Jimin’s head had been throbbing since she woke up. It felt like all the world’s problems crammed up inside her skull and thought that Jimin’s head was the best place to breed and multiply. Jimin thought she was dying.

 

(She wasn’t. She just had the tendency to exaggerate things whenever she’s feeling sick.)

 

No. She is NOT sick.

 

Or at least that’s what she told herself when she stood up and saw her ceiling closing up on her so she had to stagger trying to dodge the non-existent ceiling attacker. That’s what she told herself too when she prepared for her schedule while everything was spinning, thinking that she just needs to get her eyes checked.

 

But when she finally made her way to their company car with her manager waiting for her outside, she knows she can never escape reality.

 

“You look terrible,” was the first thing Wendy blurted out when she saw her, “Are you okay?”

 

“I’m fine unnie,” Jimin answered, stepping inside the air conditioned vehicle, “Just a little out of it.”

 

She was more than out of it. But Jimin doesn’t want to worry her manager. She knows how much of a worry freak the woman is when it comes to her.

 

“Seems more than that to me,” her manager decided to join her in the backseat instead of her usual shotgun, “Does your head hurt?”

 

Here we go. It’s only a matter of time before Wendy puts a name on it.

 

“Kinda..”

 

“Does it spin whenever you walk?”

 

“A little bit.”

 

“Is your throat parched?”

 

“I already drank some water.”

 

“Jimin..”

 

She sighed at the persistence, “Yes yes. Kinda..” She really cannot lie to her manager.

 

When she felt a hand on her forehead, Jimin found herself flinching at the sudden coldness.

 

“Oh my god you’re hot, Jimin!”

 

“I know that’s right,” she sends a smirk on her manager’s direction, hoping it will work and she wouldn’t notice how forced it is. “I’ve been hot all my life have you not known that?”

 

It didn’t work. Wendy just gave her a serious look and a small shake of her head.

 

“We should get back. You’re getting the flu.”

 

Jimin frowns at this, “I am not getting the flu.”

 

“Yes you are. We should cancel your schedules for today so you could rest.”

 

“No, we are not cancelling anything.” Jimin retaliated, more awake this time. “I’m fine. I just need a nap unnie.”

 

“But Jimi—”

 

“People are already waiting at the set of this show unnie. I don’t want to waste their time just because I feel a little headache,” Jimin reasoned this time, looking straight through her manager, “I’ll be fine. It’s not like this never happened before. We’ve been through worse remember?”

 

If worse means fainting in the middle of rehearsals a few hours before her concert and being placed in IV fluid at the backstage while the roaring of her fans can be loudly heard from a distance, then Jimin thinks the spinning of her head right now is just a walk in the park.

 

But her manager doesn’t share the sentiment as her.

 

“I know that but it doesn’t mean I’m any less worried just because I’ve seen worse than this,” Wendy reasons, sighing like a worried mother of four, “Are you sure you can manage?”

 

“I’m more than sure,” Jimin leans further into her seat, closing her heavy eyelids altogether, “Just let me take a nap. Wake me up when we get there unnie. And stop worrying.”

 

Even with her eyes closed, Jimin knows that her Wendy unnie was conflicted, if the pregnant pause that came after her statement was any indication.

 

“I said stop worrying.”

 

“As if it’s that easy Jimin..”

 

“It is. You just have to sit back and relax while I let my healthy body do the work of healing itself. I got this.”

 

Jimin heard a small groan of protest from her manager, can imagine her rolling her eyes.

 

“You are such a stubborn kid I swear. I don’t know what I will do with you.”

 

Jimin found her lips quirking up when she felt a warm blanket (probably her favorite yellow baby duck blanket) getting draped on her slouched body as her manager grumbles incomprehensible words of protest.

 

She may not show it often but Jimin is beyond thankful to have Wendy as her manager. The petite woman is a human embodiment of an angel who never failed to attend to Jimin’s needs. She practically raised her, getting Jimin booked and making sure she is well taken care of in this cut-throat industry.

 

On top of that, Wendy knows how to handle her not only as Karina Yoo but most especially as Jimin. She knows (and Jimin would never admit it out loud) that she can be a little bit difficult sometimes. But Wendy tolerates her and perfectly knows when to give in to her personality tendencies or draw the line when she becomes overbearing.

 

Jimin respects her so much for that. She honestly does not know if she will be the same Karina Yoo on stage if not for her manager unnie’s silent guidance.

 

“Jimin, we’re here.”

 

The voice registers in her head and Jimin squints her eyes open from what felt like a 5-second nap, “Already?”

 

“Yes. It was a forty-five-minute ride by the way.” Wendy says, turning fully so she could look at her young artist, “We can still go back and cancel everything if you don’t feel well, Jimin. I’m pretty sure the PD and staff wouldn’t mind.”

 

Jimin shakes her head, gathering her obviously weak self and quietly prays to any deity listening that she can get through this day without collapsing. “No need unnie. Told you I’m fine. Let’s go.”

 

And go they went. Despite feeling like her head’s about to burst, Jimin greets each staff as enthusiastic as she could. She can practically feel her unnie’s eyes on her when the stylists and make-up artists started attending on her, much more so when the shooting began.

 

It’s really in times like this that her acting classes are found the most useful, Jimin mentally patting herself on the head at how convincing she can be if she really wants to. Smiling brightly at the camera, laughing out loud to whatever the hosts are saying, name it. Jimin thinks she deserves an Oscar for doing a great job of pretending that she is not dying.

 

(Yeah.. She is indeed sick; the hyperbole in her statement is over the roof.)

