Monday. The first day of school after 2 days-break. Nobody seemed so excited about it. But the gloomy surrounding in the house was not as bad as Hoseok’s mood on that day.

“Jin, is Hoseok already went for school?” Namjoon asked after he greeted ‘morning’ at the broad-shoulder guy. He took a french toast as he drank his morning tea.

Jin nodded hardly from the sink so that Namjoon could see it clearly. “I hope he gain his spirit soon. It’s really hard to see him like that every year.” He let out his sigh as he took off his apron and sat in front of Namjoon. He ate his breakfast silently.

“Hyep” A small-eyed, white guy greeted both of them and joined them for breakfast. “Wow, Jin. Your french toast is the best. This whole breakfast might finish if they didn’t come down already” he said as he took another two greedily.

“Suga hyung, one is enough.” A younger boy took the toast from behind. He sat beside Jin as he greeted them ‘morning’.

“Jungkook, are they getting ready?” Namjoon asked the youngest as he finished his drink. After he got Jungkook’s nod, he looked at the stairs of the house. “JIMIN! TAEHYUNG! HURRY UP ALREADY! I’M GONNA GIVE YOURS TO JUNGKOOK IF BOTH OF YOU NOT COMING DOWN!”

It was just another day in the household with seven childhood friends. They were closed since during their elementary school-era. All of their houses are next to each other in their neighbourhood. Highschool was hardly found in their hometown. So, all of their parents agreed to rent a house in the main city to make it easier for them to go a highschool.

Even though Hoseok was not with them during breakfast for that morning, they knew by heart about the day when Hoseok needed his time-alone after he came back from his hometown last night. It was the same date for every year.

“Is Hoseok hyung okay?” Jungkook killed the silent that surrounded at the dining table after Taehyung and Jimin joined them.

“It’s still the same.” Taehyung answered for Jungkook as he and his best friend, Jimin shared the same room with Hoseok. “He slept right away after he came back from the hometown. This year is so unlucky. Usually there’s no school after that ‘date’ and he probably won’t come out from the room around this time, But, this year, he gotta go to school.” He sighed as he ate hs last French toast.

“Oh! How about your classmates? Do they know about it?” The maknae looked at Namjoon, Yoongi and Seokjin at the same time since all of them were classmates with Hosoek for their senior year.

Hoseok was so popular with his cheerful spirit. Most people in their school really love him. He even named by their friends as J-Hope. But surely, people in school never saw his coldness except his childhood friends. When he had his own coldness during the ‘date’, he probably killed whoever tried to mess up with him-even it was just a joke.

And Seokjin would never want to imagine if someone will die just because of Hoseok.Seokjin looked at Yoongi to sent his thought through the eyes. Yoongi confused so he looked at Namjoon, in hope that he could interpret Seokjin’s eyes message.

As careless as he did all the time,Namjoon spilled his drink when he tried to pour a more tea in his cup. The accident made all of the members stood up rushly to avoid the drinks spilled on their shirt.

“HYUNG! BE CAREFUL!”

“HEY! IT’S STILL EARLY- WHY YOU EVEN-“

“I TOLD YOU, ALREADY! DON’T MAKE A MESS!”

It was still in the morning. Students were starting to flood their classroom. Regularly, students would just walk into their classroom with various kinds of thought and faces. Of course, Jackson and Kai were excluded. They started the day with a quarrel just at the front of the classroom. They hit each other with their own bag, just for laughed.

“Stop! Stop! “ Jackson walked backwards slowly at the back of the class to avoid Kai’s bag. “You hit my back too hard” he said as he at the fake-pain.

“No, Jacky. We should end this like a man.” Kai chuckled and ready to give another hit to his classmates.

As Jackson turned his body to run, he accidently hit someone’s chair. “Ouh, I’m sorry J-Hope, for waking you up.”

As long as both of them knew J-Hope as their classmates, he would probably get up from his seat and joined their quarrel or support from the back. Neither one of it happened. Hoseok just turned his body to another side.

Jin flipped his notes aimlessly. Once in a while, his eyes would fall to the guy beside him. He didn’t get up for once. Right then, he wrote something on a small paper and folded it into a square-shape. “So, Mr. Bang will or will not come for the class?” He tapped Namjoon’s shoulder, who was sitting in front of him with the folded paper.

Namjoon took it without moving and read the message on the paper. “I don’t know, though. It’s been 30 minutes. These kids will start a party soon if the teacher didn’t come for another 10 minutes.”

Who’s the most handsome in the class?

