TIME AFTER TIME ; jjk

7

Chapter 7

𝑃𝐴𝑅𝐾 𝑆𝑂𝑂𝐻𝑌𝑈𝑁'𝑆 𝑃𝑂𝑉

Jeon Jungkook used to occupy the seat furthest away from the entrance of Med library. He was usually alone and he went there very early; hence the reason why I managed to come to school by five am in the morning because I needed to save myself a seat, where I could be near him.

The first and last time we had ever interacted – I didn't think it should be addressed as a real interaction but whatever -- was when he surprisingly came a little later than six and almost every seat was taken. It was still empty next to me, and I sat at the farthest back which was Jungkook's target space and I had been expecting to have a full view of him there. It sounded pathetic, but he was one of the reasons why I looked forward to attending my classes. I was startled when a voice interrupted my reading, causing me to raise my head, and he stood there right in front of me, wearing an innocent look. His hair was tousled like he came in such a hurry that he had forgotten about brushing it up. Jungkook did not make an effort of appearing presentable, but he looked so good nonetheless.

I still could even remember him asking me, "Can I sit beside you?". He had toned down his voice since he did not want to disturb the others, and the whole moment caused me to have a brief mental block that I ended up not saying anything to him. All I did was nod, then everything that had happened went too fast, which left me in my own trance. Jungkook hastened to put his huge backpack down onto the chair on my right side, he settled in the seat, and put on his earphones as he spread out a Basic Neuroscience book on the table. That was one of the rare inconvenient times of my life.

On the very same day, I never got the chance to introduce myself to him even when I had it, and I left the building without a guarantee that we would be close together like that again. I was too chicken to go through the awkward situation, so maybe it was my fault that I was hopeless.

That confirmed he was not interested in me, then fast-forward nine years, the guy I only pined for still did not like me a bit. In fact, he even had the guts to kick me out of his car in the middle of the road. It kept replaying in my head, and though I had convinced him to take me home that night, the bitter feeling of rejection took a chunk out of my chest, and it felt so empty. I tried my best to distract myself by signing up on Tinder but it did not stop me from crying to sleep.

Nine years... Imagine that.

"What is there to like? Tell me."

I wanted to say that it would take a lot of time for me to enumerate every good asset I had, but I figured I would not tell Jungkook.

I would show them to him.

. . .

I was having breakfast at the hospital cafe when Taehyung walked in and gave me a small smile. I did not know what to do with that and it occurred to me Jungkook might have told him about my desperate confession that's why it made me think Taehyung was mocking me. I ignored him, continuing to chew my food.

Until Taehyung came to ruin my peace and took the vacant seat across from me, sliding a cup of coffee toward the side of my plate. I glanced at him, confused. He had his leg crossed over the other, blowing softly on the surface of his steaming cup of coffee. The fact that he looked calm with me pushed me to assume he had an idea what happened between me and Jungkook, and now he wanted to disport himself by pointing out how much of a debacle I became.

"What is that for?"

"Good morning," he answered.

"I asked you." I reminded him of my question. "Why are you giving me coffee?"