lullaby┊m.yg﹢p.jm

002;『harrowing encounter』

jimin woke up way earlier than he was supposed to.

it was still a little dark outside, birds starting to chirp and sing once the warm winter sun was hanging above the horizon and within the clouded blue.

the boy had spent the first hour after waking up in bed, trying to go back to sleep but failing in every one of his desperate attempts. he eventually gave up, though, deciding to start his day at six in the early morning.

seokjin and namjoon had left yesterday afternoon, which meant that jimin had walked into an empty living room for the first time in two days, considering how he would find namjoon quietly reading a book in a forlorn attempt to block out the lewd sounds coming from non other than taehyung's room — that, was unfortunately, right next to the guest room where namjoon was sleeping.

starting his day, jimin went on a mission to kill all the free time he had in every way possible. he first took an unnecessarily long shower, then put some extra effort in picking out his outfit. he chose a baggy, grey sweater that reached his mid-thighs, pairing it with basic, skinny, black jeans. he even went as far as curling the ends of his bubblegum hair, accidentally burning the tip of his ear in the process. and as extra adornments, he wore simple, silver jewellery to match his attire for the day.

after he successfully finished perfecting his look, jimin lost track of time and took almost two whole hours to get ready for the day, realising that taehyung should probably be up in no less than thirty minutes—which was a good thing.

he decided to head downstairs to the lobby where he could pick up their mail from the parcel lockers. it's usually taehyung who gets their mail, but jimin still had some time to spend alone doing as he pleased, so he figured he could spare taehyung one of his chores by doing it for him.

—

as jimin was getting into the elevator to head back upstairs while he skimmed through his and taehyung's unsurprisingly very few letters, he saw someone holding a cardboard box rushing towards the elevator before the doors could fully slide to a halt. once he noticed how said someone probably wouldn't make it inside in time, he quickly juggled the letters to one hand so he could press on the button which allowed the doors to reopen.

the man—jimin quickly realised—had successfully entered the elevator, panting slightly as he adjusted the box in his arms, bowing to jimin in a respectful manner as he murmured his thanks.

when the man reached to press on one of the buttons, he saw how the number was already lit up, meaning that jimin had previously pressed on it, reckoning the fact that they were the only two in the small space of the elevator.

"oh, you... uh, do you live here?"

crap.

the man's words went straight through jimin's ears, and his mind was instantly disturbed with troubled thoughts. his eyes grew big, an upset glint ought to be seen in the brown orbs. he glanced at the man next to him for a split second with an alarmed expression before looking away quickly upon seeing the man smile at him while he seemed to await an answer. he hadn't even focused on what the man looked like, too anxious to keep up proper eye contact with this stranger. he only noted that he'd never seen this guy ever before.

jimin didn't answer—or, rather he couldn't answer, even though he really, really wanted to. he couldn't even nod his head or make any sort of non-verbal contact with this man. he just kept looking at his own hands, starting to fiddle with his rings, careful not to drop his and taehyung's mail.