Chapter Text
“This garden is filled with blossoming loneliness; I tied myself to this sandcastle filled with thorns.”
The whole room was quiet and listening intently as Jimin was reciting lyrics to a song. His expression was soft and sorrowful, voice gentle and bearing sadness.
“What is your name? Do you even have a place to go? How could you tell me? I saw you hiding in this garden.”
The assignment given to the class was to pick a song and perform the lyrics as if the students were in a play. Jimin decided to choose a sad song that he had liked ever since its release. It was beautiful, both lyrically and melody-wise. Whoever created such a masterpiece truly blessed the world with the song’s existence.
As he continued on with the song, Jimin could feel a lump in his throat and tears forming in his eyes, despite never actually experiencing such emotions as the narrator. He was only able to feel the pain, because he was just an empathetic person in general, which he concluded was good to have as someone who loved to act.
It only sucked whenever he was the one in the audience feeling the emotions. He’d rather be the one driving his emotions around rather than someone else.
“I’m crying at this sandcastle that’s disappearing, and breaking down as I look at this broken mask,” Jimin continued on, his voice coming to a whisper as he approached the finishing line. “And I still want you.”
With that ending line, Jimin finished presenting his assignment before the whole class, earning an applause from his classmates. He wiped the forming tears from his eyes, bowed and thanked everyone. He began making his way to his seat before sitting down, resting one leg over the other.
“You were awesome, Jimin!” cheered his close friend, Taehyung, who sat beside him.
Jimin nodded. He already knew he was awesome.
“Thank you, Park Jimin,” said Mr. Kim, the class’s drama teacher from where he was sitting. “That was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. You always know how to express your way of words, and it never fails to amaze me. Perfect score!”
Jimin beamed. He was so confident in his performance, a perfect score was so predictable.
He smirked triumphantly, running his fingers through his light brown hair. He heard a snort behind him, but he didn’t bother turning around. He knew all too well where it came from.
The teacher glanced around the room. “Okay, up next: Jeon Jungkook?”
At the mention of the name, Jimin groaned and rolled his eyes. He felt a hand being placed on his shoulder, but he quickly shoved it off of him.
“Thanks for being my opening act, Park,” commented Jungkook in a snide manner. He stood up from his seat. “Now, let the real star take the stage.”
“Please, you can’t top me,” Jimin scoffed, rolling his eyes.
“Oh, but I can and I will. You know the saying: save the best for last.”
Jungkook walked past Jimin, but not before giving his side a harsh bump. Jimin just groaned and decided to tune out Jungkook. He already knew he was better than Jungkook, and he wasn’t going to give this guy any of his time.
Jeon Jungkook—he was Park Jimin’s rival. The two had been at each other’s throats since their first year of high school when they were both put in the beginning drama class. They would have small plays just to perform in class, and the two would always audition for the leads. Half the time Jimin was the lead, but the other half it was Jungkook, although Jimin was sure that whenever Jungkook got the lead, the casting was rigged. He was a sore loser, he had and hated to admit.
Second year only got more competitive.
Jimin knew he was improving a lot as an actor, but Jungkook seemed to be improving at twice the rate. It was honestly pissing Jimin off at how much attention Jungkook was getting. He got way more leads than Jimin, while Jimin was left as either the second lead, a minor character, or worse—Jungkook’s understudy.
Third year finally rolled around a few days ago, and Jungkook was the talk of all the drama students. Everyone was so excited to see Jungkook perform. Jimin rolled his eyes whenever people talked about how amazing Jungkook was. He just didn’t see the guy the way others saw him.
Yet people idolized him.
What pissed Jimin off the most? The fact that Jungkook had no acting experience prior to high school. He remembered him saying so on their first day in their beginning drama class—that he wanted to try out the acting class for fun. Jimin had been acting all his life and took it far more seriously, yet Jungkook was considered as great of an actor as Jimin, if not better since he was dubbed a natural.
And Jimin hated Jungkook for it.
At first, Jimin didn’t think Jungkook as much competition, because of the latter’s lack of passion for acting. He practically laughed when he found out Jungkook was planning to audition for the lead role in the first play their first drama class together. But when Jungkook actually got the role, Jimin started taking him more seriously. Jungkook thought of it as all fun and games when Jimin swore he would get the lead role the next play, but when it actually happened, Jungkook’s competitive side began to show more. Suddenly, it was like he wasn’t acting for the fun anymore.
It was after that the two officially declared each other as rivals.
While Jungkook was still presenting his assignment, Jimin turned to Taehyung and muttered, “This is boring.”
