“Ugh, what is it, Jungkook.” It was the next day when Jimin put his phone on speaker while washing up his face. He had finished his doctor duties for the day and left at 2, which ended earlier since it was a Sunday - leaving him to lounge in his apartment at his pleasure.

“Okay so, I was thinking that you and I and Jin hyung should hang out. You know what day it is. right?”

Of course. It was a Sunday, and Jimin knew plenty well from months of blabbering and bustling that at 4 p.m. on a Sunday Kwon Jiyong - Jungkook’s man crush from high school - would be at the basketball court at the corner of a street near the park, playing ball with some of his gangly friends. Usually with Jungkook spying on them from the fountain. Typically accompanied by Seokjin and Jimin.

“Fine, only if you buy us bubble tea afterwards.”

“Deal!”

___________________________

Loud guffawing and the squeaks of sneakers is what Jimin heard as his back pressed against the cold fountain. With Jungkook on his right slyly glancing at the group of men and Seokjin on his left simply staring at a dog in the distance, a squeamish feeling settled in Jimin’s tummy.

Honestly, how did Jungkook even find any time or motivation to continue admiring his sunbae from school? He was a nineteen year old boy studying at a police academy now, and weren’t discipline, integrity, and hard work supposed to be some of the most important values an officer should have?

Jungkook softly squealed when Jiyong’s blond hair flowed languidly when his hat flew off during a spin-pass.  

Well, not this officer.

The boy snuck a look out once more, and paled.

“What?”

“He saw me. Shoot, he saw me. Let’s run.” The three hastily rose in alarm and were about to dash when a voice cut through their actions.

“Hey!”  A million emotions scrambled over Jungkook’s features as they shamefully turned. There stood Jiyong, poker-faced and skeptical, while a bright, friendly looking guy stood next to him with a basketball tucked under an arm. “I’ve. . .i’ve seen you around before.” Well, it would have been a surprise if you haven’t seen your stalker at least once.

Jimin looked behind the two elders to see the other guys packing their stuff and leaving. He felt uncomfortable as he shifted his weight to his other foot, a hand unconsciously running through his red locks while they were scrutinized by the strangers.

“Haha, yeah, my friend said he knew you from high school! We were just taking a walk around here and he happened to see you so we thought it’d be cool to watch you guys ha, what a nice day, amirite-” Seokjin coughed and proceeded to hack his lungs into his sleeve.

“Oh, yes, then um, i’m Kwon Jiyong. This is my soulmate, Dong Youngbae.” At the word soulmate, Jungkook’s eyes flitted between the two and Jimin could have sworn he saw a little something break inside him. Aww.

The other guy smiled and waved. “I wish we could get to know each other better, but Jiyong and I have somewhere to be soon. So,” Youngbae bowed respectfully while Jiyong gave them a simple nod, then proceeded to walk away, leaving the three youngsters speechless.

“Well there you go, Kookie. Cover finally blown. How long has it been? Four years? You’ve been crushing on him for four years?”

“Hyuuung, you know it was just a crush.” But Seokjin remained frowning when Jungkook’s wide eyes darted around the place, sniffing occasionally while he carded his hands through his hair. “I don’t think I ever felt anything. I don’t know.”

“Jungkook, you can’t forget that your actual soulmate is out there somewhere, okay?”

“I know.” He sniffed again. A twinkling ringtone chimed and Jungkook fumbled around to grab his phone from his pocket, a dazed look sitting in his round eyes. “Hello? Oh, yeah, Noona. Nah, i’m just hanging out with the hyungs. You. . .you what? What? Wait how do you even get your arm stuck in a refrigerator? And on the one weekend that Eomma and Appa are out of town, are you kidding me? Ugh, fine, i’m coming home, you fattie. See, this is why you have to stop eating so much. . . Hey, at least i’m fit! Shut up or i’ll leave you alone to freeze your arm until it falls off! Yeah, i’m coming. Bye.”

 Seokjin waited until Jungkook turned off his phone to talk. “Your sister’s hot though.”

Jungkook’s face reddened. “HYUNG!”

“Really, though, she isn’t fat. It isn’t nice to call someone a fattie.”

“Well, she’s lazy as hell, so i’m going to go.” He turned to Jimin. “Adios, Chim-meister. Jin-hyung.” He turned and proceeded to walk down the sidewalk.

