Finale.

 

Sneaking into the game arcade, trailing behind a group of girls and boys wearing the same uniform as him, he was carefully spying on them.  Pushing his nerdy glasses up the bridge of his nose, he stealthily moved from the back of one coin dozing machine to another, making sure his shoes would not make a sound.  Finally, the chattering group of friends settled and crowded around the two basketball machines at the back of the store.  He let out a relieved sigh as his hand loosened his grip on the backpack strap and took out his phone from his pocket, trying to capture some scenes of the group of friends.

 

“Look at this, Namjoon! Isn’t this the Park Jimin?”

He was concentrating on taking pictures when someone roughly hit his head from behind.  This must not be good, he thought, I can’t be found sneaking around in here… especially by them… I need to go now…  One of the guys from the group playing basketball turned around to squint at the boy. 

 

“Hey! Where do you think you are going?  You haven’t answered my question yet!” The man was now pissed when he couldn’t get an answer out of this boy.  He caught the boy by holding up the backpack so that the boy couldn’t move.  The boy was now feeling frantic and just wanted a hole to swallow him whole.  His hand was trying to hold onto his phone yet he was shaking violently out of fear. 

 

“Oh right, he is! With that nerdy glasses, it must be him,” another guy from the group whispered and smirked, “Hoseok, what is he doing here?”

 

“Seems like you’re friends with them?  Why are you stealing pictures of them?” The store owner shot them a confused look and threw Jimin over to the group before leaving. “Kids nowadays are weird.”

 

The group laughed out loud at the store owner’s words. “Huh, Park Jimin.  No wonder you’re here, teacher’s pet.  Trying to send a word to the teacher about us spending time here?” Jimin trembled at Namjoon’s words.  He had always tried to stay out of his gang’s way but Namjoon always picked on him.  The typical tragic story of a nerd. 
 

Namjoon signalled his friends to surround Jimin while the girls stayed behind to snicker at the poor boy who was now the centre of attention.  Jimin didn’t expect this to happen.  He was just here for a couple of pictures of a particular someone who was now standing at the back, looking at him as if he was some kind of criminal being sentenced.  His line of sight followed her every movement, from the evil twinkle in her eyes to the way her lips curled into a cruel smirk and the way her arms crossed before her chest with authority.  He was drawn into her like a moth to a flame.  He knew he was stupid to fall for a girl completely out of his league but the moment their gazes met, he knew he couldn’t have fallen for another girl.  She was the one.

 

“Yah! Park Jimin!” A slap to his face and a kick to his stomach was all it took to bring him to his knees.

 

“Pathetic.” The girl who was resting against the wall with her arms crossed came closer towards Jimin.  She looked at him with a judging look and held up his chin, “Spill.  Why are you here?”

 

She was so close.  So close that Jimin could feel her long silky hair tickling his neck, her warm breath on his face and her piercing gaze staring straight at him, as if she could see right through him.  But no, she couldn’t.  Jimin was staring at her in awe, bathing in all her glory.  He had forgotten the whole gang throwing gazes as sharp as knives at him for he had the nerves to stare at Namjoon’s, the school’s most feared gangster, girlfriend.  Jimin knew that he could never be compared with Namjoon.  Namjoon was wealthy and physically strong, he was charismatic and handsome.  On the contrary, Jimin was a nerd, a student council member nominated by the principal, an unwanted and unpopular student at school, living off of the praises from his parents and teachers.  There was a time when Jimin could live with just that.  But now, he wanted more.

 

He finally looked up at her and gave her a smile, hoping it would at least leave a good impression of him for he knew not how to impress this girl who had been in his dreams for the past year, haunting him day after day, yet never paid attention to him in real life. 

“Just for the thrill of it,” Jimin stared right back at her and gathering all of his courage, he imitated the gangsters around him and managed to pull off a smirk.  Jimin must be out of his mind.

