Chapter 6

Insook’s lunch group consisted of 4 people. First, sitting next to her, was tall, nerdy girl called Yaerin, who wore thick brown glasses, and her hair split into two low twin-tails with two barrettes pulling her bangs back (which wasn’t necessarily the most flattering hairstyle…). Then across from her was Jongwoo, or “Yaerin’s shadow”, as Insook secretly liked to call him. He was a cute, but short boy, with an unfortunate case of acne that negated any attractiveness brought on by his big brown eyes, whom Yaerin had been friends with since they were kids, and followed her around everywhere. And finally, sitting next to him, picking at his bread, was Daeyoung. Definitely the prettiest member of their group, with his long skinny limbs, silky chin-length hair and delicate facial features. He was also, unfortunately, very, very gay.

Insook ate lunch with them more out of necessity than anything else, because really, they were just Yaerin’s friends, and Yaerin was just a girl who had taken pity on Insook when she had transferred to this school at the beginning of second year and couldn’t make any friends because all the cliques had already been formed. The only thing they had in common was that they both agreed that Mr. Kwon’s fashion choices were absolutely ridiculous, and that his lessons were completely boring.

They were all sitting together at their usual table in the cafeteria on Tuesday, and Yaerin and Jongwoo were busy talking about Korean class. But Insook wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation. She was busy stealing glances at Rapmon and his cronies from across the room. He wasn’t looking at her though; she knew, because she’d been documenting his every move since he’d walked into the room earlier. She didn’t mind too much though. She was still on a high from the previous day’s events, and even the fact that he’d pretty much just ignored her all day couldn’t dim the memories of the previous evening in her mind.

“Insook, what do you think?” asked Yaerin, pulling her out of her trance.

“Huh?” she snapped out of dreamland, noticing that Yaerin was staring at her.

“Do you think that’s gonna be on the test?” asked the long-haired girl.

“Aah… I dunno… I’m not really the best person to ask,” she fumbled with an answer, trying to hide the fact that she hadn’t been listening.

“I think it’s definitely gonna be on the test,” went on the smart girl, as she continued her chattering with Jongwoo.

Insook breathed a sigh of relief. She looked up to see Daeyoung looking at her with mirth in his eyes and kicked him under the table. He definitely hadn’t been fooled.

As the lunch period was coming to an end, Rapmonster and his group got up from their seats and headed towards the exit. She followed him with her eyes, but looked down at her food tray as they passed by her table. She looked up again as he walked by her, just in time to catch his eye and see he was looking at her. He gave her a little smile and a secretive wink and kept on walking, as she sat there dumfounded; her heartbeat having accelerated to triple its usual rate.

Daeyoung slid half his body across the table so he could stare her in the face and whispered in shock, “excuse me but, did Kim Nam Joon just wink at you?!”

“Uuuhh… I don’t know what that’s about!! Oh my god!!” she mumbled, her face turning a very obvious shade of red, and the pretty boy laughed.

“Kim Nam Joon?” asked Yaerin, her curiosity piqued, “eeww…”

“Oh please, like we all wouldn’t like to get a piece of that!” said Daeyoung, tilting his head to stare at Rapmon’s .

“You’re disgusting” said Yaerin, making a face.

“And I’m into girls!!” protested Jongwoo.

Daeyoung just laughed. Insook was glad that the focus seemed to have been taken away from her, but it only lasted a second as Yaerin asked “why was he even looking at you?”

“Maybe he thinks our Insookie is cute?” Daeyoung butted-in, saving Insook from having to explain.

“Yeah right” the nerdy girl rolled her eyes.

“Well she’s definitely cuter than you…” said Daeyoung, sticking his tongue out at her, causing both Yaerin and Jongwoo to shout out “shut up!” at exactly the same time, which made the tall kid crack up.

“Seriously though, Insook… you should stay away from that guy, he’s bad news…” said Yaerin, her voice full of consideration.

“Guys, nothing’s going on, he just smiled at me!” defended Insook.

Yaerin seemed to take her comeback as good enough, but Daeyoung was still staring at her with a little smirk on his face.

“What?!”  she retorted, blushing furiously.

***

After the last class of the day, Insook found herself taking extra long switching her books at her locker. Besides that brief encounter at lunchtime earlier, she hadn’t heard anything from Namjoon all day. He hadn’t texted her, and they didn’t have chemistry today so she hadn’t been able to talk to him at all. She was hoping maybe he’d want to see her again tonight, but at the rate things were going, it seemed more and more unlikely.

After 10 minutes or so, she sighed and decided to just go home. She left school and walked down the busy street, dragging her feet, but as she neared the station, she suddenly heard someone call her name behind her, and turned around to see Rapmon’s familiar shape running up to catch her.

