Jimin does — as expected — a wonderful job with his solo performance during the winter showcase.

(Min Soo gives him a bundle of different assorted fresh wildflowers, grinning playfully when she doesn’t answer his question of where she’s gotten them from this time of the year.)

She meets the rest of his other housemates; namely Heekyung (a third-year Civil Engineering major, with wild, curly, black hair and tall stature), Jisoo (a second-year Sociology major, with a bulky build and military buzzcut dark brown hair), and Jaemin (a second-year Geology major, with hair prettier than any girl she’s known, tied in a low ponytail). There’s also Hana and Eun Hee with her identical twin sister, Eun Hye.

(“She’s the nerdy one.” “Says the one who majors in Mathematics. Just think of me as the artsy one.”)

They were about to meet up with Jimin’s Yoongi-hyung, but he received a text message from him saying that he had to go first because he had plans. Eun Hye announced that he obviously — whatever that meant — was trying to avoid her, and so, she left the rest of them, dumbfounded, as she went to go look for him.

(“When Eun Hye found him,” Jimin explained before Min Soo could ask, “the two of them apparently took interest with each other.”)

So, the seven of them went to a barbeque place which, as Eun Hee swears on her monthly allowance, have the best beef they could offer to a suffering student. Bottles of soju are passed, along with lettuce wraps and tender beef in mouths occupied with stories and jokes. In the coldness of the weather outside, it was minded as nothing in the warmth of inside.

At one in the morning, they go their separate ways. The five to their house, meanwhile Jimin and Min Soo head to her apartment. Jimin is adamant on walking her home, like the usual, even if she persists that she can take care of herself.

“You are drunk,” he points out, the natural hue of red in his cheeks even darker with the coldness. He looks cuddly in his thick coat and plaid scarf wrapped around his neck. “And your reflexes are slow. I can’t risk that,” he says, slightly frowning.

“Jimin,” Min Soo says in an exasperated tone.

“Min Soo,” Jimin returns, and the others chuckle even though there’s nothing particularly amusing. (Min Soo notices that the five of them do this a lot, like they have some kind of inside joke.)

In the end, she agrees, because what is she really to Park Jimin? She’s always been a bit weak to him. For him.

So, a few minutes later, they quietly trudge in the sleepless streets of Seoul as Min Soo tries to remember through her fogging brain the way to her apartment building. Jimin’s hand is intertwined with hers in the pocket of his coat, thumb running on the back of her hand, the cold metal ring on it contrasting the warmth given by the thick fabric. He looks deep in thought. Also, warm. And cuddly.

“Min Soo-ya?” Jimin says weakly.

“Mm?”

He is silent at first.

“Please don’t do the ritual,” he finally speaks, pleading in the same weak voice as he looks down at his feet while they walk. “I — I’m scared of what might happen.”

Min Soo sighed. “I already explained to you why I need to do this, Jimin,” she said. “And I can take care —”

“— of yourself, I know.” Jimin looks up at her. “I just don’t want to lose you when everything’s been going well already.”

Min Soo squeezes his hand to assure him, giving him a small smile. “You’re not going to lose me, Jimin,” she said. “It’s not a promise — it’s a fact. Alright? You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“You know I’m going to be always worried, Min Soo.”

There’s a dull prickle at her mark, but she ignores it. It’s nothing painful. “I know, Jimin. I know.”

 

~

 

When Christmas break starts, she takes the earliest flight going to New York. Jimin sends her to the airport before he sets on a trip to Jeju himself, his family spending their holidays at their vacation house there. They’re both all hugs and kisses, doing ridiculous mushy things couples do when saying goodbye for a short while. It’s funny how they’re so keen on the skin-ship now in comparison to when they saw each other for the first time in years.

“You’re going to call me and send me selcas every day, OK?” Jimin said, mushing her cheeks together with both hands, making her lips pucker like a fish’s. “Expect me to do the same.”

Min Soo nods her head, bringing his hands down from her face. “Yes, sir,” she said earnestly. “Don’t miss me too much. I don’t like clingy boys.”

Jimin gave her a knowing look. “I could say the same to you,” he retorted. He sniffed before adding, “The next time we have a break, we’re going to Busan, alright? We’re going to halmeoni’s.”

She brightens at the memory of Jimin’s halmeoni. “Deal.”

