"Where were you? I called at least three times" 

After the second unsuccessful call, Jimin's mom sat in the living room wondering where her son went off to seeming stressed and tense. She did see Jungkook's car and was not surprised they were hanging out again after so long, what's making her worried is the fact that it's been 4 hours and 37 minutes exactly since sunset. It was late at night and neither Taehyung's mom or Yoongi saw her kid. Yes, she called to make sure. 

There he was, silently trying to make his way into his room and tiptoeing in the dark after removing his shoes, not noticing her glare until hearing her voice.

"Mom!... Hi" he awkwardly greeted, not stopping his tracks but rather doing his best to lock himself up in his room. 

"No, you're not going anywhere.. Why weren't you answering any of my calls I was worried for you" she scolded, her hand on his arm stopping him from moving any further. 

"I'm sorry, my phone was on silent mode and I didn't see your calls until I was on my way back" he sighed, relaxing his body and scratching his neck.

"Where did you go with Jungkook?"

"Just... This place... Around here"

"Details"

"It's just a quiet area he usually goes to so he took me with him. No big deal"

"And what were you two doing there? I hope you weren't smoking pot" she said with a little gasp making him chuckle.

"Do I smell like any of that to you? We were just chilling, talking about stuff" he explained and she hummed suspiciously before letting him go.

"I'm visiting Taehyung's mom tomorrow. Do you want to tag along?" she asked and he shook his head.

"I'll pass, I'm hanging out with them soon anyway" he smiled to himself as the door closed slowly. 

Running his mind on what happened only earlier, he couldn't believe he was so nervous about his feelings before.

---

"You looked pretty that night"

Jimin felt his heart flutter in his chest. What a pleasant feeling, he thought. They were still standing so close, eyes on each other, but this time Jimin was too flustered to maintain the setting. He brought his arms down to his sides, making Jungkook retrieve his as well.

"Complimenting me to get a reaction?" he muttered, looking away into the night.

"What if I say yes?" the other replied, wishing to capture his gaze again but not trying too hard either.

"I already told you how I feel Jungkook"

"And I believed you... I was just being honest"

"I don't believe you though" Jimin replied.

"What do you mean?"

"This underlying feeling for me you talked about, when did it even start?" he elaborated.

"Are you questioning my attraction towards you?"

"I'm just curious"

"I wouldn't know how to explain it myself. I felt nothing for you until I did, that's all there is to it"

"And you expect me to just buy that? You, the guy I never thought I could have."

"Willing to wait for me is already proof enough that you did"

"Don't be cocky. I just want to hear how I made it into your list of love interests"

"Who's cocky now? No one talked about love interests at all"

"Well you did plead for me to wait, didn't you"

They finally looked at each other again, smiling slightly at the challenge in their eyes. This is probably what Jimin liked most about the taller, he intrigued him. He was always around the corner with his snarky comments and unexpected remarks and it kept Jimin on his feet. Never bored, he would add. 

"Is that you trying to flirt with me, Park?" Jungkook scoffed.

"I would ask you the same thing Jeon" he replied as they chuckled together. Silence instilled itself around them one more time until it was broken. 

"I know myself cupcake" he started. Jimin raised his eyebrow and observed the other's expression as it changed ever so slightly.

"I will piss you off, you will want to punch me---although I doubt you'll reach" he joked "It won't be easy" he said balling his fists inside his pocket.

"Is this supposed to help your case? Because it's not" Jimin replied reaching to put a hand on Jungkook's shoulder, stopping him from moving away to the balcony. "Jungkook... Please answer me honestly"

"Sure"

"Will you be hurting me if I wait for you? I need to know because I don't want to go through that" He asked. He didn't understand, how was he planning to make him so angry?

"I don't want to, but I'm scared that might" he said "You and I are obviously very different, you're very close to your emotions and I'm not. There will be times when you will feel frustrated with me because of that, but just know that I'm trying my best" Jungkook explained.

"I can help you, but you will have to talk to me"

"You're too mature for your age. I'm almost embarrassed that I'm older" Jungkook chuckled at the situation making the other smile.

"It's your fault I'm saying this stuff" he weakly punched his back and joined him by the balcony.

"Should we go home?" Jungkook asked, pulling a stand of hair away from Jimin eye.

"Let's go"

---

The week after that, the Park home was going through a rough time. Jimin's dad had passed in those days the year prior, and the week was mainly spent honoring him and reminiscing the memories they had with him. 

