one shot | yoomin | ✓

part five : die in a fire

We had peace for about a month and a half before Jimin found him.

His name was Kim Namjoon.

They met in the café as well. Namjoon said he was 'looking for inspiration' for a song. When Namjoon saw Jimin, apparently he knew that Jimin would be the perfect place for inspiration. Although I can confirm that Jimin is the best inspiration for anything, it did not mean I was ok with the dumb pickup line.

I didn't have to meet him face to face to know that he had to go. Namjoon was all Jimin would ever talk about. He was "tall and handsome and apparently had dimples as deep as oceans," or so Jimin claimed.

I got tired of it really fast. But Jimin was happy, so I could deal with it.

Until Jimin spent the night at his house. Jimin tried to explain that Namjoon was just inviting him over to watch movies and they ended up falling asleep. It was only when this became more and more frequent did I start following him. I found out where he worked, where he went after work, the people he hung out with. I knew Namjoon's daily routine better than I knew my own.

Finally, about four months after Jimin met Namjoon did I introduce myself. I literally bumped into him as he left his favorite coffee shop after work. I spilled my hot coffee all over his starched white shirt. I stuttered out an apology, begging him to let me buy him a new coffee. Eventually, he agreed. I went and got the coffee, making sure to drop a certain amount of poison into the warm liquid.

I won't go into details, but it would cause a bacterial infection that would thereby set off a body-wide inflammatory response. It is commonly know as Sepsis, killing over 500,000 people per year.

I walked back to Namjoon, handed him the coffee. He took a deep sip and I sat down next to him. I made sure I was talking about the things he enjoyed so that he would drop his guard. At any end, I asked him if he wanted to hang out later, faking surprise that we liked so many of the same things. When Namjoon asked where, I suggested the café. Namjoon agreed, and left, taking the coffee with him. I knew that Jimin never worked night shifts a the tiny café, so we would be undisturbed.

We met at the café as agreed, and I offered to buy him his drinks. The older man tried to decline, but I insisted. I slipped the same poison into again. And when he wanted seconds, I got it as well. The poison came too.

We talked for around three and a half hours, having about four drinks apiece. Soon the café closed and we ended up wandering the quiet city streets together. However, after only half an hour, Namjoon began to complain about how cold it was.

I smiled, since it was the middle of July and hotter than just about any other. It only took a moment for me to get him to follow me on a shortcut to his house. As we walked down the silent street, Namjoon collapsed, shaking.

"Where... what... I'm not..." He muttered, sweating profusely although he was shivering.

"It's Sepsis. Usually comes from an unclean syringe or something of the sort." I pulled a syringe full of the infected bacteria from inside my jacket, "It usually takes a few days for it to get bad enough to be deadly, but it looks like you're lucky. It shuts down your organs one by one- it'll be excruciatingly painful but it'll only last a few hours."

Namjoon stared at me, eyes filled with unspeakable horror. I sighed. "You're going into shock. Pity. It'll only speed up the whole process." I knelt, stabbing his arm with the syringe and pushing down the plunger with all the anger that had been stewing for so long.

His body jerked as the poison hit his bloodstream. His lips somehow managed to form words, "What the hell?"

I watched him struggle to stand with amusement, "It's useless, ya know. You're dying." I glanced at my watch in silence. "Now," as if on cue, Namjoon groaned in pain, "that is the feeling of all your organs shutting down. In less than fifteen minutes you will be dead."

Namjoon looked up at me through bleary eyes. "Why?"

I chewed my bottom lip. "Because you got way to close to my Jiminnie. He spent the night at your house far too many times in the last few months. It would've only been a few more before you hurt him. I know you would. I don't want him to get hurt."

"But.. but..." Namjoon struggled to get the words out, "this won't h-hurt him? If he finds out? he would... he would hate y-you."

I shook my head, pushing down a small rush of panic, "He won't find out. Besides, my Jimin would never hate me. Ive never hurt him before. I am the only person he can trust."

Namjoon attempted to say something else, but the Sepsis finally got to him. He passed out and I watched with satisfaction as his unconscious body convulsed once, twice, three times, then went still. I checked my watch. Exactly two hours since we had left the café. Perfect.

I swung his already stiffening body across my shoulders and walked a few hundred meters to a hole I had dug a few days before. I rolled him into it and covered his 'ocean' dimples with dirt.

When I got home it was past midnight, so I was more than shocked to see Jimin awake and coming out of the bathroom, freshly showered. I tried not to stare at the way he pushed his wet hair out of his face, instead trying to cover it with confusion. "Jimin, what are you doing up so late? You're usually in bed by ten..."

Jimin bit his lip before answering in an almost ashamed tone, "I had another bad dream... I woke in a cold sweat and couldn't go back to sleep. It felt disgusting."

I felt a wave of worry wash over me. "You've been having nightmares a lot.. are you ok? What are they about?"

Jimin took a trembling breath, eyes glistening. "Losing you. Whenever I close my eyes, all I can see is you getting hurt or dying."

I smiled at him, walking over and guiding Jimin to his room. "You know I'm not going anywhere. You know you can come snuggle with me whenever you have a bad dream too."

And so, things seemed fine again. Jimin's nightmares continued, growing so bad that Jimin ended up in my bed almost every night. I almost never slept anymore; making sure Jimin was comfortable was my only comfort.

I had never been happier.