"Yoonseul-ah?"
The young woman turned so fast that Jungkook thought for a moment that her neck was going to break.
"Jimin-Oppa!" At that moment, Jungkook's heart raced again.
For an instant, he thought he would be free from a situation like this, but fate was sometimes sadistic, and she liked to see him suffer. Giving up, he turned to pay attention to their conversation. If Yoonseul had a plan and wanted him to act natural, that's what he was going to do. And it wasn't difficult at all, embarrassing, but easy.
"I haven't seen you in a long time, Yoonseul-ah," Jimin said as he approached them.
"I should say that. Your popularity has made it harder and harder to find you. I'd say you even take advantage of it." Yoonseul joked. "Since you are here, I will introduce you to my friend Jungkook."
With his silence, Jungkook knew he wouldn't make a good impression, but in his defence, he was unprepared for Park Jimin. The boy was normal with black hair and brown eyes, shorter than Jungkook, but still within average height. But what caught his attention was his face, the contrast between the softness of his features and the look in his eyes showed a duality that Jungkook wanted to put on paper. I wanted to give colour to that duality that was so difficult to find.
"Your face. It's perfect Jimin-ssi." At least he had the decency to call him by name.
The comment caught Jimin by surprise, who rolled his eyes like pacifiers, while Yoonseul smiled like the Cheshire cat.
"These are artist things. It's harmless." Said the girl.
"I pretend to be." He answered out of inertia. He still had a long way to go and many things to learn.
"Harmless what?" Yoonseul replied with a raised eyebrow.
"An artist," Jungkook said after a sigh.
"But you already are. I've seen no one draw that cat that always naps on the park bench as you do."
"I don't think anyone would do that."
"That is why you are already an artist. Because you draw the simplest and most every day and transform it into something impressive. You do not draw the same as the others and, if you do, you make it seem that one is inside the drawing. It is quite impressive So, for once in your life, accept the compliment I give you, save it in your memory and shut up. "
Yoonseul's outburst quite surprised Jungkook. It's not like she hadn't told him this before, but when she did, it was with softer words, always trying to make him see the same thing she saw in his drawings. As he watched the more technical part, she downplayed it and focused more on the feeling it conveyed to her. One day she said, "It does not matter if it has the perfect shape or not. Nothing is perfect. What matters is the feeling and the sensation it transmits". And Jungkook got it, but he still had a hard time recording it on his system.
Suddenly, Jimin's laughter brought them back to the reality of the situation and they both had the decency to blush at the fact that they had overlooked the boy's presence.
"I see you are getting along wonderfully, like two siblings." The boy said in an amused tone, trying to contain another round of giggles.
"You could say yes. He's older than me, but he's socially inept, and he's improved. Thanks to my help, obviously."
"You know? You could have said it a little more tactfully. And it wasn't all thanks to your help." It was a lie as big as a temple, of course, it was thanks to her, and her insistence, that it had come out of its shell.
"Keep cheating on yourself, Jungkookie," Yoonseul told him while patting him on the shoulder, to which Jungkook just grunted in resignation.
"I'm really sorry if I made you uncomfortable, Jimin-ssi," Jungkook said as he ran his hand over the back of his neck. "It's just that ... she took me by surprise."
Jimin was quick to downplay it since the same thing had happened to him. After someone behind them called for Jimin, Jimin said goodbye to them, assuring Yoonseul that now that he had her number, it would be impossible for her to escape from him.
Once they were far enough from the court and any prying ears, Yoonseul raised his fist as I went in victory.
"We have done it! The plan has been a success."
"I still don't understand what your plan was, and I doubt it worked unless you planned to get his number. Because if it does, then it was a success."
"I have to admit that the number one thing surprised me, but I suppose it is a good impression you made on him." When Jungkook said nothing, Yoonseul looked at him and sighed. "Okay, stupid head, I'm going to explain it to you so that your innocent head understands." They were walking down the hall that led to his class. It was still early, so it was almost empty. When they were already inside class with their things in place, Yoonseul returned to pick up the conversation where they had left off.
"Believe it or not, you are adorable, especially when your nerves get to you and you blush." Jungkook was going to protest, but Yoonseul put a finger to his lips to stop him. "Jimin-Oppa has a soft spot for shy, adorable boys like you. It's like he wants to help them out of their own cave, so to speak. I'm sure you've made a good impression on him."
"Even after looking like a fanatic when I told him about his face?" He still had a hard time getting over the embarrassment of the situation.
"Well, I guess you could have said something else, but maybe he wouldn't have been so surprised. Besides, I think he got it better when I told him you were an artist. His passion revolves around dancing, everything. That has to do with it catches his attention. He probably believed that your situation was the same, but with the drawing. "
After a comfortable silence in which neither of them said anything, each deep in thought, Jungkook broke the silence with the question the two had been asking each other since leaving the park.
"When do you think that guy is going to break up with Jimin?"
Yoonseul let out a long breath and then looked out of the window where part of a tree and the entrance to the institute could be seen. "I don't know. Honestly, I don't know if he's going to do it today or if he's going to wait a couple of days. I don't know that guy, and after what I heard I don't like him at all, but I hope he's not at least a pig when he breaks up with Jimin. "
"We'll see. He has to do it, eventually."
"And we are still I Monday. What a week awaits us." Yoonseul said with a groan, to which Jungkook responded with a similar one.
After that, the bell rang announcing the start of classes. Although anyone would rather be somewhere else than studying in class, the boys appreciated the distraction it provided. As the week went by, the workload increased disproportionately, although luckily they were essays and exercises for the next day. But it was still exhausting.
The two of them had spent some time with Jimin, if only between breaks or when they met in the hallways. The conversations they had weren't too deep or personal to fully know the boy, but Jungkook always paid attention, even when he seemed plunged into his own world. Jimin cared about those around him, treating them with respect and not arrogance, and he always paid attention when they spoke to him. Even though he understood nothing, he tried hard to understand the other person. In fact, when Jungkook was drawing some lines in his notebook, Jimin leaned over beside him out of curiosity to figure out what he was going to draw. He said nothing while Jungkook worked, but he always told him how cool he was.
During that time, Jungkook and Yoonseul kept hoping that at any moment someone would run through the corridors screaming at the top of their lungs that two people had broken up. But none of that happened until Friday, specifically at the last minute.
After so much homework, Friday was being a relatively quiet day, and the teachers had preferred to let them study in class while they prepared for I don't know what project they wanted to do before Christmas break. Although it was an hour of study, most took it as an hour off and did anything else.
They didn't realize what was going on at first, but when all the chattering and laughter died down, they knew the time had come. It was through murmurs and whispers from his peers they confirmed that it was about Jimin and his (future) ex. But what totally surprised them was that they were also talking about a girl. Jungkook and Yoonseul looked at each other and got up quickly to peek out the door.
Right there, in front of his class, were the two students from the park, whom Jungkook could finally put a face to relate to. The girl was almost the same height as the boy, with light brown hair tied in a high ponytail. The boy had blond hair, combed to one side, with the first buttons of the shirt open, and he was leaning on his side against the wall, totally relaxed, while he caressed the girl's cheek affectionately and intimately. They looked at each other as if the rest of the world didn't matter.
"What the hell's going on?!"
This story belongs to @nometoloko on AO3. I'm just her translator.
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