Chapter Text
When Jimin gets home from dropping Minjeong off, her mind is full of swirling thoughts she can’t keep out of her head, as she walks into her bedroom.
Thoughts of what, you may ask?
Minjeong.
Not “when is she gonna give me my hat back?” type thoughts. No, the deeper ones. Ones questioning Jimin’s entire perspective.
To Jimin, Minjeong’s just a girl she has known for her whole life, and just so happens to be a complete brat. She never really puts any thought into who she is, or what she does. The cheerleader’s pretty damn predictable, so Jimin’s never really been too surprised.
But for the first time in the troublemaker’s life, she actually feels… confused.
The way her eyes softened, along with her voice, makes Jimin question whether or not she truly knows the girl as well as she thought she does.
Minjeong’s an introvert, mostly, but she’s never afraid to speak up when she feels like it. Jimin has never seen her act shy. Not even once.
It genuinely took her by surprise, when Minjeong couldn’t even look her in the eyes as she complimented her lying ability. The normal Minjeong would smirk, and say something stupidly cocky, like, “Oh, I know. No need to remind me.”.
But instead, Jimin received the small, soft “thank you.”. “THANK YOU”?!
Since when does Kim Minjeong, Queen Bee, EVER say thank you, with such sincerity?! Jimin thought genuine gratitude’s just something she’s unable to do. One time, Jimin did something for her, and she said, “Aren’t you gonna thank me?”
Minjeong replied, “I don’t… do that.”
So from then on, Jimin just assumes she’s literally incapable of thanking someone without some smug follow up sentence.
The basketball player sighs, placing her dinosaur plushie over her eyes. She really wants to know what was up with her in the car. She could ask her, but it would be a miracle if Minjeong didn’t hit her in response.
Thinking back at it, Minjeong has always been a good liar.
Back in elementary school, she’d tell the teacher she was sick, so she’d go home. That teacher would look into her puppy eyes, fold instantly, and then spare her from getting in trouble. Jimin remembers staring at her from her time-out corner, frowning with eyes that could see right through her facade.
When she was in middle school, though, she faked tears and her period every single week, so she could get out of running the mile. Jimin used to glare at her during P.E, while she was running and Minjeong was sitting on the bleachers fixing her makeup.
Every single time Minjeong lies, Jimin always has to mess with her, and piss her off.
One time, in Freshman year, Minjeong had a hand fake massaging her ankle, as she spoke to the teacher about “her twisted ankle”. Jimin, not being able to resist the opportunity, stole her favorite lipgloss, and dashed down the hallway.
Minjeong immediately dropped her hand, and ran after her. Halfway down the hallway, she paused, and slowly turned to face the teacher. He had a stern expression on his face, which made Minjeong nervously chuckle.
“‘Twisted ankle’, huh?”
Minjeong ended up yelling at Jimin during lunch.
To get back at Jimin for her tattling, Minjeong decided to reciprocate with being an equally bad tattle.
Jimin often snuck out of class, pretending to use the restroom. She would run to her favorite spot under the bleachers, and smoke her pack of cigarettes.
Minjeong knew her exact patterns, because one time, she caught her doing it on her way to the bathrooms.
She saw her completely ignore the bathroom, and go straight to the field. Curious, the cheerleader trailed behind to find out where she was going. She saw Jimin sit down, and take out her cigarettes.
Minjeong internally smirked. She had so much planned.
After that, Minjeong started to tell the hall monitors and teachers every time Jimin snuck out.
So now, they had a back and forth type relationship, where they’d tattle on each other. It was all fun and games, and there weren't really any ill intentions behind it. Their fathers have connections and power, so they were immune to severe punishment. The most they got was detention.
Jimin never really knew how Minjeong got so good at lying.
She sighs into her dino plushie, really putting her very little brain cells to work for her internal question of why her whole demeanor suddenly changed in the car.
Was it something she said?
Is it because she complimented her lying? Well, Jimin never compliments her, and even if she does, Minjeong just fake gags in response. Not whatever… that was.
“Maybe…” Jimin thinks, “she’s hiding something, and she’s lying about it.”
Well, technically she’s not lying about it, since Jimin doesn’t really give a fuck about her life to ask/know anything about it, other than her father.
Before her thoughts could run any further, there’s a knock on her bedroom door, followed by a low voice.
“Jimin.” It’s her father.
“Come in.”
The door opens, and her father steps in, standing in the doorway.
He has a small smile on his face, but it immediately drops at the sight of the messy bedroom.
“You need to clean this,” he says. His hands gesture to the mess around him, and he’s frowning.
Jimin rolls her eyes and groans, shaking him off with her hand. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll get to it,” she responds.
She most definitely won’t.
The troublemaker rarely cleans her room, and never listens when told to clean. It drives her parents absolutely crazy.
Jimin’s father sighs, already knowing that what came out of his daughter’s mouth’s complete bullshit. He’s used to it, and has given up on trying to convince her. He shakes his head in slight disappointment, before speaking up once again,
“Anyway, the Kims are coming over tomorrow for dinner,” he informs, leaning against the doorframe.
Jimin’s silent, but nods. The Kims come over so often, that Jimin’s not even surprised when she sees them in her living room on a random Sunday. But it’s actually been a while since they were last over.
