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Grumbling in irritation and dizziness, Haekyung slowly lifted herself up from the study table, rubbing her eyes tiredly. Math had seriously tired her out. She couldn’t even come close to solving that one damn problem imprinted on page 83 last night. Was it that the girl’s brain was slow, or did it only have to do with the annoying question made in the first place? Ugh. Stupid page. In other words, she had hated math too. Her gaze wandered over to the clock by the desk, narrowing her eyes at it before sighing. The noises coming from the doorbell wouldn’t stop sounding, causing the girl to mutter words to herself, before making over to the front door downstairs.

Okay, who the heck comes to someone else’s house at 7:30 in the morning?

It couldn’t be Jaein, since they would only go home together in the afternoon when school ended. So, who could it even be? When her hands twisted the door knob open lazily, the girl didn’t even get to properly blink before two warm arms latched itself onto her. What the-

Haekyung took a step back, lifting her eyes to the person who smiled brightly at her.

“Good morning, Haekyung~” Sohee greeted, pulling back cheerfully.

“Sohee? Um. What are you doing here..?” Haekyung slightly raised a brow, eyes wandering over to the girl in front of her, then to the other person who stood beside her. Taehyung shrugged his shoulders, flashing one of his casual smiles.

Sorry, I couldn’t stop her. He mouthed silently.

Turning her head back to Sohee, the girl stifled a small smile at what the boy said.

“We should go to school together! We’re all neighbours anyway, right?” Tugging on the strap of her bag, Sohee answered happily, scanning the girl in front of her up and down, who was still in a random shirt and sweatpants. Haekyung blinked yet again, scratching her head in uncertainty. She was not really expecting this to happen, since going to school alone was the only normal thing for her to do every day. Besides, Kang Sohee was the kind of girl at heart that Haekyung couldn’t really push away. “Uh, okay. I guess..? Just give me a few seconds.” She replied.

Haekyung sported a side smile, going back into the house to grab a couple of things on the way.

The girl sped back to her bedroom to get changed into the school’s uniform, grabbed a few textbooks lying on the desks, and stuffed everything back into her book bag before jogging down the set of stairs. Putting on her shoes, Haekyung locked the doors, looking back up at the two in a huffed manner. She sighed in tiredness, brushing a strand of stray hair away from her face. “You look really exhausted, Haekyung. Is everything alright?” Sohee asked, resting a hand on the girl’s shoulders. Haekyung looked up, nodding slowly at her concern. 

“I’m okay. I just couldn’t get enough sleep thanks to…” She stopped herself, growing slightly embarrassed. How in the world was she going to tell them that she couldn’t properly rest due to that one stupid math question?

Taehyung quirked a brow, smiling in curiosity.

“Due to…?” He asked, walking next to the girl before extending an arm out to tempt the girl’s sense of craving for food. The boy waved the small box of mango tarts in front of her face, almost wanting to laugh at her reaction. Haekyung’s eyes brightened, and she could have sworn that it was seriously one of the things she needed most right now. “Hmm?” Taehyung encouraged, grinning down at her.  

Sohee chuckled at the two’s similar gazes.

It was kind of obvious that they had both really liked mango tarts. Oh, what a coincidence.

“Uh… due to math. Yeah.” Haekyung answered abruptly, bending down on one knee to fix the lace of her shoes, flustered.

“Math? That’s my favourite subject! If you want, I’d be happy to help you with tutoring.” Sohee offered brightly, showing great interest in the topic. It almost freaked Haekyung out for a second.

Don’t get her wrong.

It was really sweet and nice of the girl of wanting to help her, but really… people actually like math..? No offense or anything, but that would never be the case for Min Haekyung. Ever. 

Taehyung threw Haekyung a glance that shouts, Yeah. I know. Before sneakily whispering,

“That’s so, Kang Sohee.”

Haekyung chuckled softly, shaking her head at him.

Sohee blinked, turning her attention back to the boy who stared down at her in the same questioning gaze, lifting one brow up at her. “Kim Taehyung, I heard that!” She huffed in disbelief, to which the boy shrugged his shoulders in innocence, bumping his arm with hers. Sohee threw him a look. Haekyung shook her head, smiling a little, “It's okay, Sohee. I think, teaching me might be a hassle. It’s not really my thing…” She sighed, not considering the offer anymore.

