Chapter 03
Wish You'd Never Grow Up
Jimin went to the attic after dinner. His mom has told him that the albums he needs to pack were there. All he has to do was sit, pulled out the albums from the dusty rack, put it in the box and then bring it downstairs. Done.
But he dragged the time without himself realising when he started to open the albums and looked at the photos. The first album he took out was full of his parents' wedding photos. He would touch the photos softly once in a while, wondering how it feels like to witness his parents' big day. But that would be creepy because he wasn't born yet. He chuckled at the thought.
There were so many photos from three wedding ceremonies. There are photos from their official wedding day, photos from the traditional ceremony and lastly the tea party to celebrate the marriage. After almost half an hour, he moved on to another album.
'Jimin'
It was specifically printed on the album hard cover just for him, because he's the first child so of course. He smiled the moment he saw his baby pictures.
'I'm that chubby? Nooo.' He pouted then squished his own cheeks. He continued flipping the pages until he saw pictures of him when he was five. One of it was the picture seen by the fans. However, his photos collection stopped when he was eight. No more photos of him were put in that album anymore. He remembered that he hated taking pictures that time because he thinks it's not cool and embarassing. So his mom stopped taking pictures of him. The rest of the album was empty.
"I wonder why she didn't put my photoshoots here." Jimin mumbled to himself. He put the album into the box.
Then he gathered another album.
'Jihye'
Looking at the familiar cursive handwriting, it must be his mom's. He flipped the cover and his eyes were teary looking at his baby sister. A real baby. 'Aw she's so cute~'
He flipped the pages one by one, the photos were arranged in an ascending order of her age so he gets to see how she grow up. But like him, Jihye's photos collection ended early too, around ten to eleven years old. Then he put the album in the box. He took out a few more albums and smiled widely when he saw the familiar blue and pink colored album.
'Jimin & Jihye'
He reached out for it and blew the dust on its surface. 'How long has this album be opened?' He flipped the hard front cover.
In it, there were a lot of photos of them together. The first one he saw was the picture of a three year old him with Jihye in the crib beside him. "She's so small... She may have grown up now but still, she's smaller than me." The pictures were arranged according to the year. From when Jihye was a baby until both of them were in early teens. "She grew up so well." He didn't notice it when he looked at her photos only, but when he saw how small she was beside him, he noticed she did has grown up.
Then he moved on to another page. He laughed when he saw the little boy sat beside his crying sister with a clueless expression. It was beautifully captured by his mom. From the background details, they must've been playing in the playground and he must've done something to her.
He finally stopped at the last page before closing it. 'If I didn't stumble across these albums, I wouldn't even notice we're not kids anymore.' He suddenly reminded of what Jihye said to him this morning when he ruffled her hair. I'm not a kid anymore. He chuckled lightly. His sister will always be a kid to him, no matter what.
He glanced at his watch. 'It's late already.' He needs to sleep because he will be going back to Seoul the next day. He put the remaining albums in the box but stopped halfway. He rummaged through the box then pulled out the 'Jimin & Jihye' album out again. He opened it then stopped at a page and pulled out a photo. He keeps it in his pocket. Then he finished the task and got ready to sleep for the night.
~
"It's sad to see you go again. I hope you can come home and at least stay for a week." Mrs. Park said to her son while hugging him tightly. "Have a safe journey." Finally she let go of him. Then Jimin turned to his sister that was standing beside him. "My cute sister~" He cooed while ruffling her hair knowing how much it annoys her. Well, what can he do other than to annoy his sister. Jihye grunts lightly before pushing his hand away. "Bye oppa. Practice well. I'll watch out for your comeback." Jimin smiled ear to ear then nodded. He turned around slowly with a heavy heart and walked to the car, where his dad is already waiting.
The car ride was quiet between the father and the son, only the sound from the radio can be heard in the vehicle. Only when they arrived at the airport and already went out of the car, his dad spoke up.
"Bye son. Take care." Mr. Park patted Jimin's shoulder. Jimin managed to nod as a reply before waving to his dad and left to departure.
Jimin looked outside the window as he sat in the van drove by the manager. The manager just picked him and Jungkook up from the airport and now, they are on their way to the dorm. Doesn't want to drown in boredom and sleepiness, he plucked in his earphone and scroll through his phone playlist. He sighed. 'I need to update my playlist.' He decided to open the albums tab instead of the artist tabs. He searched for an English song until he saw that one song, Never Grow Up. He pressed it.
Your little hand's wrapped around my finger
And it's so quiet in the world tonight
And it's so quiet in the world tonight
Your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming
So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light
To you everything's funny, you got nothing to regret
I'd give all I have, honey
If you could stay like that
Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little
Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple
I won't let nobody hurt you, won't let no one break your heart
And no one will desert you
Just try to never grow up, never grow up
You're in the car on the way to the movies
And you're mortified your mom's dropping you off
At 14 there's just so much you can't do
And you can't wait to move out someday and call your own shots
But don't make her drop you off around the block
Remember that she's getting older too
And don't lose the way that you dance around in your pj's getting ready for school
Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little
Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple
No one's ever burned you, nothing's ever left you scarred
And even though you want to, just try to never grow up
Take pictures in your mind of your childhood room
Memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home
Remember the footsteps, remember the words said
And all your little brother's favorite songs
I just realized everything I have is someday gonna be gone
So here I am in my new apartment
In a big city, they just dropped me off
It's so much colder than I thought it would be
So I tuck myself in and turn my night light on
Wish I'd never grown up
I wish I'd never grown up
Oh I don't wanna grow up, wish I'd never grown up
I could still be little
Oh I don't wanna grow up, wish I'd never grown up
It could still be simple
Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little
Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple
Won't let nobody hurt you
Won't let no one break your heart
And even though you want to, please try to never grow up
Oh, don't you ever grow up
Oh, never grow up, just never grow up
So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light
To you everything's funny, you got nothing to regret
I'd give all I have, honey
If you could stay like that
Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little
Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple
I won't let nobody hurt you, won't let no one break your heart
And no one will desert you
Just try to never grow up, never grow up
You're in the car on the way to the movies
And you're mortified your mom's dropping you off
At 14 there's just so much you can't do
And you can't wait to move out someday and call your own shots
But don't make her drop you off around the block
Remember that she's getting older too
And don't lose the way that you dance around in your pj's getting ready for school
Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little
Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple
No one's ever burned you, nothing's ever left you scarred
And even though you want to, just try to never grow up
Take pictures in your mind of your childhood room
Memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home
Remember the footsteps, remember the words said
And all your little brother's favorite songs
I just realized everything I have is someday gonna be gone
So here I am in my new apartment
In a big city, they just dropped me off
It's so much colder than I thought it would be
So I tuck myself in and turn my night light on
Wish I'd never grown up
I wish I'd never grown up
Oh I don't wanna grow up, wish I'd never grown up
I could still be little
Oh I don't wanna grow up, wish I'd never grown up
It could still be simple
Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little
Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple
Won't let nobody hurt you
Won't let no one break your heart
And even though you want to, please try to never grow up
Oh, don't you ever grow up
Oh, never grow up, just never grow up
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