The Rejects [YoonMin][NamJin]

Chapter Fifteen

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Mrs Park asked over the table of a little cafe.

Although utterly convinced the Kims were no threat to the blonde boy, she didn't want to have this conversation in their house and drove the boy to the nearest safe space.

He had injuries that needed explaining, so she had to do what was right for him. And maybe, this time, she would get something out of the teenager.

Usually, he shrugged off any questions and refused to tell her how he ended up battered and bruised, but with the unconscious way he reacted to the Kim's love, he might be more inclined to share.

"Burned myself," Yoongi replied with his usual deadpan voice, slumped low in the chair with his arms crossed. Typical behaviour.

Always defensive. And with good reason, of course.

Mrs Kim had already called and explained what happened, how Yoongi ended up nursing a mild burn, but still, Mrs Park had to ask.

She also needed to know what happened at school and why the teenager was suspended from school until Monday morning.

Of course, she already knew what the school thought had happened and what Mr and Mrs Kim managed to extract from the blonde, so she had a pretty good picture in her mind, but there was one thing still unexplained.

How did Yoongi end up with a bruised eye in all of this?

If he lashed out and struck the other boy, breaking his nose and sending the others scattering, where did the mark come from?

She was confident Yoongi would never tell, but maybe, there was someone else who would.

"Why didn't you tell me about Jimin?" The dark-haired woman asked, instantly catching the blonde's attention.

He straightened up slightly and reached for his drink, sipping quietly as he decided what to say.

The last thing Yoongi wanted was to be taken away again and removed from the only household that'd ever taken care of him, taken away from people who didn't beat and abuse him constantly.

And he definitely didn't want to leave the pink-haired boy after finally reconnecting. They had been through too much, and he wasn't sure he could take the separation again.

"I-I..."

Yoongi kicked himself for the quivering voice. He was supposed to be stronger than this, unshakeable and fearless, but that wasn't happening as of late.

Now that he didn't need to be constantly alert and aware of his surroundings and wasn't fueled by tension, he found himself continually decompressing, releasing the anxiety, even when he didn't want to.

"It's okay," Mrs Park said softly, sensing the nervous energy. "You're not in trouble. It must have been a shock."

For the first time in many months, Yoongi let his eyes meet the kindly woman's, expressing exactly how surprised he was.

Running into Jimin weeks after attempting to take his own life was jarring.

Mentally, the older boy had checked out and had enough of being somebody else's outlet for violence, so it seemed like the only way. He could and didn't want to feel any more loneliness and depression.

The blonde boy's only hope was moving in with the Kim family, where Mrs Park knew he would be nurtured and taken care of, at least until he aged out of the system, but she had no idea that Jimin would fall back into the boy's life.

Hell, she didn't even know he lived in the area; otherwise, she would have given some kind of warning.

"I would have told you if I knew," The woman paused for a moment, watching the blonde dig through his pockets and pull out his phone. "I can't wait to see him again."