Honestly, she did pay attention to the lectures in math class, but let’s face it; math is just not the type of subject that the girl would come close to adore. In fact, it was even frustrating at times.

Sohee tugged on her backpack, frowning at the girl’s defeated attitude.

“Oh come on, Haekyung. How can you say that? I’d love to teach you. Don’t let the sticky subject bring you down. In fact, I was once horrible at it. But now, it’s quite awesome, you know?” She smiled warmly, stepping down the lane of stairs as the other two walked alongside her towards the building of the school up ahead. Haekyung raised a brow in wonder, letting her gaze drift towards Sohee in appreciation. Now she knew why the Bangtan boys were good friends with this girl.

Kang Sohee was really different from most of the other female students attending Kangnam High. 

Different, in a good way. 

The girl was genuinely kind and soft-hearted in nature. Her happy aura almost made Haekyung feel small, for being almost so negative and grumpy most of the time.

But oh well, that was just who Min Haekyung was.

“Is that so? I guess, that’s pretty cool.” Haekyung answered, looking back up ahead.

“Yup! So, what do you say? I’ll try to help you as best as I can.” Giggling, Sohee promised, winking at the girl who shrugged in thought, slow to respond since she was still debating over it. Oh, why not? This is free tutoring anyways, and besides, Sohee’s probably really great at teaching, seeing that the girl had pretty high scores herself, to make it onto the top 50s’ list at the academy.

Haekyung turned, showing a grateful smile, “Okay. It could work, I guess... Thanks, Sohee.”

Lacing both her hands together in the air, Sohee nodded energetically, “Cool, how about Tuesday afternoons? I’m free from club meetings by then. Maybe we can go grab some smoothies on the way too.” The girl trailed on unconsciously, in her normal bubbly state.

“Sure.”

Haekyung answered with a crooked smile, since she didn’t really have anything to do at that time of the week. Other than attending school, the girl never considered to join any clubs anyway.

Handing a freshly baked Mango tart to the girl, Taehyung reached his palm out. Haekyung turned, looking towards his direction. “Just keep smiling, okay? It’s weird to see you all depressed.” The boy stated, knocking her softly on the sides of her head. She blinked, her hands reaching out to take the dessert from the boy with an unsure smile.

Mango tarts! Oh, why do they look so good?

“Hey. You’re making it sound like I always frown or something.”

He closed one eye half-way, eyeing her in a playful manner as if taking a picture of the girl. Taehyung responded, “That’s because you always do.” She bit her lips, shaking her head at him. “What? No, I don’t.” Haekyung denied, not wanting to admit it even though it was kind of starting to dawn upon her, that hey, maybe the girl was developing the habit of frowning more often than she would’ve liked. Whatever, life isn’t always perfect. There were too many things to adapt to. 

Therefore, it was okay for her to sulk once in a while. Sometimes, smiling was getting too tiring.

Seeing that blank and careless look spread across her features, Taehyung sighed, snapping his fingers in front of her face to regain her attention. “We’re here. I suggest you wake yourself up, if you don’t want to bump into anything.” He chuckled, causing Haekyung to raise her brows at him weirdly. Looking ahead, Haekyung almost yelped, before side-stepping the pole her face was about to sadly collide with. She sighed, in annoyance and relief. It’s not a really good way to start the morning, if you asked ask her.

The girl was just so troubled with every little thing that her mind has been slightly boggled up with lately.

It was a Monday after all, totally one of the worst days of the week to start school.

Sohee lightly fist bumped Taehyung on the arm, frowning at him.

“Really nice of you, Kim Taehyung.” She eyed the boy.

Taehyung blew a raspberry at her, making Sohee laugh at his funny expressions. The two smiled at each other before facing the irritated Haekyung, who was in her own little world again.

