chapter 4

We can all agree that life’s a living hell if you have math every Monday morning, right? That’s Tae Ni’s routine as of the semester’s schedule in which she wanted to burn to the ground and just rebel to skip school.

That wasn’t all that made her anxious though. Sunday night was spent by watching horror movies that have certain side effects that would very much ruin you; completely becoming paranoid.

Sleeping wasn’t an option for her. She shielded her figure with the blanket, relying on it to magically bring about a force field from the ghosts and the bogey man. Having said that, she didn’t get enough sleep that night, therefore she had trouble getting out of bed.

Jimin on the other hand, waited in the corridor by her door until she’d come out ready to watch the sun set with him. She was a tad bit late to their ‘on-the-dot’ meeting time, but Jimin decided to wait for a few more minutes, sitting down with the wall pressing onto his back.

Moments later, the door swung open, catching Jimin’s attention. At first he was relieved and almost eager that he jumped up to stand onto his feet. But that all died down when her parents were the ones leaving from the unit.

“Jimin~ Good morning. How are you?” Tae Ni’s mother spoke as her husband held her hand, smiling since he too was happy to see Jimin at such a time.

“I’m good thank you. Is Tae Ni…”

“Our little Tae Ni is still slumbering a siesta.” This time, the dad spoke with a rather vague tone of voice that created the awkward atmosphere between the two. Jimin curved his lips inward and nodded his head to mind off the inept silence.

The mother noticed the mental intervention between the two, causing her to giggle a slight bit.

“How long have you’ve been waiting here for?” Sending a reassuring smile, Tae Ni’s mother tilted her head to the question completely admiring the relationship between Jimin and her own daughter.

“Oh, I haven’t been here long. I was just waiting for Tae Ni as per usual.”

“Why don’t you go in and wake her for us?” Almost agitated of the idea, Tae Ni’s father turned to face his wife flabbergasted at the offer. Jimin was content at the thought that Tae Ni’s mother trusted him to be under one roof with whom is still sleeping.

“I…is it okay if I do?” Having second thought at the idea, he remarked the dad’s concernedness, questioning the offer.

“Of course it’s okay!” The mother was so gratified that she almost jumped up and down to the idea. Not wanting to deal with any drama, Tae Ni’s dad simply smiled and chuckled at his wife’s exhilaration whilst holding her hand. He turned to face Jimin before leaving him with the most central advice yet.

“No funny tricks mister.”

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Jimin pretty much had no strategy whatsoever on how to wake up Tae Ni since he had no second to think about it. Her bedroom door was on the left of the entrance hall. He opened the door to squeak, not even caring about how loud it was since the objective was to wake her up.

“Tae Ni… wakey wakey~ Rise and shine!” Close but no cigar. She mumbled in annoyance and sushi rolled herself into her blanket.

“Go away. No one likes you.”

“I like you~”

“The way you flirt is shameful! And it’s only 5:47!” Sighing but almost completely amused by her behaviour, he walked towards the edge of her bed and stood there, arms crossed.

“If you don’t get up, I’ll carry you.” Trying to sound threatening, he gave her a few seconds to reply. Expecting the silenced outcome, he hovered over her, just ever so slightly to make her think he’d carry her. The next move is the funniest.

Slipping his hands under her knees and back, she instantly circled her hands around his neck. Little known fact, he hadn’t lifted her yet.

“Yah! Let me go this instant! I warn you!” She yelled. It was stupid but cute. She continued to hold onto him whilst Jimin almost completely let go of her figure. It was as if she wanted to be carried.

“You know, you’re really strong considering the fact that you’re the one holding on to me and I haven’t even lifted you yet.” He teased, sending her to realisation and downright embarrassment. Pouting in defeat and hitting his chest was her only response as of this situation.

Loosely letting go, her knees came to the softness of the bed’s mattress as Jimin guided her in case she fell of some sort. Like that’s going to happen.

Making her way past Jimin, the paced the carpeted floor toward her desk chair piled of the mountain of clothes, varied from t-shirts to pants to jumpers to towels. Having no thought whatsoever and being the spontaneous person she was, she picked out a random hoodie and pulled it on.

She huffed, still carrying the humiliation as she swiftly turned her head to squint fury eyes shooting towards Jimin. Mimicking a surrendering action, he held his hands up in the air before defending himself.

