EIGHT

The next morning, Maeri was greeted by a fully-recovered Jin “Good morning!” he beamed. “Oh, you’re fine now?” she responded and Jin happily nodded his head. Suddenly, someone hit him from behind, “Hey!” he cried as he turned around and saw Jungkook. “You sure you caught a cold? It doesn’t look like you were sick to me” he said, Jin pouted and responded “I really did caught a cold…” then he went near Jungkook and whispered “…and I was even lucky enough that Maeri came to nurse me” and he silently chuckled. Jungkook rolled his eyes and said “ert” then he walked ahead but then he turned to Jin again and added “You owe me one” and continued to leave.

“Huh?” Jin wondered, he didn’t realize that Maeri already left.

Maeri was about to enter the classroom when she bumped into someone who was about to enter at the same time

“Sorry” they apologized to each other, then Maeri realized it was Taehyung “Oh, good morning” she greeted. “Morning” Taehyung responded then he told Maeri to go inside first and after that he followed,

“So did you get attacked?” Taehyung asked, trying to tease Maeri. She recalled what Jin said

“Maeri… how dare you take advantage of a sick person?”

She clicked her tongue as she slightly blushed, “Nope” she responded and proceeded to her seat, right next to Bora,
“Good morning” she greeted as she sat down and Bora looked at her, surprised. “What’s wrong?” Maeri asked, “You… did you just casually talk with Kim Taehyung?” Bora questioned and Maeri nodded her head. “Wow, and here I thought that the two of you would never get along” she said, Maeri laughed it off and opened her notes to review their last lesson.

Jin was spacing out at the courtyard while he was waiting for his next class, which will be in an hour. He recalled what happened while he was sick and he can’t help but feel really happy. Maeri, even though she didn’t seem to take interest in Jin, was taking care of him while he was sick. It was like a dream come true for him, he also recalled the soup that Maeri made. Even though it looked normal, the taste was still horrible but he did not regret getting a stomach ache because he finished all of it.

His phone rang all of the sudden, he looked at the caller and his eyes widened

Anri Jang

“Oh no” he muttered and answered the call.

During lunch time, Maeri and Bora went out to have lunch at a Chinese restaurant since Maeri started craving for something Chinese after watching a cooking show that featured Chinese cuisine last night at Jin's apartment.

While eating, Bora asked her how things were in their club and how the filming went. Maeri answered her and she even told her about Jin getting sick and her taking care of him, Bora nearly choked after hearing what happened. She swallowed her food and spoke

“What!? You went to his apartment!?” she proclaimed. Maeri told her to quiet down since she was disturbing the customers and gave her a glass of water.

“I didn’t go there alone you know, Taehyung was with me” said Maeri

“Yeah but he still left… I can’t believe that Kim Taehyung, leaving a girl in a guy’s apartment and moreover, a sick guy’s apartment!” Bora proclaimed

“I didn’t get attacked by the way” said Maeri and Bora turned to her with a straight face. “Maeri… you’re too dense” she said “Huh?” “A girl should never enter a guy’s room whether he’s sick or not. Luckily, it was Jin-sunbae and since he’s a prince, he would never do something indecent but what if it was someone other than Jin-sunbae? Like that underground rapper Min Suga!” Bora proclaimed.

“Who?” Maeri asked

“Min Suga, you don’t know him?” Bora asked and Maeri shook her head. “I only heard rumors of him from friends of my classmates, they said that even though he’s an underground rapper with a handsome face, he’s definitely a beast and would attack any girl that approaches him!” Bora added, Maeri rolled her eyes and responded “Stop exaggerating and besides, I wouldn’t enter a room of someone I don’t even know or just met for the first time” then she finished quickly finished her food.

On the way out of the restaurant, Bora accidentally bumped into someone. “I’m so sorry!” she apologized, “It’s okay” the guy responded and smiled at her. Bora was surprised to see a handsome guy, his smile made her blush and Maeri elbowed her telling her that it’s time for them to go. The guy entered the restaurant as Maeri and Bora left. When the guy approached his friend, “Yo Suga” his friend greeted “Hey” Suga responded. “You know that girl whom you bumped into you, she told her friend some pretty strange things about you” his friend said, “Really? Like what?” Suga asked as he took a sip of his drink “Like how you’re a beast when it comes to women” his friend said and Suga spit out his drink and cried “What!?”

