During the holiday, the school's gate was locked but a guard was stationed there to unlock it for staff entering or exiting. Taehyung was only considered a staff's family and might not necessarily have the same privilege.
Jungkook felt that they could simply let the guard know they were there. However, Taehyung did not want to reveal his presence. The guard was familiar with his father and thus naturally recognized him as well. If they entered through the gate today, it was likely that his father would know that he hung out with Jungkook and start nagging at him again.
"Let's climb the wall," he told Jungkook.
Jungkook was a little puzzled. "Why climb the wall when there's the door?"
"I haven't climbed a wall for a long time. Can't I suddenly feel like climbing?"
"What's with this peculiar hobby..."
Despite scoffing at him, Jungkook ultimately followed Taehyung in climbing the wall.
Jungkook climbed a school wall for the first time in his life. Unfamiliar with the motion, it was inevitable that his movements were clumsy. Luckily, he was fit enough that he managed to accomplish it without much difficulty and only grazed his palms in the process. In contrast, Taehyung's movements were smooth and practiced. With one look, anyone could tell that he was experienced at this.
"How many times have you done this..." Jungkook could not resist scoffing at him again.
Taehyung crossed his arms and giggled while looking at him. "Jungkook, I realize you haven't changed much. Till now, you're still an obedient baby who hasn't even climbed a wall before!"
Is it that weird to have never climbed a wall? It's only weird to have climbed before!
Jungkook disagreed with him silently without saying a word. The area where his skin broke was a little itchy and he rubbed it against his shirt.
Taehyung noticed his movements. "You're hurt? Let me see."
Jungkook stretched his hand out.
Taehyung pulled his hand over to his front.
Jungkook's fingers sunk into his soft and warm palm. His mind was thrown into disarray and he began to breathe lightly and carefully, seeming as if he was afraid of startling him.
Taehyung looked at Jungkook's hand with lowered eyes. On his palm near the web between his thumb and index finger, there was indeed a large area that had been grazed. His skin was lightly scraped but it did not look serious as there was no sign of blood. Taehyung bent his head and pursed his lips towards the broken patch of skin.
Jungkook stared at his cherry-like pursed lips. His heart pounded fiercely and Adam's apple bobbed.
Puff——
Taehyung blew gently on his skin.
The sensation of the cool air brushing against his skin was soft and light. It felt like he was being tickled with a feather. Flustered, Jungkook swallowed his saliva.
Taehyung let go of his hand. He kept his head bent and did not dare to look at Jungkook straight. He said softly, "It won't be painful after blowing."
Jungkook thought it won't be painful only after kissing.
However, he only dared to be a rogue in his mind. The actual word that came out was, "Thanks."
Taehyung did not say anything else. He walked along the wall as he headed to find the classroom they used to be at. As it was the holidays, there was no one sweeping the campus. Numerous leaves had piled up next to the wall and they crackled noisily when stepped upon.
Jungkook slotted his hands in his pockets and followed Taehyung with slow, leisurely steps. As he walked along, he casually raised his head and saw sunlight streaming down the gaps between the tree leaves and branches. The scattered, golden rays were still and unperturbed—just like the passage of time.
......
Taehyung quickly found their old classroom. As the school had yet to start, all of the classrooms were sealed and locked. Taehyung and Jungkook stood in front of the window and brashly stared into the classroom through the glass-like two discipline masters.
Taehyung asked Jungkook, "Can you still find the seats that we sat at?"
Jungkook answered with an "mm".
"It's a pity that we can't go in to have a look," Shortly after he lamented this, Taehyung began tapping the edges of the windows, one after another.
"What are you doing?" Jungkook asked.
"Let's see if we can flip in through the windows."
"You..." Jungkook did not even know what to say anymore.
Astonished delight suddenly appeared on Taehyung's face. "Oh? This window doesn't seem to be locked." As he spoke, he used strength to push. He pushed and pushed with all his might, to the point that his entire face was flushed.
Jungkook could only helplessly walk over to help him.
The window in question was jammed. From this, it seemed that rather than forgetting to lock it due to carelessness, the teacher might have been unable to unjam it as well. Jungkook was quite strong. With him there, the window was finally nudged open bit by bit.
That window needed to count its blessing for not being dismantled by him.
Taehyung flipped nimbly into the classroom. Behind him, Jungkook cautioned, "Slow down."
"Hurry up!"
The two of them found their former seats, brushed off the dust, and sat down.
The moment they sat down, it was as if the floodgates to their past were opened. Scenes from their childhood swirled up like a tidal wave and swept them into an ocean of memories. That very instant, Jungkook recalled numerous memories of his time with Taehyung.
They were in the same study group and he had helped to check his homework by correcting his wrong words and polishing his paper. In return, he wrote an essay that slandered him...
They participated in a community service program together as free guides at a tourist attraction. He helped Taehyung to explain the attraction's history while Taehyung helped him to pull in tourists...
