Care for a Cola?
The Outcast Club
Path - BTS
------------------------
As an official member of HFC, as Jungkook so loudly had declared, Yura found herself standing in front of Room 101 with a very troubled mind.
It had been a while since she had been willingly included in something, so it felt awkward to simply enter the room. Although she knew she was welcomed now and that the misunderstandings were gone, she still hesitated to take that first step.
‘Open the door,' her heart seemed to beckon.
'No, just leave!' her mind yelped.
‘Han Yura, just get inside. It’s not that hard. You're a part of the club now,’
'Easy for you to say! It hasn't been easy to socialize ever since--'
The voices of her conscience inside of her head were toying with her rationale, making her mind spin a mile a minute. Irritated, Yura banged her fist on the door, “ENOUGH!”
At that moment, the door opened, and she felt her fist collide with warm flesh.
“AH!” someone yelped in pain.
Thud.
Thud? Yura’s senses awoke. Bewildered, Yura straightened up and looked down on the floor to see someone sprawled backwards on the floor, head covered with a snapback cap, withering in pain.
Yura’s eyes widened in stunned mortification. “Ohmygod! Are you okay?!”
The male winced and tilted his head back before smiling painfully. One hand rubbed his sore jaw.
“Hi, Yura. You came?”
Snapback boy? Yura furrowed her eyebrows before glancing at his nametag to put a face to the name.
박지민
Park Jimin.
*
“Sorry, I didn’t see you,” Yura profusely apologized. “Do you want some ice? I think the office is still open. I can run down to—“
Jimin turned around to blink at her – a surprised expression on his face. Yura instantly shut up.
Finally, his expression of wonder broke into a jubilant smile, “That’s all right. There’s some ice here.”
Yura turned her attention for a fleeting moment onto a mini-fridge inside the room. She’d never noticed that before.
Jimin swung the small door open and pulled out a bag of ice that seemed to have already been made. In fascination, Yura leaned her head in to catch a brief glimpse of the fridge. She was shocked to see that aside from a few cans of soda, the majority of the shelves held up bags of ice, all individually stocked.
Before Yura could look away, feigning disinterest, Jimin shut the door with his hip and looked back at her in curiosity. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second before Yura coolly looked away.
Jimin could see the puzzlement in her eyes, though. He pondered over that for a minute before opening the fridge again, “Soda?”
“Uh…” Yura thought about it before shrugging, “Why not?”
“Cola good for you?” He was already pulling two cans out, so Yura just agreed.
“Thanks,” she took it from him and set it down on the miniature coffee table. Jimin took a seat beside her, not too close but not too far, and followed her, resting the bag of ice against his cheek.
“The others should be on their way,” he informed.
Yura nodded. Jimin curiously watched her movement from the corner of her eye before coming to the conclusion that she was slightly apologetic.
“You don’t have to feel bad, it’s okay.”
Yura didn’t say anything, but opened her can of cola with a ‘pop!’ and took a sip.
“I’m used to it anyway. Most of us are.”
If she wasn’t staring at him before, she was now. Jimin became aware of the gaze upon him and matched her gaze with an amiable grin, “That’s why we need to stock up on ice bags.”
When Jimin laughed at his own joke, Yura’s gaze softened slightly.
Jimin took a sip of his drink while she pondered over something.
“Don’t you guys… dislike me?”
Jimin’s gaze flickered over to her.
Now she was fidgeting, “I mean… I did tell off Haera. And Jeon Jungkook. I don’t exactly have a ‘clean’ reputation. And now I just showed up here again like nothing ever happened.”
There was a calming silence as Jimin analysed her words.
“…Not really,” he concluded, “If anything, we’re the best at knowing what it’s like to have someone judge you based on first impressions.”
Yura blinked up at him as Jimin flashed a sweet smile, “Although you did live up to your ‘strong’ stereotype. I gotta say – you can really pack a punch!”
“Sorry,” Yura muttered, feeling suddenly ashamed.
Jimin gave a confused look to the shrinking Yura and frantically waved his hands, “No, no! That was a joke! I’m seriously fine!”
He chortled after seeing Yura’s bewildered face, “I guess we’ll have to work on your humour, hm?”
Yura’s stunned expression melted into a small, faint smile as Jimin laughed. His laugh makes him look like a little kid.
Yura set her cola down on the table next to a binder filled with a bunch of scrawls on them. She didn’t notice it until now. Curiously, she peered at it, “You were doing homework?”
Jimin let out a yelp, covering up his work by shutting his binder, “U-Uh…”
Yura instantly retracted, “Sorry, didn’t mean to pry.”
Jimin bit his lip for a second before slowly shaking his head, “…N-No. It’s okay. You can look at it if you want, it’s just a bit embarrassing…”
He re-opened his binder, and Yura scanned the sheets. Korean lettering, hangul, was scribbled on various sheets of paper. They seemed to be lyric ideas.
“We have to write a song for an assignment,” he glanced up at her expectantly.
Yura blinked, “You’re taking music?”
Jimin sheepishly smiled, “Yeah… I’m in your class.”
Yura’s head snapped up from gazing at the papers, “What?!”
“Yeah... Although recently you haven’t been coming to class lately. You probably didn’t get the assignment yet.”
“I didn’t… I was skipping.” When Jimin gave her a look, Yura awkwardly looked away.
“Hey, learning about music is cool, but singing in front of people is not my thing,” she horribly defended herself.
Jimin burst out into a laugh, “I’m not judging you. Don’t worry.”
Yura felt herself becoming more relaxed with Jimin’s presence. “Wow, sorry though. I didn’t know you were in my class.”
“Probably because you never noticed me before,” he helpfully explained.
“That’s…” she faltered. She couldn’t bring herself to lie to his face, “…probably why.”
