I REALLY REALLY LOVE THESE FEW CHAPTERS GUYS ;-; 

Hoseok made his way out of the courtyard, his heart going like a jackhammer. The minute he moved past the door, he let out a huge groan, leaning against the wall and sliding until he was in a sitting position. He covered his face with his hands, hiding his reddened face from the world.

What on earth did he just do?

He just hugged Lee Youngmi. The Lee Youngmi of everyone’s nightmares. The Lee Youngmi who could crush his bones under her little pinky.

Well, she’d changed a lot since he first met her.

And she was rather cute… admittedly.

But why had he hugged her?

Hoseok knew that he felt something for this girl, but truth be told, he didn’t know what. What exactly was it about her that was so… endearing? She was never particularly pretty, especially before he knew her. She was honest-to-God terrifying, a little mini-Hitler if you will.

But she had a certain charm about her that Hoseok couldn’t describe. The look that came into her eye whenever she interacted with animals, her shyness when they interacted sometimes, her vulnerability that was so different from that conqueror-like attitude she always had on…

And he’d have to see her again next Wednesday. He felt his heart thump as her words came back to his mind.

Maybe she would finally tell him what was going on. And maybe he’d have a chance to help her.

Hoseok sighed and went back to class.

---

I trudged home sluggishly. The sun was setting and I had skipped basically the last half of school after lunch.

What had just happened?

I reiterated the day’s events in my head.

Jungkook invited me to watch his performance.

Okay, nothing wrong with that. I’d heard him sing once before, and he wasn’t bad. In fact, I might actually enjoy it.

Superhero-sunbaenim was waiting for me at the door of my hideout.

It was good that he wasn’t on weird terms with me anymore, and honestly I didn’t want to be angry with him. He seemed genuinely relieved when I’d joked with him, so I suppose that he didn’t want me to be angry with him either.

He helped me bandage my arm.

I thought I’d done a pretty good job, but evidently he hadn’t thought so.

And then he hugged me.

As if on cue, my cheeks inflamed. I hid my face in my hands, groaning in… embarrassment.

I never thought it was a big deal that I hadn’t had friends before, but did friends hug each other like that? Did they whisper into each other’s ears? Did they look at each other with hidden emotion in their eyes?

Mirae surely didn’t hug me. The most she did was swing her arm around my shoulders. Jungkook didn’t hug me. He would probably die if he even touched me, especially with his gynophobia and everything.

And he still expected me to tell him what was happening. One part of me was desperate to tell him, because I hated my life. And now that I had experienced being cared for by people, I craved for more of it.

But another part of me was hesitant… Did I really trust this guy enough to tell him what I had kept secret for most of my life?

I sighed. I was not looking forward to next Wednesday.

---

And as if God had heard my prayers and had laughed heartily at them, Wednesday arrived much too soon.

It was starting to get a little chilly, and I wore a sweater with my uniform today.

I had been avoiding the courtyard all week, not intending to get all caught up with that annoying sunbaenim, but unfortunately, D-day was today. Ugh.

Jungkook had texted me the night before, and I knew he was really nervous about it. According to him, another two girls were coming to watch too, which surprised me, as I thought I’d have been the only girl he was comfortable with. But whatever.

It did make me feel a little slighted though. He was the one who told me that I was the only girl after all.

Hm. Perhaps I was getting a little possessive.

Jungkook looked obviously really anxious and excited. He’d been fidgeting the whole day in his seat, and looked like he was about to faint. As the bell rang and the class started to pack up, he took a deep breath, as if to quieten his nerves.

“You’ll do fine,” I told him sincerely.

But looking back at the disastrous performance that they’d shown during the competition, I could understand why he looked so nervous.

He shot me a weary smile.

“Shall we go?” he asked, gesturing to the door.

I nodded my head and followed him out of the classroom.

“Usually I would meet Hoseok-hyung and Namjoon-hyung on the way but I think they’re released late today,” he informed me.

I hid my furious blush with an embarrassed cough at the mention of that boy’s name. What the hell was wrong with me today?

