When Jungkook reached home, he found his parents still awake.
The living room lights were adjusted to dim. The two of them sat in the living room and the atmosphere suspiciously felt like they were conspiring something.
From the very moment Jungkook appeared, his parents' eyes had not left the pink dinosaur in his arms.
"It's a gift," Jungkook explained.
"From whom?" Mrs. Jeon asked.
Jungkook did not answer.
Mrs. Jeon tried again in a more subtle manner. She asked, "Boy or girl?"
"Boy."
Jungkook did not want to take the dinosaur back into his room. He put it on the corner cabinet in the living room instead.
Then, he bade goodnight to his parents and headed upstairs. There were some things that he needed to think about in silence.
After their son left, Mr. and Mrs. Kim stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the corner cabinet and stared at the dinosaur.
"He's lying." Mrs. Jeon suddenly spoke.
Mr. Jeon patted her shoulder. "No matter what our child decides, we need to respect him. The most important thing is that he's happy, right?"
Mrs. Jeon straightened up. "Quit drinking after New Year."
"All right..."
——
Taehyung's New Year's Eve was spent in an unprecedentedly peaceful manner. He went to his grandparents' house for a reunion dinner before watching the New Year's Gala with his whole family. Halfway through the program, he fell asleep.
Principal Kim woke him up to go back to his room to sleep.
Taehyung was sleeping peacefully and a little grumpy at being woken up. He made his way back to his room half-consciously. When he slipped under his blanket, he thought, if it was Jungkook, he definitely wouldn't have wakened him and would have carried him back in without saying a word.
Ah, what was he thinking...
Taehyung's phone was left in the living room and rang non-stop with notifications. Finding it a little annoying, Principal Kim switched it to silent mode.
The next morning, Taehyung saw numerous missed calls after waking up. It was obvious that those calls were made to convey New Year's wishes.
He returned the calls one by one.
The first was Nayeon.
"Hey, Consort Im, Happy New Year! Have you seen the red packet that I've sent you?"
"I've seen it, thanks, my king! Eh, my king..."
"Mm?"
"You and Jungkook... Cough, I mean, Jungkook hasn't been bullying you recently, right?"
"Nope, he's rarely triggered these days. I feel that he'll soon be won over by my charm."
"Ah, my king! You've finally realized it?"
"Of course. I feel that it won't be long before Jungkook joins my grand team of lackeys."
"..."
"Be good. Don't fight for my favor. He has an older qualification than you."
"..."
The second was Eunwoo.
"Hey, Eunwoo, Happy New Year! Have you seen the red packet that I've sent you?"
"Boss, it's a two cents red packet. Can you not sound so proud of it?"
"Isn't two cents money as well? You're not grateful at all."
"Boss." Eunwoo's voice suddenly became a little mysterious.
"Mm? What?"
"If you're willing to give me three pairs of limited edition sneakers, I'll tell you a shockingly huge secret!"
"Sure, bring Bagua Lotus Grand Writing Brush here. I'll draw it for you. What brand do you want? Adidas or Nike?"
"..."
The third was Jungkook.
"Hey, Ice Dog, Happy New Year! Have you seen the red packet that I've sent you?"
"Mm." Jungkook was laughing.
From his laughter, Taehyung visualized an image in his mind. In it, Jungkook's lashes were lowered as he laughed lightly, looking gentle, intoxicating, and delicious. Taehyung's face immediately reddened. He asked him, "What are you doing?"
"Lazing about at home. Visiting relatives tomorrow. You?"
"I'm at my grandparents' house. Waiting to collect money later, hehe."
Jungkook laughed again. Even though they were only chatting about mundane things as plain as water, neither of them felt bored.
After hanging up his call with Jungkook, Taehyung flipped through his missed call list again. The rest were from people like Yukhei and Jaehyun. He did not feel like speaking to them and returned messages filled with sincere New Year's wishes instead.
——
On the fourth day of the New Year, Taehyung went to visit Teacher Lee who had recently given birth.
As it was the New Year, numerous people had family activities while some of them did not even live in Lake City. Therefore, the number of students who went to visit Teacher Lee was only slightly more than ten.
