SEVEN

Even though they didn’t have any schedule for shooting, Maeri decided to go to Jin's next class to inform him about their change of schedule but when she arrived there, Jin was nowhere to be found and Kyungsoo approached her…

“Hello there” he greeted

“Ah, hello sunbae umm… is Jin sunbae around?” she asked

“Jin? About that, he isn’t around since he caught a cold” Kyungsoo answered

“WHAT!? HE’S SICK!?” Maeri proclaimed.

Taehyung was lucky since the teacher wasn’t around so he decided to head to the cafeteria with his friends to go grab something to eat. He passed by the courtyard and saw Jungkook reading a book, he grinned and told his friends to go ahead without him.
Jungkook on the other hand, was reading a book while listening to some music when Taehyung suddenly jumped on him from behind and startled him.

“Yah!” Jungkook yelled, Taehyung laughed at his reaction and said “Aigoo, how cute…” but then Jungkook hit him with the book that he was reading. “Ouch! Hey! Books are for reading, not hitting people!” Taehyung complained, “This is my book and my book can be used for hitting people especially a certain hyung named Kim Taehyung” Jungkook said as he shook the dust off his book then he turned to Taehyung once more “So… what do you want?” he asked, “Well you look bored so I thought that you might want some company” Taehyung answered as he sat next to Jungkook. “Not really…” Jungkook responded but Taehyung ignored his answer and brought out his phone since he wanted to show Jungkook a new application that he just downloaded then…

“By the way, you guys had a shoot in Namsan too?” he asked

“Yeah, how did you know?” Jungkook responded

“I bumped into Maeri… we also had a shoot in Namsan last Saturday” Taehyung answered

“Really? How did it feel?” Jungkook asked. Taehyung gently hit Jungkook's head and said “What are you asking that kind of question for? Sheesh” then they saw Maeri running towards them

“Speaking of…” said Jungkook and Taehyung slightly turned red. “Jungkook, I heard that Jin-sunbae is sick” she said when she reached them. “Ah right, I got a message from him this morning” Jungkook said as he remembered receiving a text from Jin. “Aish, this was probably my fault…” Maeri mumbled “Eh?” Taehyung wondered, “Jungkook, do you know where he lives?” she asked “Ah yeah, I can take you there later but…” Jungkook said then he turned to Taehyung who seemed like a third wheel in their conversation “I have an urgent meeting to attend to later so hyung here will accompany you instead” Jungkook continued, “Eh?! Me!?” Taehyung wondered. “Is it alright? Won’t it be a bother?” Maeri asked as she turned to him, “Err… no it’s fine with me” Taehyung responded. Maeri thanked him and told him that they’ll meet at the front gate at around 4, after that she told them that she will be going ahead since she still had a class to attend to. When she was already gone, Taehyung turned to Jungkook and Jungkook stuck his tongue out, “Aish… this kid…” he said

During classes, Maeri couldn’t concentrate well since she was worrying about Jin, “Jeez… if he only covered himself with the jacket then he wouldn’t get sick…” she thought. Right before meeting up with Taehyung, she stopped by the supermarket near their school and bought things that Jin might need. When she arrived at the front gate, she saw Taehyung…

“Taehyung!” she called, Taehyung heard her and was surprised to see her carrying bags. He immediately went near her and helped her, “What are these for?” he asked as he looked inside the bags. “They’re for sunbae, just in case he needs something” Maeri answered. “I see but… how did you know that he’s living alone?” Taehyung asked. Maeri paused for a while and thought about what Taehyung said, she laughed at herself for guessing correctly and responded “A woman’s intuition?” Taehyung was relieved to see her smile.

They arrived at Jin's apartment and Taehyung rang the doorbell but there was no answer, he rang it again but still no answer. “He must be asleep, I’ll just give him a call” Taehyung answered as he brought out his phone and dialed Jin's number. While he was busy, Maeri felt that something wasn’t right; she knocked on the door but when she did, the door opened.

