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Chapter 9: What Are Best Friends For? – September 11 – November 6, 2019

The next day after their music theory class, Jimin and Jumi headed for her appa’s apartment.  As they rode the elevator, Jimin glanced at her.

“You’re sure your appa’s at work?”

She nodded.  “I called and asked to speak to him a minute ago.  They put him on the phone.”

“Did you talk to him?”

She nodded her head.  “In a weird nasally voice, I claimed to be calling from a doctor’s office.   Turns out he didn’t have an appointment with that doctor.”

Jimin laughed.  “You are one clever girl, Jumi.  Remind me never to cross you.”

“Don’t cross me, Jimin.”  But then, she smiled at him.

“Still, I want to take one more precaution.  If you don’t mind.”

“What?” she quirked an eyebrow.

“You hang out around the corner, and I’ll knock on the apartment door.  If no one answers, we’ll know we’re safe.”

She agreed.

Now, Jimin was nervously knocking on the door.  But no one answered.  So, after a few moments, she walked to the door and slid her key into the lock.  But it didn’t work.  Distressed, she tried again.

“He changed the locks,” she whispered.

Her face crumpled.  Jimin noticed.

“What’s so important that you had to come back for it?”

“My eomma gave me a doll on my fifth birthday.  Never mind,” she responded in a tiny voice.  “It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course, it matters!  Is it the only doll in your room?”

She nodded.  “It was the only doll I was ever given.  But Eomma told me it looked just like me.  She called it Mini Jumi.”  Tears were flooding her eyes.

“Jumi, I promise you, I will get that doll back for you.  If it’s still in your room, I will find it.”

“You promise?” She asked him with puppy dog eyes, tears trembling on her lashes.

In that moment, Jimin would have done anything to get that doll back.

“Better than that.  I pinky promise.”  

He held up his tiny pinky.  He’d always been embarrassed by his small hands.  But as Jumi held her larger pinky up, not one giggle escaped her lips as their fingers locked around each other.  She gazed up at him out of reddened eyes and smiled.

“Thank you, Jimin.”

Then she stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek before reaching for his hand and tugging him towards the elevator.  

“Jumi,” he asked as they rode alone down to the bottom floor, “are you okay with never setting foot in your apartment again?  And never seeing your appa again?”

She stared at him for a few moments, then she murmured soberly, “I think it’s time to cut the cord.  Appa hasn’t been my friend.  Ever.  Not once in the last eighteen years.  Not that I can remember.”

Jimin’s heart hurt for her.  She had no one.  She was all alone in the world now.  No eomma.  No kind appa.

“Jumi, do you have any siblings?”

She shook her head.

“A grandmother, a grandfather?”

Another shake of her head.

“An auntie, an uncle?”

“Maybe.  But if so, I don’t know.  Appa never took me to meet any family.  He’s estranged from his parents.  He disgraced them as a teenager, I think.  He mumbled something about it when he was drunk one time.”

“So, you’re all alone in the world?  Except for your appa, I mean.”

“No.  You had it right the first time.  Appa definitely doesn’t count.  I am alone in the world.  Or, I would be if…” Her voice trailed off.

“If what?”

“If I didn’t have you.”  She squeezed his hand as she lifted the corners of her mouth before glancing at the floor.

“You’ve got that right, Jumi.  You’ve got me.  Now.  And forever.”

She glanced up at him then.  And smiled.  That tiny smile devastated his heart somehow.

––

Later that night, Jimin called his best friend, Tae.

“Wanna do a little investigative work with me?”

Tae grinned hugely.  “Sounds fascinating.  When and where?”

“Tomorrow.  Meet me at the shop.  Six o’clock.  Wear a pair of jeans and a plain white T-shirt.”

––

Tae followed Jimin’s instructions implicitly.  As they rode in Jimin’s car towards Jumi’s old apartment, Tae questioned Jimin.

“So. What’s all this about?”

“We need to get into Jumi’s appa’s apartment.”

“Who is Jumi?”

“My girlfriend.”

