Chapter Text
"Class dismissed. Please, pick up your graded essays on your way out."
Everyone in the class was obviously quite excited to have finished another week of school, however, Jimin was not. If anything, she was hoping the old professor would suddenly ask her to stay after to go over how horrible her essay was. But that didn't happen.
The straight-faced girl was handed back her essay with a huge smile and pat on the back from her professor which could only mean she did complete the opposite of how she was hoping she did. And, sure enough, when she opened the folder that contained her work of literature, there was a bright red 'A' written at the top near her title. Jimin sighed, closing the folder and tucking it under her arm, mentally preparing herself for what was to come as soon as she walked out the doors of her last class.
"Baby!" A familiar voice screeched as soon as Jimin stepped out into the huge hallways, tackling her into a tight hug. "I missed you!"
Jimin chuckled, wrapping her arms around the girl and leaning her cheek on top of her dark, short hair. "I missed you too. Are you ready to go?"
"Duh! Today went by so slow," The girl, Minjeong, whined as she interlocked their fingers to hold hands. Her touch made Jimin's hand feel like it was on fire, she wanted to let go but everyone's eyes were already on them, some even had their phones out to take some pictures of the hottest couple on campus. "Did you enjoy the lunch I made you?"
"Yeah, it was really good," Jimin nervously chuckled as a random person suddenly greeted her and Minjeong. She knew she should be used to the stares and random bursts of interest considering they've been dating for three months already, but she just wasn't. If anything, Jimin felt grossed out. Thankfully, she was able to get away with passive-aggressive comments towards the younger girl and people would think she's just joking because of her sarcastic personality. "You didn't leave the egg undercooked this time."
Minjeong scoffs, eyes slightly glaring at her partner who had a small smirk on her lips. "I'll have you know I've been practicing a lot."
"I'm sure you have."
The girls continued to walk quietly, smiling at the rest of the people that greeted them or simply yelled out comments. Minjeong was relieved that people had finally gotten the message of not approaching her because of her girlfriend, but Jimin on the other hand hoped they would swarm the young actress so she didn't have to drive home with her. Again, that didn't happen since they reached a black mini-van without interruptions, and Jimin couldn't help but roll her eyes at how Minjeong fake cleared her throat to hint at her to open the door for her. Needless to say, the older girl instantly obeyed.
"You're being so bare minimum," Minjeong exclaimed in a bored tone, bringing out a small hand mirror to look at herself in. She could feel the older girl's eyes on her as she touched up her lipstick, quirking an eyebrow at how she didn't say anything. "Are you ignoring me again? Seriously?"
"I'm not ignoring you," Jimin rolled her eyes again, crossing her arms and letting out a huff as the van began to move. She was so tired from school, work, and she still had to deal with the actress's temper tantrums on top of that. "I'm just tired."
"Of course, you are. You never take a break," The short-haired girl says and Jimin can't help but scoff.
"Maybe I would have time to rest if I didn't have to babysit you a little too many times every week."
"I won't even try to argue with you on why you need to babysit me in respect to how tired you actually look," Minjeong does air quotes around the word babysit, "So just tell me where you want us to take you to first and I'll be out of your hair before you know it."
Jimin sighs again, not even bothering to look at the other girl as she mumbled a low "Hospital."
"To the hospital, Mr. Choi-" Minjeong cuts herself off even though the driver had already heard her and turned to head in the direction of the hospital. Furrowing her eyebrows once she processed what the older girl had said, Minjeong speaks up again, "What could you possibly need to do at the hospital? You went yesterday."
"I need to pay the bill," Jimin simply says with a shrug.
"That's why I gave you a card, though..? To set up automatic payments."
"I have my paychecks transferred into that card now too and if they see that, they're going to want larger payments and there'll be no money for me to live off of, Minjeong."
Minjeong retorted at the reply she received. She thought she was being quite generous paying Jimin five thousand revert week for fake dating in order for their schoolmates to stop completely mobbing her whenever they saw her since the older girl was quite the intimidating person. Hospital payments weren't something Minjeong worried about often since, one, she doesn't get injured on a serious level, and two, she could pay it all in one go if necessary. "Do you need me to start paying you more?"
