I ran as fast as I could, swerving through packs of students, there were so many of them!

I scanned every single face, but he wasn’t here. As I looked at them, they all looked back at me- oh yeah I was the foreign new girl.

But this time they weren’t being mean to my face, or maybe I was in a rush so didn’t notice.

Whatever. 

 Taehyung was probably gone, gone far away like last time...

Wae!

Why does my destiny play me so?

I frantically ran through the gymnasium to the back of the school, the car park and the fields, but no sign of Taehyung. I needed to see him, speak to him.

As I was running, memories were drifting through my mind...

“Taetae, you’re cheating! It’s not fair; your legs are too long!”

He was too fast. Minnie couldn’t win the race.

First one who touches the fence gets to have the last chocolate cookie.

“Hahaha your legs are too fat! Aigo, slow down, Minnie, SLOW DOWN!”

Taetae ran back to Minnie, she had fallen.

“Hey Pabo! Why were you running so fast? I don’t like seeing you hurt, idiot!”

He took her small hands in his small hands.

“Hahaha GOT YOU!”

Minnie got up and pushed Taetae back, she was determined to win.

He couldn’t stop smiling.

“Yaaaaa!”

It was hopeless.

I couldn’t find this grown up Taehyung anywhere.

It was getting too hot, midday in Daegu was like fire and running through this was like hell.

It wasn’t even midday; I looked at my watch and groaned.

It was nearly five pm.

 Just as I turned back to go home, I saw that red haired boy from earlier, hanging around an abandoned shed right at the back of the field.

The shed was in a funny place, and it was quite big.

There were a couple of fields that didn’t belong to the school and the shed was right in the middle, with the main road to its side.

But what was he doing there?

 Whatever, but he would definitely know where Taehyung was!

I tried to run again, but cramps shot up the side of my body, so I slowly walked to where he was.

I peered through the entrance of the shed, there was no door.

“Hey, uh, excuse me?”

He turned and faced me.

Approaching him from behind, I didn’t know there were more boys huddled in the shed, they all turned to look at me.

It was pretty awkward.

“Why hello there, Miss trouble” he crossed his arms and leant on the shed behind him.

The guys all chuckled.

I went red, how was I meant to know they were all having some secret meeting?

“Urm actually, I was wondering if you know where Tae-Taehyung is?” I stammered.

I don’t know why I felt nervous around them.

His eyes scanned my expression, and I was constantly looking on the ground.

He dropped his arms, sighed and came closer to me.

“Don’t worry; we aren’t bad people. That fight just escalated unexpectedly. Uh, let me introduce you to the crew! My name is Jeon Jungkook, and this guy sitting on the floor with the constant grin on his face is Jung Hoseok. That guy in the corner sleeping is Min Yoongi and I’m sure you know who this guy is!”

I never looked around the shed until now.

It wasn’t as big as it looked from the outside.

There were only tables, some chairs, their schoolbags, bundles of paper and a few empty cans of cola scattered around.

The windows were smashed in and it was very dusty, but it looked like they came here often.

I finally dragged my gaze to who Jungkook was standing with.

He was ruffling the boys jet black hair, and pinching his cheeks...

“Halmeouni, please may I have more ice cream?”

It was so hot outside and Minnie loved the cold, mint flavoured ice cream. 

“Ya, Jasminah! You’ve already had two scoops, what will I tell your father when you become sick!”

Minnie put on a crying face, she wanted her way and she wanted more ice cream.

“Here, Minnie you can have mine. I don’t like mint flavour anyway.”

The boy tapped Minnie with his bowl.

“No Jiminie, that’s a lie. That’s YOUR second scoop as well!”

Minnie knew he liked it too.

“Yes, I sort of like it, but I want you to have this one.”

He smiled so much that his eyes were barely visible and his cheeks puffed up with joy.

Minnie smiled back at him and they went off back to play.

I looked back up at this grown boy, it was him.

Yep, it was definitely Jimin.

He grew a bit taller and became very handsome, but his adorable face was still the same.

So Taehyung and Jimin did stay best friends, it was only me who left the trio.

I felt so pissed at myself.

I didn’t know that I was staring at Jimin for so long, until I heard his cute laugh.

“Yaa! Don’t stare at me like that, I’ll get shy” he was joking around and wriggled in a circle on the spot, but it made me so happy.

 I finally got my best friend back.

I went up to Jimin and smiled at him.

 “Park Jimin. It’s been so long and you still haven’t changed one bit!” I was slowly opening up and I was overwhelmed with joy.

I had always been viewing life as a boring routine and had detached myself from everyone, but now I wanted to live life to the maximum.

I wanted to eat ramen by the beach, travel all over Korea, go shopping, rock climbing and be with all my friends again!

He grinned at me, baring his teeth and losing his eyes.

I laughed.

A lot.

“Hahaha! Yaaa Hobie Hyung, you have competition! She laughs louder than you!” Jimin was shaking his head in laughter.

Hoseok jumped up and twirled on the spot!

He actually did a twirl, I was not expecting that. He stretched his arms side to side playfully as he was approaching me.

“Yo Yo Yo My name is J-Hope, what’s up!  I am Hoseok, hope, happiness and life! But you can call me Hobie!”

Witnessing this introduction genuinely made me feel so happy.

It was the best greeting I’d ever received. With all of his positive energy, why didn’t we know him before?

Maybe he could’ve prevented all these years of pain we felt.