 

The girl laughed, as if it was the funniest thing she had ever heard, and her pink chapped lips.  Without a second thought, she clicked her fingers.

 

“Finish him.”

 

 

It was a miracle.  The next day after the accident at the game arcade, the teacher assigned Jimin, as a mentor, to the popular queenka, hoping that Jimin could somehow magically turn the zero mark on the test paper into a fifty mark.

 

“Um, so Yoojin-ssi, c-can we start now?” Jimin awkwardly scratched his head and his eyes were darting everywhere but her face.  They were holding the first study session in the deserted library after class, promptly following the orders of the teacher.

Yoojin was sitting right next to Jimin, who was so nervous to the extent that the-queenka-who-could-beat-up-a-guy also began biting on her fingernails, annoyed by his demeanour.  She was studying her so-called mentor, instead of the textbook laid out in front of them.  His straight bangs were hanging just a little higher above his eyes, his eyes sweet as chocolate but the unease was evident, and his plump lips were just opening slightly and closing again, as if he wanted to say something but he was too timid to start the conversation.

 

“Jimin-ssi,” Yoojin adjusted her sitting position and supported her head with her hand.  She kept her gaze on Jimin, and noticed a slight blush on his cheeks.  She teased, “Where did that daring smirk go?”

 

Jimin was overwhelmed by the close distance between Yoojin and him.  It made him uncomfortable.  His heartbeat was racing so fast that he adverted his gaze from her to the textbook, hoping that she wouldn’t hear it.  He slightly shifted in his seat before answering quietly, “It was my fault at the game arcade.  I didn’t mean to disturb your gang’s outing.  I only went there because –“

 

“Stop.” Yoojin closed her eyes and raised a finger to her lips.  Jimin tilted his head and noticed how long her eyelashes were, finally given the chance to look at her face up close without being interrupted. 

 

“Jimin-ssi.” Jimin, still wide-eyed, shook his head a little to get his head cleared.  Yoojin ignored his timid actions and started flipping the book, “I’m not interested in why you were there.  Are you going to teach me this or not?”

 

Jimin was still processing her words in his mind.  If she didn’t mind his appearance at the game charade that day then why did she bring it up then?  His brows knitted together while he was feeling confused by the abrupt change of topic.  With her eyes still locked with his, he nodded curtly, “So this equation here, you add the x to the other x…”

 

“No. Not like this. Give me the shortcut.”  She was annoyed with the robotic-like monotonous explanation of the equation and Jimin didn’t know what to do.  He racked his brain, searching for a better explanation, and his hand unconsciously brushed through his hair in frustration.  Yoojin bit her lip and was playing with a pen between her long and slender fingers. “Why don’t you just tell me better cheating methods? I remember those pretty fast, definitely faster than reciting these maths rules,” She had now put her concentration on the pen turning swiftly between her fingers.

 

Jimin noticed her bored expression and chuckled softly.  “Sorry, but I don’t know how to cheat.  Let’s start again, shall we?” He was being extra patient towards the girl and began to explain again.  Yoojin blew air at her bangs and was absolutely exhausted by now.  Her brain is completely empty, her eyes fixed on the pretty boy while resting her head on her crossed arms on the table.  Being the straight A student, Jimin knew how the equation works without having to think so he just took his time to admire Yoojin’s beauty.  She was absolutely cute when she was tired.

 

And that was how their awkward friendship started.

 

 

“You do know that there are things that cannot be explained by these stubborn maths rules, right?” Yoojin was casually shooting unrelated questions at Jimin during one of their many tutorial sessions.  Today they had chosen the school’s backyard as their study venue which ended up as a nap session for Yoojin.  Jimin chuckled softly as he took a piece of leaf out of Yoojin’s messed up hair.  When Yoojin yawned, she looked like a cute lioness, dangerous but adorable at the same time.

 

“Of course, I’m not that stupid.” Jimin was given the nickname ‘stupid’ because he always failed to answer Yoojin’s questions.  The thi