like a Firefly || kookmin

chapter 3 (secret)

The tall man stared at him for some more minutes. The innocent boy lying peacefully in front of him finally found his comfort… .
Jungkook got some more clean clothes , wet them ,and smoothly caressed the smaller boy’s skin in order to remove the sweat and also to lower his body temperature.
His skin was so soft and pale , as if Jihoo cared so much for his skin , Jungkook thought … .

“He must be one of those rich kids who get away from home just to attract some attention from their parents.”

Jungkook thought… , but he took a second , paying attention to Jihoo’s Hanbok . It wasn’t that fancy , it was an ordinary one that servants usually wear.
He shook his head .God .. It didn’t matter .
the poor boy was dying, and Jungkook was thinking about these shit.
Jungkook got some water , wet a new clean cloth ,and closed it to smaller boy’s lips .
They seemed very dry ..
at that, Jimin poked his little tongue out and tasted the liquid. 
Jungkook halted his movements , just sat there and stared at the little boy lying on his bed who moaned in pain every now and then , for a little longer.
There was a surge of desire in his chest that made him wanna protect the innocent boy , and also a surge of curiosity to know him ,and also know the reason what the fuck he was doing in that dark scary jungle in a fucking cave like a fucking escapee. 
Guess he should wait to know ,right ?
God …
he was tired , spent the whole day teaching martial arts to his new idiot trainees, then headed to the jungle ,his safe place for practicing, and when he was busy carrying some heavy rocks ,he noticed a weak glimmering light of fire somewhere in the cave …
Indicating that somebody was there … .
After some minutes, Jungkook saw a big animal interring the cave… , so he didn’t hesitate to go there to save any potential idiot that might have been there , and now … here he was … trying to protect that same idot who seemed so vulnerable and fragile , peacefully sleeping after enduring such a horrible and painful experience.

It was late at midnight , and the tall boy must get some sleep , so he slowly got off the bed , took another look at Jihoo to make sure he was fine , and then lied down on the floor , put his elbow on his eyes and finally fell into the sweat world of sleep.
                              

                               ********

“Ahh..” Jimin moaned out loud in pain as he tried to move a little while sleeping and woke up immediately.

“Hey … what’s wrong ? You OK, kid?” Jungkook stated sleepily as he immediately got up on his feet to check up on Jimin.

“I do… don’t know …, it hurts, but I’ll survive, I guess..”

“Want some water?”

“Yes, please.” Said Jimin with a noisy tone .

“ ‘Be right back.!”
Jungkook left the room and came back with a tiny wooden bowl containing water, helping the small boy to drink the liquid.
Jimin drunk all the water in one go ,feeling so thirsty, a few drops of water fell from his lips .
Jimin took a deep breath and wiped his tiny palm of his unharmed hand over his mouth.

“Thank you, Junghoo_shi …” Jimin stated appreciatively as he looked right into the taller man’s eyes.
Jungkook smiled softly .

” You don’t need to thank me …”
“It’s Jungkook, by the way. “

Jimin clearly gasped . What a fucked up situation.
He simply forgot his savior’s name .
But wait , he was in so much pain last night that he couldn’t even remember his own name , let alone the name of some random stranger that happened to save his life .

“Go easy on yourself, Jimin-ah . It’s not that bad , at least you remembered the first part .. Jung …” Jimin comforted himself.

“Umm … sorry ‘bout that , I must have misheard you as I wasn’t in a good…”

“Hey, it’s OK. I know you were in a lot of pain .it’s not a big deal .” Jungkook reassured him with a gentle smile on his face that made him even more attractive, Jimin thought .
Suddenly, the sliding door of the room opened forcefully, and a cheerful male voice echoed in the room.

“Good morning Jeon Jungkook ,my favorite person in the entire world  . How are….”
The cheerful man stopped cheering around at the sight of the cute small stranger boy lying like a fallen angel on his best friend’s bed.
Jimin looked up … meanwhile, he saw Jungkook that quickly turned around to face the man ,flashing the happy boy a warm smile .

“Good morning, Hoseokie ,The happiest man alive .” Said with a chuckle.
.
“Am I interrupting something?” Hoseok said , pointing his finger at the two boys in suspension.

“Of course not … you know you are always welcome here.”

“Oh, thanks, my man .and how many times do I have to tell you Jeon fucking Jungkook? Do not call me that .I’m your hyung for fuck’s sake.” He said with a fake angry expression.

“Come on , you don’t seem to be my hyung anyway .” He joked .
Hoseok rolled his eyes at the taller boy and finally paid attention to the smaller boy who was already looking at him with his big innocent eyes .

“Hi there ,are you OK, kid ?you don’t seem OK.”
He said and then looked at his friend .

“ Is he OK? Who is he, by the way ?”
At that ,Jimin felt like he was a baby who couldn’t talk for himself .
He cleared his throat and said,

“ Hi .I…I’m Jihoo, and I’m…”
Jungkook looked at the poor boy who was struggling to talk .

“Hyung , let’s not scare the boy , I’ll explain it to you later .”
Hoseok gave a gentle nod and then looked at Jimin .. .

“It’s nice to meet you, Jihoo-ah .well, I don’t recall seeing you before ,so I guess you are a new friend of Jungkook’s, which means you are a new friend of mine as well .”

Jimin just looked at him with his big eyes and tried to smile at his friendly words ,not knowing what to say .

“What are you doing here anyway, hyung ? Is everything alright?”

“Well, yeah ,I guess . I mean ,I don’t know as I saw plenty of soldiers, special guards, to be specific, wandering around everywhere in the town . I think something is definitely going on . “

Jimin’s eyes were wide open .a shiver ran through his spine .
Why was he surprised, though ? He knew that his father wasn’t going to just sit there and pray to God to send his son back home .
Actually, he had seen some of his father’s men wandering in town yesterday and the day before , while he was roaming around like a little freedman , but not that free ,cause he had to veil his face ,fearing to be known , to get caught…
but that short time that he had walked almost freely in the town , buying some delicious hand-made food that a lovely old woman was selling, breathing the same air that normal people breathe, just being a simple town boy doing a simple thing , that felt great you know .? And Jimin wanted that …
But now, he was scared ,his father had the special guards searching for him ,that meant he was determined to find him and make him come back… God… what should he do ?
Where should he hide?
Could he live the rest of his life hiding in shadows ,fearing that someday his father would find him ?
Shit . Why was life this hard ?
He chose not to think about it right now and listened to Hoseok to learn more information about the guards.

“Why would you think that hyung ?”

“Well, hello , they were special guards, you know they don’t just send them to have some fresh air in the town .it must be something , you know actually I think something is going on in the royal palace , and it may be a great opportunity for us to …”

Hoseok kept on saying without giving himself a tiny chance to breathe .

“Hyung ,let’s go outside, Jihoo_shi here needs to rest .” Jungkook interrupted ,taking Hoseok’s hand and leaving the room without taking another look at the smaller boy .

                                      

                                    ***

Hello ,Lovlies...
Did you like this part?
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Let me know how you liked it ...😉

What do you think that opportunity that Hoseok was talking about is ?
Any guess?

I see you in the next chapter 👀
🫶❤️‍🩹