“Hey! There you are!” he said jovially, stopping short next to her.

“Hey!”

“I’m sorry, I’m not gonna be able to hang out with you today…” he said, and she tried to hide her disappointment.

“That’s okay… and you could’ve just mailed, you know?” she said, with a small chuckle.

“Oh yeah!” he playfully smacked his own head, “I forgot! I’m so stupid, eheh…” and she smiled at him trying to be cute.

He told her he had BTS practice with the guys, but that he would definitely mail her the next time he could see her. And then, after a quick glance left and right, he dropped a quick peck on her cheek, and pulled back, grinning at her.

“I’ll see you later, kay?”

He winked at her, before running off the way he’d come.

Insook just stood there staring at him go.

***

Jimin showed up at Suga’s place at exactly 6:04. He was still wearing his school uniform, but carried a sports bag with a change of clothes with him on his shoulder. He’d been told to just let himself in so he took a deep breath, walked down the stairs, and pushed open the door to his elder’s studio apartment.

Music was playing again as he walked in, and Suga and Rapmon stood around a small table, papers in hand, taking turns rapping part of a song, while Hoseok was sitting on a nearby couch, bobbing his head and tapping his feet to the beat. Nobody really noticed him standing there, so he just watched them, fanboying quietly until the song ended.

“Don’t you think that last line in the second verse sounds a bit off though?” was asking Rapmonster, but then he looked up and saw Jimin. “Oh hey kid! Well don’t just stand there! Come in!”

He walked over with a big smile and pulled the brown-haired boy into a big bear hug, making Jimin laugh.

“Oh hey! You’re here!” called out Hoseok, jumping off the couch and trotting over.

Jimin nodded eagerly.

“I guess it means I’m gonna leave you guys to it then.” said J-Hope to his friends, “laters!”

*

The dance studio where J-Hope usually practiced was only three blocks away. It was in the basement of a tall building with lots of other small businesses, and the room they were renting was small, but had floor to ceiling mirrors on the back wall, and a sound system in the corner, which was all they needed, really.

“Do you often come here?” asked Jimin, dropping his bag on the floor, as Hoseok walked over to the console and turned it on.

“Yup. The guy who owns this place also owns the club where we often perform. He kinda likes me so he lets me use it for cheap,” grinned the older boy.

“Oh, that’s nice” said Jimin, thoughtfully, bending down to his bag. “Oh! Should I help with the fee?” he asked, looking up suddenly.

“Don’t worry about it.” waved Hoseok, without looking up. He was also fussing in his bag, looking for something.

He made a small victory sound as his hands closed around his iPod, and went to plug it into the console. Jimin chuckled at his hyung’s childish behaviour, took his workout clothes out of his bag and started undressing.

J-Hope selected a song and nodded satisfactorily as sound started echoing from the speakers. He turned around and was about to say something, but stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted Jimin, a few steps away, in the process of pulling up a pair of black basketball shorts up to his waist. The boy’s eyes nearly popped out of his head, seeing the , ripped upper body of his younger friend, and he quickly turned back and started fuddling with buttons on the console, just as Jimin (who hadn’t noticed anything) turned around and said, “that’s a really sick song, hyung!” with a big excited smile on his face.

“Uuh… yeah!” replied the dark-haired boy, eyes fixed on the machine, “Suga made it. You like it?”

“Wow, did he really?” said Jimin, sounding impressed. “Yoongi-hyung is really talented!!”

Hoseok chuckled and turned around to answer, “He sure is!” with a big smile, and noticed with relief that Jimin’s torso was now fully covered with a loose black sweatshirt.

He walked over to the center of the room, and then when the chorus started he said, “I was thinking about doing something like this…” and started dancing.

Jimin watched him, mesmerized at first, and then trying to follow along and remember the moves. The song ended and started again, and this time he walked up to J-Hope’s left and tried to mimic his movements.

“and then at this part we could break like this…” said J-Hope, as the second chorus came along, demonstrating at the same time, “and then I go right and you go left… then come back in the middle and pop…”

Jimin nodded, an air of serious focus on his face, and they tried it again.

Three hours later, they were both lying on the floor, panting, but sporting delighted expressions on their sweaty faces.

Jimin glanced at the clock that was now in his line of vision and sat up suddenly. “Oh sh*t! Is it so late already?!”

“Wae? It’s only 10!” retorted J-Hope, laughing at him.

“Yaah…” said Jimin, getting up and walking over to grab his bag, “You don’t know my mom, she’ll call the police if I don’t show up by 11!!”

His elder laughed, “Overprotective much?”

Jimin gave him a small, embarrassed smile, “yeah… well I’m an only child, so you know…”

“Aahh…” said J-Hope, knowingly. “Ok then, let’s go! I’ll walk you back to the station.”