Chapter Text
Jimin isn’t sure how she got roped into this.
And of course it's Aeri’s and Yizhou’s faults.
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She had been minding her business trying to complete all the assignments that she let pile up during the semester.
That was a mistake, because now she’s having one of the worst semester breaks ever. She even had to turn her phone off, because looking at instagram stories of her friends on vacation was giving her major depression.
Not even ten minutes after she started her study timer, she heard a knock on the door and the next thing she knows, she’s stuck babysitting twins.
"We’ll go crazy if we don’t have a day alone without these demons." Was the last thing she remembered Yizhou saying before her and Aeri were out of the door.
So now here Jimin was, with a very long assignment to complete and a pair of rogue demon twins on her hands. She loved her godchildren, but god was really testing her limits today.
“Please please please Aunt Jimin,” Danielle jumped up and down on the sofa.
“Last time you promised you would take us to the trampoline park if we finished all our vegetables,” Hanni pouted.
She did? Well current Jimin wanted to go back in time and strangle the Jimin that made that promise.
She looked at the twins, both of them putting on their best display of pouts and puppy dog eyes. Manipulative little shits.
So you see, Jimin didn’t really have a choice. She loaded the twins into her car, trying her hardest to concentrate on the road as they chanted ‘Jump planet! Jump planet! Jump Planet!’ the whole drive there.
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The kids zoom out of the car as soon as they reach and Jimin feels like her eyes are crossed trying to keep up with them.
She can barely get them to stand still for a second so she can put on their ‘special sticky socks’—as Hanni had called them. Danielle is already running off into the jumping area with one of her socks half on when Jimin grabs her by the back of her shirt.
After giving them her best ‘be careful’ talk in the most serious voice she can muster, Jimin slumps back into her seat and watches as the kids run free, squealing in delight.
Thank god she doesn’t have children. Having to deal with Hanni and Danielle just once a month was already giving her enough grey hairs. Let alone everyday? She had to hand Aeri and Yizhou their flowers.
Grabbing a spare pair of special sticky socks, Jimin puts them on in anticipation of the kids wanting her to join them.
Just as she looks up from putting the socks on, she locks eyes with the most gorgeous girl she’s ever seen in her life.
Jimin stops breathing.
The girl, who is walking around in the jumping area, looks about her age although her build is much smaller than Jimin’s. She has long black hair that Jimin can feel her fingers twitching with the urge to just touch.
Jimin wonders how someone can look so good in casual clothes, wearing jeans and a tank top under a flannel with the words Jump Planet plastered on one side. On the other side is a name tag, but Jimin decides against squinting to try and get the girl’s name, fearing she’d look more like a creep than she already does ogling her. Some baby hairs are stuck to the girl’s forehead, and her face is shiny with what Jimin can imagine is a thin sheen of sweat.
Suddenly, Jimin feels very thirsty and she swallows to try and combat her dry mouth.
The girl smiles at her and Jimin almost falls off her chair causing the girl to chuckle before turning away. Was that a dimple?
Jimin takes back what she said earlier. Thank god she made the promise to the twins which led to her being here. Because now, she can die happy.
Jimin is still watching the girl supervise children in the jump area, when she hears a stampede of footsteps approaching her.
“Aunt Jimin! Come jump!” Hanni gets out in between heavy pants.
Danielle follows behind Hanni, face red with exertion. “Yeah! You said you know how to do a triple somersault! I want to see!”
She did? God she had to stop making a habit of lying to these kids.
Looking at their hopeful faces, she sighs fondly, knowing she would be going through some trouble to try and keep up her cool auntie image. She didn’t have the heart to tell them that she couldn’t remember the last time she stepped foot on a trampoline.
First making sure the kids gulped down a bottle of water each, she lets them drag her into the jumping area, each of them eagerly tugging her by a hand.
The moment she steps foot on the springy material, she immediately feels off balance. Her hands flail at her sides in an attempt to keep her balance. But after a couple of minutes, she gets the hang of jumping, although her aching back protests with every second she spends on the trampoline.
The kids, who had bounded off in their excitement, eventually come back to hound Jimin about her triple somersault.
“Aunt Jimin’s feeling a little tired today…maybe next time I can show you guys?”
As soon as the words leave Jimin’s mouth, Danielle’s and Hanni’s faces drop so drastically, you would’ve thought someone told them that all their toys had been confiscated. Aeri and Yizhou have definitely never told these kids no a day in their lives.
Just then, Jimin catches sight of her mystery girl, eyes darting curiously between Jimin and the twins.
Jimin puffs her chest out and begins jumping again, trying to gain some height. “Okay kids watch this. Aunt Jimin is going to show you a really cool trick, okay?”
It doesn’t matter that flexibility isn’t on Jimin’s list of talents. Just jump and spin forwards. How hard can it be, right?
The second Jimin’s feet leave the trampoline, she knows this is a bad idea. The springs propel her upwards and she tries to lean her weight forwards, successfully making maybe half? of a full rotation.
But unfortunately gravity catches up to her. She can feel herself quickly decending and she knows she hasn’t spun enough. It’s like watching a car crash happen in slow motion. She collides head first with the frame of the trampoline and can hear gasps from the twins as she lands.
Her neck and head twinge in pain and her brain feels like it’s working in slow motion, like she’s in a daze. Hitting your head can do that to you, she guesses. Slowly blinking her eyes open, she’s assaulted by the bright overhead lights and decides she’d rather keep them closed.
