Jisoo tapped Yoongi’s shoulder, to which the boy turned his head upwards to the girl standing behind him. “Do you mind if I sit next to Jimin-ssi?”

Yoongi blinked in confusion. “Um… no, not at all.”

Jisso frowned as she replied, “It looks like you do, though.”

“Oh, sorry about that. That’s just my face, I tend to look very uninterested most of the time,” Yoongi apologized, bowing his head a little while keeping his expression neutral. “I was a little confused as to why you would want to sit next to the human version of a mochi.”

Jimin was busy drinking when he heard what Yoongi said about him. He choked a little bit and started coughing, resulting in Taehyung gently slapping his back. After recovering from his initial shock, Jimin asked, still coughing slightly, “Was that supposed to be an indirect insult or an indirect compliment?”

Yoongi shrugged. “Beats me. My only advice is to be careful next time when you drink. Otherwise, a police report would’ve written the cause of your death as ‘due to the consumption and eventual choking of chocolate milk’.” He then stood up and let Jisoo take his spot. “My seat’s all yours now, Jisoo-ssi.” Yoongi went ahead and sat next to

Jisoo giggled at Yoongi’s straightforward attitude and proceeded to sit down beside Jimin, who was still coughing a little bit. “Are you alright, Jimin-ssi?”

“N-No, I’m fine,” Jimin coughed. “I’m okay now, really.”

“Here, maybe this might help,” spoke Lisa, offering her water bottle to the boy. Jimin took it gratefully, open the lid off and took a sip. He cleared his throat a few times before chugging a slightly more considerable amount.

Jimin sealed the lid into place and gave the bottle back to Lisa. “Thank you,” said Jimin, but it was by then he realized that he had unconsciously placed his lips on the bottle as he was drinking out of it. Feeling the embarrassment run through his veins, he quickly added, “You might wanna wipe that first before you drink. Sorry.”

Lisa shook her head. “It’s alright, you don’t have to be sorry.” She placed her water bottle inside her backpack and zipped it shut. She was about to tell the others that she’s going to find an extra chair since the table is full now until Jungkook frantically stood up from his seat before she could do so.

Jungkook gestured at the empty space and said with a stutter, “Um… Y-You can sit here if you want. I can just get a chair for myself.”

“Oh,” uttered Lisa, both surprised and amused at how Jungkook was acting in front of her. “Thanks, Jungkook. You know you don’t have to.”

“Yeah, Jungkook,” mocked Chaeyoung, putting emphasis on the boy’s name. She was doing her friends and herself a favor by doing a little bit of harmless teasing towards Jungkook. From the very beginning, Chaeyoung didn’t feel a spark of jealousy when she found out about Jungkook being Lisa’s former secret admirer. Everybody had high school crushes, regardless of how big or small they are. Hell, even Chaeyoung had a couple of guys who made her stop and stare in the hallways and going as far as becoming a conversation starter between her and her friends. “You don’t have to act so suavely, you know.”

Jungkook glared at Chaeyoung, who just gave him a playful smirk. He turned to Lisa and smiled sheepishly as the girl went up to the empty spot and sat on it. He then went off to get a chair for himself. Meanwhile, the others sitting at the table started laughing among themselves.

“Somebody should seriously teach that boy on how to stop being so terrified of girls,” suggested Hoseok, eventually looking at Chaeyoung for confirmation. “Perhaps… you?”

Chaeyoung scoffed. “Please. He acts like a complete douche when he’s with me.”

“Really?” asked Taehyung, to which Chaeyoung nodded in response. “Huh. Weird.”

Chaeyoung raised an eyebrow. “What’s weird?”

“Well, we all know how he acts around the opposite . I think that it’s very new to see him act very much like himself when he’s with you, because the last time I checked, you were, and still are, a girl,” explained Taehyung, giving his two cents.

Chaeyoung shrugged. “Maybe he’s trying to get out of his shell.”

