SEVENTEENTH RUN

A house made of cards, and us inside
Even if you say you see the end,

Even if you say it’ll collapse soon
a house made of cards, and stupidly, us
Even if you say it’s a useless dream,

Just stay a little more like this

“What actually you want from me, Yun Sohee? Stop bothering me!”

Jin snapped at the girl after she kept pestering him. It wasn’t the first time. Sohee has already been following him for days.

“I want you to talk to Yoongi!”

There was it. Sohee has already been saying the same thing to Jin since then. It was to reconcile with their childhood friend, Yoongi. Jin didn’t want to do it. His pride didn’t allow him to surrender. Why should he ask forgiveness first to Yoongi when it was the other boy who was at fault?

Jin scoffed as he walked once again. Sohee held his arm once again.

“Jin … Kim Seokjin! Can both of you stop being a child? You know since the start that Yoongi is like that. We both know it. Why should you get upset over something petty like that?”

“Stop it! I have enough with you keep talking about Yoongi this and that. Let me alone.”

“I can’t! This is your first time stop talking to Yoongi for a long time. I don’t want any of you regret this. You just don’t know how to apologize even when you want it.”

“Why should I be the one who apologize? Am I doing something wrong? Did I talk rudely to you that time? Was it me who treat you like not a human being?” Jin once again snapped.

“It’s just .…” Sohee flustered.

“Isn’t it your wish that I don’t associate my self with him anymore? You always dislike when I played with him since we were child, right?”

“I’m not.”

“Huh … right. I forgot. Now, you are having a big crush on him.”

“It doesn’t relate to each other! Stop pushing me around to justified your reason!”

“You are my reason!”

Their voices were overlapping to each other. No one really listened to the other. They were trying to shout out their thought and feeling. In the end, Sohee was shut and stared at Jin dejectedly.

“And I don’t even know for what reason you did it. He always treats you badly and you still like him. Why?”

Why can’t you like me instead? That was a question that Jin couldn’t bring him self to ask Sohee. He also couldn’t reply Sohee’s stare. Jin was afraid if he looked into her eyes, his eyes would betray him. They would show how desperate Jin was.

“Yoongi isn’t a total bad person.”

“Do you think I don’t know it yet?”

“That’s! You know Yoongi better than anyone but why you still get upset over something like this?”

“Don’t you know why already?”  Jin halted his word. He knew that he has just had a slip of tongue. He looked away. “I just really want to know for what reason you started to gain interest about him.”

“Do you really need to know it so much?”

“Yes. I want to know. Why you throw away your self for someone who never appreciates you? Why? Why!” Jin’s voice was already raised to the highest octave.

“It’s because Yoongi save me before!”

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

“You look good in your black hair.”

Yoongi was standing near the glass window on the empty class to stare at the activities that was happened down there, on the field or somewhere below the building. It wasn’t any special day. Only he was alone, because there was no Jin accompanied him, and with his thought before someone suddenly decided to bother Yoongi’s moment of daydreaming. When Yoongi turned back, he saw Park Sem was standing behind him.

“See what I told you long before? What’s so hard on dying it back? Did you do that only to annoy me, huh?”

The boy bowed his body to greet the teacher while opposed the accusation.

“So you did it because you really want to rebel from school’s rules? That could make it worse, you know.”

Yoongi looked flustered. Park Sem patted Yoongi’s shoulder as he smiled knowingly. It seemed that he only wanted to tease the boy.  

Yoongi was expecting that the older man only stopped by to say that to him, but it turned out that Park Sem stayed beside him and actually tried to open up a conversation with him, a normal one, nothing about rules or school things.

“I saw you on TV with some of your friends. You are joining a competition, right?”

Yoongi nodded awkwardly. He didn’t get the teacher’s reason to bring up the topic. It was only an episode that showed some days before, one of the preliminary round before the official stage. The TV crews have already shot for some scenes for the show; the composing, practice, planning on the official stage, taking vocal, and some elimination rounds before the final live broadcast. People at the school already talked about it since the contestant announcement.

“I never thought you’re good on composing music.”

“Thank you.”

“I know one of your teammate is Kim Namjoon Haksaeng, the student from first grade, right? He is a smart student. You’ll doing well on the show. No, you and your team will win the show. I’ll cheer on you team.”

Yoongi felt lost in this conversation. He didn’t know how to reply it. They were never in talking heart to heart relation. In fact, this was the first time they acted civilized to each other without trying to get into the other’s neck.

“So, how are you these days?”

“I guess it’s fine.” Yoongi scratched his neck.

“Your friend, Seokjin Haksaeng, I didn’t see him around you lately. Both of you always going around together.”

“Kim Seokjin!”

Right when the teacher mentioned about Jin, Yoongi heard Sohee’s voice from below. When he glanced at there, he saw Jin was striding out from school building followed by Sohee who was desperately trying to hold on the boy. They seemed like having an argumentation. Yoongi never saw Jin got annoyed like that. He wondered what were they talking about. He couldn’t hear the conversation but he could hear faintly they were mentioning his name.

“Did both of you have a fight over a girl?” The teacher seemed to hear them too.

“What? No. Why should we fight over a girl?”

“You did it before, didn’t you? Isn’t it that girl student? Yun Sohee, right? The reason you had a fight with a teacher on first year.”

Yoongi’s eyes flashed at the question.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

“Please don’t be like this, Sonsaengnim. Please don’t.”

Sohee wriggled out from the man’s grasp. She has been trying to get out from the room since a while but she couldn’t escape. The