Tae turned shocked eyes towards Jimin.  “You have a girlfriend?”

“Not exactly,” Jimin mumbled, “but I hope to.  Soon.”

Tae frowned and glanced at Jimin like he was nuts.  “Why did you call her your girlfriend then?”

“Most succinct way to answer your question.”

Tae shook his head.  “What’s gotten into you?  You love words.”

Jimin sighed.  “I made a friend at school.  Jumi.  She’s staying in my spare room.  Her appa beat her.  He doesn’t know me.  Or that she’s staying with me.  

“But she left something in the apartment.  He changed the locks.  So you and I are going to go retrieve it for her.  Without letting her appa know that I’m sheltering her.”

“And how exactly are we going to do that?  And why did I bring my appa’s tool box?”

“So we can retrieve her doll undetected.”

“Her doll?”

—

Tae knocked on the door.  They both knew he was the better actor.  Jimin pulled his hat down over his eyes.  A moment later, the door opened, and Jumi’s appa stood staring up at Tae.

“Excuse us, sir.  We’ve been called by your super.  Your toilet appears to be leaking.  The apartment below yours is flooded.  We need to take a look at your toilet and see if we need to tighten a pipe or replace the whole works.”

“What?  Nobody told me about a leak.”

“Were you at work today?  It just happened a little while ago.”

The man nodded.

“I’m sorry if we’re disturbing you.  We’ll just be a few minutes.  Hopefully.  You can just show us to your bathroom and then go about your business as usual.  The sooner we come in, the sooner we’ll be out of your hair.”

Jimin was holding his breath even as he marveled at what a brilliant actor Tae was.

“Come in.  The bathroom is this way.”

A few moments later, Jimin and Tae were standing in the bathroom.  Jumi’s appa was watching them from the doorway.  Tae was staring at the toilet.  Jimin was still hiding his face by examining the wall that he knew was shared by Jumi’s old bedroom.  Suddenly, without looking at her father, Jimin nonetheless murmured something to him.

“Sir, is there a bedroom on the other side of this wall?”

“Yes.”

“Would you mind if I examine it for water damage?”

“No.  Go ahead.  The door is right there.” 

Jimin followed that pointing finger while Tae squatted down next to the toilet and drew the attention of Jumi’s appa as he exclaimed, “Ah!  I think I see what’s loose.  Let’s try tightening this up a bit.”  He began to dig through his toolbox, looking for the right wrench.

Meanwhile, Jimin slipped into Jumi’s room.  His eyes traveled around it, first checking the bed where the doll usually rested.  But, though the bed was crisply made still, no doll appeared to be sitting on it.  

Jimin felt a pang as his eyes slid over that well-kept bed.  He would never force Jumi to be that neat.  Though, if she were, he wouldn’t complain.  But…where could her doll be?

He walked up to the bed and began to pull the covers off the floor, so he could ascertain whether or not the doll had fallen off the bed.  Nothing on this side.  He wandered over to the other side.  That’s when he spotted it lying on the ground.  He picked it up and shoved it inside the sleeve of the shirt he had tied around his waist.  He knotted the wrist of that arm so that the doll couldn’t fall out.  Then he walked over to the wall and rapped on it.  

“All clear in here!” he hollered before he emerged from the room and stepped into the bathroom once more.  “No leak in the bedroom.”

“All was well?” Tae asked in code.

Jimin nodded.

Tae finished tightening the already-tight bolt.  Then he turned towards Jumi’s appa.  “I think, sir, that that will do it.  It should all be as right as rain now.  But a whole lot drier!” Tae chuckled.

He stood up and placed his wrench inside his toolbox before he followed Jimin who was already headed for the front door.  Jimin stepped into the hallway as he felt for the heavy sleeve of his shirt.  The doll was still there.  Tae slipped into the hallway behind him and turned towards the silent man.

“Thank you, sir.  Have a good evening, sir.”  

He bowed to him before Jumi’s appa shut the door in his face.  Then Tae turned towards Jimin with a huge grin on his face.

“Come on.  Let’s head for the elevator.”

