lights do you have—?" Brooke raised her brows as she wrapped the wire around the stairs.

"There's eight more boxes in the back." I looked over my shoulder.

"Damn." Brooke shook her head. "That must've cost more than my birth."

I glanced at her, snickering at her weird reference.
I quietly continued to hang the lights around the house, while Brooke worked on the staircase.

"So. . ." Brooke pursed her lips as she grabbed another box.

"I hate that word." I gave her a quiet laugh, knowing what she would ask right after.

"How was work yesterday—?" She raised her brows twice as if I were supposed to get her hint.

"Work was work." I shrugged my shoulders. "Some kid spilt his milkshake on my new pants." My eyes brightened as I remembered.

"Rae." She glared at me, lowering her brows. "You know what I mean."

"It's fine, okay." I gulped, thinking back to
the emotional conversation him and I shared.

"You don't look fine." Brooke slightly pouted as she looked at my gloomy face.

"We're good now." I loudly clasped my hands together. "That's all you need to know."

Brooke laid her head back, groaning. "You're so confusing."

"Why are you confused—?" I lowered my brows, before throwing a Christmas ornament at her.

"First of all." She rubbed the back of her head. "That hurt."

I bit my bottom lip, trying not to crack a smile while she complained.

"Second—" Brooke stood, brushing the dust off her jeans. "I'm confused because you keep changing your feelings every other day."

"I do not." I crossed my arms.

"Just the other day, you said he wasn't your type and that he's just a friend to you. Two days later, you're telling me you're actually starting to like him. Then, boom—new girlfriend comes in and I think you're finally going to forget about him, but no. You fall for him once again." Brooke stared at me as she waited for a response.

"First of all." I lightly kicked the box of lights from
in front of me. "He already explained his whole girlfriend situation to me."

"Really.." Brooke sarcastically scoffed.

"She has a month to live." I calmly remarked, silencing Brooke. "She told her support gr—

"—her friends." I quickly corrected myself. It's none of my business to let her know that Jimin's been in
a support group. "She told them that the only thing she wanted before she died was a boyfriend. She's known Jimin for a couple months. He chose to be her boyfriend, to make her last days happy one's."

"So why would he try to flirt with you—?" Brooke lowered her brows, playing with the ornament I
threw at her earlier.

"Thats the thing." I slightly smiled, knowing she would ask. "She knows it's not real love. They're almost like siblings, not in a weird way... so it's more like a favor from one friend to another. All he wants is for her to spend her last couple days smiling. That's why when she kissed Jimin in front of me, he didn't hesitate to kiss her back. He didn't want to hurt her feelings." I explained, as Brooke listened.

"I feel bad for cussing him out now." She harshly bit her bottom lip. "Well, not really."

"Don't feel bad." I patted her on the back. "I fucked up too."

"You didn't do anything wrong." Brooke tried to defend me, against literally myself.

"I keep assuming he's this bad person-" I sighed, staring straight ahead as thoughts began to circle around my mind. "—when in reality, he's just
this really sweet guy who's trying to hide all his
pain behind a smile."

I couldn't tell her what was making me this damn emotional. Hearing something that heartbreaking about someone you've been judging your entire life can really fill you with guilt. I have the need to cry whenever I see him, let alone think about him. We haven't seen each other since that night. To think that I could've lost him, over a small fight.

"Am I crying—?" I lowered my brows as I sniffled, making her laugh.

"You're too funny." Brooke giggled as she tugged the lights out of the box. "Hey listen, Hoseok's coming by to help with the lights."

"Oh." I pursed my lips. "Is he near by—?"

I find it odd that Hoseok offered to help hang
up the lights. Brooke never called him or let
him know when to come by. He's also one of
laziest guys I know, which surprised me.

"Well." Brooke gave me an apologetic look. "He's
at Jimin's house."

"What—?" My eyes quickly widened.

"Sorry." Brooke pressed her teeth together.

"No no." I began to panic. "I can't see him. I-I'm not ready."

Brooke raised her brows up and down, giving me a sly look. "You need to get ready huh—?"

"I didn't mean like that." I lightly pushed her over. "I meant to say I'm not ready to face him after our last conversation. I haven't seen him since and I don't want things to be awkward between us. I want him to feel like he can trust me with these things. After all, we're still friends." I shrugged my shoulders.

"Yeah. . ." Brooke slowly nodded her head. "Just friends."

"Brooke."

"Yeah—?"

"Shut up."

I ran up the stairs and into my room, throwing my closet doors open.

"Rae—!" I could hear Brooke shout from down stairs.

"Yeah—?" I shouted back.

"Where are those cheese puffs—?"

I rolled my eyes. "The cabinet above the sink."

"Thanks!" She mumbled shortly after, probably already eating a cheese puff.

I changed my clothes, and threw my old one's to the side. Brooke had already made herself comfortable on my couch, forgetting about the reason she even came here.

"Brooke—?"

"Huh—?"