Teacher Lee used to be a slender beauty. Now, she was plumper around like a blown balloon. However, she was smiling a lot more and quite spirited after giving birth. Teacher Lee wanted to ask her students to stay for lunch but she was still amid postpartum confinement and it was inconvenient for her. As everyone did not want to trouble Teacher Lee, they planned to have lunch outside instead.
Before bidding farewell to Teacher Lee, everyone took a group photo with her and the baby.
After they left, they discussed where to have lunch. Roseanne was one of those who came down today and Taehyung did not hide their hostility toward each other. He saw Roseanne interacting closely with the other classmates and did not want to participate in their conversation. He waved his hand and said, "I still have something going on at home. You guys go ahead."
"Don't." Roseanne tugged on his arm, making it seem like the two of them were close. "We're all scattered over the country after going to university. It's rare for us to gather so let's have this meal together?"
"My uncle is coming to my house today and his red packet is always over a thousand won. How about you compensate me for it?"
Roseanne released her silently.
Since Taehyung was not eating, Eunwoo felt that he would be a traitor if he stayed. Thus, he followed Taehyung and left.
On the way back, Taehyung saw Roseanne updated her Moments with the photo that they took at Teacher Lee's place earlier. Roseanne photoshopped everyone to look better except for Taehyung. Taehyung felt that Roseanne might have done the opposite and photoshopped him to look uglier.
This was another reason why Taehyung did not like Roseanne—she was full of petty tricks and schemes, and never confront anyone directly.
Roseanne was not that close to those who stayed either. At most, they were only friends on the surface.
When Taehyung was on the train, he received a series of messages from two or three of his classmates there. They all exposed how Roseanne was sharing various gossip and negative news with them. For example, how Taehyung threw his weight around and bullied new classmates, how he was always unreasonably jealous and aggressive over Jungkook, and how he two-timed blah blah blah...
The narration that Roseanne gave was too darned exciting.
The more Taehyung read, the more irritated he got. He was thinking of how to give Roseanne a lesson when an incoming video made him completely blow his top.
In the video, Roseanne said ambiguously, "He went to a hotel with a guy from the figure skating team and was caught by Jungkook. The commotion caused by this incident was huge. I heard that the guy was so affected by this that he was forced to leave school."
Taehyung did not plug in his earpiece. The video played over his phone speaker and Eunwoo who stood near his heard it as well. After listening, his face was stunned. "There was still something like this? Boss, how come I didn't know?"
Taehyung was so furious that his chest started heaving with anger. His face appeared still as water but there was a murderous glint in his eyes that was quite frightening.
Eunwoo had also realized the truth. "Boss, she's slandering you!"
Taehyung stood up with a "swoosh" and walked towards the train doors.
Eunwoo quickly followed along and asked, "Boss, what are you doing?"
Taehyung got off the train without saying a word. He headed to the opposite side for the train back.
Worried, Eunwoo lagged behind and secretly gave Jungkook a call. Speaking quietly, he said, "Hey, Jungkook, come quickly, my boss is probably about to go crazy!"
......
Taehyung stormed over to where Roseanne and the rest gathered for lunch. He found the correct room number and used one leg to kick the door open.
Bang!
The people inside were having a light-hearted conversation. Caught off guard, all of them got a shock. They turned to look at the door in unison, the smiles still on their faces.
Taehyung entered and swept his eyes across the scene. Finally, his gaze fell on Roseanne and he said to the rest, "Continue. Ignore me."
Jaehyun stood up and called his name, "Taehyung..." He looked to be in a bad mood as well and his eyes were a little upset looking at him.
Taehyung raised a hand at him. "Don't worry, I just want a little chat with her."
He circled Roseanne a few times, his stare making Roseanne extremely nervous. Roseanne's face paled and she asked, "And how have I offended you again?"
Seeing the beers on the table, Taehyung grabbed a bottle that was almost empty and heavily swung it down on an unoccupied chair at the side!
Crash! The beer bottle broke into pieces in response. Bottle-green glass shards shattered all over the floor and crisp tinkling sounds rang out chaotically as they struck the ground.
