“Minjeong…”

“Minjeong…”

“Are you okay, Minjeong?”

 

Minjeong was still struggling to process the news. She knew one day this kind of news would just become a reality, not a “what if” anymore. But she knew that she could never be prepared for this day.

Minjeong was still grappling with the fact that she was not the person Jimin is in love with. But what about all those hints from the latter? Were they just for fan service? But thinking about those hints again, Minjeong became numb. If those were just fan service, how about those actions that Jimin showered her when they were alone? Those gestures when they were in the dorm, hotels and van. What about those moments?

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking about what to eat after this practice.” Minjeong reasoned once Aeri asked her. Unbeknownst to her and Jimin, Aeri and Ning were aware of their situationship. How could they not, obviously? Those two were shooting hearts through their gestures and eyes whenever they were together. Now, seeing Minjeong like this, how could they not notice the pain in her eyes.

“By the way guys, the manager just informed me that we shall proceed with our dinner, just the three of us since Jimin have some matters to do.” Aeri spoken up, facing the two girls. Minjeong just smiled. How could Minjeong still have the energy to smile even after hearing the news? Aeri just could not get it, and so did Ning. But both just shrugged off the thoughts as they were trying their best to support Minjeong through this phase.

“I was thinking of tonkatsu. Are you guys okay with it?” Minjeong suggested the menu.  The tonkatsu which is and still Jimin’s favourite. Ning just smiled awkwardly. The menu was always Jimin’s go-to, it’s a no brainer menu for her. Not much thought, just tonkatsu.

“Sure! It’s been a long time since I had tonkatsu.” Ning replied, looking at Minjeong and Aeri.

“Really, Ning? We had that last week with Jimin after practice. You were devouring it like someone’s gonna steal it from you.” Minjeong recalled what happened last week.

“Ah, last week still considered a long time for me. Today is the new week.” A nice cover-up by Ning Yizhuo.

 

The three girls were on their way to Jimin’s favourite tonkatsu place to have their dinner. Along the ride, Minjeong was still in her own thoughts. This was undoubtedly noticed by Aeri and Ning who were sitting behind the girl. Throughout the ride, Minjeong tried her best to not look at her phone, for the possibility of reading the dreading news about Jimin and her new partner. Yeah, congratulations to the couple, but Minjeong could not help but to feel a pinch inside her frail heart. She couldn’t undo this feelings, she got no choice but to just embrace it.

She remembered when they were alone in their dorm. The day when Aeri and Ning were shopping during their off day. Jimin and Minjeong were just lazing on the couch, flipping through the movie list on Netflix. Jimin was so bored that day, but she was too lazy to go out. So did the other girl. Hence, Netflix and chill. It was still early, around 4PM but Jimin made Minjeong caught off guard when the older brought the wine to the living room with two glass. Jimin was smiling sheepishly towards Minjeong that certainly made her heart went to PVC-mode (premature ventricular contractions).

“Seriously? This early Jimin?” Minjeong asked reaching for the glasses from Jimin.

“Why not? We don’t have any schedule today and tomorrow. So might as well just enjoy this together.” Jimin winked that made Minjeong scoffed.

Glasses clinking, tinted cheeks, both were sitting on the floor with a piece of duvet covering the lower body. Jimin was so hammered, but Minjeong was still steady as if she hasn’t been drinking for the past hour. Minjeong could hear tiny snores from Jimin that made her smiled widely.

“Minjeong-ah…”

“Yes?”

“Minjeong-ah…”

“Yes Jimin?”

“Why are you so cute, Minjeong-ah?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

“You are so cute when you whine about dance practice. You are cute when you eat your favourite food.”

“Just that?”

“You’re just too cute, I want to put you in my pocket. My pookie puppy.”

“You want to bring me everywhere, innit?”

“Yesh! I want to have you by my side forever.”

Before Minjeong could recalled the whole episode, she was called by Aeri and Ning as they had reached the diner. The place where Jimin loves to have her tonkatsu. The place where Minjeong started to love tonkatsu as well. It was all Jimin all over again. She didn’t neither hate the idea nor loving it. Walking to the diner, she saw the infamous Yoo Jimin’s signature plastered on the one of the walls. Besides Jimin’s was hers and the other members. Everything reminded her of Jimin.

The dinner was not as lively as the day before. Ning was devouring the food as usual while Aeri kept looking at Minjeong, to make sure that she was okay. Aeri’s train of thoughts was interrupted by Minjeong’s question. “Should we order a takeout for Jimin? She loves this.”

“Sure! She can just heat it up tomorrow.” Aeri agreed. Minjeong smiled proudly, as if she accomplished something big.

 

That night at their dorm, Minjeong was still awake when she heard their main door was opened. It was Jimin with one of their manager. Jimin was about to enter her room and saw Minjeong was still awake, cocooned in her duvet watching something. Patting Minjeong head, Jimin said “I will change my clothes and join you in a bit.”

Oh, how Minjeong wished Jimin won’t. How she wished Jimin just crawled into her bed and rest for the night. At this point, Minjeong was so tired of wishing for things because her wishes just poofed into thin air. God is playing rough with Kim Minjeong.

“Hey, what are you watching?”

“Just some random movie. Every Day.” Jimin situated herself beside Minjeong as usual, casually pulling the duvet so that she can cover herself with it too.

“What is it about? Fill me in.”

“It is about a girl who falls in love with a person or soul, I cannot justify what it is. But this person will wake up in different body every single day. But that person can remember what happened, so not a clean slate in terms of memories.” Minjeong explained while Jimin placing her head on Minjeong’s lap, so casual as usual. Nothing out of ordinary.

“Will the person know whose body they are in?”

“Yep. The person will try their best to get to know the owner of the body before proceeding their day.”

“That’s tiring.”

“Hmm. But they can be in other person’s shoes literally and figuratively. I think that’s fun.” Minjeong reasoned while munching popcorns.

“What if you were given the chance to experience it, Minjeong?”

“I will experience it to the fullest, will not cause trouble to the owner of the body, but still enjoying the perspectives.”

“I like how you think positively. I like that about you.” Minjeong just smiled faintly. Yeah, she likes that. But she loves him. That’s a whole different story, Minjeong.

“I just want to be positive no matter what, there are too much negativity nowadays. It’s killing me.”

“Fair enough.” The air went silent.

 

“Minjeong, can I share something with you?”

“Yeah. Let it out.”

“I know that you already knew this, but I want you to hear it from me. I am in relationship with Jaewook. But we’re still getting to know each other. All those nights when I was away, I went on dates with him.”

“I am happy for you. All I want is for you to enjoy your moments with him. He seems like a great lad.” Minjeong replied that made Jimin smiled.

“He’s been so good to me. I couldn’t ask for a better man. But you are still my number one, Minjeong.”

“Thank God I am still your number one. And I am so glad that you are in safe hands. I just wish that your private life will keep being private, not like this. I hate that Dispatch did this to you.”

“Yeah, but it just happened. I hate Dispatch to the core. But what can I do? Should we just burn the HQ?” Jimin jokingly suggest.

“Oh, how I wish we can do that.” Minjeong resonated well with Jimin.

If Aeri and Ning were there witnessing this moment, they would have awarded Minjeong an Oscar for Best Actress. Minjeong was so well composed around Jimin while the older was talking about her lover. If only they know, Minjeong was trying her best not to burst into tears while listening to Jimin.

“By the way Minjeong, what is it that you want to talk about? You said it was important.” Jimin recalled that text.

“When was this? I think it was about our schedule after the SMCU. I planned to ask for 4 days break. I want to go for a short trip. Do you want to join me?” Minjeong casually asked.

“Oh, about that