“See you later uncle!” Hyunjung shut the front door behind her. She noted in her head the things that she needed to bring today, counting the items with her fingers. Texboook, pencil case, lunch... “Oh wait.” She rushed back inside and grabbed Taehyung’s umbrella which was leant on the wall beside the door. “Almost forgot.” She looked up at the sky; the weather was quite pleasant compared to the evening before. There was still dew on the leaves and a few puddles here and there, but she was in good spirits. Nearing the convenience store, she was hoping to pass by Jungkook like she always did in the morning. But this time, she didn’t see him when she turned round the corner. She always preferred to go to school on her own, but once Jungkook had started to accompany her, she began to prefer to have someone to walk with. Maybe he left early? She ignored her slight discontent and carried on.

She arrived at school and saw Taehyung among the mob of students by the lockers. “Taehyung!”

For a moment, it looked like he was going to ignore her and carry on walking like he usually did, but he hesitated and faced her. “Um, good morning.”

She got out his umbrella and went up to him. “Thanks for letting me use it.” He took it from her and put it in his locker. He didn’t say anything and she stared at the floor. “The cookies weren’t very good were they?”

He glanced at her. “They weren’t that bad.”

“Really?” She grinned widely when he nodded. “That’s such a relief. I was getting worried that you weren’t going to like them, you don’t seem like the kind of person to like sweet foods.”

He paused. “…Right.”

“But you saying that they weren’t that bad makes me feel so much better.”

“You’re welcome?”

They walked to their homeroom together. It may have been too mediocre for them to notice, but little by little, their friendship was finally going somewhere.

*   *   *

“A chlorine atom in the gas phase has a strong affinity for an electron, the formation of a chloride ion gives out heat to its surroundings…”

Hyunjung hated her chemistry class, they were studying thermodynamics again and everything that was being said came through one ear and out the other. She couldn’t care less about electron affinity and electronegativity. Their teacher pointed to a diagram on the board. “Electron affinity is the standard enthalpy change when an electron is added to an isolated atom in the gas phase…”

She scratched her head and scribbled down a couple of notes. Their teacher continued talking and she desperately wanted to ask a question. She observed the faces of the class; they all looked like they understood exactly what was being said. Hyunjung turned her seat back to the front and continued to stare at the diagram to cover up the fact that she secretly wanted to jump off a bridge so that she could never study thermodynamics again. I just need to endure a couple more minutes. Their teacher walked along the desks. “You’ll be having a test on this in a couple of weeks, so pay attention.” Now she was definitely screwed. If she knew they were going to be tested, she probably would’ve tried to focus.

She needed to find someone to help her revise, which was going to be difficult since she didn’t really know a lot of people that were in her chemistry class. Searching her eyes around the room, she noted the people that she did know: Namjoon, Taehyung and Shinae. Namjoon would probably be willing to help, but he was proactive in a lot of school activities, he probably wouldn’t have time. If she asked Taehyung, he would undoubtedly call her stupid, something along those lines. Shinae would’ve been a comfortable option if she knew her better, but they haven’t even had a proper conversation. She sank lower into her seat. Yep, she was totally screwed. Throughout the rest of the lesson she kept one eye on the teacher and one eye on the clock, waiting...

The lunch bell rang and she shot up from her seat, much like the rest of the class. She came up to Taehyung's desk. “Can you help me revise for the test?”

He was packing his stationery in his bag. “What do you need help revising with?”

“Um, everything.”

He stopped and faced her. “No.”

“Please?”

“I need to revise too you know, it would’ve helped if you concentrated.”

She moped at him. “But everyone else is too busy to help.”

He looked at her with a nonchalant expression, slinging his bag on his shoulder. “That’s your problem, so go find someone else.”

“But…”

He disregarded her and began to walk away. She slung her bag off her shoulder and hit him with it. He tripped forwards and whipped his head round. “You little—okay fine, I’ll help! Will you leave me alone now?”

“Thank you!” She beamed at him and put her bag back on. “Sorry for hitting you, again.” Taehyung watched her as she went out the room and allowed his eyelids to slowly open and close, much like an adult would to a child.

Hyunjung was distracted by the light coming through the windows in the hallway and she accidentally bumped against someone and stumbled onto the floor. Shinae stopped in her tracks and looked down at her. “Oh!” She helped Hyunjung up and bowed her head. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay?” Hyunjung straightened. “Thanks.”

“I’ll see you round,” Shinae said, going off with her friends. 

Hyunjung watched her disappearing figure and shrugged. She was too entranced by the streaks of sunlight that darted through the open windows. She went up to the pane and peered outside; Jimin, Yoongi and Hoseok were outside sitting under the shade of a tree. Jimin caught her looking at them and beckoned her over. She leant away from the window and went outside to where they were. She approached them and J-Hope waved to her. She took her bag off, dropping it down on the grass and sat down beside them. “Where are the others?”

