Pretend • Vmin

"Goodbye"

[Edited]

Chapter Thirteen

"Goodbye"

A few weeks later

Jimin was walking down the corridor when he saw Taehyung approaching.

His heart immediately picked up speed, breaths turning shallow before he forced himself to steady them. Taehyung's gaze was fixed straight ahead, hair brushed up and away from his face, exposing features Jimin knew far too well. He couldn't help staring. He wanted—ached—to run his fingers through Taehyung's hair, to close the distance between them like before, when everything had still been pretend.

He missed him so much.

A few students along the corridor slowed as they passed, their eyes flicking between the two of them. Jimin caught the low murmur of voices, half-whispered, not even meant to carry.

"Did you see that?"
"They don't even look at each other anymore."
"Must've been a rough breakup... whatever that was."

A pause. Then a light laugh.

"Well—great. More for us girls."
Another voice chimed in, playful, almost excited. "Yeah. Do you think I have a chance with Taehyung now?"

Jimin's steps faltered for half a second.

The words weren't meant to be cruel. That was the worst part. They were said like Taehyung was suddenly available again like whatever Jimin had lost could be casually claimed by someone else.

He swallowed hard and kept walking.

Jimin knew it was his fault, that whatever they'd been had ended because of him. Still, some selfish part of him had hoped Taehyung would stop. Say something. Ask him to stay. Instead, Taehyung had done the opposite.

He'd let him go.

Two steps closer.

Taehyung, look at me.

Jimin wasn't sure if he was still breathing. His heart felt suspended, caught somewhere between hope and dread, as seconds stretched unbearably long. Then Taehyung walked past him, without a glance, without acknowledgment, as if Jimin wasn't there at all.

Tears burned instantly at the corners of his eyes.

Don't cry. Don't be a baby, he scolded himself, quickening his pace before anyone could notice.

He headed straight for the restroom, locking himself inside a stall. The tears came freely there, silent but relentless. He pressed a hand over his mouth, biting back the sound of sobs even as his chest ached with them.

He didn't know what to do anymore.

So what if Taehyung didn't love him back?

All he knew was this: he loved Taehyung. Truly. Deeply. He had made too many mistakes, choices he wished he could undo, but he wanted, needed, to make things right.

He couldn't keep losing the person he loved.

Not this time.

⸻

After class, Jimin drifted toward the back of the school, to Taehyung's hiding place, the quiet patch of grass beneath the tree where he used to nap between lectures. The space felt wrong without him. Too empty.

Taehyung wasn't there.

Jimin let out a shaky breath and sat anyway, staring ahead as memories pressed in without mercy. Taehyung's laughter. His warmth. The way his arms used to come around Jimin's waist like it was instinct. He imagined different endings, ones where Taehyung forgave him, pulled him close, held him tight enough that Jimin could hear his heartbeat and know he was still wanted.