“Try not to do anything to make her strangle you!”

“No promises!”

Jimin laughed as he watched Jungkook hastily jog away. He met Jungkook’s sister a couple of times - a short, long-haired girl with doe eyes and a lazy yet playful personality. She would either be super moody or super hyper whenever he went over. She was 20 years old, so her “soulmate day” was just around the corner - unlike Seokjin, who experienced his first heat not long ago.

He was still on the hunt to find his mate, who was a guy apparently - from what Seokjin could tell (“All I saw were square glasses, super cute dimples and the cockiest smile but I already know he’s the cUTEST THING EVER!”), and Jimin felt like it was around time that Jungkook’s “love” adventure would end and Jin’s would begin.

  Suddenly, Jin’s phone rang.

“Aw, not you too-”

“Hello? What? Go No Rae, the girl in room 5E? Oh. OH. Cardiac arrest?! Ahh, proceed with the basic procedure. Jimin and I will be there as soon as possible.”

With a single glance towards Jimin, the two hastily dashed out to a main street and waved for a taxi, Jimin’s palms slightly clammy while he prayed to the gods that nothing happened to little Norae. She’s only six years old, Jimin thought, she’s an angel. . .please don’t let anything happen to her. It was just last week that her soft voice was giggling in the hospital room, her long black hair falling over her shoulders as she watched Jimin sing with a twinkle in her eyes.

__________________________________________

 “ChimChim Seonsaengnim!”

“Norae, Norae, our sweet little Norae, how are you today?” It was a Tuesday morning and Jimin opened the blinds in the room, carefully walking past other hospital beds with patients who either ignored or smiled up at him. Sunshine streamed through and he pretended to crumble, “Ah, it’s so bright. . .so bright. . .” He glanced over at Norae again and made a show of shielding his eyes and clutching his heart. “Ah, it’s so bright over there, too, omo-”

The little girl giggled. “ChimChim Seonsaengnim,” Her words were slowly and carefully said, and Jimin frowned at the mouthful.

“Just call me Oppa, okay?”

“Okay, Oppa.” Another radiant smile. “ChimChim Oppa,”

“Hmm?”

“Can you sing?”

Jimin sat at the edge of her bed and glanced at her heart rate monitor. It was slow, but steady nonetheless - the red line jumping up and down rhythmically. He sighed. A great pity that a child so young could have a heart so weak. “What do you want me to sing? The aegyo song again? Because if I,” he poked her tummy with every word, “have. To. Sing. That. Again. I’ll make you sing it to me while wearing a giant, feathery hat! And a Dora the Explorer jacket!”

“But I don’t like Dora the Explorer!”

Jimin knew perfectly well that Dora the Spawn of Satan terrified the little girl. “I know, so i’ll sing you another song, okay?” He took in the sight of her pink cheeks and cheery smile coated over her pale skin and frail body, and gazed at her lovingly before beginning to sing. It was a song his grandmother used to sing to him when he was little, for when his parents were busy fussing with his older sister and an infant was difficult to take care of. It was the type of song a Disney princess would sing, he always thought, but it was one that managed to seep into his heart every time.

 No Rae was the only patient he ever sang for. She was the only person he would ever openly sing for, actually (unless he was at a karaoke or by himself), and continued to do so since he felt like it would help the chained child at least a little bit. With a heart as weak as hers, it was difficult to maneuver and perform typical activities without her having an asthma attack or a pounding headache.

He sang for some time before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and booping her on the nose, earning a light giggle.

“I really like your voice, Oppa.”

“Really? Nah, I don’t think I can sing very well.”

“No. Your voice is like. . .honey! I don’t know, it feels like honey. I like honey.” She looked at Jimin and immediately blushed when she saw im looking back at her with a fond gaze. “I. . .I r-really like your voice.” She bashfully smiled before grabbed the edge of her blanket and burrowing herself underneath them in embarrassment.

Leaving her black hair to fan out over the pillow and lump together.

He laughed and patted her head. “I’ll be back to check on you later, okay? Take care of Noodle for me.”

Her head slowly poked out to reveal her red cheeks. “N-Noodle?”

Jimin plopped a stuffed purple dinosaur on her lap. “Yeah, Noodle needs a new owner since I’m so busy around here. Can you take care of him for me?”  Jimin had actually bought this at a toy shop down the street in thought of the little girl, but it was a present either way.