Laughter was erupting from the pits of my belly, I was so happy around these guys!

I face palmed myself, why was I nervous in approaching them before?

I guess my laughter was catchy, because it triggered Jimin rolling on the floor laughing and even Jungkook was flashing his teeth, his eyes turned into half moons.

They all look so aegyo laughing; they should never adopt that rebellious, sangnamja, rude boy look again.

“Yaaa, stop making so much noise down there, some of us are trying to sleep!” It sounded like a croaking grandpa, but the voice was from the Min Yoongi.

He had light coloured hair and was lying flat on a bed of their school bags, making swatting hand actions at us.

His jaw line was very prominent and as he turned to change sleeping positions, I saw he was extremely handsome.

He opened his eyes and caught me staring at him, and he stared back.

It wasn’t an awkward eye contact; it just looked like he was day dreaming.

He momentarily flashed a gummy smile at me, and his level of handsomeness transformed into dead cute.

But he closed his eyes again and resumed his nap before I had a chance to start crushing.

As I wandered around the shed, I saw Jungkook and Hoseok had gone to the side and were practising some sort of dance that looked pretty good.

I turned to explore the shed deeper and Jimin blocked my vision, he stood in front of me.

His mouth formed a smile, but his eyes weren’t smiling.

Even though I was just about settling in with these cool guys, I remembered that whenever Jimin wouldn’t smile with his eyes, I knew he was upset about something.

I remembered that he'd never showed his negative emotions, he would always laugh them off, but it bugged me every time.

“Jiminie, what’s up?” I asked, noticing he was fidgeting.

“Haha, Jasmine. You leave Daegu, drop all contact and relation with me and eight years later, the first thing you say is what’s up?”

His expression turned sad, but he was still forcing a smile.

I looked down and let my bangs cover the top of my eyes.

I knew he would want an explanation, but I didn’t know what to say.

For once, I was lost for words and I started kicking some little pebbles.

Jimin always understood what I couldn’t say and never once lost his patience with me.

Even now he was being so gentle.

He lowered his head to mine and lifted my chin up with his finger.

I looked into his eyes that were searching mine.

 His eyes were still the same as always, but they were different to anyone else’s.

They were very innocent and always sparkling.

Even now, his hooded eyes were rounded and friendly, he never cast me away with his eyes.

They would always welcome me and that’s why no one could take his place.

He was one of the most important people to me.

When everyone left, he was always there, he would manage to make me smile and laugh.

He even tried visiting London once before, but couldn’t get a visa. Instead, I overheard years ago that Jimin would always ask Halmeouni about me.

“Haha don’t worry about it. Past is past. The most important thing is that you are here now, talking to me and at least you remember who I am!” He laughed to try and make me feel better.

It worked. I smiled and he jumped in joy.

“That’s what I like to see! I can’t wait to tell Eomma Appa that you came back.”

I laughed.

Jimin’s family home was in Busan, but I’m guessing he came back to Daegu to study. The distance was about an hour by train, not too bad. His Mum and Dad owned a great restaurant and their food was one of the best.

They all used to live in Daegu at first, but Jimin never left with his parents when they were looking for business oppurtunities.

They took his little brother instead, Jimin always wanted to stay with Taehyung and me. 

So he lived with his Grandma in the meantime.

“Yes! Oh how I missed them! How's Grandma doing? We will have to visit Busan some time. Oh and Jimin if you like seeing me so happy, why did you fight those guys before? I was so shocked!”

Jimin looked down and rubbed the back of his head smirking.

Just as he was about to answer, he stopped and looked behind me.

Jungkook and Hoseok had stopped practising, and Yoongi was still sleeping.

I was about to turn back, but my sixth sense was already telling me who it was.

It became deathly silent; I could only hear the distant traffic.

“Taehyungie!”

Hoseok was the first to break the silence, I was grateful to him.

I finally turned around and stood facing Kim Taehyung.

His orange hair was ruffled and his tie was hanging off his shirt which was torn and still covered in blood stains.

His eyes were swollen and he had a grim expression on his face.

But he didn’t bother looking back at me.

 Instead he walked straight past and greeted Jimin, Jungkook and Hoseok.

He even kicked Yoongi’s foot but totally ignored me.

I felt so bad and isolated again, yet something was pulling me to him.

Seeing him in a messy state was strangely attractive, and I desperately wanted to hug all his pain away.

I watched him drop his bag down and lie beside Yoongi.

Yoongi instantly opened his eyes and looked around the shed.

He analysed Taehyung who was lying down and slowly stood up and brushed himself clean.

Without saying a word, Yoongi walked towards me, smiled, picked up his bag and walked out.

Hoseok also smiled and waved at me, followed Yoongi and Jungkook nodded at me before doing the same.

I looked back and saw Jimin already staring at me.

He looked back at Taehyung.

He smiled, but his eyes weren’t smiling.

Jimin walked over to Taehyung, rolled him off of his bag and came closer to me again.

He brushed loose hair off my ear and whispered, “It’ll be okay, just give him some time.”

He gently curled my hair back behind my ear and gave me a final smile.

As I watched him leave, the smile also left his face.

It was only me and Taehyung in the shed.

I could hear Hobie’s high pitched laughter in the distance.

I turned and saw Taehyung was still lying down with his arm covering his face.

 I had all these sentence starters in my mind just twenty minutes ago of what I would say when I spoke to Taehyung and now he’s here, I didn’t know what to say or do.

I coughed, he didn’t