[2] Code: RIOT || KTH

Ch22: "I Just Need Some Time"

Seol doesn't know what to do. She's been checking up on Jimin everyday ever since the funeral, which was attended by Seol, Jimin and Jimin's parents only. His parents were quite devastated, especially Jimin's mom who was hysterically crying most of the time. It made Seol thankful knowing that Jungkook was very loved before he left the world.

Jimin hasn't been doing well. Everytime Seol goes to visit him, he is always sleeping in Jungkook's room, not his. More like laying down; the black circles over his eyes are clear evidence he isn't getting much sleep, if any.

Seol knows she has to stay strong for Jimin for he needs her now more than ever. It's definitely hard not to cry everytime she walks in Jungkook's room and sees parts of him in the pictures on his bedside table, his clothes on the revolver chair and his PC on his desk, but it was harder having to hold in her tears while cleaning the apartment and wiping his blood off the floor just some hours after his body was taken away.

It has been five days since the funeral, and Seol finds herself once again in front of Jimin's apartment. She walks in like usual (Jimin wouldn't get out of bed to open the door so she had to make a spare key for herself), and takes a look around the apartment. Nothing has moved from its place since yesterday, so Jimin is probably still in bed since then.

She heads to Jungkook's room and knocks the door. Jimin answers on the third knock, telling her to come in. She finds him still on the bed, except this time he isn't hiding under the covers like he usually is, but instead he's laying on his back, limbs all sprawled out as he stares at the ceiling.

"Did you eat today?" Seol asks, walking inside and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I had coffee in the morning," He replies, his voice hoarse, "I had a headache when I woke up."

"Do you want to have lunch together?" She asks, slowly nudging his arm, "Chicken and beer?"

Jimin doesn't reply, his eyes fixed on the ceiling.

"Did you sleep well?" She asks but to no avail. He remains silent.

She takes a look around and her eyes fall on the clothes on the chair, specifically on the baby blue pyjamas. Jungkook was wearing them when he came to sleep in her apartment that day when Jimin was out of town. Her eyes tear up at the thought and she swallows a lump in her throat. She's been holding it well ever since she bawled her eyes out at the funeral, so why is it suddenly all coming back now?

Speaking of crying, she hasn't seen Jimin shed one tear. Maybe he's still in shock, maybe he cries when she leaves, or maybe this is just his way of grieving. It makes Seol worry about him anyway, more than she already is.

"Are you crying?"

Jimin's voice takes her by surprise, and she turns her head to him as she wipes the few tears that managed to escape her eyes.

"I'm just worried about you," She says, sniffing, "What would you like to eat? You barely ate anything yesterday."

"I'm fine," He says, now looking at her, "I just need some time."

Seol nods, standing up and walking towards the chair. Maybe it's better to clean it up, she thinks to herself as she starts picking up the clothes.

"Don't touch that."

Jimin's voice surprises her once again, and she looks at him to find him now sitting up on the bed.

"Just.. " He pauses, his voice calm and low, "Just leave it as it is."

She gently puts the clothes back on the chair. "Sorry."

"So," She adds, "Now that you're up, want to get something to eat?"

---

Seol walks in Jimin's apartment again, looking around. She sees a mug and a spoon in the kitchen sink, which means Jimin only had coffee today as well. Sighing to herself, she knocks on Jungkook's bedroom door, and Jimin answers on the first knock.

The cleanliness of the room takes Seol by surprise. The bed is made and the bedsheet has been changed, the window is open and the curtains are drawn, letting in the warm sunlight, and the chair doesn't have the pile of clothes on it anymore, instead Jimin is sitting on it, holding a picture in his hand.

He looks up at Seol, giving her a small smile. His eyes and nose are red, and there are tear stains down his cheek. Seol knows it would be stupid to ask him if he is okay, so she silently walks in and sits on the bed.

"I cleaned the room," He says, turning on the chair to face Seol, "I also did some laundry. You know, I thought the clothes on this chair would be dirty, but they were all recently washed actually. Jungkook doesn't really like folding the clothes so he takes them straight out of the drier and throws him on his chair."

He chuckles gently, now looking at the picture. "I mean, he didn't. He didn't like folding the laundry."

Jimin's smile falls, eyes glued on the picture. It's a polaroid of him and Jungkook that they took a couple of years ago when Jimin got Jungkook a polaroid camera for his birthday. He had used it for a few weeks before losing it and never finding it again. Jungkook is smiling in the picture, his two big front teeth showing, and his eyes are glistening. Just like they always did.

Humans are cruel, Jimin thinks to himself. How can they create something so beautiful then decide to destroy it as if they own it?

"Those protests," Jimin says, "In front of the concentration camps. They're still going, right?"

"Yeah," Seol replies, "I heard they built barricades and they're camping until the hybrids are set free."

"I want to go."

"To the protest?"

"Yes." Jimin nods, then looks up at Seol with a small smile. "I think it's something Jungkook would want me to do. I'm sure there's a hybrid in these camps who holds as much value to a person as the one Jungkook holds to me. Maybe I didn't get to save my Jungkook, but I can save another person's Jungkook, right?"

Voice wavering with the last sentence he spoke, Jimin's eyes start watering and he looks back at the picture, biting on his lip to hold his tears back. He feels Seol's arms wrap around him as she tells him that it's not his fault.

That Jungkook wouldn't want him to think this way.

---

A/N:

Some Tae and Jin scenes coming next chapter. I know yall missed them right?

P.S.: A/N stands for Author's Note. It's not my name you dimwits.