The Most Beautiful Moment In Life

03. Autumn Leaves

Apart, we were fragmented but together, we were unbreakable. And that was all we needed. Until it wasn't.

November.

School had always been hard for Park Jimin. Luckily, the fact that Jungkook and Taehyung were almost constantly by his side made it bearable. They were his best friends and protectors against those that liked to pick on him because of how small he was. It wasn't his fault that when the other boys hit puberty, they sprung up like weeds while he stayed closer to the ground. Though the taunting, the name calling, the abuse, made it feel to him like it was his fault. Like he should have tried harder, thought bigger, been stronger.

It's hard to feel good enough when the world tells you that you never will be. Even the medication didn't help much. The constant taunting throughout the years had worn him down. Chipped away at his meager self-confidence until there was nothing left to help but a razor blade and a bottle of sleeping pills. That didn't work. And after he'd gotten out of the hospital and gone through treatment and promised his parents he'd continue going to therapy and taking his anti-depressants, he turned to the one thing he wasn't too weak to control. Food. Everyone else already thought he was small. Maybe if he made himself small enough, he could just disappear entirely. If nothing else, the smaller the target, the harder it is to hit.

*

Jungkook and Taehyung were like his fortress walls. Taehyung already dealt with his alcoholic father so fighting off a few bullies at school was nothing to him, and the stress of being in foster care had driven Jungkook to the school's weight room and onto the field so just his appearance was intimidating enough to keep others away. There were still the whispers though. They'd seep into Jimin's head, constantly reminding him that if anyone ever found the chink in his armor, he was done for. Living in constant fear was exhausting.

Jimin's parents had gone to the principal about it but he said nothing could be done if it wasn't happening on school grounds. And of course, bullies are smart. They'd taunt him in the halls and then wait in the shadows to pounce. They'd only gotten to him once before, a day that Taehyung was in the hospital with a broken arm and Jungkook had to stay after for detention, and after that, his parents started picking him up. They'd talked of homeschooling him but couldn't make it work. But Jimin assured them, as long as he had Taehyung and Jungkook, he'd be okay.

And so the three of them were a unit. You rarely saw one without the other two. They'd worked it out with the principal for at least one of them to be in every class with him. It had been that way since middle school. Now here they were their senior year. It was nearing the end of November now with no incidences so far. Only seven more months to graduation. Jimin could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

*

"Have you talked to the guidance counselor about your dad?" Jimin asked Taehyung as they sat together in the cafeteria. The taller boy had come to school that morning sporting a new blackening bruise on his cheekbone.

Taehyung shook his head and stuffed a piece of broccoli into his mouth. "You saw what the principal did about your situation. You think a teacher is going to be able to do anything about mine?"

"I could always come home with you one day," Jungkook said as he sat down in front of his tray. "The two of us could give him a taste of his own medicine."

"No, it's okay," Taehyung uttered. "It's better not to provoke him. He doesn't get like this very often. It'll be fine."

Jimin and Jungkook exchanged knowing glances. "Not very often" had turned into Taehyung sporting a new cut or bruise every week. It was getting worse and they all knew it.