Y/N'S POV

"Y/N? Why are you back so soon? Weren't you on a date with Hyunwoo?" My sister mouthed softly, confusion evident on her face as she opened the door to let me in.

"Don't mention him in front of me from now on." I answered, entering the house but her eyes were already on somebody behind me, widening with each passing second.

"Yah, why is he following you here?" She whispered harshly, pulling me to the side as Jimin stepped inside with a sheepish expression.

Initially, he hadn't wanted to spend the night at my house but knowing how his strict father was going to react to his late arrival, I had finally persuaded him to follow me to my house and stay for the night. Not in my room of course, since I was sharing my room with my sister until she was here.

"Eonni please, I'll explain everything. Just let him crash here for the night." I gave her my best meaningful look before steering in Jimin by his arm.

"You're going to have to sleep in the living room. Take the couch." I whispered hurriedly to him as he nodded looking a bit confused. I raised my eyebrows, pulling my lips into a thin line, urging him to quietly do as I said. "I'll bring you a blanket and a pillow later."

"Y/N, stop!" I could feel that my sister was growing impatient now. Normally, she wasn't the kind of person to make an issue of things but it seemed she couldn't hold back tonight.

The way Jimin and I were once again on good terms and the way he had followed me here in the middle of the night without an invitation from my parents, looking all shabby and beat-up was surely going to raise some eyebrows.
And my sister was not an exception.

"I'm sorry but I don't understand why you're acting like this. So you better sit down here and explain things right now if you want him to stay the night." She looked at me pointedly, an air of unflinching finality in her tone.

"The least you can do is give me an answer!" She pressed. "I sent you on a blind date with Hyunwoo and you come back with Jimin? What in the world even happened? And how can you expect me to just let this boy stay when I know how much he-"

"Eonni!" I groaned in frustration, cutting her off before she and her careless words could worsen the situation even more.

Gosh, how I absolutely hated my life these days. When people didn't want explanations from me, didn't ask for them; I was over eager to go explaining myself and now that someone was outrightly asking for an explanation, I didn't want to give it.

"It wasn't a blind date at all. The only ones who were blind were you and me." I muttered wearily. Just like you'd said, I thought that he was a really nice guy as well but as it turned out...appearances aren't always trustworthy." I looked at her, feeling helpless. "Did you know what he did before he went to America?"

"No..." Joohee trailed off, visibly addled. "Why are you bringing that up though?"

"Eonni, he was a bully! An absolutely unconscientious one at that. When Jimin's mother died five years ago, Hyunwoo went around spreading rumors about the whole incident and bullied Jimin endlessly until he was finally suspended. He was hurriedly sent to the States when you were about to get married, doesn't that ring a bell?"

"I do vaguely remember something like that happening." My sister nodded, looking befuddled from the unexpected information. "I never expected Hyunwoo to do anything of that sort. He looked like a perfectly nice boy."

"Well, he's not." I distractedly gestured Jimin to go sit on the couch as he was just standing there awkwardly, watching our exchange wordlessly.

"Sure, one can think that five years in a foreign country can change a person but he's still just the same. When Jimin first interrupted our date, I was actually furious at him for acting so obsessively but you know what that bastard Hyunwoo said to him? You'll be shocked." I took in a deep breath, trying not to shake with anger. "That he should leave if he didn't want to end up like his dead mother!"

Joohee gasped, stealing a quick glance at Jimin who was still listening to the whole conversation expressionlessly. I could see he was still scarred by his mother's death. It was incredibly brave of him to put up with all of my sister's judgemental looks earlier even while knowing that whatever he did was just because he wanted to look out for me.

"That's not all." I breathed, lowering my head. "He actually tried to sneakily take pictures of me underneath the table." I confessed hesitantly, my eyes burning. "Jimin has his phone right now. He must have noticed something suspicious while he was walking in from behind Hyunwoo."

Shocked, Joohee whipped to look at Jimin, all colour draining from her face as he nodded in confirmation.

