Taehyung shut his eyes and exhaled a deep breath as their homeroom teacher, Mr Jung, was reading out the events for the Sports Festival. His desk was in the second row from the front of the room and was between Hoseok’s and Hyunjung’s. He turned his head to the right to look at Hyunjung who appeared just as disinterested as he was. 

“Okay, so Jeon Jungkook, you’ll be running the 400 metres and Jung Hoseok will be running the 200 metres for the boys.”

Jungkook turned to give a thumbs-up to Hoseok whose desk was behind his, who happily reciprocated the gesture. Before he turned back to face the front he saw Hyunjung looking at him and gave her a full-teeth grin which made her smile. Taehyung saw this and rolled his eyes without them noticing.

Mr Jung peered up from his glasses with a sigh after he read out the next event. “Any girls up for the 200?” He knew his students well and knew what was to happen next; nothing. All the girls in the class tried not to meet the eyes of their homeroom teacher and pretended not to hear.

“Hey Shinae,” Jimin suddenly said, breaking the silence and making sure his voice was loud enough so that Teacher Jung could hear, “you’re a good runner aren’t you?”

Shinae shot him a glare. “Jimin, please shut up,” she snarled quietly and forced a smile at Mr Jung to hide her horrified look.

Mr Jung clicked his pen. “Park Shinae for the 200 then, thank you very much.”

“Jimin, I will kill you.”

Jimin slung an arm on the back of his chair and grinned. “You’re welcome.”

Jungkook chuckled at his best friend but said nothing. The three went to the same middle school and he perfectly remembered Shinae during athletic practice back then; she wasn’t particularly good with long distance but her speed was on par with the others on the higher team. She stopped attending training on her last year of middle school and she hadn’t been practising much but nevertheless, Jungkook figured she’d be perfectly fine with running 200 metres.

Mr Jung continued to read the events list. “The 400, girls? Come on, someone has to do it. Otherwise I’ll have to choose someone myself if no one is going to volunteer and –”

“I’ll do it, sir!”

The class erupted into giggles and Mr Jung looked to the back of the class at the student who said that. “Very funny Jungjae, but do I really need to remind you of your gender?”

Jungkook chuckled and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms. “With a wig and the right size brassiere, it could work.” 

His remark made the laughs of the class all the more louder and even their sedate homeroom teacher found it hard to suppress a small laugh at his joke. Mr Jung waited for the class to settle down a little before scanning his eyes around, scrutinizing each student. His eyes landed on Hyunjung but then he looked towards the back. “Jun Eunsook.”

The class hushed and chairs creaked as all heads turned to the back of the room at the girl hunched over her desk in the corner who was completely detached from the rest of the class and was instead doing extra revision. She brought her head up, looking timidly confused at the staring faces.

“Jun Eunsook,” Mr Jung repeated.

She flinched at the sound of her name and tried to tidy the books on her desk but they fell to the floor during the rush. She got out of her seat and crouched down to pick them up again. “S-sir?”

He waited for her to sit back in her desk before he continued, “I’m volunteering you to represent our class and run the four-hundred for the girls at the Sports Festival.”

Even Taehyung was surprised, but unlike everyone else, he didn’t look sympathetically at the shy girl who appeared like she was still registering what was being said in her head. His expression remained like stone. He knew the feeling of being pitied – and it was not a nice feeling, at all.

A voice spoke up. “But sir, don’t you think that’s a little harsh?” All eyes moved back to the front at Jungkook who practically said what was in every student’s mind in the class. Eunsook brought her head up but continued to still tremble a little.

Mr Jung rested his forearms on his desk and leaned forward, raising a brow. “Which part exactly is it do you think is harsh, Jeon Jungkook?”

Jimin glanced at his best friend, waiting for what he was going to say. Jungkook stared back incredulously at his homeroom teacher, not quite believing what he was hearing. “Well, everything. Why pick on Eunsook?”

Mr Jung cleared his throat. “As long as she takes part it won’t matter if she isn’t in the top three, it’s still a point for our class. And Jungkook, unlike you who throws himself at any opportunity he gets, Eunsook barely partakes in any school activities, I only thought that the Sports Festival is a good place for her to start. It will do her good to participate.”

“But she does take part in school activities.”

“Such as?”

“Uh…” Jungkook sent Eunsook a glance. “Hey Eunsook, weren’t you in the chess nationals last year?”

She didn’t whether to be happy that Jungkook was sticking up for her or to be embarrassed because he had mistook her for someone else – she didn’t even play chess. She shook her head.

Mr Jung clicked his pen repeatedly. “You mean Jo Eunsun from the other class?” he said without looking up. Taehyung sighed and folded his arms in front of him on the table, resting his head on them.

