“I’m telling you, the person we are trying to find is Namjoon,” Taehyung repeated for the 10th time. “Look, everything fits perfectly. Smart? Check. Scores well in everything? Check. It’s him, Sera.”

I sighed exasperatedly. We were walking to school, and Taehyung wouldn't shut up about Namjoon. “He’s not! Just because he’s smart doesn’t mean that he is a policeman's son! A criminal can be smart too. Like me,” I gestured to myself and Taehyung snorted.

“But the point is, we only checked half of the cohort. It can be Jungkook too, or anyone, really. Heck, it can even be Park Jimin!” I continued. I was about to add more when Taehyung hastily elbowed me in the ribs, effectively shutting me up.

“Good morning, Jimin!” He said loudly, throwing a warning glance to me. I turned around, and sure enough, the orange-haired boy was walking towards us, with headphones on. He looked up, surprised, before his face converted back into his usual smirking expression.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Seriously Jimin, why are you always walking behind us?”

He laughed. “It’s not my fault I live here, love.” Oh my god. Not this ‘love’ again. Instead of replying him, I turned back around and grabbed Taehyung, dragging him forward, fuming.

“I can’t wait to find out who the heck is the policeman’s son, and get out of this place,” I muttered under my breath angrily, while Taehyung just laughed loudly as Jimin called out from behind.

“See you in school later, love!”

I groaned.

Jimin reached our classroom right as the bell rang. I glanced at him suspiciously. He was right behind us when we were walking to school, but why did he reach school 10 minutes later?

“Are you done staring, love?” I snapped out of my thoughts and Jimin scoffed. “Why do you always look at me like that?”

“Look at you like what?” I quickly averted my gaze and pretended to be preoccupied with finding my textbook. “Oh damn, I didn't bring my textbook again,” I said, trying to divert the topic away. It didn't work.

“Like I did something wrong. You always look at me so suspiciously, it makes me scared.”

“Aww, the mighty Park Jimin is scared of me?” I laughed, then quickly turned serious. “You tell me then. Why did you take like 10 minutes later than us to reach school? You were just behind us.”

He frowned at me. “Why do you care about what I do? Mind your own business, Haneul.”

“You were the one who wanted to know why I always look at you like that. But okay, whatever floats your boat I guess.” I tried to appear nonchalant. Why the hell is Park Jimin so weird?

“...... project,” I snapped awake suddenly as the teacher rumbled on. It was only the first lesson of the day, and I was already bored out of my mind and sleepy. The teacher’s monotonous voice didn't help, either.

“What did she just say?” I asked Jimin groggily, rubbing my eyes. Around me, the class was already in chaos, everyone yelling at one another. Jimin stopped shouting at Jungkook and turned to me.

“There's going to be a science project, and it's pair-work. Don't even think about partnering me, I’m with Jungkook,” He replied rudely before turning back to the taller boy and started yelling again. Park Jimin doesn't look like the type to care about studies, but well.

“It's not like I want to do this project with you, anyway,” I muttered under my breath, annoyed. I glanced at Taehyung, who was already staring at me, a huge grin on his face.

I raised an eyebrow at him and pointed at the science teacher. He smiled and gave me a thumbs up. We had been best friends for so long, we could actually communicate with just facial expressions alone. Even if we don't gesture or whatever, I would understand him, and I’m sure Tae could still understand me. That's how we work.

“Class, quieten down! Did I say that you get to choose your own partners?” The teacher banged a table angrily. “I have already paired you guys up. Your partner would be your deskmate.”

, I’m with that nuisance, Park Jimin.

He didn't seemed to feel the same way, though. Instead, he turned to me smugly, and whispered, “Seems like we are always together, huh, love?”

“Oh shut up,” I said.

Jimin was unfazed. “So. Your place or mine?” He asked suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows in an attempt to make me laugh. I just glared at him, something I felt that I had been doing too much since I moved to Seoul.

But Jimin’s one simple question made my heart skip a beat. He can't come to my place! There are four criminals living there, and just the condition of our apartment alone would be enough to evoke suspicion. Even if we hid the suspicious stuff well enough, knowing Jimin, he would probably somehow encounter something.

“Yours,” I blurted out. “My place is, uh, out of bounds.”

Jimin frowned. “You can't come to mine, either. My dad has important work, no one is allowed to visit our house. I can sneak you in, but if he finds out, I will literally be dead.”

“Then don't let him find out!”

“My dad, he always finds out. He is important enough to have his sources.” What is it with people and their sources? First Jungkook, and now Jimin’s dad. Are they working together?

I shrugged. “Let's just not do the project, then. I don't really care about this anyway.”

“We can't.” Jimin said simply. I raised an eyebrow, as if to ask why, but he pretended not to see it. I need to find out what's the deal with Jimin.

I sighed reluctantly. “Okay then. Fine. We do this in my house. But if we can't finish this project in one day, then we continue it at yours, alright?”

