finessed | jinsoo (long hiatus)

PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

"Are you asking for an early death, Jin?" Jisoo asked him as she tried to maintain a tranquil demeanour. She may look calm on the exterior, but on the inside she compared herself to a raging typhoon. "Is that what you're seriously asking for? Because I know what I saw."

"W-what do you mean?" he stuttered, his gaze falling upon everything else except for the pretty, doe-eyed girl next door who was standing in front of him with a cute frown plastered on her face.

"Jin, you threw my favourite pair of converse just because we had similar ones!"

An old lady near them had slowed down her pace as she reached where they were standing. She glanced at the two up and down with a small grin on her face, "You guys make cute fraternal twins!" Then she walked off.

"This is exactly why I threw away your pair of converse," Jin mumbled to himself. "People shouldn't think that we're twins."

Jisoo twisted her neck slowly to give him her deadliest glare, her eyes twitching in annoyance after hearing the words Jin had uttered to himself.

It was at this moment Jin knew, he, had frickle frackled up. Jin widened his eyes as he immediately tried to escape from Jisoo's wrath.

"Yah pabo!" She slipped off her sandals to use it as a weapon against Kim Seokjin – her childhood friend, her bestfriend, the boy next door and lastly, the guy of her dreams.

"Stop running!" she screamed as she chased after him with the look of irritation dawning upon her features, a whole contrast with her heart that was pounding violently against her chest.

She wondered whether the cause was from all the running that she's currently doing, or from the boy in front of her who was running for his dear life.

"No!" he shouted at her in reply, sticking his tongue out playfully. "Not until you forgive me!"

            It was the spring season in '03 when they first met each other.

            Sure, they were introduced to each other through school, but their first interaction was slightly different than the other children their age. Their encounter weren't like the ones shown on television or written in books, neither Kim Seokjin nor Kim Jisoo had lent one another a pen or gave each other an apple. No, their first proper meeting had scarred Jisoo as a little kid and had her running towards her house screaming for her mom in her tiny but slightly lower pitch voice.

(flashback, 2003: 9 years old)

             "I'm on my way home now, eomma," Jisoo called her mother using the payphone opposite her school to let her mother know of her whereabouts.

            Just at the bright age of nine years old, Jisoo's mother, Seoyoung, had already given her permission to go back home on her own. Seoyoung trusted her own daughter and furthermore, she had a lot of work to do at home. Being a single mother right after college, she managed to teach herself and her daughter the significance of being independent.

            As Jisoo was walking home, she realized there was a boy who was following her ever since she came out from the school gates. She recognised him. She remembered his name, Seokjin. The nine year old Jisoo then shrugged off his presence and continued taking tiny steps back home in silence.

            However, for little Jisoo, it became even creepier when Seokjin continued following her into her neighbourhood. She tilted her head to the back slightly, checking discreetly whether he was directly behind her.

            "Ya, hajima!" The boy looked at her, startled by the sudden voice. "Why are you following me?"

            The boy didn't look at her in the eyes and continued to scratch his head awkwardly. "I-I, I want to be your friend."

            "Mwo?"

            Seokjin closed his eyes and took one slow but deep breath. Then, he suddenly started acting cute, forming hearts using his fingers towards Jisoo. With his aegyo-filled voice, he asked her again, "Can I be your friend?" He fluttered his eyelashes.

            Jisoo only stared at him with wide eyes as if he had grown three heads. Between the both of them, an awkward absence of sound took place, but it broke when Jisoo started screaming in fright, instantly running away from him in terror and creep.

            Seokjin only stood rooted to the ground, dumbfounded as he watched her make a run. After a while he began to sigh to himself and repeatedly shook his head, "I'm probably too cute for her."