Paper Cranes | Park Jimin

20: Heads Up

I was back in the cafe where Hira, Jungkook and I usually hung out. Except that this time, I was on a date with my scattered handouts and opened reference books on the table.

Well, Hira had her defense papers to worry about with her group. As for Jungkook, he was busy with his augmented reality requirement for Ms. Choi—which I remember, had drained the life out of me last year.

So needless to say, I wasn't the only one loaded right now. Just that they were probably handling things in a more organized fashion.

I slumped my forehead on the table discreetly, arms sprawled atop the clutter. My current dilemma was the fact that I had to go over plethoric pages of lecture for a 50-item summative, wondering how all of the lessons would fit in.

And knowing Mr. Wang, I bet a quarter of the questions wouldn't even come from anything he had shared in class.

A poke on my shoulder had poured an ounce of life back to my body and I straightened up. Recovering from vertigo caused by the swift motion, I squinted my eyes and cupped my forehead.

"You okay?" a six feet below the ground voice asked.

Taehyung pushed his glasses up with his middle finger as he smiled at me and joined me on the table, seating across me.

The astonished expression left my face and I deliberately nodded. "You don't seem as busy as everyone else."

I motioned towards the other students inside the cafe. Even finding time to eat at this current point was expensive.

"I just handed in my requirement an hour ago." He folded his hand on the table.

"Lucky you." I sighed, looking for my pen under the sheet of papers. Ah, there it is. I twirled it on my hand as I puffed my cheeks and then blew out an exasperated breath.

It was almost time for winter break, but our professors just had to load us up before they could finally let us go.

"So what brings you here?"

"I just saw you inside when I passed by." He tapped on the glass window for emphasis.

"I better choose a not so exposed table next time then." I chuckled, making a mental note for next time.

"Do you need help studying? I have time to spare."

I snapped my attention to him and grinned playfully. "Is that what English majors do?"

"Maybe?" He cocked his eyebrows up suggestively. "Research shows that it's better to study with a friend who could help you out."

Taehyung and I first arranged the clutter on the table. He then skimmed over my materials and began throwing questions here and there. Aside from objective methods, he also formulated subjective aspects and other ways of tackling the subject that I never thought about.

At least after studying with him, my confidence that I would get a good mark on this test had doubled.

The downside, however, was that I lost track of time.

"I'm so sorry I kept you for so long," I apologized again, gathering my things and stuffing them inside my backpack.

"Ani, it's okay." Taehyung handed me my eraser which had rolled off to the floor.