“It’s open” she said, “Huh?” Taehyung wondered as he turned to her. Maeri slowly went inside, Taehyung put his phone back in his pocket and followed her. They entered Jin's room and it was dark and messy

“Sunbae?” Maeri wondered but there was no answer, when she arrived at the living room, she saw Jin lying unconsciously on the floor “Sunbae!” she proclaimed as she ran towards him to check on him. “Hyung…” Taehyung followed, Jin was still unconscious so the two of them decided to take him to his room and made sure that he was in a comfortable position.

While Jin was sleeping, Maeri and Taehyung decided to clean up the place since it was in a huge mess,

“Jeez this hyung, the least he can do is clean up his place” Taehyung mumbled as he was picking up the pieces of clothes “I also can’t believe that he collapsed in the living room just like that, glad that we found out before his condition got worse” he added as he turned to Maeri. “Yeah…” Maeri responded while she was arranging the books on the shelf, Taehyung noticed that she was quiet and it was a bit uncomfortable…

“You… your intuition’s really sharp” said Taehyung

“Huh?” Maeri wondered

“You probably sensed that something wasn’t right so you had to knock on the door… right?” Taehyung asked. Maeri then showed a warm smile and nodded her head, “Probably” she added. Taehyung’s phone rang and he decided to answer the call, while Maeri was still arranging the books, she spotted a picture of Jin when during high school graduation. “Uh?” she wondered, she noticed how Jin didn’t change much. Next to Jin's graduation picture was another picture, Jin was still in high school and it seemed like he was with Min Yoongi –the student council president that time, Kim Namjoon –the vice president, Taehyung and Jimin. “Oh, he must be really close friends with them” Maeri said to herself, she was planning to move the frames to the other side but then she accidentally pulled an album and it fell on the floor and pictures were scattered on the floor

“Aish, darn it” she said as she started picking them up then another photo caught her eye. It was still a photo of Jin during graduation, he had a big smile on his face and next to him was a girl but the girl’s face was covered by another photo so Maeri couldn’t see the girl’s face. “He has a girlfriend huh” she said, she wanted to see the girl’s face since she had the feeling that the girl’s features were familiar when suddenly Taehyung came back, she immediately picked up all the scattered pictures and put them back inside the album.

“Sorry, I just received a call from one of my group mates and it turns out that we have a shoot today and I need to go but…” Taehyung didn’t want to leave Maeri, who’s a girl, alone in a guy’s room,

“It’s alright, you can go. I’ll take care of things here” said Maeri

“But…”

“I bet you were worrying of leaving a girl here alone in a guy’s room, right? Don’t worry about me though, sunbae’s sick so he doesn’t have the strength to attack me and if he does, I’ll hit him with whatever I can grab” Maeri added. Taehyung sighed and was convinced, he picked up his things but before he left, he told Maeri to call him if things get out of hand and that he’ll be back after the shoot.

“Yes sir, bye-bye” she said. Taehyung let out a gentle smile and responded “Bye, Maeri” then he closed the door as he left. Maeri felt a gentle chill when Taehyung called her by her name but then she shrug it off and continued cleaning.

***

Jin used to be a secret member of the home economics club –secret because only a few know about the side of him who loves to cook and he doesn’t want to let others know about it. The only ones who know about it would be his close friends including the student council president which is why he allowed Jin to use the home economics room secretly whenever he feels like it.

One afternoon, he decided to stop by the home economics room since he wanted to try out a new recipe but when he got there, he was startled to see a girl already inside. He was hesitating if he should enter or not since he didn’t want to be seen suddenly, he heard the girl cuss. He decided not to go inside but he stayed at the hallway and continued to peep at her from outside.

“Aish, I put on the wrong amount again” the girl said then she rushed to the sink and washed the measuring cups, when Jin saw her face, he was surprised. He continued to observer her who was doing her best in baking, what it looks to Jin, brownies. Jin could tell that it was her first time in baking as well as she didn’t seem to be an expert on it, he silently laughed whenever she would cuss and get angry at herself but when she gets serious again, Jin somehow felt touched.