“Namjoon and Jin are doing club activities, and I don’t actually know where Jungkook is.”

Yoongi creased his eyebrows. “Come to think of it, I haven’t really seen him today either.” He prodded Jimin on the shoulder. “Do you know where Jungkook is?”

Jimin looked at him oddly. “You don’t know? Hasn’t he told you?”

“What are you talking about?”

He folded his arms, facing away from them. “If he hasn’t told you then I’m not going to say anything about it, no—.”

Hoseok interposed. “It must be pretty personal if he only told you and not any of us.”

Jimin nodded. “It is.”

Yoongi elbowed him. “I think you should shut up before you end up telling us.” Hyunjung listened and it made her wonder where he was, but if it was personal it wasn’t her business.

She took out her lunch and glanced back at the school building, she saw Taehyung stood by the window. “Taehyung! Have you happened to of seen Jungkook today?” she shouted at him.

He looked down at her. “Why are you asking me?”

“I was just wondering.” She waved him over. “Do you want to come outside?”

“No.”

“But it’s sunny,” she said back.

“All the more reason for me not to go outside,” he retorted.

She saw him walk away and looked back down at her lunch. Jimin continued to look up at the window as if Taehyung was still there. “I don’t like that guy. As far as I can tell, all he does most of the time is glare at people and ignore them.”

Hyunjung stopped mid-way from taking a bite from her sandwich. “He’s not that bad, maybe that’s just what he’s like.”

“Hm, whatever you say.” He shrugged, resting his hands behind his head and laying his back down on the grass. “I still don’t like the way he acts.”

She frowned at Jimin. “Don’t badmouth him, it’s not nice.”

He sat up. “I’m just stating, I don’t like his attitude.”

“Jimin.” Yoongi warned. J-Hope was sending gestures from behind Hyunjung to Jimin, from motioning to zip his mouth to frantically shaking his head, anything in an attempt to signal him to shut up and analyse the situation.

Jimin didn’t see him. “I’m quite sure no one likes him anyway, he probably thinks he’s all high and mighty. He’s a stuck-up jerk.” 

The atmosphere suddenly grew tense. Hoseok gaped at him wide-eyed. Yoongi pursed his lips together and stared at the grass. Hyunjung stood up and dusted off her uniform. “I’ll see you later.”

“Where are you going?” J-Hope asked.

“Back inside, it’s too hot out here anyway.” She stalked off away from them, bringing her bag and lunch with her. Jimin’s eyes widened with realization and he watched her blankly, instantaneously feeling a mixture of fault and confusion.

“Add that to the list of girls you scared away.” Yoongi patted his back. “Congratulations.”

Jimin tilted his head. “I didn’t think she’d be that bothered.”

“You’ll need to apologize to her later, she looked pissed.”

He exhaled a sigh. “I guess I should.”

Taehyung was sat at an empty table in the cafeteria. There were barely any other students in there, he presumed they were all outside. He heard footsteps approach his table, already knowing who it was. The footsteps stopped when they reached him. “Can I sit here with you?”

He looked up. “If you want.”

He lifted the lid off of his lunch box. Hyunjung sat across from him and slouched into her seat. She looked bothered; she stared with a vacant expression into a space, her arms were folded and her foot was tapping irascibly on the floor.

Taehyung rolled his eyes. “Can you stop that?”

The tapping ceased. “Sorry.” She huffed her cheeks as she also got out her lunch box. “Taehyung, do you not like the sunny weather or something? We’re like the only ones in here.”

It took a while for him to answer. “My skin is sensitive so it gets irritated easily. That’s why I try and avoid going outside too often when the weather is sunny.”

Her attention came gradually to what had been said. “I didn’t know… I’ll keep that in mind next time.”  She chortled. “Is that why you’re so cold all the time?”

One eyebrow fell heavily onto his eye, the other shot straight up as he stared at her in disapproval. “That’s not funny.”

She bowed her head in apology. “Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood.”

“It’s fine.”

Jimin’s voice replayed in her head. He’s just a stuck-up jerk.

“I don’t think you’re a jerk,” she blurted.

Taehyung paused and brought his eyes up at her, marginally taken aback by her abrupt outburst. He coughed, not really sure how to respond. “People would usually say the opposite, you know.”

“Aren’t you bothered by that though? When people call you things like that?”

“Not anymore,” he hesitated, “I’ve heard it a lot of times before.”

She looked considerately at Taehyung, before looking back down at the table and resumed back to her lunch.