On-Way Passage || ᴠᴍɪɴ

Chapter 30

Upon driving back to the Kim house and parking his car, Taehyung pushed open the door, climbed out, and marched straight to the garden without sparing a single glance at Jimin.

Jimin lagged two to three metres behind him. As he neared the garden, he found that tonight’s guest had already arrived, and not only the guest, but Seokjin and his family were also present. Tables and chairs, as well as a barbeque grill, were set up in the middle of the garden, and the aunty was bringing the skewered food from the kitchen to the garden table.

Taehyung and Jimin were the last to arrive.

Jimin saw Seungmin sitting with Yoongi and Seokjin; the three of them were chatting, while Jungkook was shooting hoops with Hoseok. Jungkook was dressed in fashionable sportswear from head to toe, whereas Hoseok was still wearing his shirt and suit pants, but his shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.

Jimin came to a halt, and as he watched Taehyung walk towards them, he abruptly remembered what Yeong-su had told him about alphas and omegas that afternoon at the cafeteria. While Jimin was a beta with a unique constitution, he was still a beta; he was born and raised in a small town where alphas and betas were few in number, and the closest he’d ever gotten to alphas was probably in the locker rooms of his high school’s basketball team.

He had pretty much disregarded Yeong-su’s words at the time, but now that he was here, it occurred to him that, in this family, he was a special existence. Or maybe these weren’t the right words—it was alphas and omegas who were a special existence in this world, where as betas were like society’s worker bees; a mere collective, not existing as an individual. 

Taehyung exchanged a few words with Seokjin, who looked up and smiled at Jimin as he beckoned him over.

Jimin walked in their direction. Yoongi and Seungmin had also spotted him. Yoongi stood up, his mouth stretched into a grin, but Seungmin was more reserved, only smiling faintly.

When Jimin saw them, he suddenly thought: who says that worker bees can only exist as a collective and not as individuals? What was wrong with him being a worker bee who existed independently? At the very least, he could work hard and contribute to society, unlike these alphas and omegas, who were slaves to pheromones and had evolved to this day and age yet still couldn’t break away from their most primitive insticts.

Then in that case, Jimin thought gleefully, betas were a little more advanced in the evolution department.

Walking over, he greeted Seokjin and listened as the man made introductions. “This is Kim Seungmin, Taehyung and Yoongi’s childhood friend.”

“We’ve met,” said Jimin.

Seungmin stood up. “That’s right, we’ve met before. Unfortunately, we were in a hurry that night and didn’t have much time to talk.”

“You can chat all you want tonight,” Seokjin responded with a smile.

Today, dinner was grilled skewers and beer in the garden; Seokjin had probably wanted to seize the tail end of summer.

Jimin picked up the glass of beer in front of him and took a sip, the ice-cold liquid gushing from his throat down to his stomach. He couldn’t help leaning back in his chair and raising his arms above his head, gazing out at the setting sun in the distant mountains. He sighed contentedly.

The table was already heaped with food; freshly baked seafood in tinfoil as well as cold dishes to go with the beer that the auntie had brought out. To the right of the table, Jungkook had replaced the aunty and was personally flipping the grilled skewers himself, his actions seemingly more professional than Jimin had imagined.