“Thanks for walking with us. Class is about to start, I’ll see you later?” Sohee beamed, waving a friendly hand at the girl who looked slightly dazed. Taehyung flashed the girl a small smile, before catching up to Sohee who walked on ahead towards the entrance of the school. Haekyung nodded, lifting an arm up to wave ever so slowly. After a couple of seconds, she looked up at the two.

“Wait, Taehyung.” Haekyung called, voice quiet and calm.

The boy abruptly turned his back to her for a quick moment, wearing a curious gaze. Haekyung waved the Mango tart with one hand in the air, before muttering a soft, “Um. I’ll eat these well.”

He stared at her in thought, wondering if this was all she had to tell him. The expression on her face would have told otherwise, though. Oh well, he had all the time to figure her out.

Haekyung, you’re like a puzzle. You know that?

“I know you will.” He responded casually with a chuckle, before turning back around. 

---

Heaving a puff of air in annoyance, Haekyung ran alongside her best friend on the grassy fields.

The gym teacher, Mr. Song blew on his whistle nonstop, signalling the entire class to pick up their pace before spreading into groups to start a game of basketball among the students. Most people cheered, excited for the event to happen since they were energetic and athletic. But on the other hand, the poor girl wanted to dig a hole for herself to hide in. Out of all the sports to play, why did it have to be basketball? She rather play soccer, for gods’ sake.

Jaein giggled, patting a comforting hand over the girl’s back. Haekyung tried to smile, but failed to do so.

“Aww, it’s really not that bad, Hae. Besides, basketball could be fun, you know?”

“Right. I’d like to be proven wrong..” Haekyung groaned, finishing her current lap on the field as Jaein trailed beside her. The other girl chuckled at her best friend’s behaviour towards sports.

Right before the game was about to start, a few group of guys sauntered across the field while laughing and conversing among themselves. It caught most of the girls’ attentions in the class. Jaein blinked, pulling both her cheeks to make sure that she wasn’t dreaming of the sight. The boy sparkled effortlessly in her sight, causing her to smile dreamily at him. Haekyung laughed a little, poking Jaein on the arm to snap her out of her trance. “Jaein, you’re drooling.”

Jaein gasped, frantically covering with both hands in surprise.

“What?! I am?” She squeaked.

Deepening her laugh, Haekyung shook her head. “No, I was just kidding.”

Sighing in relief, Jaein smiled to herself like an idiot before facing the girl with a look. “Yah, Min Haekyung!” Pouting, she pushed her best friend’s arm to the side, blushing in embarrassment. 

Walking across the field, Jin laughed at Hoseok’s rant about the racoons knocking over the trash the night before in the area nearby, causing all the neighbours to scream and freak out like crazy at the sounds, of the wild “animals”. Yoongi cackled, shaking his head at the rest of the boy’s jokes and comments, while Jimin snorted loudly. “What? Why are you guys laughing? I couldn’t even get a wink of sleep.” Whining, Hoseok huffed, trying to prove a point to his friends.

“Hey, Jin. Look, it’s Jaein.” Namjoon smiled, pointing it out.

The other boys let their sights wander over to the other girl, eyeing the situation happening with the on-going gym class. Mr. Song blew the whistle yet again, nagging all over the place.   

Jin tore his gaze to the direction that his friend was directing to, only to blink at the figure on the other side of the field. Oh, it really is Jaein. The boy then carefully lifted one hand up, greeting at her gently with a small smile plastered on his face while silently wording, 

Hi, enjoying yourself?

He was alert to not make eye contact with anyone else on the field, worried that there would be trouble among the girls in the class. Sadly to say, conflict has happened before. Somehow, he felt like the last person he’d want to get hurt was Yoo Jaein, even though he had no clue why. Perhaps, it was because the two were starting to become friends?

Who knows.

At that moment, Jaein was busy running another lap just to get herself ready for the game. When her eyes landed on the same boy who made her heart melt, she squealed in surprise. That smile of his had almost blown her away, and the girl was close to tripping over herself, if Haekyung wasn’t there to steady her on the arm in time. Thank god that it didn’t happen though, otherwise she would have to hide her face for the rest of her life.

Jaein looked back at Jin again, and pinked a little in embarrassment when an amused grin played on the boy’s lips.

