9 years ago.
Eighteen-year-old Jeon Jungkook thought keeping away from the most popular guy in school to join a debate club might allow him some momentary peace of mind, but Kim Taehyung would follow him even to the nerdiest club in school if it meant he could escape his fans. And wherever Kim Taehyung went, his fangirls closely followed behind.
Being the best friend of the popular kid was not always as glorious as the TV shows made it seem.
"Tae, one class time of silence. That's all I asked."
"It's not my fault they keep following me."
"For god's sake, just date one of them. They're so annoying."
"Hell no!"
The debate club was unusually packed to the brim. The club's unpopularity was the reason it couldn't even get a classroom approved for its meetings and had to make do with the indoor gym. Five minutes into the start of the club meeting, Taehyung was already getting bored, shaking his legs as he waited for the President of the club to finish his rather boring speech. But it wasn't the poor guy's fault that he kept getting interrupted every five seconds by peals of giggles from the female population who kept eyeing Taehyung every now and then. As expected, the school's official Queen Bee Dayong was at the very front rows, watching Taehyung as if he was her next best meal. Jungkook felt sorry for him. At least he understood why Taehyung was so against dating Dayong.
The President sent them all a filthy glare as he resumed his speech. The door to the gym room flew open with a screech interrupting President Hajoon once again, and he looked up from the piece of paper with his speech with murder in his eyes before he paused and stuttered out a name in surprise. "A-ahn Heiran?"
A sea of male heads turned towards the door. Jungkook too turned to look, craning his neck to get a better view of the person.
"Why's Ahn Heiran here?" Taehyung asked, annoyed. The name vaguely rang a bell in the back of Jungkook's mind.
"Wait, isn't that the other girl who's trying to date you?" he asked, trying to catch a glimpse of the girl in vain.
"I don't think she wants to date me. People ship us together because she just happens to be the most popular girl in the female student body." Taehyung clarified, irritatedly.
"So she's not after you? That's a first." Jungkook commented, noting with interest how most of the females' faces turned sour at the name as they watched the new entrant.
The confusion gradually began to settle and Jungkook finally caught sight of the girl by the entrance. She was inspecting her nails, seemingly oblivious to the fanfare she was receiving from the guys. Another girl, her best friend he presumed, stood right by her side with a proud smirk. Once the room had calmed down and there was absolute silence, she raised her head.
She was definitely a sight to see with a face so flawless that it looked as if the creator spent a few extra hours sculpting it to perfection. Her eyes were sharp, her jawline distinctive, and her sinful lips were so tragically unreal. Her coffee-brown hair was the same shade as her eyes which looked quite bored. She held herself with such a confident poise, and Jungkook knew the truth at once. The girl was not as oblivious as she pretended to be. She knew exactly what effect she had on them all.
"Sorry," her voice was low, breathy in a way that could charm a guy's pants off. She sauntered forward gracefully, each step like that of a cat. "I'm a bit late."
She swept her luscious hair over her shoulders, earning an appreciative whistle from some guy situated to his left. A faint smirk graced her lips as she shot the guy a quick wink.
Taehyung placed a hand under Jungkook's chin and closed his mouth shut, snapping him out of his trance, "You're drooling."
"What?" Jungkook asked distractedly, wondering what went through him a moment before.
"Never seen Ahn Heiran before?" Taehyung asked, amused.
"No...not really," he managed to reply, a bit breathless. He'd heard the name aplenty around the campus. Come to think of it, how had he never come across her?
"That explains it."
Jungkook turned his attention back to the girl. She was talking with the red-faced president who bumbled like a fool before asking her to take a seat. The girl, Ahn Heiran, didn't spare him another glance as she walked off towards the bleachers on the opposite side and came to a slow stop before Dayong. Dayong looked as if she swallowed a rat whole for breakfast.
Ahn Heiran suddenly pointed at her seat and yelled out loud, "Oh my gosh, is that a cockroach on my seat?!"
Dayong let out a terrified scream scrambling to get out of there. Her minions followed closely, squealing in fright. As soon as she was out of the way, Ahn Heiran walked forward and plopped herself down on the bleachers, patting the space beside her for her redhead friend to go sit down.
"Thanks!" She called out to Dayong jovially before she added, "I was referring to you by the way."
"You l*ttle—"
"Please, calm down and take a seat. We are starting the debates soon." Hajoon interjected before things could get messier.
"Don't tell me what to do, nerd!" Dayong screamed at him but the whole room had erupted in guffaws at her humiliation. Face pink with anger, she summoned her minions and left the room, not before voicing a very grave threat towards Ahn Heiran. "You will pay for this, b*tch!"