“Hey. It’s not my fault you wanted me to carry you.”

“I didn’t want you to carry me!”

“Then why did you…”

“No questions! No comment! Let’s just go.”

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“I wonder what other diabolical destiny of damnation and derelict decrepitude awaits me. Oh yeah, that’s right. I have math first in the morning. Isn’t that great?!” Throwing her arms up in the air, Tae Ni continued to complain about her morning’s schedule as Jimin continued to tolerate her behaviour.

Walking to school every Monday morning was almost a rude awakening for Tae Ni. Jimin rarely had math in the morning, nor did he have to attend it. You see, Jimin took a special course of which math was mashed up in all different subjects. A course called the integrated development of studies. Fancy, I know.

“But you’re fairly good at math. I don’t see what your point is.” Jimin tried to comfort her, making math seem less of a misery than it already is.

“It’s not math. It’s my class that’s a pain in the . All you hear is the deafening gossip and constant squealing of the ‘try-so-hard fan girls.’”

“You have a thing for word play, you know that? And besides, your ugly boyfriend is in your class.” Jimin tormented, as Tae Ni pushed him by the arm, disciplining him for his unkind manner. All Jimin could do was praise him at his own words by laughing softly to himself.

“He’s not ugly, nor is he my boyfriend.”

“Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that. If you saw him in my eyes, it’s almost as if he has been taking ugly pills the moment he was born. The side effect is blinding people’s eyes. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being ugly, but Taehyung is just overdoing it.”

“Stop making fun of him!”

“It’s his fault for being ugly!”

“He’s not ugly!”

“He’s so ugly! I swear!” Eyes bulging and shouting was the main point of this argument. No exaggeration needed.

Five minutes or so and they were at their destination of abomination; school. Everywhere they went, frantic and impulsive fan girls all had their eyes on Jimin. Death glares were shooting at Tae Ni though, but it wouldn’t bother her to any extent since she was with Jimin.

“I’ll see you at break.” It was a hug of a farewell in which most of the hallway bystanders saw. It is likely to say that most of the colony weren’t very happy.

So far so good, Tae Ni entered class without being threatened by Jimin’s fan club. First thing she noticed was Taehyung who was looking directly at her, showing his pearly whites. A simple hey from him definitely caught her attention, but to avoid any embarrassment beforehand, she looked behind her in case of a misunderstanding.

Taehyung chuckled and waved at her instead. “Yes, you Tae Ni.”

“Oh… hi.”

“Why do you sound like you’re not happy to see me? It’s okay. I’m not all sweaty.”

“Oh… No! I am very happy to see you!” Tae Ni unintentionally shouted in excitement, causing her to inwardly belch at her embarrassment. Everyone watching was there to say otherwise. Taehyung chuckled softly as Tae Ni could crawl in hiding shame to her desk.

Placing her books on top of her desk, not even caring of its scattering mess, she hid her face within crossed arms laid onto her desk waiting for the teacher to arrive. Sort of a way to relieve and forget about all the problems as of today’s morning. This wasn’t her usual routine, but it certainly isn’t the first.

This one time, Taehyung had asked her if he could borrow a pencil in the morning. She was screaming in joy on the inside, but that wasn’t parallel to her actions. Searching through her pencil case, everything pretty much fell out of it, scattering all over the floor. How does that even happen?

“Yun Tae Ni, there will be no sleeping in my class.”

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Surviving another delinquent class of numbers and letters, Tae Ni held her books in front of her chest, crossing her arms over it as she made her way to her locker. Nothing interesting happens at this point, but despite the fact that Taehyung usually passes this hallway, he paced closer to Tae Ni without her even realising.

“Hey Tae Ni~”

Turning around in the most utterly clumsy way, she stumbled upon herself, wobbling her balance.

“H…hi Taehyung. W…what brings you here?”

“My legs and feet.” Witted, she giggled at his lame pun but remained quiet after. She waited for an actual response as to why his legs and feet brought him to say hi to her.

His expression was a sudden change as he changed to rubbing the back of his neck nerve rackingly.

“I actually ah… did you hear about the fireworks this Saturday?”

“Yeah I did.”

“Cool, cool. So… I was sort of wondering… if maybe… you wanted to go with me.”

