Glitch | 김 석진

Eleven

During his lunch break, Jin usually sat with all the girls doting on him, but he knew it was time to leave that life behind. Instead, he was dead set on pushing things in the direction he knew they would go well. So while Victoria spent her lunch with Sungyoon as she always did, Jin derped around at his desk.

Well, not exactly derped. He dialed Jimin on his cell. "Hyung," the younger answered, sounding a bit tired.

"Hey, chim." Jin smiled against the receiver, relieved to finally hear his voice—his real one. His feet were propped up on the wood while his head laid back against his chair back. "Come to Namjoon's trailer at, like, three. With Hoseok."

Jimin let out an exhausted wine, as if he hadn't had a wink of sleep. "But I have class."

He rolled his eyes. "Just skip. You don't even like the academy, anyway."

"How do you know that?" The confusion in his voice was apparent, but it didn't faze Jin.

The oldest only sighed. "I just do. So you'll come, right?"

"Mm," he grumbled before correcting himself. "I mean, yeah."

"Good. See you at three." He ended the call quickly before dialing the next number.

It rang and rang, but Yoongi didn't pick up. Jin's brow drew in—was he seriously still sleeping? It was noon. Regardless, the next best thing was Jungkook.

"Hi, Hyung," Jungkook answered in a quiet voice. "This better be important. I'm in class."

Jin recoiled. He completely forgot. "Sorry. Just...come to Namjoon's trailer after school. And get a hold of Yoongi if you can."

"Yeah, yeah. Okay. Gotta go."

Jungkook was so afraid of getting in trouble and pretty much everything because of what he went through with Yoongi in high school. But Jin knew that he would change soon. Victoria could fix everything as she had before. It would just happen faster this time. Or at least that's what he hoped for. And this time around, she wouldn't be tied to him in any way that was more than friendship.

Perhaps that would make things easier. Then everyone could be happy.

After work, Jin caught Victoria by her car smoking a cigarette. He told her to follow him, which she accepted without hesitation. It was almost as if all the time they'd spent together in previous realities hadn't fallen into a lost abyss.

He made sure to drive slow enough so she could keep up, but fast enough to get there in good time. They beat traffic and arrived within the hour. Everyone was already there when they arrived, including Iseul, who was dropped off by her sister. She was clearly relieved that Jungkook was there and practically stuck to him like glue.

Victoria parked next to Jin, the cigarette still hanging out of her mouth. Together, they walked around the trailer to the many people sitting on crates around Namjoon's fire pit. Taehyung's face lit up as he chanted to himself quietly, "Noona."

She tilted her head at the sight of her friend from the gas station. "Namjoon?"

"Victoria," he responded, clearly pleased to see her. "I didn't know you knew Jin."

"We're old friends," Jin said quickly.

Jimin peered at Victoria wondrously. "Have we met before?"

Hoseok followed his gaze, facial expression similar. "I was about to say..."

Jungkook only nodded while smiling fondly at her. His soul definitely recognized her.

"Honestly, I'm wondering that, too," Victoria said. "It's almost like deja vu."