Adorable photo above doesn't belong to me.

Shinae shoved the doors to her homeroom open. “Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?” Her question was left unanswered and the only person present in her homeroom was Jimin, who was sat leaning on the backseat of his chair and his feet propped up on his desk with his earphones plugged in. Although he had seen her enter, he still paid as much attention to her as a cockroach. Shinae was perfectly aware of this, and stormed up to him until her shadow loomed over him. Jimin still ignored her while he pointlessly scrolled though his playlist, and she yanked his earphones out. That definitely made him look at her now. “Do you know what’s going on?” she asked, still trying to suppress her irritation of not knowing.

He scoffed. “What are you even going on about?”

She tapped her foot repeatedly on the floor, waiting for him to figure it out, but seeing the sustained annoyed and confused look on his face made her want to yank her own hair out at his cluelessness. “Hyunjung and Jungkook?”

His brows creased and he put his feet off his desk. “Oh, I already knew about that. They’re together now.”

There was a delicious moment where Shinae’s face was blank with confusion, and every muscle of her body just froze before a grin crept onto her face, and it soon stretched from one side to the other, showing every tooth. “Since when?” she asked.

“Yesterday.”

Almost as fast as it came, her grin fell. “What?”

“He asked her yesterday and turns out they both like each other. It’s not quantum physics, Shinae. It’s pretty simple to understand.”

Her frown deepened a few seconds later, which he also noticed. “What’s the matter now?” he asked with a heavy sigh. It wasn’t as if he cared much, but Shinae barely showed what troubled her, and it weirded him out.

“Don’t get me wrong, Jungkook’s a good guy. But he doesn’t – uh, how do I put this? – seem like the really committed type, does he?” Shinae confessed.

“Excuse me?” In truth, Jimin knew exactly what she meant, but he refused to let himself admit it.

She fiddled with her hair, looking as if she would rather not say what was at the top of her mind, and Jimin, who was usually not observant at those sorts of things still noticed the way she shuffled uncomfortably where she was standing. “He’s been with a few girls, all of which lasted a couple of weeks to a few months at most,” she finally said.

“And? What’s your point?” he prompted.

Shinae’s response was instant. “What makes Hyunjung different from those girls? What if she’s just another one?”

Jimin’s shoulders tensed a little in surprise. He didn’t expect that, at all. He couldn’t answer. Although he and Shinae were hardly ever on the same page, there were times like these where it was almost impossible to dismiss her points.

“He’s not some kind of Casanova, and I know he cares a lot when it comes to a girls’ feelings. But honestly, I don’t want to see Hyunjung crying. That’s what happened to his last one. Who was it again? Was it Hana?” she asked while trying to recollect what she could remember. Jimin shrugged. He never bothered keeping track of Jungkook’s love life. The lines on her forehead creased as she thought about it. “That was ages ago anyway, but he hasn’t been mingling so much since –”

“Why are you thinking these things anyway?” Jimin intervened before she could finish. “They only just started dating yesterday and you’re already bringing that scenario up.”

Shinae brought her hands up in exasperation. “Fine, fine! I’ll shut up.”

“Yeah, you should.”

Jimin still believed his best friend wasn’t that kind of guy, not anymore at least. But he still wondered back to what Shinae said. What was so different about Hyunjung?

“Good morning.” A distinguishable voice to their ears greeted them which caused the both to turn their gazes towards the door of the room. Hyunjung was stood there, a stack of textbooks in her arms with a rosy blush tinged on her cheeks, so light that it could easily go unnoticed, but the two saw it almost immediately.

“Morning!” Shinae returned cheerfully. “What’s with all the textbooks?”

“Mr. Jung asked me to take them here. You know, you two are pretty early this morning,” she noted, causing Jimin and Shinae to exchange a glance with each other before turning back to her. Hyunjung stared at them with furrowed brows.

“Well, so are you,” Jimin snickered.

Shinae laughed and went to help carry some of the textbooks, which Hyunjung was grateful for. “Yeah, and why are your cheeks so pink? Hey Jimin, I bet you that Jungkook is in school right now,” she teased, nudging Hyunjung with her elbow while they walked over to Mr Jung’s desk to put the textbooks there. Her comment just made Hyunjung’s cheeks all the more pinker, but she didn’t say anything and directed her stare to the floor. Shinae hoped Hyunjung didn’t hear what she and Jimin were talking about; the girl looked so happy that Shinae almost felt bad for even mentioning about Jungkook’s light commitment to his past relationships in the first place. There was a silver of hope that Hyunjung was different, but neither Jimin nor Shinae were too sure of that themselves.

“So does anyone else know about you two?” Shinae asked.

Hyunjung shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“Word will probably spread round anyway. But don’t worry Hyunjung, no one’ll bother you, I’m sure,” he said encouragingly with a grin.

“Yeah, just expect the P.E. department to talk about you whenever Kook is around.” Shinae winked, causing the corners of Hyunjung’s lips to tug upwards a little and let out a small laugh she had been meaning to stifle.

