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Chapter 5: Beautiful Rose – September 9, 2019

He stopped and bought the tape before driving all the way home.  To see his dear Harmony.  She, of course, was busy serving customers.  So he sneaked through the back door and crept up the staircase to the spare room.  Tugging Jumi along with him.  They took the steps slowly.  She was really hurting.

They entered the spare bedroom, and Jimin shut the door.  He set her bags down on the floor next to her new bed.  He released her hand.  Reluctantly.  

Then he bent his beautiful eyes on her.  Considering her.  

“Would you…would you let me help you bandage your ribs?  I realize that’s asking a lot because you’ll have to lift your shirt…”

Everything hurt so bad right now that she wasn’t sure she cared if he saw her in her bra.  Finally, she nodded.  But she couldn’t pull her shirt up over her head.

“Stop!” Jimin admonished her.  “Here.”  He lifted her shirt up until he could see her bra line.  Then he twisted her T-shirt until he could tie it into a knot that revealed just her bare tummy.  He smiled with satisfaction.  He’d prevented her from feeling further pain.  And he’d managed to maintain her modesty.

Then he reached for the tape in his pocket.  He pulled it out and glanced up at her.  “Can you give me any pointers?”

So she explained what to do.  And very carefully – and with infinite gentleness – he began to tape her ribs.  When he finally finished, she inhaled hesitantly, but the pain was so much better that she felt relief flood her.

She glanced up at him.  “Thank you, Jimin.  I don’t know why you’re helping me.”  Then a terrified expression flew across her face.  “Please don’t tell anyone.  No one knows…” Then a deep valley appeared between her twin eyebrows.  “How did you find me?”

“Your friend.  Areum.  She was worried sick about you.  I ran into her at your favorite spot.  She couldn’t come, so I offered to check on you.”  His voice trailed off as their eyes met in a flash of lightning that startled them both.

“Don’t tell her.  Please.”

“You can’t exactly hide two black eyes, Jumi.”  

“Sure, I can.  Sunglasses.”  Alarmed, she glanced up at him.  “Where’s my phone?”

“I didn’t see it in your bedroom.”

“It must be in my backpack.”  She bent and began to rummage through it.

“Jumi, why don’t you tell anyone?  It’s nothing to be ashamed of.  It’s not your fault.”

She shook her head as tears filled her eyes.  “I shouldn’t have gone into the kitchen when I did.  I know better.  He was already enraged about something that happened at work.  I should have just stayed in my room.  But I thought he might want dinner…”

Tears rolled down her cheeks.  Jimin couldn’t take it.  He reached out as gently as he could and wrapped his arms around her, tenderly drawing her close to his heart.  

“Shhh.  It’s not your fault, Jumi.  You did nothing wrong.  Nothing to deserve being beaten like this.  Men don’t even kick their dogs.  Your appa is the one with the problem.  Not you.  You’re…precious.”

She clung to him and sobbed against his chest.  If he was devious, he was an excellent actor.  If he was a player, all he was getting for his efforts was a wet shirt.  If he was…really a sweetheart, then she might have just made a friend.  She truly hoped so.  She needed a friend so badly right now.

Jimin held her close.  He buried his head in her hair and inhaled.  Lemons?  Her scalp was releasing the faint scent of lemons.  It wasn’t strong enough to be a perfume.  A shampoo, perhaps?

He wanted to tighten his hold on her, but he was afraid he would hurt her.  So he kept his arms loosely clinging to her.  She wept against his chest for a long time that afternoon.  

But once she quieted, he asked another question that had occurred to him a few minutes ago.

“Have you had anything to eat all day?” he whispered the words into her ear.

She shook her head.  Which was still pillowed against his chest.  She felt so awkward in his arms.  She bet she outweighed Jimin.  Even though he was several inches taller than her.  

However, she still found herself relaxing because, although she was embarrassed, he was making her feel safe right now.

“Jimin, I’m sorry,” she murmured.

“What?” 

Her voice was muffled by his shirt.

“I’m sorry I misjudged you that first day in class.  You were just trying to be nice, and I misunderstood.  I’m sorry.”

“Never mind.  It’s forgotten.  I just want to make sure you’re safe, Jumi.  You can stay with us for as long as you want.”

