varsity | vmin

2

     "Mom, I'm home!" Jimin called out as he hooked his car keys on a rack located next to the door. His backpack slid off of his shoulder, greeting the floor with a thud.

     "My Jiminie!" Jimin's mother weakly smiled as she pushed her wheelchair toward him. Jimin bent down, gently planting a kiss on his mother's forehead, returning a smile. "How was school today?" His mother questioned for it was their everyday ritual.

     "Great. More importantly, how was your day?" Jimin vaguely answered, showing a sympathetic look toward his ill mother.

     "I've had a fabulous day. And Jimin, please stop worrying about me. It hurts me to see you so concerned." His mom reached a comforting hand out to her son as she put on a brave facade.

     "Sorry, it's just that you're here all alone while I'm at school, and I just get worried sometimes." Jimin wore an understanding expression as he retrieved his backpack off of the ground, slinging it back over his shoulder. "Alright, I'm off to do some homework. I love you." Jimin lowered his body, hugging his mother passionately. After releasing each other, he trudged down the hallway into his bedroom, silently shutting the door behind him.

❦

     Last year, Jimin's mother was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. The news was devastating. The cancer caused Jimin's mother to lose her ability to walk, leaving her wheelchair bound. Since then, her illness had only gotten worse as she was responding negatively to chemotherapy and slowly deteriorating before his eyes. Jimin couldn't help but pity her as she was left alone all day while he was at school. Reason being, Jimin had no father figure in his life. His father left his mother long ago before he was born. It was always just mother and son against the world. Jimin hated his father for leaving both him and his mother like that. Most times, he would blame his father for the lack of masculine traits in himself. He never had a father influence to get him into sports and, quite frankly, women. Of course, these were plain irrational thoughts conjured out of anger and pain. It was hard to let the past go and that ate Jimin alive. Above all, he needed to be there for his mother, and if that meant forgetting about his subdued anger and hate for his so called "father" so be it.

❦

     Jimin plopped onto his bed, opening up his binder to get out his homework for the day. He yanked his calculus text book to open up to the assigned page of work when he came to a realization. Taehyung.

     "Shit!" Jimin scrambled for his phone, unlocking it to find no notifications. A sigh of relief escaped Jimin's lips and he dramatically fell back onto his pillow. It had completely slipped his mind that he was supposed to send Taehyung the answers to the calculus homework. Frantically, he grabbed his pencil to calculate each problem correctly. He was determined to not disappoint his crush.

     Finally, after completion, Jimin opened his camera and snapped a few pictures of the work. He sent them to Taehyung and eagerly waited for a response. Deciding it would take a while for Taehyung to respond, he continued on with his homework.

After about an hour of studying, Jimin found himself mindlessly drawing in his journal. He had always withheld a talent for art, but he just lacked someone to share it with. He flipped back through some old drawings, finding several works of Taehyung flawlessly sketched out, each drawing capturing the impossible beauty Jimin adored. Whenever he got the chance, Jimin would secretly draw Taehyung, eyes racing back and forth from his model to the paper. Occasionally, he would sketch Taehyung without the reference and just draw by memory, creating masterpieces that he kept to himself. Jimin caught a smile painted across his own face as he admired his art works of Taehyung, daydreaming about the silver-haired jock. Taehyung alone was a work of art to Jimin. He couldn't get him out of his mind.

Snapping out of his daydream, Jimin reached over to his bedside table and unlocked his phone. He selected the text messages he sent to Taehyung and found that the messages had been read almost an hour ago. Jimin's heart sank as he delicately placed his phone back to its original location. Jimin knew that Taehyung was only using him every so often solely to pass the class, eliminating his risk of getting kicked off of the football team. But he couldn't help it. Jimin wanted Taehyung to like him so he never refused to allow Taehyung to cheat off of him which would then be shared among the rest of Taehyung's friends. Jimin dismissed the negative thoughts and pushed himself out of bed. He waded down the dark hallway, gliding the tips of his fingers indistinctly over the wall.

"Mama, are you hungry?" Jimin poked a question at his mother who was watching television in the living room.

"No thanks, dear. I had a big lunch, but you're free to order a pizza or anything if you'd like," She lied. Jimin knew she was too weak to eat and didn't have an appetite, but she didn't want to worry him. He decided to pretend to believe her, but denied the offer to order food for himself. Jimin took a seat next to his mother's wheelchair and turned to face her.

"So have you been working on any new pieces?" Jimin was referring to his mother's job as an artist. Both of them were thankful that she worked from home because if not, they would be receiving no income and be forced to move, or worse. Jimin inherited his talent for art from his mother who was very successful in selling her work and providing for her and her son.

Jimin's mother genuinely smiled. "As a matter of fact I have!" She took her son's hand and locked eyes with him. "It's coming along slowly, but art is time." Jimin's mother wore a look of gratitude as she was touched by her son caring about her art.

"No rush, take your time. Please don't over work yourself. Take it easy for me." Jimin spoke in a firm yet calming tone of voice as he gazed at his mother. He sat back into the couch, repositioning his attention to the television. He leaned his head into his mother's fragile shoulder, ignoring the growling echoing throughout his stomach. Jimin valued the intimate moment with his dying mother over any hunger pains he felt.

[a/n:
hola amigos! i hope you're enjoying this book so far.
sorry if the chapters are a bit boring, it picks up around chapter 4:)
also y'alls comments and votes make me so happy ahh xx]