ego

12: No Eyes, No Ears

Act III, Chapter Two

"Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time." - Maya Angelou

. . .

An oversized shirt, jeans and tossed hair. The man's face was stressed while he walked over to me. Jimin's eyes captured my body in his sights, lingering on my neck for a long while. The last he saw my neck was with a bruise from his kisses, and now, it was marked with the violence of an imprisoned Noel.

Jimin sat on my hospital bed, hands in his lap as he stared over at me with difficulty. Neither of us speaking, his mind elsewhere as if trying to find words to capture the thoughts burying him alive. "Your Mom said you wanted to see me?"

I could hear the surprise. "If I'm being honest, I was surprised at my own request."

"She's arranging for me to stay with you two, under protection now that I'm a snitch." The man sighed. "Anything to testify and get Noel behind bars. He's too unstable to lead a gang, the City will fall to the ground if he's let out."

"You'll be safe." I touched the side of his shoulder briefly before pulling away. The action caused both of us to gawk at the other.

Jimin's eyes were gentle. He stared at my healing face, then back down to my neck. Playing with the rings on his fingers, he asked me if I ate breakfast and if I had seen Yoongi yet. I said no to both things. He urged for me to get breakfast, going far enough to reach over me to grab the caller which alerted the nurses up front. I stopped him gently with my hand.

"Jimin, please stop."

He did so immediately. Looking over at me with concern-filled eyes, there was a part of my gut that alerted in suspicion. The value of trust with him faltered slightly as I still found myself to question if he meant the concern.

"How're you feeling?"

"I'm alive."

He shook his head. "And? I asked how you're feeling."

"Do you genuinely care?" I couldn't help it. The insecure thoughts in me trickled out and made it to the surface. I studied how his face moved after my question. His eyes directed away, back to his fingers, and then he did something I didn't predict. He turned his body to face me, his thigh shifting weight into my side at a closeness that would've caused me to faint. His scent flooded my nostrils and ease aimed at my shoulders.

I hated to admit it, but having him this close was a dream.

"I do," Jimin said, trying to catch my eyes. "You snuck up on me. You really did. It started as a mission but it didn't end like one, fuck, I threw the whole plan off to get you protected fast. Believe me when I say, I do care about you."

"Why? Is it because I'm some broken girl? Some damsel in dis-"

"We've lost people on this job. Many I've grown to like, some I've sworn to protect. Brothers and sisters in different sections. Yet, when I was there saving Jungkook and trying to manage the others who tried to get out of the Deities turf, all I could think about was you." His eyes held something, a question, a confession, a need to hold me or touch me. "And it wasn't because I felt bad for you, or because I was assigned to protect you. I cared about your well-being, genuinely, I swear it."

Something. I read it in his eyes, read him like a book and slowly, the questioning of his character slowly started to disappear from my thoughts.

"I wouldn't have betrayed everyone, including my brothers, my section...if I didn't care..." Jimin's gaze awkwardly dipped for a moment, unable to believe his own words so soft and gentle out in the open.