Just One Night

Chapter 4

Still Y/N POV
I was shoving the phone into my back pocket when a quiet voice stopped me. "What's going on with you, little girl? I've been gone for over eighteen months, and all I get is a hug and a peck on the cheeks before you disappeared? Where are the tears? Where's the hysterics that I'm home safe and sound? What's working in that complicated brain of yours? Because I can tell something is on your mind?" I hiccuped a little laugh and let my forehead fall onto the strong chest in front of me. Even battered and bruised, Jin was the kind of guy who stood between the people he loved and anything that might possibly hurt them. He patted the top of my head and laid a heavy hand on the back of my neck. "I missed your pretty face, Y/N; you don't know how good it is to be home." I shuddered a little and wrapped a careful arm around his waist so that I could give him a squeeze and not hurt him. "I missed you too, Jin. I'm just stressed out. School is crazy right now, I'm working three out of four nights a week, and my parents won't get off my back about this guy I just broke up with. You know I love it when we're all together. I thought your mom was going to have a heart attack when she called to tell me what happened to you. I'm so glad you're okay. I don't think this family would be able to handle losing another Min son."
"No, probably not. I can't believe she still has you playing chauffeur for my idiot brother." I hooked my arm through his, and we started to make our way to the dining room. "It's the only way he'll come. If I have to miss it because of school or because something comes up, he blows them off. Half the time when I get to the apartment, he doesn't even know what day it is and has to scramble to get out of the door. Today would be a prime example of that. If I show up, he feels obligated to come with me no matter what or who he's in the middle of doing." Jin swore under his breath. "It wouldn't kill that kid to play nice with mom and day once a week. He shouldn't need you to be his babysitter. " I shrugged my shoulders because we both knew that all the Min brothers had a role. Jungkook had been the good son, the straight-A student, the future Ivy leaguer. He was also the one saddled with the part of keeping Yoongi out of jail and running interference when his twin got into trouble that he couldn't talk his way out of. Yoongi was the wild card, the one who lived life to the fullest and made no apologies to those he might offend or hurt along the way. Jin was the boss, and the twins adored him and followed his lead through good and bad because Lord knew with the way the three of them looked, there were lots and lots of bad thrown their way. 

With Jungkook gone, it wasn't a surprise to anyone that Jin had become even more protective of his remaining brother and that I had fallen seamlessly into the role of trying to keep Yoongi on some kind of straight and narrow path. "It's the least I can do for Margot and Dale. They've always done so much for me and asked for so little in return. Suffering Yoongi's wrath once a week is a pretty easy sacrifice to make." Something flashed in his eyes, which were so much like his brothers that it sometimes hurt to look into them. Jin wasn't anyone fool, and it wouldn't surprise me if he knew more about all the things I kept locked up than he let on. "I don't want you being the target of Yoongi being Yoongi. Mom needs to get over her shit, and so does he. Everyone is grown now, and life is too short for you to be constantly playing the peacemaker between those two." I sighed and lowered my voice as we got to the entrance of the dining room. The table was already set, and everyone was already in his regular seat. Dale was at the head of the table, Margot on his right, with an open spot for me. His left side was open for Jin, and Yoongi had taken the seat at the opposite end of the table as far away from both of his parents as he could get. "They need to move past the fact that he's never going to be Jungkook, and he has to stop intentionally cramming that fact down their throats. Until one side gives and learns how to forgive, it's always going to be this way." He pressed a super light kiss to my temple and gave me a little squeeze back. "I don't think any of them realize how lucky they are to have you, little girl." I let him go and went to take my seat and flashed Dale a smile as he started passing the typically rich food around. I was about to ask Jin what he planned to do with his time off when Margot had me snapping my head around in shock. "Would it be too much of a stretch to expect you to come to brunch in a shirt that buttons and in a pair of pants that don't look like they came from a thrift store? I mean, your brother has several broken bones and was in a horrific accident, and he still managed to look more put together than you, Yoongi." I had to bite my tongue to stop from snapping at her to lay off him. I knew good and well that if I had shown up in jeans and a T-shirt, she wouldn't even have blinked, but because it was him, she viewed it as a direct attack on her. Yoongi picked a couple pieces of bacon off the platter I handed him and didn't even bother to respond to her. Instead, he returned to Jin and asked what his plans were while he was home. Yoongi wanted him to come to the city for a week and spend time with him and Tae. I saw Margot's mouth tighten at the dismissal, and Dale's eyebrows pull-down in a frown. It hurt my chest because even in a rumpled shirt and torn jeans, Yoongi was the kind of guy who owned whatever look he was wearing. There was no denying Yoongi was a good-looking guy, probably too good- looking, to be honest, but he was complicated, and the beauty he possessed was buried and camouflaged under things that weren't easy to look past. Even with every color under the sun dancing across his skin, if the three of them, Yoongi had always been the one the girls gravitated to.