Eunsook rocked on her heels as she waited. When it had only been a few minutes since they left the storage room, Jimin already declared his desperate need to go to the restroom. She didn’t protest, but she now found herself twiddling with her thumbs while she waited. She was getting impatient. He had been in there for at least ten minutes. It would be a lie to say she wasn’t concerned, but she couldn’t just barge inside the boys’ restroom. The thought of taking both the bags of equipment herself to the field did cross her mind, but they were way too heavy for one person to carry. She felt uncomfortable. The boys’ restroom was opposite the boys’ changing rooms and she had never in her two years at the school gone even at a close distance near them.

“Eunsook? What are you doing here?” Recognizing the voice, she ceased all movement and gradually turned. In the back of her mind she hoped that it wasn’t who she thought the person was, but that would’ve been a phenomenon, the person was (unfortunately for her) him.

“Is Hyunjung with you?” he asked, at the same time agitatedly fixing the sweatband on his forehead which kept sliding down no matter how many times he put it back to its original position.

Eunsook shook her head, noting his disappointed expression. “She’s with Taehyung back in the gym storage room.”

Jungkook’s smile fell at the mention of Taehyung, but he quickly recomposed himself. “Is Jimin taking long?” Eunsook nodded, not really looking at him but at the sweatband he had been continuously fiddling with.

He sighed and ruffled his hair. “Knowing him, he’ll probably be in there for a while. Tell you what, after I get my water bottle in the changing rooms, I’ll help you carry those to the field since I’m going back there,” he suggested.

She blinked, not really quite believing what she was hearing. “O-Oh, thank you.”

“No problem.” He hurried to the door of the changing rooms and came back out a few seconds later with his water bottle in one hand, and with the other he grabbed the strap of the other equipment bag and upheld it on his shoulder with ease. “Shall we go?”

She nodded and tried to imitate what Jungkook had done, but even with her two hands she still struggled to put the bag on her shoulder. She stumbled and almost fell over when it landed on her back. Jungkook tried his best not to laugh and then went over to help put the strap over her shoulder.

“Thank you,” she mumbled and he smiled, walking a little distance ahead of her. She quickened her steps a little to catch up to him and he noticed, so slowed his walking pace to match with hers. “Thanks,” she said again with relief. Jungkook scrunched his eyebrows and then let out a smothered laugh. She frowned, though tried to not make it to obvious. Was it something she said? Why was he laughing?

“I can’t count the number of times you’ve said thank you to me in the space of just a few minutes, really, it’s fine. You don’t have to thank me. You’re just as bad as Hyunjung, but instead she apologizes all the time.”

Eunsook didn’t say anything, but just continued walking. But she kept thinking about Hyunjung and Jungkook. There had been some talk about the two for some time now, no one questioned why they were always together, but for some it was frustrating. Eunsook had heard from a conversation between Shinae and Jihyun (she wouldn’t say she had been eavesdropping, they were just talking really loudly, it was impossible not to listen). Jungkook and Hyunjung walked out together after the end of a class and Shinae had been ranting on about how long it would take until those two got together, with Jihyun telling her that just because two people are always together doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to date. Shinae then stated that if those two kept beating around the bush she would go to lengths and meddle whether it would end a success or not (Eunsook began to get concerned when Shinae threatened to yank a branch off a tree and swing it across Jungkook’s face if he didn’t make a move soon). Fortunately she had only been joking, but still continued to complain about it.

As they walked together, Eunsook really wanted to ask him so that it would no longer bother her, were he and Hyunjung together or what? She cleared . “Uh, can I ask you something, Jungkook?”

“Yeah sure,” he replied and glanced at her.

She hesitatingly opened but then closed it again. She couldn’t say it. “N-never mind. I forgot.”

“Hm? Oh, okay then.” They carried on, though Eunsook treaded a few steps behind so he wouldn’t be able to see her face. She wasn’t even sure what her own expression was, so it would be less risky if he couldn’t see her. Other than a few short exchanges of conversation which of all Jungkook started, the rest of their walk was a quiet, and very awkward one. He would happily try to talk to her, but she only replied with a timid yes or no, or a slight movement of her head which usually went unnoticed. He eventually got the message that she wasn’t going to talk anymore no matter how hard he tried to embolden a conversation. It worked with Hyunjung, but he had to keep in mind the obvious, which was that not all people were the same.  

