"Finished already?" Hoseok asked.
"Yeah," you nodded, looking around. "Um, where's Taehyung sunbae?"
"He said he was going out for a walk," Jin answered.
"How long ago did he leave?"
"Maybe for about 4 minutes already," Yoongi said. "He shouldn't be any longer though."
"Oh, okay..." You sat yourself down beside Jin and chose to wait for Taehyung to return to the table. Like Yoongi said, it didn't take him long to return. A couple of seconds later, you noticed him speed walking back to the table with his hand over his forehead. "There he is," you pointed out.
"Hyung, I gotta go," the young male returned to the table with nothing but cold sweat running down his face. 'I really can't be here any longer.'
"Go where?" you asked.
Taehyung's head snapped up. His eyes widened when he found you sitting right across from where he stood. "Jiye--" His voice cracked. He was nervous.
You cocked a brow, asking him, "are you okay?" How could you not miss the way his voice cracked when he tried addressing you.
He quickly nodded to assure you everything was okay, physically. Mentally, the guy was going crazy.
"You just came back from your walk, and now you're going to leave as soon as I get here? Come sit next to me," you patted the space beside you.
"Um," he looked to the others that were waiting to see what he would do, "'kay." Taehyung went over to you and slowly sat himself down. "W-why all of a sudden...?"
You propped your head up on your hand and turned to him with no words, yet. You stared at him, trying to read him. 'If he had planned on leaving me, then he'd have a different attitude compared to this sad look right now. And even before in Hawaii.'
"Jiyeong?" he blinked. Taehyung was confused by the calm look on your face; even more, because you had called him over and told him to sit beside him.
You snatched him up by the collar of his sweater and yanked him close enough to where your faces were only centimeters apart. You hesitated at first, but finally crashed your lips right into his.
"Wow," the trio said. Eyes were wide, and jaws were slackened.
When you parted from him, you lashes fluttered open to see the look on his face. There was a mix of confusion and surprised on his face. And his jaw was just as, if not slacker than the rest.
"W-why...?"
You sized the shocked male up and down. "You," you squinted, "you're never to lie to me ever again. Do you understand? If I even think that you're hiding something, I'll kill you."
Speechless, his only option was to nodded like his life depended on it. Taehyung swallowed a whole bunch of nothing as he watched you in slight fear. 'Women are so scary when they're angry.'
"Good," you released his collar and turned away from him with reddening cheeks. "I love you."
"Jiyeong..." There was then a swirl of emotions going on inside of Taehyung's chest. He was happy, being that it was the very first time that you had ever said that you loved him. "I love you, too." Though it was too bad he couldn't enjoy the light feeling for too long. Not with the feeling of his betrayal sitting firmly on his chest.
"Really?" you turned back to him with a bashful attire. "You love me?"
He firmly nodded. "Of course I do." And this time, it was true. Taehyung took you by the back of your neck, and guided you closer to him. He was leaning in for a kiss when suddenly, the details from a couple minutes ago resurfaced. How could he even dare to kiss you after he just finished making out with another woman? So, instead of a kiss to the lips, he pressed his forehead and nose against yours, giving you a whole bunch of Eskimo kisses.
Meanwhile, you were on cloud 9. He said it. Taehyung said that he loved you. Nothing could ruin this feeling. But, from the corner of your eye, you could see Sumin and her friend passing through the room. Nothing, except them. Of course, you hadn't gone unnoticed either. Good thing dirty looks couldn't actually kill.
"Sunbae, you don't have any more classes for the day, do you?"
"No," he shook his head.
"Will you walk me home, then?"
"Sure," he nodded. He was the first to stand to go and grab his bag. When he turned to you, you were already behind him. "We'll see you guys tomorrow," he said.
"See you tomorrow," you waved, before taking Taehyung's hand in yours. Again, he seemed surprised by your actions, yet you only smiled innocently at him.
"Ooh, Jiyeongie's getting bold in the public," Hoseok noticed.
"I can't help it. I'm just giving an annoying chick the show that she wants."
"Who?" He and Jin looked around.
"Choi Sumin. She's even more vicious because she knows I'm dating Taehyung now." Picking up on the case, the boys started laughing. "Let's go, sunbae." When you looked over to Sumin and her friend, they were seething inside.
The duo wasn't the only attention that you had caught. Being that you were more or less in a big space of the cafeteria, people easily noticed the two of you; and so you picked up glances and stares as you walked towards the door. The silent stares evolved into watchful whispers.
--"Who the heck is she? And why is she holding hands with Taehyung oppa?"
"You think she's dating Taehyung?"
"There's no way that one of them has a girlfriend."
"Isn't she that girl that supposedly slept with them?"
"Look at her, being all cocky because she holding hands with Taehyung oppa."--
With those kinds of words floating around, you started to feel pressure. But you weren't the only one picking up on the excess chatter. Taehyung looked to you to check if you were okay. Sure enough, there was an uncomfortable look on your face. So, he did what any boyfriend would do and tried comforting his girlfriend.
