Taking advantage of his long legs, Jungkook caught Taehyung before he escaped the stadium.
He hauled Taehyung into a corner and pushed him against the wall, pinning both of his hands above his head with one hand. Jungkook's tall build loomed in front of him, making him feel extremely oppressed.
Taehyung felt like he was a salted fish, waiting to be sliced up on the chopping board.
He was a little scared. "Umm, I'm sure we can talk things out..."
Jungkook asked, "Where would you like me to touch you?"
"Jungkook, you're going to be late for class..."
Jungkook raised his hand and hovered it in front of Taehyung's chest for a moment. Suddenly, he realized that he could not bring himself to do anything.
He indeed wanted to take revenge. However, he was someone with morals and unable to carry out the act of molesting a boy's chest even though the person in question was a huge rogue.
He could only blame himself for having a high moral standard. When faced with these kinds of shameless things, it was inevitable that he would lose out.
After a short hesitation, he quickly gave up his initial plans. His hand moved higher and higher before finally pinching Taehyung's cheek.
Jungkook still remembered that when he was young, there was a period when Taehyung especially enjoyed squishing his face. Taehyung would one moment be pinching his cheeks and another be kneading his face, making him feel absolutely undignified.
This was an eye for an eye and could be considered him getting revenge.
Taehyung's skin condition was still excellent despite being very tan. At the age of 18, his skin did not lack collagen and was both smooth and soft. Under Jungkook's hand, his skin was supple and felt quite nice to play with.
Jungkook's thumb and fingers pressed against left and right sides of Taehyung's cheeks respectively. He squished, squished and squished, till Taehyung's face were severely squished out of shape. His lips were forced into a pucker like a fish about to spit bubbles.
"Go to hel." (Go to hell)
He was squished until he could not speak properly.
Jungkook looked at his distorted face and suddenly snorted out a soft laugh. The end of the laughter was higher in tone, sounding gratified, delighted and provocative.
This was the laugh of a victor.
He was about to give a victory speech when suddenly, there was a loud "thud" that sounded like something had fallen to the ground.
The two of them was startled. They turned their heads in unison towards the direction of the sound.
Jieun stood a short distance away. Her mouth gaped open like she had seen something shocking. At her feet was some blue folders. Some of the documents had fell out in the fall and was scattered beside the folders.
Both Jungkook and Taehyung felt a little awkward.
"Ah! I didn't see anything, I've suddenly lost my sight!" As Jieun spoke, she extended her arms and blindly waved them around as if she was really blind. She turned and escaped.
As she left, she continued waving her arms and emphasizing, "It's so dark, I can't see anything at all..."
Even though she was "blind", her steps were swift as wind and it did not take long before she completely disappeared from the scene.
This bizarre act left Taehyung staring blankly in his wake.
Jungkook released Taehyung. He massaged his cheeks and said, "She couldn't have thought that you were about to kiss mmhm——"
Jungkook's finger landed on his mouth. His lightly calloused finger pressed down on Taehyung's soft lips.
"Don't say such a disgusting thing out loud."
......
Jungkook was naturally late for class. He quietly slipped in through the back door and sat in the last row next to Donghee.
Donghee was sprawled across the table. He had just drifted off when the sound of Jungkook settling in jolted him awake. Even after waking, he did not sit up and continued looking like a boneless sack of flesh piled against the desk. He unhurriedly closed and opened his eyes, sleepily looking at Jungkook.
Jungkook took out his textbook and notebook. After a while, he took out another book that was a compilation of past CET6 exam questions. As class went on, he divided his attention between listening to the lecture and doing the questions in the book.
Donghee moved his arm under his head. Resting on one side of his face, he looked at Jungkook. After looking for a while, he opened his mouth, "Kook ah..."
"Get lost."
"Sigh, my son is so outstanding. I wonder which silly person would be lucky enough to marry you in the future." Donghee lamented like a weary father.
Jungkook treated him as air.
After working on the questions for a while, Jungkook seemed to have zoned out. He held his pen and stared blankly into space.
Donghee asked, "What are you zoning out for? Thinking about girls?"
Jungkook snapped out of his thoughts and glanced at him. "I'm reflecting."
Yes, reflecting. Jungkook was thinking about his behavior towards Taehyung earlier that afternoon. He had discovered a severe problem—in order to pit himself against that scoundrel, he had nearly become a pervert.
No, he could not accept himself that way.
That scoundrel had the special ability of being infectious. Everyone who hung out too close to him was doomed to become abnormal. Look at how odd both Eunwoo and Nayeon were.
This was an awfully frightening ability.
Therefore, if he wanted to deal with Taehyung, not only did he need to be on guard against his retaliation but also from being infected by the other...
