When they returned to class, class had begun. All the students were sitting working, as if nothing had happened before they left. Only a puddle of nail polish and long strands of hair told Seokjin that he hadn't dreamed what had happened. Yoona was nowhere in sight.
Taehyung gestured for him to come sit next to him at the table he usually shared with Jimin. and Seokjin, taking a look at Jimin who made him understand that he didn't care about having his place taken, complied, letting him stare at his damaged face for a long time.
"Where is Yoona?" whispered Seokjin.
"She left; I didn't want you to see her anymore today anyway. Her face changed a bit while you were gone, it could have been scary for you."
Seokjin's face lost its color under his band-aids.
"What did you do to her?" he asked apprehensively.
"It's none of your business, now focus and study, I thought it was important to you?"
Seokjin realized that Taehyung was right and he hurriedly took out his things in order to attend the class. He intended to have a talk with Taehyung about Yoona as soon as he had the chance, but he soon forgot about the girl when he rediscovered the pleasure of studying without having to watch his back and be the target of everyone. Besides, next to him, even Taehyung was taking his class, which meant he wouldn't have to rewrite his class for him. Studying seemed suddenly so easy, so... normal!
Between two lessons, Jimin even put his math book down at him with a wink. Seokjin thanked him warmly with a sincere smile but, seeing that, Taehyung hurriedly grabbed the math textbook.
"Why is he giving it to you?"
"Because I asked him."
"And he accepted? With nothing in return?"
"No," Seokjin lied.
"I know Jimin and I know you, stop trying to lie."
"Fine, he asked me to be his friend."
"What?" Taehyung said, glancing at Jimin who seemed to be holding back laughter seeing the surprise on his face. "And you accepted?"
"No, I told him he had to become a good person first, like I said to you. I thought he would refuse but he accepted. I imagine he really wants us to be friends again too. You two look a lot alike," Seokjin pointed out.
"Stop talking nonsense, we're not alike."
"Yes, you are."
"No, we're not."
"Okay, but can I have my math textbook now?"
Taehyung glared at Jimin who was smiling at them from across the classroom, trying to figure out what he had in mind. But he remembered that from the moment they met, Jimin had been sincerely seduced by Seokjin's good nature and that it was only because he had ordered him that he had been so bad with Seokjin. Now he could pick up where he left off with Seokjin. And Seokjin being Seokjin, he had already given him a chance to be friends with him.
"No, you're going to give it back to him," Taehyung decided. "I'm going to buy you one and in the meantime, you can use mine," he said, pushing his book towards Seokjin.
"Why can't I have Jimin's?"
"Because he's buying your friendship with this."
"But you're doing the same thing, since you want to buy me a book, right?" Seokjin said, frowning.
"Not at all since we are already friends," Taehyung replied.
"But-"
"No but, it's that or nothing, so go give the book back to Jimin."
"Okay," Seokjin muttered, taking Jimin's math textbook to return. Regardless, all he wanted was a math textbook, no matter who lent it to him.
"Taehyung doesn't want to be friends? Shocking," Jimin joked when Seokjin returned his book apologetically.
"He didn't say that."
"Maybe but I know him, he's jealous."
"You're jealous too. But you don't have to be. I'm the one who decides if I want to be friends with you. And I want to."
Jimin chuckled.
"Alright, I like that, let's be friends no matter what Taehyung thinks."
"But Jimin, don't forget-"
"I know, I know," Jimin cut him off, "I have to be a real friend to Taehyung too. I'm going to make an effort, are you happy?"
"Yes!"
The day continued without incident. Throughout the day, Seokjin received help from his classemates, especially during the hours of independent work.
During the lunch break, he sat down at the same table as Taehyung and Jimin and other classemates and was able to eat happily without having to be suspicious that someone might have slipped things in as pepper or other condiments as undesirable as spit or sand as some had already having fun doing it.
At the end of the day after class, he was happy with his day of classes and satisfied with the work accomplished. He even had the opportunity to go see old Choi to share his happiness with him.
He told him about his acceptance to the high school of his dreams, his reconciliation with Taehyung and Namjoon, his new friendship with Jimin, the help of his classmates and his certainty of passing his exams now. The old man was particularly happy for him. Patting him on the head, he said:
"Your patience has paid off, you did not let yourself be defeated and you continued to do your best despite the difficulty. You are really an inspiring boy and this is far from being the end : the best is yet to come for you, Seokjin. I wish you to always be happy like that."
