The Truth
The Outcast Club
Moon - Jonghyun
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“How is it, Shinbi? Are you satisfied?” Jungkook lightly pinched the little one’s cheek.
Shinbi raised her head to reveal chocolate all over the sides of her face. “Yup! This is the best ice cream I’ve ever had!” She her spoon in bliss.
Jungkook smiled and wiped with his thumb. His gaze fell on Yura, who cautiously ate her banana split.
“How about you?”
“It’s good, but it’s not nearly as good as your outfit.”
“Oh, shut up,” Jungkook tossed a wad of napkins at her. Although he played it cool, Yura could see that his ears were as red as a tomato.
Jungkook caught her grinning and narrowed his eyes, “Teasing the Jeon Jungkook calls for a penalty.”
He swiftly grabbed a spoon and scooped up some of Yura’s banana split, only to receive a kick in the shin.
“!”
“I didn’t give you permission to eat my banana split, you miscreant.”
“Miscreant? What are you, 90? And I thought you couldn’t finish all of this by yourself.” Jungkook grimaced at her.
“Well I can, and I will.” Yura protectively guarded her ice cream.
“Here, oppa, you can have some of mine,” Shinbi angelically offered. “Unnie’s just being mean.”
“Han Shinbi,” Yura called sternly.
“Nyeh-heh-heh,” Jungkook cackled, nose haughtily in the air. “Shinbi’s on my side, aren’t you Shinbi?” He tickled her chin as she giggled. Yura shook her head and eyed his jet black hair.
“What happened to your hair, anyway?”
She had to admit, black did suit him much better, but she wouldn’t tell him that.
“Teacher Grouch,” was all he said with a tiresome sigh. Yura raised an eyebrow. The one who tried to take my earphones away?
“The old bag is my history teacher in the afternoon. For some time he’s been targeting me, and when he caught me eating a snack during class, he somehow blamed it on my so-called delinquent hair.” Jungkook stuck the tip of his pink, plastic spoon in his mouth and frowned sadly.
“In other words, he forced you to dye it back to its original colour.”
“In other words, the guy’s got a stick up his .”
“Hey,” Yura eyed Shinbi, who didn’t pay much attention.
“Oh – wait – no, Shinbi, you didn’t hear any of that. Erase it all from your mind.”
Yura fought the urge to kick his shin again.
“I think your hair looks nice, oppa. You look way cooler now.” Shinbi showed off her buck teeth.
Jungkook’s lip quivered dramatically, “Oh, Shinbi, what an angel! That little brat of a sister, Junhee, said I looked like a nerd.”
Yura snorted at that as Shinbi giggled.
“Nobody says anything about Namjoon sunbae’s hair?”
“Oh, please. The leader of the student council? He’s the pride and joy of all teachers and staff. Literally nobody will say anything to him. He’s too nice, so he always gets off with a few stern words, and that’s pretty much it.” He waved it off.
Inside Yura’s mind swirled instances of Rapmon’s constant kindness and sincerity, despite the occasional awkwardness. Jungkook was right – didn’t make sense for anybody to hate the guy.
“Jungkook!” a short, burly man suddenly interrupted. “Come and sort out these tubs and you can leave.”
“Yes, sir!” Jungkook replied hastily before standing up. He paused and stared at the curious Han sisters, as if mentally calculating something.
“Wait like, five minutes and I’ll walk you guys home.”
“Don’t worry about us, we can go alone.” Yura refuted, but Jungkook caught her hand.
An electric current seemed to zap through Yura’s fingers, making her freeze instantly. She gazed up at his eyes that seemed to be sincere, and could see the traces of exhaustion in them.
“Five minutes,” he assured before wiping the corner of Shinbi’s mouth again with his thumb.
*
Unfortunately, Jungkook’s approximations weren’t exactly correct.
Instead of five minutes, it had taken twenty minutes, and for those twenty minutes, Yura had watched Jungkook focus long and hard on hauling tubs of ice cream here and there.
Luckily, Jungkook had gotten changed at unholy speeds and hurried out, apologizing to Yura fervently for being late.
“I’m fine,” Yura eyed Shinbi, who had drool trickling down her parted lips, “but are you?”
“’Course, she’s as light as a feather,” Jungkook replied, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Shinbi was comfortable on his back.
The two walked to her apartment in silence, with Yura stealing curious glances at him here and then.
“Spit it out.”
“Huh?”
“Aren’t you gonna ask me why I took this job all of a sudden?” he exhaled. “I can already see the headlines: ‘The Infamous Jeon Jungkook, Seen Working at a Cutesy Ice Cream Shop!’”
Yura pointedly looked away. “You must have your own reasons.”
