january 4

yoongi tries as hard as possible not to make any loud noises as he descended the stairs, footsteps quiet enough for nobody in the household to be woken up. dragging himself to the kitchen, he grabs an empty glass and fills it up with water, sitting on one of the chairs at the dining table and sipping silently.

he wasn't able to sleep too much, waking up every thirty minutes, a bothering feeling tugging at his strings.

after taking another sip, he jumped at a voice greeting, "good morni--"

his gaze darted towards the doorway, where mrs. park stood, looking like she just got out of bed.

"ah, mrs. park, you scared me..." yoongi whispered.

mrs. park merely laughed and walked over, sitting on the chair across from yoongi's spot. "ah, yoongi, dear. i'm sorry about that." she laughed lightly. "you leave later, am i correct?" she asked.

yoongi nodded. "yes, sadly. thank you for having me, though, mrs. park. this was a great winter break." he smiled at her.

"well, you're very welcome." mrs. park smiled warmly at him. "i expect that you'll be here next year, as well? if your parents will allow it."

that's when yoongi's face when devoid of all emotion. "i don't think that'll happen anytime soon." he said, a hint of disappointment around the edges of his voice. "sorry."

mrs. park frowned. "why is that?"

"well, you see..." yoongi raised his arm, scratching the back of his neck. "i'm not," yoongi looked up at mrs. park, guilt written all over his face. "well. i'm actually not jimin's boyfriend." he admitted.

he breathed in the first few seconds of silence from mrs. park, who was somewhat studying his expression.

and then she unexpectedly starts to laugh.

yoongi blinked. "mrs. park?"

"i'm sorry, yoongi," mrs. park sighed with a smile, "is that it?"

"what...?"

"i knew this whole time, dear." mrs. park lightly shook her head. "no need to be worried."

"what?" yoongi mumbled. "are you-- are you mad?"

"at you? no," she replied, "jimin most likely dragged you into this, right?"

yoongi just nodded.

"well, i'm really disappointed in jimin for not telling me. it upset me a lot when i figured it out." she sighed. "oops, never mind. now tell me, why will you not be heading over here next break?" she raised an eyebrow, tilting her head curiously to the side.

it was weird-- having this type of conversation with jimin's mother.

"well, i mean. i'm not jimin's boyfriend."

mrs. park shrugged, "i feel like he likes you, though."

"he's oblivious." he deadpanned. "we kissed on new year. i said sorry 'cause i thought he didn't like me that way, but he thought of the apology differently." he groaned, "i'm stupid."

she shot yoongi a comforting smile, "i'm sure he'll come around."

"i hope so. i've been trying everything. i actually told him that i liked him, like, straight out said it. he just keeps avoiding me."

"he's just like his father." mrs. park shakes her head lightly, a small chuckle escaping her lips. "you know what? try to trap jimin and then scream 'i love you' at him. that's how i got daewon to notice my feelings." she laughed at the memory.

yoongi smiled a little. "that's sweet." he remarked.

mrs. park gave him one last pat on the back. "it'll get better."

— — —

"good luck." jinyoung tells yoongi.

it's the morning yoongi and jimin leave to go back to their dorms, unfortunately. it feels too fast, yoongi thinks. perhaps time went faster every time something bad happened or maybe it's all in yoongi's head and he'll genuinely miss the parks.

because, hey, unless he fixes things with jimin, he'll most likely never see them again.

taehyung lets out a sob. "yoongi," he whined, wiping his tears away. "don't leave." he choked out, giving yoongi a hug from the back, arms tight around yoongi.

"yah," yoongi tsked, "taehyu--"

yoongi felt something on his leg. looking down, there was yejin, arms wrapped around his knee, grasping him tightly.

"don't go!" yejin screamed, voice a bit muffled from burying her face into yoongi's jeans.

yoongi hummed, reaching down and grabbing yejin. he lifted her up until her teary eyes reached his eye level, but she quickly shook her head and hugged him, burying her face into yoongi's shoulder.

as taehyung sniffled beside him, yoongi felt tears spreading on his clothed shoulder. he hushed yejin, "i'll be back next break." he whispered. "we will meet again." he watched as she pulled back and gave him an expecting look.

"do you promise?"

"yes."

"pinky promise?" she asked, holding her small finger out.

yoongi laughed, linking his with her's. "pinky promise."

clutching his bag tightly, jimin watched the scene. sadness stuck to his heart, mrs. park letting out a sigh next to him. "jimin." she started. "i better see yoongi with you next break." she said, tone all but satisfied. her eyes glowed with a hint of disappointment.

jimin gulped.

— — —

it's quiet.

just that. quiet.

actually, the sound of the train running against the tracks fueled yoongi's nervousness, pangs of frustration hitting him every now and then as his gazed focus towards the train window.

the sound of a voice traveling through the train-- announcing their near arrival-- barely registered in yoongi's head as he got used to the uncomfortable silence between the two.

yoongi's gaze flickered towards the carpeted floor, his feet shuffling every now and then. from the corner of his eye, he could barely make out jimin, who was opening and closing his mouth every now and then.

yoongi thinks jimin wanted to say something, but just couldn't. he didn't exactly know what to do about it, other than silently wish for the younger to initiate an interaction between them.

imagine how bad it'll be when classes resume. they'll probably never talk again, worse than their number of conversations before jimin asked yoongi to be his fake boyfriend. before jimin did ask, they barely talked-- they just knew each other through a few mutual friends.

in the next few days, they'll be i-have-a-crush-on-you-but-i-cannot-do-anything-about-you and i-like-you-too-but-i-think-it-is-not-the-same-for-you friends.

it terrifies yoongi.

so as he decides on what to say, jimin opens his mouth to speak.

"i--"

but of course yoongi just had to spit some words out.

yoongi, "i like you?" it was more of a question than a statement-- how it came out. yoongi more of choked it out, actually.

looking up, he sees jimin staring at him, a little bewildered and a little too speechless. they feel the train stop on its tracks, causing both of them to shuffle a bit in their seats.

it's jimin who stands up first.

taehyung had said, "this wouldn't have happened in the first place if you were clearer on the subject, hyung. knowing jimin, he'll constantly reject you at this point. avoid you at all costs, stuff like that. his most used reason is, 'you don't have to pity me.'"

yoongi felt empty.

"you... you don't have to pity me." jimin mumbled.

he then leaves yoongi. alone.