“Thank you, Jimin.”  

She started weeping again.  She rubbed her nose against his shirt.

“Hey, can I go get you some dinner?”

She smiled tremulously.  “That would be wonderful.”

His countenance brightened.  “I turned your project in today.  To music theory class.”

Her face flooded with something tender.  “You did?”

He nodded.  

She stood on tiptoe and planted her lips against his cheek.  “Jimin, you are so good to me.  Thank you!”  She sighed with relief.  “That was the only class I had a major assignment due in today.  The others I can make up.  You just saved my grade.”  She peered up into his eyes.  “What can I help you with?”

“My guitar.  You can listen to me practice tonight.  And tell me if I need to tweak anything.”

She snickered.  “Jimin, your song was already perfect.”

“I haven’t sung you the lyrics yet.”

She quirked a dark eyebrow.  “Have you written them?”

He shook his head.

She smiled.  “They’ll come to you.”

They already were.

“Does your song have lyrics?” he asked her as he gazed down into those beautiful, sienna eyes of hers.

She nodded.

“Can I – will you sing it for me?”

Her face filled with alarm.  “No!”  She pulled away from him.  “No.  I don’t sing for people.  My voice – it’s not good.”

“I don’t believe you,” he murmured quietly.

She glanced back up at him.  “It doesn’t matter if you believe it or not.  It’s true.  It’s not good.  I can’t sing high.  Only in a lower register.”

“Please.  Would you reconsider singing for me?  I promise not to laugh.”

Their eyes dueled.  Finally, she caved.  “I’ll think about it.”

Jimin nodded his head. “I’m going to get us some food.  I’ll be back.  Feel free to lie down.  Or get settled.  Whatever you want.”  He glanced back at her.  “Did you find your phone?”

She nodded.  “Yeah.”

“Oh, good!”  

He didn’t want her to have to go back to her apartment.  Her appa scared him.

––

Jimin sat in his room and examined his feelings for Jumi.  They were rapidly changing.  She wasn’t the fierce creature he’d met last week.   She was a girl who had been hurt deeply.  Repeatedly.

He’d been having a hard time writing lyrics for his song.  Mostly, because irritation had been his driving force around her last week.  Until she’d played the piano for him.  

His feelings had begun to shift then.  They’d taken a violent U-turn when he’d read her assessment of his own song.  And then earlier today, when Jimin had discovered her secret pain, her father’s ill treatment of her had forever severed him from any feelings of annoyance he’d been fighting.

Something sweet and soft towards her was blooming in his heart now.  Her kind words about his song had fallen like fruitful seeds into the soil of that heart.  And today her tears had watered that soil.  The sun of her appreciation had shined down upon that ground and caused those seeds to sprout.  And her apology had killed the weeds of bitterness that she had planted last Monday.  Now Jimin had a happy garden blossoming in his heart.  But for one thing.  His fear for her.

Would her appa come looking for her?  If he found her, what would he do to her?  Could Jimin keep her safe…here with him and Harmony?  Would his friendship be enough to steer her safely through these turbulent waters threatening to overwhelm her soul?

Out of the depth of his emotions that night as he lay in bed, alone, staring up at his ceiling, words began to bubble up from his heart.  He grabbed his phone and began to sing into Voice Memos.

“A barren garden I came upon,

Covered in weeds, broken seeds.

No one had tended it for so long,

Trailing branches, fruitless patches. 

“Like a desert, its soil was arid,

Dried out petals, crackling leaves,

Sunburnt greenery, its air acrid,

Shriveled tree trunks, everyone leaves.”

Then he worked on the second verse, to match the pattern of the first.  After about an hour, he began to ponder the chorus.  He didn’t think it would come easily.  But as he thought of Jumi, the words simply flowed from his heart in a sweeping song of such passion that Jimin felt a tear sliding down his cheek.  

He wondered if she was sleeping.  He was so full of feeling right now that he didn’t want to wait to share the song with her.  When he’d finished the recording, he slipped from his bed and pulled his T-shirt on.  Then he wandered down the hallway towards her room, the hem of his shorts nearly hitting his knee.

