"(Y/N)... you in there?"
"..."
Everything and everyone at school was a disaster. The grimaces, gossiping, side-eyeing, distancing, it was all dreadful. During the evening while she was asleep, a ridiculous rumor instantly spread like wildfire from classmates to even some faculty staff about her.
The minute she stepped inside school grounds, people who don't even communicate or acknowledge her unexpectedly distanced themselves as if she was some kind of deadly virus. Jimin who was walking by her side would similarly get the exact treatment as her. At first, he was perplexed by the sudden attention set on them but as time passed by, he became furious at how their classmates were behaving towards her.
"The hell are you guys looking at!?" He yelled out but that made them get more attention on themselves.
"Can you believe this guy?" One person whispered.
"Does he even know what she does?" Another one said.
"I can't believe they're friends."
Jimin finally snapped. The young boy proceeded to have a huge argument with the person, resulting in the crowd to become even larger. The stares from multiple pairs of eyes set directly at them made (Y/N) feel panicked and uncomfortable. They had never received this much attention before, both of them were practically loners at school.
"Why do you fucking care if we're friends? It's not like you along with the people around us care about what we do!"
"Why the hell are you yelling at me? Do you even know what's happening about her? I bet you'll be surprised about how much of a dirty slut she is!"
He jabbed a punch right at his nose, causing the other boy to collapse and suddenly have a nosebleed. Everything was a total mess. (Y/N) stood still in terror after witnessing what Jimin had done. He wasn't the type to start a fight with someone. However, the sounds of clicking and lights flickering snatched most of her attention. Looking around the crowd, she noticed that almost everyone had their phones out.
They were recording him.
Why aren't there any teachers around to stop them?
Grabbing a hold of Jimin's arm, she quietly whispered. "Let's go..."
It didn't take that long for the pair to discover what the rumor was about. That foolish rumor was a hot topic for everyone's conversations. Even some teachers were discussing it. Although it was hurtful to look and listen to the chatters from anyone, she needed to see where the gossip had originated from.
'(L/N) (Y/N), a third-year in class 3-1 is a fucking slut! She's been sleeping with men just to get money. It's always the quiet girls who are like this. If you don't believe me, I have proof.'
Was what she read from an anonymous post right before it got taken down. The number of likes and retweets was unbelievable.
'What crazy person would believe this!? This is obviously fake!'
She would have assumed that some people might defend her in the comments but as expected, no one did. Her classmates just want something to gossip about, they craved for something like this to happen. Is that all they do? Talk behind people's backs?
She didn't remember much about what happened after that, all she knew was how much she had been crying for hours.
"Can you open the door, please?"
"..."
Jimin turned the doorknob once again but it wouldn't budge open. He had never seen (Y/N) this depressing to the point where she locks herself inside her room. All he wanted to do was comfort her and reassure her that everything will be okay. If only he knew the person who posted that statement, he would definitely kill him.
"(Y/N) just don't listen to them... this rumor will eventually go away.
"How can you be so sure of that?"
Her voice cracked at the end of her sentence.
"People will probably stop talking about it next week. Don't worry too much about it."
"And what if they still keep talking about it until next week? They'll keep tormenting me for their own amusement..."
"..."
She didn't like how silent he became. Whenever he does that, she knows that what she said is true.
"Jimin just leave me alone."
"(Y/N)-"
"Please..."
He hesitated. How can he leave her alone in this state? His hand reached over to the doorknob again but like all his other failed attempts, it didn't open.
"No. I'm not leaving-"
"Leave!"
"But (Y/N)-"
"Leave me alone!"
Jimin felt his heart begin to throb painfully but decided that it was best to leave her alone. The sound of his footsteps faded away. There were some muffled noises between Jimin and her mother but later came to an end. (Y/N) merely didn't want him to be involved with her problems again like last time. Another reason was that she just couldn't face him. She didn't know if he had seen what happened on social media but someone had posted the video of Jimin punching the other guy and it's been circulating around the school.
'It's all my fault.'
'It's all my fault.'
'It's all my fault.'
'If Jimin gets sent into the Disciplinary Committee then everything is all my fault.'
She kept repeating that phrase all over and all over again. Abruptly, she started to speculate about someone who had stayed quiet about all of this.
Where was Taehyung when all of this happened?
-
The chilly breeze sent goosebumps all over his body as he tightened his arms around himself to gain some warmth. Jaw clenching and teeth clattering, he cursed under his breath as another freezing breeze hit his face.
"Fuck... why did I have to see that message just now."
Yanking the hood off of his head, he made a run towards the hospital, hoping that she was still there. Adrenaline pumped through his legs as sweat proceeded to form on his forehead. Turning from intersection to intersection, his eye caught a glimpse of a pair walking down the sidewalk somewhat quickly. Taking a full view of them, his heart instantly dropped at the realization of who they were.
