Jimin didn't much like the darkness.
He wanted to draw less attention to the pub, so he kept his light off. Not that it mattered. Surely Ariel kept her light on. Not that he knew, he hadn't checked on her in over an hour. The disgusting, tasteless beans were more important at that moment. Or no, they weren't tasteless. Salt was the only thing Jimin could taste. A little too much of it.
There were no punching bags Jimin could let his fury out on. No gym he could workout in. Barely any comics he could read. All that was left was himself, and that terrified him beyond belief.
His desk was clean due to Asa's constant nagging about keeping a tidy appearance. Jimin was keeping himself the same way. It was the only way to convince the others he was handling the entire 'our lives are over' thing. Sometimes appearances did the trick. Sometimes.
The door to his room creaked, Jimin whipping around and not caring that his lips were covered with sauce. Ariel was there, and she burst out laughing at his face. Jimin rolled his eyes and dabbed his mouth with his napkin, tucking it under the plate and making sure his spoon was safe on the surface. After, he swiveled around in his chair and stared at her with a raised brow.
"Can I ask you something, old man?" she asked.
"You just did."
"Oh haha. I laughed so fucking hard."
"Language," he said, perhaps a bit sharper than he intended.
Regardless of that, she skipped her way inside the room without his permission. Ariel sat on his bed and bounced on it, smiling at the way it rolled her around. She kept her joyful expression. That was when Jimin noticed she had one hand behind her back as if hiding something. He got his answer when she brought it forward, waving it around in the air. His jaw dropped.
"So, what's this?" she said with a smirk tugging on her face.
The girl was holding a magazine Jimin had never seen in his life. Right when he took in the graphic cover, he wished he could unsee it. He was sure he looked like a ghost. After all, he believed in ghosts, so it made sense. His skin was turning pale, his hands clenching the air around him.
"You think this is funny, kid? Where the hell did you even find this?" he asked.
"Under your bed."
"I've never owned a..." He broke off, flustering for a beat. "Just give it to me." She hopped up and placed it in his hands, him refusing to look at the inappropriate cover as he went to go hide it somewhere. Actually, he knew just the place.
One hike up to Jericho's room later, he hid it under his bed. Jimin was certain Jericho would like it. After all, it wasn't like he was getting any. If Jimin was sure about one thing, it was that Jericho Novak would rather date himself than anyone else. Maybe even Charlotte, as strange as that may have been.
Upon returning to his room, he found Ariel still on his bed. She was laying on her side, staring at the wall. She wasn't facing him, but she didn't need to. Her posture was stiff. It didn't help that her hair was greasy. What did she tell him about showering? Now it seemed it was his turn to lecture her.
"You should be ashamed of your behavior, going out and looking at nasty images like that," he said, but she didn't budge. "I can't believe I'm having this conversation with a preteen."
"I'm not a preteen."
"You're 13, that's a preteen."
"I turn 14 tomorrow," she mumbled, bringing her legs a bit closer to her chest.
Jimin froze up and glanced at his watch. There were only a few hours left in the day. That meant her birthday was in mere hours, and he was alone with her for it. Great. He had to organize a birthday celebration, didn't he? All by himself? It made him mentally roll his eyes. Physically, he sat on the opposite end of the bed, not facing her.
"Tomorrow's your birthday? Really? You're keeping track?" he asked.
"Not much else to do. Besides, no one ever remembered except for me. I make it a little game to count down every year. See if anyone would notice. Guess it's too late for that now, but at least I get to spend it away from home this year. That's already better than all the previous years."
There was a quiet after that. Ariel didn't bother parting her lips to speak, and neither did Jimin. Instead, he brought his eyes to the cracks in the walls of his room. Each one could have had a story. Or maybe they were just from age. Jimin wondered how many had lived in this room before. How many of them were just as desperate as Jimin?
"Ariel, just go back to your room and leave me alone. You've already mortally embarrassed me, please just go." When she didn't budge, Jimin grunted. "Ariel, I won't ask again." No movement. "Don't make me do the count to three trick." She stayed still. "Alright, you asked for it. I'm going to count to three, and if you're not out of my room by the time I say '3', I'll force you out. Up to you."
She stood, then faced him and crossed her arms over her chest. No sign of her leaving. He huffed. "1," he said, her leaning back on her heels. "2." Jimin got up, but she didn't care about his motions. "3."
Nothing.
He went over and took her by the shoulder, forcing her out of the room. She was stumbling, but she did give in and let herself get dragged out. The door creaked as he made her go through it. Then, he felt at ease knowing she was outside of his personal space. His solitude.
Right as he went to close the door, he realized she hadn't said anything since he grabbed her. That made him halt in his tracks. She had her eyes cast down, her hands drooping by her side.
"Is something wrong?" he asked. She opened her mouth, then, closed it and shook her head. Although he knew she was lying, he decided to find solace in his peace and quiet. "Alright, then leave me alone. Eat if you haven't. Don't bother me unless it's important."
He shut the door without waiting for her response. Sure, it was harsh, but he needed time. For processing. Ivan was still unconscious. Fear for his friend was erupting inside his core until his lungs felt as though they would burst. The only thing he could do was wait. Wait for Ivan to die, or for him to wake up permanently injured. Both options were equally terrifying.
Luckily, Jimin got a few minutes to himself. Silence was his favorite friend. It replenished his social battery. He even got the time to finish his beans. They were disgusting as hell. Before he went into hiding, he always hated mangoes and beans. No mangoes were in sight, but there were so many beans, Jimin thought he'd die just from looking at them. It seemed as though-
"Jimin!"
He stiffened. The scream belonged to Ariel, her high voice ripping through the halls and shattering his ears. Without questioning himself, he snatched his pistol from off his nightstand and exited the room in a sprint.