Jimin stood and stretched his arms. “So Jungkook is in?”

“He is,” Hyunjung replied. “We walked together this morning, he just went with Hoseok to the P.E. office just now.”

“Why is everyone so early this morning?” Jimin muttered to himself.

Shinae sat down at her desk and propped an elbow on the surface of the table, then resting her chin on the palm of her hand. “He kissed you, didn’t he?” She flashed an allusive grin which gradually grew and made her eyes arch when she saw Hyunjung get flustered.

“Well I –”

She paused when she saw a tall figure walk in the room. “Morning,” Taehyung said. Though his greeting didn’t sound as genuine as it should.

“Morning, Taehyung,” Shinae greeted and faced Hyunjung who hesitantly walked to her own desk which was next to Taehyung’s.

“Seriously, is something going on today? So many people are coming in early,” Jimin huffed.

“Taehyung’s always this early, Jimin. You’re so dull-witted,” she remarked.

“My life would be so much better without your commentary,” he dryly replied.

“Whatever. I don’t care. I’ll bother you for the rest of your life. I’ll be at your wedding and confess all the embarrassing things you’ve ever done to your wife. I’ll tell your children all the embarrassing things you’ve ever done in your life. I’ll –”

“Well I know who I’m not inviting to my wedding.”

“Hey!”

While the two were arguing, Hyunjung sat still at her desk feeling downcast. Taehyung was right next to her, but he didn’t even spare her a glance. A few minutes later, Shinae and Jimin had left the room to do their own things; Jimin said he forgot he had to go to the P.E. office with Hoseok and Jungkook, and Shinae went off with Jihyun who arrived shortly after. Leaving Hyunjung and Taehyung on their own. She noted it as one of the most awkward moments of her life.

Taehyung was preoccupied with an essay of some sort, and Hyunjung sat staring at her pencil case because there was nothing else that she needed to do. She was motivated enough the previous night and binged all her homework.

“Why are you looking at your pencil case as if it was your soul mate? Shouldn’t you be off staring at Jeon Jungkook instead?”

Hyunjung straightened at the mention of Jungkook, but felt glad that Taehyung was the first to break the silence. “Hey –”

 “I was joking.” His eyes remained focused on his essay.

She put her arms on her desk and rested her chin on them. “Hey Tae, can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

She took a deep breath. “Are you mad at me?” she asked, and there was a pause.

It wasn’t until when she looked back at him when he finally answered. “Why would I be?”

“I don’t know. I feel like I did something wrong.”

Taehyung exhaled profoundly, notably bothered. “Well, you haven’t.”

“So…” Hyunjung began, still confused, “you aren’t mad?”

“Of course not. You’re an idiot to think I am.”

Shortly after, a cheeky grin he was all too familiar with then formed on her face. “Hey Taehyung, what do you call a person in a tree with a briefcase? A –”

“A branch manager,” he replied monotonously, at the same time engrossed by what he was writing for his essay.

Hyunjung felt like a deflated balloon, and her lips formed to an exaggerated sulk. “How did you know?”

“You already told me that one.”

Her frown deepened. “I thought I hadn’t.”

“Well, you have.” Taehyung spared a few seconds to exchange a glance with her, before putting his head back down to focus on his work. She huffed and buried her face in her arms which still rested on the desk. Although Taehyung had spoiled her joke, she was relieved.

She thought she had almost lost a very precious friend.

* * *

Drawing mind-maps and diagrams in history wasn’t something Hyunjung particularly enjoyed, but their teacher was kind enough to let the class sit where they wanted that lesson, so it was a very laid-back first period for all of them. Hoseok and Yoongi were in the same history class as her, so they all sat together on a small table at the front of the room. At first Hoseok whined saying he didn’t want to sit at the front, saying it made him ‘uncomfortable’ or whatever other irrelevant excuses he said, but they didn’t really have much of a choice since the other tables were taken by the other students. Hyunjung wondered if they knew about her and Jungkook, but they didn’t even mention his name. Strangely, neither of them brought Jungkook up during their conversation. Not for the first twenty minutes at least.

“Isn’t there something you have to tell us, Jungie?” Hoseok made his question sound as indifferent as he could – as if it was the most casual thing he could possibly ask. But she knew exactly what he was leading her to, and wished she could take the immense grin off his face, no matter how heart-warming or kind it was.

Yoongi didn’t even bother saying anything, but even without uttering a word, Hyunjung still knew what was going on in his head. The smile that played on his lips; one corner jutted a little higher than the other, and the unruffled look in his eyes, gave all the hints to her that both Hoseok and Yoongi knew.

“Do the other boys now?” she asked, switching her eyes between them.

Hoseok shrugged. “Probably. He looked really happy when he told me this morning.” He smiled so contagiously at her, and his grin became so extensive that Hyunjung was sure that her own was just as wide. She tried to supress it a little by covering a hand over , but even doing that wasn’t enough to stop her from smiling.

