The second time that Taehyung and Jaeyoung spent time together was a week after the boys' "Netflix and Chill" night. It had been almost four weeks since he had begun to try to talk to her. They had two big tests coming up in the days to come. To make matters worse for Taehyung, they were in chemistry and literature, specifically redox reactions and rhetorical devices, respectively. He cried inside, wondering what supreme force out there could possibly hate him so much as to put two tests in his hardest classes on the same day.

They were at Jaeyoung's apartment, and it was pretty late. The two were at the kitchen table, holding their bowls of ramyeon, a messy pile of notes and their textbooks on the flat wooden surface in front of them. Taehyung yawned, feigning sobbing sounds as he took a bite of his ramyeon.

"We're almost through literature. You can do this." Jaeyoung encouraged. "What is anadiplosis?"

"Mm," Taehyung quickly wiped his mouth and set down his bowl. "It's... uh... when you repeat the last word of one clause at the, uh, beginning of the next?"

"Good." She nodded.

Flashcard by flashcard, Taehyung made his way through the vocabulary. 

"Okay, we're done. Let's take a quick break before we move on to chem."

"Ugh, finally." Taehyung let out what sounded like a war cry in victory, making Jaeyoung jump in her seat.

Jaeyoung watched him carefully, eyeing the way he seemed to stare at nothing while never blinking and the way his long, slender hands gripped the red ceramic bowl. She observed the way his brown fringe fell around, but never directly in front of, his eyes. She let out a quiet sigh before he snapped out of his empty daze and met her eyes.

"Taehyung," Her voice was a near whisper. "Do you know why they call me the Abominable Jaeyoung?"

"Y-yes." He replied hesitantly.

"No." She shook her head. "I know what you were going to say. I mean, why exactly am I 'abominable?' Why don't I talk to anyone? Why do I glare at people until they leave me alone?"

"Then tell me, Jaeyoung." His expression was very serious. "What makes you 'abominable?'"

She quivered slightly. "I... My family... ruined itself."

His brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Let's just say that," Her voice dropped in tone and volume. "The Hongs are known to be verbally expressive, but not in a good way."

Taehyung's eyes flickered down to his empty bowl and then back up to Jaeyoung. "Are you comfortable with telling me this? You don't have to go on if you don't want to."

"No, no." She insisted. "I'm fine. I want to tell you. Okay, where do I begin... My brother, Jaewon... He was never afraid to speak his mind. One day I came home from school and found out that he had been charged with verbal assault. He was only 19 when that happened. I was fourteen. And then... then, my dad... he was stupid enough to blurt out that he was in love with his best friend's wife. He had already begun an affair and left us once the news was out in the open. And finally, my mom. She screws herself over from being too open about everything. She makes everything about herself and posts way too much about her life and opinions on social media just to garner attention, and, ugh, just everything. So a lot of people dislike her and find her annoying or rude. Because of all this..."

"...You prefer to remain silent." Taehyung finished her sentence.

"Yes." Jaeyoung sniffled loudly, turning away. 

Taehyung was reminded of the most memorable Miranda Right: "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you." All this time, when people thought that Jaeyoung was being unreasonably cold, she was actually just trying to protect herself. Instead of disclosing her life to those around her, she chose to play safe by keeping everything secret. She sacrificed human interaction for self preservation, leading to her jaded, gloomy perspective on life. He pitied her for being so afraid of betrayal.

Despite this, he understood the rationale of Jaeyoung's behavior. Indeed, humans were full of capabilities, both good and evil. Most of the time, they were judged by either their words or actions, if not both. Everyone had different combinations of personality traits that made them individually unique, however when viewed collectively, everything seemed to messily blend together. This was the origin of stereotypes and overall judgments of the human race.

Still, humans were social creatures. Although it was important to be cautious, it was unhealthy to be completely isolated from society. There had to be a balance between silence and openness, as well as an acceptance of the risks of both extremes.

"No matter what, there will always be people who judge you regardless of whether you say anything or nothing at all." Taehyung placed a hand reassuringly on Jaeyoung's shoulder. "There are a ton of people in this world, so you have many opportunities to meet many different people."

"But Taehyung," She stared down into her lap miserably. "What if those people use who I am and where I come from to try to hurt me?" 

"In the grand scheme of things, those judgy people shouldn't matter compared to the other, great people that you may meet in the future." He paused briefly, sighing. "It's up to you to decide who matters in your life, so don't sweat the small stuff, okay?"

She nodded, wiping her hidden tears with the sleeve of her sweater. "I guess you have a point."

Slowly, the two turned away from one another. Jaeyoung swirled her chopsticks around in the remainder of her ramyeon while Taehyung awkwardly took a sip from his glass of water. Though he had helped her somewhat, he couldn't help but worry that he made her hate him. It was ridiculous to even think about really, given her positive response, but for some reason he felt uneasy. He was overly concerned, and he felt so stupid for feeling that way. It was as if Jaeyoung was evaluating him in her mind and watching his every move, even if she actually wasn't. Why was he feeling so paranoid all of a sudden?

He fished deep in his mind to try to gather his thoughts. He tried to recall everything he had ever said to or about her. He searched for his feelings, his thoughts, and his emotions. Her face began to appear in his conscience, but he couldn't fully process that it was indeed her because it was cloudy and murky.

She had a unique look that he thought was charming: round face, high cheekbones, monolidded, almond-shaped eyes, and plump, red lips.

"I like the way you wore your hair today. You look very nice." Oh, that dark blue bandana headband thing. It really showed off how pretty her face could be.

Her wispy and fragile, but clear and soothing voice.

"Taehyung." The first time she said his name, he was almost giddy.

Cute... Pretty...

The image of Jaeyoung within his mind became vivid and clear. 

Oh, crap.

He was paranoid because he liked her.

"I'm really glad to have made a friend like you." Jaeyoung finally spoke up. "Thank you, Taehyung."

"Uh, y-yeah. No pr-problem." He replied shakily. "I'm glad we're friends too."

On the inside, Taehyung was smiling widely. On the outside, however, he had to subtly bite his lip to keep himself from actually breaking into a huge grin. When he decided to leave and return home, he was practically floating out the door and down the street. He was so close to seeing her smile.

He just wanted to make her happy.