ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ʙᴜɴɴʏ ᴛᴏ ʟᴏᴠᴇ| Jikook

19

He left.

Just like that.

He left.

And I let him.

I sat up in my bed, stretching my arms with a yawn. Lux was curled up with me, something he never did before Jungkook left. That afternoon I watched him drive away, I crawled into bed and sobbed until I fell asleep. When I woke up, Lux was there and he’d been there every night since. Silly cat.

Or maybe not silly. Maybe he got it. In a way, I was mourning. Not the same as when Grams died, of course, but the death of a relationship—if we could even call it that—hurt.

“Morning, Lux.” I reached over and scratched behind his ears. “You crashed here again, I see.”

He began to purr.

“I appreciate it, you know.”

He stood up on his three feet and bound off the bed. Snuggling time was officially over. I had approximately fifteen minutes until he began to cry at his food bowl.

I padded off to the bathroom for a quick shower. There was a lot on my plate for the day, between taking care of the animals and a scheduled meeting with my boss. I made the decision to stay at the farm after all. It was my home and selling it just felt wrong. So wrong that anytime I thought about it, I felt sick. Or maybe thinking about being someplace Jungkook couldn’t find me was what actually made me sick.

Either way, I was staying. This was my home.

“I hear you,” I called to Lux as I pulled my shirt over my head after a hot shower. “I’m coming.” I took three steps and ended up hunched over the toilet, losing what little remained in my belly of dinner the night before. Great. It wasn’t just my emotions. I was actually sick.

By the time I cleaned up and got to the kitchen, Lux was actively attempting to open his food bin. “I said I was coming.” I rolled my eyes at the little furball. “Here. I’ll even give you some extra.” I poured his kibble and started to make a pot of coffee, quickly realizing how dumb that was, and settling for a cup of mint tea.

“I’m off to feed everyone else. I’ll be back in a bit.” I headed out to do the chores, which took twice as long as they should’ve. I was dragging and barely got back in time for my meeting. I didn’t even have time to change. Oh well. They knew I was living on a farm, so no one was expecting Gucci.

“Mr. Min.” I sat up straight as soon as we both connected to the video call.

“Jimin, you look like you’re...fitting right in?” It came out as a question, and had I not known him, I’d have thought it was an insult. “Are you calling to say you’ll be back soon? It’s challenging to work this way.”

Brilliant. I took a deep breath. “Sir, good to see you too.” I hit send on the file I had prepared for the meeting. “I have a proposal I think might work for both of us.” Please, let it work at least until I can find something local that will pay the bills.

“Which means what exactly?” He was silent, staring at the machine in a way that indicated he was reading the document. Each subtle facial expression increased my anxiety ten-fold. “I see.”