Jungkook rubbed his temples.
Donghee suddenly stuck his head over and gave Jungkook a few sniffs. Then, before Jungkook could send him flying with a slap, he quickly withdrew his head and went back to lying on the table. He chortled, "You smell of a boy?"
"Lunatic."
"And it's of a cute boy too."
Jungkook thought of Taehyung's face. Heh, how was that in any way cute?
However, he had to admit that the feel of Taehyung's skin was not too bad.
Eh, what the heck was he thinking... Jungkook felt a little helpless and rubbed his temples again.
"Kook," Donghee called out lovingly in an overly sweet voice. Paired with his plump face that still had leftover stubbles from not shaving properly, Jungkook felt like his hair was standing on end.
Jungkook impassively threw him a glance. "Do you still want to copy my assignments?"
"Yes."
"Then shut your eyes and go back to sleep."
Just like that, Donghee went back to sleep. However, during the lesson break, he woke up and once again called Jungkook "Kook".
Donghee: "Kook, I have something serious to tell you."
Jungkook had enough of his nonsense. He packed his stuff, planning to change seat.
Donghee suddenly grabbed his wrist and instantly changed his address. "Daddy."
Jungkook: "......"
"Daddy, I have something to ask of you.'
Jungkook closed his eyes for a moment. Based on the little bit of fraternal love that he had for his schoolmate, he restrained himself from getting violent. He asked mildly, "What is it?"
"Tonight, our dorm is having a gathering with some female juniors from the School of Humanities and Law. Remember to come."
"Not going, not free." Jungkook cleanly rejected the invitation. About the gathering, his roommates had all mention it before. However, his daily schedule was tightly packed from morning to night. Where would he find time to attend a gathering?
"Come on, it's just a meal."
"I have training."
Donghee thought otherwise. "It's fine even if you skip for a day. Look, you're already so fit." As he said this, he gave Jungkook's forearm a pinch.
Jungkook shook him off. "Being this plump, you're still not yet considering working out?"
Donghee: "I do work out. I played football yesterday."
Jungkook: "Football video games?"
Donghee: = =
"Riiing" The bell indicating the start of classes rang. Jungkook was unable to continue tolerating Donghee's clamor and moved to a front seat.
......
After leaving the west wing, Taehyung returned to the east wing and finally began skating in earnest.
There were quite a few people on the ice. However, all of them were amateurs and naturally could not be compared with the professional athletes next door. Taehyung kept to the outermost part of the ice rink. He was afraid of bumping into someone and carefully controlled his speed. However, what Taehyung understood as an "ordinary" speed was tremendously fast to others. He lowered his body for a lower centre of gravity. With his nimble body and vigorous movements, it was as if he was a small cheetah. He swiftly increased the distance covered with a "whoosh". His hair was swept back by the wind, revealing the clear skin of his forehead and a pair of bright, shining eyes. There was a prideful smile on his lips but it did not seem detestable at all.
His turns were even more startling. Due to his speed and the centripetal force, he would always be nearly leaning into the ground. Onlookers could not help but to break out in a cold sweat for him. As it happened, he never once fell.
After turning, he righted himself like a roly-poly toy and continued skating.
Nayeon could not resist fishing out her phone and recording him.
Taehyung was exhausted from skating. He slowly straightened up, lowered his speed, and leisurely glided on the ice. His hair was a mess and he carelessly ran his fingers through it.
"Mr., you skate really well." A man in work uniform came up to strike a conversation with him. Taehyung believed that he was a coach.
Dauntless Dragon Club's operations were not restricted to ice hockey. They also offered ice skating lessons, and this man was precisely an ice skating coach.
Taehyung smiled. "It's okay."
"You've trained for this before, haven't you? The way you executed those turns requires skills and control that only comes with at least a few years of training."
"It's all casual fun."
The coach saw that Taehyung was unwilling to divulge more and did not continue prying. "Are you from RCU?"
"Mm."
"Are you interested in becoming a part-time coach here? The pay and benefits can all be negotiated."
Taehyung considered for a moment and said, "I'm extremely interested but currently unable to take up your offer. I need to first deal with a pervert. I'll find you again in a month."
......
Taehyung got off the ice rink. Nayeon showed him the video that she recorded and said, "Taehyung, I feel that you're especially charismatic when you ice skate."
"In what way?"
"Hmm, I can't really pinpoint it either." Nayeon carefully thought about how she could describe it. She then said, "It's like, you're normally a bicycle but once on ice, you become a Ferrari."
"You're exaggerating." Taehyung played the video and also felt quite pleased with it. Thus, he sent the video to himself and uploaded it onto his WeChat.
There was quite a number of comments and likes. Shortly after, Taehyung saw that Jungkook also left a comment.
