A/N: a lot of people think Taehyung has no chance. But his chances were just as equal with Jungkook's at the start, probably not so much anymore but it was. Even if Jungkook and Hyunjung were actually together he'd still have a small chance, it all comes down to what he does.

A twitch occurring in Taehyung’s left eye seemed to be something he had long been used to already – notably when he was annoyed. It was already the end of school and he went to the library to do some extra research for a class, only to be interrupted. He wasn’t even aware Hyunjung had come in until she had taken a seat next to him uninvited only after he sat down.

“Guess what? Guess what? Guess what?” Her hands were holding something behind her back.

“What?”

She whipped the paper from behind her back, putting it up to his face and sang triumphantly; “I got over seventy percent on my chemistry paper.”

“You came here just so you could gloat to me about your results?”  

“Of course not!”

“Then what?”

“I just wanted to thank you properly for helping me revise for it,” she said with sincerity, “I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for your tuition.”

His expression softened. Hyunjung just thanked him; something which almost always slipped from the abstracted girl’s mind, he better be grateful for it while he still could. “No problem.”

“So what did you get?” she asked.

“You really want to know?”

“Let me guess first… you had ninety.”

Taehyung didn’t see why everyone just assumed he’d do well for every test paper, he just studied a bit more than everyone else, which was all. With a sigh he took out his chemistry paper from one of the folders splayed out across in front of him and showed it to her. She took it from his hands to look properly at the number in thick red marker at the front. “Ninety-five percent? What did you get wrong?”

“I got the final answer for the last question correct, but to get full marks you had to write down how you solved the answer.”

“And you solved it mentally without writing it down, didn’t you?”

“Mm hm.”

She huffed. “I went full out with showing my workings. How’re you supposed to work it out in your head without making an error?”

“Maybe next time I can show you, but right now I’m busy.”

“That’s fine,” she said. “Just continue whatever it is you were doing.”

For a couple of minutes she stayed there with him. They didn’t talk. Taehyung just continued as if she wasn’t there and Hyunjung was watching him with both her elbows propped on the table, her cheeks resting on her knuckles. 

Seeing the time on the wall clock, she stood up and tucked her chair. “I’ve gotta go, I told Jungkook I’d only be a couple of minutes.”

“Jungkook?” he repeated, his eyes still focused on his work.

“We’re walking home together.”

“Oh right, I forgot you two lived quite close.”

She let out a loud, elongated yawn – this soon passed onto Taehyung who saw her and he yawned also. “At least cover your mouth. Yawns are contagious.”

“Right, sorry,” she said and picked up her bag. “See you tomorrow.”

“Bye.”

“And Taehyung?”

He looked up.

“My uncle always says to give your head a break when you need it. Don’t devote too much time studying. It’s not good for you.”

If he looked at her anymore he knew he’d end up smiling. He leant over the page of his textbook. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

She beamed. “Bye Tae!”

Before he could answer, she had already gone and left.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Jimin looked at her, making it obvious that he would rather be left alone before shutting his locker. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Shinae, no matter how many times you ask. I am not going to the mall with you on Saturday.”

She folded her arms and tapped her fingers irascibly on them. “Reason being?”

“I… um…” he drawled, not bringing any improvement to Shinae’s impatience, along with her calculating stare that could cut him through. “…have to do my English homework.”

“You lunkhead, we’re in the same class. We don’t have any English homework.”

“I’m still not going.”

“But Jihyun and the others are busy and I have no one to go with.” She paused. There was one other person she could ask who slipped her mind. “I’ll ask Hyunjung.”

Jimin scoffed at her confidence. “She’ll probably be with Jungkook or the others.”

Shinae sighed. “At this rate she’ll only have male friends.”

“What’s wrong with having male friends? Considering that Hyunjung’s male friends are also my friends,” Jimin expostulated with extreme though suppressed irritation.

“I didn’t say anything was wrong about it, I’m just saying that there shouldn’t be such an unbalance.”

“Whatever,” he replied. “I’m still not going no matter how many times you plead.”

She turned her back on him and was on her way out of the school doors, so there was now a couple metres of space between them. “Fine.”

“Fine,” he mimicked.

She swivelled back round so that the direction she was facing was towards him. “Hey! I heard that!”

“You were meant to!” Jimin yelled back. He accidentally tripped over a crack in a tile on the floor.

Shinae snickered. “.”

“Drama on legs,” he retaliated.

“Bootlicker.”

“Blabbermouth!”

“Knuckle-dragger!”

“PRIMADONNA!”

“CROTCH STAIN!”

They were too caught up in their exchange of invectives that they didn’t notice two other people watching them. Hyunjung and Jungkook were just walking back after her trip from the library when they heard two distinct voices that came from the hallway.

Jungkook heaved a sigh, but his reaction remained indifferent, as if it was normal for him to see those two spitting insults at each other. “At least do this somewhere else. The sound echoes down the hallway, we can even hear you from outside the library.”            

Shinae shot one last scowl at Jimin. “I’m going home.” She stalked away from them and went out of the school doors.