 

When the PD called for a short break, Jimin lets out a loaded breath, the throbbing in her head suddenly intensifying when she drops the act of being alright. Her manager was on her side in no time.

 

“How are you feeling?” Wendy asks, worry laced in her serious tone that she usually uses when she is in her manager mode. “What do you need?”

 

Jimin massages her temple, trying to ease the uncomfortable sensation of her pounding head. “I think I need a coffee.”

 

“Wow, that bad?” Wendy comments, eyes widening at the request.

 

Jimin couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her lips. She rarely drinks coffee because she doesn’t like the bitterness of the drink, only ever does either when she badly needs an invisible force to help her get through a late night shoot or a very tiring day.

 

Her manager knows best about this coffee abstention so to ask for the drink in broad daylight, she cannot blame Wendy for almost looking scandalized.

 

“Just some decaf unnie,” Jimin ignores the question, “Please get something for the staff too if you can.”

 

Wendy nodded, “Alright. Do you need anything else? Croissants? Sandwich?”

 

The mention of croissants suddenly perked up Jimin’s ears, her mind immediately bringing her to that certain conversation with a certain girl who is certainly fond of the bread.

 

 

(“By the way, where did you buy the croissants you gave me?”

 

“It’s from YoongWan’s, my favorite pastry shop. Why?”

 

“Nothing. It’s just so good. I may visit the place sometime because I’ve been hooked with their croissants.”

 

“Only the croissants?”

 

“Yes. They are supreme!”

 

“How about the one who gave you the croissants?”

 

“..what was that? I didn’t hear you.”

 

“I said how abo—”

 

“I’m sorry you’re glitching I cannot hear you properly. What was it?

 

“I said—”

 

“Oh dear the reception must be really bad I can’t really hear you. Anyway, I gotta go. Yeri unnie is calling me. Later, Jimin!”

 

“Wait did you just— yah Kim Minjeong!”)

 

 

“Jimin?” her manager’s voice snapped her out of her daze, pulling herself out from the memory of that conversation with Kim Minjeong. She is yet to get even for the way the girl dropped the call without answering her damn question.

 

“Yeah sorry. I don’t need anything else, just coffee,” Jimin says, “But can I have my phone while I wait for you? I need something to distract me from this headache.”

 

“Sure,” Wendy fishes out her smartphone from the inside of her cardigan, as if she was waiting for Jimin to ask just that, “It rang while the cameras were rolling so I had to mute it. I didn’t read anything I swear.”

 

Jimin just chuckled at her manager’s defensive stance. “Sure you didn’t.”

 

It was only when Wendy finally left to buy coffee that Jimin opened her smartphone. She is welcomed with one missed call and three unopened messages from the only person who had been bombarding her inbox and call logs for the past weeks.

 

Kim Maltese:

I accidentally pressed the call button. I didn’t mean to call.

             Really. You have to believe me.

             Anyway, fighting on your schedule today~

 

Jimin snorts. Kim Minjeong really thinks that she could fool her with her active denial. She could only wish.

 

She decides to give the girl a ring upon remembering that it’s Minjeong’s day off at the restaurant today and the girl has no classes. She herself is on a break from filming anyway.

 

Her call was answered on the fourth ring.

 

“This better be worth it..”

 

Jimin finds herself smiling at the grogginess (and grumpiness) of the girl’s voice that welcomed her first thing into the phone call, “Hello to you too, princess. Were you sleeping?”

 

“What do you think? It’s—” there was a quick pause on the other line, “..it’s 9 in the freaking morning Jimin.”

 

“But you managed to give me a call an hour ago?”

 

Another pause on the line, “I told you it was an accident.”

 

“And the texts?”

 

“It wasn’t me. It was ae-Minjeong who sent you that.”

 

“Who?”

 

“Ughhh nothing.” Jimin hears the girl groan over the line, then a couple of rustling, “I’m still sleepy Jimin what do you want?”

 

Jimin finds herself smiling again, this time because Minjeong sounded like a whining baby who got her chocolate taken away from her, “Just wanted to hear your voice, is all..”

 

Jimin could imagine Minjeong getting flustered, could imagine her round eyes blinking profusely and her lips kind of struggling to formulate a smart comeback.

 

Her smile widened when Minjeong came up with,

 

“You could’ve just listened to those voice messages you coerced me to send you if you badly wanted to hear my voice.”

 

Jimin had requested so nicely from the girl to send her voice mails whenever she would be busy with class and diner duties. Minjeong complained that they cannot be talking 24/7 over the phone because “I have a life of my own Jimin. We cannot keep living like this.”

 

Stubborn as she is, Jimin tried to bargain because apparently “I know that. But I need to hear your voice at least once every day. Is it so much to ask?”

 

In the end (and she could still remember the series of cursing from Minjeong when she realized there is no escaping Jimin’s request), they agreed that Minjeong would be sending her a voice message whenever she’d be occupied for the rest of the day just so Jimin would have something to listen to.

 

(Jimin had never celebrated a small win like that since forever. She never really thought that Kim Minjeong would eventually give in but she did. Maybe miracles do happen.)

 

“Nothing beats when I hear you talk in real-time,” Jimin answers, looking up to see if they are going to film again. Everyone seems to be chilling at the moment so she walked a little further away from the staff and into a more secluded area where no one could hear her, “Besides, it’s your day off today and you don’t have classes. I can disturb you all I want.”

 

Minjeong scoffs, “Where did you get the idea that I wanted to be disturbed?”

