Better Now [Book 2]

Chapter 9

Jimin greeted Lucas at the door early next morning, surprised. It was a Wednesday, and Lucas normally had morning classes on Wednesdays. It was weird to see him come and take care of Jungmin so early in the morning. Besides, Wednesdays were the one day of the week where Jimin went to work late. Lucas didn't have to come at all.

Jimin was sure that Lucas knew, but he didn't have the heart to turn away. Lucas looked as if he didn't sleep at all the night before. His eyes were swollen, as if he was crying. His hair was dishevelled and he was pale, contrasting his usual nicely-tanned complexion. His clothes... Jimin didn't even know where to start. It looked as if he just picked up whatever he saw on the floor.

Overall, Lucas just looked horrible. Jimin had seen Lucas on his bad days, but this was by far the worst he's ever seen. Jimin smiled at him, trying to make Lucas feel welcome.

"Come in. Jungmin's still asleep, but he'll probably be awake in half an hour." Lucas nodded before trudging into the house, plopping onto Jimin's couch. He sighed loudly.

Seeing how distressed Lucas was feeling, Jimin's smile was erased immediately.

"What's bothering you?" Lucas didn't reply immediately.

His face was buried in his extremely large hands and he looked as if he was going to break down at any moment. Jimin has never seen Lucas at such a low point in his life. Lucas sighed again, even louder than before. Jimin was starting to feel worried.

"My sister told me that my father got into a car accident last night while he was driving back from work. They might have to move back to their old apartment." Lucas looked extremely worried and stressed.

"That's horrible! Is there any way I could help?" Jimin offered, only to be shut down by Lucas immediately.

"You're already paying me every month. I can't expect more from you. I'm already taking more than I should." Lucas replied, shaking his head.

There was a moment of silence before Jimin heard Lucas mutter something under his breath. It was almost inaudible, but he still managed to hear it.

"Just when my sister was so close to achieving her dream...."

Jimin was just about to ask him about it, but he was interrupted by the sound of Jungmin screaming, signalling that he was awake. Jimin went to calm down Jungmin while Lucas prepared his bottle. He was slower than usual, but Jimin couldn't blame him. He had a lot on his mind.

Jimin wanted to sit in silence with Lucas, but there was one question that he was itching to ask. He was naturally a curious person. He knew that it would eventually cause his downfall.

"You mentioned that they would have to move to their old apartment. You seemed to be... not-so-thrilled? I really don't know how to describe it, but can you tell me why you don't want them to move back? Only if you're comfortable, of course."

Lucas tensed before sighing. It seemed as if Jimin accidentally hit a nerve. "It's alright. I should just go over it briefly. If I explain it too much I'll get pissed." He sighed again.

"Their old apartment was in the rural, troubled side of Hong Kong. It was the part of town that most people isolated. Normal people didn't dare set foot there. You would be shunned if you lived there. A lot of drug dealers, gangsters and probably connections to the mafia. It was just bad news. My family didn't have a choice but to live there because the living expenses were cheap. We were beyond poor, and they were desperate."

"I knew it! You came from a bad family background!" Lucas sarcastically chuckled.

"You could probably tell just by looking at me. I hate snobs. I hate Jungkook, but I respect him because he's the leader of our clan. He hasn't gone through anything remotely horrible." Jimin frowned at his words.

"Everyone has their own fair share of demons. Some just have worse demons than others, but I do think that Jungkook had it easy for the most part."

"My family was dirt broke. I'll go more into it later, but we were the complete opposite of Jungkook's family. I had arrived home probably a day or two earlier because we had a week and a half off to meet our families for the New Year. My sister still had school for another week. It was around dinner time and my sister still wasn't back. She was usually back an hour or two before dinner time, and my mother was getting worried. She asked me to go to her school and look for her, so I did."

It took a moment for Jimin to realize that he was holding his breath. The suspense was killing him. He was extremely glad that Jungmin fell asleep again so he wouldn't ruin the mood.

"While I was on my way to her school, I picked up on her scent. Being the logical person I was, I followed the scent. It eventually became one of the best things I had ever done because when I found her, she was seconds away from being...." Lucas clenched his jaw and balled up his fists. He didn't even need to finish the sentence for Jimin to know what he meant.

"At least we know that someone got his ass beat." Lucas covered up his laugh with a cough.

"I destroyed his balls and left with my sister."

"I thought you would go harder than that, but I guess I expected too much."

"If I touched anywhere else, it would've been a problem. I mean that can't really scan his balls for my fingerprints, can they?"

Jimin laughed a bit too loudly at Lucas' words, causing Jungmin to wake up. Immediately, he tried to get Jungmin to calm down in every way he knew. Jimin changed his diaper and let him play. When Jimin came back, he saw that Lucas had fallen asleep on his couch. He smiled quietly to himself before he moved the toys to Jungmin's room to let Lucas sleep just a bit longer.

"I guess all he really needed was to vent, huh?" He mumbled quietly to himself as he watched Jungmin happily play with his toys, occasionally squealing in happiness.