Taehyung's birthday was coming up. He informed Jungkook a week in advance and told him to prepare a gift.
Jungkook did not intend to spend any effort to celebrate this fellow's birthday. He initially planned to fold a paper plane and present it as a birthday gift.
However, that day, he saw fake spiders for sale at the supermarket. The fake spiders were made of plastic and the size of a soup bowl. Their dark and lifelike appearances were enough to send tingles down one's spine.
Such a disgusting item was very suitable to be used to disgust a scoundrel.
As a result, Jungkook secretly bought a spider and even spent an additional two won for the shop owner to wrap it up nicely for him.
While wrapping the spider, the shop owner asked, "Who are you giving this present to?"
Jungkook pursed his lips and honestly replied, "My deskmate."
"Oh, is your deskmate a boy or a girl?"
"A boy."
The shop owner passed over the wrapped present and concernedly warned, "Kid, if you give this to a boy, I'm afraid you're going to get beaten up."
......
Taehyung began to impatiently tear open the gift the moment Jungkook gave it to him.
Jungkook stood at the side and silently observed his facial expression, anticipating the moment he turned pale with fright.
Taehyung revealed a face of surprise upon seeing the spider. He stroked the back of the spider with his fingers and said, "I almost thought it was real and jumped up from the shock."
Jumped up from shock... why not you jump for me to see...
Jungkook was disappointed. He asked, "Aren't you afraid?"
"Not at all. My mother said that all animals are afraid of humans."
Jungkook found Taehyung mildly terrifying.
During lunch, Taehyung hung the spider down Jungkook's back. When the two of them reached the canteen, other children started crying from the fright and they almost caused a stampede.
Their parents were even notified because of this incident.
When Mrs. Jeon heard what happened, she felt extremely incredulous. On the way back home, she asked Jungkook, "Are you daft, it's a birthday present for your deskmate and you chose to give a spider? You're going to end up single for the rest of your life is like this."
Jungkook's mood was gloomy and he stared blankly out of the car window.
His journey to get even with Taehyung was way too arduous.
......
At the beginning of November, Taehyung welcomed the school event that he loved, loved, loved the most—the autumn excursion.
This year, the location of their autumn excursion was Mount Lu which was in the suburbs. Mount Lu overlooked Lu Lake Park and was only a small hill. There were numerous apple trees planted on this hill. Every autumn, the whole expanse of the hill would be strewn with bright red apples that seemed like thousands of small lanterns, looking exceptionally beautiful. Thus, locals also commonly referred to Mount Lu as "Apple Mountain".
Since the excursion location was Apple Mountain, the planned activities would include watching apples being picked by the farmers. It was also reportedly said that they will get to personally pick some apples if they were obedient enough.
Upon arriving at Mount Lu, the children started twittering about noisily like birds that had just escaped from their cages. Looking at these restless little monkeys, Teacher Jin warned, "Listen to my instructions. Stop running about. There are tigers on this hill that specially eat small children... Taehyung, why is your red scarf like that?"
Taehyung accidentally undid his scarf while playing with it a moment ago and was not able to get it back into its original shape. He gave up retying after trying a few times and casually draped the red scarf over his neck, looking like someone who just came out from the public bath.
"Teacher, I don't know how to tie it," Taehyung said.
Teacher Jin did not have time to bother with him at this moment. She called out Jungkook, "Jungkook, help Taehyung to tie his red scarf."
Jungkook was a little reluctant to do so but could only helplessly do as he was told.
As he tied the red scarf, Taehyung keep fidgeting and shifting his head. Jungkook impatiently said, "Stop moving."
The two of them were standing very close to each other. Taehyung examined Jungkook's face. His eyelashes were very long, just like a pair of tiny fans. Jungkook's lips were also tightly pursed which resulted in an extremely stern and serious look on his face.
"Jungkook, you look like my doll."
"Stop talking."
Taehyung suddenly felt his hands itching. Hence, he raised them and began to knead Jungkook's face. His hands were one moment on the left and another on the right, with actions of kneading and pinching that seemed like he was playing with dough.
Jungkook wrinkled his brows. "Stop fooling around."
He must had accumulated a whole lifetime's worth of bad karma to be punished by helping him to tie his scarf while letting him play with his face.
Teacher Jin led the children on foot to a relatively flat area. With an unobscured view of the entire Lu Lake, this area was perfect for a lunch picnic.
She then directed everyone to sit down for lunch.
After lunch was a short period of free time where students were allowed to do their own things. However, they were not allowed to roam too far and had to remain within the teachers' sights.
Jungkook sat on the grass and observed the scenery serenely—the light reflecting off the lake, the colours of the hill, the birds flying above, the boat in the lake... this trip was not purely for leisure. An essay assignment had to be completed after heading back.
Fortunately, Taehyung that fellow did not come to bother him. He was noisily playing tag with someone else.
Jungkook sat there for a while more. Then, someone unexpectedly tapped his back. He turned his head to see Taehyung beaming at him.
"Jungkook, look, what's this?" Taehyung cheerfully shook his hand in front of him.