Hyunjung stared after her with hung open. Was this what Jimin meant when he said that the only person Shinae wasn’t friendly with was him? “What did you do to make her so angry?”

Jimin brought his hands up to rest them on the back of his head. “I said I didn’t want to go to the mall with her on Saturday.”

“That’s it?”

“Yup.” He checked the time on his phone. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow then,” he said. “I have an afterschool detention with Ms Jung.”

Jungkook nudged him on the shoulder with his fist . “See you tomorrow.”

*  *  *  *  *  *

“Are they always bickering like that?” Hyunjung asked Jungkook while they were walking home together.

“Jimin and Shinae?”

She nodded.

“Yep, been going on since elementary. Shinae’s known Jimin way longer than I have, it’s because their moms were friends since high school and they often visited each other’s house when they were younger. They practically shared their childhood.” Jungkook saw the look on her face after he finished talking. “They don’t think of each other like that, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s more like a brother-sister thing. Shinae always stood up for him throughout elementary when he was being bullied just because he was a little chubby in the cheeks. But now they’re arguments end with shouting fests which usually don’t end well.” He interlaced his fingers together and rested them on the back of his head. “You?”

“What about me?”

He turned his head to look properly at her. “Did you have some sort of childhood friend?”

Hyunjung pondered for a while; she only had a vague recollection of someone like that since she was still so young back then, but she tried her best anyway to tell him what she managed to recall. “I remember this boy who was the same age as I was when my family and I used to live in Daegu. My uncle introduced me to him when he went to visit a friend of his there.”

“You used to live in Daegu?”

“Yeah, but we shortly moved to Songtan near the countryside so that my mom could live closer to her parents.”

“So did you ever see that kid again?” Jungkook asked.

“No, both of my parents grew up in Songtan. We only lived in Daegu because of work, so we didn’t really visit it after we moved.”

“Must’ve been a shock when you moved to Seoul then, crowds are a lot different compared to the rural areas of Songtan.”

“It was and still is.” She sighed. “I wish I still remembered what his face looked like though, but something I remembered clearly about him was his really close bond with his mom.”

“Yet you don’t even remember his name.”

She sulked at him and Jungkook laughed.

“He probably doesn’t remember mine either,” she said. “It would be embarrassing if we did meet again.” When she turned she noticed Jungkook’s eyes trained on her, and Hyunjung thought there must’ve been something on her face for his lips were formed into a pensive grin. “What is it?” she asked, and was about to wipe her cheek, but Jungkook caught her hand and brought it down between them while they walked, interweaving their fingers together.

Jungkook tilted his head up to look at the sky, as if it might help him to think back months before. “You’re a lot natural when having a conversation now, you don’t try to avoid my eyes either.”

She didn’t say anything. It’s because of you. That’s what she wanted to say.

They arrived at the convenience store building, which was where they had to go separate ways. They said their usual ‘goodbyes’ and ‘see you tomorrows’, and turned their backs on each other to walk their opposite directions. But before Hyunjung could turn the corner, fast footsteps resounded from behind her. She turned around to see who it was – it was Jungkook. He took her hand in his and ran back to the convenience store building, dragging her to the back wall. She tried pulling away her hand from his, but his grip was firm.

“Jungkook, what’s wro…” Her voice drifted, leaving the rest of her sentence unfinished as Jungkook bent his head down slowly so that his eyes were almost level with hers.

His breath curled her cheeks, and she felt her face burn under his scrutiny. He tilted his head slightly and brushed his lips against her own – they only just barely touched, but Hyunjung still felt both her breath and heart quickening as he leaned in even closer, closing the small gap between them. Warm lips pressed against her own. It took approximately two seconds for her to realize that Jungkook was kissing her and a further five seconds for her to realize that she was kissing him back. His lips were gentle, but firm. She felt like she was walking on air, a warmth enveloping her while he held her. He drew away and she could barely swallow the lump in . Jungkook let go of her hands and murmured another ‘see you tomorrow’ before hurrying back to the direction of his home, leaving her stood there like a deer in the headlights.

“Are you alright my dear?”

She broke out of her daze and bowed her head curtly at the old lady who just happened to walk by after Jungkook left her. “Y-yes ahjumoni, thank you for asking.”

“Okay, have a safe walk home.”

Hyunjung simply smiled at her and continued on her way. I’m hopeless, she thought to herself.

Absolutely hopeless.

*  *  *  *  *  *

“Is that you, hyung?”

“Yeah.” Taehyung entered the living-room and dumped his school bag onto the couch next to his younger brother.

“You’re back early, you said you’d be an hour. It’s only been about thirty minutes.” Taewon broke his gaze away from the screen for a few seconds to look at him with his eyes narrowed. “State your reason.”

The older stared back steadily at him. “Nothing, I just thought that I should take a little break from studying and head home for today.”

Taewon shrugged, seeming to accept his reason and shifted his attention back onto the television screen. “Well since you’re here early, do you want to play this new video game dad bought? It’s been a while since we played one together.”

Taehyung was about to tell him to go do his homework like he usually did, but he thought twice. His brother was right, it had been a while since they did something together to bond them. “Sure.”