8
Shattering glasses, Breaking ties

"Ara you're coming with me right?" Daehye deeply sighed before saying the words. "Yes." Ara said while packing up her things.

"You guys should stay, it's pretty late now." Yoongi said with a drunk Jungkook snoring on his shoulder. "Oppa it's fine, we've got university stuff to take care of. Goodnight." Daehye gave a light hug to Yoongi and held Jungkook's hand for a mere second before letting it go and pacing her steps towards the elevator.

"Everything good?" Ara asked Daehye when she pressed the ground floor button. "Yeah the alcohol is taking its effect I guess." Daehye's shoulders slumped down, her eyes downcasted. Ara sometimes knew Daehye more than herself and because of that she knew something went wrong somewhere, she just didn't know where and Daehye wouldn't tell her until she it rockbottom because she had a perception of not letting her guard down.

With Ara she did that at least a thousand times but right now maybe she needed more time to come to justify herself and till the time she didn't, Ara didn't force her. "I'm here for you." Ara patted on her back and a smile crept her lips. "I know you are."

The rest of the night was spent in thinking, thinking of how such a big ass fool Daehye was that she thought that maybe things won't screw up everytime. But she was wrong all along. She was scared not of her feelings but of the fact that the familiar heaviness in chest started to return, it was barely noticeable for now but it would be if she didn't go far away.

So she will maybe prevent him like he is her sickness. Like how he was a drug and last she checked- she didn't do drugs.

---

A few days passed since the incident and Daehye meanwhile forgot about everything whenever she was busy. So she kept herself occupied- with studies, or maybe by doing internships and part timers. She believed in 'keep yourself so busy that you don't have time to feel' supremacy just like many other people.

"Your exam ranking is on the notice board, all the students irrespective of which year you are in will find your result there so make sure that you aren't chaotic. The class is dismissed." Professor Choi left the class and Daehye immediately sprinted down the stairs, some students moved at the speed of a tortoise to see their results while the others shared the same excitement like hers.

"Oh I'm sorry." Daehye said as she clashed with someone but continued to run towards the notice board. Whilst reaching she saw Kyung and Ara there. "Yo bitches how was your result?" she slapped Kyung's back and he turned around, an obvious smile on his face. "I'm 3rd and guess what- Ara is fucking 2nd." Ara had a smug plastered on her face and her hands on the waist. "Guys you pulled off like 3 nightovers, you deserve it." Daehye patted the shoulders of second yearers.

"Did you see my result?" she asked Kyung who was leaning on the pillar. "Nah, I tried to but the third year section was frenzied." and it indeed looked like that. She kept her bag on Kyung's arm and then left for the notice board.

"Excuse me- I'm sorry, sorry again." she said as she pushed people aside to stand in front and started seeing her name from the last of the first sheet, it was all topsy and turvy, she was receiving numerous pushes from the back.

"No no no fuck did I even make it to the top ten-" Daehye muttered under her breath but stopped midway when she saw her name on the top, at the first position. All the hard work paid off, in a long time she felt elated and satisfied with herself. She quietly backed off from the board.

"Kneel peasants." she joked when she came in front of her two friends, from her expressions they were quick to judge that she secured the top rank. "I fucking knew it- and you know Kyung what she said- my exams were just fine, fine my ass." Ara smacked her head.

"Okay let's party today." Ara immediately responded, she was a party freak and there was no place to deny that for today. "Yeah, just lemme tell my father about this." Daehye took out her phone and switched it on, immediately texted her father informing about the good news but anxiety didn't fail to consume her entirely when she saw the missed calls.

57 missed calls from Jimin. Without even trying panic consumed her, a part of her wanted to deny his calls but a part of her wanted to rush to him.

"Ara I don't think I can, you guys continue. I'll tell you everything when I return." Daehye zipped her bag and took the car keys and ran through the corridors without wasting a mere minute. She had to be there- the entire time she blamed herself for switching off the phone.

"Fuck I was't even busy today." she cursed herself as she panted heavily whilst descending down the stairs, her bag not even stable in her one hand. After continuously running till the point where she stood in front of her car her breaths were at a faster pace, she sat in the car and tried to call Jimin but his number was switched off. That just added weight on the fact that something was wrong, she didn't want to believe but her negative gut intuition said otherwise.

"Move fast." she tiredly pressed her steering wheel when the light immediately turned green. Seoul's downtown part was crowded heavily and that proved to have it's pros and cons at the same time. Just driving at the brink where she could've pressed a charge but when received the entry in his complex without one she was relieved.

She parked her car in the visitor's area and took out her phone and sprinted till she was in the elevator, her chest heaving. She was just silently hoping nothing was wrong. Maybe she was overreacting but maybe he actually needed her.

The elevator made a 'ping' sound when the doors opened, the panic stricken state of her worsened when she saw all the lights turned off, the sunlight barely illuminating the dull atmosphere, the house looked empty. For a mere second she thought that he wasn't home until she heard a sound of something breaking.

"Jimin?" she moved towards the living area, finding it well empty she tried to recognize the place from which the sound came. Her sneakers barely made a sound when she stepped on the marble floor. Her whole body was constrained.

And she suddenly saw him, his shoulders slumped, his lashes wet and his hand held a broken piece of glass which she assumed that he just broke. Drop by drop the blood from the freshly made cut dripping and coloring the white glossy tiles, his hair disheveled and cheeks wet from all the time he had been crying. He looked vulnerable, no he was vulnerable and she understood it all too well.

Slowly and steadily Daehye approached him, she didn't like it when she saw him like this, in a disconsolate state. He hardly reacted to her presence, not even when she stood in front of him. She had the knowledge of how even the slightest thing could cause him to take a wrong step. Very carefully and gradually she picked up a glass piece from the floor, the one in his hand was loosely gripped around his fingers so she opened his fist lighty and threw away the glass pieces in the trash bin.

