Love After Love...

Chapter 30: "Give me a chance."

~3 months later~

Author's POV:
Jieun was doing so well with her clinic. She got a lot more clients and was happy with how things were turning out for her. Jimin and Jieun continued to meet as friends. He stuck to his word and never tried to ask her out in a romantic way and always maintained a friendship. Although he couldn't deny his feelings for her. He wanted her to get over Namjoon. Little did he know, getting over him was one small step. Forgetting him and his memories, then letting someone completely new in, was something she couldn't manage to do even after all this time, even in his wildest dreams.

Today was just like another one of their hangouts. But Jieun was not in the mood. It was her and Namjoon's anniversary today. She was sad, dejected. Jimin noticed almost immediately and knew it was about Namjoon.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" he asked. "Would you want to hear my miserable sobstory?" she scoffed. "Yes," he said, looking at her. She made eye contact with him and she didn't know why she wanted to trust him. What was it that kept tugging at her conscious and told her to just let loose in front of Jimin? It was a mystery to her. But as if she had no filter in between her brain and mouth, she said, "Okay. I'll tell you." So Jieun proceeded to tell Jimin about her perfect relationship. Not every little detail but the gist so that Jimin understood how close they actually were.

Then she reached the day she hated the most. The day she lost him. She told him how she found the ring.

"When I saw the ring, I felt like I was on fire. I felt so much pain. Like, physical pain. Seokjin told me about how Namjoon kept it with him and had picked it up because he was gonna propose that day. I was so numb. I couldn't feel a thing. For a whole day, I didn't eat, I couldn't sleep. His parents, my parents both came to our apartment to give condolences. His parents were inconsolable. Seokjin handled them well though. He was being so strong but I knew how much this broke him. I just couldn't bring myself to cry. Hyejin and Wheein stayed with me. After a whole day and after them both begging me to eat, I finally something. And what I ate, I puked. And after I threw up, I felt so hungry. So I ate properly. But afterwards, I cried. For hours on end. I hugged his pillow and wept. Everything reminded me of him. Wheein and Hyejin cried with me. I still couldn't sleep. I was mad at him for leaving me all alone. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. He was the love of my life and then he just... he was gone. Just in a snap. I lived in that apartment for a long time. I moved out a year ago because I just couldn't live there anymore. I needed to start again. The only condolence I had for myself was the fact that we were both happy when we last spoke and his last words to me were 'I love you'. We were too perfect to exist..." she said, crying.

Jimin wiped her tears with his long sleeve and gave her a glass of water. He was in tears too. "Did it make you feel better? Having told someone?" he asked, desperately hoping he helped. "It took me around 9 to 10 months of therapy to get my head right and get back to my own practice. I couldn't deal with people when I was feeling like this. Professor Park really helped me. He didn't even charge. He even extended my thesis presentation date so I could deal with the loss. I had never thought that the day I receive my doctorate would be the worst day of my life. He would be proud of me if he heard I told this to someone outside my circle. It means I let that person in," she said. Jimin smiled.

"Why though? What made you trust me? This is definitely something very intimate. We know each other since just three months and I'm practically a stranger. Why then?" he asked. "You're not a stranger, Jimin. You're a friend. You're dear to me. You've helped me forget in these three months. That's something I couldn't do for three years," she replied, earning herself a smile that made his eyes turn to tiny crescents. "What happened to the ring?" he asked. "I still have it. I can't bring myself to dispose of it. So I thought if Jungkook, Hyejin, Wheein or Seokjin, someone who is like family, asks me for my blessing to marry someone and if they truly love their partner with every cell in their body, I'll give it to them. Because that ring means love till eternity. Everlasting and undying. It wasn't in my destiny, it should definitely be in theirs," she said, shedding tears again. "Do you still love him?" he asked. She took a deep breath and said, "It's hard to love when that someone just isn't around anymore. Who do you project all those feelings on? You just live and feed on memories. All I know is... I miss him. Every day." "Don't cry, Jieun. It really breaks my heart," Jimin said, scooting closer to envelope her in a very warm hug.

They hugged for a long time till his shirt was soaked in her tears. And the moment suddenly felt heavy. "Jieun, I like you," he blurted. She immediately pulled out of the hug. "What?" she said with disbelief. "I know after everything you said to me, you reciprocating my feelings is highly unlikely, but I'm not looking for reciprocation. I just need you to let me in, enough to make you forget about him," he said. "Jimin, that's not gonna be possible," she said. "Try, Jieun. Please. Let me be part of your life. You deserve to have a happy relationship. And I'll make you happy, I promise," he was almost begging. "Why are you telling me this if you know what my thoughts are?" she asked. "Because keeping it in my heart is gonna make me explode and that's not going to be pretty. I want to be as honest with you as I can. I don't want to hide it anymore. I really like you. Give me a chance, Jieun," he said.

What kind of sorcery took over her for her to say the word, "Okay."