Chapter 5

The sun blinded Jimin when she woke again. There was no clock in the room, but the growling of her stomach led her to believe it was near lunch time. She looked over to see Yongguk fast asleep, plush lips parted slightly. Not wanting to wake him, Jimin slid out of the bed as carefully as possible. Slipping into her boxers, she looked around for her shirt. When she couldn’t locate it, she put on Yongguk’s shirt instead. After another quick trip to the bathroom to freshen up, Jimin made her way down to the kitchen. At the bottom of the stairs, she ran into Youngjae. He raised his eyebrows at her outfit, but wisely said nothing about it.

“I, uh, opened up the laptop last night. I took out the wireless cards and found the bugs. There were three in the machine, but they were dependent on the power source. So no battery, no trace. It won’t emit a signal of any kind now. It’s completely untraceable unless you use a dial-up modem.”

“Thank you, Youngjae,” Jimin said genuinely and smiled. Perhaps too genuinely, because his cheeks turned pink. He stammered a ‘no problem’ and jogged up the stairs. Jimin watched him go with a confused look, but shrugged and moved on. Junhong greeted her with a ‘hi, noona’ from the couch, barely taking a moment to glance up from his video game. She reached over the back and ruffled his hair. He grumbled and jerked away, but never took his eyes off the screen.

    In the kitchen, Jongup and Daehyun straightened and counted piles of money at the table while Himchan berated them. “How many times do I have to tell you not to do that in here. Money is dirty. Stop putting it on my clean surfaces.”

    “But hyuuuung,” Jongup pouted cutely. “We have to get this done and we’re starving. Please, please make us lunch, Himchan-hyungnim!”

Daehyun added his cute gaze and pouted lip to the pleading and Himchan couldn’t fight it. He pointed at them with the most stern expression he could muster. “Fine, but I want that table thoroughly cleaned when you’re done. And wash your hands before you touch anything else in here!”  

“Yes, hyungnim!” they shouted together. Jimin laughed from her spot in the door and the three men looked over at her. Himchan gave her a quick look up and down, but his gaze lingered on her neck.

“So that’s why you came and got in the bed with me this morning,” he said to Jongup.

“Somethings you just don’t want to hear,” Jongup replied, eyes fixed on the bills in front of him.

Jimin tugged at the collar of the shirt uselessly, knowing it couldn’t cover the hickeys decorating her neck. With a deep flush in her cheeks, all she could say was, “Shut up.”

Jimin was just putting the finishing touches on the meal when two arms s around her waist. Soft lips landed behind her ear and she could hear a low hum. “Smells good, babe.”

A chill ran down her spine and a smile graced her lips. “It’s not much. There aren’t a lot of options since no one goes grocery shopping, obviously.”

    “I bought the kimchi!” Junhong yelled out, proud of his contribution to the slap-dash meal. Jimin looked back to smile at him.

    “Thank you for making sure there is kimchi. And I assume you-" Jimin elbowed Yongguk in the stomach so he would let go. “-are why there is a whole cabinet full of ramen.”

“That is correct,” he confirmed. “You made some . . . right?”

“I did,” Jimin answered and lifted the lid to one of the pots. Yongguk looked into it, sniffed, smiled, and kissed her quickly. Jimin smiled into the kiss. “I’ll make dinner tonight too, but I need you guys to pick up some things.”

There was a resounding ‘yes noona’ from the younger guys, followed by pleas for her to cook the things they wanted. Jongup wanted burgers, Himchan wanted Italian, Daehyun just wanted to be sure there would be a lot. They settled on Korean food, since it was to be her last night in the country.

As they ate, Jimin grew quieter and quieter. She listened, she laughed, but she seldom spoke. Yongguk noticed this. So when she started pushing her food around her plate, he grabbed her by the hand and told the other guys to clean up. He pulled her away from the table, and at the stairs she asked where they were going. Yongguk didn’t respond. He simply led her down to her room, closed the door and kissed her senseless.

After that round of intense yet sweet loving, Jimin and Yongguk laid on their sides facing eachother, telling each other what they had missed in the years apart. Yongguk was fascinated by the ‘normal’ activities she had engaged in. Signing a lease, paying taxes, applying for credit, getting a drivers license, etc. He asked her for short stories, long stories, anything to keep her talking. He hung on her every word and tried his best to commit every one to his memory.

When sleep took over Jimin, Yongguk pulled her into his arms and held on as tightly as he dared.

After their family dinner, Yongguk had only let her linger at the table for a matter of minutes before whisking her back to the bedroom.

“Faster, Yongguk. Please,” Jimin moaned later that night. She rocked her hips up hard against him, trying to make him move at the pace she desired. Instead, Yongguk held her hips down with his and kissed her slowly. His hands touched her face and neck, trailed through her hair, linked his fingers to hers. “Yongguuuuuuuuk!”

“What’s the rush, baby? Hmm? Let’s take this slow.”

Jimin didn’t want slow. She didn’t want lovemaking. She didn’t want to be reminded of what he could make her heart feel. She didn’t want to relearn the lean muscles of his body, the warmth of his skin. She wanted to feel with her body, not with her heart.

No matter what she did, no matter how dirty she talked in his ear, no matter how she bucked against him, no matter how much she begged, Yongguk made love to her at his own pace. Not that Jimin didn’t enjoy it, she ed at the end right along with him. But it left her shaken in a way that she hadn’t anticipated. After the act was completed, she could still feel his presence all over her body. In her heart.

There was a knock on the door and Yongguk raised his head to call out.