Going to train at the school stadium after his visit to Mr. Choi, he realized that he was alone, his team and his coach were nowhere in sight. Now that the championship was over, none of the players on his team bothered to come and train. He began to warm up and then, when recovering a ball he had prepared to shoot on goal, he had the unpleasant surprise of seeing someone ahead of him and catch the ball before him.
Raising his head, he realized that it was Taehyung who asked him:
"You are alone?"
"Yes but it's not surprising, the football season is over and none of the guys I was playing with have any intention of turning professional, they don't see the point of training again until next year. Neither the captain nor the coach pushes them to surpass themselves."
"If you had been the captain, you would have been a good example for them."
"Maybe," Seokjin said smiling hearing Taehyung compliment him.
"You want me to tell them to come and train with you until the end of the year?" Taehyung told him.
"No," Seokjin refused. "I would prefer that they weren't there, they wouldn't have put their heart into it anyway and having such a quiet football pitch is rare enough for me to enjoy being alone."
"Don't you think you've been alone enough this year?"
"I got used to it, I don't mind."
"Liar, you are so sociable that I don't believe you."
"Loving time with others doesn't stop me from enjoying spending time alone, especially if it's to do something I enjoy that other people despise," Seokjin explained.
"If you had a friend who enjoyed football as much as you do, would you like to spend that time with him rather than alone?" Taehyung asked. But he quickly regretted his question when he realized that it probably led Seokjin to remember that he had had such a friend but that Taehyung had taken him away.
"Probably," Seokjin admitted without mentioning Seung, much to Taehyung's relief. "Can you give me the ball please?"
"Come and get it," Taehyung challenged him, throwing the ball down and running after it.
Surprised, Seokjin smiled and ran after him. But the challenge was not great, Taehyung had not played football with Seokjin for several years and conversely, Seokjin had trained so much that his level had nothing to do with their childish games of many years ago. It was without difficulty that Seokjin in a skillful way, without hurting Taehyung, he recovered the ball from his feet.
Unbalanced, Taehyung almost fell but Seokjin caught him before and said:
"You have to warm up first before playing or you risk twisting your ankle."
"I don't want to play," Taehyung lied.
"I don't believe you," Seokjin laughed. "Come on!"
And leaving his ball, he pulled Teahyung by the hand and made him trotted with him around the field. Despite what he said, Taehyung let himself be dragged away by Seokjin and ran with him. Then he agreed to warm up his joints and played with him like when they were little. In any case, he tried, but soon he threw himself on the grass, exhausted, and lay down on his back, contemplating the sky in the fading light of the evening.
Seokjin, even though he wasn't tired yet, came to lie down next to him and let his gaze wander into the twilight sky.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to go that hard with you knowing you haven't played in a long time," he appologized.
"No, it was fine," Taehyung said, sincerely happy with this moment spent with Seokjin.
But by listening to their respective breathing, it was very difficult to distinguish the asthmatic among the two.
"I missed it," Taehyung confessed.
"I thought you hated playing football," Seokjin said, surprised.
"I do," Taehyung said, adding, however, "what I missed was playing with you."
"We can play at home too, in the garden, like before!" Seokjin exclaimed, too happy to miss such an opportunity.
"We'll see."
He stopped talking for a moment to regain a normal heartbeat.
"Tae, what happened to Yoona?" Seokjin asked after a while turning towards him, as the other was still looking at the sky. "What did you do to her? Did she go to the hospital? Are you going to get in trouble?"
"I thought I told you it wasn't your problem?" Taehyung replied.
"You said it but I can't pretend it's nothing, especially if it's my fault that you got angry like that at her."
"It's not your fault, it's hers. And I'm going to continue to make her regret what she did."
"No, I can't let you keep hurting her!" Seokjin exclaimed.
"Jin, she deserves it, she hurt you!"
"So do you," Seokjin couldn't help but say, "and yet, no one makes you suffer like that!"
"I'm different, I am not Yoona!"
"No, it's not different, even if you did not act for the same reasons, you are as responsible as her, and you know it. It is unfair."
"Maybe but life is unfair, I already told you that!"
"That was before you said you were going to change to be a better person."
Taehyung bit his lip in frustration.
"You do not want to change anymore?" Seokjin asked. "Yet you've made a lot of progress just in one day and I'm proud of you, you can't stop on such a good path! It really convinced me to trust you completely from today."