Jimin barely spoke to anyone, he stayed with his mom not to make her feel lonely and did his best to cheer her up with home-cooked meals and movie marathons. He talked to his friends a few times, they knew about the anniversary and wanted to check on him so they had a group call one night. Without Jungkook of course. 

The college student talked to him on his own time, consoling him as best as he could. Their conversations were mainly in texts, late at night or very early morning. They both had messed up sleep schedules. 

Thankfully, the grey mood didn't last too long, and Jimin was able to go on about his routine again; school, work, weekly hangouts. Things went back to normal and he couldn't be more glad.

"Park, wanna team up with us for the chem project?" a classmate asked him as he was doodling on his notebook. 

"Hey Mike, I am actually teaming up with Ryujin" he said, making the girl in question turned to look at him suspiciously. 

"You are?" she asked, unsure. 

"Yes, sorry guys" he apologized pursing his lips, watching as they turned away and found their seats again. 

"Don't use me as an excuse Jimin" the girl warned him, not bothering to look his direction.

"I'm not, we really are teaming up. After all I am top of the class, it's a win-win situation" Jimin negotiated.

"I don't need you to get a good grade fortunately. Thanks for the offer anyway" she curtly replied.

"Hey... Ryujin" he nudged her, trying to get her full attention "I know I let you down---and I never really made it up to you" he started "But I really want to try. How about we go to the convenience store after class, get some snacks and hang out before my shift, it's on me" he suggested, hoping she would agree.

"Okay" she simply said after a few seconds of consideration. It was a start.

If Ryujin doesn't want anything to do with him now, she was probably right. Jimin knows she had feelings for him when he took her out on dates and spent so much time together, yet in the end he pushed her away like none of it mattered anymore. He broke her heart, and as his friends said, he played with her feelings. 

The girl had every right to treat him just as badly as he did her, but she was too kind for that. He wonders if she hasn't moved on yet. It had been four months since they last had an actual conversation and he really hoped she was able to forget him because he can't imagine the shock he will put her through if she eventually finds out the reason was Jeon.

"So... It's been a while since we talked, how are you?" she asked on their way out of the school gates.

"Since New Year's right?" he asked and she nodded "I've been well. To be honest I went through a lot of stress about something and it finally got solved so I'm feeling pretty good now" he admitted.

"College applications?" Ryujin wondered making him chuckle.

"It's not even that, the stress from applications hasn't hit me yet" he shook his head.

"Something with your family?" she inquired again. What else could be so important.

"No... It's just, the guys... Things weren't going really well and I was worried they wouldn't ever" he briefly replied, hoping she wouldn't be too interested.

"It's about Jungkook, isn't it" she sighed.

"Hm?" he asked, breath trapped in his throat.

"You know, I've been hanging out with Taehyung a lot these past months... He said he didn't have anybody to talk to lately and that he really needed it. I've known Tae for all my life and I had never seen him so sad about something" she started, the topic quickly taking a serious turn and holding his undivided attention.

"But he had us, he could talk to us if he'd liked" Jimin , his eyebrows slowly knitting on his forehead.

"Apparently there's only one person he trusts, the only one he loves enough to open up to about his problems. His cousin Jungkook" Ryujin had a feeling about this when seeing them together, but Tae recently admitted it to her. For the youngest to think of Jungkook that way, he must have impacted him quite a bit.

"And he hasn't really been around" Jimin muttered, feeling bad knowing his friend was so lonely.

"Yeah"

"So he went to you? No offence, but I believed he would be closer to one of us" 

"None taken... He said he can't go to Jin because he's not a good listener. Namjoon will try to convince him that things are the way they are for a reason, and will take everything else's side but his. He could talk to Hobi, but he doesn't want to burden him with his problems. Lastly, Yoongi will be too honest, and truth scares him" Ryujin explained, trying to remember Tae's reasons correctly.

"What about me... Does he not trust me at all?" Jimin asked, suddenly feeling offended.

"Well... he said -quote unquote- The only thing Jimin cares about lately is where Jungkook is or where he will be" she replied with pursed lips. 

What he wanted in the start of the year was to make friends and live his last year of high school with people he will make great memories with. He wasn't sure it would happen and he didn't want to set himself such high expectations not be disappointed later, but deep down that's all he really wanted. Now look at this, he did make great friends, and was single handedly ruining it by making them feel like he doesn't care about them. 