Jeon: We'll head to the Sky Yard for dinner. Order the dishes and wait for me. I want steak, stir-fried tomatoes, scrambled eggs, shredded chicken salad, Korean yam and pork ribs, and Crucian carp and daikon soup. Order croquettes again and I'll fry you up instead.
Taehyung: Dog, I forgot to block you.
Jeon: ...
——
The Sky Yard was a slightly more upscale dining area that was more expensive than the average canteen. Taehyung reached the place earlier than Jungkook. When he spotted him walking towards him, Taehyung saw that he had a little tail behind him.
Wait, no, a big tail.
That person was round and plump, and he was tailing closely behind Jungkook. He was currently pleading in an extremely servile tone, "Pleaseee. You can skip dinner and simply show up for a short while during the karaoke session. I've already spread the word, can you really bear to disappoint the juniors? All three of us in the dorm are depending on you to leave the single life. Jungkook... Dearest Brother Kook... Daddy, I'm begging you!"
Taehyung curiously asked Jungkook, "Who's this?"
"No idea."
That person sat at their table. "Hello, I'm Jungkook's roommate. You can call me Donghee."
"Hello, I'm Taehyung," Taehyung observed Donghee for a moment before doing the same to Jungkook. "What's up with you two?"
Donghee gave a short summary of his woes with the gathering.
The gathering was held with the dormitory that housed the prettiest girls among the new Humanities and Law first year students. The only reason they had agreed to the gathering was because of Jungkook. Donghee had already gave word that Jungkook would be there. It would be inexcusable if he did not show up at all.
Unfortunately for him, Jungkook was extremely obstinate and refused to go no matter how he was persuaded.
"If you really refuse to go, I'll die for you to see. You can be tormented by guilt for the rest of your life." Donghee changed his persuasion method.
Taehyung was still looking at them with a leg crossed over another. He piped up, "Senior, your way of threatening him is wrong."
"Ah? How would you threaten him then?"
"If he refuses to go, stuff dirty socks into his bed."
Jungkook's face immediately darkened.
Under the threat of dirty socks, Jungkook agreed to head over to the karaoke session for a short while after his training was over. Having gained this satisfactory reply, Donghee finally completed his mission and happily left.
Taehyung looked at Donghee's leaving figure and sighed, "There's so many girls in our school who are blind."
Jungkook spoke, "Follow me to the gathering tonight."
Taehyung was dissatisfied. "Why should I?"
Jungkook thought since you're making my life difficult, would I let you off with an easy life either?
——
Opposite RCU's west gate was Happy Coffee KTV. It was not only close to school but also had great value for money. This was the students' top choice for singing karaoke.
Jungkook and Taehyung reached Happy Coffee around 9 pm. They went upstairs and passed by numerous rooms. Along the way, they heard hideous wailing and ghastly cries. It was as if they stepped into the lair of demons.
When they reached Room 208, Jungkook pushed open the door.
Behind Jungkook, Taehyung peeked into the room. When the girls in the room saw Jungkook, all of them stood up.
All of them had great figures.
Taehyung tiptoed. Using an extremely fawning voice, he whispered into Jungkook's ear, "Your Majesty, these are the newly-arrived girls for this year's concubine selection. Is there one that catches your fancy?"
Jungkook did not even bother turning his head. He raised his hand to give his head a resounding knock.
Taehyung walked into the room with his hands covering his head. His mind was buzzing with ideas on how he could get even with Jungkook. However, once he entered the room and clearly saw the faces of the girls present, he forgot about all of it.
"Taehyung?"
"Roseanne?"
The girl named Roseanne had long chestnut curls. She had a charming face with exquisite features and was not too tall. Her figure was petite but she had all the right curves in the right places.
Donghee looked at Taehyung and Roseanne. He smiled. "You two know each other?"
"Of course." Roseanne nodded and smiled. "We were high school classmates."
Taehyung raised a finger and waggled it. He corrected, "High school year one classmate."
From his words, Donghee could discern some kind of unusual hostility.
Taehyung slipped his hands into his pockets and flippantly made his way to the sofa. When he passed by Roseanne, he heard Roseanne speak, "I would have never thought that you could get into RCU."
"The same to you. I thought you would have gone to Lan Xiang."
Roseanne's face paled. However, there were too many people present for her to flare up. She uncomfortably shifted her head.
The room was quite big and Taehyung had completely no intention of reminiscing the past with this former classmate. He sat in a corner of the room.
Jungkook silently sat down beside him.
The atmosphere was slightly awkward but Jungkook's roommates quickly helped to smooth things over. Everyone went back to happily singing and making eyes at each other.
