jimin's mouth fell open. his eyes widened into dinner plates while his parents smirked smugly.
"you can't make me," jimin breathed out, his heart pounding at the thought of sitting around in a depressing camp surrounded by bibles. "i already moved out."
jimin's mother raised an eyebrow. "technically, we can," she responded, too cheerful for jimin's likes. "we're still your legal guardians."
"besides," his father mused, yanking something out of the back seat of the car. "you either go to the camp or say goodbye to this."
jimin gasped as he identified the object. it was his cork board, faintly illuminated by light. it had obviously been messed up; pictures were bent and sticking up at odd angles. the strings connecting the pictures hung loosely. in the middle of all of his polaroid pictures, his most recent one - a selfie of him and taehyung - was plastered in the middle, grinning up at him.
"how the hell did you get your hands on that?!" jimin snapped and reached out to grab the board. jimin's father quickly tossed it back into the car, shutting the door behind it, as if it were a piece of trash he could just discard.
"let's just say your friend helped us," said jimin's mother, dangling something silver and small from her hand. a key. "jeonkook, was it? he said he had an extra key to your apartment."
jimin let out a quiet growl, his eyes filling up with frozen tears. "why can't you just leave me alone? i don't want anything to do with you anymore. not after what you did to me. god, do you want me to report you for fucking child abuse?!"
"we do want you back, jimin. we know you were a good student. i still see potential in you. it's just that you're gay" - jimin's father sniffled at the word - "and we want to help fix you."
"being gay can't be fixed," jimin argued, stinging tears threatening to spill at any second. his vision blurred. "there's nothing wrong with it! and do you really expect me to come running back to you after how you abused me?!"
"choose, jimin. you either go to the camp or say goodbye to your memories."
"what the fuck is wrong with you?!"
"choose!"
jimin took a deep breath and gulped, staring at the cork board through the car window.
sure, they were just pictures. he could always just take new ones. but those memories - all those pictures with his past friends - meant so much to him. those were the only memories that made his past life worth living and he wouldn't dare forget them.
"fine," he sniffled shakily. "i'll go to the damn camp."
jimin's father grinned, his eyes twinkling victoriously. his mother nodded in approval. "good boy. we're going to leave in two days. be out of that house by six in the morning."
jimin let out a shaky breath, his fingers curling and uncurling. he began to back away from his so called family, flipping them off in the process. without a moment of hesitation, he spun around and sprinted off, leaving his most hated people behind.
jimin ran. he wasn't sure where he was running. he followed wherever his feet took him. the short boy let out a sob as his tears finally fell free from their clutches, cascading down his face like a waterfall as he fled.
he ran until his limbs hurt too much to move, until his lungs felt like they were going to collapse. he skidded to a stop in front of a large building, still a sobbing mess as he took deep gulps of air. trying to make sense of his surroundings, he rubbed his eyes and wiped away his tears. of course his legs would take him here. he was standing by none other than taehyung's complex.