I looked up to see Jungkook frowning slightly. He turned his head back to the front and marched forward a few steps before running back to me, eyes determined.

And before I knew it, he grabbed a hold of my hand.                 

My heart jumped at the contact, racing like a wild elephant (they can run really fast).

He shivered painfully as he continued walking, but slower than before.

“I thought you’re scared of girls,” I muttered, nose bridge awash with red.

He looked back, his own face a shade of tomato.

“It’s worth it for that,” he pointed at my face before turning back awkwardly, his ears now tinged a very evident pink.

Silently, I unclasped his hand from mine and moved it to my sleeve. He grabbed it and sighed in relief, but slouched a little in disappointment.

“Maybe next time, when you’re more comfortable with me,” I leaned in and whispered.

He stood a little straighter, marching much more stiffly now. Hiding a grin, I followed behind him as we proceeded to the studio.

---

“Suga-hyung, I’m here,” Jungkook called out.

The walk here had initially been pretty awkward, but Jungkook warmed up a little bit when I started talking.

I was actually kinda happy that he’d invited me to his performance. I couldn’t help but smile a little when I realised that he actually did want me as a friend. I really wasn’t used to having this sort of attention and care on me, but it made me feel… like I belonged. It made me feel wanted, and to be honest, it felt a lot better than what I felt whenever I was hurting others.

In fact, I didn’t want to hurt other people anymore, much less Jungkook.

A blonde-haired shortie answered the door, interrupting me from my daydream.

“You must be Lee Youngmi,” he held his hand out but pointedly gazed at Jungkook’s hand on my sleeve. “I’m Min Yoongi, but you can call me Suga.”

I hurriedly shook Jungkook’s hand off, completely missing the warning look Suga-sunbaenim shared with Jungkook.

“You can leave your shoes there,” he instructed, waving towards a shoe cupboard inside.

Wordlessly, he followed, Jungkook looking a little sulky now.

“Who is it?” a voice shrieked from inside the kitchen that was smelling heavenly.

The air was heavy with the fragrance of garlic and rosemary, and I breathed in the scents, mouth watering. This was the sort of dinner Jungkook had every day?

I would think of applying to be in this group, were it not for my atrocious singing and dancing skills.

“Jungkook’s friend, Lee Youngmi,” Suga-sunbaenim yelled back as he directed us toward the living room.

“Ah, Lee Youngmi!” an ash-headed man popped his head out of the kitchen, smiling brightly. “Nice to meet you, I’m Jin!”

I shook hands with him too, greeting him formally.

“You two can go take a seat first while dinner is being prepared,” he smiled welcomingly.

My stomach let out an uncooperative growl. I flushed in embarrassment as Jin-sunbaenim laughed heartily.

“Don’t worry, once J-Hope and Rap Monster get here we’ll be able to eat,” he winked knowingly before disappearing back into the kitchen.

I glared at Jungkook, who was stifling a laugh, as Suga-sunbaenim led us into the living room.

I spotted V-oppa and Park Jimin-sunbaenim from the basketball team playing a game of Mario Kart on the television. They were neck and neck, 11^th and 12^th place respectively. I would have thought being a boy automatically guaranteed you good gaming skills, but I suppose the two of them missed out.

“Ah! Mimi!” V-oppa jumped up from the sofa, flinging his controller aside. “You didn’t say you were coming today!”

“We discussed this last week, you idiot,” Suga-sunbaenim rolled his eyes drily. “Jungkook said he was bringing her. And can you please treat my things nicely? Those controllers cost me a whole month of food!”

“Ah, hello Lee Youngmi-ssi,” Park Jimin-sunbaenim greeted awkwardly. I guess he knew about my reputation, which wasn’t a surprise, honestly, seeing as we’d met like twice, and not under good circumstances, plus he had a weird history with Mirae.

I greeted back with equal awkwardness as V-oppa bounded over happily.

“Are you here to watch today?” he asked. “Suga-hyung’s girlfriend and Jimin’s girlfriend are coming too!”