Jimin chuckled and waved it off, “It’s fine. I’m not talkative in there either. I sit in the front row.”
The front was a clear distinction from the back, where Yura sat. She had the corner seat, the one right next to the window, as she had every time. If someone was seated there, she’d dispense a few empty threats to obtain it, but since most avoided her like the plague, they usually gave it up without a fight.
Jimin smiled awkwardly, “I, um, like it there? I can see better. Plus, I need to maneuver with this.” He held up his foot and rolled up his pants a little to show her. In place of his leg was a steel rod.
Yura drew in a breath. That’s right, he’s the one that had a prosthetic leg.
Jimin patted down his pants, “It’s easy enough to cover up, but most kids already know about my condition.”
Yura gave him a small smile, and he laughed, “Hey, hey, none of those sympathetic smiles. I get it enough already. I’m just content with people treating me as if I’m an equal.”
“You are, though.” Yura found herself blurting before she could stop herself.
Jimin’s smile faltered as Yura felt her cheeks warming up. She quickly coughed and looked away, letting her jet-black hair course down to hide her expression.
Jimin softened with a gentle smile on his face.
“Hey… do you want to read my lyrics? Maybe they can help you on your assignment – if you decide to do it, that is.” He joked.
Yura exhaled and turned around to face him again, “I probably won’t, but are you sure?”
Jimin pushed the binder towards her.
I’m a born singer, a little belated confession (I swear)
The mirage that always seemed so far away is now before my eyes (it’s here)
I’m a born singer, perhaps it’s an early confession (early confession)
But I’m so happy, I’m good
Yura lightly chuckled, “From what I know about you so far, the lyrics suit you.”
Her eyes traced down the page until she noticed two lines that caught her off-guard:
Every moment I make sure not to lose my integrity
To always be myself, so I don’t embarrass the me from the beginning
Yura’s gaze softened, and her expression became unreadable. She spaced out until Jimin blinked, “Yura?”
“Huh?” She perked awake, and Jimin’s expression was expectant, “What do you think?”
Yura glanced back at the paper before gazing at him genuinely, “It’s really, really good.”
“Yeah?” Jimin brightened, “You think? I’ve been staying up all night trying to find the right words. Of course, I got a few tips from Namjoon hyung and Suga hyung, but you didn’t know that.” He put a finger against his lips with a sly look.
Yura suppressed a laugh, “You have my word.”
Jimin grinned.
Suddenly, the door swung open, and a peppy voice shouted, “We’re here!”
Yura and Jimin looked up from the couch to see Yoomi leading the rest of the members inside.
Jungkook caught sight of Yura, who glared at him. “Well, well, look who came after all.”
“I didn’t come here for you,” she shot back.
“Tom and Jerry,” Jin chorused, V at his side to help him get around. Suga rolled his eyes, “I keep telling you, something happened between those two, but nobody ever listens to Min Yoongi.”
“Oh yeah? Who’d you come for, then?” Jungkook challenged.
“Jimin,” She retorted, “And everyone else aside from your annoying .”
“Ooo~” J-Hope wiggled his fingers, “Someone got close to Jiminnie quick.”
Jungkook raised an eyebrow, “I never knew asses could be annoying. Huh.”
Yura rolled her eyes as Jimin chorused into a laugh again.
“All right, you two, calm down,” Rapmon placated, but it was easy to see that he was genuinely elated to see Yura back.
Haera brightened like a little child as she toddled over to Yura, eyes glimmering and princess curls fluttering. She was about to sit down beside her when Yura glanced at her. Haera froze, unsure if she should approach her. She didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable again…
But instead of glaring at her, Yura gave her a casual nod, “Did you end up icing that bruise from last time?”
Haera blinked and beamed, sitting down right beside her, “Yep! It’s all gone now, see?” She stuck out her arm. When she saw that there was no trace of a bruise or scar, Yura nodded in approval, “Good.”
Pleased that Yura seemed much more approachable and had praised her, too, Haera beamed.
Jimin grinned and leaned in to whisper, “What bruise? Did you accidentally punch Haera, too?”
Flustered, Yura gave him a pointed look, and he laughed, “There you go, there’s your humour.”
“My, my,” Yoomi straightened up, setting her things down, “You guys have gotten well-acquainted, haven’t you? I’m shocked, to say the least.”
Yura looked sheepish.
“And speaking of which!” Yoomi headed over to Yura, “Where in the world did you go after the first meeting of the club? You know, the first time you came here? When I came back, you were gone, and the others told me that you left for home already! Do you know how scary it is to walk home alone, especially after school?”
That’s when it clicked. The others didn’t tell her about the whole Yura to Haera argument and covered up for her. They never ‘tattled’ on her to Yoomi, contrary to her initial thoughts.
Yura sheepishly apologized, “Sorry, unnie. Jaehwan told me to come home early that day.”
“Next time, tell me, okay? I was worried sick!” She sighed.
Yura nodded with a smile.
Maybe there was some good left in the world.
__________________
Enter Jimin!
Apologies for the belated chapter! Happy 2015, readers! :D
Let's hope 2015 is a much better year than 2014. :)
Hope you enjoyed the chapter and thank you as always! By the way, did you see BTS' Gayo Daejun performance dance video?
BTS in marine uniforms are my weakness... >_< But you didn't know that, of course.
On a side note, is it just me, or does BTS' song, Path/Road, feel really nostalgic whenever you hear it? Maybe it's the melody or something, but it's one of my favourite songs that always seem faintly sorrowful (?) if that makes sense. xD
Stay tuned for more drama, romance, and hilarious progressions in the story! :)
-muzikmaster.
[The Outcast Club] Well damn guys, I just updated. I kept you all waiting, didn't I? Hope you guys enjoy, and I'll be working on some more updates soon!
Comments