You have known Yoongi for as long as your brother Ji has. He is your twin, after all. Yoongi and Ji have been best friends since meeting in high school, and their bond of friendship only grew stronger as time passed.

Your feelings for Yoongi grew as well, but into something more than just your brother's friend. Ji knows you are crushing hard on Yoongi, and he says Yoongi is crushing on you, too, but you don't believe him. 

After graduating, the atmosphere between you and Yoongi seemed to change, as if there was a charge in the air, yet neither acted on it, too afraid of being wrong.

Yoongi spent more time with you than usual, but your brother also seemed to have more errands to run, leaving you two alone. Sometimes, you would catch him grinning as he went. Your brother would not return for an hour or more, but you and Yoongi never noticed.

Today, you're all together at the pool. Jin, Hobi, Joon, and the cuties Jimin, Tae, and Kooki are playing the game 'chicken fight.'  They have paired up in teams of two, with one sitting on his teammate's shoulders as they splash around, trying to knock down the other team.

You sit with your brother and Yoongi, watching them battle it out. You all laugh when the youngest ones defeat their hyungs.

 Hearing his laugh, you look at Yoongi, sitting next to you in swim trunks and a t-shirt, and you release a soft sigh of contentment.  Then you recall your brother's teasing comment this morning about Yoongi having a crush on you. You roll your eyes, thinking, 'Yeah, right, he has a crush on me?'

Like Yoongi, you would rather not be in the water. The only difference is he knows how to swim, and you don't. You sometimes sit on the edge of the deep end with your legs in the water or play in the three to four-foot end of the pool. But more often than not, you sat in a poolside chair, watching the others.

 You watch Yoongi smiling at the antics of his bandmates in the pool and wish you did know how to swim. A thought fleets across your love-struck mind, 'Would he teach me how to swim if I asked him?' 

You quickly dismiss that thought. You knew your brother would want to do it. Besides, he understood your fear of water since you almost drowned when you were three years old after falling in the backyard pool. 'But could I do it if it was Yoongi teaching me?'

 You are broken out of your thoughts when your brother, grinning mischievously, says, "Earth to Minah, would you like another drink?"

You smile, say, "Thanks, Ji." and hand him your empty cup.

Then he turns to Yoongi and asks, "Do you want another too? I'm about to go and get one myself so I can pick it up." 

Yoongi says, "Thanks. That would be great." 

Your brother heads off on an errand to get drinks from the bar. You first watch him with a slight frown, then turn your attention to Yoongi.

You and Yoongi are talking about new rap lyrics when you notice the others are out of the pool, heading in your direction and looking at you.

You try to ignore them as they get closer and continue talking to Yoongi. You and he are both watching them from the corner of your eyes.

The circle around you is closing in, and you look at them, laughing, "What are you guys doing?" They don't say anything but have mischievous smiles on their faces.

Yoongi is frowning, wondering what they're up to. Suddenly, they swoop in and grab you, carrying you as they hurry towards the pool's deep end.

Yoongi mumbles, grinning, "It's not me this time they grab to throw in the pool." The words 'to throw in' hit him.

He suddenly sits up and says, "Oh my god, no!"

He jumps up and runs towards them. He hears you yelling for them to put you down. The closer you get to the pool, the more panicked you become.

Yoongi is shouting, "STOP! Stop, put her down!"

But they are laughing so hard they don't hear him. Ji comes out smiling and carrying their drinks when he hears your terrified cries.

He drops the drinks and starts running, yelling, "SHE CAN'T SWIM! STOP!" But they have already reached the deep end. Three of them let go of you to jump in, while the other two swung you out and let go, then jumped in.

Falling toward the water's surface, you see your brother and cry, "Ji!!"

You're panicking, flying through the air. You try to hold your breath as you hit the water. The breath you held was forced from your lungs as you impacted the surface.

The chill of the pool causes you to gasp as the water closes in around you. The involuntarily gasp sucked in pool water instead of air.

Unaware of what was happening to you, the guys laughed and joked about your great splash and how impressive it was.

They are waiting for you to pop up to the surface, but you don't. They start looking around for you, thinking you are trying to prank them back.

Jungkook is the first to ask, "Where is she? Guys, where is Minah!?" he says as he desperately looks around for you. His panic is causing the others to worry looking for you.

Yoongi reaches the pool's deep end before Ji and yells, "You idiots, she can't swim!" he dives in to rescue you. Your brother is on his phone to 119 for an ambulance as he watches Yoongi go underwater.

Yoongi sees you, not moving, and his heart skips a beat. With a sudden burst of speed, he reaches your body and shoots up to the surface with you in his arms. Your brother anxiously waits on the pool's edge and kneels to be able to help lift you out.

The boys are panicking and crowd around Ji. Yoongi reaches the edge of the pool, panting for breath. Many hands reach out to take you from his arms, but he yells, "Stay back!" allowing Ji to help him get you out of the pool. 

They step back, crestfallen at what happened, and can only watch helplessly as Yoongi and Ji get you out of the pool. 

Yoongi lays you on the ground and checks for a pulse and breathing. "Oh my god, NO! DAMMIT NO!" he cries in sheer terror -- you aren't breathing.

Your brother is pacing. He can barely breathe and is on the verge of a massive panic attack. He is grateful that Namjoon steps in to help Yoongi. At this point, all he can do is watch how Yoongi cares for you and try to catch his own breath.

Namjoon kneels beside you, ready to help Yoongi with CPR if needed. Yoongi breathes into your mouth to start CPR. After the first breath he gives, you begin to cough and throw up mouthfuls of water.

He turns you on your side, and you start coughing and sputtering out water. He softly strokes your hair, begging, "Come on, Love, breathe for me."

The others feel so guilty as they stand there in shock. They didn't know you couldn't swim.

