once upon an us ↞ jenmin

TWENTY-THREE, starting over.

"He's asleep," Jimin smiled at Jennie, who was sitting at in the living room. She returned his smile, her legs pressed to her chest and her empty coffee mug on the table in front of her.

"How was work?" he asked, taking a seat beside her, with no concept of personal space. Not that Jennie exactly minded it.

"The usual. Just tiring. Yours?"

Moments like this, she felt like they were married couple.

"Surprisingly good. Mr Rodrigo is surprisingly easy going. Don't regret the deal I signed with him."

The brunette grinned at him, hair falling from behind her ear, "That's really good."

Before he could stop himself, Jimin reached out and gently pushed the lock of hair behind her ear, his eyes trailing from her ear to her jaw and then onto her slightly parted lips.

Oh, how inviting they looked.

His gaze went up to her eyes, and was slightly talen aback at the intense emotion staring back at him. His hand dropped immediately and he stared back, unsure of what to do.

Jennie broke the silence by asking a question, "Why-"

And then proceeded to cut herself off.

"What?"

"No. Nothing."

Instead of pressing it, Jimin just brought up what had also been in his mind. He was fairly confident that's what she had been trying to bring up.

"I think," he paused, gaining her attention, "we should talk about what happened seven years ago."

His voice softened with each word, as he stared at her. Her face held no expression, but then she exhaled and ran her hand through her hair, which - he should add, found absolutely sexy - and nodded, "Yeah, we should."

"Soooo?" he fiddled with his fingers.

"So," she echoed.

Both stared at the other, the silence weighing heavily on their shoulders.

"Dammit," Jimin finally swore, then admitted sheepishly, "I have no idea how to approach this topic."

The brunette chuckled, leaning back against the sofa and relaxed her posture, "It's okay. I'll start then."

She turned her head to face him, hair mussed out, "I'm sorry... for all the bullshit I had done."

"It's okay," he smiled at her, genuinely, "I forgave you a long time ago."

"You shouldn't have," she whispered, her tone strained, "after the restaurant episode, you should've ditched me and left me to rot. Not... take care of me so sincerely... and..."

And make me continue loving you, she wanted to add, but trailed off instead.

"What I shouldn't have done is humiliate you-"

"But you aren't exactly in the wrong. I des-"

"Shhh," he hushed her, "That's where you're wrong. You don't deserve it."

"Jimin, don't be stupid-"

"No- you don't be stup-"

"So I'm the stupid one?!"

"Goddamn, Jen, listen to me!"

The brunette chuckled, "Yeah, yeah, go on."

At that, Jimin also cracked a smile, "You didn't deserve the crap I made you go through all over again. Life already became full of shit for you when you got pregnant... And, in a way, I guess that's what you might've had to face after, y'know, ournotsogoodbreakup," he rushed, "You've been through enough, basically. And you don't deserve more shit in your life, Jen."