Everyone present received another huge shock. Some of the girls even covered their ears and shrieked.
Taehyung gripped the remaining half of the beer bottle in his hand. The edge where the bottle broke was jagged and sharp. He pointed the bottle towards Roseanne, closing the distance between his and the jagged glass.
Roseanne was frightened. She wanted to fight back but did not have the guts to do so. She thought of running but was afraid of getting injured. Now, she froze on her chair and spoke with trembling lips, "What, what are you doing?"
"Do you know why I insist on playing sports?" Taehyung blinked languidly and said in a mild voice, "It's because just as I can reason with those who can be reasoned, for those who can't be reasoned," He paused here and gave a wicked smirk, "I can be unreasonable instead." As he spoke, he began to advance with the beer bottle.
Roseanne was so frightened that she covered her head and let out a piercing shriek. She frantically retreated behind. "Ahhhhh!"
Jaehyun and a few other guys quickly stepped forward to stop Taehyung.
At this moment, Taehyung suddenly felt someone hug him from the back.
It was a broad, warm and indisputable hug that enveloped him tightly like how the ocean enveloped a shark. Immediately following this, his hand which held the bottle was also captured. He grabbed Taehyung's hand and using his fingers, exerted a light force to press his hand open and remove the bottle.
Then, from above his head, he heard a low, familiar male voice that was pleasant and gentle, "Don't be angry."
It was Jungkook.
He did not criticize Taehyung nor ask him to knock it off. He only wanted him to stop being angry.
In an instant, Taehyung was not as furious anymore. He was a little touched.
He went limp in Jungkook's arms. Everyone exhaled in relief when they saw this.
Only Jaehyun looked even more upset.
Jungkook released Taehyung and threw the broken bottle into the rubbish bin.
Taehyung pointed at Roseanne and threatened, "If you slander me again, I'll disfigure you!"
Roseanne's face alternated between green and white, looking extremely terrible. Her gaze secretly slid to Jungkook and when she saw how Jungkook was looking at Taehyung with doting and indulgent eyes, Roseanne felt even more terrible.
Taehyung's physical threat was way more effective than any law. Roseanne did not even dare to defend herself and simply hoped that Taehyung would quickly leave.
Jungkook was afraid that Taehyung would be triggered again. He grabbed Taehyung's hand tightly and towed him out of the room.
Taehyung followed behind Jungkook. His head was lowered and his sight was filled with his coffee-colored jacket, light blue cropped jeans, white sports shoes, and their clasped hands.
He immediately felt his heart soften. Like the spring wind caressing a wheat field in early spring, what he felt rippled gently for miles.
After stepping out of the restaurant, Jungkook let go of his hand.
Taehyung touched the released hand and felt his residual heat.
"Why were you so angry?" Jungkook asked.
Taehyung waved his hand and said. "I was only scaring her. I didn't intend to hit anyone at all. You should know that Roseanne is a vile person who only bullies those who don't retaliate. I need to show her that I'm not someone she can mess with."
"Was it over Jaehyun?"
"Ah?"
Jungkook looked into his eyes and asked, "Afraid that Jaehyun hears about the rumors?"
"What does it have to do with Jaehyun?" Taehyung shook his head. "I'm just afraid that the rumors Roseanne is spreading would spread to my dad. Today, it's our classmates. Tomorrow, it might be our teachers. My dad knows all of my high school teachers. If he ever catches wind of these rumors, he might kill me. There's too much red packet money that I haven't collected. I can't just die like this..."
Jungkook did not know whether to cry or laugh. He pushed Taehyung's head. "What low aspirations you have."
His head still skewed to the side, Taehyung looked at Jungkook and asked, "What are you doing in the afternoon?"
"No idea."
"Ice skating? Last time you treated so I'll treat this time."
"Sure."
——
Taehyung never thought that he would one day jinx himself. After playing for the afternoon, he returned home for dinner at night and saw his dad sitting on the living room sofa with a grim look on his face.
His mother sat beside him and gave him a look loaded with meaning.