“We should leave soon,” Himchan called through the door. After a just loud enough ‘okay’, he looked down at Jimin. Her eyes were closed and her face was turned away. Silence settled between them, awkward and thick. Neither of them knew what to say or do.

“I guess I should get dressed,” Jimin mumbled, trying to slide from beneath him. Yongguk put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. He looked deeply into her eyes, kissed her softly and rolled away to give her room. He watched her gather her things and leave to go to the bathroom. When the door closed, he flopped onto his stomach and screamed into the Jimin scented pillow.

    Their clock had run out.

The ride to the meetup was deathly quiet. Yongguk and Jimin held hands in the back of the truck, but looked out of opposite windows. Connected, but so far apart.

Himchan pulled the car into a parking place on the secluded stretch of land. The seven occupants got down slowly, all dreading what was to come.

The smell of the salty sea invaded Jimin’s nose, filled her lungs and brought a smile to her lips. Leaving the guys behind, she walked along the pier and closed her eyes, letting the sound of the crashing waves calm her nerves. When she opened her eyes again, she saw a flickering light in the distance. Jimin smiled wider. Slowly, and at just the right angle, she could make out the shape of a dark boat floating her way.

A hand rested on her back, causing her to look away. Yongguk held her book bag out to her and waited for her to take it. “Is that him?”

Jimin hummed and nodded. The engine of the black, enclosed speed boat was barely noticeable over the crash of water on wood. The sleek boat maneuvered smoothly to a stop beside the wharf. Three men walked out of it. At the sight of them, Jimin took off running. One of the men started running too.  

   Strong arms embraced her, and Jimin found herself laughing and crying into the man’s shoulder. He rubbed her back and kissed her hair, laughing because she was. “What’s so funny, Woo Jimin?”

“Absolutely nothing, Woo Jiho,” she said with another hysterical giggle. “I think this is relief. I feel relieved.”

The male wrapped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her again. “I’m Zico out here, remember?”

Jimin narrowed her eyes at him and quick as lightning, grabbed his ear. “You’re my little brother and I’ll call you whatever I want. Got it?”

“Ow! Ow! Noonaaaaaaa, stop!” Jiho howled. The harder she tugged, the further he bent over. “Aish. My crew is watching, noona.”

She let him go and patted his cheek affectionately. “I missed you, kid.”

It was rather dark, but Jimin was pretty sure she saw her feared pirate of a brother blush. Jiho cleared his throat and switched from Jiho to Zico before her eyes. “Yongguk-hyung didn’t go into detail, but you’re okay, right? No one’s hurt you?”

“I’m fine. I just really need to get out of here,” she said earnestly. Jiho nodded, kissed her forehead and looked over her shoulder.

“We’ll talk on the ship, okay? I want to know everything,” he said to her with a pointed look. Jimin nodded her agreement and turned away to see the six men of BAP approaching. Jiho walked up to Yongguk and offered his hand. “Thank you so much for taking care of my sister. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to her.”

“I feel the same way,” Yongguk mumbled and looked her way. Jimin looked everywhere but at him.

Jiho nodded to the other men in acknowledgement, then bumped his head playfully against Jimin’s. “We can’t stay long. My guy in the Coast Guard goes off duty soon. Keep the goodbyes short, okay?”

“I will,” she replied. Handing her bag over to Jiho, she watched him take a few steps back before facing six men that she would never see again. She started with Jongup. He hugged her in a tight, rib crushing hug.

“Make sure you eat, noona,” he whispered before backing away. Daehyun was next.

“Rest a lot,” Daehyun said, eyes on the sky. Jimin tilted his chin down and kissed his salty cheek.

Junhong made no attempt at hide or stem the flow of his tears. “I just got you back, noona.”

She her fingers through his hair comfortingly and kissed his temple. Jimin held onto his cheeks until he looked in her eyes. She smiled sadly and told him, “I’ll miss you too, baby boy.”

Youngjae his lips nervously and shifted his feet. He made no move to touch her, but he did smile for once. “Whoever you give that laptop to, make sure they have an I.T. person route it through a few fake I.P. addresses before opening the file.”

“Will do.” Jimin moved down the line and stood in front of Himchan next.

“Grow your hair out and take care of your skin,” he said in his typical blunt fashion. At Jimin’s shocked expression, he smiled and pinched her cheek. “I have no other useful advice for you. You’ll be fine.”

Jimin laughed along with him and hugged him with great feeling. Last, and surely not least, was Yongguk. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets and his eyes on his shoes. She stood before him awkwardly.

The entire day, she knew they were coming to this moment. But as hard as she tried, she could think of no way to say goodbye to the only man she had ever loved. So she took a step forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. Jimin could feel each of his harsh breaths against her chest.

What felt like a long time later, Yongguk finally took his hands out of his pockets and put them around her. They held onto one another tightly, trying to capture the moment in their minds perfectly. Jimin loosened her hold to break away, but Yongguk tightened his.

“Please don’t leave me again,” he whispered, and it tore Jimin apart. She sagged against him as all the tears and emotions she had been holding broke free. Every kiss, every hug, every tender moment that they had shared flashed through her mind and quite frankly, she lost it. Jimin touched his lips sweetly before tearing away and running down the dock to the waiting boat. She shouldered past Taeil and Kyung, not bothering to apologize.

       Unable to stop herself, Jimin looked back to see Yongguk covering his face with his hands and Himchan touching his shoulder. Jimin could stand to see no more than that.

One more chapter to go.