THE TRANSFER STUDENT

The Fire Incident

After Jisoo's group had a quick lunch, without Jungkook of course, they picked up the materials they needed from the recycling corner and bookshop, before heading to the workroom to start work. They divided themselves into teams and got down to work immediately, right on schedule as Jisoo had planned. They were, surprisingly, working extremely well together.

"So what now? We split into our teams?" Lisa asked.

Jisoo nodded, pulling Jieun and Lisa aside to start working on the plastic canopy. At the other end of the workroom, Jieun spotted Seokjin organising some materials to start work with Byulyi and Jungkook.

Jungkook looked awful.

"Jieun? Do you mind handling the fire? Lisa and I will be in charge of the moulding of the plastic." Jisoo's words brought Jieun back to reality.

Now was no time to worry about how pale Jungkook looked. She was scared of fire. She was now facing her worst enemy - how did she still have the time to worry about others? Should she just tell Jisoo about her situation? Jisoo would probably understand...

"Um... Jisoo, I really have never handled fire before I'm afraid I-"

"Ah, don't worry about it! It's easy." Jisoo said with a reassuring smile. "There's always a first time for everything. And I'm here to help you!"

Jisoo looked so kind, so understanding, that it was honestly virtually impossible for Jieun to reject her.

"Well, I guess..."

There. She did it again. The inability to reject people, even if it meant sacrificing her ownself. Jieun frowned. Being kind and accommodating was one thing, but doing something she feared so much... she really should've spoken up.

But she couldn't bring herself to.

Jieun gritted her teeth, taking a step towards the table with the blow torch.

You can do this, Lee Jieun. It's just fire. The incident was more than a year ago. It's time to put it to past and face your fears.

She picked up the torch, fiddling with it in her hands. She hesitated again and turned around. Jisoo was busy telling Lisa what to do with the plastic when they were melted - giving her a brief overview of what they were going to be shaped into.

Maybe I should wait for Jisoo.

Jieun's eyes shifted, and she saw Seokjin and Byulyi sitting at one of the work stations, talking and laughing while experimenting with the scrap materials they had. Well, talking and laughing mostly. Flirting almost. Had their bodies closer to each other than a guy and girl normally would. Seokjin saw a loose strand of hair on Byulyi's forehead and swept it away naturally, as if he had already done that a million times. Maybe they were already dating?

Who knows. Jieun didn't know, and neither was it her priority to find out there and then. She was just about to face her biggest nightmare.

Her eyes shifted slightly to the left and Jungkook entered her line of sight. Jieun almost jumped when she realised that he was staring right back at her.

Why was he watching her? Was he judging her? Did he figure out that she was scared of fire? Was he about to expose her again? Tell everyone what a loser she was? Why was he so mean to her?

Jieun looked down at the torch in her hands, then back up at Jungkook who was still staring at her. He had a blank expression on his face, making it awfully difficult to read his emotions.

But oddly, she felt provoked.

He had been mean to her from the very first day she entered the classroom and became his classmate. No matter what his reason was, or what excuse he might have, treating someone as if she didn't exist was definitely not the right thing to do? Right down to almost an hour ago, he criticised her opinion. It seemed like he hated the rest of the world, but his hatred for her two times more than that.