The pillow barely missed me by an inch as it whacked into V-oppa’s face.

“Oops, I’m so sorry!” Park Jimin-sunbaenim’s voice was uncharacteristically high. “I thought we weren’t supposed to discuss this in front of Lee Youngmi-ssi because of her friend, Hwang Mirae-ssi, remember, V? I told you what happened the last time!”

“Well she’s going to see Hyuna later anyway,” V-oppa sulked.

“Don’t worry, sunbaenim,” I addressed Park Jimin-sunbaenim. “I didn’t tell Mirae I was coming today.”

He visibly sagged in relief, I noted with a frown. What exactly had happened between the two of them?

“We’re here!” a familiar voice yelled as the door slammed open.

I immediately flushed as the voice brought back unwanted memories of the hug and of all the things that had happened between us recently, and how I had yet to come to a decision on whether to tell him or not.

He stopped at the door awkwardly, eye to eye with me.

“Ah, you’re here,” Superhero-sunbaenim coughed out, his eyes barely meeting mine.

In response, I shuffled slightly behind Jungkook, refusing to look up.

Jungkook stood a little straighter before grabbing a hold of my sleeve (confidently this time).

“Hi J-Hope-hyung,” he greeted loudly (much more loudly than I was used to).

I looked up to see Superhero-sunbaenim’s pointed gaze at his hand on my sleeve. He looked kind of annoyed, and I was about to shake Jungkook off when Jin-sunbaenim popped his head out the kitchen door.

“Children, food is ready!” he sang.

Jungkook led me to the table, hand still gripping tightly to my sleeve. I sighed and followed after him, ignoring the eyes of Superhero-sunbaenim trailing after us.

---

As luck might have it, Superhero-sunbaenim was seated right in front of me. I concentrated on eating, one ear focused on the conversation around me.

The food was delicious, alright.

It was already late August, with autumn nearing, and Jin-sunbaenim had made some fantastic choices in cooking. He’d prepared a steaming potato stew, as well as a variety of side dishes. The kimchi was crunchy and brightly red, peppered with sesame seeds. The stew itself was peppery and warmed me right to the bottom of my stomach.

Park Jimin-sunbaenim’s girlfriend had popped in during the middle of dinner, and had immediately cozied up to him. I’d rolled my eyes then. Clingy girlfriends were really never my type, and I had no idea why Mirae had wanted to date a boy like this.

But try as I might, I couldn’t escape the white-hot gaze of the boy in front of me. Whenever I looked up or answered a question, he was watching me with the eyes of a hawk.

And I wasn’t the only one who noticed either.

“Yikes, J-Hope, you’re making our guest uncomfortable,” Suga-sunbaenim commented.

“She’s making me uncomfortable,” he muttered shortly, finally taking his eyes off me to glare at Suga-sunbaenim.

I felt affronted, to say the least. How dare he?

“Excuse me?” I glared at him, voice icy as the room fell to a hush.

“N-nothing,” he mumbled, obviously cowed now and realising that he’d done wrong.

But I wasn’t done.

“You, me, outside.”

With that, I pushed myself off my seat and stormed towards the door, not caring if he followed.

He did anyway.

---

Honestly, J-Hope didn’t mean to piss her off. He was just a little annoyed that she decided to ignore his existence, even though he was sitting right in front of her and he was making himself very very evident. It made him kinda angry that she wasn’t acknowledging him, for some reason.

Did she forget about what she’d told him the other day?

Why was she sending him such confusing messages? Last week she’d said that she would spill all if she wanted to, and this week she was avoiding him like the plague. He’d eaten lunch outside of the courtyard for the whole of the week and he’d seen absolutely no sign of her.

The minute she’d turned those freezing brown eyes on him though was when he realised… he was in some deep .

She’d stormed out of the dining room then, and J-Hope had been left with no choice but to go after her, since he was a gentleman after all and didn’t want to make her angry.

And he was also scared less of what she would do to him if she was pissed so…

Anyway, he’d followed her out to outside Suga-hyung’s house, where she was glaring at the wall hatefully.

