Hoseok sighed. “Shinae, you’re worrying too much. I’m sure Eunsook’s fine.”

“Well she didn’t look fine when she ran off. You wouldn’t know because you weren’t there!”

He stood up to take a hold of her shoulders. “Hey, hey, calm down,” he consoled, but Shinae shrugged him off.

“How can you be so sure?” she retaliated.

Conscious that others around them would hear, he replied in a low voice, “Eunsook doesn’t like bringing attention to herself, right? If we’re all going to look for her, everyone will suspect something. She wouldn’t like that. Besides, don’t you think Eunsook’s the type who’d rather sort her own problems by herself?” Shinae didn’t say anything. Hyunjung could understand where Hoseok was coming from, but like Shinae, she didn’t want to just sit down in their homeroom and do nothing. But Hoseok was right. Even if they did find Eunsook, she probably wouldn’t say a word to them.

“So what’re you saying?” Shinae murmured.

Hoseok sat back down and regarded her steadily. “I’m saying, that we should just leave Eunsook alone, and hope that the rain will pass.”

She turned away from them. “Fine,” she said, surprising Hyunjung when she walked back to her desk, collapsing into her chair and crossing her legs. The three observed her. From the way she was tapping her foot irritably and glaring into a space, it was clear that Shinae was not happy, at all. Hyunjung looked to her side at Jungkook, who turned when he sensed someone’s eyes on him. At the point their eyes met, she didn’t know what to do so she glanced down. She already knew what was going on in his mind.

“I’m gonna go to the P.E. office, and ask if they’ve thought of what’s going to happen for the rest of the afternoon,” he said. “Do you want to come with me, Hyunjung?”

She looked back up at him. “Uhm, yeah, okay.”

The two turned to Hoseok who appeared unconvinced. “Alright,” he said with a sigh as he watched them exit the room. He looked to the back where Shinae was, and exchanged a glance with her. Shinae shrugged. They both knew what Jungkook was like, very well.

-

Hyunjung followed Jungkook wordlessly as they walked together down the hallway. Her gaze shifted up from the floor to Jungkook’s back, before finally settling her eyes at the windows. The rain was pelting down pretty bad. She stared at the windows, looking at the trees outside – so focused that she flinched when thunder rolled. She bumped into Jungkook’s back when he stopped abruptly. “You alright there?” he said with a chuckle when he turned round to face her.

“Don’t worry,” she replied, rubbing her forehead. He settled an arm around her shoulders as they continued together down the hallway. “Jungkook, I know we’re not actually going to the P.E. office.”

He bopped the bride of her nose. “And I know that you know,” he said with a small smile. She didn’t say anything in response, but only nodded. His eyes showed concern. “Hey, are you okay? You’re quieter than you usually are.” She was surprised to see him so close when he bent his head down so that his face was directly level with hers.

She shook her head and replied meagerly, “I’m just a little tired, that’s all.”

“Oh.”

She observed Jungkook who suddenly looked downcast, with his eyes trailed down at the floor. She felt guilty that it was probably because of her, so she nudged his side. “I’m exhausted just by watching you compete today. Even if you didn’t win the last game, it’s undeniable that you worked hard.”

“You think so?” he said, a corner of his lip quirking.

She nodded with a smile, and mustering the courage, and with a shaking heart, she straightened and kissed him at the corner of his mouth. When she pulled back, she saw Jungkook’s jaw slack with surprise. “Sorry,” she mumbled, quickly bending her head low so her hair framed her face and he wouldn’t be able to see her cheeks which she presumed were pink by now. But he brushed her hair from covering her face and she finally looked at him.

“Hey, you missed,” he murmured, pointing to his lips which were playing a small grin. She choked on her words while trying to enforce a reply to come out of her. She didn’t even see his next move, taking her by astonishment when he kissed her without warning. He pulled away and planted a kiss on her cheek, which she also wasn’t expecting. She just hoped her face wasn’t flushed red.

“So, uh…” She tried her best not to look at him. “We should probably hurry and look for Eunsook now.” Jungkook’s cheeky grin fell, and he sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Do you think she’ll be in the library?” he said.

“She does usually go there, but I doubt she’ll be there if she’s hiding.”

He shrugged. “No harm in trying.” His head turned to the window to where she was looking. “Holy , it’s pelting out there.” The windows were now blurred with rain, a significant difference to earlier when there were only splatters. It will only get worse from here. Hyunjung considered this – they needed to save time.