Oh well, he thought as they eventually opened the doors to go outside to the school field.

“Ah there it is! Thank you,” Mr Song said when he saw the two place the equipment bags onto the grass next to him. He flicked his eyes between them and tutted. “Where’s Park?”

Jungkook folded his hands across his chest. “You’re referring to Jimin, sir?”

Mr Song nodded, the lines on his forehead becoming prominent as they formed into a stern expression. “Why are you doing a task he should’ve done?”

Jungkook exchanged an uneasy glance with Eunsook before she stared back at the floor. “Well,” he laughed a little. “Let’s just say Jimin took a while in the restroom, and since I was getting my water bottle anyway I thought it’d be better if I helped bring them here to save time for her.”

Their teacher inhaled heavily, clearly presenting his annoyance, before then scribbling something on his clipboard. “I’ll talk to that boy the next time I see him,” he uttered.

Jungkook tried to refrain from laughing. He was aware of the minor dislike which was mutual between Jimin and Mr Song, and was always there every time Jimin would be doing his antics in the wrong place at the wrong time – it was always Mr Song who would catch him red-handed, which Jungkook found funnier than it should be.

Mr Song saw him staring at the grass dazedly and then blew his whistle, sounding an ear-piercing shrill which made the students around them on the field halt just to flinch at the noise. “Hey Jeon, what are you doing just standing there?”

Jungkook was like a hunting dog on point; his posture straightened immediately and he bowed at the teacher. “Sorry sir.” Mr Song gave a nod at him before then gesturing back to the race track. Jungkook sighed and Eunsook watched him carefully as he jogged back to his team.

*  *  *

“Hey Taehyung, want to hear a joke about pizza?”

He shut his eyes and took in a slow breath. “Why not? Go on…”

“Never mind, it’s too cheesy.”

After a few minutes, he had now long been used to Hyunjung’s atrocious jokes. Nothing seemed to faze him anymore at this point. His face remained neutral each time.

“What do you call a sleeping pizza? A pizzzzzzzzza.”

He sighed, not bothering to meet her eyes. She was probably laughing anyway. “You honestly can’t think of anything better?” he asked; though it sounded more like a statement than a question. Her jokes were terrible, each one worse than the last. A silence ensued, and when he finally did look at her, she had her chin held between her thumb and forefinger as if she was thinking.

It wasn’t until a few seconds later when her head snapped back up and she had what Taehyung found an annoyingly cheeky smile on her face. “If you were a vegetable,” she began, “you’d be a cutecumber.”

Taehyung’s brows sunk even lower. His eyes stared so dispassionately into hers that she swore she could feel her very soul being threatened to leave her body. “Cucumbers are a fruit,” he said slowly, “not a vegetable.” 

She sulked at his limited humour. How could he not find that funny? It took her ages (five measly seconds) to think of that pick-up line which she found absolutely hilarious. “Fine… If you were a fruit, you’d be a fineapple.”

“That was definitely from the internet.”

She gasped, her sudden outburst causing Taehyung arch a brow at her. “Hey! Was that a slight upturn of your lip I just saw?” She didn’t make him laugh, but she still felt a sensation of small satisfaction.

He looked at her indifferently. “No.”

“Yes there was!” she shot back.

“No, there wasn’t,” he replied steadily.

“There was!”

“No, there wasn’t.”

“Taehyuuuuuung.”

“Hyunjuuung,” he responded in a passable imitation of her voice.

She huffed. “Fine. Deny if you will, but I saw it.” A stray softball rolled beside her and she picked it up with the tips of her fingers. She then hurled it at Taehyung without him noticing. The ball hit him square on the forehead. 

He glared at her. “Hey! What the hell?” Taehyung massaged the area where the ball hit him. “Do you hate me or something?”

She mimicked his deadpanned expression. “I’m pretty sure that’s something I should be asking you.”

“You little –” A creaking of the door interrupted him from finishing his sentence, and the two turned their heads at the sound and saw Jimin stood there.

“Have you seen Eunsook?” he asked, ignoring the confused expressions on their faces.

“She was with you,” Taehyung said.

“I went to the restroom for a few minutes and then when I finished she was already gone, along with the equipment bags.”