"That's not it I promise" he breathed out.

"It is for him... It seems like you were so open about your interest in Jungkook that it felt like you ditched the rest" the girl pointed out, clearly not aware of the surprise in Jimin's face. Half of Jimin's mind was trying to think about Taehyung, but the other half was stuck on Ryujin and why it sounded like she knew something. 

He shouldn't ask, he shouldn't push deeper, it is not the focus right now. He should care more about his friend and find out how to make it up to him. 

"My interest in Jungkook?"

Yet again, he puts Jungkook first in every conversation. 

"He has that effect on people. The more you get to know him the more he intrigues you, and so the more you want the solve his puzzle. He is indeed a complex guy, and I assure you, trying to figure him out is going to take all your energy" she said with a small chuckle.

"Good thing I'm motivated"

"As much as I would like to defend Jungkook, he's not the most reliable person. After talking to Tae, I understood that he will abandon people if it means helping himself" She wasn't sure if telling Jimin all this was a good idea, because after all, Tae didn't want to. But she figured that if he's is gonna fix things, he needs to know how to help.

"Jeon was just going through things... We all want some space when that happens" 

"Undeniably. Except most of Tae's problems come from him doing that"

"I wish he didn't feel that way"

"Me too... Either ways, Jungkook does deserve good things, and he has them. He just doesn't work hard enough on keeping them" she concluded.

"Has Tae told you what was wrong?"

"I tried to pull it out of him but he's adamant on only opening up to his cousin. He gave me very vague indications, pointing out that he felt lonely, and unimportant"

"I really have to talk some sense into him... I admit that I haven't been there for him lately, but it will be different from now on. I can't be telling Jungkook to rely on us if I'm not letting my friends rely on me" he shook his head. 

"Speaking of, there stands a very sad Taehyung behind the counter" she pointed out when they reached the convenience store.

"Looks like it's time to make amends -actually- not today. I promised you this, I can't turn it into a group therapy" he joked.

"No it's totally fine Jimin. Not that I don't want to stay with you, I just think he needs you more right now" she shrugged. 

"What about the snacks?"

"Buy me lunch sometime!" Ryujin smiled before walking away. He never thought talking to her again would make him feel so relieved, like a weight was lifted from his shoulders. 

"Hey Chim. Great timing, dad needs you in the back" Tae announced when Jimin rang the front door bell. 

He guesses the personal talk will have to wait for now. Walking to the backroom, he noticed the slight bruise on Taehyung's cheekbone. "Tae what-"

"Oh Jimin, you're here! Can you give me a hand with these boxes?" Tae's father chimed in and pulled him towards the new supplies. The image of his friend didn't leave his mind even as he worked on inventory, he wondered if someone hurt Tae of if he got into a fight willingly. He didn't hear anything about it in school so it probably wasn't another student, who else could it be?

"Have you talked to my son lately?" Mr. Kim said.

"He didn't open up to me, but I admit I didn't try hard enough" Jimin replied, the knit in his eyebrows showing the guilt he felt.

"He's different. He always gets himself in trouble, but these days it's almost as if he wants to" The man added, clearly worried about him too.

"What happened to his face? I didn't know he got into a fight" Jimin asked.

"Our neighbor's son... It happened Sunday, Taehyung thought he was playing video games too loudly" He explained. The disappointment present on his face as he shook his head. 

"Isn't he older than us?" Jimin asked, surprised for two reasons. One, Tae picked a fight with him fully knowing he would get his ass beat; the boy was very athletic and physically built, pretty much like Namjoon. Second, that dude fought a -barely- 18 year old boy.

"He is. Neal came to me later when Tae left for Yoongi's house, he apologized for hitting him and said he didn't have a choice. Tae kept looking for a fight, pushing and hitting him so he had to make him stop somehow" Mr. Kim replied "He is a good kid, and Tae was lucky to get out of it with a single bruise. If it was someone else I don't know what would've happened" he added.

"I promise I will talk to him Mr.Kim, I'll do all I can" he promised and watched the other nod.

"He doesn't tell us anything anymore, his mother and I have tried many times. I think he needs his friend" The older replied with a small smile. 

Or his cousin, Jimin thought and returned the smile, choosing to get back to work and finish as soon as possible, so he can spend time with him.

---

Going back to the friend group for a bit this time!

How are you guys? I hope you liked this chapter!

-Aida-