"Cheese and rice, I look like crap," I whisper to myself as I look over my reflection. I trace a line under my jawline before running my hand through my frizzy blonde hair. The bruises marking my face don't look as badass as I imagined it. Instead, I look like a victim with haunted eyes, still reeling from recent trauma.

I survived a violent attack, but I don't feel like I've escaped from danger yet.

My mind continues to return to a dark state of mind, reminding me the men will come after me to finish the job. They will hunt me down because I saw too much. There's no doubt they are already hunting Jimin. Neither of us is safe. The lies we feed ourselves do nothing to change our reality.

A small voice inside whispers to me that I'm overreacting, but that doesn't stop me from feeling this way.

I fear logic is something I lost that night.

I don't typically act without a plan or do anything without pondering on my decisions. I don't go around adopting mentally unstable hybrids. Yet I can't convince myself that it was a bad idea.

I brace myself against the bathroom sink and stare into the toothpaste-crusted bowl. I scowl at myself and decide not to dwell on the past.

I agreed to adopt him. I can't kick him out for my own mistakes and lack of reasonable thinking. Jimin is a member of my house now. He is going to stay until he can take care of himself.

I hear a soft knock on the door. I turn around and open it. I find Jimin standing on the other side with my gray fuzzy blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He is wearing my black sweatpants and my faded, oversized sweater, the pants are a little short on him but he seems comfortable. He too was desperate to change out of the hospital clothes.

My eyes fall on his cat ears sticking up from his fluffy blond hair, briefly distracted by how they twitch and move. Then to the sides of his head where his hair has grown long to cover where his human ears should be.

Does he have two sets of ears since he was human?

"Does this look good?" he asks, gesturing to the clothes.

I nod. "You look great, Jimin."

Jimin's long tail swishes behind him before curling up into the air. He gives me a half-awkward smile causing one eye to squint to the point where he is almost winking. "You can call me Chim if you want."

I smile in return and lean back against the bathroom sink. "And you can call me Eating, because I'm always eating." I force down my rising laughter and press my lips together, ending up looking smug.

Jimin fights his smile before he allows it to spread across his face. He starts laughing at me, his ears flatten against his head, and shakes his head in disbelief. "Oh that was horrible," he complains in the breaths between his laughter. "Why is that even funny?"

I can't hold it back anymore and end up laughing with him. I shrug helplessly, "Because—, because puns are funny," I claim cheerfully. "It's peak humor, you know."

He finally sighs as the fit of laughter leaves him. Jimin smirks at me, "It's bad and you know it," he argues playfully.

I smirk and flick one side of my hair to the side, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Jimin rolls his eyes and turns slightly from me. "You're impossible."

I only grin at him feeling quite proud of myself.

Jimin is quiet for a moment as he looks over my body. His dark eyes flickered with worry and suddenly, he moves towards me. He reaches his hand out and lightly touches the growing bruise on my jawline. His eyes soften with tenderness, "It's getting worse..."

I lean out of his touch and turn my head to one side to shield the bruise from his line of sight. A flush of embarrassment slowly appears on my cheeks. I force myself to remain nonchalant, "It's nothing. You don't need to worry about it."

Jimin blinks a few times, "Why don't I?"

I draw back from the odd question. "Why don't you? Because—... because I don't want you to worry," I answer, flustered.

Jimin takes a step towards me, now completely inside the bathroom. His body blocks the door and forces me to remain pressed against the bathroom sink. Soon we are standing face-to-face, it's as if personal space no longer had meaning to him.

He draws closer to me and tilts his head slightly to one side. The hazy light of the bathroom casts soft shadows on his skin. It causes the deep amber in his eyes to glow like embers of a fire. He reaches for me again and carefully takes my wrist in his hand. He holds it up to his mouth and lightly kisses my knuckles, still making eye contact.

My immediate reaction is to snap my hand back and push my way out of the bathroom, but I find myself paralyzed.

He's worried about me. I don't think anybody has truly worried about me before. Not like this.

"You were attacked because of me," he finally answers, still holding my hand close to his mouth. His voice is airy and soft like the fallen feathers of an angel. "You might feel like you owe me your life, but I owe you just as much. I worry because you're hurt. You're still hurt. I can see it in your eyes."

"I think you're overthinking this," I admit quietly, dropping my gaze from his.

"I think you are too," he argues stubbornly.

"So what do we do?" I ask incredulously, frowning at the tile floor. "Now that we've acknowledged that we overthink too much."

Jimin tilts my head up to face him again. He comes closer and slips both hands into my hands. He holds them tightly and forces me to make eye contact. "We are going to have some fun," he says sincerely, "I haven't had any fun since I was kidnapped. Even if it kills me to know that my family is trapped..." his voice catches, "I—, I have to regain my strength first. As you said, I need to relax. I can't save them in this state."