"Jungkook can you let go of me?"
"Walk faster (Y/N), I'll just take you to your house."
Luckily, their backs were facing Jimin so they didn't catch a glimpse of him staring at their panicked bodies.
'What happened?'
He thought as he decided to follow them but the sight of a person appearing out of a suspicious-looking alleyway caught his interest. Inspecting the guy, one particular item caused Jimin to halt in his tracks.
That guy was entirely wearing all black, which makes him look tremendously skeptical but the most questionable thing about him is the camera he was carrying. It wasn't just some regular camera you can buy with a couple of hundred dollars. The size, the shape, the complexity, that camera is what most paparazzi and fansites use.
'Does that mean-'
The man began walking the opposite direction of (Y/N) and Jungkook, which meant that he was strolling towards where Jimin was located at. Pulling his mask to cover more of his face as well as putting on his hood, he waited for the guy to roam past him. The man took notice of him but blatantly brushed him off as some random person walking down the street. At each step he took closer to him, the more the idol's heart began to accelerate.
As he walked past him, Jimin spoke out in a monotone manner.
"Nice camera you got there."
The man turned around in confusion. He swore that he had heard that voice from somewhere but no one popped into his mind.
"Thanks? I guess..."
Giving Jimin a strange look, he didn't know if he should leave or still continue on with the conversation.
"What kind of pictures do you take on it?"
"That's not any of your business to know, sir."
Jimin turned around to face him. The cool wind knocked his hood off his head, unintentionally revealing himself to the guy. Although his bottom half of his face was covered by his mask, the older male could recognize who it was by the intense look of the eyes.
He even received that kind of look by someone who is coincidentally related to the idol.
"Y-you!" He pointed his index finger towards him as he clutched tightly onto the camera. "What the hell are you doing here!?"
A scoff left Jimin's lips as he took a step closer to him. "I should ask you the same thing! What are you doing here?"
"That's none of your concern. I just have business here that's all." Before Jimin could respond, the man instantly ran away with the camera clutched tightly against his chest.
'What the fuck is he doing here!? Shit... I should've just stayed where I was.'
Turning from left to right around the street after street, his legs began to give out.
"If only I was younger." He whispered to himself as he tried to calm himself down. His heartbeat was beating ridiculously fast and his legs were trembling like a scared deer. Placing the expensive camera down on the concrete ground, he positioned the palms of his hands on top of his knees as he tried to breathe in and out normally. A grin made it's way to his face at the thought of losing Jimin, he even let out a chuckle of satisfaction but the shadow of someone standing in front of him caused his heart to drop.
"I guess that camera's weight is pretty heavy since you didn't really run that fast." Jimin also felt his legs begin to hurt. He was just running to the hospital a while ago and now he's chasing after some random guy.
"You bastard-" Coughing into his elbow, he tightly closed his eyes at the pain from his chest. The only thing he could think about at that moment was how much he wanted his youthful body again. He would have beaten Jimin up right then and there.
"Mind if I have a look at the photos you took?"
Widening his eyes in fear, he reached his arm towards where he had placed the camera but all he felt was thin air.
'W-what!? That's where I placed the camera!'
"You're invading both of their privacy with these pictures." By 'their' he implied about (Y/N) and Jungkook. Now taking a full look at the photos, it was super disturbing for him to see it. How can this guy take pictures of his friends without their knowledge about it? Why was he doing this?
However, he was confused at how blurry the pictures were. It looked like he was in a rush to take them.
Deleting every single one of the photos which contained his childhood friend and his band member, he landed onto a picture that didn't seem to be recent. From what he recalled, Jungkook was wearing a gray hoodie but in the photo, Jimin was currently looking at, he was wearing a black one.
He was even more confused at the clothing that (Y/N) was wearing.
It was her work attire.
The quality of the pictures was also quite blurry but he could still tell that it was them.
"What the fuck." He muttered to himself as he looked at the details in which the picture was taken.
A month ago...
Looking down at the guy responsible for those pictures, his confusion skyrocketed. He was just there not doing anything.
'Why the hell is he not fighting back? Does he want me to delete these pictures?'
As much as he wanted to question him about why he isn't doing anything, the photo of Jungkook and (Y/N) together needed an explanation. The more he examined the area surrounding them, the building behind them looked awfully familiar.
'Is that-'
"No way." His hands began to shake.
'That's the building where my apartment is at.'
That work attire... That hoodie... If it was a month ago, then that meant. It was that day when Jungkook visited but later on, (Y/N) came as well. Looking through all the other pictures of them that day, there was one specific picture that made him feel very hurt.
