Chapter 37: Anxious Statememts

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

It was hard. A piece of himself was left inside the apartment the moment Jimin left, but as heartbroken as he was, he needed to move on. The days were the same for him, through such circumstances where he needed to channel all his emotions, he continued to write.

Once each of his fingers touched the keyboard, his eyes weren't staring at anything else rather than the white blank paper and black letters on the screen forming words. His surroundings faded, and it was the best thing for him. Writing was his escapism from the world, from his best friend, from his ex-boyfriend, from everyone.

He lived his life and didn't seek help from anyone except when his friends offered it to him. Reality always kicked in him whenever he saw the ultrasound picture glued to the refrigerator.

Aside from writing and reading, Jimin gathered his thoughts every day. He came to the conclusion that if Ms. Han asked him to act as a witness in his ex-boyfriend's case, he would do it. But he wouldn't do it only for Jungkook. He would do it for Seunghun, for the men and women that have suffered because of Min Woo, and for Jungkook's mother.

Any interaction with Jungkook, hadn't been physically made since the day he left the latter's apartment. If it was information related to the case, Ms. Han texted him about it.

Jimin assumed Jungkook called Yoongi one day, because the days he had scheduled to record the track for the movie were changed; and he never once saw the raven haired actor. He missed him. He wanted to be held in his arms and be told that everything was a horrible nightmare, that Jungkook hadn't crossed the line like he had done, that Jungkook would realize the true definition of love, but reality was a punch in the face.

Such a punch of anxiety that now filled his body this noon of April 9 made his nerves kick in.

"The District Attorney would like to call the last witness Park Jimin to the stand." A female's intimidating voice spoke loud to break the writer from his thoughts. The trial had his throat sore and anxious system on the verge of failing him. He could feel all eyes on him when he stood up from the crowd. Most importantly, he could feel Jungkook's eyes on him.

"You got this." Jimin whispered to himself. He was nervous. The look in his eyes was determined although his feet almost tripped with every step he took forward.

He pledged to say to solemn truth and when he sat, he felt a sudden heavy weight begin to pressure him down. Like boiling water, his body started heating up, he was way too nervous with Jungkook staring at him like it was the last time they'd see each other forever, but the real reason was another.

When Jimin shifted his eyes to the left, a shiver ran down his spine when his eyes met with the criminal sitting far away from him. After everything that had been done, Min Woo still had the audacity to smirk at him. For instant comfort, he began to gently rub small imaginative circles on his clothed belly, and fortunately for him from where he sat it wasn't visible.

"You may proceed Prosecutor Gong." The male judge permitted her to speak.

Through all the anger Jimin felt, when he noticed how Jungkook began mouthing words, it was like an instant remedy for him. He noticed Jungkook mouthing the words 'Inhale and exhale'. And he did just that, he inhaled a large amount of oxygen and exhaled it to relax his anxiousness. He was first asked basic questions from what his name is, where he lives, his relationship with Jungkook, how long had they been dating before breaking up, etc.

"What's your relationship with the accused, Lee Min Woo?" The prosecutor walked forward and began walking in a straight line back and forth with a slow pace, as if it was part of her way of stating her point and to make the witness nervous.

"He's my ex-boyfriend's stepfather." Jimin truthfully answered with his eyes only on Mrs. Gong. "Have you or have you not, met with him alone on various occasions?" Jimin furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head at the question. "I have not met Mr. Lee alone. The only time I met him physically was in Mr. Jeon's apartment a few months ago." Mrs. Gong nodded and proceeded with the questions.

"Was Lee Min Woo alone or was he accompanied the first time you met him?" When the question was asked, Jimin instantly answered it. "He was accompanied by a boy."

"Do you remember the boy's name?" Jimin nodded but he was going to describe how it happened. And he joked his voice did not suddenly leave him with a chill. "Mr. Lee did not introduce the boy to me, later on, Mr. Jeon told me his name, which is Seunghun. Should I describe how he looked physically?" Jimin asked the last question to add an important detail he clearly remembered. Mrs. Gong held her hand up and made Jimin instantly shut his lips.

"The District Attorney would like it for the first witness to stand up." The judge permitted it.

Seunghun stood up from where sat along with Jungkook and Ms. Han. "Is this the boy the accused was accompanied by the day you met?" Jimin nodded and spoke against the mic placed on the desk. "Yes he is."

"It's alright, you can sit down." Mrs. Gong's voice wasn't as rough when she spoke, she could sense when someone was guilty, like a very accurate gut feeling and she knew that Jimin and Seunghun were innocent, but not the same could be said about Jungkook and obviously not for Min Woo.

"How did Mr. Seunghun seem to you when you first saw him? Please describe the encounter." Another question was asked to the anxiety in his body. He was already uncomfortable under the criminal's gaze on him.

