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When Jimin asked Taehyung to come with him, he didn't mean grab what you wanted and run. Sighing, he stacks yet another ice cream in his small basket.

He really didn't want to carry the entire store back with him, but what can you do when you're dealing with a party of equally demanding and equally drunk individuals? Plus his snack thief partner left him high and dry to go running back to his precious Yen.

He shouldn't be resenting Yen for Taehyung's absence, after all, they're going through a lot lately. Besides, he supposes this is better than waiting around for someone who obviously wasn't coming.

And on top of it all, couldn't even bother to call.

At the thought, he pauses, a lump turning violently in his throat.

Jimin knows his expectations were probably too high. They are merely strangers after all, who have only experienced a few chance encounters. It was too much to expect that she would come, he got his hopes up for nothing.

But she could have at least called.

As Jimin steps back, he's so lost in his thoughts, that he doesn't see the woman who is walking behind him. So, instead of avoiding her and allowing her to pass, like a normal person would do if they were aware of their surroundings; the two of them collide in a jarring turn of events. Jimin's basket tumbling out of his hands, the contents inside spilling out all over the floor in the process.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!"

Jimin doesn't pay much attention to her, doesn't even look her way. He stares at the contents scattered across the smooth tile of the floor almost blankly, unable to find much of a difference between them and himself.

Discarded as though they were nothing.

So when the two of them kneel to pick them off from the ground they don't recognize the other at first.

"Don't worry about it--"

But as soon as Jimin raises his eyes to hers, he immediately knows.

Her eyes widen as she meets his, her hand faltering from where it was reaching before. She swallows hard, guilt quickly replacing the shock that was so clear before.

Jimin longs to look away, but it's those eyes.

Those glittering green eyes which keep his locked on her, unable to look away.

Damn you, Taehyung.

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"I told you, I'm not hungry."

Jocelynn smiles to herself bitterly as she sets the cup of ramen noodles down on the counter. She's always appreciated the little areas convenience stores had for people to grab a little bite to eat. Sometimes, if she had nowhere to be she would eat her meals here, watching the cars drive by, the people going about their normal day-to-day lives. Remembering, of a time when the seat next to her would be chirping childhood nonsense, their laughter ringing across the room as though it were her own personal symphony.

"So?" She responds to Jimin's snide comment, giving him a sideways glance which he quickly denies, his jaw clenching tight as he turns his face away. "It's the least I could do to repay you."

Jimin scoffs, focusing on the cup of ramen and watching as the steam billows from the soup and dances on the pressure of the air. "If you wanted to repay me, you should've called."

His resentment finds its mark and strikes hard and true into Jocelynn's heart. She freezes for a moment, in the middle of retrieving a pair of chopsticks for the two of them to use. Jimin knows he has created an impenetrable wall of tension between the two of them, but as of right now, he finds it hard to care.

She promised. Did it really mean nothing to her?

Jocelynn lets out a soft nervous chuckle as she continues her task, placing the chopsticks gently on the counter and sliding them over to Jimin. Almost as though they were a peace offering, offered as compensation for the way she let him down.

"I'm sorry." She murmurs, missing the quick look Jimin sends her way if only to see the way her face looks at that moment. "I was going to call you...but I couldn't."

"Why?" Jimin asks incredulously, finally meeting her eyes, and nearly breaking at the regretful sorrow he sees within them. He almost wants to take it back, but his pride and his shattered hopes refuse to allow him a moment to speak.

Jocelynn smiles softly, sadly before she answers him. And as she does, she finds a piece of herself breaking as she begins to tear apart signs of a future she is too scared to allow to bring into existence within her mind. The image is quickly cracking, an image she never intended to create in the first place.

An image that she does not deserve.

"I was scared."

A moment, a single moment more that is all she can look at him for.

And once that moment is over, she turns back to her food, her eyes glossy, and her chest suddenly tight and suffocating. She's been ignoring this part of herself for the longest time, unwilling to be hurt once more, unwilling to trust again.

