Taehyung and Jungkook ran to the public square outside the ice stadium. Torn between not wanting to be caught and not wanting to shake him off completely, Jungkook ran at a controlled speed. He would turn and glance back at Taehyung's from time to time. In Kim's eyes, Jungkook was purposely provoking him with this behavior.
He pushed up his sleeves. "Jungkook, I'm going to kill you!" He took a breath and rushed forward.
Jungkook suddenly stopped, turned, and opened his arms.
Thud—
Headfirst, he plowed into Jungkook's embrace.
Jungkook caught him very cooperatively.
Taehyung, "..." Who am I, where am I, what am I doing here?
A short distance away stood Yoongi who was anticipating the sight of Jungkook getting into trouble. "..." Sorry for intruding, goodbye.
Jungkook had long arms. He used one hand to hold Taehyung's waist and the other to circle him back, trapping him like a cage. Taehyung squirmed and heard Jungkook speak into his ear. "I want the world to know that we're together, what's wrong with that?"
He sounded quite indignant.
Taehyung stared blankly. Though he was mad that Jungkook went behind his back, he was somewhat touched. Thus, he groused, "Why didn't you tell me earlier and snuck to post a Weibo instead?"
"The Weibo was posted accidentally. I've already deleted it."
"What's the use of deleting, people have already taken screenshots."
Jungkook tightened his arms. He murmured, "I'm sorry." His voice was soft and meek.
Taehyung was someone whose attitude mirrored what he faced. Defenseless against Jungkook's endearing apology, he squirmed and said, "Let go of me first. There are so many people here."
Jungkook released him reluctantly and lowered his head to gaze at Taehyung.
Taehyung was a little embarrassed. He self-consciously twisted his head to stare into the distance and ran a hand through his hair. His thick, inky black hair was ruffled by his fair fingers before falling back into place, each distinctive strand soft and glossy.
Even his hair is adorable.
Jungkook thought.
He took advantage of how Taehyung was not paying attention and suddenly lowered his head to land a kiss on its head. He was afraid that Taehyung would be angry and did not linger. Jungkook straightened up immediately after his lips grazed his hair, satisfied with the light touch.
The hair near Taehyung's temples was a bit thinner and Kim felt his kiss. His heart gave a violent lurch and to hide how affected he was, he purposely glared at Jeon.
Jungkook looked into his eyes and asked, "Why do you not want others to know that we're together?"
"Jungkook, my father doesn't agree to us being together. There's always so much attention on you. If he finds out about us... sigh, I have no idea how he'll react."
"Father-in—ah, I meant, your father dislikes me?"
Taehyung thought for a while before shaking his head. He replied, "It's not exactly disliked. He thinks that you're too clever and astute, which worries him if we're together. "
Jungkook felt somewhat aggrieved. He had an honest character and that one time he happened to do something bad, he was caught by his father-in-law. How sad.
Though sad, he did not dare to grumble a single word. He gave a depressed sigh and said, "I will prove to him that you can entrust yourself to me for the rest of your life."
Entrust for life. This was no frivolous vow.
Taehyung felt a sweetness in his heart but thought that "entrust for life" was not a phrase suitable for him. He was fully capable of grasping his own life and living well without the need to entrust himself to anyone.
If they were to speak of entrusting, Jungkook should be the one entrusting himself to him.
Something suddenly struck Taehyung.
"Jungkook, do your parents dislike me?"
Jungkook shook his head at once. "How is that possible? My mom likes you."
Taehyung found it odd. "Doesn't your mom know what I did to you when we were young?"
He shook his head again.
"You didn't tell her?"
Another shake of the head.
"Why not?"
Regarding this, the worst that his mother knew was the time when Taehyung chased him with a caterpillar and caused him to fall into some thorn bushes. However, Taehyung did not do so intentionally and their teacher and classmates could witness it. In the end, Kim's actions were deemed to be an accident and he was punished by Principal Kim. Jungkook's mother did not blame Taehyung either.
Taehyung saw that Jungkook was lost in thoughts. He stared at the sky and sighed. "Jungkook, you should have let your parents know."
"If I did, my parents would have transferred me to another school. We would have been separated and I wouldn't have followed you to ice skate and learn ice hockey. I wouldn't be who am I now and we wouldn't have the chance to reunite. Or even if we met again, we would only be primary school classmates who barely interacted and couldn't even remember each other's names. After saying hi, the two of us would go our separate ways."
"Jungkook..." When Taehyung thought of that possibility and imagined how his life would have turned out without the person named Jeon Jungkook, Taehyung was suddenly very upset. His eyes even reddened.
Jungkook looked at him and smiled. He said, "Taehyung, more than once, I regret missing the six years of your secondary school life. But right now, I feel extremely fortunate because at least I still have those six years of your childhood."
Taehyung's heart softened into mush. He turned his back on Jungkook and mumbled, "Lunatic, bringing up such emotional things out of nowhere."
Jungkook rubbed his head and remarked, "Sometimes, I think that fate's arrangement is amazing."
——
Jungkook's gratefulness towards fate lasted till dinnertime.
At night, he was having dinner with Taehyung at the Sky Yard. Taehyung was bored and began browsing Weibo. He wanted to see Jungkook's fans' reaction toward Jeon revealing his relationship.
Right after going on Weibo, he discovered that his number of followers and the amount of news on him had increased drastically. When he clicked in curiously, your mom's egg!
There were no secrets on the internet. Last year's rumors of him being in a love triangle were once again dug out and spread around. An overwhelming amount of pictures and text painted a vivid story. It was no wonder that those people had kept those pictures till now.
Rather than calling those rumors truth backed up by picture evidence, it was more accurate to call them tales spun from some pictures. It was as sensationalized as they come. Many believed the rumor that Jungkook caught him cheating with Yukhei at a hotel. Just how blind were the masses?
Oh, yes, Yukhei was involved as well. This particular rumor even attracted another group of people's attention. Yukhei, who was currently in Seoul, was one of the three involved parties in the supposed love triangle; he was someone with fans as well...
The whole bunch of them was not satisfied with stirring up the past rumors; they even dug out Taehyung's Weibo account.
At the moment, numerous fans were circling his account for a trial.
Those with better tempers requested him for an explanation. Those with shorter tempers directly rained him with terrible insults.
The bulk of the crowd was simply there to watch a show and was restrained in their actions. However, it was inevitable that widespread attention would attract some extreme fans. At least from the numbers, it could be seen that the number of extreme fans increased the more attention this got.
Vexed by the extreme fans' insults, Taehyung threw his phone onto the table with a loud thud.
Jungkook received a shock. He observed his face furtively and in a careful tone, asked, "What's wrong?"
"Dear Ice God," Taehyung glared at him, the corners of his lips raised in a dangerous smile. "Your girlfriends are all calling me a bitch." He passed his phone over as he spoke.
Jungkook took the phone. His heart sunk with just one glance. Oh, no!
Without even finishing his dinner, Taehyung ran out with a darkened expression.
Jungkook grabbed their bags and slung them over his shoulder before rushing out after Kim.