Man in Black || myg

𝐗𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐕. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐭

Park Soomi

"W-what? B-but, but..." Jimin's body language remained relatively calm, but his face seemingly paled in shock and disbelief. He stared with piercing yet quivering eyes, struggling to collect his thoughts, which I could only imagine were in complete disarray. He couldn't even manage to form a proper sentence before the front door swung open.

"Hey! What's going...on?" Hoseok quickly sealed his mouth shut after taking notice of the tense atmosphere. As I look around the room, I realized that Jungkook also found his way here in all the commotion. We all watched with intense concentration like an audience to the climax of a play, the sullen looks and heated emotions of the main characters captured in the spotlight.

But none of it was acting, and every emotion, every agonizing feeling, was painfully real.

"I-is Jimin not my real brother?" The question involuntarily slipped out, as I was unable to contain my own disbelief with the situation.

No matter what she says, he's still your brother, Soomi. Nothing can change that. I repeated this thought, again and again, to reassure myself. Yet, I still couldn't help but hope that we misunderstood, that Mom somehow misspoke.

"He's your half-brother." She turned to Jimin and took a deep breath. "Your dad had you with a woman he knew in law school. It was before we had met, and as far as I know, they were never married."

"How...how could you? How could both of you keep this a secret from me?" There was evident distress in Jimin's voice. I feared that he would've been angry, but instead, he seemed disappointed and distraught.

And afraid, afraid of how his world just got flipped upside down, afraid of what other secrets might be locked away. It was the same fear I felt, and I knew it must be a hundred times worse for Jimin. Everything he thought he knew was a lie. How could he not be scared?

"We thought it'd be best if you didn't know. You were so young. We weren't sure how you'd take it—"

"Too young? What about after I grew up? Huh? All those years? Why couldn't you tell me then?"

Silence. She couldn't find the words to answer. All she could do was bite her lip with a face overridden with guilt.

"Then...where is she now? My...my mom."

Even more silence. But this time, it didn't seem like guilt that was troubling Mom. Her eyes widened as if caught off guard by the question. But she quickly recovered, her stare turning to one filled with sorrow and worry.

"She, umm, she died before I met your dad. I'm sorry."

I immediately turned to Jimin, concerned by his reaction to the news. Why is this all happening to Jimin? He just learned of his real mom, yet the possibility of ever knowing her already vanished. I didn't even know if he ever had any desire to meet her, but it must be hard having the existence of his mom both born and dead in the span of mere minutes.

"I-I think it's probably best that I cut my visit short. There's leftovers in the fridge, and, umm, I'm sorry for everything." She hurried towards the door as Yoongi and Hoseok quickly moved out of the way. "Oh, I just remembered..." Just as she was about to leave, she turned back around. "I think your mom had a son with someone before your dad. What was his name...Kim Siwoo? I don't know where he is now, but maybe you can find him. I'll be off then."

Mom gave Jimin a small, sullen smile before closing the door behind her.

"Wow, what did we walk into? Your family tree is much more complicated than what your files say—" Hoseok's sentence was cut short by Yoongi elbowing him in his side. I glared at his insensitivity, but Jimin surprisingly perked up at Hoseok's words.