"Yeah, yeah, sayonara, wh*res." She replied, not concerned at the least.
The feud between the two Queen Bees of FSoPA high was nothing new. But it was Jungkook's first time witnessing the fight in real-time. He was never a fan of catfights, much less drama. But sitting there watching the victorious beam on Ahn Heiran's face, he knew whose side he chose to root for.
The debates began and soon there were heated arguments raging in the make-shift stage area but Jungkook found himself staring in the direction of one girl in particular. She sat there like she owned the place, occasionally whispering something against her best friend's ears and bursting into giggles before she turned her attention back to boys debating up front. It felt as if Ahn Heiran never really saw them even though she watched their exchange with concentration. There was a lingering boredom in her eyes as if nothing in the room particularly appealed to her. Like everything was so predictable to her.
The redhead girl beside her whispered something in her ears and her lips tugged up in a sly look. Her eyes drifted off the redhead and stared right up at him. Jungkook froze for the moment her unseeing eyes swept over him, then they moved to his right where Kim Taehyung sat. A newfound interest sparked in her gaze. She looked back at her friend, whispering something back with an approving smile. Together they dissolved into fitful laughter.
For the first time in his entire life, Jungkook felt that it was unfair. He'd never envied Taehyung for his popularity before. In fact, he rather preferred it that way, although being his best friend still brought him considerable attention. Now that even Ahn Heiran seemed to find Taehyung interesting, he felt something like pin-pricks poking his chest.
Next to Kim Taehyung, he might have been just another guy to Ahn Heiran, but to him, for the brief moment her eyes had landed on him, his whole universe had stopped spinning.
Not that Jungkook was jealous of Kim Taehyung or anything. Not at all. He just believed that it was so unfair.
"Hey, don't," Taehyung warned, having noticed the way he was watching Ahn Heiran the whole time. "That chick is crazy. I won't recommend it."
How crazy? He felt quite a maddening urge to test it out. Taehyung nudged him. "And besides, you've got a lot of competition, mate." He pointed to his right. Jungkook saw it too. He wasn't the only one with his eyes on Ahn Heiran. A good number of guys from the boy's side watched her too, captivated by her every movement. He understood why he was not that special. He was just another guy among the many who wanted the popular girl. He knew how that looked. He was BFFs with the popular guy after all.
It won't do.
"Next up for the defending team, we have our beloved Ahn Heiran! Do we need an introduction for her?"
He looked back at the stage only to find that she had stepped up to the front for the next round of debate. The guys cheered at her entry, screaming at the top of their lungs at Hajoon's introduction. She presented them with a bow and blew out a kiss. Jungkook couldn't help but chuckle. Pretentious little princess. Who did she think she was?
When the call came for her opposing side from the President, his hand shot up in the air before anyone else's. There were several other contenders who looked just as eager to be on the opposing team of Ahn Heiran as him. However, Jungkook aimed a look that could intimidate demons out of hell at Hajoon and he fearfully chose him.
"And for the opposing team, we have JK, the star player of FSoPA's basketball team."
The girls didn't let him down, raining down applause as he stood up from the bleachers and descended the steps to the stage area, waving to his loyal fanbase. Heiran regarded him, feigning an impressed expression on her face but her eyes..they were still dull. He jogged up to the stage, giving a friendly slap to Hajoon's back before he gave her his hand, his smile lopsided. "Go a little easy on me."
"I will try," she replied with a predatory smile, accepting his hand.
The debate was about Street smarts vs. Book Smarts. He didn't know who came up with the topic. It was pretty lame in his opinion but the debate started shortly and all he could say was that she was ruthless. It wasn't the logical points she made per se that made her a tough opponent. It was the absolute sureness behind every sentence spoken, and the firmness of her tone that made it so hard to refute.
Though he was the opponent, Ahn Heiran barely paid much attention to his face, instead facing the crowd, reveling with glee every time they cheered for her. It was insulting to be ignored as if he wasn't even worth that attention, but he was enjoying the way it stung a bit too much. It made him feel competitive for her attention in a way no one had ever made him feel.
"Anyone can become a doctor if they have a talent for learning but not everyone can make a name for themselves in the field. Why is that? Because life is all about hustling and the books won't teach you how to do that. Only a street-smart person would recognize the trends and learn how to survive in an industry. Only they know how to seize the right opportunities and make their name. That's why without street smarts, one can never be anything more than just another fish in the sea." She finished off the debate, patting her hands off her skirt.
Just another fish in the sea.
