"Since when were you part of the F4."
Jieun went to school the next day for her group meeting. She was the first one to arrive in the classroom since she was 15 minutes early, but was surprised to hear Jungkook's voice coming from behind her all of a sudden. She looked up to see his face staring down intensely at her, holding his phone within inches from her face.
Jieun frowned, jumping to her feet at once. She grabbed the phone from his hands and finished reading the article in record speed.
"Wait... you guys even have a fan cafe?"
Jungkook ignored her question and snatched the phone back from Jieun's hands.
"Answer my question, why are you part of F4... without my knowledge?"
Jieun bit her lip.
Actually... why was she?
"Um... well, I..." She stammered.
This was the first time she got to talk to Jungkook and it was already as bad as she imagined.
"I- Uh..."
She looked into his beautiful black eyes that were ironically devoid of emotion, and forgot everything she wanted say - that is, if she had anything to say to begin with.
Jungkook raised an eyebrow, still staring at her intensely, as if prompting her to continue.
"I, well, Yoojung-"
"Did I hear someone mention my name?"
Jieun turned towards the classroom door. When she saw Yoojung skip into the classroom with a huge smile on her face, swinging a lunchbox around her index finger, she was so relieved she almost cried.
"Yoojung!"
Yoojung shot her huge grin as she skipped towards Jieun and swung an arm around her shoulder. She glanced at Jungkook and winked.
"You guys were talking about me?"
Jungkook rolled his eyes and threw his bag to the ground.
"Not really," Jungkook muttered, taking his seat and finally breaking his eye contact with Jieun, much to her relief. He turned to look at Yoojung instead, who was already seated at her desk, busy opening up her lunchbox. "I was just asking the new girl how she got into the F4 without my knowledge."
Yoojung stopped what she was doing suddenly.
"Oh- So you found out, huh?" She turned around to face Jungkook, pursing her lips and grinning excitedly. She placed her hands on Jieun's shoulders, turning her to face Jungkook. "My new pick. She has a name, by the way - Lee Jieun. What do you think of her?"
Jieun fidgeted in her spot uncomfortably, trying to avoid any form of eye contact with Jungkook.
"Nothing much." Jungkook muttered under his breath, but loud enough for both Jieun and Yoojung to hear.
Woah, that was rude. Jieun wasn't expecting an answer from Jungkook at all, but that was just plain rude.
"Excu-" Jieun started, but Yoojung seemed to be even more upset than her.
"You're such an idiot." Yoojung removed her hands from Jieun's shoulders and slammed them down on Jungkook's desk. "For our 13 years of friendship, are you not going to be happy for one of your best friends finally finding someone I can get along with?"
Jungkook raised an eyebrow at her, unfazed.
"Well, congratulations then, Choi Yoojung." Jungkook said sarcastically, resting his head on his table. "I really don't care that she's joining us, just make sure she doesn't bother me. I never wanted to be popular, anyway."
His last sentence seemed to jab at Yoojung as she stared daggers at him, but didn't know how to retort him. She slowly sat down in her seat, staring blankly at her lunchbox packed to the brim with kimbap.
Jieun winced at the awkward confrontation with Jungkook, glad that it was over but still pondering hard about what he had said. What he said sure was hurtful, but the part about not being popular? Maybe he really just wanted a simple high school life after all.
"Hey, you guys are early!"
Jieun looked up once again, only to see Taehyung, Jimin, Seokjin and Byulyi walking into the classroom side-by-side.
Yoojung looked up as well, with her mouth full of kimbap. Jimin smiled at her cute appearance, while Taehyung ran forward, smashing his two hands down on her cheeks, causing her to split kimbap everywhere and almost choke on what was left in her mouth.
"YA! KIM TAEHYUNG!" Yoojung pushed a laughing Taehyung away, as he tried to whip his phone out from his back pocket and snap photos of mouth spilling out of her mouth as she talked. "How am I gonna deal with this mess right now!"
"Don't worry, Yoojung! I'll-" Jimin stepped forward, holding his hands up to prevent a now fuming mad Yoojung from leaping onto Taehyung and pulling his hair out.
"No, Jimin-" Yoojung spoke, and bits of what Jieun made out to be spam, pickled yellow radish, rice and seaweed fell out of her mouth, adding on to the mess that was strewn on the floor surrounding her desk. "Today, I will kill this man-"
"Very sophisticated, Yoojung." Jennie strutted into the classroom, with Doyeon following closely behind her, just in time to see Yoojung in her state of mess. She let out a small smirk - the kind Yoojung hated the most. Doyeon's mouth fell open at the sight of kimbap falling out of Yoojung's mouth, with kimbap stains all over her once white t-shirt and on the floor surrounding her.
"What the-"
Taehyung's eyes trailed towards the door. He smiled when he saw Jennie and Doyeon standing at the door, and raised a hand.
"Oh, you guys are here. Annyeong!" He looked at Yoojung briefly, before turning back to the girls, gesturing at Yoojung. "Oh, I'm so sorry you have to see this. She has been slightly out of sorts as of late."
Yoojung stopped in her tracks. Her eyes widened and for the first time, Jieun saw her face turn slightly pink. She got herself together, chewing rapidly before swallowing the last of the kimbap in her mouth.
"There's nothing to see here, so move along." Yoojung glared at Jennie, gave Taehyung one last nasty look, before grabbing Jimin by the arm and pulling him towards the backdoor of the classroom. "Come on, let's find something to clean this up."