I feel a sharp kick to my chest. A stark and painful reminder that he isn't the only one who suffered at the hands of those men.

He wants to save his family so badly.

Guilt smothers my selfish hope to introduce him to society, to encourage him to live a normal life. He can't move on from this, he has to find his family in order to live his life. This is something he has to do before he can even consider living normally.

If anybody hasn't escaped, it's Jimin.

He is still fighting. He won't stop until they are safe until all he loves is safe. It's a goal to be admired and respected. He has so much to fight for, so much to lose. Who am I to call myself a victim when he is standing before me?

Then it comes to me.

"Chim," I begin slowly, testing out the new nickname, "I want to help you find your family. I worry about you too and you shouldn't have to face this alone. I'll help you in any way I can, just say the word and I'll do it."

Jimin's eyes soften with emotion. "You give yourself away so easily."

I swallow hard and look away, catching my reflection in the mirror. It's the opposite of that. I'm too selfish to see beyond myself and my own goals. I'm trying to change that.

As it turns out, almost being beaten to death gives you perspective.

I'm not the same Eden anymore.

"I just want to help."

Jimin gives me a sudden smile that causes my heart to skip a beat. He pulls me closer to him before leading me out of the bathroom, "Then help me relax," he answers simply. "Let's do something fun."

"If that is really what you want..."

Jimin smiles over his shoulder as his tail curls up into the air, "It is." And he leads me into the living room.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

There was nothing left to do but give in to his request to have fun. Granted it wasn't a difficult decision to make. I'd rather focus on something happy than wallowing in my emotions. Though I take some comfort knowing he too struggles with overthinking. Once again, we're on the same page.

We entered the small living room together. Jimin walks gracefully across the room and collapses onto my couch as if he owned the place. He stretches his arms and legs out, his tail sticks straight up into the air, and squeezes his eyes shut. The sweatshirt edge lifts and reveals part of his stomach. He sighs happily and relaxes his body onto the cushions. He opens his eyes lazily and gives me a smug look, "What?"

I shut my open mouth and look away quickly, banishing my strange thoughts from my mind. I spin on my heel and walk into the kitchen. I press the back of my hand against my flushed cheek. "It's nothing. I was just thinking," I lie from the safety of the kitchen.

He chuckles quietly and thankfully doesn't press the subject.

I check the time on my oven and realize it's almost dinner time. I look over my cabinets and start opening and closing them to search for food. I move onto the refrigerator and stare at its pathetic contents for a long moment.

There may be food inside, but there is nothing to eat.

I shut the refrigerator and stare at the closed door.

Then I open it again and check the contents again, only to be disappointed once more.

I should probably stick to ordering takeout for now. What does Jimin want to eat? He said he doesn't know what he likes but isn't there a special hybrid diet they recommended to help with proper nutrition? What do hybrids usually eat?

I pull out my phone and look over the email the hybrid representative sent me. I skim over the paragraphs of information, trying to remember where I saw the "diet" on it. My mind strains to remember if there are any hybrid-specific restaurants in my city; I heard that was a thing on the news but I don't know if one was built yet.

"Hmm... what are you up to?"

I let out a surprised shriek and whirl around to find Jimin behind me. He wears a mischievous grin as he circles around me. His sleek furred tail flicks against my leg and briefly rubs up against my shin. "Did I scare you?" he teases.

I roll my eyes at him, "Of course not, I sneezed," I lie and return to the cabinets to continue my search for food.

His eyes glitter with amusement as he comes up to my side again. "I'm bored," he whines and lightly tugs on the sleeve of my shirt. "What are you even doing in here?"

Searching for my dignity.

I raise an eyebrow at him and shrug him off, "I'm searching for food, you weirdo. It's almost dinner time."

Jimin draws back in mild surprise. "Oh, what are we eating?" He pauses and smirks, "What are we eating, Eating?"

I laugh at the terrible pun and lightly push his shoulder. "I have no idea. I don't have any food."

Jimin studies the open cabinet filled with my containers of flour, sugar, and other baking ingredients. "What about that?" He points to the package of bread.

I shake my head, "No, that's not enough."

"What about that?" He points to the granola cereal I regret buying.

I stick out my tongue. "No."

Jimin casts me a wide-eyed look of disbelief. "Seriously?"

I shut the cabinet and pull out my phone again. I look through my various restaurant apps and scroll until something sticks out to me.

He laughs quietly and shakes his head. "You're so picky."

"No, I'm just not in the mood for it," I explain with an eye roll. "We have better options than bread and cereal."

