Paper Cranes | Park Jimin

13: Specks of Red

When someone had just abducted you and led you to a place of which you barely knew about, your initial reaction would probably be to scream on top of your lungs, scared for your own life.

But how funny because that was far from what I'd felt. It was like a mother knowing her child like an open book or a dog recognizing his owner's scent, when that familiar grip landed on my arm.

The crazier part? Even his breathing pattern and footsteps had basically been etched on my memory already.

This was what I get for spending too much time with him. And I did not even did it on purpose.

Though he probably didn't know his cover had been blown the moment our skin came in contact. I bit his hand finding it somewhat suffocating, and he pulled away in an instant. I heard him scoff behind me.

"Park Jimin, you just have to stop grabbing people out of nowhere."

When I turned to him, he had this bewildered look as if he had totally not anticipated that I'd figure it out so quickly. That expression soon turned into a satisfied smile. Or a relieved one. And maybe a little lackadaisical.

Whatever went inside his mind, I didn't want to know.

I broke our staring contest, figuring that he wasn't going to speak at all, and turned on my heel about to leave the alley he had just led us into.

"Min Haneul."

I absentmindedly froze, his voice was nothing sweet and gentle. Instead, it was intimidating. It felt like a thin string from the pit of my stomach was trying to pull my heart down, but failed and slid down sharply.

This was one of the things I could never get used to. It startled me every time.

Jimin tapped on my shoulder, and though it would be odd of me to say this... I actually preferred if he just spun me around in the usual manner he did; The wrist-grabbing way.

Maybe then I wouldn't have this feeling that there was something wrong, and maybe then, I wouldn't have been worried all of a sudden.

Inhaling deeply, I twisted my body and faced him. His attention was fixated on the ground, his hair shone of silver as the moonlight reflected on it.

But when he glanced up, his eyes were the total opposite. Lackluster would describe them.

"Can we just stay here for a while?" he monotonously requested.

I turned to my right where people carried on with their lives as they shuffled out and about on the sidewalk like any normal people would.

I found myself nodding, and joined Jimin beside him as he sat on the cold ground.

Never had I thought that one day in my life I would be out at eight in the evening, sitting on the ground on some alleyway between Park Jimin and a dumpster merely a few feet away from me.

"Where do you live anyway? Why are you always here?" I almost laughed at myself for only asking that now, but come to think of it, when will I ever if not now?

"The subdivision near the store," he replied. That area was familiar to me. I came across it almost everyday on my way to university.

I pulled my legs closer to my chest, my backpack in between. I rested my head on my knees, leaning sideways.

I had already lost Jimin. His mind was wandering off—I could tell from the way he stared at nowhere in particular. Like he was clouded and distracted. Curiosity grew on me, but I did not bother asking.

Now this just reminded me of that look etched on his face that same night when he was acting like a wreck over nonalcoholic water.

And just like that, an idea struck me.

Pink. The color of harmony and inner peace. And then, there's red. An intense color that could either fall on the positive or negative end, like emotions that if not tamed, could either bring the most beautiful moment in life... or destruction.

As I slowly connected the dots, there came that thin string that pulled inside me again. But this time it was different. It came with a hook, and now it successfully latched on my heart, tugging it downwards every so cautiously so it doesn't rip my heart into two.

I gasped as if I had just resurfaced after almost drowning. My eyes, slowly widening.

I stared at Jimin in silence, and I wasn't exactly certain if I was glad to realize it as early as now... so I could calculate the situation from here on.

My once laid back and breezy way of living, with not much thrill at all, slowly being penetrated by specks of red.

For now, I had yet to figure which hues were going my way. And I had to make sure they weren't destructive ones.