I groaned flipping the pencil in my hand for I-don't-know-how-many-times.
I was holding my chin with one hand, leaning against it. I stared out into the blue sky which cracked into several pieces by the few puffy clouds.
Today marked the first time of separation between Jimin and I ever since we met. I have never expected the impact on me to be this big. When he's in school, the times when I went to the grass field for a walk would always be coincident with those times for Jimin. During the lessons, things always smelt fishy between us, we would spare each other a glance, he would be clearing his throat because he couldn't stop a smirk from spreading on his face and I would be chewing on the top of my pencil, expression mixed with a bit pure shyness and more covered with aggressive flirtatiousness.
But now? Still chewing on my pencil, but holding a bored and dead expression, eyes threatening to close as they formed two flat lines, exactly like a fat cat lying on the floor of a cafe.
"Ow." I scrunched up my face when the girl sitting next to me forcefully pushed my shoulder.
I fixed my hair and unwillingly sat in a better position, finally facing the teacher.
I don't have to worry about Jimin giving me detentions anymore.
It should be a nice thing but now I wished he could give me a detention every single day with him as the teacher on duty, just him and I in the classroom and we could-
I shook my head clearing my mind. "Focus. Focus." I fanned my face with my hands getting rid of the redness that's rapidly forming on them.
"So I bet you guys are excited," Mr. Kang exclaimed as he rubbed his wrinkly hands together. He's one of our geography teachers and with no doubts, he's the best among all of them because to sum up; he could make you like geography, at least doing it without that much hate anymore. His passion was generously pasted on his face, his love for geography was radiating off of him, to the point where you would feel bad when you saw his excited expression, his hands ready to take in your homework and review it, because he was expecting so much, and yet it was just another homework that you had finished copying your friends' answers 5 minutes ago.
"We will be having another project. Since the exam board this year is fairly different than that of the past few years, the topics are much broader. Other than the books that you have and the lessons that you take from me, you will have to have your own understanding of the subject too , in order to achieve a high mark," he explained as he took off his rimless glasses and gently cleaned them with a small light-blue-coloured cloth from his pocket. His words received a loud groan from us.
Perhaps he couldn't hear us clearly without his glasses, he continued like nothing happened, "but it's very, very special this time. Because you can all choose the topics and meanwhile, I have made a list of groups already, dividing my 31 lovely students into 6- oh wait no, 7 groups- wait how many?" He ended up whispering before he held his glasses and lowered his head to have a closer look at the thin sheet.
How can you even hate him.
"Anyways," he laughed. "I will read out the names now, do go and say hello to your lovely groupmates if you want to."
"Hana, Lisa and Tom. Leana, Kiki, and Scarlett. Sofia, Jace, Liam and Noah. Ah- yes, there would be groups with more than 3 people. And... where have I read to?" He asked himself again.
"Right- Seohyun, Jin-Hwan, and Jungkook. And Sarah, Pete..."
His voice slowly faded away, I was sinking in my thoughts.
Jungkook?
Did he say Jungkook?
Jeon Jungkook?
Which Jungkook?
That Jungkook?
Instead of panicking, I just froze in my seat with my hands elegantly placed on my thighs. I only blinked as if I had been expecting this to happen beforehand.
Hell no, this was scary, ridiculous.
Now how should I get out of this this time?
I was about to raise up my hand and say 'oh sorry I'm feeling a bit sick, perhaps my teammates can go to the other groups first?'. But Mr. Kang took my chance away.
"Seohyun-ah, can I have a word with you please?"
I dragged my feet to his table, still confused with the whole situation.
"Yes Mr. Kang."
"I have put you together with Jungkook and JIn-Hwan because you did very well in the last project and they," he whispered. "They did not do quite well. So I hope you can help them a bit, is this okay for you?"
His eyes pouring out warmness and tenderness.
I sighed.
"Oh- My dear, is this stressing you out? I can put you into other groups," he offered and came closer. He looked really, deeply, concerned.
Once again, how can I reject him?
I forced a smile on my face and replied, "it's alright, Mr. Kang. I'm fine with it."
"Okay, good, thank you Seohyun," he grinned and patted my shoulder.
I can ask Jimin to come with me when we have our team discussions right? As long as we are not alone, I will be fine.
I believed.
After the class was dismissed, I shuffled everything into my backpack, literally trying to leave as soon as possible.
But not until someone stopped behind me.
"Yo."
I took in a deep breath and turned around.
Jin-Hwan was the one who spoke.
"Hi," Jungkook surprisingly greeted. "We have to do our project."
Something isn't right.
Not only did he deny that 'he had a fight with me' when girls suspected that this morning, he said he just hurt himself during his rugby session, he was now acting like nothing happened.
Why?
I couldn't stop myself from staring at him. His eyes were clearly puffier than normal with a few cuts around the corners. There was some dried blood on his lips. A few bruises were left on his jaw.
He chuckled and waved his hand in front of my face, "come on. I don't have time. Let's go."
He flashed me a smile and left the classroom with Jin-Hwan behind.
What do I do?
Do I follow?
No that's too dangerous.
After having a long debate in my head, I stood up and decided to follow them.
I will leave if they force me to go somewhere unsafe.
Easy as that.
Well, if that was the case, I must have not known the actual meaning of the word 'force'.
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