Pink Lemonade ✓

xxviii

      Parents. They were there too. As well as other family. Jimin's parents were talking to Jeongguk's mother. Namjoon and Jeongyeon were walking around. And so Jimin and Jeongguk were alone. Until Yoongi joined them, after having congratulated Mina, his cousin. Jeongguk had still not gotten over that fact. He was surprised to see him, honestly. He didn't think he would want to be in the school after everything that had happened.

      But somehow, that was old news. It seemed everyone had forgotten (or had chosen to ignore) the revelation surrounding him and Jimin. To be fair, it had all happened around three weeks ago, so perhaps it really was old news. It didn't feel like three weeks though. Time usually stood still during exam weeks, as nothing interesting happened in one's life. But perhaps enough time had passed for people to stop being interested. Nosy. Which was good. Jeongguk liked that Jimin was able to get a normal graduation day. But perhaps it didn't feel normal to him, he really couldn't be sure. It for sure wasn't normal for the whole school to know something so personal about you. Maybe everything had changed for Jimin, the moment the devil-girl Lee Nari had decided to take it upon herself to thrust Jimin out of the closet.

      But nobody was acting weird about it. Nobody was talking about it.

      If anything, the only thing people were talking about, if they were gossiping at all, were Taehyung and Mina. News had travelled that they had broken up and everyone was very confused. Nobody knew what happened and everyone wanted to know, and now was the first time they saw the two in the same room. They stood in their separate corners, Mina surrounded by her girlfriends (Nari excluded), Taehyung by the swim team. Not talking to each other. Sometimes glancing at each other, when the other wasn't looking. Otherwise, nothing.

      Even Jeongguk had to admit, he was confused. Their breakup had appeared out of nowhere. One day Taehyung was defending her to the point of risking his friendship with Jeongguk, the next he had cut all ties. Perhaps it was because school was ending. Didn't many couples break up before going to university? But that explanation felt cheap. It didn't feel like something Taehyung would do. They had seemed so happy together. Mina had adored him. He had adored her – right?

      But Jeongguk did not want to think about this right now. He was going to spend his last moments in school with his friends. They too – for what else was there to do? – went around and looked at what the other seniors had done over the last month. The projects were as different as they were many. Some students had decided to write something, a memoir, a short story, an essay; many had done something artistic, paint something of importance or draw or sketch, some had done something related to music and the list goes on and on.

      Jimin had worked with one of Mina's friends, one who took ballet with them, and together they had hand-crafted a pair of pointe shoes, sewing onto the fabric various things that made them who they were. On Jimin's shoe was a cup of coffee, some scissors, other things related to fashion, the names of some of his favourite ballet pieces as well as a small cat.

      "Is that meant to be me?" Yoongi asked as he examined the shoe.

      Jimin smiled sheepishly. "Yes," he mumbled below his breath, a little embarrassed, apparently. 

      "That's cute."

      Jeongguk smiled. It was funny how his own first impression of Yoongi, had turned into a sweet pet name the couple shared. Jeongguk didn't even know if Yoongi knew the origin of it. Although he probably did. Jimin must have talked to him about pretty much everything that had happened during those moments leading up to their relationship.

      Yoongi was checking his watch.

      "Listen, I need to go," he said, to Jimin. "But I'll see you tonight?"