A.Seokjin

B.Seokjin

C.Seokjin

D.Seokjin

Namjoon stared blankly at the paper. Yoongi who was sitting beside him took an interest when he saw Namjoon’s blank face. He took and read what was written on the paper. Then he gave it back to Jin after he did something on it.

Jin’s happy face faded after he read what Yoongi replied to him. The question was mercilessly and displaced by a word, CRAZY.

“Listen up, guys. The teachers have an urgent meeting regarding an open day for our school. So,i t will be a self-studied and we can go back home earlier than usual. “The class’ president was cut by a murmured from the students. Afterwards, they started to make their own activities.

Sehun, one of the classmates took out a monopoly board from under his table. Without a word, Kai and Jackson pulled their chair towards Sehun’s seat and getting ready to play the game. Sehun turned to his left side. “J-Hope” He shook Hoseok’s shoulder violently. “Let’s play. The one who lose will buy ice-cream.”

Hoseok didn’t budge.

“Hey, Hobi. Wake up al-“Sehun stopped his talk after Hoseok snatched his hand hardly. “Yah-“

“Don’t disturb me!” Hoseok shouted as he stood abruptly from his seat. He became the attention of the class at the moment.

Sehun was annoyed that he couldn’t bear his anger, he stood up beside Hoseok. “What’s wrong with you?”

Now, the two boys glared to each other as if waiting for a fight or dissing words. None of them were happened. Hoseok just sighed and walked away from the class. Sehun’s eyes followed Hoseok’s steps. “Jung Ho-“a hand held on his shoulder.

“Don’t mind him.” Yoongi talked to Sehun but his eyes were looking at door. “He had kind of this emo where he wanted to be mad at everyone”

“Why is that?”

Yoongi looked at Sehun before he whispered to his ear. “He got menstrual period, right now.”

“What the he-?” Sehun confused as he looked Yoongi nodded slowly. Sehun looked at Namjoon and Jin at their seats. Both of them nodded as if it was a normal thing. “How is that? He even don’t have-“

Hoseok opened his eyes after he realized the music stop in his phone. He fell asleep without knowing at the rooftop. I don’t have a chance to hear her favourite song.

“Had a nice dream?”

Hoseok looked at the source of the voice. It’s Youngji, one of his classmates. At the moment, Hoseok realized, it had been a long time since he heard about that girl. The last time Hoseok saw her, it was 2 weeks ago. Afterwards, the girl took a holiday because of an accident. No one knows what kind of accident it was. In the eyes of Hoseok, that girl looked different.

Youngji sat beside Hoseok as the boy’s eyes trailed her steps. “Beautiful sky, isn’t?” Youngji looked for something in her pocket. Once she had found it, she opened a small box and took out a cigarette.

“What are you doing?”

Youngji looked at the guy beside him. “Smoke, obviously. Why?” She was getting ready to light her cigarette but the lighter was snatched by Hoseok.

“Are you crazy?” Hoseok looked at the girl for a long time, waiting for an answer but the girl just chuckled.

“You wanna be a hero, right now after making a chaos at the classroom?” Youngji reminded Hoseok about the incident before he left his class. “Give it back, my lighter” The girl moved forward to take her lighter but she couldn’t fight with Hoseok hand’s strength.

Hoseok held the lighter while spacing out. “Tell me why you’re smoking?”

The girl sighed loudly. “It’s none of your business, brat. Just gimme back my-“

“I’ll tell you the reason why I behave like an just now. In return, you have to stop smoking.” Hoseok stopped and looked at the girl’s eyes, hoping that she will say yes.

As long as he knew Youngji, he never expected that Youngji would do something bad-like smoking. She’s that kind of girl that most of his friends wanted to date. The girl in front of him is not Youngji. It was like a new girl with the same face.

“‘Why’ you behave like that is none of my business. It has nothing to do with me. And what I’m doing is none of your business too. So, give me back, my lighter.” Youngji let out her hand so that the boy could put her thing on her palm.

“You really don’t want to know?” Hoseok asked again.

Youngji asked the same question to herself. ‘Am I really don’t want to know?’ Of course she wants to. Hoseok was the boy who caught her attention in the class.

She always watched him from her seat. His character which was always happy make her wonder, ‘Is there one time he feel sad or mad?’ The moment Hoseok mad at Sehun made her regret with what she was thinking. Hoseok without his happy-character felt like something missing in himself.

Youngji couldn’t say what she really wanted to say. Indeed, she just sat back at her original place. “Whatever, Hobi. Do everything what you want.” The girl stretched her legs and closed her eyes. As she leaned her head at the wall, she could feel the wind blowing her short hair, her hair that was just cut yesterday.