“You think Jungkook’s performance is boring?” Taehyung asked, surprised. “Where were you when I was presenting?”
“You weren’t boring at all.”
“Yeah, because I stumbled over my words and I swear Hoseok was snickering. If anything, I’m probably gonna be the butt of jokes now.”
“You still got a good score.”
“Mr. Kim thinks everything is good. He’s not that great of a judge, in my opinion.”
Jimin hummed, turning away from Taehyung but regretfully hearing Jungkook’s ending part of the assignment.
“I endlessly dreamed of you saying, let’s start again. In the end, if you say that to me, I would live in this dream,” Jungkook finished. Everyone but Jimin began clapping for him, and Mr. Kim even stood onto his feet amid his clapping.
“Excellent job, Jungkook!” Mr. Kim said as he began making his way to the front of the classroom. “Lots of emotion! I teared up, not gonna lie. Perfect score!”
Jimin rolled his eyes. Maybe Taehyung was right. Mr. Kim wasn’t that great of a judge after all.
“Is that everyone?” Mr. Kim questioned, looking around the class that had fallen silent. His hands were clasped together and he continued cheerfully, “Okay! As you all know, you are all in Advanced Drama. You have all completed your prerequisites for this class and you also may have noticed that we have an extra class right after. That is because you will have to participate in the school’s semiannual play, one way or another, and we need all the extra time we can get to prepare for the play. In the beginning and intermediate classes you’ve all taken, you all participated in the small plays done in class, correct?”
Everyone hummed in confirmation, and Mr. Kim grinned.
“Perfect!” he continued. “This one is different, because the play is not small, and it won’t just be your classmates watching you, but the entire school and any other guests who wish to watch you all perform. We will be performing an original play created by one of our drama students last year. I will discuss more about the play—”
The school bell rang.
“—in the next class meeting! We won’t be meeting for our second class just yet, but we will next week for auditions. So I will see you all tomorrow!” Mr. Kim quickly said, hurrying back to his desk as all the students gathered their stuff.
Advanced Drama plus the extra class were thankfully near the end of the school day, and the extra class was basically like an after-school class that students could stay in even after the class was technically over. Jimin preferred it that way—the drama class being at the end of the day. He loved this class and it was a nice way of finishing up a long day at school. He could honestly spend hours and hours on end in the class if he wanted to.
The only downside about this class was—
“Jungkook!” Jimin heard one student say. “Awesome job on your performance today!”
“What song was that? I really like the lyrics!” said another student.
“You’re definitely going to get the male lead for the play Mr. Kim mentioned,” said a third.
Jimin scoffed and was ready to interject, but Taehyung stopped him by leading him out of the classroom.
“I believe you’ll get the lead,” Taehyung said to his friend. “Jungkook is tough competition, but—”
“Oh, I’m definitely getting the lead,” Jimin said. “This is the first of the biggest plays we’ll ever get to perform in front of the entire school instead of just in front of the class. I’m not giving Jeon the satisfaction of being the lead.”
“Oh, is that so?” spoke a voice behind Jimin, making him groan and turn around so he was facing Jungkook. “You really think you have a chance against me?”
“The question is, do you believe you have one against me?” Jimin shot back.
“Well, let’s see—we performed ten small plays the first year and I was the lead in half of them. The following year we had six and I was the lead for all except one of them. Out of the sixteen plays we’ve done, I’ve been the lead in ten of them.” He looked down at Jimin. “Do you care to rephrase your question?”
Jimin only narrowed his eyes at Jungkook, but right before he could retort, he was interrupted by a female voice.
“Jungkook!” exclaimed someone, Jungkook turning his head to see a girl walk towards them.
“Hey, Soojin,” Jungkook said with a wave. “Your performance was great.”
“Thank you! Yours as well.” Soojin smiled and then she looked at Jimin. “Hi, Jimin. You were also great.”
“Thanks,” Jimin said, although this was said half-heartedly, mainly because she complimented Jungkook.
Soojin turned her attention back to Jungkook. “Let’s walk home together. We’re going in the same direction, right?” She linked her arm with Jungkook’s and then the two left, not saying anything more to Jimin.
“You should thank Soojin for taking Jungkook away,” Taehyung commented and Jimin just hummed.
“Yeah. Thanks, Soojin,” Jimin said.
Soojin was probably the best actress in their year. Unlike Jimin and Jungkook who were fighting for leads, Soojin always won the female lead roles with flying colors. To have gotten all the lead roles in all three years was unheard of—even Jimin and Jungkook weren’t able to do that. Soojin was practically an acting goddess.
