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Jeongguk nervously messes with the bracelet that Jimin made.
The lunch date they're having is awkward. Namjoon was silent, eating his food without making a small conversation. Hoseok didn't really think it was awkward, patiently eating what he ordered. He knew Namjoon was going to be quiet but that's becoming normal of him.
"Um...so Namjoon. How—uh...how's work doing for you?" Jeongguk nervously spoke up.
"It's going fine. My Hyung let me work on my own now." Namjoon replies, still staring down at his food to not make eye contact.
Hoseok looks at Namjoon, smiling. "That's good! What part do you work now?"
"Since my Hyung's a supervisor, he let's me work on some of the car parts to build myself." Namjoon looks at him. "It's an improvement."
"I'm glad he let's you go on your own now."
Jeongguk looks at Hoseok, raising a brow since he's beside him and Namjoon sitting on his own. How is he so smart of what to say? Hoseok looks at Jeongguk and smiles small. He reaches over to Jeongguk's hand and holds it, basically telling him by his eyes that it's fine that Namjoon's silent and just talk to him without having a reply.
Jeongguk sighs, looking at Namjoon. "I uh, I visited Sooyoung and the Parks recently."
Namjoon stops. He gulps hard and flutters his eyes. "Okay." He continues to eat.
"She um...she said that Jimin's doing really well."
Hoseok blinks and looks right at Jeongguk. Fuck, I didn't mean that type of conversation! I didn't know he was going to bring that up! Is it even the best time to talk about it? Namjoon didn't reply from what Jeongguk said, continuing to eat.
"I heard that he's learning how to read braille. They uh, they hired a professional to help him learn while helping him with his mental state."
Namjoon gulps hard, nervously griping the silverware. I'm glad he's doing okay. I need him to be okay.
"Sooyoung told me he thought about letting him have other visitors instead of family." Jeongguk lowers his eyes. "He didn't really say yes to it but he strongly thought about it."
No. No—I can't visit him...I can't. I want to be strong for him. I won't be strong if I see him. Namjoon nervously clears his throat. "Um. G...Good to know."
Jeongguk smiles small from a reply. "You want to see him when he's allowed to have more visitors?"
Of fucking course. I always want to see him. I always want to see how he's doing, how he's handling everything, anything about him. But if I go and see him...I never want to leave his side. I wouldn't be able to leave. I would break my own strength that I'm trying to build to be strong for Jimin once he leaves the mental institution...
"Can we not talk about this? Please?" Namjoon decided to say, looking at Jeongguk. "I really don't want to talk about it. I'm serious."
Jeongguk curls his brows. "Right... Okay."
Hoseok sighs. "Namjoon, we're going to talk about it sooner or later. I know it's going to be hard to talk about it but it's going to happen no matter what."
Namjoon stares at Hoseok. Then he lowers his eyes and puts down his chopsticks, getting up from the chair and grabs his jacket, taking out his wallet and pulls out money, putting it on the table. "I lost my appetite." He mutters to them before leaving the area and the restaurant.
Jeongguk curls his brows and watches him leave the place. Hoseok sighs and just rubs his forehead out of frustration.
"He's never going to talk to us..." Jeongguk sadly says. "He's still staying in that hole—he just...needs to see Jimin when he's ready..." He looks at Hoseok. "Right?"
Hoseok looks at him. He lowers his eyes and sighs. "Right. There's no point. We'll just...hang out with him like there's no problem for now on, I guess."
▁▁▁▁▁
Namjoon ignored Seokjin and Yoongi and just went right to his bedroom. Seokjin noticed and his brows curled up. By his stance and how he left, he knew they didn't make Namjoon smile. Namjoon closes his door—that didn't close all the way—and walks over to sit down on the edge of the bed, laying himself down with a sigh.
Namjoon closes his eyes. But once he did, all he could see is Jimin. He groans and opens his eyes, now staring at the ceiling. Namjoon just wished Jimin was with him everyday, waiting to see him. Namjoon sits up from the bed, looking at his nightstand.
Namjoon gulps hard and nervously reaches over to the handle of the drawer, pulling it open. He sees the bracelet that Jimin gave him and the paper bag that used to have the AirPods in them. Behind that paper bag was a small paper bouquet of flowers that Jimin try to secretly make for Valentine's Day.
Namjoon remembers that he walked in on Jimin making the paper bouquet and almost getting caught, hiding it behind his back. Jimin did tell him that it was a gift but didn't say what it was. Once it was that time to give presents, Jimin gave him the paper bouquet of flowers with the paper flowers being Namjoon's favorite colors. With Yoongi's help, Namjoon got Jimin a gift of plenty of sweets and a very soft blanket of a color and decoration that Jimin has always adored.
Namjoon side smiles from remembering it. He decides to reach down into his nightstand drawer and softly grab the bracelet Jimin gave him. He stares at the bracelet for the moment, couldn't help to have a frown across his face. He sighs, deciding to slip on the bracelet and look at it on his wrist.
I'll be strong for you, Jimin. I won't let being away from you bring me down. I'll stay strong and wait for you until you're ready. Namjoon lowers his hand and closes his eyes, laying down on the bed again. I miss him so much...
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