They teamed up to set up the blackboard bulletin. Their opinions differed too much and neither of them was willing to meet the other halfway. In the end, the blackboard was split into two distinctive halves of completely different styles. When their teacher saw this, Taehyung did not know whether to laugh or cry and thoroughly scolded them for it...
They were on classroom duty together. Taehyung liked rummaging through the bin for gossip. He once found a love letter that a classmate had written to Jungkook and teased him for it. He tore the letter to pieces and ignored Taehyung for the entire day...
How they ate lunch together...
How they played together...
How they...
......
Humans are really strange.
An experience that was once beautiful could sour with time, making one feel only indifference or even disdain when looking back.
An experience that was once intolerable could mellow with time, stirring up only feelings of warmth and nostalgia when recalling it.
Time...
......
"Jungkook, look." Taehyung suddenly spoke and interrupted Jungkook's train of thoughts.
Jungkook looked down and saw Taehyung point to a line on the table. The line was a stroke shallowly carved out with a penknife before being filled in with a blue fountain pen. It was as neat as a carpenter's ink line. The fountain ink had seeped into the wood and due to oxidization, the initially bright color had turned dark and dull. One could tell that it had been some time since this line was drawn.
The tables in use were all double desks. As such, it was inevitable that some territorial disputes would happen. Establishing a boundary was something that many had done before. However, it was rare for others to draw it as neatly as this.
The line was drawn by Jungkook. At that time, Taehyung's writing posture was like a crab. He would sprawl sideways and take up lots of space. His elbow was always thrust over in front of Jungkook. Jungkook was forced to act like a one-armed warrior and study using only one hand. Seeing how their classmates drew territorial lines, Jungkook drew one as well out of helplessness. Being the top student in class, the line he drew had its style as well. Precisely measured and not a hair out of place, this was the most outstanding line drawn in the entire class.
Alas, this beautiful line did not seem to have the desired effect. Taehyung persisted in his behavior and did not turn from a crab to a crayfish as a result of it.
Jungkook traced the line with his finger and felt somewhat poignant. "This table hasn't been changed."
"Mm." Taehyung nodded. "My dad said that the tables and chairs can't be changed too frequently to teach the students to be frugal."
However, this table should indeed be changed. The table surface was already quite damaged while the table leg was a little shaky. It was time to retire it. Taehyung wondered where the replaced table would go. He felt a little forlorn and wanted to shift it home.
He sprawled on the table and examined it again. Besides the neat territorial line, there was various other nonsense on it. Some were drawn on while some were carved on. Amidst the mess of lines, he found a poker card that he had once drawn. Half of the poker card had long worn away while the other half was covered by subsequent lines that had come after it. It was impossible to tell what it originally was.
Taehyung pointed to the remnants of the black Spade card and asked Jungkook, "Do you still remember what this is?"
Jungkook only needed to glance at it once before he replied. "Of course." He suddenly laughed.
This poker card marked an embarrassment in Taehyung's history—how he once went through the excruciating experience of bankruptcy.
If one were to carefully examine the series of events, one would trace the cause of his bankruptcy to Jungkook.
There was a period when Jungkook was particularly oppressed by Taehyung. To cope, he decided to start a side business and organize a lucky draw in class. The prizes were all items that he had brought from home. The top prize was a small robot, which was an extremely novel item back then. The second and third prizes were quite decent as well. As for the consolation prize, it was a ballpoint pen refill. Jungkook was also very mindful of his classmates' egos. Rather than calling the consolation prize as it was, he chose to call it a 'merit prize' instead.
The lucky draw was a dollar per play. However, being broke was not an issue. One could use other items to play instead. Jungkook highly encouraged everyone to use other items to participate. This was because he might not necessarily be able to keep the money.
Everyone who participated was required to keep this a secret. Otherwise, they might lose their chance at winning the robot.
The lucky draw event was extremely successful. People would crowd around Jungkook as soon as lessons ended. When Teacher Jin curiously asked them what they were up to, all of the children immediately replied in unison, "We're looking at Jungkook's robot!"
Oh, that's not an issue. Teacher Jin stopped bothering them.
Jungkook became the biggest bookmaker in class. Even Taehyung participated in the lucky draw. Considering his identity, Jungkook allowed him to have two free plays. After he drew two ballpoint pen refills, Taehyung was hit by a wave of envy.
He was envious of not Jungkook's robot but the position of being the lucky draw organizer. He felt that it was a prestigious role befitting of him. Therefore, it was not long before he imitated Jungkook in creating a similar activity.
Even though his prizes did not include a robot-like Jungkook's, the items he offered were also popular trinkets at that time. This made his lucky draw quite attractive as well.
However, Taehyung had made a grave mistake—being too young, he had no conception of the probabilities involved in a lucky draw. Thus, he did not calculate the odds systematically and instead based it on his gut feeling. As a result, on the first day of operation, Taehyung discovered that he had made a loss after matching the earnings with what had been paid out. He thought that his luck was not good and thus drew a black Ace of Spades on the table, hoping that its mysterious powers would help him to change his luck.