“I eavesdropped,” Yoongi said blatantly, twiddling a pencil between his fingers while watching the two amusedly.

Hoseok continued to laugh at her as she attempted to hide evidence of her smile, still by covering , but he pointed at her eyes which had become crescents. “Hey! You have an eye smile just like Jimin! Yours is more arched though.”

“Really?” Even Yoongi leaned forward to have a closer look at her while she was still smiling. “Oh, you’re right. How did you even notice that?”

Hoseok’s grin was still present on his face. “How can you not? It’s like a notable feature she has. You know, like Jungkook’s so-called bunny smile.”

He shrugged and leant back in his seat. “Maybe I’m just generally unobservant of other people’s features. I can never be bothered.”

“We know that much about you, Yoongi.”

While she still could, Hyunjung diverted most of her focus back to her work, though she still continued to carry on the conversation at the same time. “Is it really that noticeable? No one’s really mentioned my eye smile before.”

“It is!” Hoseok beamed.

Yoongi sighed at him. “You’re way too smiley today. Keep that up and you’ll end up having a sore jaw.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Hoseok replied, and although his grin minimized a little, it was still there. “And if you think I’m smiley, you should go see Jungkook. He was so happy this morning, bunny smile and all.”

At that moment Yoongi directed his eyes at Hyunjung, in his usual sluggish way, and saw how detached she suddenly became to their conversation and was instead totally immersed in her work. “Hm, and I wonder why,” he said emphatically which caused Hoseok to smother a laugh.

“Oh, uh…” Hyunjung suddenly looked up and exchanged a look with Yoongi. “I wasn’t—uh—paying attention to what you just said then, sorry.” She grinned sheepishly.

“It’s fine.” Yoongi chuckled and flicked her forehead, to which she didn’t react well at. She hated it when people did that, but this time she just let it slide, dismissing his action with a small smile and continued with her work as if that didn’t just happen.

“Hoseok, how the hell did you manage to do so much writing while blabbering for the past half an hour?” Yoongi grumbled when he saw a page in Hoseok’s book scribbled with a full set of decent notes.

Hoseok replied with a smug smile and pushed his book towards Yoongi to brag. “What can I say? I am an honor student. I'm good at everything.”

“No you’re not,” was his swift response.

“I’m not lying! I actually am, Yoongi! If you don’t believe me, you can go ask Mr. –”

They were by Mr. Hwang who peered up at them disapprovingly from his desk after Hoseok’s outburst and pointed to the other students behind them who were working diligently. Considering the fact that the three were sat at the front, talking so loudly probably wasn’t a good idea; Mr. Hwang probably heard every word they said. They bowed their heads in apology and quickly went back to their task, not before swapping a discreet look between them. 

*  *  *

Jungkook couldn’t really see how Hyunjung was close friends with the guy; Taehyung barely spoke or even sent him a glance in his direction, or any sign of recognition, even if he was sat right next to him. They both had geography together, which they had no problem with since they barely talked to each other anyway; Jungkook knew Taehyung through Hyunjung and Taehyung knew Jungkook as another one of Hyunjung’s close friends – now boyfriend. If Jungkook was honest, he forgot that he was even in the same geography class as him – not that he was unobservant – but they sat at opposite sides of the room, so who could blame him? However today required the class to work in pairs for some research, and their teacher had already chosen who was working with who. For Jungkook, Taehyung was his partner. Both sides seemed neutral; they didn’t hate each other, but they weren’t that fond of each other either. Both Jungkook and Taehyung were aware of this, but weren’t sure of the definite reason, that just happened to be the way it was. Or perhaps the reason wasn’t as obscure as they thought?

“So I’ll do section one and two and you can do three and four?” Jungkook suggested while grabbing one of the textbooks on their table they were given to finish the assignment. Taehyung also got one for himself, opening it up to a page and then taking a pen from his pencil case.

“Yeah, sure,” he replied dully.

Their classmates around them were talking quietly amongst themselves. Jungkook and Taehyung worked in silence. It was meant to be an assigned pair task, though if anyone walked in the room and saw the two they would’ve assumed they were working individually. Yes, it was that awkward.

“So Taehyung,” Jungkook began in an attempt to strike up some form of conversation. “You’re good friends with Hyunjung, right?”

Taehyung didn’t look up and continued flicking through the textbook. “I guess so.”

Jungkook nodded. It was a useless question since he already knew what his answer would be anyway, but he tried.

“So you and Hyunjung are together now?” Taehyung asked.

“Uh, yes,” he replied, surprised Taehyung would ask that.

“Take good care of her.”

That surprised Jungkook even more. He couldn’t think of a response fast enough. “She’s a good friend,” Taehyung continued thoughtfully. “Just treat her well.”

“Of course, I will,” Jungkook finally said as he played with the cap of his pen. He suddenly had a small suspicion of something, but he decided it wasn’t something he should worry about, not now at least.

Taehyung was a puzzling guy.