Shifting his gaze away, his figure faded away as he entered the school building with the rest of the boys after a minute. Jaein sighed to herself, patting the sides of her hair down to relax her clumsy state.

It would really , if she were to trip during the game as well.

Haekyung smiled, soothing Jaein on the arm in comfort.

“It’s okay, if you can survive Kim Seokjin’s smile, I’m sure you will do just fine during the game.”

Jaein turned red, frowning at her best friend’s teasing tone. “H-Hey! What does his smile have anything to do with basketball?” The girl questioned, causing Haekyung to suppress a small laugh.

“I never said it had anything to do with the sport, Jaein. It was just a survival tip.”

Hearing a loud voice boom from where the girls stood on the field, Mr. Song hollered for the students to gather in the center, instructing them on how the game was going to process through. Haekyung jogged up to the center, sighing in irritation. I hate sports, so much.

---

During the activity, Haekyung barely made an applaudable effort to really participate in the game. She was just too tired and grumpy to care, not even under Mr. Song’s stern gaze. Before the girl knew it, she was wide alert and awake after a ball had come slamming its way onto the sides of her head, causing a loud sound to ring through her ears. 

Jaein gasped, shouting over to her friend on the other side of the court, “Haekyung, are you alright?!”

“..Yeah. I’m fine,” Haekyung just nodded slowly, feeling the pain slowly creep up to her head.

The student that had accidentally let the ball slip, out of the grasp of her hands while playing fiercely with her classmates also made her way over. Her face displayed a look of worry, which practically screams the concern of feeling guilty for her mistake. Soon, the other girls crowded around Haekyung as well, staring at her before Mr. Song strolled over to the mess. It wasn’t even that painful, yet the class was making a big deal out of it. Seriously? The girl had been through worse than that before. 

But somehow, there was just something off about that athletic player, who had just tossed the ball at the back of her head. In a split second, she had caught the expression the girl exchanged with a couple of her friends, smirking. 

Huh. What the- Did she do it on purpose?

Haekyung really had no idea why, anyone would do harm to her since she had been mostly quiet all throughout the years of her time span as a regular student here, at Kangnam High. 

In other words, the girl didn’t cast anyone attention or even cause trouble at all.

But, wait.

No.

Don’t tell me, it’s because of the fact that, the idiot Jeon Jungkook is seen to be picking on me all the freaking time. The girl groaned yet again, wanting to badly to create a magical speaker phone that’ll sound out to the entire school to state that, there was absolutely nothing going on between her and that moron. And it never will.

Life is unfair though, isn’t it?

Haekyung sighed heavily, dropping her arms back down by her side.

She ignored the stares of her classmates as Mr. Song strode next to the girl, with a concerned gaze. “Does it hurt a lot? If it does, you may go back to your class to take a quick rest. Besides, class ends in eighteen minutes.” The man’s sight travelled over to his wristwatch, before glancing back up to the quiet girl.

Haekyung considered his option for a second, for it didn’t seem all that bad. Hey, at least she would get out of having to play the damn sport, and probably avoid the chance of being bonked on the head again the second time around. 

Great.

To be honest, she could care less about those girls messing with her, since it was pretty immature on their behalf. Like, really? Why would you bother doing all that, when you could spend that time wisely on something else? Haekyung will never understand their useless schemes.  

---

Flipping open her notebook to the page full of scribble and calculations, she tried to focus back on that one problem she had been having trouble solving. When her eyes landed on a different, but another wrong answer nonetheless, Haekyung sighed. Crunching up the piece of paper to start the writing on a new page, she calmly attempted on repeating the same question the second time.

Five minutes later, the girl dropped the pencil back down on the table, placing it by her side.

Do you hate me too, math? Well, I do too. A lot more. 

Feeling dry, Haekyung shook her head to shake the dizzy feeling off. She was currently back in the classroom, while the gym class resumed outside, on the field across the school.

Man, I’m so thirsty.

