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[chapter has been slightly edited because some hoes were acting up. By hoes, I mean Rae]

"Rae, honey wake up."

My eyes slowly blinked open as I heard my mother's faint voice beside me. She held a glass of water in her hand, setting it on my night stand.

"It's almost two in the afternoon." She brushed my hair back.

I yawned, sitting up from the comfortable position I was in seconds ago. "I slept late."

"We came home at nine, and found you laying in your bed." My mother narrowed her eyes.

"I was busy thinking." I shrugged my shoulders, as I moved the covers from my legs.

"About?" She raised her brows.

"I don't know, life?" I pushed my door open, running the down the stairs to put on my shoes.

"Aurelia, don't just run off while I'm speaking to you." My mother crossed her arms as she angrily walked down the steps. "Oh, do you care to explain why one of the table legs is broken?"

I scratched my head. "I really don't know."

"Oh, so it just magically broke by itself." She threw her hands into the air.

"Probably." I mumbled, crouching down to tie my shoe laces.

"Where are you going?" My mother lowered her brows as she just noticed me tying my shoes.

"I completely forgot about Brooke's dance audition is today." I grabbed the edge of the couch to help me stand, quickly tossing on my jacket.

"Brooke dances?" She pursed her lips.

"Apparently." I mumbled as I opened the garage door. "Where's Phoenix's old helmet?" I asked, rummaging through a storage bin labeled with my younger brother's name.

"It should be near the tire equipment." My mother pointed at the clutter of tools and supplied. "Why?"

"I have to bike there." I snapped the helmet on my head, watching my mom hysterically laugh as it covered my eyes.

"Why can't I just drop you off?" She offered.

"Dad took your car out for an inspection—and I'm late." I panicked as I looked down at my watch.

"Be safe." She kissed the top of my head as I rushed out the front door.

I unlocked the chain that held my bike to the porch, trying to sit on the fucked up seat. I let out a deep breathe, watching the cloud of air emerge before my eyes. I nearly swerved off my driveway, biking down the street and possibly annoying millions of cars.

The dance audition is being held at our school, so it's not too far of a destination. Brooke has always been a talented dancer, because of her teacher, Hoseok. A college nearby is starting auditions for a new dance program for next year. Hoseok begged her to go, although Brooke thought she wasn't good enough.

I switched over to the sidewalk, trying to keep myself alive in the ridiculous traffic. I waited patiently beside other pedestrians, waiting for the walk sign, so they could get across the street safely. A car slowly pulled up beside me, and the windows were rolled down, revealing Jungkook and a couple of his idiotic friends.

"Is that who I think it is?" He sarcastically asked as he quickly blinked his eyes.

I scrunched my nose, angrily pouting as Jungkook and his friends continued to laugh. I looked forward, trying to focus on the light. Jungkook honked his horn about five times, trying to get my attention.

"Rae—!" Jungkook cupped his hands around his mouth. "Did your mommy make you wear that helmet?"

"Very funny." I gave him a fake smile, turning my attention back to the light as people began to walk. I biked away from his car, taking a sharp turn to the school building.

I threw my bike behind a bush, hoping no one would be interested enough to steal it. The music could be heard from where I stood, only making me panic even more. I pushed the doors open, and rushed through the hall, trying to find the auditorium. I silently walked in, not wanting to interrupt the person auditioning. Brooke's eyes landed on mine and she quickly ran to me, pulling me into a hug.

"I'm so happy you made it." Brooke panted as she smiled. "I would've been doing this shit alone."

I gave her an odd look, lowering a brow. "What do mean?"

"Well—" She bit her bottom lip. "Hoseok couldn't make it. He was supposed to be my dance partner."

"I'm so sorry that happened." I softly patted Brooke's back. "There's always next year."

"Actually." Brooke pulled my arm back. "I was hoping you would do it with me."

I gave her a suppressed chuckle, playfully punching her shoulder. "You're funny."

"It's the same dance routine I did a million times in your room." She pleaded, trying to convince me. "I have seen you do it, and you're amazing."

I sighed, glancing over my shoulder. The girl on stage was finishing up her act, which meant Brooke was going next. I pushed my tongue against my cheek. "Just know I'm only doing it because you're my best friend."

"I love you—!" Brooke screamed as she pulled me into a quick hug.

"Audition twenty six?" The man spoke into the microphone.

Brooke looked down at her card and widened her eyes. "That's us."

I gulped, regretting ever saying yes to her. I'm not a good dancer like Brooke is. Sure, I can memorize the steps easily, but that doesn't mean I can make it look good.

We rushed towards the stage, pushing past the standing camera crew. Brooke stood in the center, glaring at me as she looked over her shoulder. I slowly walked forward, standing beside her.

"Your audition song please?" The man tapped his pen.

