Minji woke up from the short slumber she had in the bus when she felt a soft caress on the back of her left hand. Her eyes shot opened the moment she realized that she fell asleep on that pale boy’s shoulder. Immediately straightening herself up, Minji turned to her left to see Yoongi, the pale boy, who was also asleep with his mouth slightly opened.  

She silently chuckled at the sight.  

The bus suddenly took a turn which caused Yoongi to mumble some garbled words while moving in his sleep. Minji felt something squeezing her left hand and when she looked down, she saw that their hands were already intertwined with each other. She felt heat rushed to both of her round cheeks. Minji had to get off the bus soon and she didn’t know how to release her hand without waking him up. It would be too embarrassing and awkward.  

“What do I do, what do I do?” she mumbled to herself.  

She decided to just push the button to alert the driver to stop, which startled him a bit and caused him to pull the break all of a sudden. Meanwhile Yoongi, who was sleeping soundlessly, had to wake up to forehead harshly came in contact with the plastic-hard side of the seat in front of him.  

“Awe,” he groaned, hand automatically massaging the now-reddening part. Minji took the chance and abruptly pulled her hand from his grasp.  

She hurriedly stood up and squeezed her way through Yoongi’s body and the seat in front of them, “Excuse me.”  

Without looking back Minji half ran to the front, bowing and apologizing to the driver before getting off the bus.

The bus driver just shook his head before he closed the automatic door and drove off, leaving Minji in the bus stop all alone with heartbeat still racing.   

“Phew, what the hell just happened..”  

Minji turned to walk to her house which was just a couple of hundred meters away. When she reached the gate, there sat a familiar boy on her porch with messy dark hair and untidy uniform. She sighed at the sight and confronted him.  

Minji’s nearing steps made him to look up to see her. He stood up and greeted Minji with an apologetic smile, “Hey Min.”  

The tall and slightly tanned boy scratched the back of his head when Minji didn’t greet him back and just kept silent, “I’ve been waiting for you. Um… You didn’t reply my message so I’m kind of worried.”  

“Well I’m here, you can go home now,” she walked past him and fished her keys out of her bag to open the front door.  

“Minji wait,” he grabbed her by the shoulder to stop her from getting into the house.  

“What now, Jongin?!”  

“Listen, I know you’re still mad, and I admit I was being a selfish this morning to you.”  

She crossed both of her arms, facial expression clearly displayed her anger, “True that.”  

He stared into her stern gaze with rather sad eyes, “I… finished in third place at the tryout, and there were scouts. I messed up and you weren’t there so I…” Jongin’s voice croaked, “I’m really messed up, Min.”  

Minji softened at the sight of him breaking down in front of her. She decided to just shake the anger away and wrapped her hands around his figure, “Oh Jongin, I’m really sorry to hear that. It’s okay you can try harder at the next month tryout.”  

Jongin rested his forehead on her shoulder while Minji patted his back and ran her hand through his still slightly damped with sweat hair. She could faintly hear his silent sob and feel his broad shoulder shaking. Her index finger drew small circles on the back of his neck, knowing how this little action would effectively calm him down whenever he gets anxious, stressed, angry, or sad.  

“I was really scared, I thought you’re breaking up with me.”  

Minji’s heart weakened at the mention of break-up word coming from him. Really, how long had it been going for them to be in and out of the relationship? She had long lost count of it and she just realized, she was never the one who ended and started it. They were always coming from Jongin, the word break-up and make-up.  

“Let’s just go inside, okay?” she pulled away and softly touched his cheek, “I’ll make you some dinner.”  

---    

“Aissh, really. What did I do wrong to have a day like this?”  

Yoongi rubbed his forehead to lessen the stinging pain while he watched the girl rushed to get off the bus. He chuckled in amusement when he recalled her reaction to his hand-holding stunt.  

Yes, he was awake all along.  

