HOLD MY HAND TIGHT || JIKOOK ✅

3

JIMIN POV

Everything hurts waymore today than it did yesterday.

I'm barely able to make it downstairs for breakfast without groaning like an eighty-year-old.

Between the gauze on my cheek and the bruises blooming across my face, everyone in the dining room at Omega House can figure out what happened to me.

A lot of them have been in similar situations themselves in the past but it's never easy to see on someone else.

Several well-wishers ask me if I'm okay and offer to get me stuff but I don't like being the center of attention.

It's easier to just tell them I'm fine and don't need anything than to admit the humiliating truth.

As far as I can tell, nothing's broken.

Bruises and cuts heal with time, so there's really no reason to fuss.

The only thing that's really wrong is something no one can help me with.

When I called my boss first thing this morning and told him I needed a few days off because I'm still recovering, he told me that if I don't show up for work tonight, I'm fired. The asshole saw how I looked after the incident in the alley last night.

He even let me go home early so I didn't scare the customers.

I actually started to think he had a heart. Apparently, I was wrong.

He's been looking for an excuse to fire me for a while now and I think this will be it.

I saw the writing on the wall as soon as he mentioned his nephew moving to town and looking for work. I considered offering to job share so I could take a few more classes but I couldn't afford to lose any hours.

Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of employment protections in place for omegas. The ones that exist are barebones, at best.

If I do get fired, there isn't any way for me to protest my termination or request unemployment benefits.

It'll just be over.

I swear under my breath as I lean across the table.

With the way I feel right now, there's no way I'll be able to get to work let alone make it through an entire shift.

Those fucking alphas took more from me than they realized.

As the morning wears on, the pain doesn't subside.

In fact, it only gets worse.

Aspirin alone isn't enough to cut through it and every time I breathe, it feels like my ribs are being snapped in half.

I'm forced to take small, shallow breaths that barely do anything to fill up my lungs just to keep from crying out in pain.

Not only that, but I can't move very fast or lift anything, so I'm left sitting on the sidelines as the rest of the residents go through the day's chores and activities.

It's nearly lunchtime before I finally give in and head to the clinic down the street. It's close enough that I won't have to drive and best of all, they're low cost and don't require insurance.

If they're not busy, they'll probably give me something decent for the pain.

If they are busy, they might leave me sitting long enough that I can just sleep away the agony.

Either way, I won't be any worse off than I am right now.

After I tell a few people where I'm going so they don't get worried, I grab my coat and slip outside.