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Nineteen

25 January 2017

The air was crisp and frozen even inside the candle shop. The door had been shut a long time ago by Victoria, who had lost the motivation to sell anything after a week of Yoongi's absence. She'd lost the motivation to do anything. The turning point came when her cousin noticed her depression. It wasn't often that the two met up due to their difficult pasts that intertwined, but he still loved her.

He had taken off his thick winter coat hours ago as he finally got his cousin to open up about what was bothering her. He sat there quietly and listened to her story about Yoongi and the mystery surrounding his life outside of their relationship.

Now, though, they only sat in silence that gripped the room after her sad tale. He didn't really know how to make her feel better. This was something he couldn't understand. One of the few things about her life he couldn't relate to.

"Minnie," she piped up suddenly, causing the younger to peer at her across the counter where he was leaning. "I can't believe I never asked you this, but, why did Aunt Hyejin send you to KIS?"

Jimin pursed his lips in thought. Of course, he always suspected that his mother didn't want him around and that's why she sent him to boarding school. He was never told the real reason, so he wasn't exactly sure what to say. "Well...." Since his parents divorced, Jimin remembered his father transitioning from the saddest, most pathetic excuse for a man into a happy, confident, and successful one.

As far as he knew, his father was fully against the decision, but he really only had a say in it if it had to do with his Younger brother Jihyun, who lived with their father and his new wife. His mind began to wander a bit and he thought about the time he was staying with his father for the weekend and upon telling him the news that his mother was getting remarried, watched him make up a song and dance that went "No more alimony! No more alimony!"

But then he was sent off to KIS and his entire life changed because of it. He knew Victoria truly needed the boarding school, as she was a bonafide troublemaker in her teen years. The school changed her life, too, but in some ways, it helped.

Jimin gave up and shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine." She only nodded slowly, eyes glued to the floor. With the subject of their schooling days brought up, he remembered something that made him eye her nervously. "I, uh..." She looked up as he began to speak again. "I went to talk to Taehyung yesterday."

Her eyes flew open at his confession, every hair standing up on her body as she recalled his face, his lips, his touch—something she had committed to memory long ago. "Wh—what? Why? How?" The questions tumbled out so fast and she couldn't stop her heart from beating harshly, pumping the blood through her veins so intensely that she could hear it roaring in her ears.

"Sometimes I just feel like he's the only person who listens," he continued quietly, having anticipated his cousin's reaction to the mention of her ex.

Victoria had stopped crying over Taehyung's fate long ago, but the memory of him was far from fading. "It's because he can't talk back, Minnie..."

"I went there because I ran into Hoseok-hyung."

She subconsciously gripped the stapler on her desk that she'd been playing with. Tension ran through her body, only making her feelings spiral out of control at the mention of her old friends. "But...I thought Hoseok—"

"I know, I did, too," he admitted, finally meeting her gaze. Jimin was such a handsome kid. She slightly envied his fiance, a nice normal girl from Japan. She recalled getting into many fights with Jimin's past girlfriends because she didn't think they treated him well enough. "But he's back, now. Living in Incheon, actually."

Victoria shook her head slowly, a small sigh leaving her. "Weird. Weird, weird...." She huffed, picking the stapler up and turning it over in her hands. "The only thing that would make this any more bazaar would be if you saw Seokjin."

Silence fell over them at the mention of him. They both got goosebumps as memories of the psychopath flashed through their minds. That mixed with Hoseok left a bitter taste in both of their mouths.

"You happy now, you jerk?" Hoseok yelled from the bottom of the storm drain, staring up intensely at the older.

Seokjin laughed and it was high-pitched, eerie—the very epitome of the boy it came from. "Ecstatic! I love watching two morons beat the crap out of each other."

"Why'd you do it, Jin?! I thought we were friends!"

The memory was cut short by the sound of the door shuddering. It was almost like someone was trying to open it, but the bolts were locked. Victoria stood from the chair and rushed over to the slab of wood. Her heart was now beating for a different reason. What if it was Yoongi coming to visit finally? The thought made her forget all about her rocky past.

Eagerly, she unlocked the door and threw it open, faltering slightly when she saw who was standing there. Jungkook was bundled up in a big coat, face pale and lips cherry-red from the weather conditions outside. Snowflakes were falling around him, creating somewhat of a crown on his brunette locks.

"Kookie? What are you doing here?" she asked, quickly pulling him inside and closing the door before any snow could get inside.

The boy shivered, beginning to take his parka off. "Yoo—Yoongi-hyung wanted me to make sure you were sa—safe."

"Are you crazy?" she scolded, rubbing her hands up and down his arms to warm him after his coat was discarded. "There's a blizzard out there!" She sighed and went into the back to grab a blanket. "He could have just come himself..."

Jungkook grabbed the blanket eagerly when she returned, wrapping it around himself. "He's dealing with some stuff right now, noona. He's just trying to keep you out of it..." The youngest trailed off when his eyes landed on Jimin. "Who the hell is this guy?"

Jimin's eyes widened slightly at the boy's tone. "Excuse me?" He knew that the younger would be able to take him as he clearly outweighed him and was taller, but Jimin would never let himself be stepped on again after what he went through in school.

"He's my cousin, Jungkook," she warned, flicking him on the forehead. "And your hyung. Have some respect."

Jungkook pouted and bowed to the elder, a slight blush dusting his cheeks. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I thought you were...someone else."

"My rebound?" Victoria joked and placed both hands on Jimin's cheeks. She pursed her lips comically and made kissy noises, which he returned before they pulled away with big laughs. "Seriously, why can't he just call or something?" she complained with a pout while sitting in the chair again. The chair that she had never really sat on before he left. She'd only sat on him.

"There's a lot Yoongi-hyung won't even tell me, let alone you." The youngest shrugged and ventured closer to the cousins. "He just wants to keep us as far away from his dangerous life as possible."

She crossed her arms over her chest, letting her head fall back so it rested against the back of the chair. If she closed her eyes, she could still hear Yoongi's voice. She could still feel his lips trailing down her neck when he was feeling needy and his big hands stroking her skin like they always did.

He said he wouldn't be gone long, but if he didn't visit within the next few days, it would have been the same amount of time that he was away before they started dating. Part of her was angry that he was breaking his promise, but most of all, she just wanted to see her boyfriend.

She missed him so much.