He didn't reply.

“Oh come on, I agreed to let you come to my house even though I am not allowed to! That has to count for something,” I whined.

Jimin stared at me for a moment, and I stared back evenly. There was some kind of weird staring showdown going on between us before he looked away. “Okay then,” He agreed, somewhat unwillingly. I smiled.

Lessons was over in the blink of an eye, and lunch break arrived. “I don't think I have actually introduced you guys to each other properly,” Jimin had said, stopping the Bangtan Boys and me from passing through the door.

“I don't think I agreed to become part of your group, though unofficially,” I snapped, trying to push past him. My stomach was already rumbling, and throughout the whole day, I was looking forward to lunch break. And now Jimin was stopping me from getting to my food.

“Come on Haneul, it will be quick,” Taehyung mumbled from the side, shooting me a glance.

Jimin nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it will be. This is Rap Monster, I think Haneul has already met him.” The tall boy with light pink hair smiled at me warmly, which I returned.

“And this, is Suga,” He continued, pointing to a boy with blonde hair. He scowled at me. Woah, what's wrong with him? I haven't even interacted with him once. “Don't worry, Haneul, he's always grumpy,” Jimin laughed, poking Suga, who scowled even more.

“The one beside Suga is Jin!” Jin grinned and waved. To be honest, he was very handsome, with that charming smile and —

My thoughts was cut off with another boy laughing and yelling enthusiastically. “And I’m J-Hope! I’m your hope! Hi, Haneul!”

I smiled at him awkwardly and mustered a half-hearted wave. Really, I had never seen anyone that was so happy. How had I not noticed him in class before?

Jimin didn't bother introducing Jungkook or himself, and skipped straight to Tae. “And this is our new member!”

“Yeah, we know, you talked about him for more than 15 times. We counted,” Suga scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Is your name really Suga?” I couldn't help but blurted. The more I looked at them, the more curious I was to find out the reason behind their weird names.

Suga just looked at me like I was stupid, and turned away. Well then.

J-hope answered my question. “Obviously not! That's like our stage name. People call us by that around here. Tae, if you want, you can make up a stage name too! Didn't you say that you hated your name during your introduction?” He was talking at such a loud volume, it was hurting my ears.

Taehyung glanced at me awkwardly, and I shrugged. “Okay, then, erm, V? For, uh, victory?” He scratched his head. I mentally face palmed. Victory? Can he be any cheesier than that?

J-hope, however, did not seem to think so. “V is good! V it is! Welcome, to Bangtan, V!” I groaned. Please stop screaming.

We headed to the cafeteria together, and I noticed that many students parted ways to let us through. People were chattering excitedly and pointing towards Taehyung and me, but mostly towards Tae. My presence just earned lots of unwanted glares from the girls.

I purposely slowed down so that I could walk beside Jungkook. I desperately needed to ask Jungkook what his connections were, and even though I was hundred percent sure he wouldn't tell me, I had to try.

“Hey,” He smirked. “Good day, huh?”

“Yeah, good day, if you exclude the fact that the girls here hates me for no reason, and the fact that I am paired up with Jimin for a ty project.”

Jungkook laughed loudly, which earned me more glares from the people nearby. One of them looked ready to chop my head off. “Jimin’s not that bad, really. You know, he don't usually do this kind of things.

“What kind of things?”

“Nothing, figure it out yourself,” Jungkook smiled. What? Does he mean calling me ‘love’ all the time? Or what?

I didn't bother to continue asking. “I'm no good at figuring things out. I can't even figure out what kind of connections you have, for the teachers to believe you like that. You were pretty unconvincing, you know,” I brought up the topic, trying to be as casual as possible.

“I know,” He replied simply.

“And so I searched Jeon on Google, and Jeon Enterprise came out, but guess what, Jeon Enterprise export and import shoes! How does a shoe company have connections, huh?” I continued, trying to pressure him into spilling the truth.

He looked shocked. “You stalked me?”

I shook my head rapidly. “No, no, no. I just tried to figure out what connections you had, since you kept emphasizing on that yesterday.”

“Yeah, right,” He scoffed. “Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt anyone if I tell you a clue.” Yes!

“It wouldn't,” I agreed calmly.

Jungkook looked at me, looked behind us, and then looked at me again. By then, the people standing along the corridors had already dispersed and was back to doing their own business. “Have you ever realised, that some people are not what they seems?”

“Are you saying that your company doesn't just import and export shoes?” I asked dumbly.

He rolled his eyes. “Of course, dummy. How else do you think we get connections? We do something else.”

“I see,” I tried to maintain a blank expression.

“You won't tell anyone, right?” He asked, now looking worried.

To Taehyung, maybe. “Of course I won't. Trust me.”

"Promise me,” He held out his pinky, staring at me intensely.

“Alright, alright, I promise,” I sighed and replied, interlocking his pinky with mine.