—

Once they were safely alone in the elevator, and it was descending, Tae turned towards Jimin.  

“You did get the doll, right?”

Jimin nodded.  “I’ll show you in the car.”

Tae was still grinning.  “That was even easier than I anticipated it would be.”

“At first, I couldn’t find it.  But then I realized it must have slipped off the bed.  It was lying on the floor on the opposite side.”

He leaned against the wall of the elevator.  And he let loose a huge sigh of relief.  He was so ecstatic that he was going to be able to give Jumi her doll.

“Thank you so much, Tae.  I owe you big.”

“You owe me nothing.  What are best friends for?”

––

Jumi gazed down at the tiny doll in her hands.  Tears filled her eyes.  She glanced up at Jimin, then she threw her arms around him, her chest bumping his.

“Thank you, Jimin!  I love you!”

His arms had come up around her reflexively, but at her words, his heart flipped over.  Jumi loved him?  She had just spoken the words that no one, until him, had spoken over her.  

He hugged her close.  “I love you, Jumi.  I was happy to rescue your little dolly for you.”

He drew back and smiled down into her eyes.  Her smile faded.  And her gaze strayed to his lovely lips.  She swallowed.  She knew if she kissed him, she would change their dynamic.  

Right now, they were friends.  The best of friends.  Living down the hallway from each other.  She wasn’t really sure that she could handle more than that right now.  Still, she wanted to brush her lips across his.  She compromised. 

She leaned up and planted her lips against his cheek, then she turned her head and whispered into his ear, “You’re the best, Jimin.”

—

Jumi sat down in class.  Next to Jimin.  Like always.  The bell rang, and she began to dig through her bag.  Looking for the ever-elusive pen.  Where did they all go?  She replaced them each night.  Just to make sure she’d have one for class the next day.  But, without fail, they always seemed to disappear.

The problem was that she was running out of money to buy any more.  She’d been living with Jimin for several weeks now.  Her resources were stretched thin.  Without his help, she never would have made it on her own.  No matter how desperately she’d wanted to be free from her father, she hadn’t had the means to make the separation.  

Not until Jimin had come riding into her apartment on his white charger and rescued her.  Taken her back to his castle so he could guard her and keep her.  Even now, he was feeding her and housing her.  He and his grandmother.  Jumi felt bad about it.  She was trying to get a part-time job to pay for her food, at least, and to contribute towards the utilities.  But, so far, they had refused to accept any money from her.

Suddenly, a hand slapped a box down on the little desktop in front of her.  She followed that hand up its arm to the smiling eyes of the boy her heart had decided to love.  The boy whose heart had, inexplicably, chosen her.

“Now, you’ll have enough.”

She glanced at the box as questions filled her mind.  Then she gasped as she read the outside of the box.

Forty-eight black pens.  

Jimin had bought her an entire box of pens.  Instantly, she wanted to throw herself at him and kiss the sweet boy.

But…they weren’t doing that yet.  

So, instead, she grinned at him and remarked, “Wow.  You must have a lot of faith in my ability to lose a pen.”

“Oh,” he nodded sagely, “I do.  I do.”  Then he grinned at her.

“Thanks for the pens, Jimin.”  

She blew him a kiss.  It was the only one he was getting today.  From her, at least.

His deep smile was her reward.  That…and forty-eight pens.

—

“Jimin, we just need to cut that last chord out of the song.  Then it will be perfect.  Repeat the first chord in the bridge instead.”

“This chord?  You want me to cut this chord out of the song?” He strummed his guitar.

She nodded.  “Try it the other way.”

Jimin played the last few bars of the song through with the new chord combination.  His face lit up.

“You were right!  That is perfect!  Jumi, you have such an ear!”

She blushed.  And he chuckled.  He loved it when her cheeks blossomed with embarrassment.  He wondered if her face would flush if he brushed his mouth across those pale pink lips of hers.

He sighed.  Every time he thought about it, something stopped him.  He had a feeling she just wasn’t ready for more than a friendship.  Not yet.  So he would bide his time and hope for the best.