 

“You talking to me right now and not hanging up the moment I opened my mouth speaks volume.” Jimin reasons, weakly leaning against the wall when she felt everything spin for a moment, “I know you like it when you have my attention, Kim Minjeong. It’s okay to admit that.”

 

Jimin hears Minjeong bark out a forced laugh, “You’re so full of yourself I swear to god..”

 

“I didn’t hear you deny anything so..” Jimin shrugs, belatedly remembering that Minjeong couldn’t see her but leaves the statement hanging just because.

 

Minjeong is a smart girl to get her point anyway.

 

“You are so annoying.”

 

A smile blooms on Jimin’s face upon hearing the remark, replacing the grimace that she knew she was sporting a few seconds ago.

 

No one ever dared to tell her she’s annoying (haters excluded because that is a given and their trash comments do not mean a thing anyway); no one attempted of even calling her names other than compliments and grandiose adjectives that are sometimes beyond her vocabulary.

 

No one until Kim Minjeong came stumbling into her life and shook her world.

 

(Jimin doesn’t mind though. She doesn’t mind anything as long as it is Kim Minjeong.)

 

“And you are so cute,” she says, “Get up and feed yourself. It’s already 9 in the morning you big baby.”

 

Sounds of whining were heard over the line and Jimin holds back her laughter because Kim Minjeong literally just became the embodiment of a big baby.

 

“Dun wanna get off the bed,” Minjeong murmurs, “I just want to sleep all day.”

 

Jimin doesn’t know a lot of words. Her vocabulary isn’t that broad. But she is certain that she definitely swooned when she heard Minjeong speaking in tiny.

 

“Aigoo so cute..” she offhandedly commented, surprising herself at how it just came naturally out of her, “Do you want me to send you some breakfast?”

 

Her suggestion seemed to have woken up Kim Minjeong from her sleepy tirades, “You can do that?”

 

Jimin almost snorted at the incredulity of the girl’s question, “In this time and age Kim Minjeong, resurrecting the dead is the only thing impossible. Of course I can do that.”

 

For the first time today, Jimin hears Minjeong cackling; a sound she always compared as something akin to Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor; melodic, invigorating.

 

“Dork. But no, thanks. I can cook for myself.” Minjeong says, “Unlike someone I know..”

 

Jimin easily caught unto the implication of the statement, “Are you talking about me?”

 

“Hmm, I don’t know. Am I?”

 

It was now Jimin’s turn to scoff, amused at how the tables have turn in just a span of seconds. Her conversations with Kim Minjeong never failed to surprise her all the time, the girl and her smart mouth capturing Jimin’s heart even more (if she hasn’t already).

 

Jimin always likes her girl cerebral and brave and bold. Kim Minjeong is literally that.

 

“I’ve been learning how to cook alright,” Jimin defends, “I can literally cook you something tonight if you want.”

 

Minjeong laughs again and Jimin wants to hear it forever, “What, a burned egg with a yolk harder than your head? Hard pass.”

 

If it would have been another person, Jimin might have twitched in irritation at this point; ready to ruin the rude person’s entire life with just a simple flick of her hand.

 

But this isn’t just another person.

 

This is Kim Minjeong. The only one who was given an easy pass to tease Yoo Jimin without getting burned alive.

 

“Eyyy, you’re so brave coz you’re over the phone.” Jimin comments, “Wait until I’m physically there.”

 

“And what? What are you gonna do?”

 

Jimin lets out an amused chuckle at the girl’s sudden display of boldness that usually doesn’t come around when she is teasing her like this, “Do you really wanna know?”

 

“Color me surprise Karina.”

 

Jimin shuddered when Minjeong suddenly called her by her stage name. Something about Minjeong calling her Karina made her soul vibrate, sending a tingling sensation all over her body that commenced from her fingertips, lingered in her spine and settled just below her ankles.

 

It was sublime.

 

“Is that supposed to be a challenge?”

 

“It can be whatever you want it to be.”

 

Jimin laughs. A not so loud but still hearty, full laugh that bubbled from her diaphragm and out into the open, “Then I’ll tell you in person, Kim Minjeong. What time am I picking you up?”

 

It was now Minjeong’s turn to respond, “Ooohhhh that’s how it is?” bursting into low chuckles at how Jimin smoothly inserted her agenda in their conversation, “This is how you usually sweep your girls off their feet huh?”

 

“Not every girl.” Jimin answers, sure and sincere. “Only those with pretty gummy smiles and mouths so smart it can chew me up in conversations.”

 

The girl on the line snorts but Jimin knows all too well that she caused some sort of chaos in Minjeong, if the clearing of the girl’s throat was any indication.

 

“What makes you think I’m free tonight anyway? I could have a date with Yizhuo for all you know.”

 

“I’ll make you cancel it. Duh.”

 

“Yizhuo wouldn’t be so happy about that.”

 

“Minjeong, it’s Yizhuo,” Jimin says as if it is enough reason, “If I tell her that cancelling your plans will make me happy, she will drop everything, including you, in no time.”

 

Minjeong scoffs, “You’re a menace to society,” and seriously, Jimin thinks she could be anything that the girl wants her to be as long as it will put a smile on her face, “What time are you gonna finish?”

 

Jimin thinks back to the schedule she saw in her calendar of activities this morning, “Well, after this shoot I have a pictorial. Then rehearsals and a meeting with producers after that. More or less around 10 or 11PM?”

 

“Won’t you be tired by then?” the sudden shift from mischievous to concern in Minjeong’s voice almost made Jimin cry. She doesn’t know how the girl does that but it makes Jimin want to give her all the good things in the entire universe, “We can always meet when you’re free and not drained from your activities, you know.”