Jungkook stared at her in incredulity before suppressing a smile. They trekked through the winding streets for a while before he spoke.
“Our family is struggling.”
That made Yura’s gaze match his again. Before she knew it, she was nodding her head slowly, words failing her.
Jungkook took that as incentive to continue. “I mean, we’re not the best-off, but we’re not completely poor either. Money’s been tight recently, you know? It wouldn’t be right to ask them to pay for the upcoming club trip, either… Let’s just say that I’ve put them through a lot.”
“I see…”
“’Oi, oi, don’t go giving me that pity look.” Jungkook bitterly chuckled.
“Who said I was pitying you?” Yura rubbed her bare arms. “I actually envy you.”
Jungkook blinked. “How so?”
Her mind began to play a reel of scenes. Once, when she was fifteen, she had waited in the dark until Ken came home. By the time he’d returned, it was four in the morning. She’d watched him as he brought home a bottle of soju and downed the whole thing. She would never forget it – it was the only time she’d ever seen him drink in front of her.
Every time Ken sighed, Yura could tell that he was sighing because of the stress, the work, and the effort it took in raising two kids.
“I guess I envy you… because you have the courage to actually go and get yourself a job.”
“Meaning…?”
“Meaning that adults always expect so much out of us damn teenagers,” Yura kicked a rock at her feet, “and when you reject those responsibilities, you feel guilty towards them. Then what happens? You go to university or college, find a job, get married – do whatever they initially expected of you, because you don’t want to become a failure. But how do you know if you’re a failure or a success? In the end, you’re just doing whatever the adults told you to do.”
Jungkook didn’t say anything.
“That’s why I laugh at adults that say that say being a teenager is the best, because it actually .”
“For sure,” his voice was pensive, and the agreement surprised Yura. “It – but as teenagers, isn’t it our responsibility to make these the best years of our life?”
Yura laughed. “And how exactly do we do that?”
“Smoke, drink, have , party.”
“Sounds like pretty ty ways to have fun.”
“They are,” Jungkook gave her a lopsided grin, and Yura snorted.
By now, they were already at her apartment lobby. The three of them boarded the elevator and Yura leaned her head against the mirrored walls.
“It’ll get better,” Jungkook commented. “It always does. Some way, somehow.”
Yura watched him from the corner of her eyes. “How are you always so certain about everything?”
“Because I’ve experienced it, obviously.” Jungkook mysteriously responded before the sharp ‘ding!’ of the elevator doors made Yura break out of her trance. She scurried after him as he walked with his long legs.
“Slow down, you’re too fast.”
“No, you’re too slow,” Jungkook watched her with the usual amused twinkle in his eyes, making Yura clear awkwardly. Damn him. Damn him and his mesmerizing eyes.
He waited patiently as Yura’s door clicked open with the press of a passcode. “You can put Shinbi in the room straight ahead.”
“Am I finally being invited inside?” He wiggled his eyebrows in interest.
Yura rolled her eyes. “You’re so lucky that Jaehwan isn’t home right now, or else you’d have your whooped.”
“Whatever you say, madam,” he darted into the room. Minutes later, Jungkook came back out and looked around the place. A few lamps were , and Yura was scrolling through her phone. Her gaze pulled away from the screen and she immediately stood up.
“Want something to drink?”
Jungkook shook his head, and Yura followed him to the door. She felt awkward just letting him go.
“You sure? You can stay longer if you want.”
The taller boy eyed her for a long while before chuckling to himself, clearly amused by her actions.
Yura pinched her eyebrows together. “What? What’s so funny?”
“You’re not scared of anything, are you?”
“What do you mean?”
Yura almost yelped as Jungkook swooped down on her, backing her against the wall behind her. Her eyes were wide as she parted her lips slightly in stunned realization, taking in the scene in front of her. She could smell his scent - it was a boy's scent. Just his scent alone made her that much more aware that he was a guy.
Jungkook’s lips were inches away from hers, and he gazed deeply at her through his long, black bangs. His eyes were a dark onyx and dangerously sparkled. She could feel his warm breath exhaling against her lips, one dark, angled eyebrow hitched up in amusement as a smirk tugged on his mouth.
Yura hated the fact that her heart was thumping in her chest.
Jungkook caught note of her flushed cheeks and gently flicked the tip of her nose.
“This is what I mean,” he stepped back with a mischievous grin. “Next time, I won't decline your offer.”
Yura’s ears were crimson. “What do you even—”
“Good night, Han Yura,” Jungkook had already slipped on his shoes, tousling his hair. Before she could refute, he winked at her and slipped out the door.
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Thank you everyone for waiting! More updates are on it's way because it's summer break, so I have more time to update!
Stay tuned! :)
-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!
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