"I should be the one grateful for our friendship."
As Seokjin and Byulyi walked along the hallway hand-in-hand, Byulyi kept replaying the scene in her head. The look on Seokjin's face as he defended her. He was so upset, and she somehow felt really good about that. She smiled.
Finally, they came to a stop when they reached their classroom.
"Why are you smiling?" Seokjin asked.
"Nothing," Byulyi said, as she continued smiling.
Seokjin suddenly realised that they were still holding hands and let go immediately.
"Um..." Seokjin began. "I'm so sorry you had to hear all that just now."
"What?" Byulyi had already almost forgotten everything the girls had said and replaced it with the words that Seokjin had defended her with. "Hear what?"
"All those nasty things." Seokjin pursed his lips. "The truth is so far from that, honestly. What they said about you, it's all lies. To be honest-" Seokjin paused, not knowing where to start. This was his second chance to mend their friendship. He chuckled. "To be honest, just now at lunch-"
"KIM SEOKJIN!!!"
A familiar voice rang through the hallway. Both Seokjin and Byulyi turned, only to see an excited Yoojung skipping down the hallway, as Jimin and Taehyung ran after her, trying to keep up.
Seokjin sighed. Attempt two, failed.
"What's up this time, Yoojung?" Seokjin sighed.
Yoojung stopped in front of Seokjin, frowning. "Are you not happy to see me or something? I'm happy to see you, though."
Seokjin sighed. "Of course I'm happy, just that I was halfway through something-"
"That's good then!" Yoojung smiled happily. "That's all that matters." Yoojung turned to Byulyi. "Oh-? Byulyi's here too. Annyeong."
Byulyi smiled. Yoojung was a bit too energetic and bubbly at times, but she was impossible to hate. "Annyeong." She turned to Seokjin. "I'll go in first."
Taehyung looked at Byulyi meaningfully as she walked into the classroom.
"Okay, now go ahead. What do you want?" Seokjin asked.
"It's regarding Jieun," Yoojung's face turned serious. "I need you to tell me all you know about what happened last Monday, when Hoseok's watch got stolen." Yoojung whipped out a small notebook and a pen. "I already got Jieun's testimony. Now I just need yours, Yoongi's and Lisa's."
"For Jieun's sake, fine." Seokjin scratched his head. "That day... Ah, Monday. It was lunchtime. Jisoo asked me if I wanted to go for lunch... but I said no because I was not hungry." Seokjin left out the part about him being worried sick about Byulyi. "Then... she left. I turned around and saw Jieun looking at me and it was awkward, so I turned back around. I saw Lisa lurking around Jieun's table and heard them talk a bit, something about PE lesson, I think. Yoongi was in class but... I didn't really get a glimpse of what he was doing. Probably sleeping, I guess."
Yoojung frowned. "Jieun said the exact same thing."
At that moment, Jisoo came out of the classroom. "Ya! Jin-ah! Why did you take so long to go to the bathroom?"
Yoojung sensed the situation and quickly wrapped up. "I guess this is what we have so far then. Thanks, Seokjin."
"No problem, just let me know if you need more help." Seokjin smiled.
"Yeah, yeah." Yoojung brushed him off. She turned to Jimin and Taehyung. "On to Yoongi!" Yoojung cried out loud as she charged into the classroom.
Yoongi, was as usual, fast asleep.
Yoojung would usually hit him hard on the shoulder to wake him up, but today, she didn't. "No point," she said. "He's always fast asleep. Even if we asked him what happened that day, he wouldn't know either." She sighed. "Forget it."
Yoojung looked at Jimin and Taehyung. "We're left with Lisa."
"What information can she provide, though?" Taehyung frowned. "She literally said she talked to Jieun and left."
Yoojung shook her head. "But she didn't tell us in detail what she did before she left. She talked to Jieun, but before that, what was she doing?"
Jimin gasped. "You're right."
"That's all for now," Yoojung grinned, looking at Lisa from the back of the class. "Once school's over, she's over."
~
"Where's she?" Yoojung frowned, searching the classroom for a sign of Lisa, but to no avail. Her bag wasn't even on her chair. She had left, once the school bell had rung, and none of them even noticed.
"She must have left really quickly!" Taehyung picked up his bag and ran out of the classroom, looking down at the ground floor to see if she was already downstairs.
"Wait for me, Tae-" Yoojung shoved all her things into her bag and ran towards the door without even zipping her bag. "I-"
Yoojung was suddenly stopped by Jennie. "Yoojung, wait-"
Yoojung frowned. "Sorry, Jennie, I gotta go. Why don't you call me later?"
