Without Regrets | PJM ✓

27 | TWENTY-SEVEN

"Jimin-ah!" He called out loud, eyes frantically wandering everywhere searching for his favourite seven year old grandchild that he and his beloved wife raised from the time he was borned. "Where are you, little boy?" He called out a bit more louder as he thought that the kid might not hear him. But no, he didn't appear infront of him.

The kid can't be seen around the playground area, nor the park. It shouldn't be hard to find him as the place aren't crowded like the previous weekends. Panic and worries started to fill his mind as the adrenaline rushing through his vessels made his heart palpitate twice faster as if it was going to jump out its cage.

Just now, he left the small boy sitting on the bench to buy him his favourite chocolate chip ice-cream because he told him that he is too lazy and tired to walk. And it doesn't even took long to purchase the cold dessert, only about five minutes or less, but when he went back to where they were relaxing earlier, the boy had already vanished from his sight.

"Jimin-ah!" he shouted his name again for the third time. He hoped that he will see the boy cutely run with his short legs towards him while yelling 'grandpa' but there's still no sign of the young kid. Negative thoughts such as Jimin is kidnapped, he's lost in the forest nearby and got injured again occupied his panicked mind.

He hastily turned his head back and forth from the left to the right with every steps he took on the path track. The ice-cream he bought on a cone a few moments ago had already melted, and dripped on his hands and fingers due to the surrounding heat given off by the sun. The liquid is sticky against his slightly tanned skin because of its high level of sweetness but that wasn't his biggest concern at the moment as he tossed the cone in the trashbin he first saw near him. He need to find his grandchild.

After walking further along the cemented path, the sight of the kid wearing skyblue coloured mickey mouse t-shirt and black shorts along with a white cap on his head filled his vision. He was playing with his group of friends, whom he had just known on that day. The feeling of relief immediately washed over him and a long sigh escaped his chapped lips.

"Jimin-ah!" he called with a smile. That name he called instantly catches the boy's attention as he looked at his grandpa's direction and quickly spunned his heels to run towards him with a wide toothy smile on his face.

"GRANDPA!" he yelled, just like how the old man expected him to act like, and tightly hugged his torso with his small arms as soon as he arrived at the place where his grandpa is standing. "I made new friends! And they are very kind to me. They even give me this candy!" he exclaimed with his adorable voice, happiness obviously written all over his face which made the old man to chuckle lightly at his behaviour.

"Jimin-ah. Can you please inform me wherever you're going next time? Do you know how worried i am when you disappeared from my sight earlier? You don't want to be lost and live apart from me and grandma right?" he questioned in a calm voice, contrasting the way how he felt just a moment ago when he can't see the kid around.

"I'm sorry, grandpa. I just saw them calling me to play with them, so i got too excited that i forgot to tell you about it," Jimin apologized, pouting his lips and by the look of it, the older man knew exactly that he was about to cry due to the growing guilt in him.

"It's okay, my little cutie ChimChim. I'm not angry at you. Not at all. Just don't do it again, okay? You love me, right?" He crouched down infront of the boy to match their height levels. "Don't cry," he wiped the single tear that escaped Jimin's puffy eye and lightly pinched his nose bridge as a gesture to cheer him up. He knew that Jimin love it when he do that to him. Jimin laughed and threw both of his arms around his grandpa's neck before his small frame was carried by the man that he loved so dearly with his whole heart.

__

"Grandpa," Jimin mumbled softly as he sat
up in his black swivel chair after he woke up from his sleep. "I miss you," he said and craned his neck towards the photo frame that held the photo of his late grandfather and him when he was still a kid. He played with the necklace's silver pendant gifted by him on his twelfth birthday with his thumb and index finger.

"I kept on dreaming and seeing the people who had already left me lately," Jimin leaned back and sank deeper in his seat. "Maybe i'm dying for real,"