***

Jin slowly opened his eyes and saw a figure of a girl in his kitchen, he immediately sat up when he realized that the girl from his dreams was already in his kitchen. Maeri heard something and she turned to Jin's room where the door was open and saw Jin looking at her with a shocked face

“Sunbae?” she wondered. Jin realized that it was Maeri and he felt like he wanted to cry but then he realized why was a girl, and above all that Maeri, in his room.

“W-W-What are you doing here?!” he cried

“Wow, is that a way to greet someone who was kind enough to pay you a visit and make something for you?” Maeri responded

“Huh?” Jin wondered, she decided to leave her post in the kitchen for a while and went near Jin to check his temperature. He was still hot and his temperature was “39 degrees Celsius. You lie down, NOW” she commanded and Jin obeyed. She tucked Jin in and told him that the food will be ready in a minute, she went back to the kitchen and after a minute, she came back with a bowl of soup.

Jin noticed that Maeri looked unconfident, she presented the soup to Jin and said “T-This is the first time I made something so I’m not sure if it tastes great” Jin recalled his dream, he smiled then looked at the bowl. The soup looked like any regular soup and the smell was plain, he had a huge smile and thanked Maeri for the soup but when he tasted it, his eyes widened and it looked like he was about to cry, Maeri noticed it and told him to spit the soup out but instead, he swallowed it and forced a smile “D-D-Delicious” she released a sigh and was about to take the bowl away but Jin stopped her

“What do you think you’re doing?” he said

“Throwing this dish water out” Maeri responded as she was attempting to take the bowl for the second time but failed

“Who said that this is dish water?” Jin asked

“You did, right after the first taste you look like you were about to throw up. I don’t want to give a stomach ache to a person who’s already sick!” Maeri proclaimed

“But I said it was delicious!” Jin proclaimed, Maeri raised her brow and asked “Oh really?” Jin gulped and changed his answer “Well, it is edible” he said. Maeri sighed and tried to take the bowl again but then she slipped and accidentally pushed Jin over with her on the top (good thing that Jin was still holding on to the bowl so it didn’t spill). “Sorry” she said as but when she turned to Jin, she realized that their faces were so near that they look like they’re about to kiss. The two of them were staring at each other, Jin felt like he couldn’t hold back anymore but then

“Maeri… how dare you take advantage of a sick person” he said as he pretended to be scared, Maeri then rolled her eyes and sat up “I slipped okay? Now give me that” she said as she tried to get the bowl again but Jin warned her that if she tried to take it away, he would kiss her. Not wanting to get kissed, Maeri sighed and left Jin's room to clean up the mess she made in the kitchen.

When she was gone, Jin's face turned really red; he couldn’t believe that they were already that close to kissing and regretted a little bit that he didn’t do anything. He finished the soup even though it didn’t taste good but the taste for him was nostalgic…

Moments later, Maeri came back and she was surprised to see the empty bowl placed on the floor. She turned to Jin who looked a little bit sick but he told her that it wasn’t the soup’s fault.

“Jeez, this is why I told you that I should just throw it away” she said as she picked the bowl up

“Well compared to the ones you made before, at least this time it was edible” Jin responded, Maeri was about to give him a death glare when she realized that there was something weird about what Jin said.

“What do you mean by that?” she asked as the atmosphere suddenly turned serious. Jin widened his eyes and looked at her, she was waiting for his response but then he escaped by pretending to get a stomach ache. “Aish, I told you so!” Maeri proclaimed, forgetting what Jin said; she went near Jin and helped him up so that he can go to the bathroom. While Maeri was washing the dishes, Jin was still inside the bathroom and started talking to himself.

“You idiot, you almost said something that you shouldn’t have!” he proclaimed as he looked at himself in the mirror, he stared and stared and realized how handsome he looked even though he was sick.

“Really, why won’t she fall for this handsome face of yours? I mean if I were a girl and in her position, I would’ve pushed myself down already” he added. He wasn’t aware that Maeri heard what he said and gave him a disgusted look “Narcissist” she said and left him behind, Jin was embarrassed.