 

“I know but I want to see you,” Jimin reasons, shaking the nausea she suddenly felt upon mention of tiredness and drain, “I need to see my lucky charm before I run out of luck.”

 

“Trust me, you have more than enough luck to last you a lifetime,” Minjeong says, “But you only get to have one healthy body in your entire life. So your health always comes first okay? Everything, including me, comes second.”

 

Minjeong should stop saying things like that. She really should because Jimin may just be on her way to give up years’ worth of her hard-earned career just so she could run away with Kim Minjeong and live in an island away from everything that is keeping them from each other.

 

“You gotta stop doing that.” Jimin whispers.

 

“Do what?”

 

“That.” Jimin hardly collects herself so she wouldn’t sound so greasy, “That thing that makes me want to drop everything and just kiss you senseless in the middle of your living room.”

 

The stutter in Minjeong’s voice told Jimin she miserably failed, “I-I’m not even doing anything..”

 

“Yes you are Kim Minjeong,” Jimin breathes, “Yes you are..”

 

When her manager suddenly appeared in Jimin’s line of vision, she raised her hand to catch Wendy’s attention whose tiny physique couldn’t find Jimin in the ocean of tall staffs. Upon reaching her, Wendy hands Jimin her cup of coffee and Jimin mouthed a silent thank you in response.

 

Wendy suddenly thumbed to the set and Jimin darts her eyes to the staff who are suddenly calling the artists back. Jimin simply nodded her head in confirmation, Wendy and her precious soul leaving her to end the call in private.

 

“I can hear something. Is that you being called?”

 

“Yeah. I have to go and finish filming now.”

 

“Alright, go ahead then. Get them superstar.” Minjeong anwers, light and encouraging. “I’m gonna go back to bed and continue where I left off in my nap.”

 

“You do you babe,” Jimin will not stop her from doing whatever her heart’s desire. “Dream of me while you’re at it?”

 

There was a pregnant pause over the line that Jimin almost thought Minjeong had already hung up on her. She was about to pull away from her phone when Minjeong’s low and raspy voice filled her ear, saying things that really made Jimin want to drop everything and just kiss her senseless in the middle of her living room.

 

“Who said I haven’t been?”

 

 

 

***

 

 

(“Jimin, should I place the order you told me about this morning?”

 

“What order?”

 

“The big breakfast at Tiffany’s? You said you wanted a to-go?”

 

“Ahhh, right. Just cancel it unnie. She wanted her breakfast homemade.”

 

“Ooohhh. So it was for Minjeong?”

 

“Yes. But she said she can cook for herself so I can’t really argue with that.”

 

“Oh wow. That’s a first.”

 

“What’s first?”

 

“That. You letting someone win a conversation. You not arguing..”

 

“Yeah…tell me about it.”)

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

“Is Jimin okay?” Wendy snapped her head up from her phone upon hearing the question. She was occupied answering some important messages she didn’t hear the presence of someone until they spoke. “She looks rather pale today.”

 

It was her bestfriend Seulgi, the company’s resident choreographer and Jimin’s personal trainer. They are in the practice room for their weekly dance rehearsals and Jimin is currently doing a routine in the middle of the room. Wendy observes her young artist from afar.

 

“She had a minor fever this morning and her head was aching.” She says, closing her phone to get into the conversation, “She refused to cancel her schedules today despite it. I even had to force her to take a pill.”

 

Wendy hears her bestfriend click her tongue at the information, “Ghad, this kid. She could’ve just taken a day off. She looks terrible.”

 

“That’s what I told her,” Wendy rasps, sighing at the truthfulness of Seulgi’s words, “But you know she never listens to anyone when she made up her mind on something. Such a stubborn child I swear.”

 

Jimin’s dancing comes to a halt when the music stopped, leaving her a panting mess in the middle of the room. The manager and the choreographer eyed her movements warily.

 

“Great job, kid,” Seulgi commented, sharing a fleeting eye contact with Wendy before turning back to the girl, “I think it is good enough already. Let’s wrap this up.”

 

This made the singer snap her head up, incredulity written all over her face.

 

“But it was just the third try?” she pants, eyes darting between her manager and her trainer, “And I think I missed on that part where I have to drag my left foot and slide on my right. I have to fix it. It looked really off.”

 

“It’s okay leave it at that.” Seulgi insists, “You can polish it during our next session.”

 

But Jimin does not want to do it on the next session.

 

“No, I want to do it right now.” She says indignantly, striding across the room and towards the speakers where the Mac was connected, “Just let me fix that part I was talking about.”

 

“Jimin..”

 

“Seulgi unnie.”

 

“Have you seen yourself in the mirror? You look pale as a ghost!” Seulgi reasons.

 

“I’ve always been pale what do you mean?”

 

“You’re sick that’s what I mean.”

 

“I’m not sick.” Jimin retaliates.

 

“Yes you are.”

 

“Am not.”

 

“You are!”

 

“Nope.”

 

Wendy sighed at the childish exchange happening before her eyes, “Yes you are Jimin.”

 

“Oh not you too,” the singer complains, eyes on the MacBook as her finger hovers over the mousepad, “I told you I’m fine.”

 

Wendy watches as Jimin turns back and starts walking towards the center; only to get the scare of her life when Jimin tripped on her own feet and collapsed into the floor with a startle, her towering figure suddenly reduced into a heap of baggy clothes and messy hair on the ground.

 

“Jimin!”

 

She was by the girl’s side in no time, trying to help her on her feet. Wendy got the scare of her life yet again when her eyes landed on Jimin’s face.

