9 | confessions and candour

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

Y/N'S POV

"Are you alright?" Tentatively biting on my lower lip, I stole a glance at Jimin who was now getting his knuckles wrapped up at a nearby pharmacy.

"Why do you care?" He responded coldly, wincing slightly as the pharmacist put disinfectant on his wounds. "I'm just a bastard who took advantage of you."

I sighed. "My sister strongly vouched for him. How could I have known that Hyunwoo was a bully five years ago? He seemed perfectly nice on the outside."

"Exactly." Jimin rolled his eyes. "Not everyone who seems nice on the outside is actually nice and not everyone who seems like a 'jerk' on the outside is actually one." He emphasised.

"Well, he didn't exactly make it easy for me to tell how malicious he really was." I defended myself. "Just like you keep making it difficult for me to stay by your side by acting like an obsessed, toxic ex-boyfriend."

"I think I can understand why Joohee noona didn't know anything about his dirty past though." Jimin looked at me. "Hyunwoo is her husband's first cousin and she's only gotten to know him in the last few months, after he returned from America."

I frowned, confused as Jimin explained further. "Well, Hyunwoo and a few other students were suspended from our school for spreading rumors about my mother's death. Your sister was to get married at that time, so her husband's family quickly sent Hyunwoo to the USA so as to not ruin his citizen record and also to prevent the marriage from being called off." He smiled grimly.

"Because Joohee noona's husband is nothing like his cousin, they didn't want Hyunwoo's actions to badly influence their eldest heir's life."

I nodded. That made a lot of sense. Eonni had married into a rich house, so it was obvious they wouldn't have wanted their family's reputation to be harmed. "But why didn't I know Hyunwoo?" I asked. "If he was in the same middle school as us, I should have at least recognised his name."

Jimin smirked. "You were way too obsessed with me to pay attention to any other boys. Plus, you're kind of dumb."

"Yah!" I pushed him offended, pulling back hesitantly as he groaned in pain causing the pharmacist to shoot me a reproving frown.

As we walked out of the pharmacy, another question bothered me. I pursed my lips.

"Just ask." Jimin rolled his eyes.

I bit my lip, embarrassed. "How did you know that I was on a date with Hyunwoo?Perhaps...wait! You weren't eavesdropping on me again, were you? That's so stalker-like!"

Jimin shrugged. "I don't try to eavesdrop. It's your fault you always leave your window open."

"And what happened to you not showing your face to me?" I stared at him. "I thought I asked you to never bother me again?"

"Am I bothering you now?"

"You are showing me your face though." I pointed out without a heartbeat's hesitation. Halting, I crossed my arms and faced him.

"Tell me something...and be honest, because this is the last chance I'll give you to come clean." I said calmly as Jimin stopped walking to face me as well.

"You were intentionally being mean to me that day, weren't you?" I asked, letting out a breath.

"You were hurt by how I kept on blaming you for everything and tried to make me feel bad by saying all those things. And don't even try to lie because I thought about it a lot when you were busy beating the shit out of Hyunwoo...and I realised what you feel for me isn't something that you can conceal that easily. And that there's no way you could have faked those kisses because..." I trailed off, my cheeks heating up. "Because..."

"Because they felt too real?" Jimin glanced at me, locking eyes with me for a split second before looking down and kicking a pebble as he shifted from foot to foot, clearly feeling uncomfortable under my scrutiny.

"Yes," I breathed. "And I know how much you love sleeping in my bed too. I remember how as a kid, you were always cold in your own bed and came to mine seeking warmth." I clutched my arms around myself instinctively as Jimin shivered in the cold night breeze.

"I just felt extremely cornered that morning and I was on edge after hearing what Eomma had to say about the whole thing." I admitted honestly. "I didn't even give you the benefit of doubt and went on to question your intentions and make up those horrible accusations of you wanting to play around with me without remembering this little detail about you. I just felt like..." I trailed off again, unsure if it was right to bring up what happened five years ago.

"Like?" Jimin prompted.

"I just felt like you were approaching me for physical comfort alone after ignoring my existence for the past five years." I whispered, accusation lacing my voice. "I blamed you for leaving me alone and then wanting to come back into my life...not as my best friend but rather as someone who could kiss me and touch me as he wanted and I hated that. I was afraid I was reduced to nothing but just another fvck toy for y—"

"I'm—" Jimin blinked suddenly, looking upwards to prevent his eyes from getting moist. "I was a jerk to make you feel like that. I'm so sorry for being selfish." He swallowed.

"I-I never even thought..." He shook his head. "Oh god, I'm such a fvcking fool!" He whispered more to himself than to me. Looking at me, he licked his lips.

"The thought that you'd feel so little due to my actions never even crossed my mind! I was just being a stupid jerk thinking that I could continue to stay in your life as someone you hated but still couldn't get ignore. I saw how you were reacting to me sleeping in your bed and thought that you'd push me away if I confessed just how much I—oh my god." He ran his hands through his hair frustratedly, nose reddening.

"'How much you' what?" My voice shook as my gaze didn't waver from his face.

"I can't believe I was going to make the same mistake as five years ago. I thought you'd not want to see me or be with me anymore once you knew how much I loved you." He choked on his words, leaving me dumbfounded.

"Wh-what?" I stuttered, feeling extremely warm all of a sudden.

"Yes. I-I love you, Y/N. So much." Jimin whispered, not meeting my gaze. "I thought I could push you away like I did five years ago but I never even took your feelings into consideration. I didn't know you'd hate me so much for pushing you away five years ago because I never thought that I was that important to you in the first place." His voice cracked as fury took over me.

Walking forward, I gripped his chin hard, making him look at me straight in the eyes. "Who do you think you are to make such assumptions on your own, huh?" I demanded, my own voice barely above a whisper. "Do you have any idea!" I was on the verge of crying.

"Of how lonely I was? Of how much I missed you? You were one of the most important people in my life and one day you changed so much that I couldn't recognise you anymore. You slipped from right between my fingers, Jimin and went so far that I could never dare to reach you! Would you have felt nice if I did that? If I changed so much that you couldn't even look me in the eye, let alone come to me for comfort? How dare you take such decisions by yourself! How dare you think that if you loved me...I wouldn't love you back!?" I panted from the outburst, feeling lightheaded as my legs shook.

"You what?" Jimin sniffed, looking exceedingly like the vulnerable boy I had known in childhood. His eyes were all innocent and wide and for the first time I had this uncontrollable urge to kiss him right on his moist, pink lips that were parted in genuine surprise.

"I liked you so much!" I admitted, trying hard not to burst out sobbing from the humiliation. "I was so stupid that I continued to think about you, to worry about you and to foolishly like you even when you picked up all those bad habits and went around dating other girls!" I shouted bashfully as Jimin's eyes seemed to gain some of their lost brightness.

"I hated you so much for treating me like that...but I couldn't stop liking you." I sobbed. "You were such a meanie." I pushed him as he started to smile a little.

"Meanie? That's cute." He chuckled, stepping towards me.

I sniffed. "Make fun of me and I'm never going to talk to you again. I dare you. You won't even be able to take it if I start teasing you for pretending to act all tough when you're such a clingy softie on the inside."

Ignoring my threats, Jimin stepped forward and engulfed me in a hug, a shiver going through both our bodies, mine due to his coldness and his due to my warmth.

"You can roast me all you want once we go back home." He mumbled, burying his face into the crook of my neck, his cold breath making me shudder. "Just let me hold you now. I've been wanting to do this for a while."

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net