“Or maybe he’s into you. He did mention that you’d make a pretty good girlfriend,” pointed out Jimin.

Jennie’s eyes widened, clearly surprised at the revelation. “Did he actually say that?”

Yoongi nodded his head in affirmation. “Surprisingly so.”

Jennie nodded her head in amusement. “The kid’s got balls. And they are huge.”

“How huge?” wondered Lisa, turning her attention to Jennie.

“Like the size of two Jupiters-“ continued Jennie, but was later cut short by the sound of a chair screeching against the floor after Jungkook set it down next to the table. As he sat down, he noticed everyone’s eyes were on him. There was a couple of seconds of silence.

It was shortly interrupted by Jungkook saying, “Have I interrupted something, or…”

Jisoo shook her head, patting the boy’s shoulder. “It’s best not to know. Trust me.”

Jungkook blinked, cocking his head to the side in confusion. “Um, okay…”

Jisoo smiled at the youngest boy of the group, then turned her attention to her own friends mixed in with a few familiar male acquaintances. “Anyway, what’s the special occasion? Seems like everybody here just decided to hang out with one another today, so I’ve clearly missed something.”

Lisa nodded along. “Same here. No offense, boys. I’m not saying that I don’t like any of you being with us.”

“None taken.” Hoseok smiled reassuringly.

“It’s no biggie.” Jimin gave a small smile.

Both Yoongi and Jungkook responded with a casual shrug.

Chaeyoung decided to give a brief summary of the reason behind today’s unusual meetup between her and Jungkook’s group of friends. “Jungkook and I got to know each other last night because we live in the same apartment complex.”

Lisa’s ears perked up in interest. “Really?”

Chaeyoung responded with, “Mhmm.”

“Wow, who knew the world could be so small?” asked Lisa, rhetorically as she gaze off into the distance for a moment. She snapped out of it and continued to ask. “Did the two of you do anything afterward?”

“Nothing much. We went up to the roof, talked a bit more and decided to stop by the convenient store before going up to my apartment,” explained Jungkook, purposefully leaving out the parts where he and Chaeyoung were smoking cigarettes.

“Brace yourselves, guys. This is the part where it gets hot and steamy real quick,” teased Taehyung with a smirk on his face.

“Okay, first of all, please switch off that brain of yours,” said Jungkook warningly, throwing a glare at Taehyung. “Second of all, we didn’t do anything that you guys probably thought we were doing.”

“I’m not one hundred percent convinced, but thank you for explaining it to us nevertheless,” thanked Lisa, to which Jungkook reacted with a slight blush on his face.

The sight of Jungkook blushing whenever Lisa says something irritated Yoongi until his very core. “Jungkook, you gotta stop doing that. Your little crush on- I’m sorry, but who agrees that we should drop the formalities from now on?” Once he received nods and voices of approval from everyone at the table, he continued. “As I was saying, your little crush on Lisa over here has dropped dead in a ditch somewhere in the outskirts of Busan.”

“Hey, you don’t have to call my city out like that!” Jimin cried out, looking utterly offended.

“Hyung, I’m from Busan, too,” Jungkook intervened.

“Who was born first?” asked Jimin, crossing both of his arms on his chest.

Jungkook blinked a few times. “Um… you did, but that-“

“Exactly. I rest my case,” stated Jimin, immense pride oozing out of his chest. Jungkook looked at the latter with a perplexed expression as he wasn’t sure what the point of the argument was.

Jennie laughed at the interaction between the two. “You guys are hilarious. I’m surprised that we weren’t hanging out before.”

Jisoo nodded in approval. “Yeah, I mean, we don’t really hang out with guys that much because most of the time, they act like freaks with no control over their hormones. Also, they’re always too busy playing , Marry, Kill except the only option available is the first one, and they usually name all of the girls in school as well as celebrities who they think they have a high chance at getting into bed with.”