“Someone probably came along and helped her, they’re too heavy for her to carry both on her own.”

“Aw man,” Jimin groaned miserably while swinging his arms. “I really wanted to go to the field for a little too. I can’t now without a relevant excuse.”

“Yeah, that’s not really our problem.”

“You’re so nice, Taehyung,” Jimin commented dryly with an eye roll. He treaded over to where they were and sat beside them cross-legged on the cold floor. Everything suddenly became quiet between them and no one seemed to bother starting a conversation; it was their last period of the day and they were all tired. Jimin saw Hyunjung absentmindedly tracing circles onto the floor while Taehyung looked like he was scowling at something. At what? Jimin didn’t really know, but he guessed probably life in general. “So Hyunjung,” he began. “When are you and Jungkook actually going to get together?”

That was all it took to make her bring her head up and begin to fiddle excessively on the ends of her sleeves. “Pardon?” His comment was also enough to catch Taehyung’s attention. He didn’t say anything but propped his elbow on his knee and resting his chin in his palm, watching them.

Jimin grinned cheekily. “I know you heard me.”

“W-well, I… don’t know.”

“What’d you mean? You two are always together and he clearly seems to like you. I’m guessing it won’t be long until he makes a real move.”

Taehyung shifted uncomfortably, which went overlooked.

Hyunjung could barely say her words without looking as if she was guilty of something. Jimin’s comment was way too forward. She let a few seconds by, and she eventually regained enough of her composure to actually answer him. “I really don’t know. I’m too confused with my own feelings, so how am I supposed to figure out his? For a moment I think one thing, but then he does something the next which completely changes it.”

Jimin observed her. Poor Jungkook. How naïve could she get? He couldn’t blame her though, there were many times when Jungkook wasn’t such a straightforward person. “Look Hyunjung, I’ve been best friends with that guy long enough to guess what his motives are. He’s had a ton of girlfriends before, but you know what? I haven’t seen him wait so long for a girl he’s constantly with. Sure, he has friends who are girls, but he isn’t with them just as much as the boys and you. If anything, I feel sorry for him that he’s doing so much.”

Now Hyunjung was all the more confused. There wasn’t anything she really wanted to say. He merely grinned. “You’d be surprised at how many things we tell each other.” She stared at him in wonder and put a hand over so that they wouldn’t see her smiling, but they could tell she was by the dark crescent shape of her eyes.  

“Hey, are you okay? You’re zoning out.” Jimin clicked his fingers in front of Taehyung who blinked his eyes repeatedly.

“Hm? Oh, I’m fine.”

*  *  *

The door opened which revealed Mr Hwa who smiled at the sight of all of them sat in a circle on the floor. They were a little relieved, if it had been Mr Song they’d probably be yelled at, being accused of laziness or breathing too much, or anything he found out of place. “Seems like you’ve been having fun for the past half an hour,” he said.

Jimin nodded. “Uh, yeah. Have you seen Eunsook?”

Mr Hwa ignored his informality. “Because you spent so long at the restroom, in the end it was Jungkook who came by and helped her. She was allowed on the field after that.”

“Aw damn it,” he mumbled. But he then uneasily sneaked a glance at Hyunjung to see her reaction. Did she care that Jungkook was with Eunsook? He couldn’t tell. But he felt bad for her. Just when he shed some light on his feelings too. Jungkook better do something soon.

“It’ll be fifteen minutes left until the end of school, everyone else is finishing up. You three can go change now.” Mr Hwa opened the door for them as they stood and stretched their legs. The three nodded to him just as they were about to leave to show respect, and Mr Hwa returned the gesture.

“I’m going to sports practice today after school, so I’ll see you tomorrow,” Jimin said to Hyunjung just before they separated so that he and Taehyung could go to the boys’ changing rooms. He waved to her while Taehyung walked off on his own, and Hyunjung frowned. But she waved back to Jimin anyway.

Taehyung had become abnormally quiet for the rest of the half an hour they were in the gym storage room, and this time she had no idea what it was that she did wrong. There was an ounce of hope in her that this would be something that simply needed a day’s break and then everything would be back to normal the next day. But knowing Taehyung, it would probably take more than a day for that to happen. The thought bothered her still even after she had arrived at the girls’ changing rooms.

