Beautifully Flawed

26. Nightmare

Jungkook long pressed one on his speed dial and brought the phone to his ear. He could not wait to tell Jimin the good news and make arrangements for him to come down and meet his father. Everything was right in the world now that he had talked to his dad. He would invite Jimin over for the weekend and have him enjoy some time on the beach while he visited. The phone rang for a while and went to voicemail, “Hi, this is Jimin, I cannot come to the phone right now but leave a message after the beep and I will get back to you as soon as I can.”

Strange.

Jungkook checked his watch and he further got confused. Jimin never let the phone ring more than three times, especially if it was him calling. He always had his phone on him either playing one of the many games he had on it or watching cat videos on YouTube. He imagined him curled up on their favourite sofa, phone close to his nose giggling away.

He dialled again. As he waited for Jimin’s voice to come through at the other end of the line, he got a little anxious. Or was it excitement. He couldn't tell at this point.

They had talked earlier that morning and he had promised to call him in the evening before he got off work. He never did. Jungkook just assumed that he had been so caught up with work that he wasn't paying attention to the time. A lot of times when he was overwhelmed with work, Jungkook had to go drag him out of his office so that they could go home. Left to him, the boy would forget himself. His busy schedule this week hadn't given him much free time and so they scheduled call times in the day but... he surely should have called by now or should be home at this hour.

The phone rang endlessly until the pre-recorded voicemail message came on and he was forced to hang up, only to dial again. 

No answer.

“Maybe he is in the shower,” he muttered to himself. 

That also did not seem right. 

The past few days he still had picked his phone while he was in the shower. Jimin never wanted to miss a call from him, he had admitted it himself over their late night call the previous night. Missing a call from the love of his life was something he never wanted. “I will always be there to pick the call, anytime, any day,” he had told him once before. He missed the boy so much that he had even been counting down hours before he could see Jungkook again. 

He got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach and his chest tightened. Call it sixth sense – he couldn’t tell. The fear thoughts looped around in his mind until there was no room for anything else. The ‘loop’ played like this. “What is something has happened to him and he cannot come to the phone right now? Oh my god! What if he was in an accident and he is lying somewhere unconscious. I should have come with him. What if he needs help?” He nibbled on the nail of his thumb as he dialled one more time pacing around he could easily burn a hole in the carpet.

"Is anything wrong?" his father asked after seeing a range of emotions from panic to worry to fear spread over his son's face. They were home now and had decided to have another beer and watch television before they headed to bed.

"He isn't picking," Jungkook replied.

"Maybe he is busy. You can call some time later," he suggested. 

"Busy? At this time?" he asked pointing at the clock. "I don't know... but… I can't shake off this feeling that something terrible has happened," he responded. His mind was now racing. Running a hundred scenarios in his head.