 

“Oh my god!” she exclaims, cradling the girl’s face on her hands, “Seulgi get me a napkin!”

 

Jimin, whose eyes suddenly looked hazy and distant, has blood trickling down her nose. She was practically burning under Wendy’s touch and the manager was slowly losing her wits as she watches Jimin slowly losing consciousness by the second.

 

“Here,” Seulgi pierces through her anxiety, grabbing the napkin from her and pressing it against the girl’s nose. “Did she hit her head on the floor?”

 

“No I don’t think she did,” Wendy breathes out, “The blood is coming straight from her nose. But she is losing consciousness. We need to get her to the hospital.”

 

“On it,” Seulgi practically jumps from Wendy’s side, “I’ll call an ambulance. Just try to keep her conscious while the paramedics aren’t here.”

 

Wendy simply nodded, too occupied in dabbing the napkin on Jimin’s bleeding nose to form a coherent reply.

 

“Jimin stay awake baby,” she whispers, trying her hardest to swallow back the unshed tears in her eyes when she saw how unresponsive Jimin is in her arms, “Stay awake for unnie.”

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

(“What is it now Jimin??”

 

“Unnie!! Where are you??”

 

“Y-Yizhuo, it’s you. Um, I’m at my place? Why?”

 

“Have you opened any social media yet?”

 

“No, I was sleeping when you called. What is it?”

 

“I’m not sure if it’s true but it’s trending and the company hasn’t confirmed it yet which seriously doesn’t help at all and I—”

 

“Okay stop you’re rambling I don’t understand what you’re saying—”

 

“Karina unnie was rushed to the hospital.”)

 

 

***

 

 

Minjeong almost dropped her phone when Yizhuo told her, her jaw slacking when she was made aware of what allegedly happened to Jimin.

 

“Some insiders said she fainted while rehearsing. But nothing is confirmed. It only spread like a wildfire because an ambulance was called into their company building.”

 

The two of them were just on the phone a few hours ago and Jimin sounded so healthy, so playful. There was no hint of her being sick of some sort.

 

Or did Minjeong overlook it? Has she been too occupied trying to calm her heart whenever Jimin barked nonsense that Minjeong had grown fond of?

 

.

 

Minjeong reaches for her phone she carelessly tossed in her bed after receiving the news. She will not go to the internet, no. It will give her nothing but anxiety because for all she knows, Jimin’s fans must be exploding on social media right now, hunting for answers that only Karina Yoo’s company can properly give.

 

Going there would feel like finding a needle on a haystack and Minjeong doesn’t have patience for that.

 

So she dials a number instead.

 

“Hi Yeri unnie. I—”

 

“She was brought to Asan Medical Center, Level 9, Room 901”

 

Minjeong was tongue tied, taking in the information that greeted her.

 

“So it’s true?”

 

The sigh emitted by the woman on the line was enough to answer Minjeong.

 

“Yes.” Yeri says, “She was in the middle of rehearsals when her nose started bleeding and she fainted. Wendy unnie said she’d been sick since this morning but stubbornly went through with her schedule.”

 

Minjeong’s stomach dropped at the revelation because this morning?

 

They were just talking this morning, arguing with each other, teasing each other; Minjeong basically lectured Jimin about putting her health first above anything else.

 

How in the world did she fail to notice it?

 

“She didn’t sound sick when we talked this morning..” Minjeong says, more to herself than to the woman over the line.

 

“Typical Jimin.” The girl on the line puffs, “That kid can be in deep pain for all you know but she will never tell unless anyone forces it out of her. She had always kept things to herself until it breaks her. Sadly, this is one of those breaking points.”

 

Minjeong finds herself breathing in a mouthful of air, her hand clenching into a fist for the surge of emotions she cannot really put a name on.

 

“But don’t worry. Joy is her attending physician.” Yeri adds, “I’m sure she will not let anything bad happen to that kid. And it’s probably just fatigue. Jimin wasn’t given a proper rest by the company since her concert preparations a few months ago.”

 

Minjeong purses her lips at the attempt of reassurance in her boss’ words, “Thanks for telling me this unnie.”

 

“No problem Minjeong. You’re one of the few people I trust her with other than Wendy unnie anyway.” Yeri says over the line, “Please knock some sense on my friend’s stubborn head. She seems to listen to you.”

 

Minjeong quietly berates herself for the fluttering in her stomach upon hearing the statement.

 

Read the room dip.

 

“I will punch her on the face for you,” she says blankly, half-joking, half-serious.

 

“That’s a great idea.” Yeri barks out a chuckle, Minjeong silently thanking her for easing her nerves even just for a bit. “Make sure to hit her on her pretty nose please. She’d always bragged about her tall nose ever since. It’s annoying.”

 

“Got it unnie.”

 

When the call ended, Minjeong lets out a loaded breath she didn’t know she was holding. She didn’t even know she was gritting her teeth so hard until she unclenched after her jaw muscles eventually got tired of the tension she was putting into it.

 

Jimin has always been an annoying brat for Kim Minjeong. She enjoyed crawling under Minjeong’s skin that made the latter constantly question her ancestors for their supposed guidance.

 

But right now, all Minjeong can think about is how she could trade all her ancestors to the world if it means a healthy and annoying Jimin.

 

Nevermind the constant pestering. Nevermind if Minjeong is always a stuttering mess when Jimin drops her greasy lines.

 

She’d rather have her like that than none at all.

Minjeong almost jumped on the sudden sensation of something velvety on her ankle. When she looked down, she saw Myong and Myang rubbing themselves on her legs.

 

The sight of the cats didn’t ease Minjeong’s bubbling emotions.