“M…me? With…with you? Fireworks?” Stuttering in complete awe, she couldn’t believe at the request.

“Yeah. A…are you up for it? I mean, it’s okay if you don’t want to go…”

“No, no. I want to. I’ll go with you. I’d be delighted to.”

“Really? Ah… Awesome, awesome.” It was all just awkward silence, but it was moreover ‘what should I say?’ instead of, ‘the silence is deafening.’ If you get what I mean.

Moments later, after the encounter, Tae Ni recounted the happenstance, completely undermining Jimin.

“What did I say about not wanting to see a Kim Taehyung at the fireworks?” Jimin reminisced. As he remembered specifically the memory they had the other day, he couldn’t help but feel inadequate since he was at utmost serious about how he didn’t want to see a Kim Taehyung at the fireworks.

“How could I say no to Taehyung? He asked me on a date!”

“Did he say it was going to be a date?” Arguing over the topic, he leaned in with piercing eyes.

“He technically was asking me out!”

“Sure, sure. Keep telling yourself that. I thought it was just going to be us two! Why does ugly have to come?”

“He’s not ugly! And besides. You already know that I like him and I spend most of my life with you. Just let me go, don’t be so…”

“Clingy?” Rolling her eyes, she shoved Jimin’s face before punching his arm at his interruption.

“We can both still go to the fireworks. It’s just that I’m going with Taehyung.” Trying to sound a bit more sincere, it did no affect whatsoever.

“Ugh~ Why do you hate me?!” Jimin crouched in a ball as he sulked.

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A bunch of junk foods ranging from chips to pocky is all you need when you are watching your favourite TV show.

Late night, regardless of it being a school night, Tae Ni had her eyes on the prize; the TV, as she stuffed a handful of chips in , not even caring about the crumbs that come avalanching down.

“Yah! Tae Ni! When you’re at a visitor’s house, you should at least try and keep it clean.”

“No~ since you’re the owner, you should clean the mess for the guest.”

“Ugh! Why do you hate me?” He said the second time this day.

“Just shush your face, calm down, take a seat next to me and watch.” She demanded in a series of orders.

Jimin had the choice to blabber on and make a comeback, but instead he abided to her offer. Putting an arm to lay on her shoulders, she rested her head onto his chest and continued to watch the show.

Enjoying the moment, yet unpleased with the screen play, he cringed in disgust and ducked his head to face Tae Ni.

“I don’t get why you like this show.” Concentrated on the TV screen, she placed her hand to conceal his mouth, prohibiting him from complaining about the show, yet he shook his head to peel it off.

“Just watch!” She cried out. Pouting to tolerate the show, he decided to play it off and watch it as he sulked deep down inside. Muttering in gibberish about how stupid the TV show was, Tae Ni would always shoot the death stare before continuing the munch on the junk and rot her brain with the drama currently airing.

Much doesn’t need to be said about the show. Let’s just say drama is so dramatic. Yeah…

Minutes passed by swiftly without even knowing. Neither of the two were affected by this. What else was surprising was the fact that Jimin began to become immersed in the show. Tae Ni slightly tilted her head to take a glance in minding whether Jimin fallen asleep or not. In seeing his reaction to the TV show, she couldn’t help but feel content at the fact she had brought him into the new TV world. It’s almost evil in fact.

Absentminded of the reality, sometimes it’s a curse to watch dramas.

Within the show, just as the heat of the argument stirred up between the male and female protagonist, ever seen those moments where the guy yanks the girl by the arm to intentionally interrupt her and just smashes his lips on hers?

Yeah, that happened.

Hoping it’d be a small kiss, that wasn’t the case. Tae Ni unwantedly gushed, as a heated rush washed over her face. On the other hand, Jimin felt uneasy and tense, gulping the ball of saliva down the back of his throat. Tae Ni, forced herself to lay eyes on the screen as Jimin decided to joke about it.

“Wah~ she must be a really good kisser.”

“Yah! You ert! She’s a noona to you!”

“Aw~ is my little Tae Ni getting jealous? Does the little baby not want me to like noonas?” Pinching her chubby cheeks, she squirmed under his grasp before shaking her head to retrieve herself.

Once again, she grabbed the pillow and began to hit Jimin with it, multiple times as he cried for help.

Isn’t that lovely?

author's note: Um... how long has it been since I updated this fanfic o.o