Trainee | 박지민

XXXVIII

38

She takes a step closer, bringing her left hand up to cup his cheek. Mia looks at him softly with a smile as her tears sparkle like stars.

"I wish you happiness."

• • •

The five girls stand in front of the stage, thanking and waving the fans goodbye as they end their fan signing event.

"SONG MIAAA! When you smile, I smile too!" A thunderous deep voice from the energetic crowd roars, making the rest of the fans more hyped. Mia covers her face in embarrassment before forming a heart with her arms above her head, exposing her crescent moon smiles.

They were promoting again, back to their packed schedules and hard work. Coincidentally, Jimin also came back with a solo, soon after his military service. The internet went wild prior to his comeback, trending all over the social media platforms.

Often the girls and Jimin bump into each other in both front and backstage. The girls still bow to their senior politely and professionally, but Jimin always ends up faltering his slight bow without managing to land his eyes on Mia who always has a professional smile on her face.

Mia would bow to him before quickly moving on to bow to other seniors. Meanwhile, his eyes were always on her, as if he's watching every move she makes.

As creepy as it sounds, he can't help but want to keep his sight on her. He couldn't settle, generally worried something bad might happen, especially after discovering from Jungkook what happened with Soojin.

But he wasn't dumb either, he knows why he couldn't keep his eyes away from her.

He misses her.

The whole time he was on military service, all that flooded his mind was Mia. Whether she's already eaten, whether she's hurt from practice, whether she's still smiling after his supposed crime.

His feelings for her never changed, maybe it's even stronger this time. Her great patience and understanding for him really made him drop his jaw in awe and fully adore her.

But maybe he should refrain from staring at her for too long for too often. There are already a couple of fancams of him getting caught from having his eyes set on one of the girls. A lot of fans assume he's staring at Hyeji as their formation requires her to stand next to Mia.

This one video went viral all over the internet, titled; "Jimin staring for 2 minutes straight at Hyeji #JiHye."

They all head home with constant awkward encounters with Hyeji frequently feeling uncomfortable from unwanted attention.

"I swear- Mia you have to get me out of this mess!" Hyeji sighs in frustration once they get inside their apartment. "No offence, but these fans need to buy better cameras to make it clearer that his eyes were on you!"

"Don't be so mean," Mia chuckles as she watches her friend rant in exasperation.

"He was CLEARLY staring at you, and he CLEARLY still has feelings for you," Hyeji states what seems to be obvious to everyone but Mia. Mia's mood evidently goes down as she dumps herself on the couch.

"I don't want to talk about this." She coldly ends the topic, leaning her back at the back of the couch, staring at the ceiling painfully.

Jimin's POV

'I wish you happiness.'

Her words play on repeat on my head, interrupting me from sleeping.

I don't deserve to be happy.

Before I entered her life, she was full of brightness and laughter that is easily contagious. She had the power to even make a British palace guard laugh.

She finds happiness in making others laugh and I think that's selfless. It's something I admire about her.

That moment, that night I turned my back on her, was the moment I realised I can't have her.

The only reason why she was here and the only way I was able to meet her was because she was after her dreams.

Choosing to be with her would be selfish and make all her hard work and sacrifices go to vain.

I shouldn't be in the way of her dreams. All the problems I've caused her is making her lose sight of the purpose of why she's here.

I guess being together wasn't our fate. The universe doesn't approve of us. As much as it crushes my world, I can't let her world get crushed too. I have to accept this.

I don't deserve to be happy,

because I don't deserve her.