"Wh—what do you mean by that boy was me?" Jimin stuttered, his ecstasy from a while ago beginning to get obscured by skepticism.

Silence had been the pair's partner every since their first encounter. As persistent-yet-ready-to-abandon them as a third-wheeler, it had always tagged along with them. Although it had successfully learned to alter itself according to the situation, Jimin and Sera still continued to be the unpredictable couple.

It was that time again when it could not be determined whether silence was necessary at the moment, or if it was merely lingering there because of the awkwardness. Wasting further time in the same was eventually deemed as futile by Sera, as she finally happened to filter the last remaining amount of impetus and spoke up.

"Eh, you don't need to worry too much about that. As I told you, it was just a teenage fantasy— nothing serious, really." An assuring smile split across Sera's lips.

If it were not for Jimin who had already drowned himself into a pool of guilt, the woman's deed would have worked wonders. But it seemed like convincing Jimin was not going to be as easy as Sera had assumed, spurring her into repenting over her own spilt milk.

One action leads to another, and in this case it felt like inevitable than ever.

"No!" Jimin exclaimed abruptly, causing Sera to yank back her arm that had been advancing towards him, "If I had made it that hard for you to open up before people— doesn't matter how old the incident is— then I indeed made you suffer in some way. Tell me, why don't you decline my proposal? Do you want to end up that way once again? Do you want to cut yourself off from people for good?" The male was trying his best to contain that one tear in his eye that had been threatening to expose his own vulnerability.

But nothing was going in his favor at that time, then what even was the point of trying?

"Did we exchange our roles today, by any chance?" Sera pretended to brood, an unusual hint of mischief evident in her eyes.

"Am I a joke to y—"

"See, you're overthinking again. Come on, Jimin!" Sera whined subtly, prompting Jimin to widen his eyes at her as to what occurred out of the blue for her to behave like that, "You know what? These two years while we didn't meet— after accidentally bumping into each other twice— I was in the doldrums for quite long. Then I realized that because of my past, I'm actually missing out on how good my present has turned out to be, and possibly my future would wind up being. That episode, I've dumped it into the stinkiest of waste yards. Why do you think I'd return there to make my nose suffer?" Sera paused to check on Jimin, if he had even bothered to lend her his ear. And he had, thankfully.

"It's all in the past, Jimin. Moreover, it was my fault to fall in love with you... please! I mean, why did I torture myself for an idol when he didn't even know about my existence in the first place? Isn't that lame? Tell me honestly, doesn't that sound lame to you? But things have changed now. You know me, and even I know you personally. Though if you now decide to break my heart once again just because of some super idiotic shit that I did in the past, I'll be emotionally dead for sure. All of it depends on you, Jimin." Sera sent him a sneaky glance with her lips pressed into a thin line, her gesture signaling how optimistic and vivacious of a person she had grown into.

Teenage Sera would be utterly proud of adult Sera if she could see her right then.

"Jeez, what a dummy." Sera commented playfully for one more time before enveloping Jimin with her arms, supporting her head against his shoulder.

Jimin could not identify at first the relativity of her remark, but when he sensed Sera wrapping her arms around him, a candid smile broke on his lips. Everything was falling into place, unlike how it was falling apart some moments prior. Spending some time with Sera had always set things straight for Jimin, was she perhaps his guardian angel?

"You're exceptional in so many ways, I can't even count." Jimin said before embracing Sera tighter than ever, and the latter was forced into thinking of his statement as a warning rather than a compliment.

Sera had never been a morning person, and the job of being a teacher was not any less than a penalty for her. She could not help but reconsider her career choices from time to time, but how was that even constructive when she did not actually have that many fields to choose from? After all, on a scale of one to hundred, her leaving behind her doctorate degrees just to go for an option that did not require waking up early in the morning— she would be nuts not to give herself a score of infinity in the stupidity aspect.

Yes, that was exactly what she deserved.

Yawning miserably as she tried to steal a peek at the clock that was fixed on the wall in front of her, her jaw went unhinged and as a result, stayed hanging for a few moments until she got a grip of herself.

"What in the world—" Sera's shriek was interrupted by a chime that her phone had produced, inciting her to check what her notifications had had in store for her.

Jimin

"I swear to God, he's what keeps me goin— I better hurry up and get dressed." Sera's love eyes for Jimin's text dissolved as soon as the realization of her running late had dawned upon her, which also ultimately wreaked her into leaving the greeting on seen.