[Contest 3] You are Mint Lavender (Season 2)
EP12. Don't Go, I'm Sorry
※This episode also unfolds from the omniscient author's perspective!
The female protagonist fell asleep after taking the antidote, and Jimin, who was sitting in front of her, washing his face, had his expression distorted again.
The woman's condition improved significantly, with her body temperature, which had hovered around 40 degrees, dropping and her breathing returning to normal. However, the problem was the harsh future ahead.
박지민
"Haaah....."
His sighs grew ragged as he struggled to figure out how Yeo-ju ended up working at the JW Medical Research Institute, or rather, what exactly had happened during the two hours they had been out of contact.
'Jeeeeing! Jeeing!'
His phone vibrated loudly on the desk, and Jimin, expecting it to be Jungkook, quickly picked up the phone so as not to wake Yeoju.
박지민
"hello"
전정국
"Haa...haa...where is Kim Yeo-ju, where is Kim Yeo-ju!?"
It was well past midnight, and I could clearly hear Jeongguk's heavy breathing through the phone, as if he had been wandering around outside.
박지민
"The heroine is taking medicine and sleeping right now. What the hell did you do? What did you do until the child got to this point, you idiot!"
전정국
"Haa.... It's a long story. Let's hear it when we meet."
박지민
"......."
박지민
"I don't know when Yeoju will wake up. First, call Seokjin."
전정국
"...Why is that guy calling?"
박지민
"If you call, call me, you little punk. Shouldn't that guy be the first to know about the state of the heroine?"
전정국
"What? Kim Yeo-ju, what the hell is going on..."
박지민
"I took some kind of drug and couldn't even breathe properly, and my whole body was on fire! What the hell are you doing...!! Haa... Okay, let's stop."
Jimin's eyes reddened as he recalled the image of the woman in pain. He hung up, afraid that if he said anything more, the tears would fall from the precariously clinging eyes, or that he'd just cry like a fool.
Ding dong!
Not long after, the doorbell rang, and Seokjin, with a look as unpleasant as Jimin's, came into the house.
김석진
"....What kind of a stupid situation is this again?"
Seokjin, who had been watching Jimin's expression, spoke up, seeing that it seemed more serious than he had expected.
박지민
"....First, look at the female lead. She... took some medicine, but just in case.."
김석진
"...Okay, let's go."
Seokjin, who had just finished his night surgery and was about to close his eyes, received a call from Jeongguk and came all the way here. His face, already drenched in fatigue, was distorted, like a grim reaper.
He wanted to ask what was going on, but he consoled himself by saying that he needed to check on the female lead first, as Jimin had said.
김석진
"....I don't know what it was like yesterday, but fortunately, today seems okay. Don't wake me up until I wake up."
박지민
"Haa....thank goodness..."
김석진
"..what on earth is going on"
Seokjin, unable to console himself from his longing for answers any longer, asked Jimin.
박지민
"....I'm frustrated too right now. I don't really know what's going on. I think that Jeon Jungkook knows something too, but I haven't heard the details..."
Jimin, already anxious due to the urgency of the situation, didn't even bother to listen to the explanation. The situation had clearly occurred, and the facts were clearly known to everyone, but the situation wasn't conducive to listening.
박지민
"I think I need to talk to Jeon Jungkook first..."
김석진
"...Well, I'll go for now. I have another surgery scheduled for tomorrow morning. I'll contact you after the surgery. Let's meet up with Jungkook."
Seokjin, who wasn't reassured by the fact that Yeoju was safe, spoke up, and Jimin, who felt that sharing information with each other was the only way to escape the situation, nodded.
The next morning
김여주
"Park Jimin! Wake up! Why are you spacing out like this today?"
Jimin, unable to breathe a wink due to all sorts of worries, sat blankly at the table, holding his chopsticks.
박지민
"Huh!? Ah..."
Jimin, startled by the heroine who was carefully examining his face, pressed her face into Jimin's, and swallowed the sigh that was about to escape, curling her lips inward.