“Jungkook,” she began.

He shifted his eyes to her and tilted his head. “Yes?”

She looked him square in the eye. “I think it’ll be better if we split up.”

He blinked at her, and Hyunjung only blinked back. Was he going to say something? His brows drew together as his eyes trailed to the floor. His voice was quiet. “You’re breaking up with me? Already?”

Hyunjung’s eyes distended. “What? No! That’s not what I meant!” she exclaimed, flailing her hands in front of her and shaking her head. “I meant that we should split so we can find Eunsook quicker,” her words tumbled out when she realized the misunderstanding.

Jungkook’s upright posture wilted as he let go of a breath he was holding, and he suddenly circled his arms around her, once again surprising her when he buried his face in the crook of her neck. “I thought I did something wrong,” he mumbled, and Hyunjung looked at him in disbelief.

“Of course not.”

He pulled away, and settled his hands in his pockets. “It’s just, I’ve been told I make mistakes without someone pointing them out to me. I mean, I don’t really think much of it, but I’m just worried I hurt you unintentionally, or something.”

“Just don’t worry about it,” she reassured. “That doesn’t matter, we don’t need to worry about that.”

He stared her in the eye. “We never know.”

She frowned. “Don’t say those things. Let’s focus on finding Eunsook. You can go check the library, and I’ll… uh, look, um, somewhere else. If one of us does find her, check if she’s alright and if she wants someone to stay with her, unless she wants to go back to homeroom.”

Jungkook gave her a thumbs up. “Got it.” They split ways to look for Eunsook, and Hyunjung didn’t actually move anywhere for a while. She didn’t know where else to look. She thought carefully. If she was in this situation, where would she hide? The first thought that came into her head was the girls’ restroom. In the past when Hyunjung was upset, or before, when she arrived in school too early, she would go into one of the cubicles and wait there. Of course she didn’t go there anymore, but it made sense that Eunsook could be there. Even if she wasn’t, she thought that it was a good guess. It was worth trying.

-

Taehyung was only on his way back from the library after returning an over-due book he had forgotten about, and was going back to his homeroom until he heard a sniffling when he neared the girls’ restroom. He paused.

Of course. Typical.

He walked on a couple of steps, but then stopped again. He thought for a while.

I can’t believe I’m doing this.

He sighed in exasperation with himself and took a few reluctant steps back to the front of the girls’ restroom. If anything, he was definitely not going in there. But what was he to do? He couldn’t just walk away, not when there was something obviously wrong. “This is so annoying,” he grumbled. He felt an unexpected sense of relief when he saw Hyunjung coming towards him.

“Taehyung? Why are you here?” she asked, nearing him.

“I think there’s someone who’s crying in there.”

Hyunjung stayed quiet, and could hear the sniffling. “That must be Eunsook,” she murmured to herself, and turned to Taehyung who was clueless at what was going on. “If you know someone is crying, why are you just stood out here?”

He raised a brow. “In case you can’t already tell, I’m male. I can’t go into the female restroom,” he said with a dry, humorless laugh.

Of course she knew that, but how can someone just stand by when something was wrong? “You’d have a good excuse anyway. There’s someone crying. Even if you just took a few steps in to see what was wrong. That wouldn’t be so bad to do?”

He looked at her in disbelief. “That’s more like something Jungkook would do. And as you can see, I’m not Jungkook,” he stated.

She frowned. “Of course I know that.”

Taehyung shook his head and began to walk away. “I’m going back to homeroom. I’ll see you round.”

“Alright,” she said. She took one last look at Taehyung’s figure before going into the restroom. As soon as the door closed, she could tell that the person crying was trying their best to stop their sniffles. She was sure it was Eunsook. “Hello?” she said, walking further in. “Eunsook? Is that you?” No answer. Hyunjung was right that she wouldn’t want to talk.

“Hyunjung?” The voice was quiet and meek. Yes, it was definitely Eunsook.

“It’s me,” Hyunjung said, standing a small distance from the cubicle Eunsook was in. “Do you want to talk?”

“N-No, I’m fine, really.”

