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ᴛᴀᴇʜʏᴜɴɢ’ꜱ ᴘᴏᴠ
“I bought the cat!”
I burst out laughing at the calico cat that fills the screen, staring into my soul with its bright green eyes. “Wow, Jimin, so you weren’t kidding.”
“Nope,” the cat disappears from the screen, revealing the smiley squinty-eyed Jimin once again. His sandy hair is tousled over his forehead, and his cheeks are swollen as his entire face fills up my phone, grinning excessively. “Her name is Sam-Sam, and I’m going to keep her for a loooong time.”
“Are you allowed to? I mean, aren’t you living in a dorm?”
Jimin, my best friend since kindergarten, is studying at a prestigious school in Sydney, leaving me down here in cold, unpredictable Melbourne. I am envious of him because he gets to live on campus and do whatever he wants, but at the same time I think it would be too hard for me, to be so far away from my family.
When he first left I was mad at him, because he was the only real friend I had for a long time, and in a way, him leaving was the reason I started hanging out with Vic and Frankie and getting into trouble.
But after a year of ignoring his calls and texts, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I called him one night, a night where I did something I’m not proud of, and I remember sobbing so hard once he picked up the call, saying how sorry I was, sorry that I pushed him away, and that I shouldn’t be mad at him for chasing his dreams at that school which accepted him because he was a top academic student, even if it did mean he was far away from me. Since then, we’ve never lost touch, making sure to facetime and contact each other as much as possible. However, despite all this, I still miss him a lot, and even though he visited during the winter break, it feels like it’s been years since I’ve seen him.
“Sshh, it’s a secret,” Jimin presses a finger to his lips with a sly look in his wide eyes, holding the phone out from his face to show Sam-Sam the cat again. “Nobody knows except my roommate that I have her here, and if anyone else finds out, I’ll be kicked out for sure.”
“Then why did you get her?” I laugh, leaning back on my bed. “You should’ve just left her at the shop.”
“But she’s so cute!” Jimin squishes the cat against his face, and I swear the cat gives me a look as if to say, save me.
“Jimin-ah! That’s no reason to buy something that will risk expulsion from your school!” I scold, but the more I look at Sam-Sam, the more my heart melts, even if I’m more of a dog person. She is pretty cute.
“You’re starting to sound like my dad, Taehyung-ah,” Jimin plays with Sam-Sam’s paw, bobbing her up and down in his arm. He then stiffens, eyes widening. “Not that he knows about this. Please don’t tell him!”
“I won’t, don’t worry,” I chuckle. “But they’re gonna find out when they visit you.”
“They don’t visit me anymore,” Jimin sets his cat down to smooth back his hair, revealing his forehead. “Not even my brother comes over. I’m so lonelyyy.” He rolls over on his bed, and I feel a pang in my heart as I watch him through the screen, wishing I could go over and hang out with him.
“You know I would go visit you if I could, but I can’t,” I sigh, switching onto my side so that we are now both lying down. “There’s been a situation.”
“A situation?” Jimin yawns, rubbing his face as I speak.
“Yeah, and it involves my girlf –”
It occurs to me that I haven’t told him about her yet. At least, not in detail. Well, no better time than the present.
“You remember Aria, right? My friend from media class,” I fill him in on everything, and his reactions are priceless.
“So, she’s staying…at your house?! Oh my God,” he gapes his mouth open. “You better not do anything naughty!”
“What? Jimin!” I shake with laughter, rolling onto my back. “It’s not like that.”
“Isn’t it? Because if I had a girl over, you know I wouldn’t be able to resist,” Jimin wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, and I groan.
“Come on, Jimin, have some decency. Besides, my family are here.”
“Then get rid of them! You need some alone time with your girl,” the way Jimin says this makes me want to hang up, and when I threaten to, he immediately drops his act.
“No, no! I’ll be good, I promise,” he smiles angelically, and I can’t help but smile too.
“Man, I miss you so much,” I admit. “Like, so much.”
“Aww, me too, baby, me too,” Jimin dissolves into giggles immediately after saying that, covering his face in embarrassment.
“Don’t call me that, not even my own girlfriend calls me that,” I pout slightly, and Jimin sobers up with large eyes.
“Really? Oh, man, I am so sorry. Do you want me to talk to her?”
