The wedding was beautiful. Yerin was beautiful. Taehyung was the most beautiful. Not once did Taehyung come up to Jimin. He didn’t greet him or seem to acknowledge him.

“Best friends, huh?” Jimin said as he took another glass of champagne during the reception. He was buzzed. His heart broke as he watched the now Kim Yerin from across the room standing beside his Taehyung. He raised a glass to her, laughing to himself. A light bulb went off in his head. He was the best friend, right? And best friends always made toasts.

Jimin made his way to the center of the room. He loudly clinked his glass with a spoon and grabbed the attention of all of Taehyung’s and Yerin’s family and friends.

“Hello, I am Park Jimin,” he started, “And I have been a close friend of Taehyung’s for years. Hey, Taehyung!”

Taehyung wore a tight smile and nodded to Jimin.

“Haha, years! It’s been, what, 13 years now? That’s a long time.” Jimin swished around his drink and he looked into it defeated.

“Anyway, Taehyung is great. Really. We haven’t gotten to know each other well, Yerin, probably because you two have been busy building a life together, but you have a good man by your side!”

Yerin smiled at Jimin.

“The very best. My very best friend… I just wanted to wish you both the best. You deserve it.”

The people in the room cheered. Jimin smiled softly and raised his glass. “I love you, I love you, I love you!” he exclaimed

Taehyung’s face grew dark at Jimin’s familiar words. The cheers grew louder and Jimin set down his drink and left the room.

It was cold out. Jimin put his hands in his pockets. Tears streamed down his face silently, feeling as though they’d turn to icicles on his cheeks.

“Jimin-ah.”

Hearing Taehyung say his name felt colder than the air. Jimin stopped in his tracks and spun on his heels. He stared at Taehyung without saying a word.

Taehyung glared back, his features softening. It felt so good seeing Jimin’s face, to hear his voice. And having him there right in front of him, it took everything in Taehyung not to run up to the man and hug him.

“Congratulations,” Jimin finally broke the silence. “Sorry I never got around to saying it.”

“Jimin-ah”

“How are you? Does she treat you well?”

“Jimin…”

“When you kiss her do you ever think of me?”

Taehyung clenched his teeth. It made Jimin laugh. “Mm, Taehyung, where’s the jokester I used to know?”

“This isn’t funny,” Taehyung spat out. “Why are you being like this? Are you drunk?”

Jimin laughed. Jimin cried. He looked up at the sky. “Yeah, I guess so, for a long time now.”

Taehyung made his way to Jimin. He didn’t know what to do or where to put his hands. He decided to place them on Jimin’s shoulders. “I miss you,” he quietly said.

“Then why her?” Jimin pleaded.

Taehyung held back his own tears. “The life that I want is with her. A wife, and children someday. We can’t have that. We would never be that.”

“And all that matters more than me?” Jimin yelled in disbelief. After everything Taehyung ever said, after all he wrote it was going to end like this? “You made me fall in love with you just to throw me away?”

“Jimin, I was wrong. I never got to explain it well. I broke the boundaries of our friendship because I was acting selfishly. I let my desires get the best of me when I knew it was going to get nowhere.”

Jimin shoved Taehyung. “Hm, so, after the night you kissed me and we fooled around, you didn’t talk about it or even touch me since, thinking that I would just magically forget any of it happened? You thought I’m so easy that you could let us go back to being friends without a care?” He shoved Taehyung again. “You got a taste and that was enough, right?”

Taehyung put his hands up in defense. “That’s not it! I thought that maybe it’d be okay. I could be with you and we’d be okay. But all I kept thinking about after that night was what I always wanted in my future. I always wanted to get married, to have kids, to have my own family. Being with you...it would’ve drastically changed everything I ever wanted.”

Jimin shook his head dejectedly. “So I didn’t fit in your story and you didn’t even want to try and rewrite it.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” Taehyung responded.

“I wasn’t enough!”

“Yes, it wasn’t enough!”

Silence. It stretched on and on.

Jimin’s ears were ringing. He felt like he could fall over. He wanted to, and to fall into a deep sleep. He didn’t want to be awake for this life anymore.

“Taehyung?” a female voice said from a distance. It was Yerin. She slowly walked up to the two. “You’ve been out here for a while. Is everything alright?”

Taehyung put his arm around her waist. He forced a smile. “Everything is fine, honey.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Just catching up.”

Yerin looked at Jimin and smiled. “Thank you for your speech. I really am so lucky to have such a great man.”

Jimin nodded and laughed and she laughed with him. Taehyung kept his eyes to the ground.

“Should we be heading back in, then?” she asked Taehyung. He nodded. “Goodnight, Jimin. Thank you for coming to our wedding. We need to get together sometime.”

“Yeah,” Jimin replied. “Goodnight.”

Taehyung and Yerin walked toward the building. Taehyung turned his head and looked back at Jimin.

“Goodnight.”