“Oh… uh…” Jungkook realized his mistake and looked apologetically to Eunsook who was wringing her wrists from nervousness. He observed the faces of his classmates and they all seemed to be telling him the same thing; do something. “But really sir,” he reasoned, “the 400 metre?”

Mr Jung peered up again from his glasses. “There are worse.”

Defeated, Jungkook opened his mouth to say something but he couldn’t think of any more words to say. Unless another girl volunteered there wasn’t much he could do. The class sat in stillness and the only sound they heard was pen scratching against paper as Mr Jung wrote Eunsook’s name on the events list.

The reaction of the class was a mixture; some who looked like they weren’t bothered and just wanted to get it over and done with, some who wanted to say something but were holding back, and there were still some who looked back at Eunsook who was avoiding their gazes while fiddling with her fingernails. It was obvious she tried to not show a reaction, but she looked like she was on the verge of tears.

“Sir! I’ll run in Eunsook’s place!”

Taehyung jumped a little in his seat and brought his head up; he already knew whose voice that belonged to. The rest of the class stared at Hyunjung who had her hand shot up in the air, looking raptly at Mr Jung who stopped mid-way from writing the rest of Eunsook’s class details on the paper before her outburst. There was a short moment of everyone just watching Hyunjung in silence. They all knew she hated running almost just as much as Eunsook. How could they forget the girl who was the reason why Jungkook - one of the few people in their class who was actually good at sport - the brightest hope of the class, sprained his ankle and couldn’t participate last year? Or very simply, the girl who was quiet at the beginning of the year but was yet now somehow best friends with the guy who she tripped up by accident.

“What are you doing?” Taehyung whispered harshly, but she ignored him. Her sudden declaration also had its surprise on Jungkook, but a small smile gradually formed on his lips as he looked at her.

With a shaky but convincing voice, she said, “I-I’ll run the 400 metres in Eunsook’s place.”

Mr Jung put his pen down and observed her carefully. “Are you sure?”

She nodded with full vigour which caused Taehyung to sigh inwardly and made him wish that he could hit her on the head with an object that would be heavy enough for her to knock her out and put her hand down – like a chair or something.

“Okay then,” Mr Jung replied, crossing out Eunsook’s name with Hyunjung’s in its place.  “Yoon Hyunjung for the 400.”

Hyunjung sat back down, not daring to bring her head up. About two minutes passed and the class still remained quiet.

“Hey.” She thought she heard someone whisper. She shrugged it off until she felt something light make contact with the top of her head. She looked down when it fell to the floor and it was a ball of a crumpled sheet of paper. She picked it up and smoothed it out, expecting some sort of note written, but it was blank. She brought her head up, and her eyes met with Jungkook’s own.

His arm was perched over the backrest of his chair so that he was half-turned from the front and her. Hyunjung scrunched her eyebrows trying to guess what he wanted but he gave her a wink and a toothy grin which made her contemplate what the heck just happened. Seeing her blank face, he laughed lowly to himself and rotated his body so that he faced the front.

Hyunjung turned her head to the side to look at Taehyung who was watching at her as if she just did something horribly wrong that she wasn’t aware of.

“What is it?” she whispered to him, not expecting much of a satisfying answer. He tended to only respond with short sentences anyway.

This time she was replied with an elongated sigh that could’ve meant anything.

“Never mind,” she murmured, slouching in her seat.

Meanwhile, Eunsook was shook with surprise. As soon as Hyunjung had volunteered she felt a mixture of overwhelming relief but at the same time guilt. She was a little familiar with Hyunjung and learnt that the two of them weren’t too far from the same boat and were very similar when it came to their mind sets. Eunsook was just a whole other level of shyness and demureness. Unlike Hyunjung who was willing to make friends and was contented enough when someone said a measly ‘hello’ to her, Eunsook shut anyone out that she thought would pull her away from her comfort zone. Rowdy, outgoing and sociable? That was a definite no-no for her. She just wasn’t attracted to the idea of being close with people like that. Although, there was one person who she thought was an exception. 

Which reminded her. She checked in her bag to see if the lemon ice tea she bought earlier was still there. A sigh of relief escaped when she spotted the yellow packaging.

*  *  *  *  *  *

“I am so screwed.” Hyunjung paused from walking to lean her head against the wall.

Taehyung groaned despairingly. He didn’t want to be stuck for twenty minutes at the back of the lunch queue. He stood their looking at her with nonchalance, but his much suppressed irritation was visible. “Yes, you are.”

She ignored his disheartening remark. “But I did the right thing.”