Brooke smiled as she answered. "I wanna dance with somebody by Whitney Houston."

I stretched my arms, casually standing by Brooke as we waited for the music to begin. The tape played, filling the auditorium with music. I'd occasionally glance back and forth at her, following her moves. Brooke is known to dance with power and emotion, just like her boyfriend Hoseok. I went through the routine smoothly and easily, not really focusing on perfecting the moves, but getting it over with instead.

I quickly glanced up at the judges, trying to read their facial expressions as they carefully observed Brooke dance. I turned my eyes, catching a pair of familiar eyes. My face turned expressionless, pale like a ghost. Jimin and Yoongi were slumped against the wall, watching the whole time. He dropped his eyes momentarily, and an ambiguous smile played on his lips.

This can't be happening right now, I quietly thought to myself as I forcefully finished the routine. Brooke panted as the tape stopped, and light applaud filled the auditorium. I gave her quick side hug, moving back to the center stage.

"You two showed me more enthusiasm and energy then any audition I've ever seen." One of the judges spoke, smiling brightly. "Thank you for the audition girls, you'll definitely here back from us"

"Thank you." Brooke couldn't help but giggle as she uncontrollably smiled.

I grabbed her arm, lightly pulling her backstage, before giving her a bear hug. "I told you they'd love you."

"When did you say that?" Brooke laughed as she raised her brows.

"Well, now I'm saying it." I punched her shoulder as we walked down the steps, and out the side door.

"What about you?" Brooke turned to me. "You kicked ass out there—!"

"Thanks." I sarcastically smiled, before I felt two arms pull me into a hug.

"You two killed it!" Heather cheered, as she turned to hug Brooke.

"Thanks girlie." Brooke gave her a cute smile, before glancing over at me. "We should probably get going, you have work right—?"

I sighed, briefly shutting my eyes. "Y-yeah, I completely forgot."

"How'd you get here anyways?" Brooke pursed her lips as she asked.

"My brothers old bike."

"You kept it?" Brooke quietly whispered.

"Yeah." I shrugged my shoulders. "We can't get rid of everything that happens to have his name on it."

She gave me an apologetic pout. "Let's go, I'll take you to work."

"I'll schedule a girls night." I promised Heather as we said our goodbyes. "I'll even invite Dolly if you guys want."

The both gave me a strange look.

"What—? She's a nice girl." I whined, before getting dragged away by Brooke.

ɪᴄᴇ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴍ sʜᴏᴘ

I lifted my brothers old bike from Brooke's trunk, carrying the lock in my right hand. I tied placed it in the bike rack, locking it to the metal bar. This was the only transportation system I really had for this afternoon. I would ask Brooke to pick me up, but I want her to celebrate her audition with her family.

"See ya." I gave her a pathetic smile, before walking towards the shop.

I saw my manager, Amanda, serving a couple of younger kids and their mother. She glared at me as soon as I walked through the door. I couldn't have possible done anything wrong—I just got here.

"I know that look." I lowered my brows at her. "It's not a happy look."

"How could I be happy when you and Jimin decided to leave in the middle of your shifts last week?"

My mouth quickly parted. "Shit, I actually forgot about that."

Amanda raised her brow. "Oh, you forgot." She air quoted. "You know I'm starting to think that Jimin's ignorance is rubbing off on you."

"Listen." I held my hands in front of me. "I'm so sorry that ever happened. It was irresponsible of me and I promise I will never to it again. Please don't fire me." I begged, brining my hands together.

"I'm not gonna fire you—" She pursed her lips. "At least not yet."

"I don't want to hear a word of excuses from you mister." Amanda scolded Jimin as he innocently walked through the door.

"I—

"Zip it." Amanda frowned at him. "I can't believe you dragged this poor girl into leaving work when you know it's your rebellious words that control her."

I bit my lip as she yelled at him. "A-Amanda."

"Yes?" She slowly turned to me.

"It's not fair to put the blame on him, when we both planned to leave together. I'm just as much at fault as he is." I explained, averting my eyes from her to the floor.

"If that's the case, then let this be a lesson to both of you." Amanda stepped closer. "There are twenty eight new ice cream flavors. I want them all moved to containers by three pm."

"Yes ma'am." I quickly nodded.

"Alright, go." She playfully pushed us into the back room.

I wasn't going to waste any more time, and grabbed a spoon along with one of the buckets. Jimin silently worked beside me, doing his own job. I lifted the lid and literally stabbed the mint ice cream with my spoon. I grabbed onto the spoon's stubborn handle, trying to scoop it out. I pulled with both my hands, using every muscle in my body to get the spoon out of the frozen ice cream. I finally gave up, releasing the metal handle. Jimin was already on his third container, as he easily went through each one.

