FLOWER | Winrina

Chapter 21

Friday - finally. The week had felt long after Jimin's good day on Monday. She and Minjeong hadn't again talked about the coming out thing, but after Handong left on Wednesday night and Minjeong's mother "returned", yet still stayed away as per usual, Jimin had finally gotten to spend ample time with her girlfriend.

It was a funny thing how easy it was for Jimin to slip into a feeling of complete trust and comfort when she was with Minjeong. They could talk for hours, the two of them, without thinking really or worrying about the other judging her at all. They mostly spent time together at Minjeong's house, since Jimin's mother, though generally absent from dawn to dusk, had seemed to randomly appear more and more recently.

However, due to that, Jimin tried to be back at her house by eight every night, earlier on most of the days that particular week, because she'd been thrown into a homework whirlwind that, if was any indication about the intensity of her junior year, she was totally screwed.

But midday through Friday, Jimin was already relieved. Her sixth period was having a quiz that she wasn't worried about, so that meant little stress, and in English they were having a reading day. Fifth period was always the best class, so Jimin felt herself calming considerably as she went to lunch.

Yuuto met up with her at her locker, and words immediately began spilling from him. "If Aeri says one more thing about how excited she is for her date tonight, I'm going to actually get up and go introduce myself to Lincoln during lunch."

"Chill out, Yuuto," Jimin insisted. "Aeri is allowed to be excited. And he said he's coming to the party tomorrow, right?" Yuuto nodded. "So you'll meet him in at least thirty-six hours. You can survive."

Yuuto still looked grumpy about it, but he changed the topic. "What are you doing tonight?" he asked.

"Probably hanging out with Minjeong," Jimin answered honestly. She hadn't finalized her decision on whether or not to tell her friends about her sexuality, but the idea that keeping it hidden would keep Minjeong's hidden, and keeping their relationship hidden was more painful than the idea of possibly losing one of them. She knew that she wouldn't lose Aeri, and probably not Yuuto either, and not Jeno, so really... was there much harm in telling anyone?

So she wasn't really hiding her attachment to Minjeong, not that she'd done that previously either. But she knew that since Yuuto was already suspicious, he was definitely suspecting by now. "What are you guys doing?"

Jimin shrugged. "I don't know. Why?"

Yuuto shrugged back at her. "Did Jeno tell you if he's going to the party tomorrow?" he asked, effectively changing the subject.

"No," Jimin answered, "he hasn't given me a definite answer. Why? Do you not like him?"

"I don't know," Yuuto answered. "He just seems to not like us very much. Like, any of us. He sits at our table just to sit with you."

"Well, I already knew that," Jimin stated, "but I think he would like you guys if he was given the chance."

"I don't know, Jimin," Yuuto said as they approached their cafeteria table. "I don't know."

Jimin just looked away from him, taking her seat. Aeri was already seated, practically bouncing up and down with excitement as she rambled to Ning about how hyped she was for her date later. Yuuto was already looking grumpy again, and Jimin was slightly amused.

"Where is he taking you?" Jimin asked.

Aeri tilted her head. "I don't know, I keep guessing but he won't tell me. He keeps telling me that its a surprise."

"That's disgustingly predictable, stop," Ning said, shaking her head.

"You're just jealous that your boyfriend doesn't surprise you with dates anymore," Aeri stated, looking pointedly at Jaemin, who had just sat down.