The next few hours are spent with her combatting her air sickness with either trying to sleep or looking through the numerous amount of selcas Jimin has in her phone. It’s what’s quickly filling her phone memory, considering he has about more than ten for every single day since their first date. At first, she complained about it (“Jesus, you’re vainer than most people I know —” “I see you looking through them when you think I’m not noticing it, you know~” “Shut up.”), but at instances where she feels like her stomach will do another somersault when she thinks of how high and how far she is from the ground, it’s a good distraction.

 

~

 

merry christmas, min soo-ya~
12:03AM

merry christmas to you too, jiminie
12:03AM

❤
12:03AM

you’re drunk, aren’t you?
12:04AM

what i cant be affectionate when im sober? are you
implying that?
12:05AM

❤
12:05AM

❤
12:05AM

i am a bit drunk tho
12:05AM

goddammit min soo
12:06AM

but still
12:06AM

❤
12:07AM

god. distance changed us.
12:08AM

it didn’t for me. you’re the one acting all
strange.
12:09AM

it’s a good thing tho
12:09AM

❤
12:10AM

min soo?
12:31AM

are you asleep?
12:32AM

good morning ❤
12:33AM
 

 

~

 

Classes are back a few days after New Year, and it is obvious how hangover the other students are from the short holidays. Even Min Soo has got a slight jetlag herself since she practically landed just a few hours before, but there’s nothing that can’t be fixed by dozing off in the farthest part of the library while pretending to do a bit of their paper. In actuality, they’ve got barely much to do since they’re only completing their appendices now. Within a few weeks, they’d be starting their oral defense.

Min Soo hasn’t seen Jimin since stepping inside the university, but has been constantly texting him in between period breaks. He says he was feeling a bit under the weather so he sacrificed his first day back since Christmas break to rest. He also assured her that she didn’t need to visit and that his housemates were practically babying him right now. Min Soo thought she still needs to do so.

So, at the end of the day, she rides a taxi to Jimin’s house bringing along photocopied notes from his classmates from his classes and a bag of hot cookies bought from Peppermint and Beans. She’s surprised to see a set of black leather shoes near the entrance along with worn down sneakers and slippers, and wonders who’s inside when the rest of Jimin’s housemates are currently either in school or in their jobs.

What she doesn’t expect to see, though, is Professor Kim and Jimin sitting casually in the living room, the scent of the coffees wafting in the room from their mugs that are atop the small table in the middle. Jimin doesn’t look sick at all, sitting with his legs folded to his chest and black hair falling to his eyes. Meanwhile, her professor is sitting with his legs crossed and his arm draped on the backrest; for once, he isn’t in either his sleeping robes or slippers but dressed rather smartly with his turtleneck dress pants. They both meet her eyes when she enters the room.

“Kim-seonsaeng,” she said in surprise, eyes blinking blankly.

Her dashing professor gave her a bright smile. “Hello, Min Soo-ssi,” he said. “It’s quite a surprise to see you anywhere but the Fine Arts building and the library.”

She ignored his friendly jab and bowed in respect instead and then faced Jimin, giving him a look that definitely said I thought you were sick; why are you lounging around with my professor?

“Chiminie —” Min Soo glanced at Jimin who rolled his eyes at the tacky nickname — “and I are very good friends, Min Soo-ssi, so I paid him a visit when he called in sick earlier this morning,” Professor Kim explained, turning to look at Jimin who was reaching for his mug. “Turns out he had some nasty stomach bug.” He sounded a bit exasperated, as if he were there to witness it all. “But he’s fine as a little peach now.”

“Oh,” was the only thing she could say.

“Come sit with us,” her professor said good-naturedly. “I’ve noticed you’ve brought cookies from Peppermint and Beans. Would you like some coffee?” He stands up and heads for the kitchen like he owns the place. “I can’t do all that magic and whatnot, so I’ll have to do it manually.”

Min Soo blinks. Jimin shakes her head and gestures for her to sit down.

“You know Kim-seonsaeng?” Min Soo whispered the moment she occupied the space next to Jimin.

“Um, yes?” Jimin answered, also whispering, though he sounded uncertain himself. “Hold on, why are we whispering?”

Min Soo ignored his question and continued to probe. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

Jimin brought down his mug. “You didn’t ask!”

