The Girl I Almost Met | Jeon Jungkook

Hold On While I Overthink This

But then—

"He might not even have a chance with her anyway," Hoseok said as he walked back out onto the playground's half court, snatching the ball from Yoongi's fingertip. "Did it never cross your mind that guy might have been her boyfriend?"

Her boyfriend?

No—that had never crossed my mind before now. It never once occurred to me that she would be somehow already attached to someone else.

Even though I was too afraid to introduce myself to her, I had already started to think of her as mine. Part of me had assumed that perhaps she was like me and was just shy, or that she was being careful being alone in the dead of night with a stranger. I thought it would just take time for us to feel comfortable with each other and, hopefully, we could get to know each other. Things would eventually just fall into place. But maybe Hoseok was right; maybe Jisung was her boyfriend. It made just as much sense as any of the other scenarios I'd come up with.

I felt my brow furrow as my mind chewed on that possibility. For the rest of the morning, my basketball game was crap. We consistently lost because I couldn't get it together; I couldn't get this new possibility out of my head.

"Hey dude! Why are you even here? Get your head back in the game!"

Even though he was a sloth at all other times, Yoongi was serious about basketball. He was on my team and it was easy to see how frustrated he was with me. I was usually his go-to guy.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled quietly as I trotted over to grab my water bottle.

Taehyung walked over and grabbed his drink as well. "Just cause Hobi said it could be her boyfriend doesn't mean that he is."

I nodded as the lukewarm water trickled down my throat. He had a point. It was just one possibility, but the more I thought about it the more that possibility made sense.

"You want to go out tonight? I can show you some surefire tips for approaching girls, if you want." Hanging out with Tae was always interesting. There was nothing shy or quiet about him. In fact, he was a little crazy. He drew people to him like moths being drawn to a bug zapper. If nothing else, I'd have a good time.

"Um, sure. I don't have anything else going on tonight. Where do you want to go?"

"I heard about a new club over on the west side. Let's check that place out," he said as he tossed his empty bottle into the overflowing trashcan nearby.

I agreed and headed back out onto the court where I proceeded to further anger Yoongi by missing every shot I took. It just wasn't my day.

~~~

I was in a downright depressed mood by the time Taehyung picked me up in his car later that night. I looked out the window, watching the city lights go by as he sped recklessly down the street.

"Why are you so quiet? You ready to have a good time tonight?"

"Mm-hmmm."

"Hope you brought your dancing shoes, cause I've heard this club is off the chain—good music, strong alcohol, and tons of hot girls."

I nodded; the strong alcohol got my attention more than anything else. Most of the bars and clubs watered down their drinks lately. A bottle of something strong and mind-numbing might drown out the sound of my own head voice. I needed that tonight. All I'd thought about today had been her with him.

"It really bothers you to think that she has a boyfriend, doesn't it?"

Bingo.

I acted like I didn't hear his question and continued to watch the lights go by.