PITYING THE PRISONER | p.jm

s i x t e e n - j i m i n

It's hard to believe that it's been a week since I've been home. A whole seven days I've been back with my best friends; my brothers. And Cora. She's been living with us; sleeping on the couch despite my protests, and— as she's promised— she's doing her best to stay out of our way. Her relationship with the rest of the guys has greatly improved. The only person I was really worried about her meeting was Yoongi, and even he seems to be on good terms with her. She cooks when we have schedules and works around the house as "payment" for letting her live here. Taehyung and Jungkook have taken a liking to her, and Seokjin adores her. He dotes on Cora like she's his little sister, which confused me a bit at first. I'd talked to him about it, thinking he maybe didn't realize that Cora and I were in an officially unofficial relationship, but after talking things out, we reached an understanding. Jungkook likes to make fun of Cora. He calls her "noona" all the time to make her uncomfortable, but they're close enough friends that she has no reason not to chide him for it. She and Taehyung are partners in crime. The two joke around on the regular, and Tae seems to keep her in the now. His goal, so I've realized, is to do his best to help both Cora and myself forget the past month or so. Though we appreciate his help, he alone cannot make things better for us.

Today, our manager came back. He's been doing press conferences with media outlets and such, trying to reason out when I'll be allowed to go back to doing promotions. I saw him on my second day back, and since then he's been working nonstop to try and get this whole situation squared away.

I'm sitting on the couch with Jungkook and Cora, watching TV when he enters the room.

"Hey, guys," he greets, sounding tired but happy.

"Hyung!" I greet him, standing and walking towards him. "How are you, what's been going on?"

"I talked to everyone," he replies. "And I mean everyone in regards to this thing, and I think we've finally worked it out. Cora-yah, would you mind coming over here?"

"Coming," Cora responds, getting up from the couch and joining us at the kitchen table.

"So, what's the news?" She asks.

"I consulted everyone. I talked to the Big Hit's CEO, of course, and he doesn't want you," he gestures to me, "going back to promotions until you're in your right mind again."

"But I feel fine—" I protest.

"I know you think you do, and I believe you. Don't shoot the messenger, okay? CEO-nim says that you have to do private therapy for at least a month. Then you can go back to work on albums and such. Only once your doctor has cleared you can you go back to doing real promotions. Thankfully, not too much is going on right now, so we can just focus on Namjoon's solo stuff until you're feeling better."

"I hate shrinks," I complain.

"Sucks for you," Cora teases.

"Cora, this applies to you, too. Just because you don't have promotions to do doesn't mean therapy won't benefit you. I signed you both up."

"But I'm fine!" She protests. "Jungkook, aren't I fine?"

From the couch, Jungkook responds, "Oh, you're fine, noona. Very fine." Cora laughs at his words.

"Jeon Jeongguk, do you want me to hurt you?" I ask lowly.

"I'm kidding, hyung," he replies. "Cora does seem pretty normal, all things considered, but I do think the therapy could help. You two should just get it over with, yeah? That'll make things a lot easier."

"But I hate shrinks," Cora groans.

"Sucks for you," I chuckle, copying her previous statement.