“What the is wrong with you?” she seethed angrily, turning those sparking eyes towards him.

J-Hope hesitated to reply, he was so scared she would hit him.

“I didn’t come here to be antagonised by you,” she ranted furiously, her volume barely restrained. “And here I was, thinking that we were friends, and that you actually accepted me for who I am, but instead you’re treating me like trash for goodness knows what reason and-”

“We’re friends?” J-Hope interrupted, eyes like moons.

There was a pause as her eyes flicked towards his and a series of strange emotions ran across her face.

“Uh, I suppose,” she muttered finally, looking away but her nose bridge was tinged red.

He couldn’t help the smile from breaking out onto his face.

He’d actually… managed to befriend the tigress. She was willing to be his friend! All that effort he’d put in… and it finally paid off!

“I’m glad,” he let out, ignoring the storm of positive emotions thumping through his heart and barely holding in the whoop of delight.

“I don’t even know why you want to be friends with me so much,” she mumbled, turning redder and redder.

J-Hope stifled the grin as he watched her twiddle with her thumbs, hesitantly peeking out through her bangs to look into his eyes, as if seeking for confirmation that he did indeed want to be friends.

To be honest, he had no clue why he wanted to be friends with her. He just wanted to be close to her for some reason.

From the beginning they’d met, he had been intrigued by her. She’d seemed like some sort of queen tigress when they’d had their first interaction at the school lockers.

Then she’d seemed like a caged wildcat, terrified when he’d spotted that first bruise and the subsequent ones after that.

Then it was like he was taming that wildcat, slowly coaxing her out of her shell and tending to her injuries and offering her his friendship.

Finally he’d been rewarded those few treasured moments when her eyes sparkled like diamonds and her smile was genuine. When she’d played with the birds outside his classroom. When he’d helped her find her pet bird.

And when she looked at him with those coffee eyes, that shy almost-smile on her face and the red tinge of her nose bridge, it made his heart ache and race at the same time and the palms of his hands damp with sweat and…

And that was the moment when J-Hope realised that maybe he didn’t want to be friends with her after all.

He just wanted her.

He almost felt the air seep out of his mouth as the realisation hit him like a ton of bricks.

He liked Lee Youngmi. A lot, actually.

She was really cute at times, but it was something more than that. He just wanted to see her smile, and he wanted to know the true her. The one who only came out when she was with animals, or when she was really opening herself up to him.

But all he wanted was for her to be happy.

“Let’s go back inside,” he smiled at her, offering her his hand.

She took one look at it, rolled her eyes at him and went back in by herself. J-Hope shrugged off a laugh as he followed behind her.

Typical Lee Youngmi.

---

Jungkook stood from the table, but Rapmon-hyung pulled him down again, giving him a warning look.

Jungkook was so angry. Why on earth did everyone want to interfere with his relationship with Lee Youngmi?

First Suga-hyung had been judging him holding her sleeve. What’s wrong with wanting to hold her hand? He just didn’t want her to look so cute just because of stupid J-Hope-hyung, so he decided to make her look cute for him instead. Was that such a bad thing?

And then J-Hope-hyung had chased after her when he’d made her angry. Wasn’t Lee Youngmi his guest? What gave J-Hope-hyung the right to even talk to her?

And now Rapmon-hyung was preventing him from going after them? Why couldn’t he? It was his job to make sure Lee Youngmi felt comfortable and accepted, and J-Hope-hyung had been totally rude to her, which made him really annoyed as well.

Jungkook just wanted Lee Youngmi to notice him.

After all, he couldn’t help but notice every part of her.

The way her long eyelashes would flutter against her smooth cheeks when she blinked at him. The subtle curve of her lip whenever she looked to his direction, her eyes finding his. Her skirt riding up from her thighs to reveal a little more flesh when she shifted her position (shut up, he was a boy alright).

He noticed the little things, like when she tapped her foot to a certain rhythm during tests, like when she the tip of her pencil with those rosebud lips…

Honestly, she’d changed so much since he’d met her on the first day of school and she honestly, genuinely cared for him now, which he could tell from the way she looked at him.

