misfits. → pjm | ✓

04.

chapter four: peace

tw: mentions of death, gunshots, blood, etc

juvi/rehab

BEING THROWN IN HERE was way better than having to see the disappointed, depressed features of my mother.

I absent-mindedly circled a finger over the nicotine patch on my inner elbow, my legs crossed under a large tree in the field where people were either having lunch or playing ball.

Authentic.

I was about to continue reading my book when a pair of footsteps could be heard from a distance and I groaned, hoping it wasn't who I thought it would be.

Fortunately, it wasn't.

"I didn't think you were into reading, doll." He seemed genuinely interested in what I was doing, which was exactly one of the reasons I liked him so much.

He actually cared.

"Well, you know now."

He sits beside me, pulling out his phone and plugging his headphones in.

"And I didn't think a soulless person such as yourself even knew what music was."

He rolled his eyes, playfully punching my shoulder.

"Relax, it's not that deep."

He lowered his face into the crook of my neck and I sigh. Even with all the bad things going on in my life, I was actually grateful to have someone like Mark in my life. It's just peaceful.

"Tuan." I jump, and we both do, startled by the sound of the person I originally didn't want to hear, see, smell or think about from the beginning.

"Leave, Jimin."

"You heard her, Park. Get out."

"What, so you own this place now? Daddy bought the juvie for you too?"

I see Mark's fingers curl into tight fists as he glares at him.

He picked on Mark for a specific reason.

I was with him.

Our breakup was nasty and unhealthy, contrary to what I needed it to be, but I guessed he didn't expect me to move on so quickly. Mark had been my best friend from home and he was privileged. It made Jimin feel small and unworthy. It made him hate Mark even more.

"Either way I didn't come for you." He turns to me, arms folded across his broad chest as a small smile forms on his face. "Nari, you down for the party at the old point tonight?"

Mark instantly faces me again, awaiting my decision.

"But M-"

"You can bring your pretty boyfriend along too." He groans.

I agree and he finally leaves.

"He pisses me off so much. Makes me want to knock out those stupid teeth." I laughed, hugging him as we watch Jimin's figure go further and further away.

"He's just jealous. It doesn't really matter."

"Easy for you to say. You're at the centre of all this." He chuckled.

"Mark!"

"What?"

-

I held Mark's arm as tight as I could and still managed to get lost in between the crowd of other teenagers, leaving me a wandering mess around the basement as I looked for a way out.

I found the kitchen instead, and pulled open the fridge, thinking of taking out a bottle of beer when a voice startled me.

"Hey. Goodness, why are you so damn jumpy, Nari?" He actually seems curious, but it didn't help the stare I gave him as I set the bottle down.

"What could Jimin possibly want now?" I sigh sarcastically.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

I rolled my eyes and he shrugged his teeth. Moving closer, he inspects my beverage choice.

"I wouldn't drink this if I were you." He turns the bottle over, reading the ingredients under his breath.

"And that would be because?"

"Just don't."

I'm about to argue back when an 'inappropriate' song comes on and awkwardness fills my entire being.

I try to look anywhere but his face, eyes darting around the room, only to fail miserably. He seemed way closer than before and was looking down at me with a piercing stare. The red LED lights of the basement didn't help one bit.

"Nari," He says, arms moving toward me till he envelops me in a hug completely- which I don't return.

He seems surprised by this, and pulls away almost immediately, an unbelievable yet staring-me-right-in-the-face look of disappointment in his eyes.

The Park Jimin was disappointed. I should've brought my phone.

"You want to tell me this doesn't hurt you?"

"What are you talking about, Jimin?"

He sighs, rubbing an exhausted hand down his face. "I still have fe-"

All of a sudden, the loud sound of a gunshot, screams, glass breaking and the music stopping altogether interrupts him and my heart nearly jumps out of my chest.

I ran out of the room, searching through the crowd for the one person I needed to make sure I could see, only to be surrounded by the empty space of the basement going up in flames.

Officials eventually forced my shaky, worried form out of the building. I saw Ha Eun with a blanket draped around her, tears streaming down her face.

I run up to her, not used to seeing her so shaken up.

But that was when I saw it. The paramedics pulled out the injured and fatally affected. The person I dreaded the most.

Till now, the image of the matching, tattoed hands of his unresponsive body hasn't left my mind.