VMIN / INDULGE

03 .

OVERWROUGHT .

TAEHYUNG [ 10:08] :
ahh, hey jimin ! i was worried you'd given me the wrong number

TAEHYUNG [10:08] :
sorry abt the late reply btw! i was asleep

JIMIN [10:16] :
oh that's fine!

JIMIN [10:16] :
you were worried about that?

TAEHYUNG [10:18] :
haha yeah..

JIMIN [10:18] :
why on earth would someone like you be worried about that??

TAEHYUNG [10:18] :
lol what's someone like me?

JIMIN [10:19] :
nvm hah

TAEHYUNG [10:19] :
intrigued now lol

TAEHYUNG [10:21] :
anyway, kind of a weird question but how old r u ?

JIMIN [10:21] :
i'm 20

JIMIN [10:21] :
you?

TAEHYUNG [10:21] :
ah good ! i'm the same

TAEHYUNG [10:21] :
when's ur bday ?

JIMIN [10:21] :
october 13th

TAEHYUNG [10:22] :
ahhh i'm december

JIMIN [10:22] :
i'm older !

TAEHYUNG [10:22] :
barely

JIMIN [10:23] :
sorry, i'm @ dance practice rn can we get acquainted later ?

TAEHYUNG [10:23] :
oho u dance ??

JIMIN [10:23] :
hmm yeah ?

JIMIN [10:23] :
i rlly gtg tho

TAEHYUNG [10:23] :
k np !!

TAEHYUNG [10:23] :
wanna meet @ starbucks ??

TAEHYUNG [10:23] :
like after practice ?

JIMIN [10:23] :
yeah for sure !!

___

JIMIN .

An insipid quiver snakes through my veins, causing my toes to curl and my body to seethe in a convulsion of self-loathing. Why must I come off so desperate in texts but so fearful in real life? I seriously contemplate smashing my face into the mirror adjacent from me, but refrain from doing so as I'm not alone in the room.

"Who are you texting so joyously?" Jungkook sings from beside me, crouching down as he glides his eyes across my face.

"Hmm? Oh, no one." I smile, sliding my phone into my bag and kicking it to the side, avoiding eye contact so he can't see through my blatant lies.

"The pizza boy, I expect." Another voice inputs into the conversation, his words impeccably satirised. I trail my eyes across the sublime sovereignty that is Jung Hoseok as he appears in all his glory. He throws his egregiously mismatched rainbow of a bag to the side, placing on an invigorating smile, "don't look so shocked, Yoongi told me everything." He explains simply, energetically springing his limbs forward into an emulation of a stretch.

"Huh? Pizza boy?" A perplexed Jungkook flickers his gaze between the two of us, as I remain relatively stagnant.

I, too, am in a state of confusion - scarcely placing everything together in my head, the pieces just not quite coming together in a graceful manner.

"Yoongi told you?" Although I'm not too vexed at the prospect of two of my closest friends knowing the situation, the fact I wasn't the one to tell them, makes me evermore apprehensive. I'm completely aware of the blunder Yoongi and I are yet to fix, but that doesn't give him the right to report such sensitive things to anyone he likes.

"Who's this pizza boy? I'm so confused." Jungkook, now slightly distraught, shakes my shoulder, his insecurities of being kept in the dark becoming alarmingly prominent.

"It's just..." I suspire deeply, playing with the rings on my fingers, "I ordered a pizza the other week. It was just after a little..episode and the pizza boy noticed how sad I was. He was absolutely gorgeous and kind and breathtaking and he smelt like lemongrass...and he gave me the pizza for free."

"True love right there." Hoseok states and I want to hug him: he's the only person who gets me.

"He called me beautiful." I announce dreamily, leaning back to better watch my friends, who are hovering above me.

"So, what, you got yourself a wee crush on the pizza boy?" Jungkook teases patronisingly, adding a pinch to my cheek for effect.

"Yes," I reply, batting his hand away, "but that's not it. I went to the laundrette the other day, because, as we all know, you broke our washing machine," I keep my attention on the smirking Jungkook, who doesn't seem at all remorseful, "and he was there." I take a pause, peering around the spacious dance room that's slowly being flooded with body heat, "he remembered my pizza order...and he asked for my number."

"Oh my," Hoseok blinks, "that's adorable."

"Wait, let me get this straight: an outstandingly handsome pizza boy gave you free pizza and called you beautiful, only to find you, like, a few days later and ask for your number?" Jungkook quizzes.

"Correct."

"Shit, man, you're so lucky with this stuff." The youngest dips his head, a slight frown crossing his features.

"And when do we meet this gorgeous being?"

"I'm meeting him at Starbucks after this."

And I'll never forget, for as long as I live, the envy and ebullience that infuses within the iris' of their eyes. But as that elation melts into something deeper, it feels as though they're chipping away my layers and seeing through the collected façade I've succumbed to. As, for a moment, it appears they can see the fear embedded within my joy.

//

AUTHOR NOTE :
just for context, i don't really know much about dance schools or what goes on within them. i did minimal research, i won't lie to you, and most of my knowledge comes for billy elliot & the next step. with that in mind, please don't get too heated over me messing up what happens within a dance school & just roll with it, thanks haha x