His Little Play Thing

Lost in College

The streetlight just beyond your drive casted ghostly shadows across your lawn. There was a slight breeze but the darkness was welcome as you sat with Jimin on your front porch. You had always felt more at peace with the dark but you also lived in a dark place for so long that it almost felt like family to you. Your mind was still back on those roads, in your car driving your heart out. You still can't believe you won. Nothing had prepared you for that moment. It was something you never thought you'd have the joy of doing. But Jimin made it all possible.

There was just one thing that you can't seem to overlook. And that's the fact that everyone in that place knew Jimin. The people there didn't exactly fit the bill for upstanding citizens. Considering you watched a group of men snorting coke and just for the few minutes you were there, at least two physical fights broke out. None of this seemed to affect Jimin the way it did you which leads you to believe that he's used to it. None of Those people were like you. You belong in an entirely different crowd. You had overheard a couple people talking about robbing a bank. What normal person talks about that, and with the way that they looked you wouldn't be surprised if they were serious. Why would Jimin be associated with that? Better yet, how?

You can't escape the feeling that he is hiding something big from you. You just haven't had the opportunity to find out what yet.

"So what do you plan on doing with all of that money?" Jimin asks, breaking the otherwise comfortable silence.

You look over at him and shrug.

"Probably put most of it away in savings. I'd like to be able to buy another car. And I need a new wardrobe" you comment. It was true. You did need new clothes, you just hadn't gotten around to actually buying any. Now it's possible for you to.

"That sounds like a safe plan. You had mentioned starting college in a couple days? How do you feel about that?"

How do you feel about that? You suppose part of you, that smaller braver part of you is excited. That other, bigger part of you however is one big bundle of nerves. You already know you won't fit in being an American girl in a Korean university. You just hope some of the people there are actually bilingual.

"I don't know, I mean I'm excited. But I'm also nervous" Jimin regards you with sympathetic eyes.

"Hey look at it this way, at least you get to experience it" the tone in his voice sounded rather clipped and you can't help but feel like he's spiteful toward someone but you're unsure as to who that person could be.

You raise your eyebrows at him and frown. 

"Didn't you?"

"No. I was homeschooled." He sighs heavily. This being yet another piece of his past that he may not care to talk about. You find yourself actually wanting to know more about him. Where normally you wouldn't care if he opened up and told you, or not. Obviously for you there are feelings there. You just haven't had the time to figure them out.

"I'm gonna assume it wasn't by choice?" You ask softly. Will he actually answer or shut you out again?

The silence in your ears is defining. Jimin has his eyes on you, searching your face but not saying a word.  It's almost as though he's weighing the pros and cons of telling you. You feel hot under his gaze.

But after many long moments he speaks.

"No. Not my choice. Infact I wanted to go to normal school. But I was raised differently. My father wouldn't even allow me out of the house at a young age" He laughs but there is no humor to it. "My mom used to have to sneak me outside whenever he was gone so I could actually have some sort of freedom. I was locked in my room learning things that a normal 8 year old boy should never even need to know."