"I'm not an extortionist," Jimin finally looks at her. Her eyes show no particular emotion, like always.
The younger girl swallows the lump in her throat and softly nods, turning her head to look out the window this time. Sudden guilt was crawling out from within her gut, a certain woman's face flashing through her mind.
When they finally arrived at the hospital, Jimin takes out a small wallet and reached for the door handle as she spoke, "I'll be right back, Mr. Choi."
If there was one thing Jimin hated the most about Minjeong was how stubborn she is. The older girl couldn't help but roll her eyes for the nth time when she saw the short-haired girl following her towards the hospital from the corner of her eye, "I thought you were going to get out of my hair."
"I'm going to out the payments on my card and I'm not taking no for an answer."
The girl didn't speak the rest of the walk into the hospital. Despite Jimin not wanting to make it seem like she was actually exploiting Minjeong, she needed all the help she could get with the hospital bills, and if she was willing to take that completely out of her hands, who was she to say no?
Quiet gasps were heard when people noticed the actress walk in, she instantly slipped her hand into Jimin's and confidently continued to stroll up to the receptionist desk. Minjeong nudged the older girl to begin the usual talk, but the lady upfront beat her to it. "Hi, Karina."
Karina?
"Hi, Eunbi," Jimin flashed a bright smile. It was different than any other smile Minjeong had ever seen her wear, she couldn't believe it. "I'm here to pay this week's bill."
"Yeah, of course," The woman, Eunbi, practically had heart eyes when she looked at JImin. She didn't even spare a glance at the clinging Minjeong. "Would you be paying in cash or with card today?"
"Card," The younger girl finally lets her presence be known, letting go og her (fake) girlfriend's hand to quickly slip out a black card from the back of her phone case. Jimin almost wanted to laugh at the obvious place the card was kept. Minjeong wears a straight face as she slides it across the hospital counter.
"Thank you," Eunbi had a bit of confusion written on her face, sparing a glance at Karina who just lightly shrugged. The obviously older woman takes the card and begins putting the information on the computer as she begins her usual speech, which she usually skipped for Karina, but figured she'd have to do it now. "A payment of $5,750 for is about to be deducted from this card. Would you like to enroll in a weekly autopay for the bill?"
"Yes."
Eunbi nods and punched in a couple more keys, turning away for a quick second to collect a paper before giving it to Minjeong along with her card. "All set... Will you be visiting her today?"
The question was for Jimin, the woman went back to ignoring the actress. Jimin shakes her head, "Not today. I'm quite tired with school and all, but I'll be back later."
"I'll see you then..?"
"You'll see us then," Minjeong says in a stern tone, linking her arm with Jimin and turning them around to leave, "Have a good day."
"What the fuck was that about?"
Minjeong didn't know what came over her. Her heartbeat suddenly picked up and it wasn't in a good way, no, it was because her blood was boiling. That Eunbi lady was practically eye-fucking JImin right in front of her. How ever old was she!? "I don't know, Karina, what was that lady on about?"
"She was literally just doing her job and you were being embarrassing!" Jimin whisper yells at the younger girl as they exited the hospital, making sure no one around them could actually hear their little argument, "Isn't keeping your image clean part of the whole being famous contract?"
"Well, then maybe she shouldn't have flirted with you in front of me!"
Jimin bit back her tongue from telling Minjeong the truth. Eunbi was just a friend she had made at the hospital during her constant visits who actually knew she and Minjeong weren't actually dating. Not that Eunbi even wanted to get at her since she has a gorgeoud Japanese girlfriend named Sakura at home, and even if she did, that was none of the younger girl's concern. It irritated Jimin that Minjeong had gotten so oddly possessive over her as if she was some object despite promising to not do that when their agreement started. Was using her as a human shield not enough?
The ride the Jimin's apartment was quiet. It was actually a really nice day outside, the raven-haired girl made a mental note to spend some time outside after she was done with her school work, maybe go visit Seulgi down at the cafe, or just anything that didn't involve Minjeong.
"Thank you for the ride, Mr. Choi!" Jimin sends the man one last smile, not even bothering to look at Minjeong, who was as quiet as a mouse still just looking out the window. But she wasn't rude so she mumbled a quick, “Thanks, Minjeong" before jumping out of the car.