“Ate your vitamins?”

“Yes.”

“Breakfast?”

“Yes.”

“Got your-“

“Lord, Jimin – stop it or we’ll miss the bus!” Laura whines and quickly grabs his hand, running towards the bus station. “You ask me the same thing every single morning and my answer never changes.”

“It could change! You never know,” he complains, his pace matching Laura’s. “And we shouldn’t run, Laura~ You could trip and break your leg or….”

Laura zones out hearing Jimin’s list of injuries she could get. Yes, she was used to it but it didn’t mean she liked to hear it all the time. They finally get on the bus in time and it’s silent during the ride to their school. People on the bus usually mistook the two of them for a couple due to their daily shenanigans and whatnots. In reality, they were nothing more than a couple of best friends.

As a child, Laura never really went out that much since she was born with a number of health issues. Allergies, a weak antibody, frail body – her parents were always careful to treat her with utmost care. Up until high school, Laura didn’t manage to gain much friends due to her protective upbringing. People assumed she was a bit odd and weird so they never took the time to learn who Laura was like as a person. It wasn’t until Jimin became her seatmate did things began to change.

Jimin, wonderful and radiating Park Jimin. He was one of the school’s much more handsome students but that wasn’t what drew people to him. It was his due to his friendly nature that made him gain plenty of fans. He had a kind soul in him and seemed to genuinely happy to be able help others. Oh, also his eye smile is to die for – no kidding. An unlikely friendship was made the moment Jimin decided that he wanted a seat near the window, coincidentally the only spot left open that day was the one next to Laura’s.

To ignore his presence was definitely difficult. Laura wasn’t really expecting Jimin to act any different than the rest of her peers but man, did he prove her wrong. He turned out to be everything Laura hadn’t known she had missed and needed in her dull life.

 Jimin was –of course- the first person to initiate conversation between the two. He would greet her good morning, whine about the homework they had, invited her to lunch (even when he knew her answer was always a big fat no), whispered a few jokes to her in class and bid her goodbye and wished for her safety when it was time to head back home. It went on for months yet Laura felt sceptic to the extent of his sincerity. Was he thinking becoming friends with the school’s weirdo would earn him more fans or brownie points? Nu-uh, she wasn’t about to fall for his stupid games. So, Laura continued to ignore his effort, passing them on as nothing – she expected him to change by the time they changed seating once again.

To her complete surprise, he didn’t.

In the middle of the school year, the teacher had reassigned the seats and this time, Jimin sat 2 seats away from her while she (through requesting) was seated at the back of the class without a seatmate. No one paid attention, they were used to the odd number in their classroom. If you asked some of them, they were glad they weren’t assigned with her.

It was during a regular school day did Laura find out just how kind and sincere Jimin actually was with his actions.

There was nothing out of the ordinary about that day. As usual, Laura was sitting down on one of the benches as she watched the girls played volleyball. They were used to seeing her sit out but none of them asked her any questions – she didn’t mind it either.

“Hi!” Jimin waved at her, his hand moving quickly as a sign of his excitement. He was dripping with sweat as he took a seat near her, “We just finished a game. In case you were wondering why I was sweating so much.”

Laura raised an eyebrow, she was certainly not interested in any affairs that included him or any other person. “Why aren’t you playing with the other girls? Do you always sit out? I guess that’s not really fun, sitting around alone.”

She didn’t have time to reply as he asked her more questions.

“Do you a favorite sport? Badminton, hockey, squash? I love sports, keeps you active. My mom taught me how to play soccer since she was part of a team in her younger years. My dad was more into music. I guess that’s where my vocal ability came from. I performed at the school’s event once, did you see? I don’t think I saw you though.”

He was certainly talkative, Laura was certain of that. His rambling of words made her head dizzy since she wasn’t used to so much talking from one person. She had to blink a few times just to make sure she was paying attention – hey, she wasn’t going to be rude to him even if she was unsure to the reason of his actions.

“Watch out!”

Just as Laura turned her head, a ball came up to the side of her hear. It hit her head but not that hard to leave a bump. The girls said sorry as they came running to pick up the ball. “We are so sorry, Laura – shoot, you’re bleeding,” one of them commented, her eyes quickly turning as big as the moon.

“What?” Laura’s hand quickly comes up to her nose and she sees the blood on her fingers. Before she could react, Jimin hoists her up, “I’ll bring her to the infirmary. Notify a teacher for us. Come on, Laura.” He takes her arm and guides her to the infirmary. Thankfully, the nurse worked quickly on her bleeding nose.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you here, Laura,” she comments as she discards the bloody tissues. “You should rest a bit. Take one of the beds, I’ll notify your teachers. Jimin can keep an eye on you.”

