2. A Speck of Interest.

Taehyung walked into the cafe checking through his wallet, again and again, to make sure nothing was missing. After he made sure that his house key was safely tucked in, he slipped the wallet into his pocket and looked ahead. He saw Jungkook drumming his fingers to the beats of the music he was currently listening. He hurried over to Jungkook and pulled out the earphones resulting in Jungkook jumping at the suddenness.  

"WHERE WERE YOU!? I HAVE BEEN WAITING FO-" Jungkook was cut off mid rant by Taehyung who stuffed a piece of the bread that was yet to be touched on the table. 

"I dropped my wallet in the locker room and a girl called me to let me know about it. So I had to go back and collect my wallet from her." Taehyung explained briefly as he ravished the bread and sipped from Jungkook's black coffee. 

A few seconds passed with no words escaping Jungkook's mouth and Taehyung looked up at him to see him with wide eyes and a mouth slightly agape.

"What?" Taehyung asked, mouth full and words muffled while he chewed the bread.

"So, you're saying that someone returned your wallet that was lying around somewhere in the locker room?" Jungkook asked, disbelief clear in his eyes.

"Yes, exactly that," Taehyung mumbled.

"Wow! You must be lucky! I have never had the chance of meeting such a person in the college since I joined."  Jungkook replied.

"I must be really lucky then. Anyways, let's get this done. I'm really tired right now, you must be as well, right?" Taehyung said, attempting to clean his hands by rubbing it on his shirt sleeves. 

"Yah! Kim Taehyung!" Jungkook slapped his hand away from his shirt and passed over the tissue box from his side. Taehyung giggled despite the embarrassment of having been caught dirtying his clothes. Jungkook shook his head with his face screaming 'You're incorrigible!'

Once the two finished the snacks, they started their work. Jungkook was once again surprised because Taehyung managed to understand the derivations quite fast, without him having to repeat it again and again like he had imagined.

***

The stars were twinkling in the dark sky, streets were slowly emptying as the night advanced. Taehyung was walking home with earphones plugged in.

After bidding bye to Jungkook, he had started walking home while talking to his mother, asking about his grandfather's health. Halfway through the call, his mother ended the call since it was time for his grandfather's medicines. Thus, he continued walking while his favorite songs played through the earphones.

Taehyung enjoyed the quiet atmosphere of the neighborhood at this hour of the day. When he saw the worn out banner nearby his house, barely visible through the shadows of trees covering the most of it, he sighed and nodded to himself.

Unlocking the door, he walked in and took off the sneakers, placing it carefully on the shoe-rack keeping in mind that it was not his own. He then rushed to his room. Taking out a pair of sweat pants, he went to take a relaxing bath. Humming the tune of the last song he listened, he rinsed off his body and sighed when he felt his muscles loosening. 

After fixing a light dinner, he took the plate of food and perched on the couch in his living room watching some random Disney movies. Eventually, he grew bored of watching the animated humans running around. When he found nothing interesting going on in any of the channels, he switched it off. He washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen, that he usually pushed to be done in the morning or even worse, until the next night. It was still early for him to go to bed so he decided to watch the night sky and spend time by stargazing, making note of the constellations. It was a hobby he picked up in his middle school times. 

"What the...!?" Taehyung's mouth fell open when his eyes landed on his neighbor's bedroom. 

Taehyung had been sitting there and watching the stars for quite a long time. He had tracked three constellations that he was trying to find for a month. The stargazing was going well until suddenly a flash of light forced him to shut his eyes. The light was disturbing him and it was impossible to continue stargazing in such bright lights. When he traced the light rays, his eyes landed on his neighbor's bedroom. It resulted in him scowling and glaring at the room through the open window. But, a few moments later, he was choking on saliva with surprise. 

Wow! The world sure is small!

Taehyung thought, still looking at his neighbor's room, or say, staring at the girl who was writing something on her notebook. He could hardly believe his eyes when he saw the girl from the locker room, sitting in front of a desk, working on, what he supposed were, college assignments. He stared at the girl until his conscience pricked at him to behave, to remember his manners. Sparing a last glance in her direction, he walked into his room and drew the curtains to block the light from the street lights and also his neighbor's room. 

Deciding that he had nothing better to do, he slipped into his bed and closed his eyes to welcome a dreamless sleep.

***

In the morning, when Taehyung surprisingly woke up to birds' chirping sound than the blaring sound of his alarm, the first thing that came to his mind was the girl. He hopped off the bed and skipped to the window hoping to get a good view of her. But, as it is, her window was closed and he felt like a fool to have expected the girl to still be there. Despite the fact that the window was shut, he kept staring at it, hoping that miraculously the girl would appear. He looked like he was in a daze and his state of dazedness was broken by the alarm going off in his room, bringing him back to the planet earth. Usually, he would ignore the alarm or sleep through it like a rock until his mother would call him to wake him up, well acquainted with her son's habits. Mumbling incoherent words, he walked out of his room after shutting off the alarm.

After brushing, he fixed himself a light breakfast and moved on to get ready as fast as he could so that he could rush to college and be there in the class before the professor, at least for this one day. 