Jimin groans and throws his head back, "Ugh you're going to starve me," he complains dramatically. He turns back to the cabinet and opens it again. He reaches in and grabs the cereal box and shakes it loudly. "There's food here!" he argues, indignantly.

I shake my head, still focused on my phone. "Just hold on a second, sweetheart, I'm getting food right now."

Jimin whines playfully and sets the cereal box on the cabinet. He twists his hips and swings his arms at his side like a child, "Come on... can we just eat whatever this is?" He considers it before giving me a dirty smile, "Would you like me to feed it to you?"

This time, I look up from my phone and give him a half-bewildered look. "How about no...?"

"But you fed me," he points out.

"Because you wouldn't eat—..." I trail off and realize what I am saying. I wave him off and try to move away from him, staring hard at my phone. "That was different. Look, I'm getting food that's ten times better than that. Just look!" I show him the phone screen displaying a picture of fresh chicken ramen with a boiled egg on the side. "Trust me on this, okay?"

Jimin stares at the screen in brief awe. "Oh... Okay."

I smirk at him, "Told you so." I lower the phone and begin ordering food from a nearby restaurant, giving up on searching for a hybrid-specific diet. He was once human, he probably is fine eating regular foods. I just need to make sure he's eating healthy.

Jimin peeks over my shoulder, his eyes are wide with curiosity. "How are you going to get that here? You don't have a car."

"They'll deliver it here, no worries."

"When will it come?"

I smirk at him through the corner of my eye. "So many questions," I complained teasingly, "it'll come when it's ready. Twenty minutes max."

Jimin sighs and pulls away from me. He eyes the cereal box for a beat. "I'm hungry right now..." he pouts and puts out his bottom lip. He casts me a saddened look, "I wanna eat..." his voice drawls with a babyish tone.

I stand up straighter, determined not to give in to his puppy dog eyes. Even if it's the cutest damn thing I've ever seen in my life. "Chill out, sweetheart, you can survive twenty minutes."

Jimin sighs in disappointment before pausing. He slowly grins, revealing his teeth, and leans closer to me, "What if I ate you?"

I stiffen from his strange comment. I scoff in disbelief, trying to suppress my rising blush, "Cheese and rice, you're so pushy," I complain and flick my wrist at him. "You can't eat me without consent."

Jimin laughs at me and falls onto my shoulder in his fit. He giggles as he clings onto my arm before finally breaking away, "You're so serious," he teases over his shoulder as he walks out of the kitchen. "Loosen up a little!" he calls.

I roll my eyes, still fighting my smile, and finish ordering the food. My head is spinning and it's not from the concussion. This boy might be the death of me if he keeps this up.

Instead of saving my life, I think he might have ended it.

The apartment falls quiet as Jimin settles into the living room. I stand alone in the kitchen and watch the setting sun cast slanted rays of light through my window. The pale gold of the sun causes my room to glow and shadow. The winter sun is setting earlier and earlier with each passing day.

In the moment of peace, I begin to contemplate my new life with Jimin, pondering on which rhythms we will fall into. I wonder about what we might learn about each other in the coming days.

For the first time in a while, I feel oddly comfortable around somebody my age or close to it. I don't consider anybody around me as my closest friend because I've kept my distance. It might be because my parents never allowed me to hang out with anybody so I avoided the issue by avoiding close relationships with others.

When I was young, my parents often used the prospect of hanging out with my friends as blackmail. That, or they'd force me to do extra chores only to add more things to do until the time to hang out has long passed. I lost friends that way and soon, I gave up on friends.

Even now as an adult, I struggle to make permanent friends. Friends I currently have don't feel permanent, and only serve as temporary influences in my life.

Jimin feels different.

It might be because we bonded over a traumatic experience, but I feel closer to him than anybody I have ever met.

That's a good thing, right? I question myself.

Not only that, I'm happy to be with him. So far, I like Jimin and his usually upbeat personality. Between his dark moments and worrying, I like him better than I like most people. He understands how I feel, and doesn't hesitate to tell me the truth about his thoughts. He's open, which is a trait to be admired.

We met under dangerous circumstances, but I found serendipity in meeting Jimin.

Fate brought us together, and I am curious to know what is in store for us.

A/N: Sorry for the late update! I had to study for two large exams and I ended up rewriting this chapter twice to figure out which direction it needed to take. I wanted to set up their relationship better since I realized they haven't been "normal" with each other in the hospital, aside from cuddle and talk about their trauma. I want to give you a reason to love them, not just tell you to love them and I hope this chapter did just that! And of course, even FF needs a reference to the member's solo song, or else I'd be doing it wrong. XD

I'm going to leave you in suspense... I told you to prepare yourself and I mean it : )