“No way, Jimin, I’m not letting you talk to my girlfriend, not in a million years,” I refuse. “You just might steal her from me.”
“Feeling insecure, are we?” Jimin sniggers. “Would you like some advice? Man to man?”
“Sure, what advice could you possibly give me?”
“Hey, I’m the one with more experience! As far as I know, you never even went on a date with a girl before!”
“I did too!” I argue.
“Holding hands with Julia at the park doesn’t count, Taehyung.”
Dammit. “Fine, okay, Jimin-ah, you win, so what’s your advice?”
“Surprise her,” Jimin’s eyes sparkle. “Take her breath away. Take her places, give her lots of cool stuff. And don’t forget to kiss her a lot too.”
As he says this he licks his lips, imagining a scenario in his head, and it takes everything in me not to chuck my phone across the room. “Sounds like you need a girlfriend, Jimin.”
“I really do, do you have any suggestions?” he blinks at me expectantly.
“Dude, we live in two different cities, unless you wanna come down here.”
“I think I’m good actually,” he is out of frame for a second, returning with Sam-Sam once again. “I have Sam-Sam to keep me warm at night now.”
“Sure,” I chuckle. “If you’re lucky, she’ll turn into a human when she grows up.”
“Oh, that’d be cool!” Jimin scrutinizes his cat. “Maybe if I kiss her…”
“Okay, I’m hanging up,” I pull a face, and Jimin shoots me a sly look.
“Yeah, you don’t wanna see this, Taehyung-ah. You’re too innocent.”
“Innocent?” I scoff, but he’s right, in a way.
“Don’t forget what I told you, okay? You should listen to what I say, since I’m older than you.”
“By two months!” I remind him. “It’s not a lot, you know.”
“Still counts, though,” Jimin counters smugly. “Anyway, I need to go and study.”
“Good luck with that,” I wave at him, and he blows me a pouty kiss before ending the call.
I stare at the blank screen for a while, feeling deflated, until I get a text from Jimin. It’s a photo of him kissing his cat’s head, and the caption is: It didn’t work ☹
“Ah, Jimin-ah,” I chuckle, saving the photo because both him and the cat look so cute.
I wonder what Aria is up to. She and her mother were out along with both my parents in order to move some stuff out from Aria’s old house. I originally wanted to come along and help, but my parents told me and my siblings to stay home and clean the house, something I hate doing with a passion, especially since I am still sick. I feel so stupid for taking those purple pills last week, the ones that are meant for bedtime, but I was too sick to feel embarrassed in front of Aria that day. Besides, it felt nice to be taken care of by her and sleep on her lap, even if it was just for a little bit.
I am in the middle of vacuuming the lounge when they all return home, but I don’t hear them come in as I swirl the vacuum around, belting out a song that I’ve been listening to a lot lately. It’s only when I swing around to face the door that I notice them all watching me with amused expressions. But there’s just one person that I notice the most. Aria.
I salute my parents with a charming smile while I maneuver the vacuum, then shoot a wink at Aria, causing her jaw to drop just a fraction, before she turns away from me, disappearing down the hall. I watch her go longingly, not realizing that I accidentally sucked up something I shouldn’t until I hear clacking.
“Turn it off!” my mother orders, so I do, sheepishly unplugging the cord.
“Oh, it’s just a paperclip,” I hold up the item from the filter to assure my mother, but she just frowns at me, hands on hips.
“Have you finished the rest of the house too?”
“Um…”
“Go,” my mother can be quite scary when she’s mad, so I scuttle out of the room, carrying the vacuum over to the next room on the list – Eonjin’s.
But once I step in, I notice that she’s got company.
“Oh, hi, Taehyung,” Eonjin beams at me with a fistful of Aria’s hair in one hand, and a hair brush in the other. “Are you here to vacuum my room?”
I glance at Aria, who looks up at me with long lashes, her face completely devoid of expression. “I’ll come back later,” I start to back out of the room, but someone’s voice calls out, “Wait!”
I’m surprised to discover that it’s Aria. I lean against the door frame with a sliver of a smirk on my lips. “Yes, baby?”
Her eyes widen slightly and I have successfully rendered her completely speechless. Eonjin laughs as she continues to brush Aria’s long black silky locks. “Oh, so you guys call each other pet names?”
