love me now, touch me now, just let me love you

section 2 - i miss you, when i say that, i miss you even more

"Eomma! May I please have some soup?" Jimin called from the couch in the living room.

"Yah, Jimin-ah, wait one minute!" she responded.

She appeared at his side in exactly a minute and watched him as he lay under the blanket, laughing as he watched an old cartoon on TV. "Jimin, I have a feeling you're not really sick. You're just pretending so you don't have to go to school, aren't you? And then, later, you'll be magically better enough to go to your dance practice."

He paused the TV, looking up at her. "I wouldn't lie to you. But you might be right. I just didn't lie to you through my teeth. It's true that I don't feel that great. But....." He looked up the clock, seeing if it was close enough to the end of school to not go back. He nodded. "I'm starting to feel better now."

"Oh, Jimin," his mother sighed, shaking her head as she put a tray over him and set his soup down on it in front of him. "There it is. Ready and steaming hot for you to eat, and hopefully this will make your throat feel better," she said, eyeing him and walking into the kitchen. "You should be glad Oppa is at the restaurant right now, or else he might've made you go to school today and withheld you from going to practice."

"I know."

"A girl called saying her name was Seulgi this morning while you were still asleep. She asked if she could walk to school with you, but I told her you were sick." His mother eyes him from the kitchen.

"Oh. Really?"

"Who is this girl that I'm not aware of?"

"I met her at tryouts a week or two ago, Eomma. It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"Mmhmm."

There was a knock at the door, and she walked over to it, opening it to reveal Hoseok standing at the entrance.

"Mrs. Park. Is Jimin home?"

"Why, yes he is. How did you know?"

"Oh, I just knew." He smiled, and she smiled and let him in the house. Hoseok was a charmer and even if he was doing something wrong, which was rare, all of their parents were usually fine with it. And Namjoon was the one who could talk his way out of things to avoid getting in trouble.

Hoseok went over to Jimin, and once his mother was out of the room, Jimin leaned in, saying, "Why are you here? You're not supposed to be here right now," he hissed. "I'm supposed to be at school."

"I know, but....." Hoseok looked around as if to make sure Mrs. Park was out of the room. He looked back at Jimin. "Seulgi was asking for you at school. She asked me and I had to come here and tell you."

Jimin made a face, confused. "You couldn't have just called and told me so I could come in?"

"I had to be picked up early anyway today, but I needed to come here first so I figured I'd just do that. And I didn't want to seem suspicious to Mrs. Park either that I was calling during school hours."

"As if physically coming here is any better?"

"That's beside the point, hyung. Can we just focus on the fact that she was asking for you?"

"Oh, please, Hobi, I've caught her staring at me for the past couple of weeks in class. I'm not surprised."

"But aren't you excited that this is happening for you?"

"Yes, but..... if we want to become idols, we can't be dating. Especially dating another girl who also wants to become an idol. I don't want to have a bad reputation as soon as I enter the industry and our group debuts."

Hoseok sighed. "Jimin, this is your chance with the girl you have a giant crush on, and she likes you back. You should ask her out. Come on. You really don't have anything to lose."

"Hoseok, I can't. I just can't, okay?" Jimin closed his eyes, dropping his head back onto the cushion of the couch. A single tear escaped from the corner of his eye, but he wiped it away before Hoseok could see.

He really loved her, but he didn't know what to do. He was only sixteen and working on his career which was so important to him, but it was either the Korean Pop industry or her. And either way, he wasn't sure if she wanted him badly enough to quit her part on the Korean Pop world as well.

Probably not. Who would love Park Jimin enough to sacrifice something else they loved for him?

What if it didn't work out with Seulgi in the end?

What if he sacrificed everything for her and then she broke his heart?

He hated to think of it that way, because she was so sweet and would never do such a thing, but he had to think of all of the possibilities in store.