„Jagiyah, you should come to an end for today. You've been practicing for hours non stop.” You sighed, as you leaned against the door frame leading into the practice room. For a short moment your eyes flickered to the small window. It was pitch black outside. Of course, it was winter and the sun went down a lot earlier these days but it was definitely way past 9pm. “I'm not done yet..” The boy in the middle of the room sounded frustrated, out of breath and completely exhausted. Just seeing him like this hurt you.

“Jiminie..” carefully you made a few steps inside the room, closing the door behind you. “At least take a break. Just a few minutes.” quickly you lifted a plastic bag up, showing it to his reflection in the mirror. “I brought food!” you could see a little smile on his lips but he didn't seem convinced yet. “For me? Just a few moments, please?” he sighed, but his smile grew a little larger as he turned around to finally, properly look at you. “For you.. You look really pretty today. No, always.” he said, his smile actually turning into a grin as he watched, as your cheeks turned a light pink. “And you look exhausted..” you whispered as you made a few steps into his direction, your voice full off concern. Jimin however put it off with a wave of his hands. “Don't worry about me.” You tilted your head, but for now you just accepted it. You didn't want to fight.

Like this you two ended up sitting down in the middle of the room, Jimin curiously eyeing the bag you brought with you. “It's.. nothing special.. I went to the convenience store after work on my way here..” you mumbled, looking at the bag, angry at yourself that you didn't prepare something better for him.

As if he knew what went through your head you could suddenly feel his hand under your chin, carefully lifting it so you would look at him. “I'm really thankful that you thought of me. Everything in there will be perfect since you brought it.” he smiled and kissed you on the nose, making you giggle. He always knew what to say, what to do.

Encouraged by his words you started to unpack the bag, revealing two bottles of water, some plastic-wrapped Mandu, two packs of ready-to-eat bibimbap and a small package of paper-wrapped Bungeo-ppang (fish bread) which still felt kinda warm to touch. Lastly within the bag was another, smaller one and judging by the smile on Jimins face you knew, that he could already guess what was inside. To be fair, the smell probably gave it away, so you just handed him the small bag. As he opened it, he sighed happily, pulling out a small carton-tray with two skewers of Tteokgalbi Meatballs on them. “God, you are the best, jagi.” he leaned over to plant a sweet, short kiss on your lips, making you smile happily. “Where did u get these? There is no street food stall nearby that sells them.” You just shrugged it off, mumbling to yourself. You knew how much he loved them -meat in general- so it was no big deal. You just wanted him to be happy for a bit. So he kissed you again, before leaning back.

“Wait here for a second, okay?” he grabbed the two packs of Bibimbap and left the room for a few minutes, probably pouring water and preparing the food. You pulled your legs up to your chest, resting your head on your knees and looking at yourself in the big mirror, that took up one whole wall.

Jimin has been here for the past few weeks until very late in the evening so you two could barely see each other lately. It was not that you were angry at him, you knew that this was his life, his passion and you fully supported him, you always had. But lately you've been worrying about him. He seemed very unsatisfied with himself, never happy with the results he delivered. He was unhappy with his looks, his voice, even his dance and worked himself almost to the ground. Just thinking about it made you tear up, but as you heard the door opening you quickly wiped over your eyes with the sleeves of your sweater and looked up with a smile.

Jimin didn't seem to have noticed your tears and was smiling as he handed your pack and some wodden chopsticks over, sitting down in front of you again. “I will eat well!” he then almost shouted, starting to dig in, making you actually giggle a bit.

For a while you two just sat there, eating and talking about this and that; your work, the other boys, your friends, the new movies coming to the cinemas soon and ignoring the obvious elephant in the room, the only topic, that actually mattered.

As both of you finished the last fish shaped bread, Jimin planted a kiss on your fingertips. “Thank you for this. I love you.” He smiled. “I love you, too Jimin.” you whispered, watching him as he was about to stand up, probably to practice again.
Suddenly you couldn't stop the tears from falling. They didn't start slow, didn't build up, you immediately had waterfalls running down your cheeks, leaving the boy in front of you in total shock. “J..jagiyah..! What happened are you okay? Are you hurt? What is going on?” For a moment you couldn't answer, everytime you opened your lips all that would come out where sobs, sitting there, looking like a picture of misery, just shaking your head.

Overwhelmed by the situation Jimin pushed the remains of your eating-session to the side, sitting down exactly in front of you, holding your cheeks with both of his hands. “Are you hurt?” You shook your head, still sobbing. He sighed relieved. “What's wrong then, babe? Talk to me, please.” But you couldn't. Instead you wrapped your arms around him, resting your head against his chest, just crying for a while. It must have piled up, all the anxiety and the fear that he might get hurt or sick, that he might overwork himself. Patiently Jimin sat there, just holding you, your hair and resting his chin on your head. The steady beating of his heart finally managed to calm you down after -what felt like hours but probably only was a couple of minutes- of crying and sobbing.