“No,” Aria utters out, still shook.
“Of course we do, don’t we, baby?”
She glowers at me, and I swear it makes her look even more beautiful. I laugh as I leave the room for good this time, shaking my head.
Maybe Jimin’s advice isn’t completely useless after all.
【★】
ᴀʀɪᴀ’ꜱ ᴘᴏᴠ
“How long have you guys been together exactly?” Eonjin asks me once Taehyung is gone, and we can hear the roar of the vacuum in the opposite room as I answer.
“Well, I’ve known him since the start of the semester, so two months?”
“No, I mean, how long have you guys been together together, ya know?” Eonjin continues as she threads her fingers through my hair, separating it into three sections from the front for one big French braid.
“Oh! I mean, it’s only been like, ten days,” I wince as she roughly tugs at my hair to form a tightly woven braid. It feels nice to have my hair braided after so long, since my mother sucks at braids and the only other person I knew in my life who could do braids was, well…gone.
“Wow, really? From the way Taehyung talks about you, it seems like way longer.”
“Really?” I am still curious to know how Taehyung talks about me, since the snippet I heard of him on the phone wasn’t enough to fuel my curiosity. “What does he say?”
“Well, he mentions you in like every conversation,” Eonjin’s fingers work quickly and expertly, and the worse part is over as she slowly releases my head so that I don’t have to strain my neck. “Like, for example, we’ll be talking about food, and then he’ll slide you in somehow, saying something like, Oh, Aria only eats this, and she doesn’t like that. Stuff like that, you know?”
“Interesting.” That sounds like Taehyung, all right. He does the same when he talks about anyone, especially his family. He seems to value people in his life a lot more than I do, which makes me want to be more like him.
“We began teasing him about you when he first mentioned you, by the way,” Eonjin says, finishing off the braid. “As soon as we found out that he made a female friend, we just had to joke about it. But honestly, you’re nothing like I expected.”
I turn to look at her, and she smiles. “You’re way better than the girl I thought you would be, Aria. And way prettier, too.”
“Oh, stop, I’m not that pretty,” I blush.
She stands up, leading me to her mirror and pointing to my reflection. “Check it out. You’ve got a nice forehead, these kind of hairstyles suit you well,” she grins, and I find myself reflecting her grin, admiring her work.
“Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve had my hair braided like this. Thanks, Eonjin!”
She pulls me into a hug, patting my back before letting go. “Any time! We’re sisters now,” she holds me at arm’s length, examining me. “You know, I’ve always wanted a sister. Plus, now I finally have someone I can share my clothes with!”
“But I don’t need – “
She insistently sits me down on her bed and opens her wardrobe, revealing a lovely organized array of outfits, handbags and shoes. “Hm, what should you wear?”
“Eonjin, it’s okay, really –”
She whips round to face me with blazing eyes. “No, Aria, I want you to wear my clothes. It’s what sisters do, and you’re my sister now.”
“Okay…” I oblige, because it’s clear that she isn’t accepting no for an answer, and eventually, she settles upon an outfit, telling me to go shower and change quickly so she can see me in it.
It didn’t occur to me until now that I have to shower. As in, strip myself naked in someone else’s bathroom. But once I close the door, I spot the lock, and immediately turn it, not taking any chances.
After a very quick shower that was sped up by my constant paranoia that someone was going to somehow unlock the door from the outside and barge in, I wrap a towel around me, eyeing Eonjin’s clothes. Well, here goes nothing.
“Oh, wow.”
I was initially worried, since I’m not a dress person, but there is something so simple and cute about this outfit, a denim blue dress that cinches at the waist and covers my arms with white knitted sleeves. Eonjin also added some stockings to the ensemble which I slipped on, and sure enough, they fit perfectly. In fact, everything fit perfectly.
Wow, so I’m the same size as a sixteen-year old. That’s good to know.
“Can I come in?” there’s a knock at the door, and it’s none other than Eonjin herself. She squeals as soon as she sees me.
“Omg, you look just as I imagined!” she claps her hands, then makes me do a spin. “And with the braid it looks even better!”
I step out of the bathroom and just as I do, Taehyung emerges from Eonjin’s bedroom, a bunch of his hair held up by a hair tie, and he is in the middle of wiping his forehead when he stops in his tracks to gawk at me.