“No, no, no. It’s fine. He can-“

“Sure,” Jimin smiles. “I’ll be happy to.”

There was an awkward silence as Laura settled into the bed, her eyes kept glancing to Jimin. “Why are you being nice to me? There’s no one here, you can drop the act.”

“What act?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. I know, pitying the sick girl scene – a classic. You can run off to your friends, I’ll tell the nurse something came up. Just go, Jimin.”

“I’m not pretending, Laura. Never once,” he smiles, propping his elbows on the bed. “I just wanted to be friends with you since you were my seatmate. We share a lot of things in common, you know? Especially in terms of music. We like the same type of music – I’ve seen your playlist. That’s a topic we could talk about!”

A sigh escaped his lips when he still saw the puzzled look on her face. “Look, Laura – I genuinely want to be friends with you. It’s just… in my nature to be friends with everyone, I can’t help it. I’ve known you since we were in middle school but we never really talked before. I don’t want to miss out having an amazing friend just because I listened to the rumors about you. If it doesn’t work out or I make you uncomfortable, I’ll leave you alone – I swear on it.”

“You’re making me uncomfortable right now.”

A pause settled before Jimin breaks out into laughter. “No – not now, I mean – I know I said – But – Look… uh, give it time, I guess? Just until the year ends. On the last day of school, you can tell me if you don’t want me to bother you anymore.”

“And you’ll leave me alone when I say it?”

“I swear on it,” he lifts his hand, imitating a solemn swearing. “I swear on my… my eye-smile.”

Laura scoffs, “Someone’s cocky.”

“Hey, rude!”

“Yoo~ My mom baked way way to many so here – free food,” he places the bag of pastries in front of her. He was back to being her seatmate after discussing with their teacher. He rummages through the pastries and hands her one in particular, “You’re favorite, right? It’s my mom’s specialty at our bakery. Taste it.”

Still not used to his kindness, Laura carefully takes the bun from him and unwraps it before taking a bite. Her sparkling eyes were enough to make smile. “That is good. Woah, I have to visit your bakery some day,” she says, not realizing how her sentence came out. Before she could take it back, another person arrives. It was some of Jimin’s friends, not that she knew all of their names.

“Yeah, you should bring your girlfriend to your bakery, Jimin,” Taehyung teases while he takes a seat in front of their desk. He grabs for a bun before Jimin can slap his hand away. The other friend leans on the table and takes his part of the large number of buns, “Don’t scare her away, Tae. You always do this. Ignore him, Laura.”

“As always, she will, Taemin. But he’s right – you should totally come over to my mom’s bakery! She loves meeting my friends since she can brag about her baking skills.”

Laura couldn’t say anything as Taehyung interfered, “This Saturday then. We’ll all meet up and Jimin can pick Laura up to guide her. Yes, okay – then it’s settled! Bye~”

Taehyung grabs Taemin as the two raced out at the sound of the bell ringing.

Jimin gave her a sheepish smile, rubbing his nape, “Y-yeah, I’ll pick you up at ten. Just send me your address.”

Laura rolls her eyes as she sees Jimin waiting for her. She rushes towards him and pokes his sides, earning her a yelp from the boy.

“You don’t need to wait for me every morning, Jimin. I’m perfectly capable of heading to school on my own.”

When Jimin found out his bus route involved Laura’s stop, he made it a regular thing to get off at her stop, wait for her arrival and get on the next bus to their school. It was also due to Laura talking about her uncomfortable experience sitting alone on the bus which involved erts and drunk people. And being Jimin, he had felt the need to help her. It would soon become a routine of their everyday life.

“Jimin, I can’t hang out today.”

“Why not?”

“Doctor appointment.”

“Address.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Now.”

“Fine.”

And apparently, this was how Laura found a person who would gladly wait in patience every time she had to go for her regular check-ups and appointments.

“Big day today,” Jimin rocked backed and forth on the balls of his feet. “Big big day today, Laura. Last day of school and all.” He had already handed her a bouquet of flowers, a usual gesture for gifts on their last day of school. “Really big day for-“

“I didn’t forget,” Laura sighs, caressing the fake flowers. “The answer is pretty clear, isn’t it?”

“Yup,” he flashed another one of his smiles, one that Laura found radiating and comforting, one that she never knew she couldn’t go a single day without needing his smile. Laura takes out her phone and switches to the camera app before pulling Jimin close,

“So, stop talking and take a picture with me already.”