She gave him a look to which he only shrugged at, as if to say what? Min Soo shook her head in slight exasperation. “Why did he say something about not being able to do magic and stuff?” she asked.

“Because he meant it?” Duh.

Min Soo held herself back from the want to hit his head. “I’m more of leaning towards the question of whether he’s — you know —”

“I’m a Healer, Min Soo-ssi, if you’re very curious,” Professor Kim suddenly spoke up, making Min Soo jump in her seat in surprise and turn to look at him. He was back with a promised mug of hot coffee. He puts the mug on the table, right in front of her, and then sits back down on his spot.

She made a noncommittal cough, suddenly choking on air. She thumps her chest with a fist, as Jimin reaches for his mug again. Blinking, she sputters, “W-what?”

“I’m a Healer,” he repeats himself.

“I think she heard you the first time, Tae,” Jimin said monotonously.

Professor Kim shrugged. “She asked, so I answered,” he said.

Min Soo sat quietly in her seat, trying to simmer all of the new information in. “Why do I know of this only now?” she asked aloud to herself.

“Well — because you didn’t ask,” her professor replied for her, not being helpful at all. “And besides, Healers aren’t exactly showy creatures. Witches on the other hand…” And then he had this look on his face which said you know what I mean.

Min Soo didn’t take the latter part of his statement to heart; of course, witches had strong auras. “How long have the two of you known each other, seonsaeng-nim, if that’s not rude of me to ask?”

“Please call me Taehyung, or Tae, Min Soo-ssi. It’s a bit weird for me to keep up with the teacher-pretense when we’re not even inside the classroom,” he said. “Well, I’ve known Chimchim —” Min Soo gave Jimin another look at the nickname — “ever since he moved here. I live a few blocks down at an apartment complex.” He gave this weird look to Jimin who blatantly ignored it and reached for a cookie from the paper bag (it was now sitting on top of the coffee table). “I also helped him look for good ‘housemates.’”

Min Soo narrowed her eyes and then turns to look at Jimin. “I know there’s more that you’re not telling me,” she says, surprising him and making him pause from eating, looking like a deer caught in headlights. “But I’m going to try and be good and wait for that ‘perfect timing’ you aforementioned.”

Kim Taehyung watched the two of them, temple resting against his knuckles, a grin on his lips. “You two are cute.”

Eventually, they all have dinner together when the rest of the housemates come back. Min Soo finds out that her professor is a frequent and unannounced visitor of their abode; basically, a seventh unofficial housemate. She also discovered that the pots of sunflowers on the counter (Eun Hee is taking care of them; says how it soothes the atmosphere around the house) seem to constantly face him, even if they were moved around the kitchenette a lot (because Jisoo was allergic to them); the others didn’t seem to notice this, anyway, so she didn’t pay any attention to it.

(“It’s so weird hearing people call you ‘seonsaeng-nim.’”

“Please don’t —”

“Seonsaeng-nim~”

“You’re a little , Park Jimin, you know that?”

“I could say the same about you, Kim Taehyung.”)

 

~

 

She finally meets the infamous Min Yoongi face to face one afternoon in mid-January at Peppermint and Beans.

Min Soo was quietly doing some of her schoolwork since she had been given the liberty of not having any classes for the rest of the afternoon. Taehyung — as her creatives class professor has now insisted to be called, since whoever is friends with Chimchim is a friend as well but with a fair reminder of only when we’re out of the classroom, though — have presented to them their midterms project for class, while there are the usual elective classes she partly regrets taking because they’re taking a heavy load for her midterms.

She was crunching numbers and furiously writing down possible answers — that often times aren’t coming out right whenever she checks them — for her Physics homework, silently fuming, when a figure clad in dark, heavy, thick clothing sits at an empty space in her booth. Min Soo raises her head in wonder, and is blank when she is met with a snow-skinned man with a shock of black hair that has bits of snow atop it. He looks even smaller with the dark grey scarf that’s wrapped around his neck, making his cheeks slightly pudge out.

He brushes off the snow his hair with long, slender, pianist hands. There’s a lopsided smile on his lips, one that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Min Yoongi,” he introduced himself, bringing his hand down when he’s deemed there’s no longer snow on his head. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Kang Min Soo-ssi.”

“Um, hello, Yoongi-ssi,” Min Soo greeted back hesitantly, bowing slightly.