A loud sigh from my lips caught his attention as he glanced over at me. I innocently looked up at him, hoping he'd notice my dilemma.

"What's wrong?" He calmly asked, turning to me.

"The spoon's stuck." I mumbled as quietly as possible.

Jimin stepped closer to me. "I can't hear you."

"The spoon is stuck." I hid my red face. "Can you take it out." I continued to mumble.

A light chuckled escaped from Jimin's lips, as he blissfully smiled. "Sure."

I moved aside, letting him take my place. This had to be the most embarrassing thing to happen this week. Jimin easily pushed the handle froward, wedging the spoon out of the ice cream. I bit my bottom lip as my cheeks naturally reddened. The corners of his lips slightly rose as he held out the bent spoon. I slowly lifted my hand, taking the mangled spoon from him.

"Thanks."

"Rae." Jimin frustratedly muttered my name. "I can't stand seeing you like this."

"Like what—?" I turned myself around, grabbing a new spoon from one of the drawers.

"You know what I'm taking about." His lips formed into a straight line. "You never gave me a chance to explain."

I slowly stopped, taking a deep breath in as I turned my body to him. "I don't want an explanation from you."

"Then what do you want—?"

"Nothing." I shrugged my shoulders, as I gave him a suppressed laugh. "I don't want anything to do with you. It's not that different from how we were just two months ago, when we never spoke or wanted to associate with one another other—or when you were always embarrassed to be seen in public with me because you were too busy trying to keep up this perfect image. I'm sick of it Jimin. we're clearly not meant to be together, let alone be friends."

"The way I felt for you before isn't the same as how I feel for you now." Jimin slightly raised his voice as he tried to explain. "Things changed."

"Jimin, you clearly don't have your eyes set on me." I gave him a pathetic smile. "Listen, if I was one of your little side hoe's, I'd probably be foolish enough to forgive you and even believe your words. I'm not like that Jimin, and it's disappointing to think you see me as some vulnerable idiot, just because I was actually trying to be your friend."

"Rae." Jimin grabbed my face. "I'm not leaving until you listen to me."

I stayed silent, letting him know I would listen.

"The girl you met, isn't really my girlfriend. Our story has a lot more depth than that. I won't lie to you about anything, okay?" He moved his hands down to mine. "I met her around 5 months ago, when she was diagnosed with leukemia."

okay, wtf is going on in the comments. Y'all need to really check yourselves because this is immature as fuck. First of all, having Leukemia isn't humorous at all, so I don't get what's funny. Second, I apologize if anyone is offended by these comments, I didn't even notice them until this morning. Cancer is not a joke, and I didn't intend for people to react this way. I was inspired by the movie A walk to Remember for this scene and meant no harm. Again, I do NOT tolerate people being childish and disrespectful to a fucking illness. Like, grow tf up please.

I tilted my head to the side, lowering my brows as I immensely focused on his words.

"We met in a therapy group a couple months ago. I remember her introducing herself as the girl who had cancer. I felt so pathetic and greedy, sitting there complaining while she had more problems than any one in that room did."

"Jimin." I worriedly reached for his shoulders. "Why were you in therapy."

I bit down on my lip as I noticed him slowly look at the floor. The room fell into a tensioned silence, but I didn't mind. Jimin glanced at me, giving a hollow laugh as he tilted his head. "I had a really bad fight with my dad that night. He wasn't living with us, but he still had partial custody over me since I was only a minor. I remember stealing his keys on the way out of my house, since he kicked me out and told me I was never allowed back."

I glanced into his hurt eyes, knowing it was hard for him to continue speaking.

"I drove all the way to a nearby gas station, and just sat in the car." Jimin recalled the exact day. "It was around three in the morning when I decided I was gonna end my life."

My lips trembled as I looked into his soft eyes. I could tell Jimin was trying hard to hold himself together. This is harder for him to say than it is for me to hear.

"I left the car, and walked towards the nearest bridge in Brooklyn—stepped on the ledge, and jumped."

I brought my lips together, letting my tears soak his shirt as I pulled him in for a hug. Jimin rested his cheek against mine as he closed his eyes, listening to me sob with my stuffy nose. "I'm so happy you're here." My eyes began to heavily swell up, as they flooded with tears.

I felt Jimin lift his head, holding my face in his steady hands. "I'm so sorry Rae."

I looked at him with sympathetic eyes. "Don't be, Jimin. You know, we're not dating. You have every right to date who ever you want. I shouldn't have reacted that way. If anything, I'm sorry."

"That's why I'm here Rae." Jimin whispered as he gently pulled me into his arms. "I need to explain everything to you."

guYs , tHe eXplaNatiOn iS iN tHe nExt cHapTer

AUTHORS NOTE

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I have two new books, so if you haven't read them yet, feel free
to check them out. See you at the next update.
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