Where you go, I go

Torn in between the complexity of love and the sheer will to save you, I stand. 

Even in the face of the loneliness and emptiness that reign over the mattress, I shall progress.

Lost and desperate, that’s how Aeri had been feeling over the past week. There hadn’t been a day where she hadn’t nearly clawed at herself to fight the urge to reach for a bottle. Just a single drop, it can’t be that bad, it cannot hurt me. But yes it could and would have, she knew it. 

Her only way out was to smoke. She was more than aware that it wasn’t any better than to drink, that using one addiction to fight another wasn’t a solution, but she had no other options left. 

On a rainy Thursday, she went back to Jimin’s building. Her whole body was tense, the fabric of her clothes felt too tight on her skin, and her hair wouldn’t stop falling in front of her eyes because of the wind. 

With a shaky hand, she pressed the buzzer. There was no answer, and she hesitated to keep pushing to get one. 

She tried again, not sure whether she was doing the right thing. 

The intercom crackled and her breath caught. 

“S-stop,” Jimin’s voice cracked on the other side of the line. “Please, stop.” 

“I need to talk to you,” Aeri leaned closer to the device, as if she could feel more of her presence by doing so. 

“You can’t be there,” Jimin said weakly. 

“I know, but I need to be,” Aeri said more firmly. 

Jimin didn’t respond right away, and Aeri could hear her breath through the line. “He’s not home right now. But he could come back any minute.” 

“Then let me in I–I’ll be quick I promise I just need to–” 

Aeri didn’t have time to finish her sentence because the door buzzed open. She nearly ran up the stairs, quickly taking in the unsanitary conditions of the building; the cracked paint on the walls, the flickering bulb on the ceiling. 

Jimin was waiting in the doorway, her arms weirdly crossed over her chest. She looked thin, so thin Aeri’s heart clenched at the sight. There was a bruise on her cheek, probably caused by the slap Aeri had witnessed. 

“You shouldn’t have come,” Jimin breathed shakily. 

“I had to,” Aeri’s brows furrowed, and she tried her best not to pull her into a hug, painfully aware that it would cause them more harm than good. She took a step closer. “I saw what he did to you, and I can’t just sit back and pretend that it didn’t happen.” 

Fear flashed across Jimin’s face. “That’s none of your business.” 

“It becomes my business when I’m in love with you,” Aeri’s jaw clenched. 

Jimin’s eyes fluttered shut and she turned her face away. “Stop, don’t say that.” 

Aeri gave up the idea of trying to hold back and gently pressed a hand to her shoulder. “Come with me, please.” She said softly. “Right now, and we’ll figure out the rest later.” 

Jimin nervously laughed. “I can’t. Nothing is ever that simple.” She pressed her lips together, looking at Aeri’s hand on her shoulder. 

“Explain it to me then, I’ll help you.” Aeri frowned.

Jimin quickly wiped her eyes to avoid tears from rolling down her cheeks. “He knows where my family lives. If I leave, he’ll hurt them. He told me that before. He has got friends in the police department, they always go out to drink together.” She paused, a sob escaping from her lips. “Do you really think they’d believe me over him?”