Continuing to lie on the floor, she can feel small hands tugging at her shirt.
“Aunt Jimin! That was so cool!”
“Yeah! Can you do it again?”
Jimin’s about to open her mouth when she feels a shadow standing over her, obstructing the bright lights. When she opens her eyes, she can see the blurry outline of a face peering at her, and when her eyes adjust, she has to question if she’s died and gone to heaven.
There’s no way that someone like this is simply just walking around on earth, working a normal job. A face like that deserves to be hung up in a museum.
After Jimin has that thought the girl blushes slightly before chuckling and shaking her head and oops, did she voice that thought out loud? And yes, the girl definitely has a dimple, except now it’s only on display because she’s giving Jimin an extremely pitiful smile.
“Girls, I think your Aunt Jimin here needs a little break. How about you go and jump some more first.”
The girls yell out their okays at a volume slightly too loud for Jimin’s pounding head and she winces.
“Do you think you can stand up?” A gentle voice says to her and Jimin turns her head towards the voice. The girl is now kneeling down next to her and woah when did her face get so close?
“Um Jimin…” The girl clears her throat but all Jimin can focus on is how her name has never sounded better leaving someone’s mouth. “Can you hear me?”
The girl sounds concerned now and Jimin is able to gather her last two brain cells to nod sheepishly.
“Okay great. My name’s Minjeong and I’m gonna help you out. Do you think you can stand up for me?”
Jimin thinks that for Minjeong she’d do anything, but for now she just leans up into a sitting position, and then pushes up so that she’s standing. She’s a little unsteady on her feet, but before she has the chance to stumble, a hand steadies her by the elbow.
“How are you feeling?” Minjeong leads Jimin out of the jump area.
“Just a little dizzy. And my head…” Jimin reaches up to massage the back of her scalp.
“Yeah, that looked like a nasty fall. I’m probably going to have to take you to the emergency room.”
At the realization that Minjeong had a front row view to her spectacular fall, Jimin wants to crawl into a hole and never come out.
“You really don’t have to. I feel pretty much fine now.”
Jimin tries to protest but Minjeong just smiles knowingly at her. Those cheeks and that goddamn dimple.
“I’m sure you feel fine, but it’s just protocol. Here,” Minjeong hands Jimin a piece of paper and a pen, then nods towards the twins. “Write down their parents’ numbers. My colleagues will make sure they get home safe while I take care of you.”
Jimin’s heart does a perfect triple axel at the prospect of getting to spend more time with Minjeong.
After handing over Yizhou’s and Aeri’s numbers, Jimin is escorted to Minjeong’s car. The whole time, Minjeong still has a hand at her elbow and she thinks that if the fall didn’t knock her out, this much contact with Minjeong might just finish the job.
Jimin sits quietly in the passenger seat as Minjeong starts the car up. Her head is still a little fuzzy and if she opens her mouth she’s not sure that something coherent will come out.
“So, twins huh?” Minjeong spares Jimin a glance before her eyes go back to the road.
“Yeah. I mean—they’re not mine! I don’t have someone to do the whole kids thing with—because I’m single.” At this point Jimin just wants to shove her foot in her mouth. “And yeah, you probably didn’t need to hear all of that. I was just babysitting.”
When Jimin finally decides to shut up, Minjeong laughs and the sound is so lovely Jimin thinks she could loop a recording of it and listen to it forever.
“Alright, noted.”
It’s unfortunate that the fall not only destroyed Jimin’s last two brain cells, but also all her conversational skills. She can only thank god that the drive is just a couple minutes, and that Minjeong doesn’t have to endure any more of her stuttering.
The emergency room is less busy than she thought it’d be, and in the short time they have to wait, Jimin learns a couple things about Minjeong. She learns that Minjeong is studying music at the same university as her. She learns that Minjeong is a year younger than her and that she has an older brother. She learns that it’s going to be hard for her to say goodbye to this girl who makes the birds chirp and the sun shine when she smiles.
When it’s her turn to see the doctor, Minjeong does the job of explaining how Jimin landed herself the visit. The doctor tells her that she’s probably just strained a muscle in her neck but that it’s possible she has a concussion, so she’d need someone to monitor her closely for the next twelve hours.
Well that’s great. At least her stunt didn’t do any permanent damage. Except maybe on her ego.
They give their thanks to the doctor before heading out and Minjeong offers to drive Jimin home saying that ‘there’s no way she’s letting Jimin behind the wheel with a possible concussion’ when Jimin protests.
After they both get into the car, Minjeong rummages around in her bag for something, pulling out a wad of leaflets she had apparently picked up in the hospital.
“Here’s the list of symptoms you need to watch out for.” Minjeong reaches her hand out over the center console to give them to Jimin. “You should give it to whoever’s going to be checking up on you.”
“Oh—uh thanks. But I actually live by myself so I just need one.” Jimin reaches to take a leaflet and her heart jumps as their fingers brush, but then Minjeong pulls her hand back.
"Not so fast." She quirks an eyebrow. "You heard the doctor. Who’s going to make sure you don't die in your sleep?"
"Uh...myself?" Jimin smiles guiltily. "I've got a couple of assignments to do so I'm sure they'll keep me up all night anyway."
Minjeong clicks her tongue softly, her fingers drumming against the steering wheel as she thinks. Then she looks back at Jimin, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
“I guess that just means you’re going to have to come home with me.”
---
Even now, Jimin still isn’t entirely sure how she got roped into this, but suddenly she doesn’t mind.