“Yesterday, I visited my sister.” Hosoek talked after a long pause between both of them. “It’s quite funny, everyone celebrate their birthday for every year. In my family case, we celebrate my sister’s funeral, instead.”

Youngji looked at Hoseok. She never expected for Hoseok to have a sad story behind his happy-life.

She always envies with how happy Hoseok was every time and everywhere he went. People around him also felt influenced when he’s around. He got perfect friends, a perfect grades and people who will always stay beside him. Right now, he looked pathetic and sad. Youngji never saw this side of him. This is new and Youngji felt an ache in her lungs. 

“Cry.”

Hoseok turned to look at the girl beside him. “What?”

“If you feel like you want to cry, cry it out. You don’t have to act like a tough guy and always be happy when anyone is around.”

Hoseok stared at the girl and chuckled after he got what Youngji meant.

“Why were you laughing?”

“No.” Hoseok took a breathe before he continuing, “You just remind me of someone .And you’re not the first one to say something like that. Anyway, thanks for the advice.” Hoseok smiled and continued to look at the sky.

I’m not the first one, though. Youngji thought silently but forced herself to stop for her jealousy. “So, what does she likes?”

“Do you mean, ‘my sister’?” After he got the girl’s nod, he continued while smiling “She loves to dance. I still keep her favourite song. Every time I came home from school, she would pull me at the living room and played her song. Then, both of us will dance until we exhausted.”

All of sudden, the sky became grey and the rain fall. Youngji and Hoseok stood up to avoid themselves from the rain but neither one of them went downstairs to get shelter. They just stood and stared at the falling rain.

“Even the sky cried for her death” Youngji heard the boy whispered after a while.

Youngji looked at the boy as she was thinking to make him happy. She didn’t want the rain make his day worse. “Just dance in the rain.”The boy looked at the girl with a confused face. “If you don’t want the sky to feel sad, dance and make them happy. Just you always did when you with your sister.”

Hoseok still confused but afterwards, he looked hesitate whether he wanted to soak his cloth or not.  It was too late. Youngji already pushed him into the rain. After the girl encouraged him to start dancing, he closed his eyes and the memory of him with his sister started to play.

He imagined how the music flowed and danced as if he grabbed his sister’s waist and hand. He twirled around and made his sister turned around like a ballet. After he did a round of the dance, he automatically repeated the same steps until he felt exhausted. At the last steps, he opened his eyes and shocked after he saw a girl in front of him.

Youngji filled in his sister’s spot. He was so immersed with the dancing that he didn’t realize Youngji was dancing with him. He pulled the girl near the stairs to get a shelter from the rain.  “Your steps, it was the same as my sister’s. How do you know-“

“I danced. I learned the same thing as your sister’s. Actually, I accidently heard all of the playlist in your phone. It was on the speaker. So, I chose to stay and hear all of it. I really thought you learned to dance when I hear one of the songs but it make sense afer you told me about your sister” Youngji explaination was accompanied by the sound of the rain fall.

Even both of them were soaked with the rain; Hoseok could still differentiate between tears and rain.

Youngji already cried when both of them danced just now, but the tears still visible to Hoseok.

“I danced and got an opportunity to enter an audition from a university. They will give a full scholarship if I pass the test. The day before the audition, I broke my ankle.” The tears were flooding in her eyes. Youngji wipe the tears before she coninued“And that’s how I got 2 weeks absences.”

“So, that’s why you start to smoke?”

The girl chuckled and took out the small box. “This is not mine, though. I just buy it without reasons. I wanted to try but, you took my lighter. And, I cut my hair too.” She swiped her short hair that fall on her face. “I don’t need my long hair anymore. I keep it because I looked beautiful when I danced with a long hair. I don’t think I can pursue my dream in dancing.” Youngji played with the small box in her hand.

She looks cute in that hair. Then, Hoseok took the box in her hand. “After we graduate, I want to apply in a school dance. I don’t know if they have what you want to learn but you can try to apply it. It’s a waste if you just give up in your passion. Your ankle is fine, right?”

“Yeah.” Youngji twisted her ankle and showed it to Hoseok. “I just feel down because I couldn’t get that scholarship. You’re right. I shouldn’t give up with my dream.” Youngji said as she took her bag beside the stairs and getting ready to leave. “Thanks, J-Hope. I don’t know about you but I feel great after talking to you. You can take that lighter.” She pointed the lighter that was placed on the floor. “I don’t need that.” Youngji turned around and walked towards downstairs.

“Youngji, let’s just walk back together. It would be weird if I walked with my soaked cloth, alone”

“Anyway, Hope”

“Hmm-hmm”

“What’s your sister’s name?”

“Faith”