It’s been 3 years since they bonded as friends – 3 wonderful years and both hoped more were to come. They were each other’s pillars by now, their safe place. They had turned into each other’s safe haven and both knew they could trust the other with anything.

Laura swung her legs back and forth while she waited for Jimin’s arrival, they were meeting up at their usual café to discuss on their holiday plans. It was nothing out of the ordinary – it was a common thing for them to hangout with each other when holidays started which would usually be road trips, camping or visits to the beach. While she waited for Jimin, she failed to notice the group of boys eyeing her from afar. Not that she paid any mind to it, the clips she would stumble upon while scrolling through her feed were a better way to pass the time.

“Laura~” Jimin cooed as he sat down, “Sorry, did I made you wait for long?” He quickly brings the drink to his lips, it was his regular favorite that Laura had memorized by heart. “The bakery was packed with people and mom needed extra hands,” he explained while wiping the sweat off his forehead.

Laura hands him a tissue, “Not that long. How is she, by the way? You’ve been pretty busy with the bakery since it started taking off. Isn’t your mom taking up any workers?”

He waved her off, “She’s a picky one. I’ve seen some but none of them last very long – mom has a pretty high standard.”

“Don’t I know it,” she snorts. Her eyes suddenly fell onto a couple a few seats away from them. As much as she knew how rude it was to stare, her eyes couldn’t seem to leave them. It was as if flowers were showering upon them, hearts were literally floating around and surrounding them – in her mind that was since they looked so in love. A heavy sigh escapes her lips and Jimin’s quick to notice her distress.

“What’s it like?”

“What’s what like?” Jimin follows her eyes and nearly chokes on his drink as he saw the couple. Ah, so that’s why she seemed to be down. It was no secret between them that Laura was a er for romance, it was a topic she would talk to Jimin sometimes. Not always but enough for Jimin to notice.

After he manages to clear his throat, Jimin stares down to his lap. “I-I don’t know honestly… I’ve never dated before, you know that.” He could feel his cheeks burning and hopes Laura wouldn’t notice.

“I know it but that doesn’t mean I believe it,” she rolls her eyes. “I still can’t believe you, THE Park Jimin has never dated in his entire life. I mean, don’t you have girls confessing to you from time to time?”

He raises a hand to hover over the bottom of his face, “Yeah but… None of them caught my interest.” His cheeks were still burning red, he was absolutely sure of it.

“I’d like to date,” Laura blurts out before taking another quick sip from her drink. “I want to see how it feels like. The other day when Sooyoung finally went official with Taehyung, she looked like she was glowing – I’m not even exaggerating – she truly seemed as if she had this glow about her. Guess that’s the power of love.”

Jimin racked his brain to switch to another topic for them to discuss – this was getting uncomfortable for him. “Y-You said you wanted to help out at the bakery. My mom let me place you as the cashier. The pay isn’t much though…” he lets out a sigh of relief, thanking that he remembered about Laura’s request for a part-time job somewhere. “We could work together! Won’t that be fun~”

“Just me and you?”

“N-No, I mean – there’s my mom and an occasional worker but y-yeah, most of the time it would be me and you.”

Laura chuckles at his sudden stuttering before speaking, “Cool then. I can’t wait.”

“She was talking on about dating and how she’d like a boyfriend-“

“Jimin, god – just ask her out already!” Taehyung sighed at his best friend over the phone. He was on his was picking up Sooyoung for their movie date. “Look and me and Sooyoung – it took me months to grow the balls to ask her out. You, on the other hand, have been waiting for more than 3 years to ask her out and what do you get? You’re in the ‘best friend’ zone, my dear friend.”

“I just… It took me so long to gain her trust. What if she says no? What happens then?”

“Then, you get over it and continue to be her friend – that’s what happens next,” Taehyung rings the doorbell and hears Sooyoung’s voice, asking to wait for another minute. “Look, Jimin – Laura likes you either way. You just have to take the first step and ask her out, tell her how you feel about her!”

“You’re not much help, Tae.”

“Yeah, but I’m not the guy who waited 3 years just to ask out their crush,” he scoffs and Jimin hears him greet Sooyoung. “Sooyoung’s here. I’m hanging up. Last advice, just tell her, Jimin – like really tell her. You’ll miss out on the best thing just because you’re afraid of rejection.”

And with that Taehyung ended the call, leaving Jimin much more confused than when he called him.

“Thank you, have a nice day~” Laura rings up the next customer and quickly greeted the one next in line. It was her second week working at Jimin’s bakery and she was quick to learn the ropes. Customers flooded the bakery to get a taste of their favorite pastries and it was her job to ensure a quick and smooth transaction. On the other hand, Jimin was the one in charge of delivery considering his mother was still unable to find someone.