Jennie frowned. She was looking abnormally unhappy. "But-"
"Call me!" Yoojung yelled as she ran out of the classroom. Jimin ran after her, zipping up her bag quickly for her.
"Ya! Yoojung!" Jieun was still packing her bag. "Wait for me! We were supposed to-"
"Where are you rushing to, huh? Lee Jieun?" Hoseok blocked Jieun's path. "Don't you owe me something?"
Jungkook looked up as be packed his bag, but didn't say a thing.
"I already went with you to the teacher's office, Hoseok." Jieun exclaimed. "What else do you want?"
"Oh, you must have forgotten." Hoseok scoffed. "We made a promise, remember? And promises are meant to be kept."
Right. The promise.
Jieun looked down at Jungkook, who was staring at Jungkook with a blank look on his face.
Hoseok noticed that Jungkook was watching him and he laughed suddenly. "Oh, right! That reminds me, Jungkook was part of the promise too, wasn't he?"
Jieun didn't know how to respond.
"Huh? Lee Jieun?" Hoseok pressurised. "Are you gonna pretend to be dumb this time? The last time you could only say 'I' this time you just completely forget how to speak? Is that it?"
Jungkook stood up all of a sudden, intimidating Hoseok slightly with his stature. "We're not apologising," he said matter-of-factly.
Hoseok furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait- Say that again?"
"We're not apologising," Jungkook repeated.
"Everyone!" Hoseok announced. "Jeon Jungkook and Lee Jieun are breaking their promise. They said they'll apologise if-"
"We didn't break the promise," Jungkook reasoned. "I said we'll both apologise if Lee Jieun did steal your watch, but she didn't. So get out of our way now until the case is closed."
"What- You- Jeon Jungkook, you-" Hoseok had almost lost his ability to speak for a couple secondd because of how upset he was.
Jungkook ignored him, turning to Jieun instead, who was still packing her bag slowly. He helped her to pack, taking books from under her desk and shoving them into her bag. When everything was packed, he helped her to put on her bag. He shoved Hoseok out of the way and pulled a very flustered and confused Jieun by her bag handle out of the classroom.
"Those two-" Hoseok clenched his fists angrily. "I'll make them pay!"
Outside the classroom, Jieun and Jungkook looked down and saw Yoojung, Taehyung and Jimin racing across the parade square, trying to catch Lisa before she left the school. Lisa was already near the gate of the school.
"Lisa!" Yoojung yelled across the parade square. "Wait up!"
Lisa saw Yoojung running after her with her short legs and stopped in her tracks. "What?"
"I need to ask you something!" Yoojung yelled, finally reaching where Lisa was and panting heavily. "Important... Really important... Hold... on... Let... me... catch... my... breath..."
Jimin and Taehyung caught up with Yoojung as she regained her breath, Lisa watching the three of them carefully. "What do you want?"
Yoojung swallowed hard. She had to do this right. "I just wanted to ask you some questions. Can you answer me honestly?"
Lisa hesitated. "I'll see what the question is first."
"Good," Yoojung said as she whipped out her notebook. "Last Monday, you said you saw Seokjin, Yoongi and Jieun in the classroom before you left, right?"
Lisa hesitated yet again. "Right."
Yoojung nodded, taking down notes in her notebook. "So... remind me where you were before that?"
"I..." Lisa's eyes shifted unnervingly. "I was at my desk."
"Then what did you do between that time and when you left?" Yoojung asked, watching Lisa carefully.
"I..." Lisa began. "I was talking to Jieun. That's all. Then I left."
"So... if you were talking to Jieun, didn't you go near Hoseok's seat as well?"
A dramatic silence. Yoojung kept her eyes on Lisa as she fidgeted uncomfortably on the spot. Lisa was put in a spot. She had no idea what to say.
"I-" Lisa began.
"LISA!"
A loud voice resounded through the parade square. Lisa turned around, as a lady wearing designer clothing and holding a branded bag walked through the door.
"Mom..." Lisa looked flustered.
"Who are these people?" Lisa's mom glared at her, not even sparing Yoojung, Taehyung and Jimin one look.
"They're-" Lisa glanced at the three of them, her voice significantly smaller than before. She turned to her mom. "Mom, let's go to the car."
"Yeah, you know how I've been waiting for you?" Lisa's mom took a deep breath, as if she was trying to control her anger. "What did I tell you about coming straight home after school?"
"Mom, let's go to the car," Lisa swallowed hard. She walked towards the car, turning to glance at Yoojung before pulling the door open and entering. It was a Black Mercedes.