"The lights. . ?" I raised my brow.

"Yeah just give me like two hours to rest my brain."

"You need a lot more than two hours." I muttered under my breath.

The sound of  the door bell interrupted my train of thought, making Brooke's eyes avert to mine. I let out a deep breath before twisting the door knob to see Hoseok standing there alone. I looked around the yard, narrowing my eyes as I didn't see Jimin.

"Aren't you gonna let me in—?" Hoseok lowered his brow.

"Y-Yeah." I slowly moved out of the way, holding the door open for him.

"Hobi—!" Brooke squealed as she latched onto her boyfriend. "I missed you baby."

He returned Brooke's plea with a kiss on her forehead, making her giggle.

"I thought you said you were bringing Jimin—?" She lowered her brows as she looked around.

"He's taking a shower." Hoseok casually shrugged his shoulders. "So I just left without him."

Brooke gave me an apologetic smile, knowing she made me worry for nothing. I watched as the two lovers cuddled and became sick. It wasn't really about the fact that they're showing affection, but more so the thought of love and happiness that didn't exist in my world. I sat on a separate couch, not wanting to invade their personal love seat.

"So, Rae—?" Hoseok turned to me. "How's it going?"

"I'm doing pretty well." I shrugged my shoulders.

"You seem sort of bummed." He tilted his head.

"I promise, everything's all good." I gave him a forced smile.

"You should be in that shower." Brooke grumbled as she coughed.

I narrowed my eyes, shooting her a glare. "I heard that."

"I know." She winked.

"Oh shit, would you look at that—?" Hoseok smirked, while holding up a towel.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure he has other towels."

"Yeah, I know." Hoseok slowly nodded. "That's why I hid them all."

"Hoseok, you idiot—!" I punched his shoulder. "I'm not going in there."

"Just give him his towel and say I accidentally walked out with it." He gave me precious smile, pushing me out the door. "Don't come back until something sexy happens."

"What—?" I gave him a disgusted look, cracking a smile afterwards.

"Go." Brooke pushed my shoulders. "—or you'll miss him walking out of the shower."

"Assholes." I muttered as I walked down the steps, throwing the towel over my shoulder.

This is humiliating. I mean, who just walks into their neighbors house, uninvited, and hands them a towel that they're not supposed to even have in the first place. He's gonna think I'm some sort of stalker.

I finally reached his door, not surprised Hoseok left it unlocked. I casually, but nervously walked through his quiet living room until I found the stairs. Believe it or not, but I didn't hear any shower running. If that bastard lied to me, I'll ring his neck.

"Jimin—?" I knocked on the bathroom door as my cheeks turned red.

I closed my eyes, hoping this moment would be over soon. He obviously didn't hear me, because I heard absolutely no sound coming from the bathroom.

"J-Jimin." I shyly called out again, embarrassed from myself.

I sighed after hearing nothing but silence. Hoseok has to be messing with me, I thought as I quietly walked back downstairs. I was ready to get the hell out of here, when a picture on his fridge caught my attention. I looked around to make sure no one was there and moved closer to get a better sight. It was Jimin, his mother, and his father years back. They seemed so happy here. I wonder what changed.

"If you're gonna break into my house, at least shut the door behind you."

My eyes brightened, before I quickly turned around. I dropped the towel onto the floor and pulled Jimin into a warm hug. "I missed you so much." I smiled while wrapping my arms around his body. It took Jimin a couple seconds, but he finally brought his arms around me, pulling me closer to his chest.

"You're kind of wet." I laughed, as I wiped my hands along my pants.

Jimin raised his brow, eagerly wanting to spit out all the sexual things he could say to that one comment.

"Let's ignore what I just said." I whispered.

Jimin beamed a soft smile, lightly nudging the back of my head. "Why the hell are you here anyway?" He asked while towel drying his hair.

"So you do have a towel." I crossed my arms, cursing Hoseok in my head.

"What—?"

"Nothing." I quickly brushed it off. "I came here to invite you over."

"Rae." He walked closer. "You're not a good liar."

"I'm not ly—okay maybe I'm lying, but not entirely."

Jimin bit his lip as he slowly shook his head.

"Wh—don't look at me like that." I quickly turned away from his gaze.

"Like what—?" He lightly chuckled.

"You're giving me those lustful eyes, and don't even try to tell me you're not." I playfully warned him.

"That's just the way I've always been looking at you, I guess." Jimin shrugged his shoulders.

"Look, you're trying so hard not to do it now." I pointed to his face.

"I don't know what you're going off about." He turned away from me, opening his fridge.

"Of course you don't." I smiled as I took a giant step next to him. "That's because you don't see yourself."

"And you don't see how fucking cute you are." He pinched my nose, instantly adding color to my face.

"How many different shades of pink can I make you turn—?" Jimin gazed into my eyes, making me want to fall apart.

"Wh—

Jimin placed his finger against my lips as he slightly smirked. 

"You're not supposed to answer."