"You are proud of me?" Taehyung said, looking at him.
"I am! And I'm grateful for what you've done for me, trully. But Yoona-"
"Jin," Taehyung cut him slowly, stroking the scratch marks on his face with his fingertips, some of which were sticking out from the band-aids delicately applied by Jimin. "Yoona will never agree to ever leave you alone if I don't take care of her the way I should, even if you don't like it!"
"You already took care of her today, you hurt her enough! I know how she felt, I've been in her place. It's horrible, I don't want you to keep hurting and humiliating her, I'll feel guilty everytime and I won't be able to keep being friends with you like that. Please..."
"Fine!" Taehyung exclaimed, exasperated. "I'm going to make sure she doesn't come back. She will be banned from returning in our school and will have to finish her schooling elsewhere. If I don't see her again, I won't have the chance to kill her, is that okay with you?"
"Yes!!" Seokjin said hurriedly. "Thank you, Tae!"
Satisfied, Taehyung sat up.
"Come on now, we have to go wash up, we must leave."
"Already? But I still have to practice, you should leave first, you're already late for your evening classes."
"You're coming too, silly."
"I am coming too?!" Seokjin wondered.
"Yes, I told you, didn't I?"
"Yes, you said it but... no, no but, just, thank you very much!!! We should really hurry or we won't have time to study well!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "Can you help me put away the equipment to go faster?"
"No," Taehyung refused.
"You are mean, I knew that people couldn't change so quickly!"
Taehyung smirked and Seokjin stuck his tongue out at him before hurrying across the stadium to retrieve the beacons, stopwatch, balls, and other items he had prepared for his practice. He was so quick that by the time Taehyung got up and headed for the locker room, he had already finished tidying up.
"See? You didn't need me and were able to finished your training without noticing! I'm so generous!"
"You're the worst!"
The end of the year and with it the end of the exams quickly arrived.
Seokjin was confident that thanks to Taehyung, Jimin and the new support from his classmates, he had been able to study particularly effectively. Taehyung had taken him to his own evening classes every night to give him the support of his private teachers and Seokjin's room continued to serve as their study room where Seokjin's mother encouraged them by preparing lots of good things to eat.
Also, as Taehyung had assured Seokjin, Yoona never came back to school, much to his relief.
In the end, even though he was exhausted, Seokjin was particularly pleased with himself. He could not have done more then to work for his success and he was happy to see that Taehyung was also giving his all to succeed. He had never seen him like this and he had encouraged him as best he could when he had seen him ready to give up. Seeing their respective efforts, he was as proud of his friend as he was of himself.
Soon, the results of the exams arrived at the Kims. Taehyung and Seokjin had both passed, Taehyung being opened the door to any high school of his choice without surprise and Seokjin being offered the promised merit scholarship to enter the high school of his dreams which was the most beautiful thing that could have happened to him according to him who didn't want any other high school.
The two boys hadn't talked about Taehyung's choice again but now that he was swimming happily again, Seokjin didn't care. In reality, he was no longer really sure that he wanted to prevent Taehyung from coming with him at all costs because he started enjoying his time with him again. And it felt good to find such a close friend after being alone for so long. He hadn't spoken to Mr. Kim about that yet, even though Namjoon kept encouraging him to do so.
On his side, Taehyung did not seem to have spoken about his willingness to follow Seokjin in this high school to his parents, who were convinced and announced at all costs that their youngest was in turn going to join the prestigious Eunma high school.
It seemed like a ticking time bomb but at the moment neither of the boys seemed to care.
On the last day of school, on the occasion of the end-of-year party which notably celebrated young graduates, Seokjin disappeared towards the end of the director's speech. He wanted to go and pay Mr. Choi one last visit and assure him that he would come back to see him as much as possible even when he was in high school. He also and above all wanted to thank him for everything he had done for him, but to his surprise knowing that he had not seen him anywhere else, he found the door of his little house closed and decided to wait for him.
After almost an hour of waiting for him on the porch, he was starting to doze off when Jimin's voice woke him from his torpor.
"What are you doing here? The director finally finished his speech and Taehyung is waiting for you to leave and you're not answering the phone."
"Sorry, I was waiting for Mr. Choi."
"Is that why you left us alone? Taehyung wasn't happy, he's going to give you a hard time."