Clearly at a loss for words, my sister took me into her embrace, gently caressing my hair as my mind went back to the moment in the restaurant where Jimin, once he was done beating the shit out of Hyunwoo, had forcefully grabbed his phone out of his hands.

I had already been so shocked at the sudden one-eighty degree shift in Hyunwoo's demeanour that all I was able to do was to stare at the dark, lewd pictures that Jimin swiped through furiously before hurling the phone onto the floor, kicking and crushing it with his boots, looking absolutely murderous.

"You bloody piece of shit! How dare you!" Jimin had been enraged, if his emotions in that moment could even be put into words. He had looked ready to kill and that was the moment when I'd realised how wrong I'd been in doubting his intentions.

Yes, he was jealous and extremely bothered that I was meeting up with another guy but the reason he'd followed me up to Hyunwoo and I's meeting spot was because he had known just how much of a bastard Hyunwoo was and had been worried about me to the point of risking his own worth in my eyes.

He had thought of nothing, cared about nothing, but my safety. And in that moment, helplessly but inevitably, I had fallen for him...yet again.

"Y/N?" My sister's worried voice pulled me out of my reverie. I blinked, realising that my eyes were moist.

"Y-Yeah?"

"I've been asking you if you're alright for the past two minutes. What were you thinking?" She choked. "Don't cry, sweetie. Don't think about anything that happened. I'm so sorry. Eonni is so sorry. I was the one who insisted you go. It's not your fault, okay?"

I nodded, wiping my tears hurriedly. "Mhmm. You don't need to be sorry either, Eonni. You didn't know." I smiled gently as Joohee nodded and turned to Jimin, an apologetic expression on her face.

"And I should apologise to you too."

Jimin looked stunned as he shook his head embarrassed, looking nothing like the spoilt, filthy-mouthed brat I'd known for the past five years. He looked rather plain, handsome still, but very normal...the kind of guy I'd want to grab onto tightly and never let go.

"Please don't, noona." Jimin looked at my sister vehemently. "You really don't have to. Y/N is very important to you and I totally understand that."

"Yes, but I could never do...what you've done for her today and I cannot thank you enough for that." She whispered genuinely and my insides warmed up as Jimin responded with a rather happy smile of his own.

"I'll take that as your permission to stay here for the night." He grinned. "Is that alright?"

And just like that, he had my sister smiling too, as she nodded and walked towards my room but not before throwing the two of us a warning look. "Don't try anything funny though, you two. Because Y/N, I'll be waiting for you to return to your bedroom after you're done giving him the blankets."

"Ah Eonni!" I yelled embarrassed as she giggled and continued walking, leaving me standing blushing in front of a smug-looking Jimin.

"What?" I questioned bashfully as he shrugged amused.

"So are you bringing me my blankets, girlfriend?" He raised an eyebrow as I pouted.

"Who said I'm your girlfriend?" I rolled my eyes. "I only said I liked you."

"And that means you are my girlfriend!" Jimin defended as I scoffed. "Plus, you said you loved me." He pointed out.

"Yeah. As a friend." I shrugged nonchalantly, resisting the urge to run as Jimin narrowed his eyes. God, I was such a bad liar. "I don't know about you though. You looked pretty serious when you said you loved me."

"I love you." Jimin admitted without any hesitation, as if it was the easiest thing to say. "Not as a friend either." He clarified confidently.

I gulped. "Yah, how can you...h-how can you just say that so upfront? Don't you have any filter?"

"I'm simply stating a fact. Facts don't need filters." My eyes widened as I saw him motioning me towards him with his fingers. His expressions were smug when he gripped my wrist and pulled me down into his lap.

With a bated breath I waited as he brushed my hair to the side before placing his chin on my shoulder, his lips brushing my earlobe. "My thoughts on the other hand, do need a filter because—" he kissed the spot right underneath my ear, making me shiver. "—you are an innocent baby."