 

“Mommy Jimin is so stupid, Myongie, Myangie,” she told the cats, in a deep breath when she heard the tremble in her voice, willing herself not to cry in front of the kittens, “How can she be so stupid like that?”

 

As if they understood, Myong and Myang meowed at Minjeong, looking up from her legs with their full, round eyes.

 

“Yes, I’m gonna go check on mommy.” Minjeong pets them, sniffing back her emotions at the thought of seeing Jimin in a hospital bed looking so pale and feeble. “You stay here and watch the house okay? Take care of each other.”

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

(“Do you want me to go with you?”

 

“No it’s fine, Yizhuo. I got this. Focus on your paper.”

 

“Are you sure? I can just make this on the evening.”

 

“Yes I’m sure. I can do this on my own.”

 

“Alright. Just give me a ring if anything okay?”

 

“I will. Thanks, Ning.”)

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

She made it to the hospital in no time, easily slipping past a couple of paparazzis lingering in the lobby. Even at her worst state, the media just never seem to leave Jimin alone and give her some privacy. An uncomfortable lurching bubbles up in Minjeong’s stomach when she realized how Jimin’s current, unfortunate situation means a couple of Korean wons for these people.

 

Showbiz and their vile practices.

 

She walked past the nurse station and climbed up the elevator to the floor Yeri mentioned in their phone call. The corridor was thankfully empty when she went out of the moving box and walked warily towards Room 901.

 

When she made it in front of the closed door, Minjeong’s brain suddenly wired shut. She couldn’t move and all she can think about is Jimin Jimin Jimin—

 

“Minjeong?”

 

She looked up to the owner of the voice and saw Wendy.

 

“Unnie.”

 

The woman looked disheveled, eyes tired but still filled with her motherly warmth. “What are you doing outside? Why haven’t you gone in?”

 

“I-uh..” Minjeong suddenly looked sheepish because she honestly doesn’t know why she hadn’t gone inside. (She actually does. She just doesn’t want to confront it.) “I don’t know.”

 

A hint of understanding flashed across Wendy’s face, giving her an empathetic smile. The shorter woman reached out for Minjeong’s shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze.

 

“It’s okay. We can go in together.”

 

She was gently pushed towards door but Minjeong halted in her steps, “Wait unnie—”

 

“Hmm?”

 

Minjeong found herself hesitating to ask the darn question that had been plaguing her mind the moment she stepped into the hospital, “I-Is she..”

 

Wendy smiled at her again, the understanding in her eyes never seem to leave her face. It’s the kind of smile that made Minjeong want to cry on her shoulder and sob all her worries away.

 

“You can see for yourself darling.”

 

Minjeong expected for the worst.

 

She was imagining Jimin with different apparatus on different parts of her body fighting for her dear life. She was imagining the dullness of the white walls and the whirring of those machines filling up the room. Minjeong braced herself for all the possibilities.

 

She did not expect to be welcomed by a wide awake Jimin in all her stubborn glory.

 

“I told you I don’t want to eat,” was the first thing she heard upon entering the room. A few steps further and Minjeong made out the figure of the girl on the bed with an unfamiliar woman standing beside her.

 

“Jimin you need to eat,” comes the remark of girl clad in sweatpants and a baggy shirt, sounding exasperated, “You have medicines to take. You need to eat.”

 

“Not until you bring me home,” Jimin says indignantly, puffing her chest despite her frail state, “You know I hated hospitals. Why would you bring me here?”

 

“You collapsed for crying out loud,” the woman spat, “And your nose was bleeding profusely. What did you expect us to do?” though Minjeong noted how gentle it still sounded despite looking aggravated by Jimin’s tantrums.

 

“Anything other than bringing me in this godforsaken place!” Jimin retorts, louder this time.

 

Minjeong heard the tremble in the girl’s voice and her heart clenches at the raw emotions in them that she has never heard before.

 

“Jimin..” Wendy calls in a reprimanding tone, “That’s enough.”

 

Jimin tentatively looked up from her manager’s voice, a deep frown adorning her face. The said deep frown immediately vanished and was replaced with surprise when she saw who was standing beside Wendy.

 

“K-Kim Minjeong..”

 

Minjeong clenches her jaw, steeling herself not to look away from Jimin’s piercing stare.

 

“Did you bring her here?” It was Jimin who looked away, darting her eyes to her manager. A new found aggravation can be felt in her tone, “Why would you bring her here unnie?”

 

“I didn’t.” Wendy defends, “She was—”

 

“I came here by myself,” Minjeong decides to speak up, “Your manager has nothing to do with this.”

 

That momentarily stopped Jimin’s from her tirades, meeting Minjeong’s eyes in a fleeting moment before she looked away, a frown on her face.

 

“You shouldn’t be here,” Jimin says in a cold voice that Minjeong is not familiar with, “I don’t need your pity.”

 

“Jimin!”

 

“Yoo Jimin!”

 

Both Wendy and the woman arguing with Jimin about food exclaimed, chastising Jimin for the rude behavior she just exhibited.

 

But Minjeong pays them no mind, her attention solely focused on Jimin looking distraught and hands fidgeting with the blanket.

 

She had never felt so strongly about the girl more than she is right now.

 

“It’s okay unnie,” she tells the woman beside her, “Can I talk to her for a minute?”

 

Wendy looks up at Minjeong’s calm request and heaved a sigh. “Yeah sure. I’m sorry about her, Minjeong.”

 

She just gave her a reassuring smile.

 

When the two women left and the door closes behind Minjeong, she was left with a radio silent Jimin perched on the bed. It was like that for a moment, Minjeong just standing by the door and Jimin looking at anything but her.