“Aria,” his eyes run over me like a laser, and Eonjin grabs me by the shoulders, showing me off.
“Taehyung, doesn’t she look cute? I dressed her myself,” she says the last part with a flick of her hair, and Taehyung slowly nods, his gaze burning into me.
“Holy shit, there’s two of them now!” Jeonggyu rubs his eyes dramatically and blinks several times, looking between his sister and I. Sure enough, Eonjin is wearing a similar kind of dress, except hers is pink.
“Um, do I have to wear this for the rest of the day?” I half-whisper to Eonjin.
“Of course! Come on, let’s show Eomma and Appa,” she ushers me down the hallway past her two gaping brothers who never got the memo that staring is rude, especially the way Taehyung is doing it.
“Look at you! I never thought I’d see the day,” my mother wipes a dramatic tear from her eye as she takes me in. “Aria in a dress that I didn’t force her in. I’m so proud!”
Meanwhile, Eonjin’s parents are less theatric. “You look very nice, Aria. And your forehead is so small! Perfect for that hairstyle,” Eonjae comments, and Eonjin widens her eyes.
“I know, right? It’s so tiny,” she presses a palm to my forehead as if to demonstrate, and sure enough, her hand covers almost half my face.
“Hey, Aria, don’t let my daughter use you as her barbie doll,” Taehyung’s father advises me. “Don’t be afraid to say no to her.”
“Okay,” I giggle, but strangely enough, I don’t want to say no, because I enjoy this. It reminds me of when I was young, reviving the pastel-coloured memories of my delicate childhood. But most importantly, it reminds me of how it feels to have girl friends that pamper and gossip and share clothes, something I didn’t realize I miss so much in my life until I am reintroduced to it all. And it feels good.
“You look good.”
Arms slip around my waist from behind me on the way to my room, and as his breath hits my ear I flutter my eyes shut, a smile slowly tugging at my lips.
“It’s all thanks to your sister, you know, I would never wear this,” I reply as he rests his chin on my shoulder with me leaning into him.
“Then I think you should reconsider,” he murmurs, twirling me around to face him, locking his arms at the base of my back. I crack a laugh at his hair, still captured by a hair tie.
“Did Eojin do that to you?” I question as I flick his hair.
“No, I did. My hair was getting in the way,” he scrunches up his nose as I pull off the hair-tie, letting his bangs collapse back down over his forehead.
“You need a haircut,” I brush his hair with my fingers so that it is completely flat, and sure enough, it hangs over his eyes, making it impossible for him to see. However, my suggestion offends him.
“Never! I’m going to grow my hair out so that it’s as long as yours,” he smirks as he twists the end of my braid over his finger.
I scoff. “That’ll take forever. You’ll be, like, fifty by the time your hair is as long as mine.”
Taehyung just smiles, softly setting my braid down so that it snakes over my shoulder. “Then I guess you’ll have to stick around for that long to see.”
Oh my God. I am at a loss for words as his eyes flick up to meet mine, his smile so subtle yet so genuine, perhaps even more genuine than when he scrunches his eyes up and flashes his teeth.
“Aria, you look like a princess,” he whispers, cupping my cheek as if I were a porcelain doll, and for some reason, a lump forms in my throat as a memory resurfaces of those same words being spoken to me, many years ago.
You look like a princess.
“Th-thank you,” I stammer out, stepping away from him, and I don’t let him see my tears as I dash to my new room and shut the door, wondering why I am suddenly so emotional. Maybe it’s the fact that today is the last day I got to see the house that I grew up in, and that we had to say goodbye for real this time, with Taehyung’s parents watching. Or maybe it’s because I finally feel accepted and loved by people other than my mother, something that I haven’t experienced in a painfully long time.
But when I finally sneak back out of the room once the coast is clear, I go to the bathroom and discover something that explains it all.
I have my period.
【★】
I dunno know about you, but getting my period each month is just so painful and nauseating 😓
anyways dedicated to squishybbyboyjimin for choosing the outfit for Aria from mejiwoo’s instagram (hoseok’s sister)
go check out her namjoon au she just started called “Two Sugars” it’s a pretty sweet story 😉
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