Weeks have passed since we finished our project. During art class, all we did was play with the art supplies and draw something random and stupid. Jungkook drew a bunny holding onto a tree branch, I don't know why.

 

We became closer, but only in art class. We didn't hang out after school anymore since we have no reason too. But, in art class we talk a lot. He's actually pretty funny. I feel like the students in our class noticed because they keep looking over at us whenever one of us laughs.

 

"Your guys' projects are due in two weeks! Reminder!" Mr. Song shouts, and then goes back to whatever his masterpiece is.

 

"Good thing we finished early, huh?" Jungkook says to me, nudging my arm. I chuckle and nod. I then smile and looked at him, his face holding a puzzled expression.

 

"What?" He says.

 

"You know, I was too quick to judge you first year." I tell him. His face still looked puzzled and I chuckled again. "I hated you ever since I heard things about you first year. But after getting to know you, you're actually a really cool and nice guy."

 

Jungkook looks at me for a few seconds, and then breaks into a small smile, turning around so I don't see it. He looks back at me.

 

"What things did you hear about me?" He asks, I roll my eyes.

 

"That you once dated this girl for like four months? And then on your guys' anniversary, you broke up with her in a nasty way. That was second year." I tell him, his face changed to an expression of guilt. Maybe he's not really as tough as he acts. He does have feelings.

 

"Also when you almost put this one boy into the hospital because you, Jimin, and TaeHyung kept hurting him." I added. He coughs.

 

"Quit chit chatting." Mr. Song says. "Work on your guys' project."

 

"But we finished it." Jungkook says. Mr. Song stands up and walks over to us.

 

"You did?" He asks. We both nod our heads. "Oh, then give it to me tomorrow. You'll get extra credit if you're telling the truth and if the project doesn't look rushed."

 

We both nod our heads again, and Mr. Song walks back to his desk. The bell rings, and everyone dismisses themselves.

 

I walk towards the student store to by myself a bag of potato chips. When I leave the line, Jungkook steps in front of me. I tilt my head at him.

 

"What?" I say.

 

"Wanna hang out?" He says, acting as casual and tough as he can. He asked me as if I would say yes no matter what. I mean, I said sure but he didn't have to ask me in a cocky way.

 

***

 

We finished getting bubble tea from the subway and arrived at a palace. I don't know why he brought me here, but we're here.

 

"Ah, I love this place." Jungkook says, putting his hands in his sweater pocket and looking around the place.

 

"The palace?" I ask. I look at my ticket and we were at the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Jungkook looks over at me and nods his head.

 

"I used to come here with my sister a lot. At I think 1:00pm and 3:00pm, they have their royal changing of the guards ceremony. I loved it when I was young." He says, sounding really excited for being here. I guess he hasn't been here in a long time.

 

"It's 4pm Jungkook." I say, looking at my phone. He frowns a little.

 

"Maybe next time." He says, and then he goes over to the palace area. I follow him. We show our tickets to the workers and they let us in.

 

I follow Jungkook around the palace. There was a big temple in front of us and you were allowed to step on this tiny step to look inside of it. Pictures allowed. He then walked down the stairs and into this other area. He looked really relaxed being here. We reached a part where there was a lake and another temple across from it. Jungkook stopped in front of the lake and I stood next to him. He started smiling and breathed out.

 

"Did good things happen here?" I ask him. He looks at me.

 

"I love my sister more than my parents. She was always there for me even though she was going through tough times. She took me out a lot, and she took me out here the most. It just feels good to be here again." He says, looking back out at the lake.

 

"Let's keep walking." He says. I nod and follow behind him.

 

Everywhere you looked in this palace, you would find a couple. I even saw a photographer here taking what looked like an engaged couple's photo near the lake. And, they're not old parent couples. There were a bunch of college student couples, and a few of high school couples. Who knew that it'd be romantic to come to a palace. But then again, visiting sites pretty like this can be romantic.

 

"Where's your sister now?" I ask him.

 

"America. She moved there to work. She's teaching Korean there." He says.

 

"Can you speak English?" I ask him.

 

"Not really." He answers. I nod. We walk in this dirt walkway that's near by the lake. On the grass area, there are benches where families and couples are sitting down to take photos with each other. There are plenty of foreigners here as well. They always have tour guides that speak different languages go around. It's cool to see them here.

 

"My sister used be a tour guide here in high school." He says. "It was a thing for her English class. They came here and gave tours to foreigners."

 

He really does love his sister.

 

He goes onto the grass and sits down on a bench, facing the lake. I go and sit down next to him.

 

"I haven't had a friend like you in a long time. Not including TaeHyung and Jimin." Jungkook says.

 

"It's still weird hearing you call me your friend." I say, chuckling.

 

"What? You still don't consider us friends?" He says. I just shrug.

 

"Ah, this punk really." He says. "I know things about you, you know things about me that nobody knows. We have a good time. How am I not your friend?"

 

I don't answer him on purpose. I just look forward at the lake and throw a rock in it. I hear him go "Tch".

 

My phone rings and I answer it.

 

"Hello?"

 

"JiYoon, where are you right now?" My mom shouts through the phone. "You were suppose to be home an hour ago! What are you doing right now?"

 

"Mom, I'm out with a friend. I'll go home soon don't worry." I tell her, and just hang up. I didn't want to hear her lecture through the phone.

 

"Friend." Jungkook says, smirking at me. I roll my eyes and hit his arm. He chuckles and then stands up. I stand up after.

 

"Wanna stay and explore more? Or wanna go eat?" He says to me. I shrug and he just decides to go eat.

 

"Excuse us?" This guy says, coming up to us. "Do you mind taking a photo of us?"

 

Jungkook shook his head and took the camera. He took about 3 photos of them and gave it back.

 

"Thank you!" The man said, his I think wife standing next to him.

 

"You two are a lovely couple." The wife says. Both Jungkook and I looked at each other.

 

"Oh, no we're not a cou-"

 

"I know." The wife says, cutting me off. "But you would be." She walks away with her husband and I'm just looking at her. I clear my throat and look back forward. Why do my cheeks hurt? Am I blushing? Why am I blushing? I don't like Jungkook!

 

"Let's go eat!" Jungkook says, walking in front of me towards the exit.

 

***

 

"I thought you said we were going to eat." I say to Jungkook who's just walking along the streets of Seoul.

 

"Yeah, I did." He says. "But I didn't mean it."

 

I scoff and he laughs. He gets a call on his phone and answers.

 

"Hello? Wait, right now?" He checks the time. "But it's almost 6pm. Why are you two home so early? She is?"

 

He stops walking and I stop as well.

 

"Yeah. Yeah okay! See you!" He says, and then hangs up. He looks at me and his face is a bit lit up.

 

"My sister's home." He says. "My mom just called telling me she came back from America for a month." He was gripping onto his phone from the happiness and I couldn't help but chuckle.

 

"Go home then. I'm fine. I'll take a taxi from here because I have no idea where we are." I say. He nods and starts walking off.

 

I walk to the side of the sidewalk to call over a Taxi, but I felt a kiss placed onto my cheek. It was a quick peck. I turned my head to see what just happened and saw Jungkook turning around, and walking away again.

 

Did he just? Does he? No. He doesn't.