He stopped outside her doorway.  He listened.  Was that the sound of someone sobbing?  He pressed his ear to the door.  It was definitely the sound of weeping.  His heart turned over in his chest.  No wonder he had felt so impressed to come see her.

He rapped very lightly before he opened her door a fraction.  He closed his eyes to maintain her privacy.  

“Jumi?  Can I come in?”

She suddenly stilled in mid-sob.  What was that noise?  She glanced up.  Straight into Jimin’s sweet face.  

“Jumi, can I come in?”

He was carrying his guitar.  And his eyes were closed.  She smiled.  

“It’s all right, Jimin.  You can come in.  You can open your eyes too.”

So he did.  He closed the door firmly behind him.

“Can I play my song for you?” he whispered.

She frowned.  “Won’t you disturb your grandmother?”

He shook his head.  “She’s accustomed to me playing at night.  It’s never bothered her.”  He grinned suddenly.  “Or perhaps I’m just her favorite, and she simply tolerates it.”

“No one could simply tolerate your music.”  A tiny smile appeared on her face.  “I’d love to hear your song.”

“First…” 

He set his guitar case down and approached her.  He grabbed a Kleenex out of the box on her nightstand and brandished it in front of him as though he were handing his sword over to a queen.  Again, the corners of her mouth lifted as she reached out to accept his offering.  She wiped her face and blew her nose while he grabbed a chair and settled his guitar on his lap.

After a few moments, he asked, “Are you ready?”

“More than that.  I’m giddy with anticipation.”

He laughed.  Her choice of words was quite amusing sometimes.

He closed his eyes and began to play the familiar strains of his most beautiful song.  But then the voice of an angel joined those strumming chords, and she almost fell out of the bed.  Jimin’s voice shocked her.  He had apparently been given the high voice she had coveted.  

Her eyes feasted upon his face.  Every emotion he was feeling played out across his countenance as he sang his song for her.  Then, the words began to soak into her heart, and tears streamed down her face.

“A barren garden I came upon,

Covered in weeds, broken seeds.

No one had tended it for so long,

Trailing branches, fruitless patches. 

“Like a desert, its soil was arid,

Dried out petals, crackling leaves,

Sunburnt greenery, its air acrid,

Shriveled tree trunks, everyone leaves.”

He strummed a few chords of the interlude while he vocalized in that heavenly voice before he began the chorus.

“But in its center,

There blooms a rose.

Where did it come from?

Nobody knows.

“But in its soft heart,

There thrives a rose. 

How can it live still?

Somehow it grows.

“Beautiful rose,

Do not give up.

Beautiful rose,

Lift your face up.

“Beautiful rose,

Drink in the rain.

Beautiful rose,

I’ll steal your pain.

“Beautiful rose,

Bask in the sun.

Beautiful rose,

My precious one.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks as Jimin once again played a short, captivating interlude.  The melody was so haunting.  So gripping.  Then he continued, singing the second verse in that sweet voice of his.

“Desolate garden I stumbled on,

Home to possoms, dead blossoms.

No one singing it their cheering song.

No bubbling brook, no second look.

“Hot sun destroying this wilderness,

Cracked fountain, a dried up well.

None to embrace, nor give it a kiss.

None to any its great love tell.”

She blew her nose during the next interlude, for the tears were still flowing in a mighty torrent out of her eyes to stain her cheeks.  But then, Jimin’s stunning voice picked up the chorus again.  And this time she knew he was singing it to her, for he opened his glorious eyes and stared deeply into hers.

“But in its center,

There blooms a rose.

Where did it come from?

Nobody knows.

“But in its soft heart,

There thrives a rose. 

How can it live still?

Somehow it grows.

“Beautiful rose,

Do not give up.

Beautiful rose,

Lift your face up.

“Beautiful rose,

Drink in the rain.

Beautiful rose,

I’ll steal your pain.

“Beautiful rose,

Soak in the sun.

Beautiful rose,

My precious one.”

He ended the song with a mesmerizing bridge.  Short but sweet.  It echoed in her heart even when Jimin ceased to sing.

“Don’t give in.

Let me in.

My precious rose.”

Jimin stopped singing, but his fingers kept strumming the closing bars of his song.  And his eyes kept probing hers.  Promising something wonderful.