Taehyung’s pov
Reluctantly, I stepped closer to them, and slowly went from being hidden to being out in the open. While doing so, I couldn’t help but stare at the ground. ‘Cause isn’t the ground so interesting?
But of course, quick witted Jungkook HAD to have noticed me moving from the very beginning.
“Hyung,” the soft word escaped his mouth. I finally lifted my eyes to look at him. His face was shocked and panicked; he seemed to have gone speechless. That's rare.
I glanced over at Song Mi.. or is it Hye Soo? Her eyes were unreadable, as if she predicted this to happen. She didn’t say a word, so I assumed that she was surprised at my entrance as well.
“So your n-name… I-is it Song Mi, or H-Hye Soo?” I forced the words out. I felt my body shaking, although I wasn’t sure why.
“Tae-”
“No, don’t answer that,” I cut her off, afraid of how she was about to reply without any hesitation. “Instead, answer this. What’s your brother’s name?”
“Hyung, I can explain-” Jungkook clapped his hands on my shoulders and turned my body so my eyes would lock on his. But I just pivoted my head to look at her again, whatever her name was. My breath was shaky, my eyes pleading for the truth.
“My brother?" She smiled slightly, sighing a little in the process. It was a sad smile. "His name is Jung Ho Seok-”
“GUESS WHO’S HERE TO RESCUE YOUR BUTT! OH YEAH IT’S PARK JIMIN!” the three of us, attracted to the overly confident voice, turned as a running (more like flying) Jimin ran towards Jungkook. In no time, Jungkook had Jimin in a playful headlock. They both hit the floor with their bums.
Hye Soo’s pov
“OK, OK! I GET IT, NOW STOP YOU’RE YOUNGER THAN MEEEEE~” Jimin begged.
“Man, I thought you were gonna tackle me. What was that for?” Jungkook sat upright on the floor and fixed his messed up hair, while Jimin rubbed his bum.
I chuckled at their childish behavior, and accidentally made awkward eye contact with Taehyung. Despite Jimin’s sudden appearance, his sad looking eyes didn’t change. I’m sorry, I tried to convey to him through my facial expressions. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth.
He looked away first. “Hey, act your age guys!” he shouted, running towards the two on the floor. His arms wrapped around their shoulders as they stood up and brushed themselves off.
I laughed and sat myself down at a nearby table. “I’m the youngest here and even I act more mature than all three of you,” I spoke nonchalantly.
“AhAHaHAhaha! Knowing you, I wholeheartedly doubt that, H-” my “Jungkook-I’m-so-gonna-kill-you” eyes activated at his slip up. “H-hyung, don’t you agree?” Jungkook slapped Taehyung’s shoulder and begged for forgiveness with his eyes.
Taehyung was hesitant at first, but then played along. “Haha, yeah. Song Mi’s quite childish herself, huh?”
“Eeeeehh~ Don’t downgrade her like that!” Jimin walked over and put his hand on my shoulder. He smiled, causing his eyes to turn into cute little slits.
“Yeah! I’m so much more mature than you think, ok? Now get out of my apartment, I have homework.” I stood up, allowing Jimin’s hand to slip off my shoulder. The chair made an awfully cringey creak sound when I pushed it in, creating another moment of awkwardness.
“For once, I’ll listen to you. We should go. All of us,” Jungkook gestured towards the door. Jimin left first and shouted “goodbye!” on his way out. Taehyung was about to walk out the door, but stopped and looked my way once before walking away. Jungkook was the last to leave. He didn’t say anything, but just stared at me with an apologetic look before leaving.
Cold wind slapped my face as I stood outside the door, waving at the black van. After watching it drive off, I went inside and shut the door. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but homework certainly wasn’t it. I’d much rather eat a tub of ice cream and watch something. Instead, I ate a tub of ice cream and slapped myself a bunch, thinking of a way to solve this problem…
~~~~~
Brrrrrrrrr! Brrrrrrr! I woke up to something vibrating in my hand. It took me a moment to come back to my senses, question the time of day, and wonder how I ended up falling asleep on my bed, with a spoon in one hand and my phone in the other. My grip around my phone tightened as I brought it closer to my face. Although, it still fell on my face. I winced and picked it up, not bothering to check the caller ID before picking up. Again.
“Hello?” my voice was raspy and groggy, making it obvious that I had taken an accidental nap.
The voice on the other end laughed. “Did I wake you?”
“Ah, um, wait, who are you?” The question proved useless, since I checked the caller ID right after anyways.
“It’s Taehyung,” I heard the second I read his name on the screen. Good going, Hye Soo, really.
“Oh, Taehyung! I-I’ve been meaning to call except I, uh, well, fell asleep,” my voice gradually got softer as I started to mumble towards the end of the sentence.
“Haha, ok well,” he paused for a moment, “I think we both know why I called…”
“Yeah…”
“Do you think we can meet up?”
“Now?” I didn’t even do any of my homework yet T^T, I realized.
“Can we?”
“Ummm…” NOW WHAT?! Do I go and fail? Or stay and still fail? Yeah I’ll just go… “Sure, but where?”
“I'll meet you at the park.”
“Ok, I’ll be there in 20 minutes.”
“See you… Song Mi-ah.” I wasn’t sure why, but the way he said that name felt like a stab to my heart.
“See you… Taehyung…” I heard the other phone line click. I let myself belly flop on the bed and sigh.
Taehyung’s pov
“Song Mi-ah! Over here!” Song Mi? Is that even her name? Should I even be calling her that? But what else am I supposed to call her… My mind was conflicted, even as I smiled and waved cheerfully.
There she was. She grinned, but her face showed how troubled and guilty she felt. At first, she was walking towards me. Then, here feet sped up to a light jog. As the distance between us started shrinking, the more nervous and scared I felt. And I wasn’t sure why.
Once she stopped, she was right under my nose, only a few inches away. Her smile faded and her lips formed a cute pout. “So, where should I start?”
My smile faded at her words.
~~~~~
“
Yep, that’s all there is to the story,” Song Mi looked up at the sky while walking beside me.
“Wow,” I took it all in with a deep breath, then let it go.
“Taehyung,” she stopped suddenly and turned towards me. “I didn’t want to tell you anything because I didn’t want you to hate him. Oppa… he’s not like that to you guys, right?”
“No… which is why this is hard to believe.”
“Do you believe me?”
“I mean, I, I’m not sure, actually.”
“I understand. I don’t even have any evidence of this yet.”
“Yet?”
“Yes,” she grinned, “yet.”
“Ha, well, I wish you luck with that. In the meantime, how about we start over?”
“Hm?”
The corners of my mouth tugged upwards as my hand extended towards her. “Hi, I’m Kim Taehyung.”
A small but genuine laugh escaped her mouth. Her palm reached out to wrap about my hand and turn it into a fist. After playfully fist bumping me, she replied, “Hi, I’m Jung Hye Soo. But in front of BTS, I’m Cheon Song Mi.”
We laughed together and continued walking around the park. That night, her story was etched in my brain… and so did her laugh.
~~~~~
A/N:
y'all are so cute in the comment sections 😂🙃