Taehyung... could not understand it at all.
He walked a little closer and saw several photos spread out on the coffee table. He stretched out his neck curiously to take a closer look and discovered that the photos were of him which had been taken secretly by others in school a while back. The photos of the chase were still acceptable but the photos of Jungkook and him lying on top of each other on the grass were a little too much.
Even though he knew that things were not as they seemed in the photo, Taehyung still felt embarrassed looking at it. And strangely enough, he felt even more embarrassed looking at it compared to the previous time. Taehyung pointed to the photos and explained, "It's all fake."
"Why are you getting more irresponsible with age!" Principal Kim slapped the coffee table several times. "How can you do something like this when you're a boy? That's too frivolous! Do you think that the other person would like you because of it? Wrong! He would only look down on you! You're destroying yourself!" Principal Kim's anger was not light. His face and neck were flushed from saying those few lines.
Taehyung pointed at the photos and said, "Where did these come from?"
Mrs. Kim explained, "Someone sent it over by express delivery. Your father's students were also present and your dad tore open the package without thinking much. In the end..."
In the end, everyone saw his precious son's exciting performance.
Taehyung rubbed his temples in frustration.
"Your dad's phone received a set of photos as well," Mrs. Jeon added, "GIFs."
Taehyung recalled the GIF of Jungkook and him and Taehyung's face reddened. That simply made things impossible to explain. He shook his head and said, "Dad, why don't you think about why someone sent this to you. Isn't it obvious that someone wants to wreck our father-son relationship?"
"Don't try to change the topic!"
Taehyung held up three fingers. "I swear on my conscience that all these are fake."
"Oh, you have a conscience? Who believes that?"
"I swear on my integrity that it's just a misunderstanding. Jungkook only wanted to look at the scar on my head."
Principal Kim shook his head and let out a long exhale. He said, "Your mother and I don't control you too strictly as we feel that you've grown up and know how to be responsible for yourself. I was afraid that you'll be annoyed at us if we nag too much. But now, look at yourself." As he spoke, he held up the photos and shook them. "You still don't think you're in the wrong?! What else can I say? You've greatly disappointed us!"
Taehyung was angered and wronged by his words. "Yes, I don't think I'm in the wrong. I think there's something wrong with the two of you. You choose to believe a few photos rather than your son. Is seeing believing? You usually believe all the rumors you hear, don't you? Do you know that when you get deceived by the rumors you hear, you're an accomplice to spreading them!"
"You...!!"
Principal Kim wanted to leap to his feet in anger but Mrs. Kim quickly held him back. She said to Taehyung. "Child, how can you speak to your father in this manner? Quickly apologize."
"I'm so sorry to have disappointed the two of you but I don't think I did anything wrong at all." As he spoke, Taehyung turned and walked off.
Behind him, Mrs. Kim asked, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to cool down outside."
After Taehyung left, Mrs. Kim was worried and wanted to follow him.
Principal Kim stopped her. "Don't bother. Let me see if he still comes back. "
On ordinary days, Principal Kim would have welcomed a slap to the face if he dared to speak to his wife in this tone. However, Mrs. Kim could understand his current mood and did not take offense. She sat back down and said, "Alright, cool down. She's just a child. Who doesn't commit mistakes at the age of eighteen or nineteen?"
Principal Kim slapped the coffee table furiously again. His finger jabbed Jungkook's handsome face in the photo and he exclaimed in frustration, "It's this rascal—he's full of bad intentions and evil tricks!"
Mrs. Kim picked up the photo and took a closer look. Puzzled, she said. "Wasn't Jungkook very well-behaved in the past? From what I remember, Taehyung was the one bullying him."
Principal Kim snorted. "It's tough to tell a person's true nature."
"Young man's quite good looking though."
"Let me tell you, if this rascal dares to enter our house, I'm going to break his legs."
Mrs. Kim was amused. "Keep exaggerating. You can't even bring yourself to kill a fish."
——
After Taehyung left his house, he gave Jungkook a call.
Over the phone, his voice was a little choked up. He did not explain in detail what had happened and merely said that he wanted to see him.
