Time ➳ BTS

26 | Avowal

With a pounding heart, you hastily turned around while stepping back, panic flooding your senses. As you breathed heavily, you paused to bend forward, propping yourself up with your hands on your knees, trying to catch your breath when you saw a familiar face.

"Jimin," you gasped, a mixture of relief and frustration in your voice. "Please, do me a favor and never do that again."

Jimin's eyes widened in surprise before softening with amusement. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you," he replied, a playful grin forming on his lips. "I saw you running and got worried. Are you okay?"

Straightening up, you let out a long breath, the tension slowly ebbing away. "Yes, of course, of course." Noticing a few books in Jimin's hands, you raised an eyebrow, curious about his sudden appearance in the bookshop.

"You were in the mood to read?" you questioned, trying to change the topic and get your mind off what had just happened.

Jimin gazed down, following your eyes, before a cheeky grin spread across his pink lips. "Oh, no. These are for you."

"For me?" you repeated, surprised.

He nodded, his smile widening. "Yes. Since you told me you liked to read books, I remembered a few I saw in this bookshop that might spark your interest." He took one of the three books, dark blue with a small drawing of waves in the middle, and handed it to you.

"It's called 'you'll come back to yourself' by Michaela Angemeer. It's a poetry book about self-discovery. I've read it once, and there are some really good poems on topics like depression, body image, and more."

You took the book from him, your curious gaze flickering over the cover. "Wha—"

"Wait till I'm finished," Jimin cut you off with a smile. He grabbed another book with a dark cover, this one featuring a girl standing in a forest. "This is the first book of the Fallen series, 'Fallen,' by Lauren Kate."

"It's about a girl who is sent to this school after being accused of murder. She meets a boy there and thinks that she met him before. It revolves around fallen angels, reincarnation, and... religion, I think? Anyways, it's a romance and fantasy book. Seokjin read it and recommended it to me a few months ago," Jimin explained, handing you the second book.

Then he showed you the last one, and you gasped. "I read that book before, 'Perfume: The Story of a Murderer'."

Jimin stared at you, mouth agape. "You've already read this?" he questioned as you nodded. "It's rare that people read this, but it's a really good book for people who prefer thrillers and some drama."

"What's the best moment for you in the book?" you asked, genuinely curious since he seemed to have read it as well. The novel had moments that both fascinated and disgusted you, but the author's ability to express the protagonist's feelings and imagination was impressive.

"I think..." Jimin thought for a bit, brows knitted together while looking somewhere behind you. "It was at the end where Grenouille threw the cloth with the perfume he made into the crowd and realized that nobody loved him still."

You grimaced, face contorting with disgust as you remembered what happened afterward. "The next scene gave me a fright," you admitted. Jimin went to the cashier to pay, and you followed.

"And what about the end when the people ate him?" he teased. You made a gagging sound, and he giggled. After paying the cashier, you both stepped outside and started heading back home.

As soon as you were outside, your eyes darted around, the unease from earlier creeping back. The thought that the people who had chased you might still be around sent chills down your spine. The sky had turned nearly black, and the dark streets, combined with the eerie silence of the empty town, made goosebumps rise on your skin.