She entered through the door and went to the place where she changed, and some girls from the same set as her greeting her when she walked past them, and she greeted them back with a small smile. But what was weird, was that Eunsook wasn’t there. Her place was right next to Hyunjung’s. Was it possible she had to stay behind to help tidy the equipment away? But there was a sports practice going on too, so the equipment wouldn’t need to be put away. Could it be possible that Eunsook was attending sports practice? She hated sports. But there was still a small chance that she’d attend. At this time of the week, sports practice was open to all the students, whatever your ability was.

Hyunjung shook her head and brushed the thought away. She shouldn’t worry so much over something trivial. Speaking of trivial, Jungkook… She smacked her hands to her warm cheeks to cover their blush as she shook her head repeatedly. She was confused, very confused. Instead, she tried to focus on getting changed. The quicker she finished, the quicker she would get to go home. Meaning she’d get to finish her homework earlier.

Though she couldn’t deny that the thought of a certain boy with a bunny smile was still in the deep caverns of her muddled mind, no matter how hard she tried to not think about him.

*  *  *

Even if she didn’t do P.E. Hyunjung was still tired. All she needed to do now was walk home and she could collapse herself onto her bed before spending the rest of her evening studying. She was by the lockers and was about to leave when she heard fast footfalls coming down the corridor.

“Hyunjung!” It was Jungkook.

“Hello,” she greeted, though when it came out it sounded incredibly awkward. Almost as if her thinking was slower than her voice. He was still in his P.E. wear since he was attending sports practice. “Are you okay?” she asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the field by now?”

He rubbed his nape while trying to think of the right words. “Uh, yeah. I just – I need – I have something to tell you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” And with that he grabbed onto her hand and he ran.

“Huh? Wait – where are we going?” Hyunjung was so tired, but yet there she was, running down the corridor hand-in-hand with Jungkook. When she looked back she saw that they had zoomed past some students who stared at the two oddly. If this didn’t count as embarrassing, Hyunjung didn’t know what was.

He dragged her all that way just so now they were outside the boys’ restroom. She was definitely confused. Why here of all places? There was no one around, but still. The both of them were now panting from all the running. She looked up at him, still trying to catch her breath. “So what was it that you wanted to talk abou –?”

“I like you.”

Her arm slacked, and she then felt a tingling sensation of happiness course through her. It was as if all thoughts of confusion had dissipated. He liked her. And she couldn’t believe it. For the next few seconds all she could do was look at him. She couldn’t believe it.

“Wait, why?”

A long silence ensued. Why did she even bother asking such a useless question? She wanted to punch herself. But despite everything, Jungkook laughed. “What’d you mean?” he said, and she could sense his body heat even more as he took a step closer to her and encircled his arms around her waist, resting his head on her shoulder. “I just do.”

For some reason, she didn’t feel so tired anymore. “I like you too,” she whispered softly. Her voice was just loud enough for him to hear.

“Really?”

“Yeah… O-ow Jungkook, you’re really heavy!” She tried not to collapse to the floor when he suddenly slacked and Hyunjung was then burdened with most of his body weight.

He straightened back up. “Sorry,” he mumbled, his head still resting on her shoulder, “I’m really happy.” He pulled away and looked down at their linked hands. A crooked smile took its place on his face. “So, we like each other. What does that make us now?”

Her eyes widened when she realized. She didn’t know what to say. “I—uh, um –” Her words got caught in when Jungkook gently pressed his lips on the side of her temple, moving to her cheeks, to her lips. The kiss was tender, and her mind became a fuzz. She was happy. It wasn’t until a few seconds later, when he pulled away silently and he tightened his grip on her hands with his. For a while, the two just stood there, as if they were the only two in the world at that instant. But unfortunately for them, they weren’t. And their little moment was interrupted by an abrupt, rough cough. The two immediately turned their heads at the source of the sound.

Taehyung had just come out of the restroom, and was stood there, with one hand holding the bag strap slung over one of his shoulders. His eyes were blank and melancholy, and the rest of his expression was a puzzle. Hyunjung prepared herself for whatever sarcastic remark he would jab at them, somewhere along the lines of ‘you’re in the way’ or ‘go somewhere else’. But instead, his lips formed into a forced, tight-lipped smile as he looked at the two and their linked hands.

He brushed past them. “Congratulations.”

It was half-hearted.