Jimin respected her, because, like he did, Soojin took acting seriously. She had been acting ever since she was five years old, but she actually made acting her career. Soojin starred in commercials, was a child actress, and was currently making her big break starring in the upcoming drama called Seoulmate. Even in that show she was the female lead.
To be an actor was Jimin’s dream. Soojin was lucky to already be in the acting industry, but Jimin felt he still had a long way to go—like he had so much more to learn. He wanted to start big, and in order for him to do that, he had to maintain the title of the greatest actor ever.
However, Jungkook appeared in his life and made that dream harder to achieve, because currently he was the school’s greatest actor.
Oh, how Jimin wanted to knock that guy off that pedestal and take over.
Taehyung placed a hand on Jimin’s shoulder. “I gotta head home and get ready for work. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, okay,” Jimin said with a nod. “I’m heading over to the library to work on homework, so I’ll be here for a while.”
“You’re going to the library? That’s a first. Good luck with that.”
The two said their goodbyes and headed their separate ways. Jimin went to his locker and grabbed his math textbook before he went to the library.
Once he arrived at the library, he walked over to an empty table and set his math book on top of the table. He sat down, set up his study area, and began doing homework.
He caught sight of someone sliding into the seat in front of him. Jimin briefly glanced up at the person before looking back down at the book, but made a double take.
“Hey, Jimin,” said the guy with a soft smile on his face. “What’s up?”
“H-Hi, Seojun,” Jimin said in almost a whisper.
“I loved your performance today. You really did deserve those perfect marks.”
Jimin looked back down at the book, blush covering his cheeks. “Thank you.”
It was quiet for a bit before Seojun spoke up again. “Are you doing homework right now? I should leave then. I’ll let you work.” He proceeded to stand, but Jimin quickly got on his feet.
“Wait!” he exclaimed, but felt embarrassed when the librarian sent a glare in his direction for being loud. He lowered his voice and said, “Y-You’re good with math, right? Can you help me with my homework?”
Seojun was looking at Jimin with a surprised expression since he wasn’t expecting Jimin to yell. Then he smiled that stupid, beautiful smile. “Sure.”
Jimin couldn’t help but smile as well as Seojun took the seat next to Jimin and asked him what he needed help with.
He was so glad he decided to go to the library.
Seojun was another guy in Jimin’s drama class. He was a great actor, and he was very handsome. His dark brown hair swept perfectly to the right side of his face and his brown eyes always seemed like they had a twinkle to them. He even had dimples—Jimin loved his dimples.
Okay, so maybe Jimin had a not-so-little crush on the guy. But could anyone blame him? The guy was attractive as hell! Jimin couldn’t help but fall for the guy at first sight. His personality was just as attractive as his looks: nice, caring, and he was always so supportive of Jimin, whether he got lead or understudy.
If only Jimin knew if the guy was interested in other guys. Seojun would be the perfect man for him.
“Do you usually come to the library?” Jimin asked out of the blue.
“Yeah,” Seojun answered. “I find the environment here is the best for me to focus on my studies. At home can get distracting.”
“I’d be distracted if I were in your home, too.”
“What?”
Jimin’s cheeks turned pink. “M-My home! If I were at my home! Yeah. The library is...” He gave a thumbs up. “Library is good.”
Seojun chuckled.
He mentally groaned. Why was Jimin such a great actor, but couldn’t even act normal around Seojun?
During the time at the library, Jimin could hardly pay attention with Seojun so close to him, but he didn’t actually need help with math anyway. He could easily get a passing score in the class. He just needed an excuse to spend some time with Seojun.
By the time Jimin’s homework was finished, Seojun stood from his seat and grabbed his backpack. “I’m heading home now. I’ll see you tomorrow, Jimin.”
Jimin smiled. “See you, Seojun.”
Once Seojun left, Jimin practically fanboyed, his legs swinging back and forth as his hands covered his face. He had the widest smile on his face, but he let out a breath to calm himself and his racing heart. He gathered all his stuff and proceeded to walk home.
-
“I’m home!” Jimin called out. He didn’t hear a response from anyone, but he did hear little footsteps scurrying to him before a small golden ball of fluff ran up to him. He gasped and kneeled down before the dog. “Oh, Chimmy! Hello! I’m home! Yes, I am! Did you miss me?”
Jimin couldn’t help but coo at the cute puppy that greeted him eagerly, licking his face and jumping all over the place before rushing off. Jimin giggled and then he took off his shoes and put on slippers, entering his home.
He looked all around the house, not seeing anyone. He frowned. His dad was probably working late again.
