Chapter five

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After 3 hours of the tutor going on and on about the history of Korea, Jungkook and I bolted out of the building to walk home.

There was an unusual awkward silence between us.

"So, how's your aunt?" Jungkook started.

"Well... she's still in Canada for her work and I'm too lazy to contact her but I think she's fine," I answered while playing with my fingers. "How about your parents? Are they doing well?" I asked.

Jungkook's face had a sudden change, from a poker face to widened eyes.

"T-they're fine. Just a little bit stressed, I think," he said, looking down at the pavement we were walking on.

Really, this kid is bad at lying... I thought.

I waved my hand in front of his face. "You sure? You don't sound sure... There's something you want to tell me about?" I said as I stopped walking.

Jungkook stopped walking too, looked at me and sighed.

"Well, my parents... They're going bankrupt. Like, the money is going down fast, maybe at this very moment. They're stressed, they fight with each other almost every night, as if I'm invisible. I hate it!" Jungkook almost shouted, and I could see he was getting teary-eyed.

My heart fell. Throughout the 14 years of friendship, I've only seen Jungkook cry thrice: once when he broke his arm after falling from a treehouse, another time when his brother died, and the last time, when there was a sad scene on Attack on titan. I could tell that this situation was really hard for him.

Soon, tears was streaming down his face. I also got a bit teary. I wiped out his tears using the sweater when he suddenly grabbed both my wrist.

"The sweater will get wet! Don't!" He said, and seemed pretty serious about it.

"This kid... Here you are crying in front of me and you only care about the sweater? I can just dry it later." I said while pinching both of his cheeks. We both laughed together.

After he finished crying, there was another awkward silence. I broke the silence first.

"I'm sure your parents will find a way to solve this, Jungkook. Even you can help out. You can work with me at the cafe down the street. Then I wouldn't be so lonely." I tried to get a positive mood on while patting his back.

He nodded. Suddenly, his face lit up.

"Jihye, did you know? They tore down our kindergarten school and now it's just a swing set under the cherry blossom tree! Can you believe that?" He said with shock.

My eyes widened. "Seriously? Wow..." I said, realizing that all of the memories we had at that school are now gone.

Wow, way to ruin the positive mood, Jungkook. I thought.

Jungkook nudged me. "Hey, at least there's a swing. You wanna go there now? I know you love swings!" He chuckled, bringing a smile to my face.

Soon enough, we were both racing to the swings.

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