Here's To A New Life-A Park Jimin Love Story

Chapter 18

Recap: Taehyung smiles and looks down at the ground, his eyes teary. "I'm so sorry Jimin," he whispers and I look down as well, not sure what to say. "I don't know what possessed me to act the way I have for the past two months and I know there's no excuse for the way I've treated you, or my sister." He sniffles a bit and his voice cracks as he speaks. "I know you probably hate me, and I understand if you don't want to ever talk to me again, but I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for everything. I-" I've heard enough. I quickly grab his arm and pull him into a hug. He stands still for a moment, before slowly wrapping his arms around my torso. "Don't cry Tae. Please don't. I forgave you the minute I saw how sorry you were yesterday," I say and he sobs into my shoulder. "It's ok. I'm sorry for hiding my relationship with your sister for so long," I say and he shakes his head. "Don't be. You were just trying to prevent what happened from happening," he says, his words muffled by my shoulder. He pulls away and wipes at his eyes, avoiding eye contact with me. I pull a tissue out and hand it to him, before holding my hand out. "Hi, I'm Park Jimin. Let's be friends."

Gayoon's POV

Taehyung doesn't try to talk to me all week. Surprisingly he keeps his distance. Jimin brought me some clean clothes from my house and when I questioned him about Taehyung's behavior, he just smiled.

I tap my pen against my binder, absentmindedly. The lack of communication with my brother shouldn't bother me, but it does. I find myself missing him against my better judgement. I miss his laugh, his dumb jokes, the way he would comfort me whenever I was upset. How he always knew the right thing to say. I should hate him, but I honestly can't bring myself to. I thought I did. If you asked me a week ago what I thought of Kim Taehyung, I would've listed off every possible curse word in the Korean language. But now, now I'm starting to see how stupid this whole situation is. I've pushed myself away from my best friend all because of a dispute. A serious dispute, no less, but still just a silly disagreement.

I let out a sigh and plop my head down into my arms on my desk.

"You ok?" Chaerin whispers to me, but I just ignore her. I'm in no mood to talk to anyone right now.

When lunch time rolls around, I wave Jimin and Chaerin on ahead of me, wanting to be alone. I need to talk to Taehyung, but I don't know what to say. Why is it that whenever there are so many thoughts in your head, you can never put them into words? It shouldn't be this scary to confront my brother, but I'm terrified. I'm not afraid of him, rather, I'm afraid of the way he'll react. I've already forgiven him, but what if he doesn't forgive me? I said such awful things to him. If I were him, I wouldn't forgive me either, but I guess we both have things to worry about.

I'm so consumed in my thoughts that I don't notice the person who is standing by the lockers and I ram right into him.

"I'm so sor-"

"Gayoon?"

My breath catches in my throat and I stare at Taehyung. My mouth feels as if its been stuffed with cotton balls and my jaw locks up. Everything I want to say to him is running through my mind and my brain is screaming at me to say something, but when I'm finally able to open my mouth, all that comes out is a small croaking noise. His face falls slightly and he drops his gaze to the floor.

"Sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings. I'll just be going then." He turns to leave and my hand mechanically shoots to latch onto his wrist, halting his movement.

"No wait."

He keeps his back turned to me and I release his wrist, taking a step towards him. "Um, I've been wanting to talk to you," I say and he doesn't respond. I take a deep breath and try to muster up the courage to just spit out what I've been wanting to say, but it's almost impossible to put it into words. "I forgive you!" I finally blurt out, my confidence deflating slightly as he doesn't even acknowledge me. "Um, I mean, I understand why you did what you did. I don't really agree with it, but I know you were only trying to look out for me and be a good brother, which you are and-" I stop rambling as I notice Taehyung's shoulders are shaking slightly. I frown as I hear him sniffle and I gently place a hand on his shoulder. "Tae?"