At home, it was just Jimin, his dad, and little Chimmy. Well, most of the time it was Jimin and the small puppy. His dad was basically a workaholic who came home for a few hours just to sleep and shower before heading off to work again. Jimin didn’t complain though. At least they were financially stable.
His dad was the one that handled anything related to money while Jimin did basically everything else: cleaning, cooking, laundry, taking care of Chimmy, all that good stuff.
Jimin returned to the front door with a newspaper and plastic bag in his hand while he used his other hand to grab the dog leash that hung on a coat rack. He then called out, “Chimmy! Walkie?”
Excitedly, Chimmy ran to Jimin, sliding and colliding right into Jimin’s leg. Jimin laughed as he hooked the leash to Chimmy’s collar. Then he went out to take his cute little puppy for a walk.
The two went the usual route they took, Jimin’s eyes fixated on Chimmy. His dog always walked with a bounce in his step—it was such an adorable sight for Jimin to see.
Along the route, Chimmy did his business and, like a good dog owner, Jimin cleaned up after his dog. They returned home and Jimin cleaned his dog up before letting Chimmy loose around the house. Jimin then decided to go take a shower before he would start cooking dinner.
That was basically his life routine. Go to school, go home (but he might go to the library more often), walk Chimmy, shower, cook, and sleep. He usually cleaned the house over the weekend.
He supposed he couldn’t live the life like Soojin did, who would be busy with filming commercials or Seoulmate when not in school. His life like this was already far too busy. His dad was hardly home, so no one would be able to take care of Chimmy.
Plus, who would be there for his dad if Jimin wasn’t at home to cook food for him and keep the place tidy?
Jimin was now in his pajamas after his shower and was about to start cooking. He turned the TV on and decided for dinner to just put together some rice, meat, and vegetables. The kitchen and living room where the TV was were only separated by a counter, so Jimin could easily see what was showing. Chimmy was just following Jimin all around the kitchen, curious as to what he was doing.
When Jimin was cooking the beef, he glanced over at the TV and saw the teaser clip of Seoulmate. Soojin came up on the screen, saying something to the male lead. Jimin smiled. Soojin looked so cool and awesome on the TV. He couldn’t imagine what it was like being in her place.
He finally finished putting his dinner together and set up a plate for himself. He sat by the kitchen counter and just watched the TV, which was playing a drama about a girl who got plastic surgery to be beautiful.
In silence Jimin ate his food while Chimmy sat by his feet, patiently waiting for a piece of meat. Jimin couldn’t help but give in to his puppy’s adorable charms, giving Chimmy one or two pieces. He finished eating his dinner and then took the plate to the sink.
Jimin put the rest of the food he made in a glass container and then placed said container in the refrigerator for his dad to eat later. Then, he started cleaning up all the dishes he used to cook and eat.
By the time he finished, it was nearing nine at night, so he decided to spend a little more time finishing up the drama’s episode. He sat on the couch and Chimmy joined him on his lap, sleeping.
Jimin ended up watching three more episodes, which took an additional three hours of his life. He looked at the clock and saw that it was time for him to head off to bed. So, he maneuvered Chimmy from his lap and stood up, shut off the TV and all the lights, and walked to the bathroom to get himself ready for bed.
While he was brushing his teeth, he heard his phone beep, so he stopped amid his cleaning and saw he had a text from Taehyung. He opened up the text, just to see Taehyung simply said good night while adding a purple heart at the end.
Jimin sent a good night text as well (blue heart at the end) before pocketing his phone and returning to brushing his teeth.
Once he was done cleaning up, he walked out of the bathroom to see Chimmy waiting at the door. Jimin smiled and leaned down, saying, “Chimmy! Peepee?”
Chimmy peed right then and there.
Jimin’s eyes widened and he let out a gasp as his face paled. He then groaned. “Ah, Chimmy! Not here! I meant outside!” He picked the puppy up and cleaned him up before ushering him away so he could clean up the mess made by the adorable but bad dog. He was so glad Chimmy peed on the hardwood floor and not the carpet.
Afterwards, he washed his hands and went to his bedroom, closing his door (but not before Chimmy hurried inside). He shut the light off and plopped himself on the bed so his face was in his pillow. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and set it on his desk that was next to his bed, and then covered himself in his warm blanket.
He peered down to see Chimmy was lying on the floor right by where Jimin removed his slippers.
Jimin smiled. “Good night, Chimmy,” he said. “Sweet dreams.” He turned onto his other side so he was facing the wall and closed his eyes, letting sleep take over him.