My Light, My Jimin

Chapter 29: Friends

YOONGI

"That's all for today."

Jimin gets up and leaves with barely more than a goodbye, as he's done for the past three days, and impatience snaps inside me like a rubber band. 

The night of the Halloween party left me hollow, but I couldn't do or say anything to convince him that I'm not the bad guy— because if I tried, it wouldn't be the truth.  As for Namjoon, I haven't seen a trace of him, which I guess is a taste of my own medicine.  Maybe it was because Jimin was in the room with me that I snapped at my friend I've known for years.  Or maybe it was because I wanted to tell him, but couldn't chance the risk of exposing Jimin to him, nor to anyone. 

In either case, I could tell from simply looking in Jimin's eyes that today was a struggle in class.  It's easy to tell when he's upset, simple to read if you really focus, but that means others are able to input their own opinions as to why the small kid in the back brushes off the questions I try to give him.  They don't understand why he won't look at me, why I let him doodle in his notebook instead of following along in our group reading.

We haven't been seen in the same room aside from my lectures in a week, and I don't dare track him down.  So long as he shows up to class, that's good enough for me, even if my heart betrays me and screams to find him. 

It's another ten minutes before I'm finally alone in the classroom when my door cracks open.  For a moment, my hopes get the better of me, believing that Jimin had a sudden change of heart and is standing on the other side with arms outstretched for me to hold.  I whirl in my seat.

Jin stands in the doorway.

The weight of my tie is heavy around my neck, and I reach up to adjust it as he gives me a quick smile that doesn't reach his eyes.  Normally, I would object to sudden visits, but it seems hypocritical of me to enforce that rule when Jimin has walked in on multiple occasions.  I watch as Jin sits on a desk in front of me; it's casual enough, but the folded hands in his lap makes me think of an intervention.

"Hey," he says, his expression neutral.  "Do you have a minute?"

I nod and move to close the door.  Jin sits there with a sigh, tilting his head back.  He stays like that until I take a seat behind my desk.

"Are you trying to get a tan?"  I say.

His eyes snap open and he inhales sharply.  "No.  It's too cold in here for that."

"I hadn't realized."

"I know," he says.  "You can be quite dense sometimes, but so can Namjoon, so you both have that in common."

 Of course we do.

"He told you what happened?"

Jin shakes his head.  "Didn't need to.  I put the pieces together.  I figured after he shut himself in that something was going on, and it only took context clues to lead me back to when he went to check up on you."

I should give him more credit.  What had he searched through to get here, at the scene of my crimes?  I look at him out of the corner of my eye, thinking about how the room smelled of fries and burgers the last time he was in here with Namjoon.  That seems so long ago.

"Does he hate me?"

He scoffs, a smile forming under his lips.  "As much as he tries, he'll never be able to hate you," he says.  "Namjoon has never been the type to leave memories behind in the heat of a moment.  That's probably what I envy the most about him, how he's so forgiving toward the people who don't deserve it."