"Seunghun first bowed at me but never met my eyes. The moment when Mr. Jeon and I entered the living room of his apartment, I felt intimidated. When Mr. Lee introduced himself he was acting rather strange and very dark, as if his eyes were trying to undress me. From what I could see, Seunghun was forced to sit on his lap and be silent all the time, and when I asked who he was, Mr. Lee changed the topic. He had said something of the lines of: 'He's not someone important, or he's not someone you should take corcern of.' And frankly, Seunghun seemed to be way too quiet, I thought he was shy, but now, I think he was scared of him." It felt like a weight had suddenly been taken off his chest when he spoke.

"Yes." Mrs. Gong chuckled and faced the judge. "Our witness also has seen the treatment Mr. Lee had done to Mr. Seunghun." The judge glanced at Seunghun and then back at Min Woo with a cautious stare. "Any more questions for the witness?" Mrs. Gong nodded and spoke a Yes followed by her eyes set on Jungkook.

"Park Jimin," She started and turned her head to face the writer. "Has there ever been a time where you have been afraid of your ex-boyfriend Jeon Jungkook, especially in the bedroom?" The question was suddenly thrown out there. Ms. Han's left eyebrow twitched and Jungkook's breathing stopped. He knew this would happen, and he expected Jimin to say it; how he had acted towards him that day of March.

Jimin's lips parted and it seemed like his vocal chords were frozen and he couldn't move them. Memories filled his mind from his time spent with Jungkook. He wanted to come clean that he had been twice afraid of him, but he was talking about the man he loved, the father of his unborned child. His eyes teared up and he hung his head to assemble oxygen in his lungs while staring down at his own clothed stomach where he had still been rubbing the circles. He was going to come clean.

With a gulp of air down his dry throat, Jimin nodded. "Only twice." Once he glanced up, he met Jungkook's eyes. He remembered the first time they met when gravity pulled them closer, and now, it did again, but Jimin wasn't lusting after him or vice versa. Breaking up with him was hard, but he knew justice needed to be done. If Mrs. Gong was after Jungkook as well, he would defend him, only there, for one last time; it was the truth.

"But it was consensual." He added before Mrs. Gong could claim her statement proved. "What do you mean consensual? Would you explain?" As if she did not expect Jimin to say that, she focused her eyes only on him now instead of glaring her way to anyone else (Min Woo or Jungkook). And Jimin was about to reveal his sex life in front of everyone present.

Great. As jf I'm not nervous enough...

"My ex-boyfriend, Jungkook, always asked me before we had sex. I gave him consent over what we would do. When I had my limits and told him to stop with a special word, he stopped." Jimin tried not to divulge any more information about what they did in the bedroom, but it seemed Mrs. Gong disagreed. "If he stopped when you said the supposed word, then why do you say you were afraid of him twice?" She raised an eyebrow and stopped walking.

"...Um." Jimin felt his cheeks redden in crimson, he felt embarrassed because of what he was about to say. If it could save Jungkook from going to jail, although he hoped not to see him again, he had to say it for his mental peace. "B-Because I wasn't used to having a boyfriend into kinks and sexual toys. I felt intimidated by him, although it may seem absurd now, it was for our sexual pleasure." Now he wanted to disappear.

Whispers began to errupt in the court room aftee he spoke. The gossip was being fed. For an instant, he saw Mrs. Gong's eyes widen and she blushed for a few seconds before regaining her intimidating composure.

"And did you ever notice Mr. Jeon acting strange towards you when you were in the bedroom? Even with consent given? Maybe he had ulterior motives?" Mrs. Gong hadn't proof of that. She took the gamble against it.

Jungkook snapped his head at Ms. Han from beside him, he began to whisper something in her ear while Jimin exhaled a breath before biting his lips uncomfortably. Ms. Han began typing fast on her laptop while she heard him; something was about to happen.

"I know Jeon Jungkook. From the day we met, we had a relationship that started off very sexual and intimate, but as time passed, I began to notice little details. He began to open up to me as I did to him, which led to him confessing what Lee Min Woo had done to him and his mother." Jimin paused and stared at Min Woo with a glare evident in his eyes; he felt courageous. "The only day I noticed Mr. Jeon acting out of his usual normal was in March the day I broke up with him." Another pause was done and he looked at the prosecutor as if asking her permission to continue explaining and she did.

"Continue."

"Mr. Jeon had me come over to his apartment. I began to instantly feel off. My ...instinct was telling me something was wrong with him. He rushed our intercourse. There was something in his eyes that said he was nervous, and he never was, that was the only day I had seen him like that." Jimin took a breather feeling his toes curl around his shoes before glancing at Jungkook still whispering something against Ms. Han's ear. The memories were still vivid.