"Oh, you're early!" Jungkook said loudly, as soon as he entered the class. Not paying attention to the students who glared at him for disrupting their chit-chats with his loud voice, he hurried over to Taehyung's desk and dropped his backpack down on the other's desk.

"Woke up early," Taehyung muttered, not sparing a second glance at Jungkook who sat down at the next desk.

"That's new! How did such a miracle happen?" Jungkook cocked an eyebrow whilst Taehyung pushed away stray strands of hair falling over his eyes.

"Heard of something called 'alarm', Jungkookie?" Taehyung grinned as if he was not lying about the whole I-woke-up-to-the-alarm-sound thing, taking hold of Jungkook's backpack and keeping it aside. 

Jungkook's eyes narrowed at the reply and he moved from his seat to stand right before Taehyung's face and bending slightly to meet his gaze. "I thought you were immune to alarms!?" 

Taehyung scrunched his nose distastefully and pushed Jungkook back on his seat. When an overly surprised gaze followed every one of his moves, Taehyung sighed and dropped his head down on the desk, his eyes drooping with the little sleep he lost that morning.

"I don't know." Taehyung sighed again. "Somehow, I happened to wake up before the alarm could go off. I was wide awake, which is unlike me, so I just got ready and that's how I'm early."

Jungkook nodded, a look of understanding surfacing his face. He then looked at Taehyung for a few seconds before patting his head, trying his best to be gentle and hoping that it would lull him to sleep. 

"Sleep now. I'll wake you up when the class starts." Jungkook mumbled, rubbing Taehyung's back, helping him to relax and get some much-needed sleep.

When Taehyung woke up, the first class was already done and he saw the professor walking out of the class reminding them about coming tests and assignments to be submitted before them. He sat up, straightening his back and stretching his arms, eyes still looking as sleepy as ever.

"Oh, you're up?" He heard Jungkook from his side. Rubbing his eyes to chase away the remaining bits of sleepiness, he faced Jungkook.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Taehyung mumbled groggily and Jungkook passed a water bottle to help him wake up completely, not bothering to answer his frowning friend. Taehyung gladly accepted it and opened the bottle to drink from it. However, before he could take a sip, his eyes zeroed in on a girl sitting a few seats away from them and he lowered the bottle to take a good look in her direction. When his doubt was confirmed, he nodded to himself and sipped from the bottle. 

"Jungkookie, remember how you were telling me yesterday that you have never met a student in this college who was kind enough to return a wallet?" Taehyung asked, still eyeing the girl sitting a few desks away from them.

Jungkook, who had no idea about where the conversation was going, only hummed and looked up at his friend only to notice him staring at something or perhaps someone behind him. He turned around and tried to locate the person who could possibly catch Taehyung's attention. He was aimlessly scanning through the last row occupiers when Taehyung spoke up.

"It's the girl with glasses on. She is the one who was generous enough to return my wallet." Taehyung mumbled, seeming to have lost in thoughts.

When Jungkook caught sight of the girl with thick rimmed glasses and long braided hair, he 'ah!' ed with understanding and turned around to smile at Taehyung. He could see Taehyung still looking in her direction, but he was sure the guy was lost in some thoughts. He waved a hand in front of Taehyung's eyes to gain his attention which successfully pulled Taehyung out of his thoughts.

"What are you thinking?" Jungkook asked.

"Nothing. It's just... She is reading. I mean, I saw her reading last night as well. There is still time left until the tests right?" Taehyung asked, voice bordering on bewilderment. 

 "Last night?" Jungkook was puzzled. He ignored the question his friend asked and voiced out his confusion.

"Um yeah. She is my neighbor. Last night I was sitting in my balcony and I saw her reading in her room."

Jungkook frowned a little and mumbled, "How come? She lives two blocks away from yours. Are you sure it's the same girl?" 

Taehyung scrunched his nose, his brain working overdrive and his eyes squinting, trying to get a better look of the girl.

"I'm sure. There's no doubt." 

Jungkook's frown deepens and his eyebrows furrow more with every second he spends thinking. Taehyung was looking at him expecting to hear something.

"Did they shift?" Jungkook mumbled to himself while thinking. Taehyung's face contorted into a frown as well at that and he questioned, "Do you know her? I mean-" 

"Yeah. We are childhood friends." Jungkook cut him off before he could complete the sentence. "Anyways, I'll text her later and ask her." Jungkook dismissed the topic and turned back to face the front.

Taehyung stared at her for a few more seconds, then turned to face Jungkook with an 'are you serious' look. When Jungkook raised a brow at him, he shrugged and turned to sit straight, deciding to address his doubts later.

But suddenly Jungkook turned towards Taehyung with narrowed eyes, asking, "Between, why were you looking at your neighbor's bedroom?" Emphasizing on the word neighbor.

Taehyung's eyes widened at the unsaid words that Jungkook was implying with the question. He opened his mouth wanting to explain the whole situation and how he had come to look at the room by accident and unintentionally. But again Jungkook dismissed the topic with a 'later' as the professor walked in. Taehyung mumbled an inaudible 'okay' and opened his notebook to take down notes.

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