Hyunjung didn’t really know what to say. She didn’t consider herself as someone who was good at consolation, which made her think she was useless. She thought it would’ve been better if Jungkook was the one who was here to talk to Eunsook, but at the same time, she couldn’t deny that she felt a little relieved she was the one who found Eunsook first. Was that selfish of her? Probably. But Hyunjung was insecure; she wasn’t like Jungkook, she didn’t have anything about her which was enough to make him stay. Jungkook had it all, and compared to him, Hyunjung felt like she was nothing. She could only do her best. But it would’ve been better for Eunsook if it was Jungkook who was the one to talk to her. He was an easy person to talk to and always knew what to say, and always knew the right words. Hyunjung leaned against the sink and sighed. “Eunsook? Do you want me to go get someone? Like, Jungkook?”

Eunsook’s voice was quiet as ever. “P-Please, no. I don’t want him to see me like this, not now, please.”

At that moment Hyunjung sensed something, unsure of exactly what it was, but put the thought at the back of her mind. Now was not the time. “Okay,” she said, “But do you mind if you stay? Or would you rather be left alone?” Hyunjung asked. She waited for a reply.

Finally, Eunsook answered, “I don’t mind – if you stay.”

“Okay.” There was an exchanged silence after that, and neither of them dared to move, and Hyunjung didn’t want to ask if Eunsook was afraid of the thunder – in case she came across as rude. The sound of thunder tumbled again, and that was when Hyunjung saw Eunsook’s feet shuffle from the gap at the bottom of the cubicle door. “Eunsook?” She became more concerned and pushed herself off the wall, and came closer to the cubicle door. She knocked on it twice. “Eunsook?” she said again. “Can you open the door?” Hyunjung was about to give up, until she heard the lock turn, leaving the door ajar. She pushed it open and Eunsook was revealed. Eunsook was sat on the lid cover of the toilet, with crumpled and screwed-up tissues clutched in her hand. More thunder rolled and Eunsook covered her ears, her breaths gradually becoming uneven. Hyunjung came closer and cautiously put her arms around Eunsook to console her. She wasn’t good with these kind of things, so the hug was awkward.

“W-what are you doing?” Eunsook mumbled, taking her hands off her ears and surprised with Hyunjung’s action, but she didn’t push her away.

“You’re scared of the thunder, aren’t you?” Hyunjung said. Eunsook sniffled, closing her eyes. She merely nodded.

“I don’t even know why. My mom said that when I was younger, I generally just hated loud noises and would do what I could to avoid them. Can’t run from thunder, right?” she chuckled as she said this, but Hyunjung could tell it was an effort to mask her vulnerable state. They stayed like that for a while, and Hyunjung began to notice just how small Eunsook was, perhaps a head smaller than Hyunjung was. She was always aware of how small she was, from the times when Hyunjung saw her during a fire drill and they had to stand in height order. Eunsook pulled away and looked at Hyunjung with sad eyes. Hyunjung wondered why.

The rain could be heard on the roof above them.

Hyunjung wanted to try talk to her. “I don’t think the sports fest will be able to continue now.”

“N-No…” Eunsook agreed. Hyunjung’s temporary confidence deflated. How was Jungkook able to start a conversation so easily? Although Hyunjung found it easier to talk to people, it was difficult to hold a conversation with someone who didn’t want to talk. She ran out of things to talk about, so she thought the best she could do was be good company for Eunsook.

It was definitely awkward. Hyunjung had no idea where to stand, so she just settled back to the wall she was leaning on earlier. The cubicle door was open, and Eunsook was still sat on top of the lid cover, but was not looking at her.

She’s so small, especially her shoulders. Her body frame’s just like a child’s. Hyunjung sighed.

“Hyunjung,” Eunsook began, and as soon as Hyunjung heard her quiet voice, she looked up instantly. “Thank you, for volunteering to run in the sports fest for me, I know it’s probably cancelled now, but I still want to thank you. That day, I never felt so relieved in such a long time. Thank you.”

Hyunjung smiled. “It’s alright.”

Eunsook tried her best, but could only manage a small one. Eunsook wished she could have a bright smile like Hyunjung’s, and have some sort of eye-smile which would make even the hardest of hearts soften, but whenever Eunsook would smile in front of the mirror at home, she always cringed.

“Eunsook?”

“Yes?”

“We should probably head back now, everyone’ll be worried.”

“Okay.”

She tried to hate her. But why would you hate someone like that? When there was nothing about them for you to hate about? Over and over in her head, she just kept making up excuses.

She could see why he fell for her.

She wanted to hate her - hate her for getting so easily what she herself had secretly wanted for so long, but despite everything, she couldn't possibly hate her.

She won’t.

So why am I trying so hard to get something I know is way out of my reach?

In the end, would it all be worth it?

After what happened today, she was unsure.