Wanting to make a short visit to the water fountain, Haekyung pulled away from her seat, wanting to lift herself up from the chair to walk out the classroom. However, that never actually really happened though. She froze, blinking in disbelief when the thought hit her. She looked down on her chair, feeling her brows scrunch up in utter surprise and annoyance. The knee-length shorts of her gym uniform wouldn’t budge against the surface of the chair, as it was sadly glued tight.

What. Are you freaking serious? Can this day get any worse than this?!

The legs of the chair screeched against the floor, as the girl tried getting herself off the damn piece of chair attached to her pants. . If she were to walk out of the class right now, her freaking back would be exposed, as the fabric would rip. She grabbed her hair in frustration.

Was this some sort of a stupid prank?! 

Haekyung dropped her head onto the desk, feeling more bummed than ever. Just how unlucky, was she to be put into a situation like this? Whatever. I’ll just wait until Jaein is done with class. Hopefully, her best friend would be able to help her out of this crap of a mess when the bell rings.

I am not dealing with this.

---

Casually making his way towards the lockers down the hall a few minutes before class, his eyes ever so lazily trailed over to the door of the room, on the far left. It had looked like any other regular classroom in the school. Jungkook was about to pass by the windows of the room, if not for the fact that he had managed to somehow catch the view of someone, resting over one of the many tables in the room. The boy stopped in his tracks, turning on his heels to walk over.

The girl laid her head over both her arms on top of the desk, not bothering to move an inch.

A familiar smile swept across his face. Pulling on one of the chairs, Jungkook quietly dragged it over to the other side, before plopping himself down in front of her.

He watched her for a couple of long seconds, before sighing. No response.

“Min Haekyung.”

Haekyung stiffened, hearing that irritating voice coming from the same room. She didn’t even need to lift her head to know, who was actually talking to her. Ignoring his presence, she closed her eyes again. Jungkook stared at her, a small smirk forming on his lips. His eyes lowered to the stack of papers, and the notebook that lay beside her on the table, before his hands reached out to grab the pen nearby. Scrunching her brows, Haekyung heard the sounds of light scribbles.

What the hell is he doing?

Soon, the sounds stopped. She sighed, preparing to ignore him again. Jungkook looked towards Haekyung with a brow raised, poking her repeatedly on the head with the pen, to wake her up. Only a minute later, Haekyung snapped, pulling away from her desk to frown at him.

“What?! I’m tired. Leave me alone.”

“Ouch. Would it hurt you to greet me for a change?” He teased, propping an arm up to support the sides of his head as he stared back at her plainly. Haekyung scowled at him, turning to look at the windows. “Yeah, it would. Especially, when a guy is this annoying.” She emphasized, crossing her arms with a heavy sigh. Jungkook laughed lightly, leaning his arm over her desk. He was slightly distracted when he saw that Haekyung was unconsciously moving around the chair, seemingly getting nowhere as the legs of it continued to screech hopelessly.

“What’s wrong with you? Don’t tell me, you’re stuck to the chair or something.”

Jungkook guessed playfully, even though he had no idea his words were actually right. Haekyung’s eyes widened for a split second, and she turned to look at him in disbelief. Can this moron read my mind or something?! She shrugged uncomfortably, not willing to look at the irritating boy in front of her, who was beginning to furrow his brows at her weird behaviour.

“No way.” He raised his head to turn to the girl, wanting to confirm his suspicions.

Haekyung narrowed her eyes at the boy, who stood up from the chair, staring back at her with a fresh look of amusement. She scoffed at him. “What are you talking about, moron? I’m perfectly fine.” Haekyung lied, wanting to avoid his questions, only to mentally face palm herself, for idiotically attempting to stand up from her seat halfway. Crap, what am I doing? 

Though she could actually finally move now, thanks to the endless tugging with the stupid piece of chair, Haekyung was not at all ready to embarrass herself in that damn state, from walking out of the class with her pants in that condition.

Everyone who'd witness that would surely laugh at her if they did. 

Nice going, Haekyung.

She closed her eyes, inwardly cursing her actions. Great, now he was going to make fun of her like no tomorrow. Jungkook blinked, staying quiet for a couple of good seconds before bursting out in loud laughter. “P-Pft. You- Hahaha!”