“No not really. You would’ve been better off if you didn’t volunteer at all.”

She heaved a sigh and resumed walking with him which was more like a trudge. Taehyung glanced back at her and took in a sharp, exasperated breath when he realized how slow she was actually walking. Taehyung strode up to her and leant down to her level until their faces were within a five-centimetre radius at the most. Hyunjung internally sighed, there was probably something on her face, again. She really needed to start bringing a mirror with her, so that she could check her reflection at any time so that people would stop coming uncomfortably close to her to get whatever was on her face off. She felt his breath curl gently on her cheek while he brought his hand near to her face, he leaned closer – even closer –

“OUUUCH!” Hyunjung rapidly rubbed the sore pink mark he imposed when he flicked her forehead. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow…” She paced backwards and forwards in a line while still trying to numb the pain by rubbing it over and over. “What the heck, Taehyung? What was that for?”

Taehyung watched her as she continued to mindlessly walk in circles. “There was a bug on your face.”  

“But that hurt!”

“Did I ever tell you you’re an idiot?” he said. 

“Did I ever tell you how encouraging, kind-hearted and sympathetic you are?” she murmured, pausing to send him an agitated stare.

“No, but I think you should more often,” Taehyung deadpanned in response, and hung onto the thin string of patience he had left. “You know, when a guy is that close to you, you should push them away instead of standing there as if you just saw them shirtless.”

“But I -”

“Like what just happened then, I could have kissed you if I wanted to.”

Hyunjung blinked at him. He stared back. Very gradually, her lips slithered into a crooked smile as if she was trying to stop something from coming out of it. She couldn’t hold in her laughter much longer. Her hands rested on her knees as she tried to support her body from laughing so much – the sound reverberated through the hallway. Students that walked past looked at the pair oddly before continuing on their way.

Taehyung’s eyes remained serious and cold. “What’s so funny?”

Her breath came in quick gasps between her chortles. “But - that’s - the - thing, I know you would never kiss me.” Her laughs finally subsided and they exchanged a long look.

Taehyung’s expression was indifferent. “You’re right, I wouldn’t.” He walked a few strides ahead of her but she was soon at his heels.

They passed the lockers.

“Hyunjung! Taehyung!”

The two turned behind them and they saw Jimin jogging up to them with Jungkook trailing behind. When they caught up to them Jungkook grinned and slung an arm casually around Hyunjung’s shoulders. “Yo.”

Hyunjung shared his smile. “Hi.”

“Are you going to the cafeteria?”

“Yep.”

Taehyung got his mobile out and plugged his earphones in. While they walked Jimin got a drink can from the outside pocket of his blazer and then opened it and took a sip of its contents.

Jungkook eyed the can. “Is that lemon tea?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Jimin replied.

“Where’d you get it?”

Jimin hesitated for a second. “It was on your desk just before we left. There was this note though.” He held the can in one hand while withdrawing a small slip of paper from his pocket and giving it to Jungkook to read:

Jungkook-ah! I bought this for you this morning. Please accept it.

Jungkook drew a sigh and watched Jimin shamelessly sipping from the can. “Why are you drinking that? That was supposed to be for me.”

Jimin took another sip. “I’m thirsty and I don’t have a drink with me.”

Jungkook rolled his eyes but let Jimin have the can anyway. He took his arm off of Hyunjung’s shoulders and went to hold her hand instead which took her by surprise. “How did you know I liked lemon tea?” he questioned with a wide grin.

Hyunjung furrowed her brows. “I didn’t.”

His smile fell and contorted into a look of confusion. “It wasn’t from you?”

She shook her head.

Taehyung could still hear their conversation through his earphones.

“You don’t know who it’s from?” Jimin asked.

“I’ve actually been getting those for a while now, but I don’t actually know who gives them to me – ah sorry!”

Hyunjung’s hand slipped from Jungkook’s so that she could help the person he accidentally bumped into.

Jungkook crouched down also so that he could help her up. “Sorry Eunsook, I didn’t see you there.”

Eunsook kept her eyes on the ground while picking her belongings up. “I-I’m fine.”

“Here.” Jungkook held one of her books out to her. She looked up at him but hastily took the book from his hands once her eyes met his and scurried away from them, clutching all her books to her chest.

“U-um.” Hyunjung stared after her.

Jimin walked ahead. “Come on guys, the lunch queue is probably long by now.”

Taehyung grumbled in irritation. The boys walked ahead while Hyunjung was still gazing off to where Eunsook went.

Jungkook broke her train of thought. “You coming?” he asked.

Hyunjung blinked but then caught up to them. “Yeah.”