 

Until the girl decided to break the silence.

 

“Go home,” Jimin rasps. Minjeong could see the way the girl’s throat bobbed from where she stood, giving away Jimin’s apprehension as opposed to the mean words coming out of , “I don’t need you here Kim Minjeong.”

 

Minjeong was right about the dull, white walls of the hospital room. It gives her the creeps.

 

But she isn’t about the whirring sound of machines and a Jimin battling for her dear life. Jimin is awake and conscious and here.

 

That is enough motivation for her to stay rooted in her place and let Jimin’s tantrums pass through one ear to the other without taking it personally.

 

“Did you hear me?” Jimin met her eyes and Minjeong felt like she was seeing her for the first time, “Go home!”

 

Minjeong didn’t even know she was already standing beside Jimin’s bed, her feet unconsciously dragging her to the anxiety filled girl clad in a hospital gown, looking so breathtaking inspite of her frailness.

 

“Goddammit, Kim Minjeong!” the trembling in Jimin’s voice is more audible up close, “You shouldn’t be here!”

 

“Oh shut up idiot, I want to be here.” Minjeong finally retorts, “This is exactly where I want to be.”

 

That completely silenced Jimin from her outbursts and empty threats, totally stunned at the veracity of Minjeong’s declaration and the certainty in her eyes.

 

“Did you know that Ningning told me about it through the phone and I answered her call thinking it was you?” Minjeong continues, “I was ready to yell at you, tell you how annoying you are because we were just talking this morning, why were you disturbing me again??”

 

Minjeong wasn’t even aware of how hard she formed her hands into fists until she felt her nails digging in her palms.

 

“But it wasn’t you. For once, how I wished it was you,” her voice sarted to tremble and it was getting harder to keep it together, “I’m not a religious person but at that moment I started praying, Jimin. To whom, I honestly didn’t know. What I’m sure is that I prayed for the conversation we had this morning to not be our last.”

 

She felt a lone tear run through her cheek and Minjeong haphazardly wiped it up, looking away before Jimin could see in her eyes how much of a mess she is right now.

 

“I was ing scared, stupid,” she whispers in the most heartbroken way.

 

“Thought it was the last time I’m going to hear your voice and it freaked the living out of me. It would have been so unfair because you even said that you will pick me up tonight and I was already anticipating. I even had my outfit planned and it was the new pair of flannels I bought. You know how I love flannels and you said that I look good in them so I wanted to show it to you.” Minjeong was rambling at this point but she couldn’t stop herself. Everything just seems to flow out of , “And I bought new toys for Myong and Myang I was gonna tell you that too coz I know how you loved them so much and they were meowing at me when I told them you’re in the hospital I think they wanted to go with me here but I can’t bring them Jimin. I can’t bring Myong and Myang here so they could see you and—“

 

Minjeong wasn’t able to finish her incoherent series of sentences because a pair of arms suddenly tugged her, her body toppling over Jimin as the girl pulls her in for a bone crushing hug.

 

“I’m sorry,” Jimin muffles through her hair, “, I’m so sorry..”

 

That did it. It was Minjeong’s last straw. The tears she was trying so hard to keep suddenly came rushing out of her eyes, freely flowing down her cheeks like a child absent of inhibition.

 

“Don’t do that again,” she sobs, holding unto Jimin’s torso like her life depended on it, “Don’t scare me like that again.”

 

“I won’t baby. I won’t. I am so sorry.”

 

The sobs heaved out of Minjeong like an avalanche, wrecking not only her but Jimin too. She pours out every bit of emotion she had kept the moment the news was disclosed to her. One could only keep it in for so long and Minjeong cannot keep things for the life of her. She can do it 30 minutes the most; beyond that, she will be on her breaking point.

 

Just like right now. She is a mess of tears and hiccups in Jimin’s embrace. She doesn’t have it in her to pull away especially when she found the girl’s warmth was soothing her in a way she had never been comforted before.

 

Minjeong likes it. She likes it very much.

 

She was eventually pulled in by Jimin to lay with her on the bed, pressing her head against the girl’s chest just above the girl’s heartbeat as Jimin encircles an arm around her to keep her in place.

 

Hearing the thumping of Jimin’s heart immediatey calmed Minjeong down in levels she could only imagine.

 

“Are you still crying?” she hears Jimin ask, the girl’s hand running through her hair.

 

“Do you want me to?”

 

“No.” Jimin says, “You look ugly when you cry.”

 

Minjeong wanted to laugh at the remark because of course Jimin will say that. She was kind of expecting that.

 

It was who Jimin did not expect the strong slap on her shoulder from Minjeong, making her yelp in pain.

 

“Oww! Did you just hit a ing patient, Kim Minjeong??”

 

“No, I hit the in you.” Minjeong fires back.

 

“Well this is someone you don’t want to lose, miss ma’am,” The singer drawls, a hint of pride laced in her voice. “You said it so yourself.”

 

Minjeong scoffed at how Jimin easily used her heartfelt declaration against her, already half-regretting how much she spilled her hearts out in an ephemeral moment of weakness.

 

But it’s out in the open now. There is nothing much she can do about it.

 

“Unfortunately, you’re right,” she decides to just admit it. “How I wish I could but I can’t. I can’t lose you Jimin, even if you’re a complete .”

 

This time, Jimin gave no smart comeback at the admission. She just laid there completely silent beside Minjeong. The only indication that the girl heard her loud and clear was the girl’s hand freezing in her head.

 

“How scared were you?”