Jungkook's gaze lowered and saw Taehyung holding a fleshy looking worm in his right hand. The worm was around the size and length of a finger, and was a dull bean green with a smattering of multi coloured spots along its back. At this moment, the worm was being held upside down, resulting in the struggling twists and turns of its fat and meaty body.
Jungkook's face instantly changed. He leaped up and broke into a run.
Honestly speaking, he was not afraid of any snakes, rats or even cockroaches. The only thing that he was scared of was exactly this type of worm.
This was because he once had the nightmarish and traumatizing experience of having a caterpillar crawl into his ear.
Taehyung took one look at the scene of Jungkook running and burst into laughter. He held up the worm and chased after him while saying, "Stop running. Look at how adorable it is!"
Jungkook picked up his pace and ran even faster.
He was like a wild little pony, frantically and aimlessly running towards any direction that could get him away.
Teacher Jin saw that something was wrong and immediately yelled, "Hey! Jungkook, Taehyung, what are you two doing? Stop running and come back."
Jungkook turned a deaf ear to her words.
He was running way too fast, to the extent that it was abnormal. Taehyung was a little frightened. He hurriedly threw away the worm and called out, "I've thrown it away. Stop running. Look, I have nothing in my hands now!"
But it was too late.
Jungkook had been running too fast. He stumbled over something and tripped in an instant, his tiny body flying out with a whoosh like a leaf caught in the autumn wind. Teacher Jin felt her heart in her mouth at this site...
Jungkook landed in the bushes at the side of the road.
Teacher Jin's temples started throbbing and she hastily ran over.
......
Upon hearing that her son was in the hospital, Mrs. Jeon cast aside her uncompleted work and rushed over.
She ran into consultation room 1 of the paediatrics department and saw her son sitting on a chair. A doctor was applying medicine for him with a cotton swab. The doctor was female with loosely permed waves and a pair of spectacles with thin golden frames. While applying the medicine, the doctor said, "Tell me if it's painful. Don't hold it in."
Teacher Jin was standing at the side and watching concernedly.
Mrs. Jeon gave out a sigh of relief. In her mind, her son was already closer to a corpse more than anything else. It was a great blessing that he was able to be still sitting like this.
She walked in, relaxed her tone and asked, "Doctor, my son he... how is he?"
The doctor did not raise her head. She continued applying the medicine and replied, "He fell into some thorn bushes. It's nothing much so don't worry... Your son is really tough. He did not cry out in pain or make a scene at all. This child is definitely going places when he grows up."
"Why does he still need to apply medicine if it's nothing much?"
"His face was scratched a little by the thorns. I just cleaned the scratches for him and am now applying a little antiseptic for disinfection. It is a good thing that it's currently autumn. The thicker clothing protected him from further scratches on his body."
Mrs. Jeon furrowed her brows and looked at Jungkook. No matter whether he was currently fine or not, her heart ached for him as his mother...
Teacher Jin said, "Sorry, Mrs. Jeon. It was my negligence in failing to look after the children properly. They ran too fast and I did not have ample time to respond."
Mrs. Jeon was about to reply when a tiny figure unexpectedly appeared from behind Teacher Jin.
The tiny figure possessed a fair face with a pair of dark round eyes, looking cute beyond measure.
The child walked in front of Mrs. Jeon and thrust an apple into her hands. The apple was bright red and looked especially fresh. There were even some dew drops on the apple surface, seeming like the apple had just been freshly picked off a tree.
Mrs. Jeon's heart melted. She bent down, stroked the child's head and smiled. "Taehyung? What are you doing here? My goodness, why are your eyes red, who made you cry? Stop crying, auntie will help you to whack that person."
Teacher Jin explained, "Jungkook fell and Taehyung insisted on coming along no matter what."
At this, the doctor who was applying the antiseptic for Jungkook suddenly burst into soft laughter and spoke, "He's feeling guilty. Teacher Jin, take him back and question him. He must have played a part in this incident. If he dares to not tell the truth, just inform his father."
Mrs. Jeon felt that the doctor's words were a little strange. She asked, "Do you know Taehyung?"
"Of course. I'm his mother."
"......"
Mrs. Jeon's first reaction was astonishment, followed by a sense of affinity. This was her first time meeting Taehyung's mother. In the past, Principal Kim was always the one who attended the parent-teacher conference. However, since the two families' children were deskmates, there was naturally a stronger sense of familiarity between them as compared to the parents of other students. Furthermore, Taehyung was such an adorable child.
Mrs. Kim straightened up, looked at Mrs. Jeon somewhat apologetically and said, "I'm really sorry about this. My child is too mischievous. I sincerely apologize to you."
"Ah? It's not a big deal. It's perfectly normal for children to be rowdy." Mrs. Jeon rubbed Taehyung's tiny head and concernedly look at Jungkook. There was something that she was quite worried about. She carefully asked, "That is... Jungkook he, will he be disfigured? If he ends up with a pockmarked face, how will he get himself a partner in the future..."
Mrs. Kim laughed in amusement and answered, "Please rest assured that if your son is disfigured, I'll marry my son to him as compensation."
In this instant, Jungkook who had been bearing the pain and resisting the urge to cry suddenly teared up.
"Can I refuse..." He weakly protested.