THE TRANSFER STUDENT

The Party, Pt. 12

"So... what did you wanna say?"

Jieun sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen, with a glass of lukewarm water in her hands. She scanned Jungkook from head-to-toe as he entered the kitchen, then took a long sip from her glass.

"Nothing much," Jungkook took a seat opposite her. "Just... stuff."

Jieun blinked. Stuff?

"How's the party?" Jungkook poured himself a glass of water as well, taking a sip before continuing.

That sounded like an awful way to start a conversation. Jungkook and Jieun were never king and queens of conversation but even for them, that was low quality.

"Fine," Jieun answered with an equally awful answer. She caught herself, immediately trying hard not to facepalm herself. "You?"

"It's awful, ain't it?" Jungkook chuckled, completely unbothered about how unnatural and awkward their conversation felt. "I didn't even know there would be alcohol here. And I never really enjoyed parties. I'm just glad you're here."

I'm just glad you're here?

Jieun frowned. Where was this going? She was starting to get annoyed at this point, the way Jungkook was playing with her emotions like that... it was starting to get on her nerves. He would say things like this that made her heart race, yet do nothing about it after the damage was done. He probably had no idea how many nights she'd spent rolling around in bed, trying to figure out his emotions... Or did he?

Was this all a game to him?

In that moment, Jieun felt like... maybe the Jungkook she thought she knew, wasn't really the real him.

"It's not awful," Jieun tested Jungkook, trying to strip her voice from all the crazy emotions she was feeling. "It was fun, the game I mean."

"The game..." Jungkook took another sip of his water, furrowing his eyebrows. "The Truth or Drink game? You enjoyed that?"

"Well, yeah," Jieun probed. "It was fun. Although when Taehyung 'confessed', I was really surprised." Jieun let out a small chuckle, glancing at Jungkook to catch his reaction, which she didn't manage to see earlier.

"Surprised, huh," Jungkook pursed his lips, looking at his cup, avoiding eye contact with Jieun. "Pleasantly surprised or...?"

"Well..." Jieun paused for a while, taking her time to answer. "I don't know."

Jungkook frowned.

"I mean," Jieun continued, after seeing Jungkook's expression. "Well, I guess I was happy for a while. Who wouldn't want to be liked by people, you know what I mean?"

"Not really."

"Come on," Jieun let out an awkward laugh, looking at the table so as to avoid eye contact with the guy sitting directly opposite her. "I'm sure you do."

"I don't, though?" Jungkook stared directly at her this time. After failing to make eye contact with Jieun, he looked away with a small sigh. "You're saying that anyone's confession will make you happy... even if you don't like the person?"

Jieun frowned. "What do you mean?"

"That boy who confessed that time," Jungkook swallowed hard. "Were you happy about that, too?"

Jieun furrowed her eyebrows, obviously deep in thought. "Well... I guess?"

"Then, Taehyung too?"

Jieun had never actually thought about that in that much detail. She recalled the random junior who confessed to her along the hallway... she was touched that he had given her banana milk. But when Taehyung said her name when asked who his crush was... Jieun was felt more stunned than anything. She didn't really have that much time to react before he had admitted that it was a joke.

"It doesn't really matter, does it?" Jieun let out a small chuckle. "He said it was a joke after all... why are you taking it so seriously?"

"Because..." Jungkook chewed on his lower lip, as he fiddled with his thumbs. "Because it kind of matters to me?"

There he was again. Sending mixed signals. When was this gonna end?

"Of course I was happy that Taehyung confessed," Jieun said slowly, watching Jungkook's reaction carefully. "I mean, he's smart, he's handsome, really kind to me, I think he's a wonderful person. I would love to date him."

Jungkook eyes widened and his jaws slackened. "Really?"

"Was that what you wanted to hear?" Jieun was looking at Jungkook directly this time - the both of them examining each other's faces carefully, trying and failing to grasp each other's emotions. "That I like Taehyung?"

"Well, do you actually?"