He knew that she didn't particularly mean him by that phrase but it felt all the same, like a subtle attack specifically designed to get under his skin. Just another fish in the sea, huh? Let's see about that.
The guys applauded her, calling out encouragement. She grinned their way before folding her arms, turning back to look at him with that same old boredom.
"Is that all?"
"I have a question." He stated calmly.
"Go ahead."
"What is your school rank?" Jungkook asked with a pleasant smile.
"What?" Her eyes narrowed, her face showcasing the offensiveness of his question.
"Are the rumors true that you scored the least marks in your entire division for Maths during midterms?"
Ahn Heiran scoffed with disbelief, "H-how dare you? What does that have to do with the debate?"
"Personal attacks are not allowed," Hajoon interrupted, but he waved him off.
"No. That's not my intention. I was just trying to figure out if there was some inherent bias behind your logic." Jungkook took a step forward, happy that she was finally looking at his face, her eyes alight with fury. "Of course, for a person who has no talent in learning, it would seem that street smarts is the only way to go. And if you don't have great academics, where would you even use your street smarts?"
There was pin-drop silence at his question. With a theatrical flourish, he whispered to the room.
"On the streets."
The girls broke out in loud applause, grinning from ear to ear, glad to see Ahn Heiran being put in her place. The guys sent scathing glares to the back of his head but Jungkook didn't care. All that interested him was the way her cheeks turned the shade of ripe strawberry or the sick thrill he felt as she aimed him a murderous glower.
"That's not true." She denied but before she could prove her point, Jungkook interrupted her with a question.
"Is that so? Then answer me with your street smarts what the exact value of sine 180 is." He beamed as she grit her teeth, looking as if she was ready to tear him apart with her bare hands. "Take your time. I will wait."
"I refuse," she snarled.
"You refuse or you don't know?"
She advanced a step forward to the point they were chest-to-chest, glaring up at him with venom in her gaze. "I refuse to take part in your foul play," she spat.
Though Jungkook felt quite rattled by that look, he didn't back down. From up close, he could see the entirety of her face in great detail, he could count each individual lash of her eyes, or admire the curve of her cupid's bow. Good heavens was she distracting? He tried not to let her proximity make him too nervous. Grinning right back at her with all the confidence he could muster, he shrugged. "Okay. The answer's zero by the way."
He slipped his hands into his pockets, evading her eyes before he could get electrocuted by their severity. "Either way, the only point I'm trying to make is this. You said you need street smarts to make a name for yourself but let me tell you this. You can't even reach within a ten-mile distance of success without book smarts."
A wolfish grin split his lips as he finished. "That's all."
The gym erupted in chaos. The girls whooped and whistled in delight, raucously applauding him for his win. Hajoon announced the end of the debate, ushering everyone back to their seats nervously, having sensed the tension in the room. He didn't dare announce which side won the debate. Jungkook performed a bow, a dramatic imitation of the same one Ahn Heiran had made upon her entry. The girls screamed louder. He even dared aim a flying kiss right at her.
If Ahn Heiran was angry before, she looked livid now. Holding back a laugh, he climbed up the bleachers, returning back to his place. Taehyung clapped him on his back, "That's my boy! You put her right back in her place! Give me five."
Jungkook gladly complied, taking his seat. All around him, there was mayhem that President Hajoon was desperately trying to calm, calling in for the next debaters. Ahn Heiran had gone back to her seat, her expression a brewing storm as her best friend seemingly tried to pacify her in vain. What delighted him the most were her eyes. They were on him, the boredom in them long gone, replaced with a burning passionate hatred. Finally, he had her whole undivided attention.
A triumphant smile flitted across his lips. That's right, Ahn Heiran. Look at me. And only me.
"The way that you were staring at her, I thought you fell for her or something. Good thing you didn't. You did well out there, man!" Taehyung commented as the debates began once again on the stage. Jungkook took the compliment, "Thanks."
His eyes strayed back toward her once again as he added, "But you are right..."
Ahn Heiran was still watching him, plotting all the ways she could slaughter him in her little brain. As soon as his eyes met hers, she raised her thumb and drew a straight line across her throat for him to watch, a death threat as clear as the day. He couldn't help it. He flashed her a wink as he informed Taehyung.
"I did fall for her."
Disclaimer: The popularity index in the story doesn't reflect the author's personal attitude towards BTS members or her beliefs. It is merely the setting of the story designed to adapt to the plot.
A/N: This is a peace offering in advance before the real sh*t hits the fan. So there you have it guys, the backstory of how Jungkook met Heiran.