a/n: this links with the previous chapter.

Taehyung observed Hyunjung and Jungkook for the past few minutes and suspected something must have happened between them. To him it was clear from the subtle shuffles of their feet and the frequent glances between the two which Taehyung couldn’t decipher. He felt as if he shouldn’t be there, as if he was an obstacle in the way for them to resolve whatever happened.

He directed his eyes back to the front of the room and saw their art teacher struggling to keep a steady hold of some boxes of art supplies. He rose from his seat. “Ms Han, I’ll help you take those to the storage room.”

Hyunjung and Jungkook looked at Taehyung who was already on his way to assist Ms Han with the large cardboard boxes her arms only barely got a grasp of. The teacher smiled when he took a box off from her. “Thank you Taehyung, that’s very kind of you.”

He nodded as he held the door open for her to pass through, sneaking a last glance at Hyunjung and Jungkook who were watching him before he left the room.

Ms Han led him down the corridor and opened the door of the storage room for him. “Sorry for the trouble, I realized I brought the wrong box for this class.”

“It’s fine.” A dim sheen caught his eye when he walked through. “Congratulations on your engagement by the way, Ms Han.”

She froze - her hand still on the knob of the door even after she closed it. “How did you know? I haven’t told any of my students yet.”

Taehyung remained perfunctory. “The abnormal amount of flowers you’ve been receiving since last week, it must've been from the other teachers to congratulate you on something. But what confirmed it was that you’ve been wearing a rubber glove on your left hand recently in our art classes. You’re left-handed, so of course the other students probably would've thought it was to keep clean from paint or dye spillages or something, but you never wore them before, even if you were handling those. Ms Han, you’re not wearing any gloves now.”

She dropped her hand to her side and brought it up again to look at the slim, shiny band wrapped around her ring finger and then looked inquiringly at Taehyung. “You must be the observant type, aren’t you?”

Taehyung merely smiled. “You could’ve just taken off the ring instead of going through the trouble of wearing an oversized glove.”

“I promised my fiancée that I wouldn’t take it off, he knows how forgetful and distracted I sometimes am.” She laughed at her own perception of herself. “If I lost this ring, I don’t think I’d ever be able to forgive myself.”

Remembering the task at hand, she scanned her eyes around the storage room. “Ah! These are the correct boxes. Here Taehyung.” She handed him one of the two bulky boxes of acrylic paint. “I’ve been waiting for the right moment to tell my students, it would probably be a shock to them to suddenly announce that I’m engaged.”

“True. You seem to be a favorite among the young male population of the school,” he said tonelessly.

Ms Han laughed. “You know what I mean.”

Of course he knew what she meant. Heck, how could he ignore the imprudent efforts the other boys in his class go to in order to catch the attention of Ms Han? It irritated him almost to the core. How could he forget the incident two weeks ago when Hoseok almost fell out the window from the second floor to throw cherry blossom petals over Ms Han when she was walking past underneath the classroom window. If Taehyung was honest, he was relieved she was already engaged.

She opened the door and they exited the storage room. “So Taehyung, do you have anyone on your mind?”

“Pardon?” His steady train of thought came to a halt. “Did you say something, Ms Han?”

In truth, he did hear what she asked him, he was just taken by surprise. The corners of her lips perked up. “You’re not the only observant one.”

Taehyung still didn’t understand.

“Yoon Hyunjung.” She knew that name was enough to catch him off guard. A mischievous gleam flashed through her eyes. She got him. Taehyung’s grip on the box loosened and it dropped to the floor, scattering the bottles of acrylic pain by his feet. He instantly bent down to pick them up.

Ms Han crouched down and put the box she was holding aside to help him. “I’ve also been watching you. You seem to be fond of her.”

Taehyung didn’t say anything, he just continued putting the bottles of paint back in the box.

“She’s one of the very few people you talk to, and you treat her differently from the other people in your class.”

“That’s because she’s a friend.”

“But you know…” she said quietly, “Jeon Jungkook seems to also be very fond of her, and she seems to feel that way too.”

Taehyung kept his line of gaze focused on the ground. “What else is there to expect of the Jeon Jungkook.” He then added softly, “I already knew she liked him.” Perhaps long before she was even aware of it herself.

He stood up and Ms Han regarded his face, expecting perhaps an expression different from his usual, but no; he was serene as glass. He walked ahead of her, leaving her to look sympathetically from behind him.

“Poor boy,” she murmured to herself.

She eventually caught up to him when they arrived at the classroom. “Taehyung can you put that on the back table while I put this at the front?”

He nodded and proceeded to his table. He saw that Hyunjung had moved to sit next to Jungkook. They probably didn’t see him as there was no reaction from them when he approached.

Clunk.

He dropped the heavy box onto the surface of their table and they both immediately looked up.

Taehyung sat in the seat he had before.  “Ms Han told me to put this on the back table which is this one.”

He watched the two and then looked down at the dry acrylic paint stains on the table which were probably caused by past students messing around.

He was right, something definitely happened.

Hyunjung was already stood up to drag her chair back and move back next to Taehyung, but he stopped her when he saw a look exchanged between her and Jungkook. “Just stay there. Besides, there’s more room for me to work if you’re not sat next to me.”

“Oh.”

Taehyung spotted a mixed look of confusion and sadness on her face, and he regretted his words, but she pulled on a stoic expression and tried giving him a smile. “Okay.”

Taehyung wasn't sure what it was, but he felt something in his chest proliferate.

It was probably nothing.

Ms Han turned her head to look to the back of the room. She sighed. The only thing she could do was to watch in pity.