Jungkook got a shock and hailed a taxi over.
Taehyung stood in the chilly wind for more than twenty minutes. When Jungkook saw him, his nose was red from the cold.
Taehyung looked at him, his face sad and aggrieved. He appeared both pitiable and a little comical at the same time. Jungkook wanted to hug him but was worried that it was too out of nowhere. He stood in front of him, looked down at his face, and said, "Are you dumb? Don't you know to wait in a warmer place?" Even though his words scoffed at him, Jungkook's tone was very gentle.
Taehyung said, "I don't know where to go."
"Couldn't you have waited at home?"
"I don't have a home."
Oh, you poor thing. Jungkook held in his laughter and said, "Do you want to follow me back to my home?"
Taehyung shook his head, looking utterly miserable.
Jungkook brought him to a barbeque place. He ordered a table of food and sat opposite him. Using a pair of tongs, he barbequed the meat as he listened to Taehyung's grievances. When the meat was ready, he put it onto his plate.
In one long breath, Taehyung told him about his fight with his parents.
What he could not stand the most was that his parents did not believe him and even said that he had disappointed them. Those words were simply too hurtful.
Jungkook was focused on another issue. He stopped barbequing the meat and asked Taehyung, "Who sent those photos? Which delivery company was it? From what I know, none of the delivery companies have resumed operations yet."
"Don't know." Taehyung shook his head. "This is a set-up. My dad's been sharp his entire life; why is he so muddleheaded now?"
"His concern over this issue makes it hard to stay level-headed. And those photos are too realistic for any explanation. In your dad's eyes, no matter who sent it, it's still a fact."
"Humph."
Jungkook asked, "Who do you think is the culprit?"
Taehyung pondered for a while. "My guess is Roseanne. She holds a grudge against me for scaring her today and wants to get even."
Jungkook mused over this for a long while. "The photos only had you and me in it and no Yukhei? Nothing else?"
"No."
"Then it's not Roseanne."
"Why?"
"If Roseanne did this, she would aim to infuriate your dad and embarrass you. If that's the case, it's even better for her to include the photos of you and Yukhei and print out all the rumors online..."
When Taehyung heard this, he used his hands to mime above his head. "If that happened, my dad would have blown his top and started smoking like a chimney."
Jungkook saw that he was finally back in a mood to joke around. He smiled and looked at him. "Not angry anymore?"
Fixated by his gentle gaze, Taehyung felt his ears heat up for no reason. He lowered his head and took a sip of lemon water. While biting his straw, he answered with a soft "mm".
As meat sizzled on the grill. Jungkook continued his analysis. "So, this means infuriating your dad was not the goal of the person who sent those photos. Or rather, not the main goal."
"Then what could it be?"
"If—I'm saying if—we're already together and your dad sees those photos. What would be his reaction?"
"Eh... to break us up?"
"Mm." Jungkook nodded, his heart grouching unhappily.
Breaking them up before they even got together.
Getting into Principal Kim's good graces was the biggest challenge that he had ever faced in his entire life.
Jungkook let out a faint sigh. "Eat." As he spoke, he used the steel chopsticks to put a piece of freshly grilled beef tenderloin onto the plate in front of him.
There were already quite a few pieces of meat on it.
Taehyung sneaked a glance at Jungkook.
Jungkook's eyes were lowered. Under the restaurant's soft, yellow lighting, his face appeared even gentler than usual. His dashing brows and raised nose were as perfect as a drawing out of a manga. Lost in unknown thoughts, his cherry blossom-colored lips were gently pursed.
Taehyung stared at his lips and like a little rogue, he licked his lips.
Done with putting the meat on his plate, Jungkook raised his eyes and looked at him.
Their eyes met. Neither of them shied away.
Taehyung saw his black pupils looking as clear as water and shining faintly. They stared back at him steadily, warm and focused. He sank into the softness of this gaze and had the sensation that the whole world was falling away except for the two of them.
Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum...
Taehyung heard his heartbeat—so heavy that it was like a beating drum, and so light that it was like a blossoming flower.
Each beat pounded with excitement.