Oh, you are so damn clumsy, Min Haekyung.

As expected of the boy to do so, she flashed him a knowing look of disapproval.

“Hey. It’s not funny, you freaking idiot!”

She threw the empty water bottle at him, wanting him to stop his stupid rounds of laughter.

The boy grinned shortly after, shaking his head in disbelief at the girl’s luck. But in contrary, he hadn’t known that it was just one of those many girls pulling a joke on that one person he paid most attention to. The female students couldn’t understand why the Bangtan boys were suddenly associating with Min Haekyung in the first place. Jungkook sighed in content afterwards, toning down his soft smile at the baffled girl as he slowly walked around the desk. She raised her brows, wondering what in the world he was planning on doing. 

“H-Hey. Jeon Jungkook,” Haekyung called in surprise, when he came over to her without a word.

Stopping at a distance in front of the girl, he looked down at her with his nonchalant expression.

The girl froze, watching him lean in closer from where she sat in the room, causing her to lean backwards, her back bumping against the desk behind her. What are you doing, idiot? Meanwhile, the other boy had absolutely no clue of her freaking out on the inside. He was just somewhat concerned with what he was seeing. She looked pretty helpless right now.

Haekyung shifted uneasily in her seat, troubled with what she was feeling.

I bet he’s going to make fun of me again. Yeah.

“Stay still, you grumpy idiot.” Taking off his school blazer, Jungkook grasped on both ends of the sleeves, forming a perfectly tied knot around Haekyung’s waist. Leaning back up, the boy smiled at her before occupying to sit at the edge of the table beside hers. “There, happy now?” 

Haekyung blinked in surprise.

Her body loosened in relief as she looked down to her waist. The coloured blazer was nicely fitted enough to cover the back of her pants, as if there was nothing for others to become suspicious or aware of. 

Shaking his head, he reached over to pinch the girl on the cheek to snap her out of her weird daze. Haekyung frowned at him yet again, swatting his hand away. “Would you stop doing that? And why, did you just give me your blazer?” Haekyung huffed at him, planting her arms on the desk. Knowing perfectly why the boy lent her his clothes, the girl was just too stubborn to admit that she needed his help. But honestly, she felt somewhat happy and thankful deep down. 

“Uh. So you wouldn’t have to mope around here all day? Go get some fresh air, idiot.”

Jungkook rolled his eyes at her reaction, wondering how dense this girl was to shrug him off like that. To him, it was actually funny of her to become all flushed and embarrassed when he had helped her just now. Tough and grumpy on the outside, but soft and clueless on the inside, huh?

Haekyung stared at him blankly, parting her lips to speak.

“Thank me later, alright? I’m going to class.” Jungkook grinned, not letting her speak as he hopped off the desk, walking over to leave the room when the school bell sounded loudly, throughout the entire school.

Haekyung absentmindedly nodded, biting the insides of her cheeks.

Her mind was getting heavy and dizzier by the second, and she felt kind of frustrated right now. Just why was it so hard, for her to be able to say the words “Thank you?” She sighed to herself, eyes silently trailing the figure of the boy who had his back faced to her.

Jungkook then suddenly turned around, leaning his back against the doorframe.

“By the way, the answer’s 35, not 350.” Throwing her a look of enjoyment, Jungkook clicked his tongue at her clueless reaction with a snicker as he briefly whirled around to head towards his next class.

What is he even freaking talking about?

Blinking in confusion, followed by embarrassment, Haekyung wiped her head back to her notebook. Her eyes took in every little detail the writing had covered for her, guiding her head through each step of solving the problem.

Wow. Had it always been that easy?

Scanning over the page a second time, the girl nodded her head at the precision of the boy’s neat and crisp hand writing, scribbled down. Now it made a lot more sense, as to why she couldn’t find the answer. Other than being irritating, she never knew that Jungkook was also quite smart. Maybe this day wasn’t all that terrible, after all.

Well, at least one of her problems was now solved.

Unknown to her, a soft and grateful smile had already started to make its way over the girl’s lips.

Jeon Jungkook, you brat...

Thanks.