Dear Lawyer | Jikook ff

44 - The will

"How absurd?" Jimin asked.

Hearing this, Jungkook's movements paused. Both hands holding the rim of the basin, he turned his head over, gazing deeply into his eyes.

Jimin laughed at himself. He lightly tapped a knuckle against his forehead, correcting, "That's not right, why did I ask this? I should be asking, what absurd ideas?"

His voice wasn't loud, maybe in part also affected by the ambience of the cherry orchard in the evening, easily sparkling with a relaxed and mischievous mood.

The touch of mirth colouring his warm voice always made people long to bare their hearts without reservation when talking to him.

However, Jungkook merely turned his gaze away, continuing to wash his fingers.

Jimin suspected that this was probably the longest time that Jungkook had ever spent washing his hands, nearing his own abnormal care.

"You don't want to hear it," said Jungkook, without even looking up.

Jimin clicked his tongue, but not out of impatience. Only that he felt... the same soft scratchy sensation as he had during lunch again, and was using this sound to let it out. "It should be up to me whether or not I want to hear it, no? Why are you deciding it for me?"

Jungkook, "Mn."

"What 'mn'?" Jimin was caught between laughter and tears. "Are you trying to use that courtroom psychology on your own teacher?"

"Nominally, I'm the teacher now," Jungkook said.

Perhaps the low timbre of his voice blended too well into the twilight scenery of the cherry orchard; despite his bickering, it was unable to rouse the slightest annoyance in Jimin.

His eyes narrowed, Jimin contemplated it for a moment and said, "I have this feeling that you were going to answer me at first, but when I later spoke again... you changed your mind?"

Jungkook finally straightened up and drew an antibacterial paper napkin to wipe the water from his hands. Following his movements, the sound of gently streaming water ceased. He changed the direction of his feet, turning his body over, and in doing so, he and Jimin were now facing each other.

The area enclosed by the railing wasn't large; this stone platform was only intended for a single person to wash hands in the first place. They stood with their eyes locking in this manner, and when Jungkook subtly dropped his gaze, all of a sudden, the space seemed to constrict further. It was clearly an open-air area, and yet, inexplicably, it felt a little cramped.

Leaning against the railing, Jimin's upper body unconsciously moved back slightly, bumping into the green vines entwined on a vertical bar.

The flowering branch that extended to the side of his face quivered.

Jungkook looked at him for a while before shifting his gaze to the flowering branch.

He casually reached out and touched it, and the movements of the quivering branch stilled. "You used to have no interest in this type of thing."

"What type?"

"The 'obsolete and inconsequential' thoughts of others," Jungkook said evenly.

Jimin froze.

In fact, Jungkook was spot on. He didn't like being probed and similarly wasn't interested in probing into the affairs of others. Outside of the courtroom, he didn't pay attention to what others thought, let alone those from an unknown number of years ago, long past expiration. For no matter their nature, they couldn't affect him, and thus he disregarded them.