⊱Je t'aime encore⊰

I still love you

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Lately, Jimin was almost always working or practicing that our times spent together were shorter and shorter. Just as he said, scandals happened around him every once in a while. But he was always in demand. Everywhere I went, I saw his face on wide displays.

I could always visit his apartment next to mine whenever I needed. Whenever he left something of his during his short visit at ours. Grumbling about how annoying it was to drag his stuff to him, I grabbed his designer bag that was left at the kitchen table and walked to his door before banging on it.

"You really should stop being a forgetful pain in the ass, Chim!"

When the door swung open, I froze in place when someone who wasn't Jimin stood before me. Her thin eyebrows were knotted in displeasure, face contorted in rage, making the wrinkles around her eyes and mouth more prominent. Those eyes... They looked familiar.

"Who are you?" Icy, distant voice spoke sharply straight to my head, making me stiffen. She was definitely angry.

"Um... I'm... I'm J-Jimin's friend... a-and neighbor," I stammered, barely above a whisper, before my eyes drifted sideways in apprehension.

They widened when I saw Jimin a little further away, standing small with an indiscernible expression. Tear stained cheeks and dead looking eyes... he didn't seem like himself, it made panic rise in my chest.

I looked back at the older woman in front of me, furious. "Who are you?"

"I'm Jimin's mother," she stated just as coldly as if I was sticking my nose where it didn't belong. "What business do you have with him? We're busy."

Mother? What could possibly be happening in their family that Jimin seemed nothing like his usual self? I thought his family was warm and loving like the media showed.

"Leave," Jimin suddenly uttered, voice broken. "Both of you, leave my house right now. I don't want to spend a single more second with you!"

His mother turned around to say, "What kind of a son throws out his own parents?! You've become such an ungrateful brat, it's shocking."

Jimin covered his face with his hands and let out a broken sob before shouting, "Leave!"

I was shocked but I couldn't move my muscles. Paralyzed. His father was there, too, and he angrily asked him what they did except ask for more money and that it was only right that Jimin paid them back for raising him.

"I already gave you millions but you will want billions more. And if I give you billions, you'll want trillions more. I can't-" Jimin hiccuped and my heart squeezed in pain. "I can't do this again. Please just leave me alone. Please."

"You're being ridiculous!" His mother cried out in disbelief but it only spurred him more.

"You never cared about me. You only cared about how much I made and how much I sent you. You never asked about how I was doing. How tired I could be. How much pressure I was under. How much hate I got from the public. How lonely I could be. How much I could be missing some warmth from his own parents. Just a call, just an 'are you feeling okay' instead of 'we ran out of money, you forgot to send us again'!"

I remembered people talking about how his parents didn't visit his grave after he died. Instead, they were in Dubai and people only assumed they mourned in private there.

"I never asked you for anything," Jimin whimpered in defeat. "I just wanted... to be loved... I don't know."

Tears dropped down from my eyes unknowingly. I never knew. No one knew. Living through this again must had been too much for him that he just broke down this time. I couldn't imagine how painful it was to him. It was partially my fault that I pushed him back to his past.

His parents had no trace of guilt, only disappointment as they glared down at him and it snapped me when they voiced it out. "Don't be such a child, throwing stupid tantrums," his mother ended.

I slammed the door to the wall, stomping inside the apartment, and stood in front of Jimin, facing his parents with fury burning in my eyes. "No parent should invalidate their child's feelings like this. If you think his words made no sense, there's something terribly wrong with you two. You don't deserve to be parents. And you definitely don't have the rights to demand him for anything."

"Excuse me, who are you even?" His father frowned.

"Someone with enough common sense to know what's wrong. And the least you can do now is leave. Or do you still have things to say after everything?"

The two of them stayed silent and eyed Jimin behind me for a while. They had said enough. They wouldn't listen further, either. Not now. Maybe not even soon.

Wearing displeased expressions, his parents left us and a thud sounded behind me not long after. I whirled around to see Jimin on his knees with his hair clutched in his hands. With a heavy heart, I crouched down beside him and patted his back before rubbing it as a means to soothe him. I never saw him like this and I didn't know what to do.

"Do you... Do you want... water?"

I hissed at how stupid I sounded but he heaved a sigh and shook his head. "I just need to take some breaths."