And Jungkook knew he’d been one of the key catalysts for that change, and now that she was receptive to him as a friend, Jungkook wanted more of her.

Jungkook wanted to feel the warmth of their hands clutched together, to feel her smile against his lips, to feel her warm gaze on him…

Jungkook had never felt this way about anyone before, but he knew exactly what he was feeling.

He wanted Lee Youngmi, and not just as a friend anymore.

He just had to figure out how to tell her.

---

“Good luck,” I mouthed to Jungkook as they stood in position.

And then they began.

The tune was familiar, the same song as they had played during the competition, but aside from that, there were no similarities. They had everything perfect, from the synchronisation to the notes they hit to the moves they danced… it was almost like an actual concert.

Jungkook was actually doing really good. He hit all the notes right, and had the perfect expressions, and all of his moves were on point. I couldn’t help noticing that he was only watching me though, which made me feel a little subconscious.

I tried to tell myself that it was because I was the only girl he was comfortable with, but it was a little unnerving when his eyes would meet mine periodically and flit away shyly.

Superhero-sunbaenim looked pretty good too. Surprisingly, he was staring at me a lot too, and honestly both of them made me feel really awkward with all that attention.

But aside from that, it was a fantastic performance and I really enjoyed it.

Almost too soon, the performance was over. It was almost 10pm when the music finally ended and the boys sent us huge smiles as the three of us clapped loudly, cheering for the group.

I looked at the clock anxiously. It was usually around 10.30pm that my father came home from the bar, and that was when he’d get the most violent. I had to lock my bedroom door or else...

It looked like Hinsaek would have to stay in school today, and honestly I was worried about that too, because I didn’t want him to be alone at night with all the cats roaming about.

“Want me to walk you home?” Superhero-sunbaenim asked casually, walking up behind me.

“It’s okay, I can drive her,” Jungkook interrupted, but there was an uncharacteristic rebellious glint in his eye.

I hesitated, not knowing who I should go with, but thankfully Superhero-sunbaenim made the decision for me.

“It’s cool then. Stay safe,” he smiled at me, but I could hear the hint of disappointment in his tone.

And then I remembered that I was supposed to decide whether or not to tell him about my situation.

“Wait,” I grabbed his arm.

Both he and Jungkook flinched, for some reason, but I motioned for Jungkook to wait for a moment before I led Superhero-sunbaenim away to a corner of the room.

“Can you take care of Hinsaek for me tonight?” I asked quietly and passed him Hinsaek’s special carrier box. “He’s still in school and I have to be home by 10.30...”

“Okay,” he nodded his head. “Is there anything else…?”

I hesitated for a moment before slowly replying, “Meet me at the courtyard at lunch tomorrow. I’ll decide then.”

I took in a nervous breath as he sent me a relieved look and patted my head, before he headed to the door, bidding goodbye to everyone.

“Can we go?” Jungkook asked and I nodded.

---

The car ride home had been comfortably silent. Thankfully, it was only about a fifteen minute journey as opposed to the thirty-minute bus ride and I also didn’t have to worry about Hinsaek being left in school alone.

Soon, we were standing outside my house, the lights thankfully still dark which signalled that my father was not home yet.

“Thanks for coming today,” Jungkook smiled happily.

“I’m glad you did well,” I grinned back.

There was silence as he looked to the ground, hand scratching the back of his head in what seemed to be nervousness. Then he looked up with a spark of determination in his eyes.

I stared at him questioningly, the crickets chirping cheerfully.

“One day, I’m going to be brave enough to do this,” he started seriously.

He grabbed my right hand and took a deep breath.

I looked at him, wide-eyed as he interlocked our fingers and held my hand firmly.

“Wait for me,” he said simply, before cracking a small smile and letting go, silently bidding farewell and walking back to his car.

Wordlessly, I watched him leave, my heart racing and my mind whirling.

Did Jungkook… like me?

OH