He was thinking about the best way to face Mrs. Lee tomorrow when suddenly he felt a weigh leaning on his right shoulder, which turned out to be Minji’s head. Instead of feeling burdened that a stranger fell asleep on him, Yoongi quiet enjoyed it though. Besides, he thought the girl was kind of cute. He continued to watch her sleeping for a while, even if it might seem creepy but he just couldn’t resist how entertaining she was while making faces and mumbling in her sleep.  

“Ah.. I didn’t get to find out her name,” Yoongi scratched the back of his head.  

He got off at the next bus stop and walked to his apartment complex. It was the fourth day of the week, so it was his turn to empty the trash bin inside the building. Yoongi sighed loudly and with heavy steps walked towards his mailbox to check if there was a delivery for him. He stopped for a moment when he realized a somewhat shiny stuff stuck to his blazer sleeve. It was a silver bracelet with a tag. He brought it closer and examined it, “Who the heck does this belong to?”  

Yoongi touched the tag and felt something engraved on its surface, “Oh.. it has a name on it.” He squeezed his eyes to get a better sight of the writing, “Gong.. min- ii? Min.. ji. Gong Minji?”  

He wondered if he ever heard of the name before. Although he was a senior, Yoongi didn’t know many people at school. Hell he didn’t even know more than half of his class. He spent more of his time skipping classes to sleep on the rooftop or play basketball with only Namjoon, Hoseok, Jungkook, Jimin, and Taehyung, who were all juniors except for Namjoon and Hoseok, who were seniors like him.  

“Perhaps.. it’s the bus girl’s?”  

A grin appeared on his face, he felt excited knowing that he had an excuse to confront her tomorrow at school.  

---  

She was late, again.  

Minji groaned in frustration as she hurriedly finish her breakfast. She practically threw all of her stuffs into the bag and gulped down the orange juice in one go. A new post-it was stuck on the fridge and she noticed it right away because it was a different color from yesterday. It was written with the same message everyday from her dad, telling her he would come home late and then he would be gone the next morning before she woke up. She slipped the note inside her pocket and ran outside to find Jongin standing next to his bike with a smile on his face.  

“Hi. I thought you might want a ride today,” he playfully ruffled her hair and handed her a helmet, “You went to sleep really late to study again, didn’t you?”  

Minji smiled at him. Jongin rarely picked her up to go to school together because Minji told him not to. His house was the opposite direction of hers and she didn’t want to trouble him. She felt really happy when he surprisingly appeared in front of her house. Maybe he was trying to make it up after what he did yesterday, she thought.  

She tiptoed to give him a peck on his cheek and gladly took the helmet, “Thank you,” she put it on and climbed up the bike after Jongin removed the stopper and revved up the engine.  

Meanwhile Yoongi, who’s just arrived at the school gate leisurely walked into the building even though the first period bell was just five minutes away. He had math class this morning and he felt a bit relaxed because it was Jiyong’s class. He knew he’d probably scold him a bit but it was Jiyong anyway. Yoongi surely could handle him.  

He stopped in his track when he saw a familiar figure at the parking lot. The bus girl from yesterday was standing there, taking off her helmet and rested it on the bike. The owner of the bike, who he assumed was the tall tanned guy beside her, was fixing his blazer and threw his bag around his shoulder. They smiled to each other and walked inside the building, hand in hand.  

“Oh shoot, she has a boyfriend,” a deep voice whispered into Yoongi’s ear.  

Yoongi was taken aback at the sudden appearance of Namjoon beside him, with a smirk that radiated smugness all over him, “ man you surprised me.”  

“I saw you ogling over. She’s off the market dude, back the hell out,” Namjoon teasingly patted his head.  

“Yah! I wasn’t ogling over her,” he slapped Namjoon’s hand away and threw him a nasty look. The latter just scoffed, “Sure, you weren’t.”  

They started to walk alongside each other. “By the way, you know her?”  