Maeri and Bora separated ways since they had different classes. Maeri still had an hour of free time before her next class so she went to the library to read but actually, she plans to sleep there. On the way up, Jin passed by her and he looked like he was in a hurry that he didn’t even notice Maeri “Uh?” Maeri wondered. She arrived at the library and went to the table by the window. Before she sat down, she looked outside the window and saw Jin again and he was meeting up with a girl. “That must be his girlfriend” she said to herself, recalling the picture she saw of Jin with a girl but the girl’s face wasn’t revealed. She didn’t know why but she was curious to find out what the girl looks like, she closely looked at the girl and fell back when she found out who it was

“A…Anri?!” she gasped.

***

Anri Jang was one of Maeri's close friends during high school and she also supported Maeri during the time of the accident and after Maeri woke up. She went to the same college as Park Jimin. She has a chubby face but cute one, she has light brown curly hair with a length up to her waist and she had big brown eyes.

She went to Konkuk University to meet up with Jin right after she found out from Jimin that Jin and Maeri already met up and they were also doing a project together.

“Anri-ssi!” Jin called out as he was running towards her, “Jin-sunbae!” Anri responded and when Jin was almost near her, the first thing she did to greet him was that she gave him a huge blow in the head filled with pissed feelings as she yelled “You idiot!”

They settled down at the Chinese restaurant where Bora and Maeri had lunch. Jin was looking down and Anri seemed irritated, she kept tapping her feet and the atmosphere around the two seemed to scare away the other customers. Anri released a huge sigh and finally broke the silence “Explain” she commanded. Jin slowly looked up but then he bowed and apologized

“I’m sorry, I was not able to keep the promise!” he said

“Sheesh, I knew that this would happen someday” she said, Jin looked at her with a confused face. “No matter what happens, even if we had to separate you two, fate would seem to make a way for the two of you to meet” she added. Jin smiled half-heartedly and said “I’m not the only one you know…” Anri also recalled what Jimin said before, she sighed and agreed. “Since it’s already happened, looks like I’ve got no choice but to let this go” she said “T-Thanks” said Jin, “But if that happens again, I’ll make sure that you wouldn’t be able to wake up the next day” she threatened, Jin gulped and nodded his head. Their orders came and Anri started eating

“You still haven’t changed by the way” she said

“You too… and her too” said Jin

“Really?”

“Yeah, but her cooking is more edible than before. I remember how one bite would already make my stomach ache but now, I have to finish all of it before I get a stomach ache”

“Wait, she cooked for you?”

“Yeah, when I was sick she took care of me. I was really happy” Jin happily answered then he heard the sound of chopsticks breaking. “Oh shoot” he mumbled as he turned to an angry Anri.

After Maeri's class, she still couldn’t believe that Anri and Jin were dating “How come I never knew about it? No wonder sunbae’s been paying attention to me, I’m Anri’s friend of course!” Maeri said to herself then she accidentally bumped into someone’s back

“Oof!” “Oh?” Taehyung said as he turned around, “What are you doing?” he asked as he saw Maeri looking around as if she was trying to solve a math question.

“Hey” Taehyung said as he waved his hand in front of her, she finally noticed him “Oh, hello” she greeted “What were you doing?” Taehyung repeated the question. “Hey, do you know Anri Jang? She’s also our batch mate and friends with Jimin” Maeri responded. Taehyung was hesitating if he should answer or not but he ended up saying “Familiar, why?” “Turns out that she and Jin-sunbae are dating” said Maeri “What!?” Taehyung proclaimed. Maeri was about to explain to him what happened but then they were disturbed by Taehyung’s growling stomach.

Maeri giggled and suggested “Why don’t I tell you the whole story while we get something to eat?” Taehyung felt embarrassed but he agreed to and the two of them went to the cafeteria.