At this point, she thought she'd be used to it, but it still hurts.

Even after all this time, it's as though fate will not allow her to recover.

"Jimin, you hardly know me." She explains, opening her chopsticks and mixing her noodles with the seasoned soup base. Jimin can't look away from her. It's almost as though if he does, then she'll disappear, and that is the last thing he wants. "I'm afraid that if you see me as I truly am, you won't want to see me anymore."

"That won't happen."

Perhaps his answer is too quick, too abrupt, and naive. Maybe it's something she's heard before, or maybe it's something she was expecting.

Whatever the reason, all it manages to do is remind her of every reason why she needs to keep her distance. Reinforcing her defense as though she needed that extra wall closing her inside of herself.

"How can you be sure?"

Jimin wants her to look at him, he wants her to see the way he's looking at her. He wants her to believe him even if it's through one simple look. "Because I won't let it happen."

Why can't he let her go? Why does he want to hold on so tight?

Jocelynn can't help but scoff, her eyes darkening as she retreats further and further into herself, denying any entry to her heart. Building a secure fortress that isn't so easily destroyed.

"Did you think that about your girlfriend too?"

Jimin's eyes widen at the cold statement, surprised almost as much as she is. He can't say anything, and though Jocelynn accomplished what she wanted, she can't help but feel empty, almost pained at the look she sees on his face.

"I'm sorry...I-I didn't mean..." She stumbles as she scrambles for the right explanation, but Jimin shakes his head, cutting her words off short.

"No, it's okay. I understand."

She did what she wanted. She successfully protected her heart. She should feel happy. But all she can feel is an icy chill starting from deep inside of her chest and slowly spreading to the rest of her body. A chill that can only stem from the depths of the loneliest river of despair.

"I should go."

Jimin doesn't offer any objections, all he can do is look at the swirling mixture of powder and noodles in the styrofoam cup before him. Exhaling a shaky breath, she pushes herself up and away from the counter, the ramen now forgotten.

Like so many things she is begging for herself to forget.

Before she leaves, however, she turns to him, a soft and broken voice whispering an apology. Filled with everything she longs to say, and everything else that she simply cannot find within herself to admit.

"I'm really sorry."

Jimin sits there for a moment after she leaves, thoughts running through his mind. Incongruent ones, scattered ones, ones that flash and then disappear as though they weren't there at all. His head is full of noise, broken fragments of things that he wishes he could change, but is unable to. He's trying to grasp onto one tendril, find the right choice, find the right move to make next. It's confusing and staggering, he's hardly able to make sense of any of it.

Is he mad?

Is he upset?

Is he sad?

Does he miss her?

Does he want her beside him?

What does he want?

What does he need?

What is the next step to finding the happiness she told him he deserved?

And even though he doesn't know his path, even if he is unsure if he's making the right decision, even if he cannot make sense of the noise inside of his mind...He makes a decision, based on one thing he knows to be true. The thing that has been fueling his actions from the first time he ever met her. Ever since he saw those vulnerable eyes staring straight into his own.

That he was made to be hers.

And so he stands up and follows her out of the convenience store, his heart on his hands, his soul bare and vulnerable only to her.

And as the bell jingles melodiously throughout the store, the two ramen cups she had made for them sit obediently on the counter.

The steam is now cooled and the noodles are expertly mixed into the seasoned broth. The chopsticks rest dutifully beside each cup, waiting to be used by two people who have forgotten their purpose.

The two cups sit side by side, waiting for something that is not likely to ever come.

But they are together.

Perhaps that is the most important thing.

To be together.

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If you didn't catch my announcement, I am going to start updating every other Saturday instead of every Saturday. 

This is so I can give you better updates...and so I can retain my own sanity LMAO

Anyways I was curious, what do you think of Jocelynn so far? 

And what do you think of this pair?