roses | yoonmin

17

when the six boys got to seokjin's house, they settled down in separate rooms to read their letters in their own space. some of them sobbed and their cries were heard here and there, others cried silently, clamping their hands over their mouths to prevent from being heard.

when they all felt ready to come together, they met in the living room and discussed what they were going to write in their eulogies for jimin's funeral, which was to be held in a week. after around an hour and a half of writing down each of their speeches they washed up and got ready for bed.

"hyung, i can't sleep..." jeongguk said as he entered taehyung's room slowly. "can-can i sleep here?"

"yes, yes of course. here, take the bed, i'll use the pull-out," the older replied and stood up, pulling out the other bed and snuggling up under the covers, hugging a pillow. jeongguk got in bed, closed his eyes, and tried to sleep. however, his mind wandered to his and jimin's memories together, and his heart ached everytime he saw jimin's smile appear in his mind.

jeongguk didn't realize he was crying until his pillow was stained with his tears. he felt the weight on the bed shift, and a pair of arms wrapped around him. "it's okay, jeongguk. i know it hurts that jimin's not here with us anymore. i can't believe it either, it hurts me too," taehyung said as he rubbed jeongguk's back soothingly. "but, we're all here for you. although there's an empty space in our friendship, we'll still be here for each other, okay?"

jeongguk nodded as he calmed down and they stayed that way, enveloped in comfortable silence.

meanwhile, in the other hyungs' rooms, hoseok and namjoon were comforting each other while seokjin reassured yoongi that none of this was his fault. "you can't control your feelings and you can't decide who you love and who you don't, yoongi," he said.

"i know, hyung, but i still feel bad, you know? knowing he loved me and althought i tried to learn how, i failed him," yoongi said, another tear falling on seokjin's mattress.

seokjin sighed as he rested his hand on the younger's shoulder. "i know, yoongi. but i know for sure that you haven't failed jimin. he's in a better place now, he's happy and painless and free, and he's always watching over us. remember the promise you made to him? that we made to him? we need to be happy. and if not, then we can all go to han river together," he said.

as soon as those words left his mouth, seokjin felt as if he had the best idea ever. "why don't we do that right now?"

—•—

it was currently 1:27am, and the six boys were sitting on a bench facing han river. they were just staring at the water pass peacefully. the usual hustle and bustle of seoul was replaced by a calm, quiet night as the civilians slept in their homes. the six friends' eyes were red, puffy and tired, but they couldn't seem to fall asleep no matter how hard they tried. and they missed jimin like hell, it had now been almost six and a half hours since he passed.

"jimin-ah," seokjin voiced out, looking up at the night sky. "we hope you're doing good up there. we miss you so much already..." he blinked away his tears before they could even fall from his eyes.

"jiminie hyung, thank you for everything," jeongguk said, his voice breaking at the end. "we love you so much. always watch over us and protect us from any harm. and take care up there too. see you in my next life." the maknae wiped away a stray tear that had fallen on the side of his face.

a shdden cold breeze enveloped them one by one, and they hugged themselves for extra warmth.

but what they didn't know,

was that jimin was there with them, and he was hugging them.

"i miss you guys too," he said with a sad smile on his face, that they couldn't see. "i love you guys so much too, please remember the promise you made me. i'll always be by your side and i'll always watch over you guys. that's my promise to you guys."

"guys, it's getting late, should we go back now?" taehyung said, pointing to a now sleeping jeongguk leaning on his shoulder. jimin chuckled at the sight.

"yeah, we can come back tomorrow if you guys want to," hoseok said as he stood up and stretched. the others nodded and got up one by one, taehyung guiding the half-asleep maknae. jimin walked alongside them until they reached seokjin's van, and they left to get a good night's sleep. jimin waved them goodbye and smiled.

"i'll see you all in our next life. i love you so, so, so, so, so much. take care of yourselves."