When Jin was almost seventeen, he attended another classmate's birthday party and played Seven Minutes in Heaven.
He watched as his male and female classmates took turns going in pairs into the closet in the basement where the party was held, stay for seven minutes (sometimes more) before exiting with swollen lips, mussed hair, and hickeys on their necks.
He wondered if he would look the same when it was his turn, and it made his heart race with a combination of worry and anticipation.
After the fourth couple exited the closet, Jin was chosen to go in next with the most popular girl in his year.
Their classmates hooted and hollered as the girl took Jin by the hand, and pulled him into the closet behind her.
Eight minutes later, the girl came out first, looking triumphant, her eyes bright and her lip gloss smudged.
Jin walked out almost a full minute after, two buttons missing from the top of his shirt, two large hickeys on his neck and collarbone, his eyes devoid of emotion.
Instead of rejoining everyone sitting in a circle in the middle of the room, he made his way up the stairs to the front door and left the party without saying goodbye.
Jin never told anyone what happened in the closet that day.
He didn't want anyone to know that he didn't enjoy the eight minutes he spent in that closet, even though he was with the most popular girl.
He didn't want anyone to know what he finally realised and acknowledged about himself.
Jin had no interest in the opposite sex at all.
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Growing Pains
Fanfiction▪︎COMPLETED ▪︎ Growing up is hard but falling in love with your neighbour is harder. *** If this story seems familiar, that's because it is. I first published it in April 2019 as Best Friends when I was BlueTulip97. It had 48.4K reads, 5.5K votes, a...