The only sound audible was of his breathing, he was sitting like a statue on the floor. "Heyy what's wrong?" She softly held his injured hand and looked at his face, cleaning his gash from a wet cloth. His eyes roze to look at hers, both of their gazes glassy. She wiped a lone tear which escaped his eye.

"Where were you when I needed you?" Jimin spoke with a cracked voice, he sounded aggressive, as if he was letting off his frustration by letting the salt water out like waterfalls.

"I'm sorry but I'm here now." she apologetically whispered back, feeling guilty for not being there still mentally cursing herself. "You remember you have these vases which are broken but then you fix them by using gold paint." Jimin spoke out of nowhere, she suddenly had a flashback of him asking her what those vases were, and how she described to him that it was like therapy. By fixing broken things was like accepting our flaws and imperfections and the gold paint made them even more beautiful.

"Kintsugi." She smiled at him for immersing in the conversation, thinking maybe he was finally able to forget whatever tormented him to a brink where he was right now. "By embracing your flaws and imperfections you can create an even stronger, more beautiful piece of art- like a metaphor." she continued and didn't let go of his hand.

"I'm not one of your vases." Jimin took his hand out of hers whilst saying the words like poison to her. Something was wrong with him and she could already sense that since the moment she entered the penthouse. "Go away." Jimin turned his head away from her gaze and the moment he said that she stood on her feet and started approaching the living space.

Daehye took out her phone and dialed the only person she could think of, the one she thought knew Jimin more than he did. "Taehyung oppa." she said when a manly voice came over from the other side of the phone.

"Hey Dae everything good?" Taehyung spoke and Daehye continued. "I had missed calls from Jimin, h-he is acting weird. I don't know what to do does- does he have any form of medication or something-" she spoke breathlessly but Taehyung interrupted her mid-sentence.

"Calm down Daehye, I'll be there in a few. Till that time he has some sleeping pills in the drawer of his nightstand, give him that." Taehyung now started to sound concerned, it had been time since Jimin acted like that. "Thank you." With those words Daehye cut the call and briskly walked to his room and saw a small side table beside his bed. She opened the first drawer and a box of pills, she read the chemicals it was composed of and immediately went to the kitchen.

"Jimin take this." She filled the glass with water and tried to hand it to him. "I don't want it." He moved her hand away but she didn't budge, he passed a dagger like glare but she had no effect. "You have to." she deeply sighed but what happened next didn't fail to squirm her.

"I said I don't want it!" he screamed and took the glass and threw it on the floor with his full force, his yells mixed with the shattering of glass made her flinch, "stop pitying on me." he yelled again and this time she answered back.

"Why do you think I'm pitying you?" she whisper-yelled and at that point of time she was slammed against the wall with his full force, her wing bone started to hurt a little and her head throbbed "People like you- they do that, you're seeing me here as a mess it's obvious you don't give a fuck to me but to what I have, like I said Min Daehye I'm not one of your vases, you can't and will never ever be able to make me improve or make me heal, the one who could left."

That was the time where fire erupted her insides, his words were knife-like, cutting her, giving her wounds which could never heal. Most importantly they returned the familiar stinging pain inside her chest, completely and consuming her fully. "You can never be her." his tears constantly streaming down, she was meanwhile controlling the urge to just break down in front of him. Why was he telling her this, about who he was talking about was all going through her mind till she remembered that night.

Someone called Grace.

She felt degraded, for coming to him, for actually staying for so long when all he did was hurt her, when all he did was give her the flashbacks of the memories which sting. "You're right." she said with a fragile voice. "I'll be out of your hair only if you take this, I promise I'll go away." she continued and took a deep breath in attempts to soothe herself.

Jimin and Daehye continued to stare at each other, her hand extended mid-air with a pill on her palm, he frustratedly took it and gulped it without water. She exited the kitchen and picked up her phone from the center table of the living space. Stomping her feet out in frustration, the idea of how she'll never be enough for anyone no matter how much she tried covered her mind like haze.

She waited for the elevator to open, she just wanted a crying session in her best friend's lap, she just needed a reminder that everything was gonna be fine in the end. The elevator opened and she bumped into someone, her eyes downcasted the entire time. Out of the blue muscular arms wrapped around her small waist, she knew it was Taehyung and Taehyung knew that she needed a hug.

"I'm fine oppa, it's okay." She patted his back tiredly, a brink away from letting herself go loose and cry in his arms but she controlled. "It's not, no one escapes from my vibe check."

"Taehyung oppa-" she stopped mid-sentence to breathe, she was having trouble breathing. "Just tell him not to see me again."

Her words left Taehyung stunned, but rather than to question her at this point he decided to just let her be, he gently squeezed hand and nodded.

The ride back home was rather tormenting, she had to stop crying or had to force the salt water not to blur her vision.

Whilst reaching home the lights were on which implied that Ara returned early too. Daehye tiredly entered the password and opened the big wooden gate only to find Ara on her phone , the sudden sound of footsteps distracted her and she turned her head to Daehye.

Ara got off the couch and was just about to tell all the gossip of the get together but stopped when she saw Daehye, her eyes looked red and she was breathing at a faster pace. "Dae what's wrong?" Ara suddenly had a concerned look and Daehye just left her bag on the stairs and hugged her. Tears streamed down but she wasn't able to say anything, as if she was choking on her own words and Ara knew it all too well now.

Daehye tried to get over her fear, she tried to forget the past but in the process something happened with Jimin.

One J for the past and one J for the present, both on a brink together to torment her future.

|<|Author|>|

The last line means that Daehye had someone in her past, who's memories left a dark patch on her life, and his name also started with the letter J. 

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