Mikrokosmos; Prequel and Sequel to Time

Chapter 7

    "He's totally scared of you. I think he knows you're a stalker."
     I roll my eyes, scowling at Jonghyung. "Don't you have anything better to you than sit here and irritate my existence?"
    "Then your life would be just too boring to live." He smirks, twirling his little baggie around his fingers.
Griping, I shove past him and anxiously fidget with my new lighter. Black this time. It matches my soul. At least the way I feel it should look. Ugh.
"Hey." I feel Jonghyung's hand grip my shoulder, stopping me. "Jokes aside, you know you can talk to me, right?"
Not meeting his eyes, I nod. "Mhm hm."
Sighing in relief, he sags a bit. "I actually have something to tell you."
Frowning, feeling a weird premonition rise deep inside me somewhere, I hesitate. "Now?"
"Yes, now, asshole. Can't you get out of that kid's ass long enough to pay attention to someone else for a damn minute!" He huffs.
I snort, despite myself. "What do you know about being buried in someone's ass." Teasing.
He blushes, pushing me. "Seriously." The mood is brought back and I nod, taking a seat away from other people in the park and waiting for him to speak.
"You know how I've been, uh, busy lately?"
"Nope. You're never busy. Always stalking me." I smirk."
He scowls. "Yoongi!"
I sigh, giving up. "Yep."
He snatches my lighter and begins fidgeting with it. I wonder idly if that's how I look a lot of the time now. "I've been going to the hospital."
I freeze. Dread fills me as I realize what's soon coming. "What for?"
He smiles but it doesn't reach his eyes. "I have cancer."
Ice consumes my veins. "Cancer."
"Yeah. Apparently I only have, like, a few years to live." He tries to play it off but his words tremble and catch in his throat.
"So soon." I whisper to myself. Too soon. This isn't supposed to happen yet. No. I raise my voice a bit. "Are you sure?"
He rolls his eyes. "I've had nothing but hundreds of tests. I'm positive. I've got stage four cancer. I'm dying, man. Soon I'll just be a pile of dust." He whines.
I scoff, unable to fall back into my normal sarcastic replies. "It takes more than a few years to be a pile of dust. More like rotten bones."
He glares at me tearfully before reaching over and smacking me hard. Okay, I deserved that. I couldn't help it. It was a defense mechanism. Shit. "You insensitive ass! Why do I even bother? Everything is a joke to you."
I immediately round the table and pull him into a tight hug. At the same moment, I look up instinctively and catch Jimin staring at us wide eyed from across the street.
As I watch, he darts off and disappears. I don't have time to ponder that, however. Jonghyung is important right now. I rub his back. "Hey now, everything will be okay. You have me to help you through this, okay?"
Sniffling, he hugs me back. "Y-yeah? You aren't going to ditch me if it gets hard, right?"
"Like now isn't hard?" I can't stop myself. I wince, waiting for him to hit me again but he only chuckles blandly.
"You never change. I guess I like that about you." Pulling away, he wipes his eyes. "Sorry. I lost it for a moment. I'm good now."
I study him. He does look pale and tired. His veins a little too purple under the sun. "I'm here if you need anything. Just call me. No matter what, when, or where.
"Even if you're stuck up Jimin's ass?" He smirks.
Baring my teeth, I growl. "Even then, you dick."
"Just make sure your dick isn't hard anywhere near me, freak."
"As if! That's disgusting, nasty."
We both laugh. Our friendship really is something. It's lasted through time and time again. Always will. Something I can always count on. I don't want to lose it so soon this time around, though. It doesn't seem right.
My attention wanes back to the street I saw Jimin on. Why was he staring at us secretly? I'm the stalker, not him. He doesn't know anything, right? Like Jonghyung said—he's scared of me. Everyone here is except for my best friend.
Jimin doesn't know me closely in this life...hm.
"...to Yoongi!"
I blink, snapping my gaze back to him. "Hm?"
"Earth to Yoongi! I've been talking to you for forever and you've just been blankly ignoring me, right?" He pouts, crossing his arms.
I smile guiltily. "I didn't hear you. Sorry."
Groaning, he shakes his head and gets up. "You really are whipped for that kid, right? Let's just go."
I follow him, a little shamed. So what if I am? I can do what I what with my life.