He stopped and turned to you, then leaned over and pecked your forehead, telling you, "don't worry about them." With sharp gasps from those around the room, the whispers turned into chatters. You felt the pressure but tried to reassure yourself with Taehyung's comforting presence. He then squeezed your hand tighter. "Let's go."
When you reached home, you asked Taehyung if he wanted to come inside for a while, but he told you he was tired and that he was going to go home and rest. His excuse was a bit weird since he could've taken a nap on your couch, but you didn't think much of it any further.
"About your birthday present, I'll give it to you in a couple of days."
"Ah, okay," he nodded. "I--I'll see you tomorrow then."
You gave him a small smile as he nodded. "Wait!"
"Hm?" he turned back.
"Can I have a goodbye kiss?" You already had your lips slightly puckered and your eyes closed.
'She's so cute...Baby, I'd love to give you one, really, but...' "I--I have to go, okay?"
You opened your eyes and your lips fell into a frown instead. "Okay..." You turned your back on him and closed the door.
After you took yourself a hot shower and changed into your Cookie Monster onesie, you decided to watch some t.v. But about 15 minutes into your show, the doorbell rang. "I wonder who that is." You picked yourself up from the couch and jogged over to answer the door. "Yes, who is...it..." By the time you pulled the door open, the rest of the words had died down. "Kookie."
"Hi," he briefly raised a hand before shoving it down his pocket. He looked so out of it. He had dark circles under his eyes, his hair was all messed up, and he looked so pale. "Is it alright if I come in?" What went happened to him over the weekend?
"Of course," you opened up the door and watched as he trudged through your door to take off his shoes. "Kookie is everything--" You didn't think to finish that sentence. Of course, he wasn't okay. After what went down at that table, you could only imagine how difficult it was to even show his face to you.
You followed Jungkook to the couch, where he carefully sat himself down. But when you sat down beside him, you noticed him to be a bit uncomfortable by your close presence.
"I'm sure you already know the reason for me being here, so I'll just get right to it." Jungkook took your soft hands into his trembling ones. He mustered up all the courage he could to be able to look you in the eyes when he told you, "I love you. No, I'm in love with you."
Though you had already heard it from a different mouth, it was all the more shocking to hear it from the admirer himself.
"Right before we parted ways, I gained these feelings for you, and I haven't been able to let go of them since. Your smile, the way you laugh, how feisty you can get when you're angry. There isn't one thing about you that doesn't make me go crazy."
You pursed your lips as your cheeks turned to a bright shade of red. Was this really how you made Jungkook feel? All this time?
"I started messing around with tons of girls to see if I could get you off my mind. And it worked, but only for a little while. Once we saw each other again, for the first time in years, I felt like I had fallen for you all over again. The pretty girl that first stole my heart, had matured into a beautiful woman. Seeing you like this, it only made me want you even more."
You couldn't understand how Jungkook was so confident in his confession to you. The more you went on, it was getting harder and harder to look him in the eyes. One, because you were flustered, and two, because you felt bad.
"I know you've already given your heart to him, but I hate that its Taehyung who managed to receive your feelings and not me. To be honest with you, the whole reason I got drunk that night, was because I saw the two of you together. "
So, it was actually your fault that he got that way. "I'm sorry..." It was all you could say.
"Don't be," he pulled a nervous smile. "We don't have any control over the people we fall for."
"You're so brave," you pulled your hands out of his, just to wrap them around his neck. Before you knew it a tear had run down your cheek. "I can only imagine how hard it was for you to come here and get that off your chest," you sniffed, trying not to let anything else fall. You didn't like it when Jungkook was suffering. So holding in his feeling like this, for so long, during all of this, must have been killing him.
"You have no idea..." he muttered. "I just really didn't want anything to be weird between us at school."
"Thank you, Jungkookie, for sharing your feelings with me."
"You're not weirded out?"
You pulled back from your hug. "Of course not. Why would I be?"
"Because I'm supposed to be your best friend; and usually, people get a bit weird if their best friend was to suddenly tell them that they had feelings for them."
"Well, I'm not other people. I'm Lee Jiyeong."
Jungkook blinked for a couple a seconds before smiling weakly to your response. "You're right." 'And that's why I love you. Because you're you.'
"I'm sorry that I can't return your feelings, Kookie, but I don't want you to keep thinking about me. I want you to be able to find someone even better than me. I know she's out there somewhere."
"Yeah, I understand," he weakly nodded. Easier said than done, though.
"Do you maybe wanna stay and watch something with me?"
"No, I'm going to get going now. I'll see you tomorrow then," he picked himself up and waved to you 'later' before putting on his shoes and leaving. But when Jungkook closed the door back behind him, the poor male's knees nearly gave out entirely. 'I thought I was going to pass out.' Like a huge weight had been lifted off his heart. Yes, he was rejected--it was a given--but, at least you now knew about his feelings. At least, there were no more secrets.