Mirror

H O M E

|| e d i t e d ||

"I left home. (Hoping all this imagination doesn't end as illusions)" ~ BTS, HOME

"I keep remembering you between crossroads. You knew me when I had nothing else" ~ BTS, HOME

집

H O M E

~ Jimin ~

HE HAS NO ONE ELSE.

Ji-han's words from not our last phone call, but one a little further into the past dart around my mind without mercy. Before, they were little more than a small request, almost ridiculous and merely said in a moment of desperation. But things are different now. His words are no longer something said on impulse, but an impossibly cruel reality. With Ji-han gone for the time being and their mother (Jae-hyun never mentioned his father when he called asking for a place to stay for a short while) having kicked Jae-hyun out of their home, it would seem that Jae-hyun really does have no one else. And exactly like when Ji-han first asked me to watch over his brother for him, I am now faced with a rather difficult dilemma.

Jae-hyun needs somewhere to go. And while I'm the only one who has something to offer him, I'm not the only one who has a choice in whether he can stay here, in the studio, with me or not. All my members, our manager and even our producers have to be consulted before I can give him a solid answer. And with our Love Yourself: Speak Yourself World Tour lingering on the horizon, I honestly have no idea what that answer will be. I'm hoping that if I can convince my friends - my family - first, then with them at my side, I'll be able to convince the rest of BigHit Entertainment to let Jae-hyun stay with us until the time comes for us to leave South Korea.

That's why I sit here, surrounded by my hyungs, Taehyung, and Jungkook, with the intention of spilling all that's on my mind.

"You said you had something important to discuss, Jimin-ssi?"

Namjoon questions gently from the couch across from me. He offers me an encouraging smile, nodding his head slightly in my direction. His iconic dimples are showing, and whether he realises it or not, they ease my anxiety at having to ask about letting Jae stay with us so close to our tour, effortlessly coaxing my next few words from my lips.

"Yeah, I do." I straighten, subtly pressing my knee into Jungkook's thigh. His warmth radiates through my entire being, and in the corner of my eye, I catch the flicker of a reassuring smile that rolls across his lips. It's faint, but it's all I need to continue. "You all remember Jae-hyun-ssi, right?"

Six heads topped with tousled mops of dyed hair nod.

"Well . . . his mother kicked him out and he has nowhere to go."

Scattered across the room like lit phone screens in the crowd of a pitch black stadium, a whirlwind of different emotions flash across their faces before fading into subtle hints of how they feel about what I've just said. Namjoon's smile drops like a stone, and his features openly display his inner conflict following my statement. Yoongi's dark brows pucker in the centre at the same time his mouth falls into a barely suppressed frown. Jin's plush lips are pursed while Taehyung nibbles absently at his, both of their gazes a blend of concern and caution. Hobi straightens from slouching comfortably into the couch cushions, unconsciously pressing his muscled thigh into Yoongi's with the movement, while Jungkook simply reaches to rest a hand on my knee.

"Why?" Namjoon asks, his question falling just short of Hobi's worried, "is he okay?"

I hesitate with my answer. I shouldn't. I know it, too. But with all the awful stigma surrounding mental illness in South Korea, I've been trained from birth by our society to simply avoid the topic. I know my members are extremely accepting of it, and have been regarding my own struggles, especially seeing as many of them have faced issues of their own many, many times before. But it feels different to speak so straightforward and unrefined about such a thing when it's not about one of us.