Taehyung picked up the fruit platter and started munching. Primed for gossip, Jungkook stuck his head next to Taehyung's ear and murmured, "Love rival?"
Taehyung forked a piece of melon and stuffed it into Jungkook's mouth. "Your Majesty, don't pick Roseanne."
Jungkook was purely forced to come by the threat of dirty socks. He had no intention of picking anyone at all. However, he was greatly enjoying Taehyung's effort to butter him up. After he finished eating the melon, he opened his mouth again. "Pineapple."
They ate the fruits in silence for a while. When they raised their heads again, they found themselves surrounded by quite a few people.
A few of the girls passed over their notebooks orderly. "Senior, can we get your signature?"
After Jungkook finished signing, they refused to leave and twittered on noisily. Jungkook felt his head hurt.
"You guys continue, I'll go sing." Taehyung made moves to stand up.
At once, Jungkook grasped his wrist. "Don't you dare." To leave me here alone...
Taehyung could only primly sit back down. "Okaaay then. Let's start chatting. COME ON, EVERYONE."
After making such a scene, the other girls felt a little awkward. They silently looked at each other in dismay, not knowing what to say.
It just so happened that Donghee was on the mike attempting to mumble. Roseanne asked Jungkook, "Senior, I heard that you play the cello really well?"
"It's okay. I don't practice often." Jungkook played the cello once during last year's arts and cultural performance. Till this day, people were still harping on it.
Roseanne nodded. "It's indeed important to practice often. It's the same for my piano. After passing Grade 10, I don't really play it anymore."
Another girl said, "Yeah, that's right. Music instruments need lots of practice. My saxophone is at Grade 8. I plan to join the symphonic band so that I have more opportunities to practice."
Yet another girl commented, "I play the guqin, and I've live-streamed my performances before. They're pretty popular, hehe."
The last girl said, "I play the drums. I was the originally the drummer of my high school band."
Taehyung munched on melon slices as she watched their "performance".
After all the girls finished speaking, everyone turned to look at him.
Saxophone Girl asked, "Taehyung, what instrument do you play?"
"I know how to knock the wooden fish."
"......"
Saxophone Girl thought that he was joking. However, Taehyung's face was earnest. The corners of his lips were lightly curled in an ambiguous manner that could be either a smile or a mockery. His eyes were bright and radiated poise.
His presence was too domineering. Saxophone Girl was a little intimidated and did not say anything else.
"I'm going to the washroom." Jungkook suddenly stood up.
"Me, me, I'm going too." Taehyung followed behind.
The two of them left the room, one after another. Taehyung saw Jungkook's shoulder shook like he was having a seizure. Taehyung curiously increased his pace and walked to his front. Taehyung discovered that this fellow was perfectly fine. He was only laughing.
He had laughed till his eyes were creased into two crescent moons. His lips were tightly pressed together to prevent any laughter from escaping.
This expression of his momentarily brought Taehyung back to the days when they were young. Then, he had also laughed like this. After so many years, his personality had changed greatly but his laughter had stayed the same.
This sense of familiarity lifted Taehyung's mood. His head askew, he asked, "What are you laughing about?"
"Taehyung, you're a lunatic."
"You're the lunatic!"
Jungkook ignored him and continued walking. Taehyung followed after him. He said, "Jungkook, do me a favour."
"Oh?"
"Do you know that Roseanne wants to date you? Look at how her eyes lingered on you."
Jungkook could not be bothered. "And how is this my business?"
"It's not your business, it's mine. Not going to lie, Roseanne and I have some bad blood. If the person she likes actually likes me..." As he said this, Taehyung patted his chest. He grinned. "She'll go nuts."
Jungkook was amused. "You want me to like you? Dream on."
"I didn't say for real. Just put on a show and bless me with some affection or something. Pretty please."
"Why should I help you? We're enemies too."
"I like your honesty." Taehyung did not get angry. "How about this, list your condition."
Jungkook folded his arms and faintly smiled. "Tomorrow onwards, help me to wash my socks."
"You..."
"For 10 days in a row."
"I'm warning you, don't push your luck."
"Sure, I'll go confess to Roseanne this very instant." As he spoke, he turned and headed back.
Taehyung hurriedly chased after him. "Fine, fine, fine. I'll wash them, I'll wash them. You're the emperor, what you say goes."
The two returned to the room. Not long after sitting down, Jungkook stretched one arm over Taehyung's shoulder. With the other hand, he started familiarly pinching his face.
This was Jungkook's way of showing affection.
Taehyung had to not only allow him to play with his face but also wash his dirty socks. Taehyung felt that something was off.
"I've made a loss," Taehyung mournfully said.
"It's alright, you've received my love." Jungkook comforted him.
"Piss off..."