 

It was now Minjeong’s turn to freeze, taken aback, not of the question, but at how vulnerable Jimin suddenly sounded; a complete 360 to her arrogant self just a few seconds ago.

 

“How scared were you of losing me?”

 

Minjeong never thought she would see the day Jimin would bare herself like this to her. She had always been playful and smirking, a total jerk. Someone whose façade had been so polished through the years of experience that Minjeong was losing hope she will see more of what Jimin had been giving her.

 

Right now though, Minjeong feels like she has entered a whole new layer to the multiple strata that is Yoo Jimin. It feels like they are suddenly on the next level of their dynamic and Minjeong wants to start this right by being completely honest. Both to herself and Jimin.

 

“Very.” She says, looking up from Jimin’s chest so she could look at the girl in her eyes and convey how sincere she is right now. “It was the scariest I have felt since I flunked a subject in my first year thinking it was the end of my university days and I’m gonna be a full-fledged failure for the rest of my life.”

 

Jimin stared at her, unreadable eyes looking straight through Minjeong’s soul that she badly wants to decipher.

 

Then Jimin started chuckling. The kind of chuckle that you can feel vibrating from the pit of someone’s stomach and then all over their body.

 

Minjeong doesn’t understand..

 

“Why are you laughing?”

 

Instead of an answer, the question just made Jimin chuckle even more, erupting into a series of full blown laughter that fills up the room. That was enough for Minjeong to not get mad at how rude the girl is being after she just worn her heart on her sleeves.

 

Jimin laughing and Jimin happy and Jimin on her side is what matters to Minjeong right now.

 

“You only say weird things, Kim Minjeong.”

 

“Whaaatt?”

 

“Comparing the feeling to you flunking a subject.” Jimin says through her chuckles. “Really?”

 

“But it’s true?” Minjeong creases her brows, “That subject was important to me, y’know. And I was a freshman who was scared of my future with a flunked subject in my record. I thought it was the end for me.”

 

Jimin laughs, “So what you mean is that I’m important too?”

 

“Exactly.”

 

Jimin did not laugh this time. She didn’t. She simply stared and stared and stared at Kim Minjeong with her feline eyes looking at the girl as if she just uttered a sacred vow of monogamy when in fact, it’s just a simple ‘Exactly’.

 

Well, exactly.

 

It was more than enough to assure Jimin that Minjeong is with her with this unspoken thing they got going.

 

“I’m sorry for making you worry,” Jimin drawls, pressing a palm on Minjeong’s cheek, “I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”

 

Minjeong leans unto the warmth, admitting to herself how much she lived to feel the heat of the girl against her.

 

“Yeah, well, it already happened. There’s nothing you can do about it,” she says, “But you can definitely do something about the way you deal with your body from now on. I can only tell you to take care of yourself but at the end of the day, it’s you who’s gonna work on it. Not me or your manager. You.”

 

Jimin seems to contemplate on her words, running her thumb against the smooth of Minjeong’s face as she takes it all in.

 

“It’s honestly hard to break away from routines you’ve been doing almost half your life.” Jimin explains with a hint of guilt in her tone, “I know this may sound as an excuse but I think it has become a way of life for me that I stopped drawing lines as to what is healthy and what isn’t. As long as it gives me the adrenaline and I meet people’s expectations, I’d do it. Sometimes, well, most of the times, I know it’s damaging but I can’t get myself to stop until I think I’ve done enough. I have to be enough Minjeong.”

 

“You are enough,” Minjeong declares, holding Jimin’s hand on her cheek to make sure she is listening to her, “Prioritizing yourself and making sure that your health comes first before anything else will not make you any less. Whoever fed that crap that you aren’t can go to hell because you are more than adequate. For your fans, for your manager, for the people around you. For me.. You are enough Jimin. More than enough.”

 

A small, meaningful smile blooms on Jimin’s lips upon hearing her words, sweeping Minjeong off her feet and making her feel like she is the luckiest person on earth to see it up close.

 

“I don’t deserve you, Kim Minjeong,” she whispered, candor oozing from her ever expressive eyes, “I don’t ing deserve you.”

 

“Everyone deserves someone who will make them feel adequate,” Minjeong says, never been more certain about something than as she is right now, “I want to be that person for you if you will have me.”

 

The two of them got lost in each other’s eyes they didn’t notice the opening of the door. They didn’t hear the closing of it nor the elegant footsteps that came after because they are too occupied counting lashes and memorizing every freckles of light in each other’s eyes.

 

They only did when there was a clearing of someone’s throat that didn’t come from either of them, breaking the wonderful bubble they just created, much to Minjeong’s mortification.

 

She was all ready to pull away, can already feel the heat on her face that came rushing at the thought of someone (probably a nurse or Jimin’s manager) finding them in such a compromising position.

 

But Jimin kept her in place, her arms tightening around Minjeong as she stares at the new comer, recognition flashing across her eyes.

 

Minjeong has never heard that name before.

 

“Kim Aeri.”

 

 

_______________

 

A/N:

 

Hey!

 

My review is starting so this one took so long (and I was busy crying over the girls going next levuhl I didn’t notice time passing by so quickly). I am sorry in advance for the waiting I will put you through for the remaining chaps of this story. But I promise I will try my best to complete this… before aespa’s next comeback LMAO.

 

Anyway, this fic is having a bad case of existential crisis after Karina revealed that her surname actually spells “Yu” and not “Yoo” homygoshhh should I change the title and her name in the chapters? That’s a whole lot of work tbh huhu. Tell me what you think?

 

I hope you’re taking care of yourselves! See you on the next :)

 

- sj