“I.. I'm just so.. worried..” you finally pressed out, carefully winding out of his hug to look at him. “Worried? What are you worrying about?” he whispered, wiping away the remaining tears on your cheeks with his thumbs. “I'm worried about you, Jimin. You seem so unhappy lately, I'm so scared that you might get hurt, that something might happen..” you could feel the tears coming again but this time you managed to fight them back, taking a few deep breaths. “I don't want to lose you.” you finally ended. He looked at you, tilting his head and silently biting his lower lip, thinking. “I really haven't been myself lately, have I?” he finally said, leaning back a little, looking up at the ceiling. “No, you haven't.. Why is that..?” Again he kept silent for a while, still looking at the ceiling.
Jimin had always been thinking badly of himself, he always had low self-esteem, something you could never understand. He was perfect to you. Not only his looks, but also his soul was the most beautiful to you.

Finally, after something that seemed like forever he spoke again, his voice raspy and silent. “I guess I'm doing this for you.” He didn't dare to look at you. “For.. me..?” He nodded, looking at you for a short second, then back at the ceiling. “You are so wonderful. With every day that you are by my side I notice it more and more.You are beautiful, caring, funny, friendly.. Just.. the best that could've ever happened to me and I..” he stopped, clearing his throat a few times as if he had a lump in his throat. “I just want to make you proud. I want to be good enough for you even though I know I can never be. But I am trying.” now he looked at you, pain in his eyes, a small, sad smile on his lips.

Suddenly you could feel anger boiling up inside of you. “Babo!” you almost shouted, making him flinch. “W..wh-..?” but before he could finish you already hit his arm once, twice, three times. “J..jagiyah.. Stop!” but he didn't stop you, he just looked at you with big, confused eyes. “Good enough for me?!” you stood up and he immediately got on his feet as well, pure confusion on his face. He really did mean it. “Babo!” this time you really shouted it, closing the distance between the two of you with a few quick steps. You almost expected him to shy away, but he just stood there, looking at you with widened eyes.

By now your anger had gone away, making space for sadness. Your eyes filled with tears again. This time it was you holding his face, looking at him. “You. Are. The. Best. That. Has. Ever. Happened. To. Me.” You emphasized every single word but this time, you where whispering. “But.. why.. I'm just.. me.” he whispered, tears forming in his eyes, but a stupid, tortured smile came onto his lips as he remembered a phrase he once read somewhere. “You're so 'woah' and I'm so 'oh'..”

You just looked at him, holding his face in your hands, getting on your toe tips. “I love everything about you.” Since he wasn't that much taller than you, the two of you have been on the exact same eye level now. Carefully you started planting kisses onto his face. “Your beautiful eyes that almost disappear when you see me because you smile so much.” -a kiss on his eyelids- “and in which I can see your beautiful soul.” -a kiss on his nose- “This cute nose that always knows when I bring something to eat.” -a kiss on his lips- “Your mouth which brings sound to the most beautiful voice I have ever heard, both singing and speaking.” Slowly you let go of his face, this time taking on of his hands. “Your beautiful hands that handle me with so much care and -even though you always say they are way too small- fit so perfectly into mine.” -a kiss on each fingertip before interlocking your fingers. By now Jimin had stopped crying, was just looking at you. A quick grin came over your lips. “To not make this weird now..” -tracing on finger over his stomach insetad of kissing it- “your belly that you hate because it lost all of it's abs but that I love, because it's happy about even the worst of the foods that I cook.” -a finger running down one of his legs- “Your legs that manage to make the hardest dance routine look easy and smooth but also your feet, that ended up carrying you to me, again and again.” Looking into his eyes you put your hand onto his chest. “And last but definitely not least your big, warm heart that has so much love to give, cares so much about the members, ARMY and me.”

For a few moments the two of you just looked at each other. “So please, never think you're not good enough for me. You are as perfect as a human can be. You make me happy with every word, every gaze full of love that you lay on me. I am as proud as I could be of all the incredible things you've achieved so far and will most definitely achieve in your future. And even if you just stopped today, this very second, ended your whole career, I would still be loving you for I am not loving your career but you.”

Suddenly Jimin grabbed your face, kissing you like he never kissed you before. As your lips separated again you gasped for air. “Please, don't break, okay? Work hard for your passion but never think you're not good enough.” He nodded, still holding your face, swallowing a few times. “Thank you. For everything you said. I will try to not worry so much.” Affectionately he traced the lines of your face with his thumb. “Please stay by my side as I try, help me trough this..” he finally whispered.
“I will always be by your side. I will not leave. I am here.” and with that he wrapped his arms around you, pulling you in a long kiss full of gratitude and love.