She pulled the dinosaur into her arms before roaring at it, then smiled up at Jimin. “I’ll take care of him! I’ll make sure he doesn’t sneak out of bed to hang out with ladies when I’m not looking, either!”

Jimin knowingly smiled at her like they had some sort of secret, and held a fist up encouragingly. “Okay, then, No Rae-ah. Fighting!”

“Fighting!”

 _____________________________________

Jimin hastily grabbed his doctor’s coat before racing to the elevator with Seokjin. Go No Rae was Seokjin’s patient. Jimin was his intern. They were both entitled to a patient that may die  second now.

“Seokjin-ssi!” Yelled a young nurse from down the hall. “They’re trying to stabilize her, come quick!”

All Jimin could think was that this little girl couldn’t die. No, he was convinced that the light in her eyes were bright enough to burn for days, months, years until they could burn for her own soulmate and live happily ever after. She was like his little sister, and no matter how much pain you saw your sibling endure, you knew that they wouldn’t die. They would always be okay, so Jimin had hope.

“Hyung, should we use the defibrillator?”

“She’s young, so I don’t know if-”

“Hyung, we should use the defibrillator-”

“Jimin, she’s a child, I don’t know-” Seokjin seemed to tangle with his mind before coming to a conclusion. “OKAY. Okay. Jimin, back up.”

“But Hyung I want to help-”

“Back. Up.” Seokjin yelled at the nurses who immediately brought over a defibrillator, while Jimin replaced oxygen rich blood packs. He looked over at No Rae’s pale, sickly figure and worriedly speculated the beads of sweat collecting on her forehead. Her ribs could easily be seen and her long hair almost encased her like a shell, but in Jimin’s eyes she was still as beautiful as a sapphire gem.

“Clear!” A shrill sound, and then bu-bump! Jimin watched patiently as the elder concentrated on nothing but bringing the little girl back to life. “Clear!” Another shock.

It was then that Jimin could hear her voice ringing through his mind - something she had said two days ago when he was about to leave her room after a checkup.

“Oppa, if something happens to me, can you take care of Noodle again?”

“Nothing will happen to you, okay? Don’t speak like that. Besides, wouldn’t you want to give him to Eomma or Appa?”

She thought for a while. “Eomma and Appa will have Jeol-Oppa and Soo-Unni to cheer them up, but you’ll need someone too! You told me you were still looking for your soulmate, so maybe Noodle can be your friend until you find them!”

“Can Noodle cheer me up even if I feel so sad that actual thunder clouds are above my head?”

“Yes! He cheered me up, so I know you’ll be happy too!”

Apparently happiness didn’t necessarily bring luck. The erratic beating of the heart rate monitor echoed in Jimin’s ears so loudly that he barely realized No Rae’s thin arm clutching Noodle tightly by her side. His fingertips felt numb and icy when the heart rate sped up to hasty rhythm - something so quick that had Seokjin yelling and blood packs falling from the intern’s hands.

“Clear!” A third and final shock, the last , and. . .silence.

Beeep.

Jimin stood frozen in his position with a blank expression on his face - the blood packs laying on the cold floor, his eyes trained on the girl’s closed ones - expecting them to open to reveal twinkling stars in her ocean of youth -, and the deafening sound of a single note from the monitor. And Jimin rushed to the bedside to feel her arm, to feel anything, any sort of warmth, but her skin was as cold as his own fingers. “No, you can’t leave now. . .I was going to surprise you tomorrow morning with a wake up song. . .” He felt something pool in his eyes, something pool deep in his chest, and what his mind told him his heart could not accept.

“Time of death. . .”

“No-”

“Time of death was-”

“No, just wait-”

“18:24.”

 Jimin took a shaky breath before commencing to silence.

“I’ll go let them know, okay?” Seokjin’s voice cracked at the end. It was one of his first deaths under his handiwork, and it probably left him very shaken as well. The nurses picked up the blood packets and cleaned up the area before taking the edges of No Rae’s blanket. They pulled it over her head, almost in slow motion, until the tips of her hair was covered and only the outline of her small body could be seen. And even though the monitor was turned off long ago, and it was dead quiet in the room - the sound of tools clinking against each other and the low squeak of Noodle falling to the floor pounded into Jimin’s head, all along with the echoing sound of a dead heartbeat.