ACT VI | SCENE XXVI

❝BOTTLE CAPS❞

BEER SPURTED OUT of taehyung's mouth and nostrils. he coughed, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket, dabbing it at his face. "what did you say?" he choked out. "i told you. she had a caesarean because she could've lost her life giving birth." jimin replied, eyeing him warily.

"and she hasn't mentioned it all this time?" he asked, eyes wide. jimin shook his head. "never." he answered quietly. "you guys never talk beyond your arguing anyway." taehyung remarked, voice low. he shifted the bottle in front of him to the side, leaning back with a sigh.

"i told you before. there's a whole lot that you and jangmi need to talk about. your relationship is already horrible, and you two are only standing each other because of rosalie. can't you just one up it and try to be friends for your daughter's sake?"

jimin sighed, running his hand over his face as he rested his back on his chair. just as he opened his mouth to speak, the chair next to taehyung scraped against the floor. "sorry, i'm late." namjoon replied. "what took you so long? were you distracted by jangmi's foreign friend again?" taehyung folded his arms over his chest.

"i was with my boss." namjoon rolled his eyes at his younger friend. "now what did i miss?" he uncapped one of the unopened beer bottles. "you might want to hold off on that for now." taehyung blocked him from putting the bottle to his lips.

"your girlfriend–" jimin started only to be cut off by namjoon. "she's not my girlfriend yet." he stated. "'yet'." taehyung noted with a playful smile. "brigitte told me today that jangmi could've died giving birth to rosalie."

"say what now?" namjoon leaned forward. "apparently, she'd had to have a caesarean because of complications." taehyung chipped in. "and you're just finding this out?" namjoon shifted his gaze back to jimin who nodded.

"don't you guys talk? i mean, at some point you would've asked her about the whole nine month period." his brows rose higher on his face. "no, all they do is fight with short intermittent discussions about rosalie or how not to get married." taehyung commented.

"we've barely spoken lately. after rosalie's birthday on saturday, we only spoke today when she asked me if i could pick her up from school." jimin admitted. "you two need to fix your issues. you have too many." namjoon told him.

"we've always had issues." jimin replied, spinning the bottle of beer in his hand on the table. "and look where not addressing them from the beginning got you." taehyung remarked. "a broken relationship, four-year absence from my daughter's life and something of a bad blood with the mother of my child. i get it."

"if you do, then why are you making the same mistakes you did five years ago?" namjoon asked him seriously. "at least be friends even if nothing more. you two need to have a better relationship." he took a sip of his beer. "that's what i said! but does this bonehead ever listen?" taehyung gestured to jimin.

"i don't think she cares for it though." jimin remarked. "at rosalie's birthday, i tried to talk to her, you know, about the way my mum's forcing nari on me. she said she didn't care and if i wanted to get away from her that badly, i should just do the same thing i did to her."

both his friends winced. "yikes." taehyung commented the same time namjoon let out an "ouch." he sighed resting his elbows on the table. "to be fair, at your current relationship status, she was probably not the best person to lay your complaints on."

"but, i don't think you're right when you said she probably doesn't care for being friends." taehyung put in. "you said she willingly showed you pictures and videos of rosalie, right? all those pivotal moments you missed, she got you to experience them somehow, yeah? and of her own volition too, hmm?"

jimin nodded, fixing his gaze on an overturned bottle cap. he stared at it as he listened to his friend speak. "and this was after you guys had that whole argument about you missing out on four years of rosalie's life, am i right?" he nodded again.

"i see where taehyung is going with this. after that argument, she'd obviously tried to understand your point of view and attempted to make up for it by showing you those. you know she could have decided to never let you see them? but she didn't. i think you should try doing the same. listen. even when you two are butting heads as usual, pay attention, try to understand her. and extend an olive branch."

jimin blew air out his mouth, letting his index finger press down on the rim of the bottle cap until it flipped around. "i guess you're right." he mumbled. "she keeps harping on how she'd been embarrassed when she came to tell me about her pregnancy and i always just felt it had to do with her pride but now i think it's way more than that."

he moved on to another bottle cap, flipping it over as well. it was slowly turning into a game for him as he began to flip bottle caps on the table. his two friends watched him for a moment before taehyung spoke up. "then you should talk to her about it."

"what if she doesn't want to talk about it?" he mused. namjoon stopped him from flipping another cap only to flip it himself. he watched it whirl around for a second. "you'll never know until you try."

☀☀☀

i'm writing a christmas special which i don't usually do, but because you guys are truly awesome and i love every one of you that is reading this story, i am! it's kind of my way of thanking you guys for all the support you've shown this story. it will stand alone from the entire story so when it's out don't let it confuse you. and if there's anything you'd like to see in the special, let me know in the comments! plus, i was thinking a q&a session for the characters much later in the story?? idk but if you'd like that, you can tell me in the comments.
thank you for 500+ votes and 5k reads! i love you guys - t