“I would like to thank you, foremost, for saving my life last December,” he said. “Sorry I haven’t said anything earlier. I’ve been too busy trying to avoid Choi Eun Hye.”

A memory of Eun Hye’s disgruntles face comes to her mind, and Jimin saying they took apparent interest with each other. Considering the grim look on Yoongi’s face, Jimin’s words don’t seem to be the truth to Min Soo.

“Why are you avoiding Eun Hee’s twin?” Min Soo finally asked, giving in to her curiosity.

“The past is catching up to me, and it wouldn’t be long before everything ends again,” he said solemnly, and then he sighs heavily, as if he’s presented with some heavy burden he can’t get out of. “She’s going to be the end of me, that girl.”

Min Soo didn’t know whether to take the latter part of his statement as a joke; however, the look on his face didn’t say it was. Yoongi didn’t answer her directly, though, and she’s slightly confused by what he meant about everything ends again — but she let it go. It wasn’t her business.

“Well,” Yoongi began again, trying to shake off the darker mood that settled, “thanking you isn’t the only reason why I’m here.”

She raised her eyebrows in question. “Hm?”

But he just looks at Min Soo, a myriad of something unreadable in his dark eyes. There’s something dense hanging in the silence shared, something that Min Soo couldn’t exactly decipher, as Yoongi watches her carefully. She thought he wouldn’t really say anything, but before she could open to ask, he tells her, “Make the most of what you two have now.”

Min Soo blinked.

“Creatures like us — especially our line — may have been bestowed gifts, but in return, we will always be robbed off the most important thing,” Yoongi continued, and then there’s something in his eyes that make it glint under the fluorescent light of the café, “and that’s time. So, I hope you know what to do with what you have before the unthinkable happens.”

Min Soo blinked again, speechless.

Yoongi stands up. “I’ll see you around, Min Soo-ssi,” he said, and then left the booth and the café, not buying anything at all.

Min Soo is perplexed, not knowing how to take in Min Yoongi’s little . . . reminder? Warning? What exactly should she prepare herself for when she doesn’t even know the story? And what was with the reference of creatures like us — like he and Jimin are something of the same. They both look human and normal to her. She felt like she was going to suffer aneurysm if none of them start explaining what really is going on here.

 

~

 

By spring break, Jimin’s halmeoni is a picture of a happy woman when she sees the two young adults at the footsteps of her tiny home. She immediately tackles them into an impressively tight hug, all the while saying that it’s been too long since I’ve seen you two together. Their hands held together also didn’t escape her sharp eye, which she made a comment about right away, as expected.

“Are the two of you finally dating? I’ve been waiting for ages and I only knew of this now?”

The two could only return blushes and stutters, to which the grandmother only laughed at as she let them inside, telling them to put their shoes at the side and their coats on the hanger.

Her home hasn’t changed one bit — still very open to the sea with tall windows and white curtains — since the last time Min Soo visited (which was also the fateful day of Jimin’s Announcement at Age Fourteen), except for additional little trinkets of pretty seashells and even more paintings of the same wolf she’s seen halmeoni paint ever since she met her. The wolf had a beautiful shiny, auburn coat, and the skill of halmeoni in painting made it look as though you could feel the smoothness of the fur without even touching it in real life. It’s the same wolf in different settings — by the familiar seaside outside, a meadow of flowers, the cliché mountain top with an exaggerated size of the moon, etc.

“You still paint, halmeoni?” Jimin said, following his grandmother to the kitchen as Min Soo stayed in the living room area where most of the paintings are placed. Some even looked freshly painted and were still drying.

“I’m still going strong, Jimin-ah,” she replied, patting her grandson on the head, “if that’s what you’re insinuating.”

Jimin’s halmeoni, his father’s mother, is a widowed woman. Jimin’s harabeoji died when his father was young, so he didn’t really have that much memories about him. When Min Soo and Jimin were younger, they would often visit her and sleep over in her tiny home, listening to her fondly tell stories of her husband when they were young and in love. The way she told her stories made it seem like he was still alive, and based on those stories, he was a lovely man. Jimin knew of his grandfather through his grandmother more than he could ever from his father, who avoided the topic like a plague. And she was the only one who was not obsessed with the Parks’ huge wealth, seeing as she resided herself with a simple home away from the city and painted to support herself.

