Jealousy
Love AgainOur routine becomes a fixed pattern for the next few weeks. Namjoon would wait outside my house to go to school together, and Taehyung would third-wheel us until Rice Cake shows up. We went out on a double date a couple of times and it turned out that Rice Cake – Jisoo – isn’t that bad a person. Aside from her own study group, she would sometimes join me and Taehyung in the library. Occasionally, Namjoon would crash with us too.
Being my official boyfriend doesn’t stop Namjoon from receiving confessions, though. He finds at least a couple of love letters in his textbooks every week. Like the he is, he would sometimes share them with me while correcting grammar mistakes on the letters. Other times, he would just throw them away.
“Namjoon sunbae,” I hear a girl’s voice call out as I make my way down the common corridor. It’s lunch time and Namjoon had texted me to tell me he’d be waiting by my locker.
“Yes?” Namjoon looks up from his phone for a second before returning his gaze to his device. From where I am, I recognise the girl from my neighbouring class.
The girl puts on a show of batting her eyelashes at a nonchalant Namjoon. “I heard you’re taking literature elective classes so I wanted to ask…”
“I heard your boyfriend’s taking literature too,” I cut in, leaning against Namjoon with my arms crossed. “Why don’t you ask him instead?”
With an indignant expression, she huffs before storming away. I turn to shoot my own boyfriend with a look of annoyance. Removing his scarf from around his neck, I wrap it around his face instead leaving only his eyes exposed. Namjoon watches me with smiling eyes.
“This is nothing compared to being hidden in your armpit,” I say with a scowl. And to think that all I did was lend this guy a pen. I don’t need to look at his face to know that Namjoon has a goofy grin hanging. Wrinkling my nose, I storm off towards the cafeteria.
“Sera!” Taehyung waves me over when he spots me. “Who is… hyung?”
“Yo,” Namjoon lifts up a hand in greeting.
Taehyung doubles over in laughter. “You’ve gone easy on him, Sera.”
I sigh. “Jisoo, you’re lucky no one else can stand this alien you’re with.”
“If you actually bothered to talk to other people,” Jisoo rolls her eye at me, “half the guys in school would be lined up behind you already. Namjoon sunbae wouldn’t get his chance.”
“Your coldness has served me well, Your Royal icy Princess,” Namjoon exaggeratedly bows with an open palm over his heart. He looks like a fool with his scarf still wrapped around his head.
I decide to play along with him. “You can repay me by getting me food. Hurry along now, I’m starving.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” And he scurries off to get in line of the food queue. I giggle at his back, vaguely aware of eyes on me. I raise an eyebrow at the other couple and Taehyung winks at me in return. I roll my eyes and turn to watch Namjoon with my chin propped up on the heel of my palm, elbow digging into the table.
Later that afternoon, I wait for Namjoon outside his classroom as his teacher dismisses the class. Unexpectedly, a couple of girls bounce up to him with workbooks in hand, probably trying to ask for help on their homework. Catching my eye from where he is, he sends me an apologetic look. I nod my head in understanding. As an elite student and class president, he’s expected to help his classmates when they need it. I have no grounds of argument here. Pulling out my phone, I leave him a short text to let him know I’ll be waiting downstairs for him. With a small smile, I turn away.
Wandering around campus grounds, I find a nice sunny spot on the bleachers by the track field. I lay my bag down as I stretch my legs out crossing it at the ankles in front of me. The track and field team is in the middle of their training and through squinted eyes I see the rough shape of Jungkook among the runners. A whistle blows and the team slows to a jog before finally stopping and cooling down. As if feeling my gaze on him, Jungkook looks up. He glances at his coach sneakily before making his way over. He jumps up the large steps easily and drops his down beside me.
“I don’t suppose you’re here to see me, are you, sunbae?” He asks through a series of ragged breaths. I see him eyeing my bottle of water so I pass it to him.
“I’m waiting for Namjoon, thought I’d come out for some Vitamin D in the meantime.”
Jungkook nods once. The conversation dies off and we sit in silence soaking in the sun. Ah, there’s nothing like the winter sun where it’s bright yet not hot. It’s hard to say whether being with him like this is comfortable or not, because it is both and neither. Either way, it’s calming in its own way.
“Let’s go to the central library for our session tomorrow,” he says out of nowhere.
I consider his suggestion. “Why, is the school library getting boring for you?”
“No, but there’s a new snack stall around there and I heard it’s not bad,” Jungkook looks at me. “Let’s go there for lunch and then go to the library.”
“Yeah, let’s go!” Namjoon pops out from behind me and cheers in my stead.
I frown at him. “When did you get here?” To Jungkook, “Sure, let’s go there tomorrow.”
Jungkook smiles cutely at me before turning to scowl at Namjoon. Then called back by his coach, he runs off but not without a wave at me. Namjoon elbows me to pull my attention back.
“Hmm?”
“That kid still likes you.”
I roll my eyes at his statement. “Your point is?”
“I don’t like him. Why is he inviting my girlfriend out for lunch?” His eyebrows are furrowed deeply. “I’m coming along too.”
“No one said you couldn’t,” I say. “And stop being jealous. If you were me, you’d be hating on at least three quarters of the girls in school.”
“Well why aren’t you doing that already?” He asks, his tone joking but I can’t seem to find the humour in it.
“Too tiring.”
Grabbing my bag, I drag my feet down the bleachers leaving a confused Namjoon behind. Snapping awake, he hurriedly chases after me but trips over his untied shoelaces accidentally. The sound of the impact was too loud for me to ignore. On the rough concrete, he scrapes his knee exactly where his jeans are ripped. I sigh and resist an eye roll.
Seeing me, Namjoon jumps up and avoids my gaze awkwardly. The scrape probably means nothing to him but I can’t stand seeing him injured like that, or in any other way. I push him back to the seats and sit him down on the lowest level. Squatting in front of him, I retrieve my mini emergency kit from my bag and pull out my cream ointment. But first, I gently dab at the little bit of blood with a wet tissue. Wound cleaned, I spread the cream on as evenly as I can with a clean finger and wipe my hand off after. Not forgetting about the cause of his accident, I tie his shoelaces in a tight double knot.
“It’ll heal nicely,” I tell him. “It’s just a small scratch.” I throw my things back into my bag and start a bit when Namjoon’s hand suddenly clasps around my wrist.
“I’m sorry,” he says softly, his expression reflecting his inner turmoil.
I blink twice, thrice. Still squatting, I take his hand and rub the coldness away. “Why are you sorry when you haven’t done anything wrong?”
“Huh? I…” He struggles to form a sentence. I can tell he’s flustered and doesn’t know how to react. I smile, and tug him along as I pull us both up.
“Let’s go get food. I’m starving.” I link my arm in his. “Your treat!”
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A/N: I feel like I make life too easy for my main characters but I'm so sick of drama T_T
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