Jungkook and (Y/N) hugging each other.
Jimin snapped. Deleting everything on the camera, he threw it back towards the man, causing him to stumble back a bit.
"Who do you work for?" He questioned. There was one person in his mind that might be the one telling that man to do this but he wanted to make sure that it was him.
"I'm not telling you shit." The man spat out.
"D*******?"
"What the hell? No!"
"My father?"
The man hesitated but instantly denied it. "Why the fuck would I work for your father? I don't even know who he is!"
"What's your name?" Glaring daggers into his eyes, Jimin decided to change the topic. However, he was for sure certain that the man was working for him.
"I'm not giving you my fucking name." He retorted, wondering why he's still even talking to him.
"Fine." Quickly bringing out his phone from his pocket, he took a picture of the guy's face. Satisfied by the result, he looked back up at his shocked facial expression.
"Delete that picture! The fuck are you going to do with it?" He cried out as he tried to snatch the device away. Due to the heavy camera on his arms, his reflexes were slow.
'Oh, shit... this isn't how things were supposed to go!'
"I hate people who work for that psycho."
That was Jimin's final words before leaving the panicked man behind in shock and confusion. He didn't even answer his question. Jimin tried making his way back to the area where he had last seen the pair but the streets were all empty and lifeless. "Fuck..."
Cursing under his breath, he eventually decided to call it a day and head back home. It was a very eventful day to him but the photo of Jungkook and (Y/N) hugging each other made his stomach churn. Days ago Taehyung confessed that he and (Y/N) used to date but what about Jungkook? What's going on between them?
Halting in his tracks, his hand reached towards his chest as he clutched the fabric over his beating heart.
'What the fuck is happening to me...'
Feeling his mouth go completely dry, he maneuvered towards a concrete wall as he slid down onto the dirty sidewalk. Hand still clutched on his hoodie, the beating of his heart became more painful.
'It's not my business if they are dating...'
Dating.
Pulling his legs closer to his chest, he wrapped his arms around it as he rested his forehead on his knees. Luckily no one was around to see him in this state.
'I'm not jealous.'
He continuously repeated to himself.
'I'm not jealous.'
Jimin then began to reminisce about the past times he felt this kind of emotion. Was it back in school when he started feeling this way?
"I'm not... I don't know..."
A couple of moments of silence passed by. He didn't feel like getting up but he didn't want to sit outside on a windy night. Getting off the ground, he slowly made his way back to the apartment.
"He's getting sued."
-
The man watched the idol walk away until he was no longer in sight. Heaving out a sigh of relief, his lips abruptly formed into a smile. Placing the camera back on the ground, he reached towards his pocket to grab a hold of his phone.
Scrolling through his contacts, he dialed his boss's number.
"Did you do it?"
A chuckle left the man's lips as he leaned against a concrete wall.
"As expected of you boss. At first, I didn't believe that your son would appear out of nowhere but you were right. How did you know that he was coming here?"
"I have my ways. Anyways, you didn't answer the question. Did you take the photos?"
Furrowing his eyebrows in annoyance, he kicked a small rock onto the road. After working with him for a while, the boss would always cut to the chase. He didn't like having any small talk or chat about anything irrelevant. Clicking his tongue, the man responded to his question.
"Of course I did! I-"
"What did Jimin do?"
The man blinked his eyes repeatedly, feeling a bit off guard by the sudden interruption.
"He just deleted the photos from the other SD card." Reaching his hand towards the front pocket of his pants, he took out another SD card similar to the one that the camera has. A menacing laugh escaped his lips as he fully inspected the SD card in all its glory. "You're a genius boss. I never would have thought about using two different SD cards."
The pictures Jimin deleted were ones that the man took in a hurry because his boss informed him about Jimin's soon arrival. The ones he took last month was also his boss's orders. At first, he didn't understand why he needed two SD cards but now he knows the reason behind it.
Just in case he gets caught.
"That's good. Your lucky that you're naturally good at acting. It wasn't a mistake to hire you after all."
Dumbfounded by his comment, he stood still in silence. So if he wasn't good at acting, he wouldn't have hired him in the first place?
His boss wasn't amused by the silence at all.
"Give me the SD card tomorrow. I'll text you the location and time so don't be late."
Before his boss could hang up, the man quickly responded. "W-wait! Your son took a picture of my face and I might get sued... Can you help me? He also knows that I work for you..."
Silence.
'Did he hang up!?'
Pulling his phone from his ear, he took a look at the screen but it still displayed the phone call.
"Sure I'll help. Come to the place tomorrow and I'll try to do something about it."
"Thanks so much, boss!"
"What a fucking idiot. Jimin found out that he works for me and now he wants me to help him? As if I would help him from a lawsuit."
-