Passion Meets Fear | JiMina

T W E L V E

A week had passed.

Things weren't really going well as expected. At least for Jimin. It'd been exactly seven days, and his progress was as slow as a turtle, if not slower. On his fifth time in the class, Mr. Son tried to teach him a choreography with little to no complications and only a few steps. It was his first time learning a choreography after months of an unhealthy daily routine. He was nervous, his guts had told him he couldn't do it but even so, he chose to neglect it and to keep pushing himself. When he thought he was starting to get the hang of it, he felt dizzy.

He was definitely not used to dance anymore. Yet again, his imaginations had brought him back to that dire, tragic evening. That time it was much more violent than he thought it'd be. His heart clenched when the horrendous events had flooded his mind, reminding him how unfortunate he was and basically taunting him that he wouldn't be successful in his recovery, that he was too much of a loser to be victorious. So far it was the worst attack he'd ever experienced. He was sweating a lot more, his hands were numb, cold and shaking; and when Mina and Mr. Son came to assist him, he was nearly going to vomit right in front of them.

Mina had seen it. It broke something inside her, as though her barriers had been wrecked. It was heartbreaking in a sense that she couldn't really do anything but calm him down. But what would calming him down do if he was possibly going to experience that next time? She'd just keep on putting him at ease and it'd still be useless at the end, because it'd probably be repeated. Prevention was always better than cure. So she wondered what she could do to prevent something like that from happening but without taking him away from dancing.

Each passing day, she'd find herself getting more concerned about Jimin's current situation. There were questions in her head that she couldn't answer. She had forgotten about her well-being. Ever since she was spending more time with him, she'd not once asked about her own state. Was she already happy? Was she already satisfied with her life? Had she finally moved on from the past? Instead, she was more absorbed into someone else's struggles, thinking of how she'd be a help.

Finally on a Tuesday night, she asked herself, "Am I good now?" It felt strange to her since contemplating about the state of her life used to be one of her habits. She stared at her reflection on the mirror, noticing the improvement on her face. Unlike before, her eye bags had shrunk and overall she just looked much better. Smiling to herself, she realized the unnoticeable yet very significant change of her lifestyle.

A month ago, almost every single night, she'd stay up until dawn. Watching YouTube videos, scrolling through social media platforms, or reading online stories would be her ways to use her time. Even though she slept late, she woke up early; draining over half of her energy by the time the sun rose above the horizon. But now after a skincare routine, she'd already sleep at nine or ten at the most, waking up refreshed and prepared. She noticed that she had began to become more active not just physically but also socially. Her smile grew wider, and she said, "I'm getting more productive now, am I not?"

Perhaps she was right. She really was getting more productive. . . and satisfied.

The next morning, Mina decided to hangout with her friends. At last, after a while. Since there were no classes during that day, she took it as an opportunity to catch up with them. After meeting each other at their planned place, they hugged each other. Sana, Chaeyoung, and Jeongyeon were the first ones to arrive followed by Mina then Nayeon, Rosé and Sooyoung. A local coffee shop would be enough to satisfy their cravings. After all, they yearned more for each other's company than the actual menu itself. 

"Someone's courting me," Rosé shyly shared. After finishing their orders, they began to share their recent activities and such. Much to Rosé's dismay, everyone else didn't even budge nor did they look surprised. "W-Why are you guys not giving any reaction at all?"