"S-Sure, I just..." I pursed my lips. "I'm sorry if I overstepped some boundaries. I couldn't stand there and ignore this."

"It's okay," he breathed out, looking at me from under his tear stained lashes. "I'm... I'm glad you came in."

I expected him to throw me out, too, but I didn't expect that. I didn't know what came over me when I moved closer to wrap my arms around him. But it didn't last long as the time skipped and I was in a classroom with children looking up at me with curious eyes.

No, not me. The man beside me.

"He's like a prince!" The girls squealed while I stood there, dumbfounded that Jimin was there with me at the foster homes during my teaching sessions.

One of them raised their hand and grinned so adorably. "Are you Miss Jung's boyfriend?"

"No he's not," I quickly denied, still stupefied.

Almost all of the children exclaimed in disappointment and chattered among themselves before Jimin squeaked out a laugh and stepped forward to properly introduce himself. "Hello, lovelies. My name is Park Jimin and I'm excited to be teaching you with Saejin today."

His eyes sparkled with pure happiness and he looked the softest I had seen him. I didn't know how we ended up there but he was enjoying every second of it. He was stuck to the children like a happy glue, jumping from one child's side to the other's to explain what I taught in detail whenever they asked questions. His pink pillowy lips were pushed out into pouts when the children were frustrated. He patiently listened to every word and gently patted their heads when they finally got it right.

It was a rare sight. Him taking care of children so sweetly. I hoped it served as a little break from the busy celebrity life of his.

"Big sister, do you like Mister Jimin?" The girl whose work I was marking suddenly asked, making me stutter.

"I-I- Why do you- I mean, I don't-"

"You looked like you like him," she giggled, definitely amused by my flustered state, making me pinch her plump cheek. "I think he likes you, too."

"Don't be ridiculous." I laughed, handing her notebook back and watching her back as she walked away before my eyes drifted to the man talking to a boy and being so attentive, it looked so affectionate.

Ridiculous. There was no way.

The sessions ended sooner than I wanted and I realized how much I had missed this. I might had wanted it to last longer because Jimin was there, too. He was enjoying it more than me.

We were walking to our apartments and luckily, there were no other people around to cause a commotion from seeing a celebrity out in the open. Jimin was still by my side.

"You know you always follow me around. I might think you have a crush on me," I joked, subtly questioning why we were almost always together.

There was a pause and then, a soft voice. "What if I do?"

Slightly panicking, I brushed it off with a snort. "Nice joke."

"I'm not joking."

My lips twitched and I looked at him. The air between us was a little too serious that I had to stop walking and stopping him as well. "How can you not be joking? You can't have feelings for me."

He challenged my gaze with a rather tender one, scaring me. "Why not?"

"It's... It's wrong. We're not humans."

He shrugged. "But we are right now."

I shook my head, trying to dispel the thought. "But it's still wrong."

"How so?" He stepped closer, a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"I... I don't know." I rubbed my arm, feeling too vulnerable. The way he was standing so close to me that I couldn't look at him in the eyes and the way his voice was too tender that I didn't know what to think. "It just is."

"It didn't stop me. It never did. I have had feelings for you for a long time now and I was terrified. I knew you'd reject me and I knew things would never work out between us... but I still love you... And I'm afraid that might never change." He hung his head in defeat, laying down his heart for me, making my breath catch in my throat. A pained smile tugged his lips. "At least now that I'm human, I have some courage to admit what I've been wanting to say for so long."

I whimpered, "Jimin, you can't be serious."

"Please don't treat my feelings as a joke, Sae," he whispered as if I hurt him. "It's terrifying as it is."

It was all too much. My heart was pounding in my ears and my whole body was quivering with jitters. I turned around to inhale a much needed deep breath and tried to make sense of my thoughts and feelings.

"Jimin, I-" I gasped when I heard a loud thud behind me and I spun around to find him unconscious on the ground.

"J-Jimin?" I fell beside him, grabbing his face to shake him awake. "Jimin! Jimin, please wake up!"

The whole world was spinning in a blur. My breathing turned shallow, hands shaking in terror. He was still not opening his eyes.

"Jimin!"

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What a long long chapter... I've been squeezing myself to write more and successfully delivered many chapters in a short time 🥰

Don't forget to punch that star button for that ✨

Thank you for reading 🌸