“I’m in the same class with the guy, Kim Jongin. Saw her came to my class couple of times to meet him,” Namjoon shrugged and put his hands inside his pocket, “The boyfriend though, not a nice dude. I don’t like him.”  

“Why?”  

“Well, let’s just say he’s that typical arrogant star athlete who thinks he’s better off anyone in the school. I don’t talk to him much though, I can’t stand him.”  

Yoongi raised his brows, “He’s an athlete? How come I never saw him at the field?”  

Namjoon looked at him mockingly, “Man you are seriously socially retarded. How many people have you talked to in this school?”  

Yoongi smacked the back of his head while Namjoon just laughed mercilessly, “Shut up.”  

“He’s a track and field athlete. I heard he’s trying out for the upcoming season of Asian games or whatever.”  

“Hey guys,” another voice came from behind Namjoon and Yoongi. They turned around and saw Hoseok caught up to them, “What are we talking about?”  

“Yoongi here has taken interest on Kim Jongin’s girlfriend,” Namjoon put his arm around Hoseok’s shoulder.  

“Oh, you mean Gong Minji?”  

Yoongi looked at him, surprised that his friends actually knew all of these people, “You also know her?”  

Hoseok nodded, “Yeah, she’s in my class. Abort your feelings man, she’s taken.”  

“That’s what I said,” Namjoon said.  

“I didn’t like her the way you asses are thinking about.”  

“Yet,” Namjoon and Hoseok said in unison. “Come on man, you’re actually taking interest on someone in this school other than us, Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook, that’s like, super freaking rare,” Hoseok said in exaggeration and with widened eyes.  

“Especially a girl,” Namjoon added and they both nodded, acknowledging the fact. “And it’s Kim Jongin’s girl to be specific. Trust me, you don’t want to get in a funny business with Kim Jongin,” Hoseok warned him.  

Yoongi arched his brows at him, “What do you mean?”  

“Have you heard the legend of Jongin and Minji? I heard they’ve been going on and off since God knows when, and people say the main reason they often break up then get back together is Jongin’s egoistic and obsessive personality. Dude seriously, which school are you going to?”  

“Eww man you’re such a gossip!” Namjoon stared at Hoseok in contempt. The latter just grinned wiggling his eyebrows and they all laughed, “Well I have a pretty good ear.”  

“Whatever. I pity our friend here though. Yoongi seriously, I thought I taught you bet–”  

Namjoon got cut off by the sudden ring of school bell that continues to echo through the hallway.  

“ guys we’re late,” Yoongi looked down to see his watch.  

The trio dispersed and ran to their respective classes in different directions, “See you s at lunch!”  

---  

Minji had literature with Lee Hyori from the first period until lunch. She was known for her strictness and intolerance towards late-comers so she felt relieved that she could reach school just in time. Mrs. Lee was about to check the attendance when the door suddenly opened, revealing a grinning Jung Hoseok on the frame. He immediately bowed and greeted her, apologizing for coming late.  

“Well Hoseok-ah, who was it today that needed your help and caused you to come to school late?” Hyori sarcastically asked.  

The whole class snickered. It wasn’t news in their class for Hoseok to come in late and every day, he always gave the same kind of reason.  

Hoseok scratched the back of his neck, “Uhh, I had to babysit for a neighbor ahjumma while she’s gone to the market.”  

“You are lucky I don’t feel like punishing you today. Come up with a four lines poem, recite them in front of the class then you may take your seat.”  

The boy raised his brows and looked around the class before stepping to the front. He cleared his throat and started to recite his poem with a serious expression.  

“The color of my heart is black. It was burnt to black, just like that. Your smile is shining gold, but the way you speak feels so cold– OWW,” he exclaimed in pain as Mrs. Hyori just swung a thick novel on top of his head.  

“Thank you, Mr. Jung, for the mediocre recital of G-Dragon’s Black. Go take your seat now before this,” she held up the thick novel once again, “Landed on your long pretty face.”  

