Paper Lanterns//Jimin

Chapter 9: Embarassment

It felt awkward facing Jimin the next morning. He attempted to text me various times after the incident, most of which I ignored. If I did answer, my texts only consisted of a simple "ok." Yet, he still offered to drive me the next morning. I thought I was going to have to walk or take the bus again. It was nice of him to continue his offer, but that doesn't mean he should be forgiven just yet.

He crossed a major line that many people would find exaggerating. However, he knows my secret. There's reasons why his actions affected me so much. I'm not a person who likes to be put on the spot. I'm not the type of person who loves and craves attention. If anything, I fear it. And his actions the day before attracted just that, unnecessary attention.

"You look lovely today, Lila. Your outfit really suits you," Jimin quietly and shyly complimented me. His tone was a lot different from the overly confident one I have gotten used to.

"I mean you picked this outfit. There wasn't much effort put into this on my part."

"You don't need to try though. You're effortlessly beautiful," he continued.

"You don't need to compliment me Jimin. This is a deal. Nothing more but blackmail. There is no need for this to be more than an obligated favor so stop sucking up cause you went too far yesterday." I cross my arms and lean back in the seat. I see his shoulders sink in defeat and I automatically feel bad for the words I shot at him. I wasn't typically this mean, but my defenses have skyrocketed after I let them down so abruptly in these past few days.

I looked out the window as he continued to drive, hoping my conscience could rest a bit with the passing scenery. As the ride continued, I caught the familiar sight of the cafe he brought me to everyday for breakfast. He started to pull up into the parking lot and my conscience was jumpstarted once again.

"You don't have to get me breakfast anymore, Jimin. It's okay. Let's just head straight to school."

Jimin parked and took the keys out of the ignition. "I'm not gonna let you learn on an empty stomach. You have a chemistry test today and you need to be fully operational."

"You shouldn't waste your money on me. I'll be fine."

"Well you can stay in here. But just know that if you do, I will come back out with one of everything on the menu." He gets out of the car and starts slowly walking towards the shop.

I roll my eyes and follow him into the store. I tell him my order, making sure to choose the cheapest things on the menu. Once we retrieve our food and drinks, Jimin started to walk towards a booth in the dining area.

"Since we have late arrival today, I think we should sit down and talk," Jimin suggested.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"There's plenty to talk about."

I start walking towards the door, forcing Jimin to get up. "Let's just get to school."

Jimin sighed. "Fine. Let's go."

I was in such a rush to get out that I didn't even notice where I was walking. As soon as I looked up, I speed walked straight into the glass door and fell right to the ground. In the process, I spilled my iced coffee all over my new white shirt and plaid skirt. Not to mention I bumped my nose and forehead pretty hard against the door too. I tried not to wince in pain to save myself from further embarassment.

The few other customers in the shop attempted to hide their laughter but it was evident the scene that I caused made their entire morning. I turn to face Jimin who is just standing wide eyed with shock. I didn't know if he would laugh at me too. I guess I did deserve it after being so rude. Karma works fast.

"Are you okay, Lila? That sounded pretty bad." Jimin grabbed me gently by the arm and helped me get up.

That was all it took to help tears gather in my eyes from the attention that was directed toward my clumsy self. Jimin took the bag of food from the floor and rushed me out of the cafe. As soon as we got to the car, he pulled me into a hug, not even worried he'd stain his clean shirt with the iced coffee on mine. The tears were spilling from my eyes at an unruly pace.

"I have some spare clothes in my trunk. You need to get out of these." Jimin released the hug and started to retrieve the spare articles of clothing from the trunk of his car.

I shake my head in refusal. I didnt need to wear his clothes. After everything I did and said to him, I couldn't. Even if he was an asshole.

He hands me a black and white Supreme hoodie and a plain white tee. Unfortunately he didn't have any shorts so i was stuck wearing the undershorts I had under my skirt. Luckily, the sweatshirt went down to my midthigh, making it appear like a dress on me.

"Better?" he asked me.

"Dryer."

I was eating my food with my head down in the car to avoid talking. School is usually only 10 minutes away from the cafe but this trip seemed a little longer. I finally divert my attention from my food to see what was taking so long. I looked back and see that he completely passed our school. We were on a different route going to who knows where.

"Um, Jimin. School was way back there."

His eyes were fixated on the road and his face showed no emotion. "I know."

"Then where are we going." A nervous feeling arose in my stomach.

"You'll see soon enough."

I sit back in my seat and watch as we head to the end of the town, the opposite side of where Jimin's family resides. Eventually the scenery starts to show more and more foliage and I knew that we were heading into the forest.

"Why are we in the forest?"

Jimin continues to follow the trail until we reach what seems like a dead end. He turns off the car and proceeds to get out. Jimin takes a seat on the hood of the car and pats the space next to him. "Come on."

I get out of the car and join him, only to see one of the most beautiful views of our city beneath us. "Wow, this is so.."

"Beautiful," he finishes my sentence.

"We should get to school, Jimin. I don't want to be late."

"We won't be. We just need to talk."

I keep my gaze on the sunrise in front of us. "So you took me to the forest in order to do so?"

"It's more than that trust me. This is my spot I guess."

I laugh, "What? Like your make out spot?"

He smiles back at me. "No, not a hookup spot. It's my thinking spot. I always come up here to clear my head before I do anything stupid. Life's full of shit and this spot has gotten me through a lot of it. And now it's gonna get us through this."

"Fine," I tell him, realizing how good his intentions are. He was willing to reveal this meaningful place to a person he started talking to only a week ago. "Let's talk."

"Listen, Lila. I am so sorry for invading your privacy yesterday. I didnt think it would be disrespectful at the time. It was just.. in the moment. I felt the need to do it for some reason. I couldn't help it. But I know way better than to ever offend a woman. Trust me I've seen too much to ever want to commit such horrible things and yesterday's actions reminded me of everything I don't want to be."

"What have you seen?" My mind started to get curious on what Jimin's past actually consisted of. There's seems to be something darker and tortured behind his cocky persona. I noticed it the day we went to his place to tutor Taehyung. There's something more to Park Jimin.

He looks down at his hands. "Don't worry about it. Just know that I will never do anything to hurt you or make you uncomfortable ever again. I won't ever kiss you again..unless you ask me to."

"And why would I ever ask you to? Let's keep it to a minimum, Jimin. Please."

Jimin holds out his hand and I gladly shake it. "Done. Now let's get to school. You have a test to pass."