Despite so, his luck did not change. Instead, the situation got progressively worse.
Then, he started owing people prizes and his classmates all ran to their teacher to seek justice. Teacher Jin felt that Taehyung was indeed a talented child. Even when causing trouble, he was capable of doing so in such a creative manner. She scolded Taehyung and reported this incident to Principal Kim.
Principal Kim almost expired from anger. "Do you know that what you're doing is illegal gambling?!"
His eyes brimming with tears, Taehyung did not dare to even nod or shake his head.
Principal Kim used his money to cover the prizes that were owed to Taehyung's classmates. Then, he told him, "I'm not forking out that amount of money for nothing. You need to earn it back."
The method of earning it back was a part-time job. The nature of the part-time job? Picking up dog poop.
Principal Kim toughened his stance to make Taehyung understand how tragic it was to go astray.
Therefore, for that entire month's weekends, Taehyung would wander around his residential area with a shovel and a bag to pick up dog poop. Each dog poop was worth a dollar. If he was lucky, he would meet aunties or uncles carrying plastic bags while walking their dogs. By going up and being adorably polite, he would be able to get a piece or two of dog poop. The aunties' and uncles' expressions would always be deeply conflicted. What could such a pretty young boy be collecting dog poop for...
Jungkook had the luck to stumble upon the scene of Taehyung picking up dog poop once. It left a deep impression on him and somewhat traumatized, he went back and quickly stopped his lucky draw operation.
......
......
......
Therefore, the cause of Jungkook's current laughter was that he had recalled Taehyung's sorry figure while picking up dog poop.
Taehyung was irked by his laughter and shoved him. "You're not allowed to laugh! It was entirely your fault!"
Jungkook was pushed off-center. He flopped onto the desk and using one hand to support his chin, he watched Taehyung with an amused smile. He had a mischievous look on his face but his gaze was filled with gentle warmth.
Taehyung turned away and ignored him. He patted his hair self-consciously.
Jungkook looked at his side profile. In the background was a bright glass window. Sunlight shone in through the glass and landed on the wooden table. A ray of sunlight separated the two of them.
The classroom was extremely quiet. There was only the sound of them breathing.
His heartfelt a little restless.
This was the first time that Jungkook was alone with a person he liked in an environment like this. Without seeming too abrupt or brash, he did not know what he could do to draw their relationship a little closer. He could only watch him silently and feel the vividness of his heartbeat.
Taehyung was never a serene person. The silence soon made him fidget. After rummaging through the table's compartment, he managed to find a red scarf from what had appeared to be an empty table.
"Hey." Taehyung was a little gleeful. "Come here, let me put on a dog collar for you." As he spoke, he took the red scarf and attempted to hook it around Jungkook's neck.
Jungkook dodged him with a laugh.
Due to how his body was much longer than Taehyung's, he could not catch Jungkook no matter how much he wanted to. Then, Jungkook suddenly grabbed his hand. While Taehyung was startled by his action, he easily snatched the red scarf over.
"Do you even know how to tie it?" Jungkook said while holding the red scarf.
"Why won't I?"
"Your red scarf was always tied by me when you were young."
"Cough."
What Jungkook said was not false. When Taehyung was young, his red scarf was tied by his father at home. He liked to play with it in school and often untied it before draping it casually over his neck. Before primary three ended, Jungkook was always the one who helped him to tie it. He only started tying the red scarf himself in primary four.
Even though it was the truth, he felt inexplicable embarrassment when Jungkook said it out like this. He also did not know what exactly he felt embarrassed over.
Taking advantage of how he was lost in thought, Jungkook looped the red scarf over Taehyung's neck, lowered his head, and focused on tying it for him.
While he was doing so, his fingers accidentally brushed across Taehyung's bare neck, causing Taehyung to shudder and tense subconsciously.
After so many years, Taehyung had long grown from a tiny doll to a charming young man. When Jungkook noticed his raised chest rising with every breath he took, Jungkook's brain went 'uh oh' and his fingers began trembling lightly.
Taehyung stared at Jungkook's face. Jungkook's features were handsome and defined. With his resolute character, he had quite a domineering presence. The addition of the mole was a playful touch that optimally softened his entire presence and prevented him from appearing completely aloof.
As he watched his face, Taehyung suddenly asked, "Jungkook, why is your face red?"
"Your figure's too good."
"..." When Taehyung realized what he meant, his face reddened as well.
Then, he landed one leg on Jungkook's chair and kicked him to the side along with it. "Scram! You rogue!"
Jungkook's stifled laughter did not stop.
Taehyung untied the red scarf and put it back on the table. He got up and flipped out of the window.
Jungkook followed behind hurriedly. He yanked the window back to its original spot before dashing after Taehyung noisily with a grin on his face.