Minji laughed along the rest of the class. Hoseok walked to his seat at the back and she caught him giving her a side glances when he passed her.  

The class went really slow for Minji who had been waiting to talk to Hyori after the class. She eagerly stuffed her stuffs inside her bag after the end of the period bell rang and approached Hyori after all the students rushed out of the class.  

“Uh Mrs. Lee, may I talk to you for a second?”  

Hyori looked up from the stack of students’ assignments to see the girl, “Yes, um.. Gong Minji, right?” Hyori took off her glasses and put it on top of her head, “What can I help you?”  

“About the school play that you’re conducting, I’m interested to audition for it.”  

“You do know the deadline for students to sign up is two days ago right?”  

Minji weakly nodded, suddenly feeling hopeless.  

“But, we still haven’t decided for the lead yet anyway. Come to the scenario reading after school in the auditorium, we’ll see how good you are, Ms. Gong,” Hyori gathered up her stuffs and left the classroom.  

“Yes, of course. Thank you, Mrs. Lee.”  

She felt relieved and excited at the same time. Minji happily walked towards her locker where Dara, one of her closest friends, waited for her with a smiley face.  

“What are you so happy about?” Minji opened her locker and put her heavy, thick literature books away.  

Dara leaned on the locker beside Minji’s and looked up dreamily, “Seokjin asked me to accompany him to the public library this weekend. He wants my help on his English essay.”  

“So you get to spend more time with him. I see,” Minji smiled knowingly. Dara had been crushing on Seokjin, the student body and the drama club president, ever since she joined the club during sophomore year.  

The petite girl’s smile grew wider while she nodded frantically. “Anyway, what’s up with you lately? You seem very busy these days. Hell, everyone’s so busy these days, even Chaerin.”

 “Well, final exam’s coming up. We’re a senior now, Dara.”  

“Blah blah and there goes the talk about the future and the life plans,” Dara rolled her eyes and made a dramatic hand gesture in the air, “All I want to do is act in a drama, get married, and have cute children.”  

“That’s a life plan too,” Minji just chuckled at her friend, “Oh by the way, you should help me practice my lines.”  

“Lines, what lines? Don’t tell me you’re auditioning for the school play?” Dara’s voice went higher, feeling excited, as she herself, was the drama club secretary.  

Minji smiled and nodded. Dara clasped her hands together as she made a little jump because of the excitement, “Oh yay! Finally you do something other than studying.”  

“Yeah, Ms. Park said it’ll make my resume looks good– oh, wait a second,” Minji let out a small gasp as she just realized something went missing in her locker, “I thought I put it in here?”  

Dara came closer to take a peek inside, “What? What is it?”  

“My silver bracelet! The one Jongin gave me on my birthday. I didn’t come home wearing it yesterday so I thought I must have taken it off before gym class yesterday,” she started to panic.  

“But when I met you after school before you entered the Advisor Office you were still wearing it, Min. Are you sure it doesn’t fall somewhere on your way home?”  

Minji felt her body went numb and leaned on the locker, “Oh god, Jongin will be furious if he knows I lost it.”  

Dara suddenly straightened herself while looking at the end of the hallway with widened eyes. She nudged Minji’s side as she saw Jongin walked closer to them.  

“Min, I’ve been looking for you. You’re supposed to have lunch with me,” Jongin approached Minji and hugged her while she just stayed stiffly in her position.  

Feeling uncomfortable for being the third wheel, Dara decided to just bid goodbye to the couple and departed. She mouthed words to Minji where Jongin couldn’t see her, saying that she’d help her look for the bracelet around the class.  

Jongin grabbed her hand and looked down at her wrist, “You’re not wearing my gift today?” he asked disappointedly.  

“I’m sorry I woke up late this morning, I left them at home.”  

Minji had never been good at lying. She never felt good about it, because she believed something bad would come up from lying. She forcefully smiled, “Let’s go have our lunch,” then walked with hand in Jongin’s protective grasp but mind was somewhere else, feeling uneasy.  

