[22] Happiness

Overcome His Grief (Hiatus)

<< Happiness >>

In the special event at the library, Jimin and his co-worker, Namjoon work together to socialize with children. The event makes an impact on the children to start reading books, in hope that books might give them inspiration along with life lessons and morals. At the same time, happy books can also bring out their happiness. Witnessing the kids' happy faces, laughs, and their carefree personality, Jimin somehow feels that he has got inspired by them to always remember that there is happiness within everyone and will exist forever, regardless of the bad times. Every single day isn't always going to be "happy", but there will be days and even small moments, when they are actually happy. Being grateful for having friends including Namjoon, his awareness rises of what the real friendship looks like.

*********

On the day of leaving for the trip to the basketball tournament, his stomach starts to have "butterflies" as he is feeling not ready for the semi-final game. His anxiety rises, with his hands being cold and sweaty, and his stomach is out of control. He feels like he has to go to a washroom to freshen himself. After the washroom break, it's time for the school bus to leave as it's already past 8 pm. His coach, Kwangsoo shouts, "Alright! Everyone! Let's get in the bus! It's time to leave! Hey Jimin! Are you okay?" Jimin gulps, "Ahem! Y-yeah! I'm okay!" His coach smiles at him with his thumb-up. Jimin smiles back, but he feels a bit guilty for lying since he's unsure if he'll be able to compete, or maybe it's his anxiety level that needs to be reduced. While on the way to the destination, Jimin is sitting alone, and he's riding his real feelings by covering his face with his jacket hood tightened around his wholde head, and pretending that he's actually sleeping. His teammates and coach are having a wild time, with all the singing and shouting. Outside of the bus, there are mountains, heavy rains, dark-grayish sky, narrow road. Everything he sees outside reminds him of his family's car accitdent. He tries not to dread remembering the horrible flashbacks, and closes his eyes, hoping to fall asleep in any seconds.

**********

Meanwhile, Jungkook's mom is attending the art exhibition to see his son's artworks and other people's works. There are many people in the crowd, who are very interested in taking a look at the different art pieces by the art class students. His mom is impressed by her son's beautiful art pieces, including the painting of four young boys in the Ferris wheel ride at the amusement park. She then asks with curiosity about the painting and the importance of it. He clears his throat as he answers his mom's question without a hesitation, "Oh, my painting shows what the true friendship looks like. To me, they are important. True friends are people who are close to you and are part of your life. Friends will have both ups and downs, but they always stick together. Friends are like a family. Having true, real friends is more important that having a lot of friends. As long as we're together, we always make a ton of memories, whether they're good, bad, or weird. My friend, Jimin, never had friends before. But now he does, I think his life has changed. He was a different person before I met him. Honestly, he's a great guy. Oh by the way, this little kid is Taehyung's nephew." His mom ods with an understanding, and says, "I'm happy that you have friends. It's a good thing. Not a lot of people have real friends. I realized that back in high school, I never had real friends, to be honest. I did have a lot of great acquaintances, though we were not actually close friends. I assumed these three girls were my real friends because we always hung out after school. But I learned that they actually hated for some reasons. They acted nice when they saw me, but they talked negatively about me behind my back. I found out right away through my acquaintance, and so I  cut off ties with the girls. I never spoke to them again. And then, I started spending more time with mose of my acquaintances. I was never close to them, but I did have many good memories with them. Really, I don't regret for not having long-term real friends. Even today, I have mostly acquaintances, but I'm still okay with that. I have you and that is all it matters. If you're happy, then I'm happy." Jungkook smiles and then kisses on his mom's cheek. His mom laughs, "I love you sweetie. I'm really proud of you. You are amazing. Your painting is not only about friendship, but also happiness too. Am I right?" Jungkook widens his eyes and answers, "Yes, it's also about happiness." His mom smiles and says, "Mhmm, everyone has happiness within themselves. It's important to always remember that. No matter what we have gone through, we will always have happiness within ourselves. I'm going to look around. I'll see you later, okay?" Jungkook nods and says, "See you later."

**********

It's currently 10:30 pm when they finally arrive at the hotel, a few blocks away from the local prestigious high school, where the basketball games take place at. Jimin feels someone is shaking him hardly. His bloodshot eyes are slowly opening and he rubs them slowly. It's one of his teammates. Jimin then makes a big yawn before he hears his coach shouting at his team, "Everyone! Finally we just arrived at the hotel right now. You will get your reserved room. Please get enough sleep because we will be getting up at 7 am. We will have a quick breakfast before we start our basketball practie! Okay everyone?" Jimin lifts himself up, yawns widely, and stretches his stiffed arms out. His teammate is next to him, tapping on Jimin's shoulder to get his attention. Jimin turns to his teammate, blinking his eyes twice. His teammate says with excitement, "Hey! Let's go!"

In the early morning, after they've finished eating their breakfast, they leave the hotel to go to the gym for their basketball practice. They wear their athletic clothes and also have their basketball jerseys. Jimin sighs heavily due to being traumatized by the things he has seen from the previous day that have reminded him of the day when his family were killed in the car accident. He then desperately shakes his head. However, as he begins warming up his entire body, his mind shifts to focusing on the present and his determinations. He has the urge to stay optimistic. During the practice, the coach observes all the players' skills that include running, passing and shooting the ball, teamwork, communication, etc. The players are instructed to perform a lot of different drills, such as push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, running for several laps, passing the ball to each other, etc. Their brutal training lasts be extremely exhausted, and they are covered with a lot of sweat. Their blood are boiling as they vow to keep improving their skills by continuing their practice. After one more hour, the coach calls his players that the practice finally ends for the day. Jimin places his dry hands on his knees as he's panting repeatedly, and wipes the sweat off his forehead with his damped shirt like the rest of his teammates. The coach claps his hands for them and loudly shouts, "Great job everyone!! That was a great practice! All of you worked really hard! I'm proud of you all! Okay, right now it's lunch time! So, please get yourselves cleaned a bit. After lunch, we will rest for an hour. And then, we will have rest for an hour. And then, we will have a practice game! The semi-final game is in two days, so tomorrow we will have a long run for approximately 20 km! Okay? Alright! Off you go!"

After the long practice game, the coach and players finally end their practice for the day. They walk back to the hotel when the sun begins to descend. It's 6:35 pm when Jimin and his roommate finally arrive in their room. Jimin then slumps onto his bed with his wide arms out. After taking a short nap, he wakes up, while ruffling his unkempt hair, and so he goes to the bathroom to take a shower. In the shower, he thinks about tomorrow for the 20 km run, hoping that he could survive it. Remembering his coach's smile for his basketball team's hard work, Jimin's lips turn into a small smile, knowing that he has done it well. He's also a bit glad that he has not made a thought about his family's car accident during the whole practice. He remembrs that he has made fun, happy moments with his teammates during the practice, despite it being long, brutal, and exhausting.

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SyupeoBWanna
#1
Please update soon... >.<