Jungkook's eyes fluttered open, took in everything that was happening, shook his head and went back to sleep.
~
"Urgh, I just can't stand that awful face!"
Yoojung grumbled as she leaned against the wall outside the toilet, next to Jimin.
Jimin laughed.
"I presume you're talking about... Jennie?"
Yoojung scoffed.
"Who else?"
Jimin shrugged.
"Maybe... Taehyung?"
A look of realisation spread across Yoojung's face and she sighed.
"Oh yeah, him, too. He's been really getting on my nerves recently."
Jimin hesitated.
"You guys have always fooled around like this, though. What's wrong?"
Yoojung sighed.
"Don't you think he's been taking it too far nowadays? It's not me who's overreacting right? And always siding with Jennie, whom he knows I hate with a passion, don't you think he's being really annoying these days?"
Jimin frowned, deep in thought.
"But thank you back there, for trying to hold me back..." Yoojung continued, putting a hand on Jimin's shoulder. "I really don't know what I would do one day because he keeps trying to test my limits."
Jimin smiled, putting his hand on hers, which was resting on his shoulder. The physical contact between his warm hand and her cold one made the two of them feel slightly awkward, and they both removed their hands immediately, brushing the awkward moment away with yet another awkward laugh.
"Shall we head back to class?" Yoojung stood up straight, getting ready to walk back to class, but she stopped in her tracks when she felt Jimin grab her by the wrist, turning around in surprise.
"Wait, just a little while more," Jimin looked at her sincerely, his eyes still sparkling bright in the dark passageway. "I need to tell you something."
Tell her something...?
Jimin removed his grip on Yoojung's wrist and Yoojung leaned back against the wall, pretending to be casual despite how fast her heart was beating.
Tell her something all of a sudden? Why did he look so serious? No way, was he gonna confess or something? Was what Jieun said really true after all? Did he really have feelings for her?
She looked back into Jimin's eyes, that were staring back at her intently, full of emotion.
Come to think of it - this was actually one of the first times they were together alone. Despite being friends for more than a decade, they had always been in the presence of other people, usually Taehyung, that now that they were standing there, leaning against the wall beside each other, alone, it was kind of silent.
And Yoojung's heart was thumping hard for some reason she knew not of.
Well, but this wasn't the first time Jimin wanted to tell her something, why was her heart racing like so?
"Well..." Jimin eyed Yoojung carefully. "I was just wondering if you had some time, like, um..."
He bit his lips, playing for time.
Yoojung laughed. Was this a date?
"What?"
Jimin fiddled with the last button at the bottom of his shirt.
"Time for well, um, ah-" Jimin's eyes lit up. "Yes, I need to return you the book you lent me!"
Ah, the book. Yoojung laughed nervously.
"Why didn't you bring it to school today then?"
Jimin thought for a while.
"Um, well, I forgot, I guess. Tomorrow's Sunday, you're always free on Sundays right? Wanna grab a bite?"
Yoojung pursed her lips. Was he really asking her out on a date? Was he really...
"Sure! Let's ask Jieun, Jungkook and Tae-"
"No-" Jimin laughed nervously, wiping his palms, which were sweating profusely, on his jeans pocket. "I mean, they're probably busy. Let's just go - two of us. Let's catch a movie after that or something."
So it was a date afterall. The book was just an excuse.
Yoojung hesitated.
Spending an entire day with Jimin sure sounded lovely, but not so if she considered the consequences.
Firstly, was Jimin really interested in her? And if so, why? Okay, but let's say he really was for some odd reason Yoojung couldn't think of, did she like him back? She had always seen him as a friend and nothing more... Well, she had never even considered the possibility of dating him.
But if she did go on this date with him, would he get the wrong impression? And if later on he did confess and she rejected him, what would happen to their friendship? Yoojung treasured their friendship way too much to let go of it.
What was she going to do? Should she reject him on the spot? Right now, right here? Should she confront him about his feelings? Should she-
"Yoojung?"
Yoojung snapped back to reality to find Jimin waving his hand in front of her to get her attention.
"You alright?"
Yoojung let out the most unnatural laugh ever.
"Yeah, hahaha. Sorry, what were you saying?"
Yoojung, you idiot. You obviously knew what he was implying and you want him to say it all again?
"I said, let's go grab some food and watch a movie tomorrow. Take it as a treat for lending me the book."
The way he put it made it seem not so much like a date, but just a casual hangout. It didn't seem like such a bad idea afterall. But it wouldn't hurt to double check...
"Jimin, just to clarify... Jieun told me something really weird yesterday..."
Jimin looked genuinely puzzled.
"Huh? What?"
"That, well... you kind of have feelings for..."
Jimin's laugh cut Yoojung off.
"Oh, really? Why would she think that?"
So, she misunderstood afterall. Jimin just wanted to give her a simple treat out of gratefulness, that's all. She let out a hearty laugh of relief.
"No, right? It's absurd, isn't it? Why would you like me? We've been friends for years, we're literally like siblings!"
Jimin smiled back, but his smile looked really awkward for some reason.
"Haha, yeah. You're right."
Yoojung grinned.
"Let's go then, my friend!" Yoojung leaped up, swinging an arm around Jimin's neck. She tried her best to calm down her beating heart, which she still had no clue why was beating that fast, and led Jimin towards the direction of their classroom.
As Yoojung ran ahead of Jimin, the smile on Jimin's face vanished and was replaced by a complete look of disappointment.