Once In A Lifetime || Jikook ✅

6.

JIMIN

Jimin was trying hard not
to stress.

After calling Jungkook's hotel
for what seemed like the hundredth time, the desk
clerk's tone left little doubt
that she thought a restraining order might be in his future.

And unfortunately, he still
had no idea if the keychain
was actually there.

By the time he'd dressed and
left the house for his evening shift at the coffee shop, all
he really wanted to do was
take a nap.

It didn't help that he was currently avoiding Ari, who
was, of course, the one
person he desperately
wanted to talk to at that moment.

She would at least have been able to give him some advice.

And she owed him some
advice, really, since she was
the one who got him into the predicament in the first place.

He never would have gone
out if she hadn't insisted and while he had been happy to
have a little fun with
Jungkook back in his hotel
room, Jimin hadn't been prepared for what he'd feel
like afterward.

He'd been afraid to put
himself out there, afraid
to be intimate with
someone new.

But he did do those things
and to his surprise, his world hadn't come crashing down.

On the contrary, it'd been
pretty damn wonderful.

Jungkook had made him feel sexy and that was something that hobi never did.

In the past, Jimin had been
so focused on pleasing his boyfriend that he never
realized how good it could
be with someone who wasn't selfish in bed.

And now he wanted more.

Except he'd told Jungkook
he didn't.

Jimin frowned, remembering
how he'd left the other man
that morning.

How there'd been a brief
flash of surprise and disappointment on his face
when Jimin had said they shouldn't see each other again.

But he would need to see
Jungkook again, if he
hoped to get that keychain
back and then what?

Would it be awkward?

Would Jungkook even let
him back in, after the way
he'd left? And then... what?

Nothing.

Because Jungkook was out
of reach, He was only in
Seoul on business.

He wasn't available, which
had been the entire point
of hooking up with him in
the first place, Jimin
reminded himself.

Still, he couldn't help wanting
to spend a little more time
with someone who made him
feel the way Jungkook had.

He sighed, grabbing a broom.

At least his shift at work
was almost over.

He'd been so wrapped up in
his thoughts that the night
had practically flown by.

The last customer had finally
left, though and in the silence, he'd come to a realization.

As long as he tied his
happiness to his relationship status, he was never going
to be truly happy.

Maybe, along with the
changes in his personal life,
it was time to actually
pursue some changes in his professional life as well.

Unable to find a job in his
field right out of college, he'd taken a barista position at
the coffee shop for the
flexible hours and some
much-needed income.

Then, he put his own
aspirations on the back
burner to pick up extra shifts when hobi went back to school.

Over time, he'd become comfortable at the coffee
shop and now well, it was
just what he did.

But there was nobody standing
in the way of his happiness anymore, nobody asking him
to put his dreams on hold.

He thought back to the stack
of applications sitting on his
desk at home, gathering dust since he'd collected them a month ago, when hobi had
left him.

He'd thought at the time
that he'd get a new job, find
a new man, really stick it to
his ex-boyfriend.

Jimin never followed through with it though and now he
knew why.

The timing had been wrong because the motivation had
been wrong.

Jimin didn't have a damn
thing to prove to Hobi.

It was time to prove his
worth to himself.

As he finished sweeping the floor, a smile crept across
his face.

He was going to fill out
those applications and
polish up his resume.

He was going to finally allow himself to be happy.