Each heartbeat broke his body down into mere atoms. One step equaled one step closer to the grave he was mentally digging. He had an image in his mind. It was Ariel's crying face, begging for help. And in the back of his mind, Aria was there too.
The scream came from the first floor. With his pistol ready to fire, he ran that way. He didn't think twice. All he heard was his heartbeat, and the sounds of thumps below him. There were shouts. Cries. Bawls. Each one proceeded to make his figure heavy, his feet weighing down on his dwindling soul.
Stairs came into his view, and he jumped down them with no regard for what would happen if he fell or landed wrong. The next room was the pub, and the sight had his entire being freezing. All at once, time slowed. No more heartbeat. No more actions. No more Seong Jimin.
In front of him was a gory sight. Crimson stained the floors, a man on the ground covering what once was his dick. He was writhing around, kicking and yowling profanities. Meanwhile, Ariel was getting held at gunpoint by another man who was uninjured. She had a bruise on her face, covering half of her cheek while her nose was bent.
Her knife was on the ground, her hands up to admit defeat. The other man didn't seem interested in that. Hesitation was a dangerous thought. So, he shoved it out of his mind and instead pulled the trigger. Neighbors could have heard. They probably did. Jimin didn't care.
A body dropped. It wasn't Ariel's. That thought was enough to have his soul repair itself, the atoms coming back to form Jimin's figure. The screams of the other didn't matter. Jimin kicked him in the face hard enough to knock him out. That was that. That was the end of the confrontation.
Ariel sobbed, then pretended she didn't. Tears were flowing down her face, as was blood. It didn't seem like her own. Jimin couldn't locate a wound, and that made his adrenaline lower with his weapon. He dropped it, and the girl didn't even flinch.
"I-I protected myself pretty well, it was just the last one that got the upper hand," she said, throwing her arms up as if defending herself.
Laughs sounded off inside his head. They were the laughs of Aria, mocking him for allowing himself to get in this position. Despite how Ariel was the one who got beaten, despite how she was the one who needed his help, Jimin still felt like the vulnerable one. All his flaws and sins were on the floor in front of him. All because a little girl needed help, and for the first time in years, he actually succeeded. Success. That was a word he hadn't remembered the definition of, but it came back to him when he looked into Ariel's eyes.
"I'm sorry," she said with a whimper. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I-" He cut her off. Not with his words. There was no cell in his body that was ready to speak. Instead, he did what he didn't expect from himself.
He rushed forward and hugged her.
She was frail in his arms, her cries coming out louder than they had before. In a flash, she was returning the embrace perhaps tighter than Jimin was. One of his hands buried itself in her locks. He pulled her against his chest and closed his eyes, knitting his brows together. Blood and dust was her scent. It covered her until Jimin thought she was drowning in it.
"Are you okay?" he asked in a mutter.
"Depends. Do we have alcohol?" she replied through her tears.
He laughed, her doing the same, and he pulled her closer. The fabric of her shirt was squeezed by his tiny hands. Two men had broken inside the pub and almost killed Ariel. That was the situation. Yet all Jimin could focus on was how the nightmares that plagued his mind had faded for just a moment. For the first time in years, Jimin heard nothing but the sounds of Ariel's soft cries. There was no imaginary fire, no more screams, no more memories of Jimin beating a man to death in cold blood. Jimin felt free.
Reality came crashing back down on him when he parted from her. Rolling up his sleeves to his hands, he dabbed her face, wiping off the blood, sweat, and tears staining her flesh. She stared the entire time, sniffling occasionally.
"Here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna drag the live one and the dead one into the kitchen for interrogation, then sweep the house. You're gonna get cleaning supplies and scrub the blood off the floor. After I tie the live one up and gag him, we'll go get the makeup from the master bathroom and cover that bruise as best we can. If the cops come, you're my daughter and we're living here cause my father, your grandfather, owns the property. What happened was I set fireworks off to surprise you, but you got scared and screamed. Sound good?" he said, and she nodded as he finished cleaning her face.
It was time to move. With the noise that was made, it'd be near impossible to avoid the police. Jimin had what he hoped was a decent plan for it. Plans were imperative to survival, but at that moment, Ariel was gazing at him with her eyes wet and her mouth parted. What she said next sent Jimin down a loop of unwanted emotions.
"I was lonely," she said.
Jimin forced himself not to reply to that. Feelings were a complex ideal Jimin didn't want. That wasn't because he didn't sympathize with Ariel's feelings. In fact, the opposite was true. What they needed to do was scrub the place down and remove all evidence before any more activity came.
Ignoring her confused glance, Jimin shifted to turn his back to her, getting on one knee. He tapped his back. "Come on, get on my back, kid. Piggyback ride to the cleaning supplies in Asa's room." She climbed on his back, Jimin picking her up and listening for sirens. None came. At least that meant they had the time to spare for Jimin to say what he wanted. "Kid?" She hummed, the vibration sending a tremor down his back. "I'm proud of you."
She went stiff, but not in a bad way from what Jimin could tell. Her breath was still soft, tickling his long hair and the skin on his neck while her arms stayed draped around his torso. Right when he went to move, she tapped his chest, alerting him to her voice.
"Old man?" she asked.
For once, he didn't grimace or grunt at the nickname. He couldn't tell if it was because he was too tired, too emotional, or too used to it to notice. Regardless, he returned the hum she gave him not long ago. And then, he felt her smile.
"I'm proud of you too."
YOU ARE READING
Heartless || •OG• ✔️
Mystery / Thriller|| 18+ Enemies to lovers gxb and bxb || Infamous NYC mafia leaders Charlotte and Jericho have been rivals for years. However, all of that changes when one of the leaders of their Underworld is assassinated. The rivals are forced together and must re...