---  

Yoongi sighed as he lazily folded his arms, put them behind his head, and laid down on the cold wooden-floored stage. He looked up to the high ceiling of the auditorium while trying to recite the lines written on the paper on his lap.  

It was freaking hard to get into Hyori’s office by himself, let alone convince her to let him join the play. But with constant begging and apology, she finally agreed to have him audition for the role. That’s why he rushed here right after school ended to practice even though he resent anything related to school play. He needed to pass her subject after all.  

The auditorium door was then opened, making a creaking sound. Yoongi turned to see the person entering the auditorium and sat up straight, sitting on the edge of the stage. His face lit up upon seeing Minji standing on top of the steps.  

‘What’s she doing here,’ he wondered curiously while staring at her.  

He inserted his hand into his right pocket to grab her silver bracelet. His mind started to think about the appropriate words he’d say to initiate the conversation once she walked down the steps, imagining what expression she’d make when he talked to her.  

It was all only in his imagination until Jongin showed up from the door and called Minji, turning the beauty sight away from Yoongi for himself. Somehow after the conversation he had this morning with Hoseok and Namjoon, he had come to dislike the guy too. Something about his presence just simply irked him.  

Yoongi could faintly hear the conversation the couple had. Jongin said he was a little bit disappointed because Minji couldn’t come to his practice again, then he wished her luck on the audition, planted a kiss on her forehead and hugged her. Yoongi’s expression fell at the sight of it and he felt slightly… pissed off.  

Not long after Jongin was gone, Hyori came in with a couple of drama club members behind her including Seokjin and Dara. Minji and Dara exchanged a wave before everyone took their seats and waited for Hyori to say something.  

“Good afternoon, students. Welcome to the first scenario-reading of the school play. As you know, we have decided to bring the Shakespeare’s classic Romeo & Juliet back in our school,” the students, mostly them from the drama club, cheered and clapped, feeling excited of the idea.  

Hyori gestured her hands to silent the crowd, “I’d like to thank the drama club members who wholeheartedly contributed in the script writing,” she smiled specifically at Seokjin and Dara, and the two proudly smiled back. “But,” her expression suddenly changed into a serious one, “I’m also really, really, disappointed that none of the drama club members signed up for the audition of the leads. And the non members who auditioned are already signed for the minor roles. So guess what? We still don’t have lead actors up until now.”  

Everyone was silent. Even Seokjin was just uncomfortably trying to fix his tie. Dara was looking away, avoiding an eye contact with Hyori. The two drama club superiors knew that the reason none of the club members signed up for the lead role was because most of them were seniors and refused to be too far involved in the school play. They just agreed to help for the preparation or with a minor role. As for Dara, she just didn’t want to be the lead actress if Seokjin wasn’t the lead actor.  

Hyori just sighed and cleared , “Luckily, I have two students came to me today and eagerly asked to audition and the only positions available are the role of Romeo and Juliet. So,” she glanced over to Minji then Yoongi, “I’ve decided we’ll just go with them as the leads of the school play. Everyone, this is Gong Minji from class A who’ll play Juliet, and Min Yoongi from class B who’ll play Romeo.”  

The students were all clapping for the two, while Yoongi and Minji just sat on their seats respectively with a dumbfounded expression. Minji looked at Dara who was making a thumb-up for her and wiggling her eyebrows. ‘Why didn’t she tell me?’ Minji thought. She felt nervousness rushing in. She never acted before, hell she never even performed anything in front of people, let alone on a huge stage. And so did Yoongi. Hyori walked closer to where he was and pointed a finger on him, “You, Min Yoongi, better not disappoint me twice.”

Hi, loves. Sorry for the super late update, I was busy doing college assignments and stuffs. But to make it up to you lovelies here's a long chapter for you guys. Comments, upvotes, subbies are appreciated~~♡