Winter's Blooms

Chapter 16: Black Belt

Aeri knew Jimin for a really long time. The first impression she got from the little girl Jimin was back then was that she was gonna be a difficult person to befriend with. If it wasn't for Jisu, never in a million years would she have approached her and her fierce looking eyes.

After getting to know her all this time, Aeri had a good idea on how to handle Jimin. But the new version of her, which she actually adored more than the one that had been living after their dear friend passed away, she couldn't quite figure out.

Like how to make Jimin stop pacing back and forth in front of her because it started to make her dizzy. She figured that Minjeong would be able to make that happen, but the woman was in the operation room, so that couldn't be happening any time soon.

Or how she was still frowning even though the doctors, one of them being her own mother, told her that everything went well and Minjeong was resting peacefully. She thought one smile from Minjeong would definitely wash it away. Still, couldn't be happening now.

Or how to tell her to go home and get some sleep instead of nodding off and waking up every time a door opened. She bet one word from Minjeong would be able to make her stay there at least until the woman woke up herself.

Or how to make her put her phone down and focus on her work instead of calling Ningning every thirty minutes to make sure that Minjeong was okay. Thankfully, Minjeong was able to make that happen since she was awake this morning, hence why Jimin was finally willing to resume her career.

Still, Aeri wondered how the new version of Jimin worked. Was everything about her now had to involve Minjeong?

"Don't rush me, I'm wearing a pair of very tall heels right now." She tried to keep up with the frowning woman in front of her. "If you keep frowning at me like that I might stab your eyes with them and it would be your turn to go blind– Ouch, Jimin, what the fuck?" She hissed when Jimin stopped to smack her arm.

"Don't joke about that." Turning away with her flare still on, Jimin continued her path.

Aeri rolled her eyes before stopping at the sight of cameras directed at them from a distance, where a few people were hiding behind cars in the parking lot of the hospital. "Hey, are they still following you?"

The blonde didn't even look back as Aeri caught up with her. "I guess."

Any other time, if the news about Jimin wasn't so ridiculous, Aeri would probably be pissed, instead this time, she just laughed. "Has Wendy unnie told you to hold a conference?"

Jimin shrugged nonchalantly, legs still moving at a rushed pace. "She did, but I don't have time for that."

"Jimin, your fans think you have cancer."

"It's not my fault, I already made a tweet to deny it."

"You can't just shut it down with a tweet, stupid."

"I didn't even start the news, why should I– Ningning!" With a few quick last steps, the sight of them made the younger singer's face wash with relief. "Why are you here?"

"Thank God you guys are finally here, I gotta go, my manager is pissed." She gave Jimin a one sided hug before moving to Aeri, and as if she could read her mind, Ningning looked back at Jimin. "Minjeong's fine, her parents are there."

"Bye, Ningning! Drive carefully!" Aeri shouted after her, frowning as she wondered why her two friends were in such a hurry today.

Bidding her farewell briefly, Jimin went straight to Minjeong's room and instantly smiled at the sight of the florist she hadn't seen since this morning.