“I don’t blame you for thinking of us that way, but guys aren’t all like that,” commented Taehyung. “This is gonna sound weird for me to say, but I just wanna apologize on behalf of all men in this world who caused you great pain and suffering. Girls should be treated with great love and care because I personally believe that they are future mothers who give birth to future daughters who will then be great leaders for the new generation. I don’t like how some guys treat women as if they’re job is to be the object of their ual desires, when in reality, women are capable of doing so many things that can help make the world a better place.”

As soon as he finished his sentence, all of the girls except for Lisa stood up from their seats and gave Taehyung a standing ovation as the other guys laughed at the girls’ reactions.

“Never have I met such an intelligent man like yourself, Taehyung!” Jennie exclaimed, clapping her hands as loud as she can.

“That’s it, I’m turning myself into a full-fledged feminist because of you!” Chaeyoung shouted, pointing her index finger at Taehyung who could only sit there in bewilderment.

“We need more men like you in this world!” praised Jisoo. “Can I come and meet your parents as soon as possible? I wanna congratulate them for raising such a beautiful boy.”

Lisa stared at Taehyung with a look of admiration, a genuine smile appearing on her face. “We really appreciate what you just said, Taehyung. Thank you.”

Taehyung blushed, looking down at his shoes under the table as his heartbeat quickened. Then, he felt a nudge on his arm. He looked up to see Jimin giving him a knowing look, happily grinning at him. Taehyung returned the smile and returned his gaze back down to the ground, a feeling of warmth enveloping his chest.

-

“You guys wanna head out somewhere after school?” Jimin suggested to the whole group as they leave the cafeteria to walk back to their respective classes.

Jennie shrugged. “I’m down for it. Any ideas on where to go?”

“We could go shopping for clothes. I haven’t upgraded my wardrobe in a very long time, and I’m getting little tired of wearing the same clothes over and over again,” said Taehyung, thinking about what type of shirts and pants he would want to purchase.

Lisa gasped at the boy’s idea, running up to him and holding onto his arm tightly. “I was literally about to say the same thing!”

Taehyung gasped animatedly as he went along with the act. “Are you serious?”

“Hell yeah, I am!” Lisa exclaimed, only to be shushed by Yoongi.

“Quiet down, will you? I’m not looking forward to any of the teachers coming out of the classrooms and start preaching us about school manner,” scolded Yoongi with a grumpy look on his face as he walked ahead of the group with Jennie following suit. Taehyung and Lisa turned to each other, giggling like little kids while Jungkook and Chaeyoung talked among themselves about recommended places the group as a whole should go altogether.

Jimin looked at the potentially established couples in front of him and sighed bitter, shoving his hands into the pocket of his school trousers. Hoseok, who was walking beside Jimin, noticed the dejected look on his younger friend’s face and knew exactly what he was feeling. To cheer him up, he wrapped his arm around the smaller boy’s shoulder and gave him a side-hug.

“Hey,” Hoseok uttered in a low voice so that the others in front of him and Jimin won’t eavesdrop. “You’ll find someone eventually. Chin up and just be yourself. Okay?”

Jimin looked up at Hoseok, who gave him a comforting smile. He smiled back a little and nodded his head.

“Besides, you got me. I’m your hope, am I?” Hoseok asked, tightening his grip on Jimin.

Jimin chuckled, nodding his head again. “You’re my hope, hyung.”

---

First off, I would like to say that I’m back!

It’s so relieving to have written a new chapter for this story after so, so long of being dead and I do want to apologize for my undeniably long absence. This semester has been stressful and tiresome and downright agonizing which I can only blame none other than myself for procrastinating and being just utterly lazy in doing my assignments. But hey, look at me, I’m back on the grind!

Since I have a relatively long holiday, I might be able to update frequently, but I’m not making any promises. Just bear with me, guys, I have a severe case of laziness that is in dire need to be cured.

Until I post a new update, I’ll see you guys later!