As the car zoomed off, Yoojung, Jimin and Taehyung were left speechless, standing at the school gates. Then Yoojung spoke.
"I've never seen Lisa this small."
~
The day passed just like that.
The F5 walked towards the bus stop together after Jungkook and Jieun joined the rest, all in silence. They were all evidently worried about Jieun's case, but for today, there was nothing else to do.
On Jieun's mind, there was nothing but all the possibilities. All the things that may happen. What if she gets expelled? To be honest, that was highly possible at this point. Her future seemed so, so bleak. But she was grateful she still had her friends by her side.
Yoojung dragged herself home that day, completely buzzed out by the day's events. She was so busy the whole day that she didn't even have time to think about anything else, other than Jieun's case. The exams were coming up, too. But none of them had the mood to even worry about that.
But then Jennie called.
Yoojung didn't want to pick up. She was dead beat. She just wanted to have a nice shower then conk off on her bed. But then, she remembered. The look in Jennie's eyes when she told her she needed to talk. Yoojung pulled herself upright and picked up her phone.
"Hello?"
"Yoojung...?" Jennie's voice was so muffled that Yoojung couldn't even hear her properly.
"Jennie? What's wrong?" Yoojung frowned.
"I..." Jennie paused. "Do I really suck as a human being?"
Yoojung laughed. "You're rude and everything, but I guess you don't really suck."
"You don't need to sugar coat the truth," Jennie didn't laugh at all. She sounded serious this time. "Tell me, I'm just horrid, ain't I?"
"Why are you asking me this?" Yoojung frowned, getting worried. "This isn't like you... Did something happen?"
A really long pause. But Yoojung didn't break the silence, she just continued listening.
"I found out today that my so-called friends hate me..." Jennie finally spoke, her voice cracking slightly. "They were using me for my money... and I didn't even know."
Yoojung was stunned. When Jennie referred to friends, that only meant her three best buds - Doyeon, Yongsun and Chaeyoung - and... her. It wasn't her... so it was the three of them? Really? They always seemed so close... All those, were fake?
"Your friends... as in Doyeon, Chaeyoung and Yongsun?" Yoojung was getting angrier as she spoke.
"It was just two of them..." Jennie's voice was quivering like she was going to burst into tears any minute now. "But Doyeon... I'm sure she feels the same way as them."
"They really said all that?" Yoojung frowned.
"Behind my back, too." Jennie swallowed hard, trying to keep her voice stable. "I just happened to hear it all. To think I always thought of them as my friends-" Jennie paused suddenly. "Yoojung, do you hate me too?"
"Oh my gosh, no." Yoojung let out a laugh, only to realise that it was highly inappropriate. "I mean, no. I'm serious. I treat people genuinely, alright? If I hate you, I'll show it. I don't hate you, Jennie."
Jennie finally burst into tears. "Then you're my only friend from now!"
"Jennie, stop, please." Yoojung begged. "You can easily make new friends. The three of them don't deserve you. Sure, you were mean to them in the past, let's not deny that. But for them to remain as friends just because you were rich, that's freaking insane. Good riddance, in my opinion."
Jennie sniffled over the phone. "Yoojung, does that mean I'm gonna join F5... I mean F6?"
Yoojung laughed. "It's good that you can still crack such a joke at such a time."
"I'm not joking though."
An awkward pause.
Yoojung laughed. "Yeah, we F5 will be your friend Jennie. Do you really need to join F5 to feel validated, though?"
"Yeah."
Yoojung laughed. "Come on, Jennie. This isn't the Jennie I know. Get back on your feet!"
"I'm counting on you now, Yoojung," Jennie had finally stopped crying. "Thanks for all that. Why cry over those girls? I don't need that negativity in my life."
"That's the spirit!" Yoojung smiled. "Don't worry, I'm gonna teach those girls a lesson tomorrow. As your best friend, I-"
"Wait-" Jennie paused. "What did you say?"
Best friend. It had slipped out of Yoojung's mouth without her even realising.
"As your friend, I-"
"That wasn't what you said!" Jennie whined. "You said... what again?"
"Fine, best friend!" Yoojung chuckled. "Best friend, for goodness sake. I'll be your friend, Jennie. You made such an improvement since a few months back. I'm so proud of you."
"Really?" Jennie was evidently smiling on the other end of the line as it showed in her voice.
"Really." Yoojung grinned.
A really long pause. Then Jennie spoke.
"Oh my god, I'm actually so happy all this happened."