"I know but this is my last chance to talk to Mr. Choi for a long time. I haven't had the opportunity to see him during these last weeks because of exams and as I will no longer be attending school here after the holidays, I wanted to say goodbye and thank him properly."
"Sorry to tell you this but the director talked about it after you decided to leave. The old Choi resigned a few days ago that's why we no longer saw him at all, even at the gate. He was dismissed for his good and loyal service to the school. These were the director's words but it was clear that he didn't know Choi at all. Anyway, he's not here anymore so you can't talk to him."
"W-what?!" Seokjin exclaimed, stunned. "No, that's impossible!"
"It's possible when you know that old man was already past retirement age a long time ago. He must have really loved this school to decide to stay anyway, or maybe just a certain student," he added with a wink. "No one really paid attention to him anymore except you if you want my opinion. The sad thing is that he left before the end of year party and therefore did not receive an official thank you from the school. You have to believe he wanted to leave discreetly as to not- wait, are you crying, Jin?"
Indeed, Seokjin started crying when he understood:
"He left without saying goodbye to me?" For the second time in his life, he was deprived of the goodbyes he would have wanted to give to someone dear to his heart.
"Sorry, I didn't realize you were that close," Jimin said, perplexed to see him so upset by the departure of the old man whom everyone ignored because he went unnoticed.
Seokjin nodded, his throat too tight to speak. This old man had been his greatest moral support at school for two years more than his own grandfather to whom he could not tell what he was going through at school. Choi had even saved his life and kept the secret to himself so Seokjin wouldn't get into trouble.
Seokjin owed him more than thanks, he owed him his life. As he continued to cry and wipe his eyes uselessly, Jimin pulled him closer and hugged him spontaneously.
"I know there's a reason he left without saying anything," Seokjin sobbed, burying his face in Jimin's shoulder, "it has to be."
Maybe he was forced? Was Taehyung the one in charge, like he used to be with Seung? But why would he do that? But Jimin cut his train of thought when he said :
"Maybe it's because he didn't want to see you cry like that that he left without saying anything to you."
He himself found it hard to see knowing that he had never seen him cry and had always seen him strong in character. He preferred to see Seokjin smiling or sulking, but he felt that it was not time to make a joke to get him out of his sadness.
Seokjin was surprised that he hadn't thought of it himself and had let himself accuse Taehyung. Choi was a person full of humility, what Jimin had just said made sense to him. He then remembered the last time he had seen the old man.
"I think... I think you are right Jimin. I believe now that he did said goodbye to me without me realizing it," Seokjin sobbed. "He said something which could be goodbye in his own way..."
"What did he say?" Jimin asked without letting go of Seokjin while behind Seokjin, he had just seen Taehyung appear.
"He wished me to be happy and he said the best was yet to come for me."
"He is a wise man. I'm sure he wasn't wrong."
"Do you really mean it?" Seokjin sniffed.
"Of course and you should think so too, you're the most optimistic of us all! What do you think Taehyung?"
Hearing that, Seokjin broke away from Jimin to look at Taehyung who was approaching, waiting for his response attentively, his teary gaze boring into Taehyung's.
One day, Taehyung had taken his friend away and left him alone and broken down. Mr. Choi's departure could only remind him of that. But since then, things had changed and he was no longer alone in his distress.
To his surprise, Taehyung in turn pulled him into a hug without a word.
"Tae?"
Soon enough, Taehyung released him and told him:
"There's nothing left for you in this school. Let's leave now, the best is somewhere else to come."
Hearing this Seokjin smiled despite his tears and nodded. If Taehyung said it too, then he believed it. He grabbed Taehyung's hand then Jimin's sending each of them a radiant smile which contrasted with the sadness that had invaded him a few minutes earlier. He shouldn't be sad about Mr. Choi's departure: he should keep in his heart everything that this man had given him during the time they had shared.
Taehyung looked at Seokjin's hand in his, wondering if he should let go of it since they were in public. But while Jimin seemed over the moon, Taehyung, meeting Seokjin's happy gaze, decided he didn't care. No matter the appearance at that moment, the three boys were living their last day as middle schooler students, they were young, they were free, and the future held out its arms to them.
So, for the last time, Seokjin, accompanied by Taehyung and Jimin, crossed the gate of Gugbo middle school. He left behind him the bad times he had experienced, the torments, taking only his two friends with him and the precious advice of an old man he would never see again.