“When is your father going to visit, hm?” halmeoni asked when Min Soo finally stepped inside the kitchen. She saw the two casually chatting as Jimin helped with preparing their lunch. “It’s been so long since I’ve last seen him.”

“Oh,” Jimin said uncomfortably, as if a thorn was stuck in his throat. “Um. Abeoji’s busy with . . . business, halmeoni. He’s been in and out of the country.”

“And completely leaving you in the dark of what to do with what you have, isn’t he?” halmeoni retorted.

There’s that thing again, Min Soo thought half bitterly. Is the day that I will suffer from a brain injury ticking closer?

Jimin paused from his work. “Halmeoni.”

“Jimin,” his grandmother said in the same tone. “Have you still not said anything to Min Soo?”

“I’m right here, halmeoni, thanks,” Min Soo piped in but she was ignored by both Parks. She sighed and decided to start setting the table instead.

Jimin muttered something unintelligent as he continued working, while his grandmother reprimanded, “Park Jimin, Kang Min Soo does not deserve anything less than the truth. Keeping her from it for as long as you could doesn’t mean it won’t eventually catch up with you. Just cut the chase short. I don’t think she’d leave you or anything, if she finds out.”

Well, it’s not like I would anyway, Min Soo thought, watching the synergy between the two working. That’s happened before, and it’s not exactly something I would be happy to repeat again.

After their dinner, Min Soo and Jimin take a stroll at the seaside where the two of them used to run around and collect seashells at. The moon is shining brightly overhead, stars twinkling and sprinkled around the dark ink sky. There are no clouds; only cold sea breeze that’s whistling in their ears and gently tossed the waves of the sea against boulders and rocks of different colors. They walk barefoot near the line where the waves meet the shore, letting the sea water occasionally soak their ankles and feet.

Min Soo didn’t want to think about what Jimin could possibly be keeping from her, because she didn’t know where to draw conclusions from. He didn’t have instances where he would act in a way that would throw her off or would make her suspicious. As far as she knew, he was almost the same Jiminie she knew when they were both fourteen-year-olds who thought they knew everything — only he has grown up and matured even more, and has become into someone that would leave her mind in a mess with just one look.

The people around him acted and spoke strange though; like they were saying that he was one of the Tree’s creatures — as what Min Yoongi has said — or someone who held so much power — as what that time traveler-slash-messenger had said. There was also the fact that he was surrounded by so many creatures, but that wasn’t something strange really. It was expected; he’s Casted with a witch and knew about her plans to bring back her father, why wouldn’t he be surrounded by other creatures?

But what if he was someone dangerous? Park Jimin and the word ‘dangerous’ aren’t ever going in the same sentence. But, really. Think about it. What if he was really something he’s not? What is there’s something lying underneath his skin and it would tear her off? What if he was something that was made of the stuff of her strange dreams and horrid nightmares?

The image of the silver wolf sitting atop that boulder in a dark night and field of wildflowers comes into her mind, and she shakes it off internally.

No. Jimin was simply human. The only normalcy in her life that didn’t make much sense.

“A penny for your thoughts?” Jimin spoke up beside her and she turns to look at him. There’s a both a curious and concerned look on his face.

“Oh,” she chuckled humorlessly. “It’s nothing.”

He raises his eyebrows. “It doesn’t look like nothing,” he asserted. “It looked something pretty deep. And you know I could tell if you were lying, right? You don’t have the best poker face.”

Min Soo rolled her eyes playfully, stuffing her hands in the warm pockets of her jacket. “Just something and everything,” she mused.

Jimin slightly frowned at her vague answer and then sighed, looking back ahead. “I know what you’re thinking.”

“What?” she challenged him, smirking.

“You’re thinking . . .” he paused and acted as though he was deep in thought before continuing, “that you’re absolutely the luckiest and blessed person alive to have me as a boyfriend.”

Min Soo stopped walking and grimaced. She watched Jimin also stop in his steps when he realizes she did and turn around in his heels to look at her. There’s a playful grin on his lips.

“Can’t you pick one end of the spectrum and stick with it?” she scoffed, ludic. “It’s either you turn into a red tomato at compliments, or basically fish them out of somebody or state them yourself.”

“Well.” Jimin shrugged, walking to be beside her again. “I have to keep you on your toes, too, just