김여주
"Where...does it hurt?"
박지민
"It hurts... Hurry up and finish eating."
When the female protagonist asked with a worried expression, Jimin denied it was anything, but of course, it wasn't. He wanted to ask about yesterday, but couldn't, leaving him frustrated.
박지민
"My lady..."
김여주
"huh?"
Jimin, who was watching the female lead eating while mumbling, asked as naturally as possible.
박지민
"You look pretty today. Where are you going?"
김여주
"Oh, didn't I tell you? Haha, I'm going to start working at JW Medical today! Isn't that awesome? Right, right!?"
Unlike Jimin, who asked cautiously, Yeoju smiled brightly at him, saying she was going to work.
박지민
"Ugh..."
Is it really that good, where the sandstorm blows?
Maybe because it's your first time
Even after turning twenty, I spent my days with my eyes closed. This is my first time living a proper social life, so I'm excited, of course.
Jimin tried to comfort himself.
김여주
"What... why are you reacting like that? Even if I like you for a long time, it's not enough..."
Was his expression too gloomy in front of the girl he liked? Feeling sorry, Jimin looked at Yeoju, and a look of regret covered her face.
The atmosphere had suddenly become tense, and silence had fallen, creating an awkward atmosphere between them.
김여주
"...I'm going to be late for work. I'll wake up first!"
Finally, the female protagonist, who had been munching on rice, got up from her seat and started packing her bag to get ready for work.
Jimin felt a complex feeling as he watched the heroine, who had finished all preparations and was putting on heels, holding onto the wall with one hand. Sending her to work or not was risking her life, but he felt a burning desire to hold on to her.
박지민
"Hey lady....can I not go?"
김여주
"What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
The female lead, startled by Jimin's sudden request not to go to work, asked back.
김여주
"Park Jimin, you're really weird today. What the hell is wrong with you? Huh? Do you have something to say to me?"
박지민
"....."
Jimin seemed to catch his breath when the female protagonist asked if he had anything to say. The words he pleaded for her to stay by his side, that he didn't know what would happen if he went, that it was dangerous, seemed to catch in his throat as they tried to escape.
박지민
"You...were sick. And it was just last night. Can't you stay home for a day or so?"
김여주
"Ha... Today's my first day at work. And I'm already better."
No matter how many excuses I tried to come up with, it was all about the high fever from last night, and I kept hating the female protagonist who was so resolute in her refusal.
박지민
"I'm saying this because I'm worried about you..."
박지민
"Please, my lady...please..."
김여주
"This is my first and my only time. And you're telling me not to go? Sorry, I don't think I can do that, Jimin."
김여주
"No, I can't."
김여주
"Just this once, I want to live a normal life. I want to trust people, other than you, and live a life where I work... that's what I'm saying."
김여주
"I'll be back. Don't worry, Jimin..."
So, leaving behind a single word telling Yeoju not to worry, she left the room.
The heroine's firm tone and expression, even though it was natural for her to do so, stabbed Jimin like a sharp knife, and clear tears, not red blood, flowed uncontrollably as if waiting for the right moment.
박지민
"Ugh... Ugh... I can't trust that kid... Hehe... Hehe... There's no place like that... There... Hehe...."
I collapsed in front of the doorway where she had disappeared, and now I reached out to grab her, and cried out loud, telling her not to go, but it was useless.
박지민
"I'm sorry...sob...ugh....I'm so...so sorry, heroine...hehe...sob..."
Between the pain of death and death itself, Jimin was in so much pain because he didn't want to give either to the female protagonist.
The choice itself was painful for him, and the pain was always accompanied by a feeling of helplessness.
A feeling of helplessness gripped the empty antidote bottle in his hand, as if reminding Jimin that he could do nothing but watch, that he could only wait for her to return in pain tonight.
Even as sandstorms raged across the barren desert, the minty lavender, rooted deep in the ground, could only gaze upon them, weeping and weeping.