Jimin’s mother, Mrs.Park, placed the box of pastries to be delivered before returning to the kitchen. “Jimin, delivery!” Laura called out, her fingers still tapping on the numbers of the cashier. She hands the customer their change before she cancels out the delivery from the list. Jimin is quick on his feet as he grabs the boxes, “See you later!”

“Drive safe!” she warns him once again. She catches her breath for a few seconds before another customer arrives at the counter.

“Good morning. How are you?” Laura smiles as she begins to total up the cost. “This will be all?”

“Yes,” the boy speaks and Laura notices he seemed familiar. “And your number is that’s alright?”

His sudden request made her blink her eyes twice. “Excuse me?” her hand pauses from punching another number into the cash register, “M-my number?”

He nods his head, “Yes, your number-“ he squints his eyes to read her name tag “-Laura Lu. Nice name.”

Laura didn’t know how to react to his sudden request but she managed to stay professional. “I’m sorry but… I can’t give you my number,” she answered, hoping he wouldn’t ask why since she couldn’t come up with a excuse on the spot. But perhaps luck just wasn’t in her way and he proceeds to ask,

“Aww~ Why not?” there was a playful ring in his tone and he leans his upper body on the counter, getting closer to the girl. “I’d really like to take you out on a date some day.”

“Uhhh….” Laura didn’t know what to reply to his words but apparently she didn’t need to.

“Hey! No flirting in my bakery, get back to work,” Jimin’s mother scolded and instantly, the boy backed up from his position. He sighed and it was clear that he was disappointed. He takes out some cash from his wallet and hands it to Laura before taking away his goods.

“Wait, your change-“

The boy shakes his head, “Keep it. I think you’ve earned some extra cash for yourself. I’ll see you later.” He sends her a wink before walking out of the bakery and out of her sight. Laura was dumbfounded, staring at the door before one of the customers in line snapped their fingers at her.

“Honey, I know he was good looking but I need my pastries.”

“Right, sorry. Will this be all?”

“Someone flirted with me today,” Laura comments as the bus begins to move. Jimin’s mother made him send her back home safely every night ( honestly, he would do it even if he wasn’t asked to). He sat down on the empty seat beside her, “Really? That’s surprising.”

Jimin tried to swallow down the bitter feeling rising in his throat. “Wait, how did I not know this?”

“You were out for a delivery run but yeah, he was cute,” Laura yawns, feeling tired from the long day. “He even asked for my number. Caught me off guard.”

Jimin’s hands balled into fist but he made sure they were out of Laura’s sight. He maintained the smile on his face, “So, did you give this ‘mystery guy’ your number?”

“Your mom barged in before I could think about it,” Laura laughs and Jimin can feels his stomach flop at the sound of it. “The guy left before I could say anything else.”

“Did he tell you his name?”

Laura thinks about it for a second before she shakes her head, “No but he did seem familiar. I just can’t put my finger on it.” Just as she said that, her phone vibrates indicating call. It was from her friend, Seulgi.

“Put on your nicest clothes and best attitude this weekend – I set you up on a blind date!” Seulgi squeals and Laura’s eyes turns as wide as saucers once she managed to process Seulgi’s statement.

“What?” she yells a bit too loud and apologizes at the other people on the bus. Jimin’s itching to hear in on the conversation. “A blind date? What the heck, Seul?’

“I work in mysterious ways~ But seriously, I heard a lot of good things about the dude. He could be your type!”

“And you didn’t seem to tell me about your plan beforehand?”

“You would have said no and this was a too much of a good opportunity to turn down. Just meet up with him once, Laura. You can have your say then,” Laura knew Seulgi’s intentions were good but she was skeptical. In the end, she gave in anyways – no harm in it, right?

“Okay… Okay, I’ll do it,” she says. Jimin’s eyes widened at the sound of her agreeing to the blind date.

“Great! I’ll text you the time and address!”

Laura hangs up and the first thing she’s greeted with is an angry yell from Jimin. “You agreed to a blind date?” he yells and it’s clear as day that he’s mad.

“Woah, why are you so worked up? It’s just a blind date, Jimin. It’s not like I’ll actually date the guy,” she tries to calm him down just as the bus arrives at her stop.

“B-But Laura-“

“I’m tired, Jimin. It’s been a long day. We’ll talk about it next time, okay?” she gives him a quick hug before running to get off at her stop. She waves at him as the bus begins to move but this time,

Jimin doesn’t wave back.