Jungkook cooes as he carries Jun on his hip, listening to her story about her day with Taehyung and Hoseok as they leave the restaurant. “Oh, Hobi and Tae were marvelous!” Jimin silently laughs and silently thanks the gods that nothing bad happened to her.

“Marvelous? Is that a new word you learned today?” Jimin pokes Jun on the stomach, causing the small girl to squeal.

“Nope,” she popped the ‘p’,”I read it in a book,” the young girl has a smug tone in her voice, causing the two men to laugh. Jimin unlocks their van, sliding into the driver’s seat meanwhile Jungkook carried Jun into the backseat. The latter begged for the younger man to sit with her and of course, he obliged.

“We’re going home now~” Jimin announces and Jun cheers, rapidly talking to the boy next to her about the adventures she went on.

“There was this cute girl and no one was playing with her, so I did!”

“That’s very nice of you, I’m proud of our little Junnie~”

“But..”

There’s a long silence before Jimin’s eyes drift up to the rear mirror, wondering why the small girl suddenly stopped talking. For some reason, she looks nervous and she’s blushing madly.

“Is something wrong Jun? Did something bad happen?” Jimin softly asks, concerned. The little girl shakes her head madly, playing with the end of her dress.

Staring at her shoes, Jun shyly begins to speak, “it’s not that.. I was just wondering..” Jungkook patiently waits for her to continue, silently urging her to continue. “Is it okay for me to kiss girls? I’ve never seen anything like that on TV..”

Jungkook’s eyes widen and the young boy immediately stares at his friend, not knowing how the older male will handle this. Or if he even can. Stunned at that one sentence, Jimin freezes, old memories beginning to resurface. Unwanted memories that were buried so long ago. His youth. His happiness. Him.

Jimin falls into a daze as all of his memories from his best moments of life flooded through him as if a dam had broken. It was when everything was easy, when he wasn’t helping his uncle by doing all the dirty work. He was just a happy, young boy who didn’t know the true cruelty of the world.

Those memories are from long ago, even though Jimin remembers them as though they happened yesterday. The days that were filled with smiles and short kisses given while no one was looking. That day in August when they went to the beach together, holding hands without caring about other people, enjoying themselves. The steamy nights the two boys shared, hidden somewhere for it was forbidden.

That summer was their last before his boyfriend got violently and fatally beaten up in a dark alleyway, leaving his dear Bogum to bleed out on the streets.

When he was finally found, cold, with lifeless blue lips, Jimin was not able to recognize his face. He cried and mourned for days, an empty feeling ached inside his heart. The heartbroken boy screamed for justice until his voice became hoarse but for some reason, everyone became deaf during that time.

When Jimin finally had enough, he decided to find the monsters who dared to lay a hand on his angel, a precious person who didn’t deserve to leave the world that way. The anger fueled him and sent him into a frenzy, no one was able to stop him from kidnapping those men and physically torturing them to no day’s end. No one could stop him as he mentally broke them into a million shattered shards.

Only when his uncle ultimately decided to step in, did Jimin stop. Eun Jin was worried that he would have to deal with the dead bodies that would surely turn up but Jimin had already chosen the men’s fates.

They would not die.

They would live to bear all the punishment that will come towards them for their sin. Maybe they would try to pretend like nothing had happened and get on with their lives. Still, they were not the same people they used to be—they were different. Dead eyes. Quiet voices. Just empty shells of the people they used to be one day and Jimin couldn’t help but be proud of his work.

He wasn’t denying that he was, too, an empty shell. Going back after everything that happened was not an option, so he gave up trying and started helping out his uncle with the company. He knew since long ago what his uncle’s business consisted of but there was no—

“—WATCH OUT!”

Jimin jumps at the sound of Jungkook’s voice, breaking out of his hypnotic daze and panics when he sees a dog on the road, dangerously close. Jimin swallows, desperately trying not to freeze because of the intense fear. Time seems to slow down for him, and suddenly he sees and hears it all.

That fraction of a second is filled with Jungkook screaming something Jimin couldn’t catch—probably a curse directed to him—as he hugs the little girl tightly as she squeals, covering her eyes. That fraction of a second is almost painfully slow, because there are too many thoughts in Jimin’s head as he tries to figure out what to do.

One thing, however, he knows for sure—he doesn’t have the time to stop. Jimin is not that good of a driver, but he tries to not think about that too much as he pulls the steering wheel, turning the car sharply and driving the car into a tree on the side of the road.

The dog is giving them a judgemental look as it turns and slowly walks away.

His head jerks forward harshly and for some reason, the airbags don’t work. Slightly in a daze, Jimin unbuckles his seatbelt and pushes himself out the car. Holding his left arm—it had been smashed in the process—Jimin then uses his other arm to open the door to the passenger seats.

Jungkook is still cursing under his breath while Jun cries into his chest, her small hands clutching the boy's shirt tightly.

“Hey are you guys—”

“WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?”

Jimin’s eyes widen at the younger’s profanity. Sure, the older boy has heard Jungkook swear occasionally before but never had he seen the boy so angry.

With his mouth wide, all of the words seemed to tangle in his throat.

Jungkook hugs Jun protectively, screaming at Jimin on how stupid he was and countless other things. However, all of that went through the older’s other ear as he stands there, bewildered.

That lasts for approximately fifteen minutes before Jungkook finally calms down and stops his banter. Jun fell asleep during the commotion, her frail heart had been shaken up too much.

“Look, I’m sorry Jungkook, I just got distracted by the thing and—”

Jungkook cuts him off, “it doesn’t matter. It’s fine, I understand,” he sighs and unfastens Jun’s seat belt, resting her head on his lap, “you’ll have to answer to Namjoon hyung about the car though.”

A feeling of dread overcomes Jimin. Leaning on the car, Jimin lets out a long sigh. Disheartedly agreeing.

Jungkook secretly peeks over at Jimin’s arm, noticing that the man had been holding it during the whole conversation.

Coughing, Jungkook turns his head over to look out the window, “shouldn’t you um, get that checked out?”

Jimin raises an eyebrow at him, “you mean my arm? Well, uh I can’t really drive to the hospital bec—”

Jimin narrows his eyes at the young boy, noticing the red that tinted the tips of his ears. There’s a cocky smirk on Jimin’s face and all of a sudden Jungkook finds the house across from them really interesting.

“Jungkookie~ Are you perhaps… worried about me?” he’s so cute, he’s blushing.

Jungkook snaps his head back at Jimin, a frown on his face, “Of course I am! You idiot. You nearly died and you don’t expect me to be worried?!”

An amused laugh escapes the older boy’s lips and he ruffles the younger’s hair which made the latter scowl.