ACT X | SCENE XLIX

❝FEELINGS❞

SORA BRUSHED HER fingers through her hair, her eyes, though wide, shone with amusement. "so he kissed you." she glanced at jangmi's lips before looking at her eyes. the younger woman looked flustered by the information she had just given. "yes." she finally answered after a moment of silence.

the two were seated on a picnic blanket in the backyard of the im's home. heejun and rosalie were playing with blanche and heejun's puppy, scooby which was really mostly the kindergartners chasing after their pets so they wouldn't attack each other. heejun assured the older girl that the two animals would be friends by the end of the day. he was certain that they would grow as close as he and rosalie.

their mothers watched them, setting up the picnic. jangmi placed the jug of pink lemonade on the blanket, making sure it wouldn't tip over. "i still can't believe he kissed me." she watched the older woman move the tray of sandwiches further to the middle. "i'm not even sure what he was trying to do in the first place." she smoothened out the blanket and leaned back on her hands.

"you said it yourself, it wasn't intentional." sora held a hand open. jangmi groaned, throwing her head back. "i couldn't even say anything. i just stood there, staring." she admitted. "you were surprised. i get it. what i want to know is, did you like it?" sora leaned in, wiggling her brows. jangmi shot her a dry look. "it's actually an important question!" the older woman defended. "i need to know how you felt about it to be able to put in my own tuppence worth." her brown streaked caramel hair billowed in the breeze.

sighing, jangmi picked at the frayed hem of her jeans. "to be honest, it was barely a kiss. i don't know how i feel about it. i just feel really awkward about accidentally kissing my ex." she pulled out on thread, twisting it between her thumb and index finger. "well, then i'll just say this. it was an accident, so you brush it off as that. but if you even remotely liked your little accident, then it just became a big deal." sora told her.

wrapping the thread around her pinky, she sighed, watching how it began to change colour from the lack of blood flow. jangmi didn't know what she was feeling.

• • •

jimin knew he wasn't feeling the same amusement his friends were. the two men wouldn't stop laughing. jin was the only one who hadn't burst out laughing but even he didn't fight the smile that found its way to his face. rolling his eyes in annoyance, jimin made to leave. namjoon and taehyung stopped him halfway out of his chair, still laughing. "why are you laughing? this isn't even funny." jimin frowned at his cackling friends. "we're laughing because you're blowing this out of proportion." taehyung replied. "you said it wasn't on purpose right?"

jimin nodded. "then why are you fretting?" namjoon queried. "just apologise and tell her you didn't mean to kiss her. it's not that big a deal." he shrugged. "unless you actually hope it happens again." jin added quietly. all eyes shot to him. he was reclined on one of the beach chairs, sunglasses on, looking like he was not paying attention to the conversation. his brow lifted at the sudden silence. "did you not consider the possibility that the reason you're so bothered is because you didn't mind that it happened?"

now three pairs of eyes were on jimin who had his mouth wide open. taehyung reached over from his beach chair and pushed his chin up to close his mouth. "you don't want to swallow a fly." he muttered, reclining again. "so?" namjoon raised his brows. "do you feel like it was a happy accident?" he urged. jimin got on his feet and paced the edge of the pool.

"you know the fact that it's taking you this long to pull out an answer says a lot." jin remarked, taking a sip of his mojito. taehyung bobbed his head in agreement. "he's right, jimin. i think maybe you still have feelings for jangmi." namjoon offered. jimin froze for a moment before he turned to his older friend. "what?" his voice was so breathy, they barely picked up the word. taehyung glanced down at his friend's feet. "you're going to fall if you aren't careful." he eyed the distance between jimin's feet and the edge of the pool.

"fall in love?" jimin glanced at him. he pressed his lips together to stop his emerging grin. "that too." he replied, still expecting jimin to fall over any second. "i-i'm not falling in love with her again." jimin denied. "because you never stopped." jin supplied, examining his nails. "why does everyone keep saying this?" jimin ran his fingers through his hair. "because it's true?" namjoon shot him a look.

"okay, let's say that it's true, that i'm still in love with jangmi. she definitely doesn't feel the same. or maybe she does, how would it work? the two of us, we have too much history for it to ever work. and if we try anyways and fail, how will that make rosalie feel?" he began to pace again. "well then, as we have been saying over and over again, the two of you should talk things through so you can move past everything that happened." namjoon answered. "what if she doesn't want to talk about it?" jimin asked softly. "i feel like she's not the only one who doesn't want to talk about it." jin sang out, taking another sip of his drink.

jimin twisted around on his toes to face them. "you know, it's not as easy you th—" the three men watched with wide eyes as he tumbled backwards and into the pool. taehyung grinned wide as jimin came up for air, splashing wildly. "that's exactly how you fell for her."

☀☀☀

sneak peek:

"so what is it that couldn't wait till the sun came up again?" she dropped into the couch she usually sat in, pulling her feet up so she sat tailor-fashion. instead of sitting in the opposite couch where he usually found himself, jimin pulled up rosalie's cushion and sat directly in front of jangmi.

valentine's special anyone?