ARROGANCE | m.yg

t w e n t y o n e - r i n

   "Sorry, there's some pretty bad traffic up my way. I should only be a few more minutes," Juyoung says into the phone, apologeticness in his tone.

   "No big deal. I grabbed a table already, so just come on in," I reply. "See you soon, bye!" After moving away from the receiver I hang up and put my phone back in my pocket, absentmindedly scanning the menu before me. Juyoung and I are grabbing what's essentially a midnight snack at this bar he's been going on about for weeks. He was originally going to pick me up, but I decided to just meet him there to make things easier. This is the third time Juyoung and I have hung out since he visited me at the library, and things have only gotten clearer the more time we've spent together. I can say with definite certainty that Juyoung is flirting with me, but I just haven't found a good way to approach him yet.

   The biggest issue I have with how to talk Juyoung out of all this is that I don't know whether he's flirting because he's genuinely interested in me, or if he's flirting because he wants to get a message across to Yoongi. Juyoung has always been a really protective guy, and it's clear he doesn't have the same respect and admiration for Yoongi that I do. In fact, it's pretty obvious that the two don't like each other much at all. From Yoongi's sassy comments to Juyoung knocking shoulders with him at the library, it's clear the only common thread the two boys have is me. I guess one of the major reasons I've been spending so much time with Juyoung lately is to figure all that out; the other major reason being that Yoongi has been out and about promoting Fire for three weeks now. The only times I've seen him have been odd hours of the morning when we record our track. The most recent time the two of us have had fun together was when Jieun made us kiss at the library, and I was admittedly a little embarrassed around him for the remainder of that day. Yes, the kiss was for theatrics, and yes, it didn't mean anything, but I can't deny that Min Yoongi is a great kisser and that I had a pretty good time. Either way, with Yoongi not being around as much, Juyoung's been my go-to guy to hang out with.

   "Hey!" Chirps my friend as he sits down across from me. "Sorry again for being late, I really wish I could make it up to you."

   "It's not a big deal, Juyoung," I say, nudging a menu towards him. "Shit happens."

   "Yeah, fair enough. Anyway, how are you?"

   "Good! Y'know, nothing really changes with me nowadays. You?"

   "Same here. Is there even a point to asking anymore?" He laughs, running a hand through his freshly dyed brown hair.

   "Doubt it," I reply with a chuckle. My eyes scan the restaurant absentmindedly, landing on a TV in a nearby corner. On it, an MCountdown broadcast is playing. If I remember correctly, Bangtan is supposed to be on MCountdown tonight. Maybe I'll be able to catch the results if they don't change the channel.

   "Whatcha looking at?" Juyoung asks, turning around to follow my gaze. His brows furrow when he notices the TV, and he looks back at me with a stare that screams "are-you-kidding-me?"

   "Really?" He grumbles.

   "Yeah, Bangtan's supposed to be on tonight. I think we missed their performance, though; it looks like we're close to the end of the broadcast."

   "What a shame." Sarcasm drips from Juyoung's voice as he picks his menu back up, looking through it intently.

   "What do you have against Yoongi anyway?" I ask, doing all I can to not sound accusatory.

   "I just don't like the guy. I don't think he has a very good influence on you, y'know? Especially with all the idol stuff he's doing now, you could get involved in a ton of scandals just being around him."