"He asked consent before touching me as he always did, but this time I could feel his touch was rougher than usual; he was rushing. Something felt instantly off because we had sex in another bedroom that wasn't his; and I had never been to that room, only Mr. Jeon's personal bedroom."

"Your Honor, Permission to speak!" Ms. Han instantly got up with Jungkook biting his lower lip while staring at Jimin. The lawyer had a new piece of information that was going to help the case. On her opened laptop, there was a new file emailed to her.

Mrs. Gong rolled her eyes when her point of also proving Jungkook guilty got paused. She was about to reject the proposal to the judge but she froze her feet on the ground when the judge nodded. "Granted." This wasn't his first trial with Ms. Han, and he knew how good she was at her job, so he inferred that if she needed to speak, there must be a good cause for it.

"Thank you Your Honor." Ms. Han grabbed her laptop and left her desk to walk her way to the judge. "We have new evidence that my client was threatened by the accused. Here's a USB with the evidence. There's an audio from a call and a video; I won't show the video for the witness and my client's rights and privacy." Ms. Han was about to reveal something to Jimin that would forever leave him ashamed of himself. He didn't know this existed. He didn't know how Ms. Han managed to get the recording from the call from but what shook him to the core was the other audio.

"What is this?" The judge asked as soon as the audio from the call began playing on the speakers of the court room (used to show evidence, etc). "It's a call between Lee Min Woo and Jeon Jungkook. Here, the accused is heard threatening my client as well as Mr. Park." The hairs on Jimin's skin stood up, he felt betrayed when he heard the call, but nothing would compare to what he heard next.

A gasp left Jimin's lips and he instantly focused his eyes on Jungkook's lowered ones. He felt the nausea crawling up his throat the next moment. Disgust, anger, embarrassment, and betrayal formed in his eyes. He was about to break down on the podium where he everyone could see him.

The audio from the call revealed everything.

"Let me watch you fuck him with all your favorite toys. I'll give you two weeks for that answer in preparation, if not, you'll be the one chained up."

"And in the meantime of those two weeks, I want you to fuck one on our sluts at least thrice. One will be tonight. Don't try to escape me, or you'll end up like her."

"Y-Yes Master."

And the audio from the video made him lose it.

"I hate you."

"That was a nice turn of events."

"Leave me alone Min Woo hyung. You won..."

"I gave you a choice. Fuck him or I'll break you again. You fucked it up yourself just like your mother did when she defied me. I always win."

Jimin stood up from the chair he sat and covered his mouth his the back of his hand. "Please excuse me..." After everything he had said to him. Jimin heard the judge calling back to him, but he needed to get out of there. His stomach began to tighten as he ran down. The officers guarding the doors were about to stop him from leaving per the judge's sudden confusion to his actions.

Jungkook stood up from his chair. He noticed the writer wasn't feeling good. The sudden déjà vu of Jimin running away from the meeting in Director Min's office to empty his guts out in the bathroom became a living memory. By pure instinct, he dashed forward to help him. "He's feeling sick! Let him go to the bathroom!" He shouted as he managed to run towards Jimin's figure.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"I'm sorry Jimin hyung... I'm sorry." Jungkook rubbed the writer's back with his hand while closing his eyes and scrunching his nose from the vile smell. "Don't fucking talk to me. This is all because of you. I'm sick of this. Y-You-" Jimin was about to slap his hand away but he ended up rolling his eyes and focusing on letting his mouth point to the already dirty toilet.

"You're a coward and a liar." Jimin managed to say after a few seconds.

"I know." Jungkook answered, there wasn't a hint of hesitance in his voice.

"Get out and leave me the fuck alone." The irritance in the writer's voice was another slap to the actor, he knew he deserved it.

"You fucking liar! He watched m-me na-" Another urge to empty his stomach forced his gagging out. Aboslute-fucking-ly disgusting.

"Leave me be Jeon. You've done more than enough." Jimin felt his vision blur, he began to suffer from slight dehydration. "I can't leave you like this! You're about to pass out!" Jungkook argued with him. The writer's lips were a mixture of yellow and a white-pink; freaking pale.

"You didn't care before, so why now. Leave me alone!" Jimin groaned and tried using his strength to flush the toilet; at least that worked. Jungkook shook his head and took off the black blazer he wore. "Take your shirt off and wear this instead. Come on, I'll help you up." He was about to help the writer up when his hand got slapped.

"Don't fucking touch me after everything you've done." Jimin managed to pull himself up alone without stumbling as if he was used to it and pushed past him to go clean himself up on the sink.

"Wear this. I'll go look for a bottle of water and hopefully find you a new shirt." Jungkook insisted with his voice lowered, it wasn't commanding. He wasn't used to being this kind, but it was coming naturally for him. Change was needed.

And change was what he was beginning to do, even if it took years for Jimin to forgive him because he himself couldn't forgive what he had done.