You begin to cry while still coughing, and your lungs feel like they are on fire. Your brother drops to his knees and helps Yoongi wrap you in a large towel. He takes you from Yoongi and pulls you into his arms, his panic level reaching controllable limits now that he knows you are alive.

Your brother uses his nickname for you and asks, "Puppy, are you okay?" He pulls you closer as you nod, still coughing, glancing at Yoongi.

You lean on your brother as the ambulance crew arrives. He never lets go till they take you from him to transport you to the hospital.

Yoongi has stayed close to you the whole time, his heart still racing. Now that the adrenaline is no longer rushing through him, he begins to feel chilled.

Your brother rode with you in the ambulance, and Yoongi promised to follow right behind.

The guys are standing there, heads lowered. Namjoon says, "We didn't know she couldn't swim. We didn't know."

Jin says, "She is always with us at the pool whenever we go. We just assumed she knew how to swim."

Taehyung says, "Come to think of it, I've never seen her out of the three-foot level. I can't recall ever seeing her go any deeper."

J-Hope thinks, then says, "You know you're right. Other than sitting on the pool's edge with her legs in the water at the deeper levels, I've never seen her go in deeper than three feet."

Yoongi, still upset, snaps at them, "Couldn't you tell her screams were real!?"

They lower their heads, and Jungkook says, "We were all laughing and shouting. We thought she didn't want to get wet."

Namjoon says, "Let's change and get to the hospital."

Yoongi puts up his hand to stop them and wraps his towel around his shoulders.

"Jin and I will go. The rest of you stay here. We'll call and let you know how she's doing."

As they go in to change, Jin notices Yoongi trembling. He suspects it's not from being cold. He stops and puts his hand on his shoulder, asking, "Yoongi, are you okay?"

He can't look Jin in the eyes. He says, "I . . .I could have lost her today."

He begins trembling even harder, and Jin guides him over to a chair and gently pushes him into it.

He kneels in front of Yoongi, noting that his chin is quivering. "What's going on, Yoongs?" he asks.

He looks up at Jin as a tear rolls down his cheek, and his voice quivers, "I don't think I could handle losing her."

Jin asks, "You love her, don't you?"

Yoongi says, "Don't say a word about it to anyone."

"Not even her?"

"No, not even her."

"I see, so you want to tell her yourself then?"

Yoongi shakes his head and wipes his nose, "No, I don't want to say anything. She's my best friend's little sister."

Jin rolls his eyes, saying, "By only five minutes. There's nothing wrong with falling in love with her. I have seen the way she looks at you."

He grins, placing both hands on Yoongi's shoulders, "She looks at you the way Jungkook looks at banana milk. Now, let's change and go to the hospital."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, Jin called from the visitor lounge in the hospital, letting the others know you're doing fine. They are keeping you overnight for observation.

Namjoon relays this information to the others, and they all sigh in relief.

The doctor has just left, and you are sleeping soundly after your traumatic ordeal. Your brother sits by your hospital bed, holding your hand.

Yoongi pulls a chair next to your brother, puts a hand on his shoulder, and asks, "Ji?"

Your brother turns to look at him. "They say she's okay. Their main concern is the possibility of pneumonia." He looks at you sleeping, then back at Yoongi. "You love her, don't you?" he asks.

Yoongi removes his hand and stands up, surprised, "What are you talking about?" he asks, trying to deny it.

He says, "I've never seen you move so fast in all the time I've known you. The speed at which you reached her and got her out was almost non-human, and the look on your face when you thought . . . when you thought she was . . ." He wipes at his eyes. "You're in love with her, aren't you?"

Yoongi pushes his hair back, saying, "I did what anyone would have done."

Ji stands, grabs his arm, and leads him out of the room, not wanting to wake you.

In the hall, he says, "Yoongi, deny it all you want, but you're in love with my sister."

Yoongi turns away, aggressively running his hand through his hair, fighting his heart, then turns back to Ji denying the truth, "The hell I am!" he protests.

He says, "Yes, you are. I have seen the way you look at her, watch her. I'm not blind. You think I don't see how protective you are of her?"

"Of course, I'm protective of her. She's my best friend's little sister." he reasons with Ji.

Ji grins and says, "Only by five minutes. Yoongi, I know she has feelings for you. She's my twin, and I know these things."

Yoongi laughs, trying to convince himself. He says, "No, you don't. We're just friends."

Ji grabs him by the shoulders and says, "Listen to your heart. I know you want to appear cold and hard, but listen to your heart."

Ji grins and says, "Besides, I wouldn't mind her dating my best friend."

Embarrassed, Yoongi frustratingly says, "Why does everyone think I'm in love?"

Ji says, "Because you are. You look at her like Jungkook looks at Taehyung."

In his state of mental stress, Yoongi mumbles, "I thought it was banana milk," as he recalls the conversation with Jin from earlier.

"What?" Ji shakes his head in confusion, "Banana milk? What are you -- never mind. Yoongi, I know you're in love with her."

Yoongi grimaces and slightly whines, "Is it that obvious?"

"To me, it is. I was almost convinced you didn't feel that way about her until today."

"Would you really be okay with it?" Yoongi asks with a glimmer of hope in his expression.

Ji smiles broadly, "I would definitely be ok with it. I know she's in love with you too."

"How do you know she's in love with me?"

His smile brightens, "She told me."

From your bed, you heard them, and you softly called, "Yoongi?"

He rushes back in and takes your hand. You smile and say, "I did tell him." 

Yoongi leans close and kisses you before whispering, "I love you. I thought I lost you today."

You wipe a tear from his face, whisper, "Never," and pull him back down for a kiss.

Your brother walks out of the room with a know-it-all smirk. Crossing his arms over his chest, he mumbles, "Told you, Yoongs."

2024