With the weekend over and school starting again, the days passed by uneventfully for Jimin. Before he knew it there was only a month left before the competition, and practice began picking up rapidly. Between practice and preparing for all his upcoming exams, Jimin was finding little time to worry about other things. However, whenever he saw Yoongi passing by in the hallways, he’d find himself frowning and wishing he had a way to reach the elder, to fix whatever problems Yoongi was having. But he had no idea how to help at the moment and all the ideas he was coming up with only sounded futile when he talked them out to himself.

Jimin noted that no one in his friend group talked about Yoongi anymore, and he couldn’t blame them. Jin was focusing on college applications and scholarship essays and if he was reminded of Yoongi, he would become upset because he felt bad. Jin and Yoongi had both planned to enroll in college together and help each other apply to any scholarships that were available, but that obviously wasn’t happening. So mentioning Yoongi around Jin wasn’t a great idea.

Namjoon also didn’t like mentioning Yoongi but for different reasons. Namjoon was busy with his own college courses and was trying to get a research assistant position with a renowned scientist so he didn’t have time to focus on Yoongi. In addition to that, Namjoon had apparently met with Yoongi on his own once and the conversation hadn’t been pleasant, whatever Yoongi had said obviously really hurt Namjoon.

Taehyung, on the other hand, was putting his all in the developing relationship with Hoseok and he seemed so happy, Jimin didn’t have the heart to bring up Yoongi and ruin it. And so Yoongi slowly slipped away and became a somewhat taboo topic amongst them. Jimin didn’t like it but he understood why it was happening. Despite all of them being adamant at the beginning to help Yoongi, as the days passed with no ideas on how to help and pressure from their own lives, it couldn’t be helped that they’d stopped being so proactive.

This is probably how friendships end, Jimin thought to himself as he walked home alone. Jungkook and Taehyung had left after class but Jimin had to stay behind to attend a tutoring session since he needed help from the teacher of his Science class. Jimin was lost in his thoughts and wasn’t paying much attention to his surroundings when he heard a familiar voice.

“Someone as pretty as you shouldn’t be frowning,” Taemin said as he placed his hands atop Jimin’s shoulder to prevent the younger from crashing into him. Jimin blinked up at the elder surprised to see him and then blushed, realizing he was staring.

“Sorry for almost crashing into you again,” Jimin said with an apologetic smile as he stepped back and let Taemin’s hands fall off his shoulders.

“Hmm… it’s fine,” The elder said while smiling brightly making him look adorable, in Jimin’s opinion. “But since this is the second time and I’m a big proponent of fated meetings, I think I should ask you to join me for some hot chocolate,” Taemin continued looking hopeful.

“Fated meetings?” Jimin questioned with a giggle.

“Yep. It’s not every day you get to run into a hot stranger, especially the same one twice,” Taemin answered making Jimin blush more and causing Taemin to laugh.

“My heart can’t take this, oh you’re so cute!” Taemin said reaching out and pinching Jimin’s right cheek softly. Jimin stayed still and continued blushing, his face heating up more then he’d like.

“So… hot chocolate? I’ll pay!” Taemin promised as he released Jimin’s cheek and smiled brightly. Jimin shyly nodded, agreeing.

With that, Taemin led the way to a small cafe nearby. He ordered their hot chocolate while Jimin scouted out a table for them. Once the drinks came and the two were sitting comfortably across from each other, the two began talking again asking questions to get to know one another.

“I thought you’d be a high school student like me,” Jimin said when he learned Taemin was a college freshman.

Taemin giggled and shook his head, “nope, graduated last year. I’m already 20 even if I may not look it.”

“Hmm… I see, so you are my hyung as I thought,” Jimin mused as he took another sip of his beverage.

“How old are you Jimin?”

“Turned 17 a couple of months ago.”

“Oh, happy belated birthday!” Taemin said.

“Thanks!” Jimin responded happily.

“So… do you want to talk about why you were sad earlier?” Taemin asked.

Jimin pursed his lips together unsure about how to respond to that. Even if Taemin was supposed to be his soulmate and Jimin was definitely attracted to the black-haired male, that didn’t mean he was ready to spill all his secrets to the other; especially since this was only their second meeting and the first one was way to brief to even be counted.

Seeing Jimin’s pursed lips, Taemin decided to speak again, “I know we don’t know each other and I get you might not want to open up to someone who’s practically a stranger, but sometimes that’s the best person to open up to. I mean, I won’t be able to judge anything you say since I won’t know all the details?”

Jimin considered that before opening up a little. “I was just thinking about one of my friends…. He’s caught up in some bad stuff and he’s pulling away from us. I want him to talk with us and I want to help him but... I don’t know what I can do to help… all my friends and I want to help but with time passing and little contact, we kind of just… dropped the issue? We’re not being proactive in helping anymore and I just feel like… like I’ve failed somehow?” Jimin finished with a frown. Taemin was s