While eating, she told Taehyung about the picture she saw in Jin's room while she was tidying up the shelf and when she saw Jin rushing off to meet with Anri. After that, Taehyung was quiet. Maeri snapped her fingers in front of him to see if he was awake or something, he turned to her and immediately changed the topic

“You went through hyung’s pictures?” he asked. Maeri felt a bit guilty but she explained herself “Hey, I accidentally knocked over them and it wasn’t my intention to look alright? I was just picking them up” she said “Hmm…” Taehyung said while nodding his head. “Aish, you don’t believe me” said Maeri “Oh I believe you” Taehyung said but Maeri didn’t feel that he was sincere, she glared at him and continued eating. Taehyung giggled and he ate as well.

“So you still have a class after this?” Taehyung asked as he and Maeri exited the cafeteria, Maeri shook her head and answered “I’m going home after this” “Oh…” Taehyung said, he kept quiet for a while then he asked “Then… shall we go together?” Maeri turned to him, surprised but then she smiled and agreed. Taehyung slightly blushed.

The two of them left the university talking about their lessons first, they weren’t aware that Jin saw them. Jin noticed how happy those two looked while talking and as usual, Taehyung seemed to always make people, including Maeri, laugh. He clenched his fists, trying to hold in his anger and jealousy when someone suddenly patted his shoulder and said “Take it easy” he looked back and saw Jungkook.

“What?” Jin said in an annoyed tone, Jungkook shook his head and responded “Don’t let your temper get to you unless you want to do something stupid again.” Jin took a deep breath and released it then he smiled and Jungkook and said “I’m fine” then he continued his way since he still had classes in the evening.

“So how’s it going with the filming?” Taehyung asked as he and Maeri were on their way to the bus station.

“Well, I don’t think we’re half-way through it. How about you guys?” she answered

“Same here” Taehyung responded “Since it’s nearly exam week, Baekhyun-sunbae suggested that we should focus on our exams first and after that, we’ll continue with the filming” Maeri added “Same here” Taehyung repeated. Maeri laughed and said “You keep saying ‘same here’, it’s starting to sound weird” “Oh? So I’m not the only one who thinks that way?” Taehyung beamed “What do you mean?” Maeri asked “Thinking that when you repeat a word for a dozen times, it starts to sound as if it’s unfamiliar or weird” he answered “Oooh… same here, same here, same here, same here, same here” Maeri kept repeating ‘same here’ and Taehyung laughed at her then he told her to repeat another word
“What word?” she asked as she was starting to have fun “Ah, how about potato?” Taehyung suggested and Maeri started repeating the word potato for a couple of times. Taehyung found it funny but then he joined in and the two of them continued to repeat ‘potato’. Maeri wasn’t paying attention in her way. She was about to cross the street while the traffic light was still green but luckily, Taehyung was able to grab her before she got hit by one of the cars that passed through.

“Whoa… that was dangerous” she said but she didn’t feel any fear, she turned to Taehyung and was about to thank him but then he shouted “Idiot!” “Uh?” she wondered.

“Next time, pay attention will you!? What would’ve happened if you crossed the street and got hit by a car!?” Taehyung proclaimed.

“S-Sorry” Maeri apologized, she didn’t know why but she got scared when Taehyung yelled at her and for some reason, it was a familiar feeling. She felt his tight grip as he was still holding on to her arms, he was shaking and she could tell that he was really worried. She turned to him who was still a little bit angry and was trying to calm down then instinctively, she touched his cheek and said “It’s alright, I’m okay” Taehyung was surprised, he looked at her confused. She looked back at him and she smiled, Taehyung then loosened his grip on her and walked back.

“S-Sorry… I forgot that I had something else to do” he said then he quickly left. “Eh?” Maeri wondered.

Taehyung ran and when he got tired, he stopped and took a quick rest. He touched his cheek again, he can still feel how Maeri touched it. He closed his eyes as if he was trying to forget that incident and something even more. “Maeri…” he said, recalling something.