* * * * *

Friday was almost over by the time Jimin thought of Jin again. It had been three days since the incident, and Jimin successfully managed to distract himself so that he doesn’t think about what happened on that beautiful day in the park behind the school. He hadn’t gone there since, and while he felt like he would die for a cig, he also felt his stomach flip at the danger of accidentally running into Jin. Jimin just didn’t know what to think about the whole thing, so he simply ignored it.

The tactic seemed to work quite well, at least until the break before the last period. Happy over the arrival of the weekend, everyone in the second-year corridors was loud and rowdy. Jimin was in the midst of poking fun of Taehyung’s new hair colour (orange as a carrot) when he stopped mid-sentence, staring at a familiar face coming towards him though the hallway.

Being mid-break, the corridor was so crowded Jin had to push and squeeze through groups of excited girls and hordes of loud guys. Feeling glued to the spot, Jimin simply watched as Jin finally emerged from the crowd, breathless and with red hair in a mess.

For a split second Jimin was oddly afraid Jin would kiss him again, right there in front of all the people. But Jin didn’t even stop walking. He went right past him, and when they were shoulder to shoulder he pressed something into Jimin’s hand, as if it was a kind of secret exchange you see in spy movies.

Jimin couldn’t help but grin when he saw three Marlboro reds in his palm.

* * * * *

Park Soo Hyun hurried through the school hallways and down the stairs, thankful the classes were over so no one could see her in tears. She couldn’t yet believe what she had just heard. Ha Mu Yeom’s words rang hollowly in her ears.

Blinded by her tears, she suddenly bumped into a tall, solid object right before the exit. Squinting around, she tried to scramble back to her feet, before a hand gently pulled her up by the wrist.

“Are you all right, ma’m?” said the tall object – or, it seemed, the tall student. He handed her back her bag that had flown away when she fell, and even collected the items that had rolled out of it.

“Thank you,” she said, amazed that there were still kids that respected their elders. She had thought that kind of students had died out long ago. “What’s your name?”

She especially noticed the tidy uniform and the spark in his eyes. Secretly, she was hoping the boy was one of Jimin’s friends. Maybe this was the Taehyung she had heard so much about?

“I’m Kim Seokjin. Nice to meet you, ma’m.”

Park Soo Hyun wanted to reply, but it felt like an icy hand was squeezing . Stumbling, she backed away from the kid, who looked deeply confused.

“… Are you all right, ma’m?”

But she was gone in a second, leaving behind only the horrible metal squeaking of the school doors.

* * * * *