It’s not terrible. The Kims are sweet people! Well, other than Minjeong, they are. It’s just that the formal attire and setting gets old at some point, so she’s glad that this time is mainly just catching up. It still means she has to dress up, and stuff, but she won’t be stuck listening to business talk all night.
“Alright. More business talk?” she asks.
Her father nods. “Partially. It’s been a while, and he wants to catch up.”
“Okay.”
——
It’s Saturday night, and her parents are downstairs cooking dinner and preparing for the Kims’ arrival. Jimin, on the other hand, is getting her outfit ready.
Her father always reminds her to look good when they come, because he wants to show her off as such a “good kid” to the Kims. Jimin follows, through, not because she actually cares about impressing the Kims, rather she likes how pissed off Minjeong looks when she gets praised, and not her.
Jimin carefully buttons up her last few buttons on her silk dress shirt, before tucking it into the waistband of her dresspants. The collar tickles her chin and neck, which bothers her, but she did make a compromise with her parents. Jimin’s parents prefer her wearing dresses, but Jimin finds them too… airy and feminine.
Her personal style outside of the business dinner world, is more on the masculine, baggy side. She wears baggy cargo pants and jeans on a daily basis, and wears a baggy shirt as her top as well. So any sort of dress or skirt bothers her to no end.
In her childhood, she was visibly different from other girls her age. She didn’t like dolls, she didn’t sit crisscrossed, and she hated being a princess when they played dress up.
Another reason why she hates wearing dresses, is because she tends to manspread a lot, which is considered “not ladylike”, especially if you’re wearing a skirt or dress. Not to mention, it’s just… uncomfortable.
Jimin steps into the bathroom after getting changed, and fixes up her mid-length wolf cut. Her parents didn’t approve of this hairstyle, and always forbid her from doing things behind their backs.
But to no one’s surprise, she didn’t listen. She got the haircut anyway, and loved the result. It was worth the scolding from her parents.
She adjusts her wispy bangs that laid gently on her forehead, fixing every individual strand. She wants Minjeong to seethe in anger once she sees her. She looks in the mirror, and sighs at how put together she looks, because Jimin always thrives in casual, comfortable clothing.
After she does the final finishing touches to her hair, the sound of the doorbell ringing echoes through the house.
“I got it!” she calls out to her parents, quickly coming out of the bathroom, and jogging down the stairs.
She opens the door, and is met with the sight of Minjeong’s father, Minhwang, her mother, Jisu, and her younger sister, Minji.
Jimin bows politely to the adults, but immediately lifts her head when Minjeong comes, smirking at her. She refuses to ever be polite and formal with Minjeong, it’s too… strange.
“Always so polite… You don’t need to be so formal around us, dear,” Jisu says, smiling softly at the troublemaker.
Minhwang gives her a firm pat on the shoulder. “Hey, kid.”
Jimin gives him a firm handshake in return.
Minjeong scowls. Polite Jimin is a rare sight, so when she sees it, it always makes her scoff, but immediately drops the look when Jimin’s parents come out to greet the Kims. While they do their thing, Jimin gives Minji, who is twelve, a fist bump.
“Hey, Minnie,” she smirks.
“Unnie!” the younger one smiles widely.
Jimin’s relationship with Minji is so much more calm and normal, compared to her relationship with her sister. Minji and Jimin get along really well, and sometimes Minji would come home with a new phrase or insult, taught by Jimin.
Minji usually helps Jimin mess around with her older sister, since she agreed with Jimin when she says Minjeong has a really funny annoyed reaction.
The Kims are led to the dining table, and everyone takes their seats, except for Jimin’s mother, Haeyoon. The Kim parents sit next to each other, and Jimin sits in her usual spot next to Minjeong. It was the only spot left a few years ago, and ever since then, the seating arrangement never changed.
Haeyoon brings out the food, a steaming plate of fried rice, a plate of gimbap, and more of her signature dishes.
Everyone digs in straight away, and the table is just full of chatter, laughter, and chewing. Everything to Jimin felt… normal. This was her life, her normal. The sound of the Kims’ voices was oddly comforting to her, and felt like home. Yeah, she is at home, but even if she closes her eyes, and imagines she’s somewhere else…
it would still make her ease up. They were like her second family, who weren’t blood related.
A few minutes later, the dreaded topic of relationships comes up.
“Jimin, dear, have you found yourself a boyfriend?” Jisu asks her.
Jimin wants to roll her eyes. Boyfriend? Ew, no. One, she doesn’t swing that way. Two, she doesn’t want a relationship, especially not now. But, it’s practically a given that the question would be asked every single time the Kims saw her. It’s nothing to get upset about, it’s just something to get used to.
She forces a polite smile. “No, not yet.”
“Aw, that’s a shame. We told Minjeong she needed to find a boyfriend before graduation, and she did!” Minhwang boasted.
Jimin freezes instantly.
Um… WHAT?!
She slowly turns her head towards Minjeong, looking for some sort of answer, but she’s avoiding eye contact with her.
Jimin grits her teeth, thousands of thoughts swirling in her head. First of all, what? Second of all, what?! Third of all, WHAT?!
Since when does Kim Minjeong, the girl who rejects everyone who has ever liked her, have a BOYFRIEND?!