“And you call him your friend?” Yoongi snorted after he was done pulling another three-pointer. Beside him, a dark-haired man with feline eyes and a muscular structure, kept on bouncing a basketball between his hands, head bowed as though he was getting a scolding. His name was Park Jimin, Taehyung’s childhood friend and known as the cute guy next door. When he wasn’t playing on the court, Jimin was busy online shopping for the newest clothing trends. He called it fashion, Yoongi called it a waste of money.

“I told you, he’s not my friend. He just happened to be there as I was inviting people,” Jimin argued with a huff, “it’s not like it was my fault.” 

“Poor Yennie’s probably never coming to any party ever again,” Yoongi stated dryly, “not like she enjoyed them in the first place.” 

“Now you’re just saying that to make me feel bad. It wasn’t even that bad!” 

“It would’ve if Jungkook hadn’t stepped in,” Yoongi threw another ball and it went straight into the hoop. In the background, they heard Jungkook’s cheer.

“Hey Jungkook,” Yoongi called out. The younger man came jogging up to the pair, just as sweaty as they were. They had been practicing for almost three hours now and outside, the sky was turning into a dark purple bruise.

“How’s Yennie doing? Is she still mad?” Jimin asked.

“You bet your bomb dollar she is,” the raven-haired man wrinkled his nose, “I have to constantly take her mind off trying to track and murder the guy.” 

“Trust Yennie to take the matter into her own hands,” Yoongi said cheerfully as he started packing up the balls and placing them into the bin where they were usually kept, “well, if she had any attraction to men left, you can bet it’s completely gone after this.” 

“The worst part is that she wasn’t even the one he’d been aiming for,” Jungkook added, tossing a ball into the bin with bare effort, “he was trying to talk to Risako.” 

“Risako is cute,” Jimin agreed with a whistle, “no wonder Yennie’s attracted to her. I definitely am.” 

“Eh, not really my style,” Yoongi shrugged, causing Jungkook to jostle him playfully, “that’s because you don’t like the cute, innocent type.” 

“You’re right. I like my girls bad and y.” 

“Watch him fall for like, the most innocent Mary,” Jimin murmured into Jungkook’s ear, loud enough for his words to reach Yoongi’s ears. That caused the latter to narrow his eyes and scowl dangerously at his muscular friend, who only wriggled his eyebrows. 

“Jungkook can agree with me,” Yoongi stated when they packed the basketball bin away into the storeroom. He proceeded to pull the doors closed before Jimin locked it in place, glancing at the said raven-haired man who now had a pinkish hue dusting his cheeks. 

Yoongi prodded his shoulder, “aren’t you? Into curvy girls?” 

“I guess,” he muttered, not really knowing why something inside his gut churned at the thought. He did. He liked the look of Celine, had always admired more curvaceous girls that actually had bodies. Maybe he was just too tired to think about it now, the thought of these girls didn’t stir anything within him like they usually did.

Packing up their bags and walking to their flat, the chatter continued on through the evening air that was now painted in midnight blue with an array of stars dotting the sky. 

“Objectively speaking, Yennie’s cute too,” Jimin suddenly stated.

The two other men blinked at him. Jungkook frowned. Huh? Yennie? Where had that even come from? 

Yoongi shrugged then, “sure, I guess. Her face is alright,” he noted wistfully as he shifted his bag more comfortably upon his shoulder, “actually now that you say that, she does have nice thighs.” 

The youngest of the three almost choked on his saliva, “excuse me?” 

“Oh please Jungkook,” Yoongi rolled his eyes, “don’t tell me you hadn’t taken notice before. They’re gorgeous, objectively speaking of course.” 

“And her ankles are so thin, they look like they can snap in two,” Jimin added.
 

Jungkook could only gape at them as though they’d sprouted two additional pairs of ears. What had gotten into them? Since when were they exchanging thoughts about what Yennie looked like? Yennie was--his mind backtracked as he tried to conjure up her face in his mind. Yennie was not someone he’d placed on his list. She was definitely out of the game altogether and shoving her under that light now just didn’t sit well with Jungkook.

“Jungkook?” 

Jimin’s voice called out to him and made him snap back to reality, “what?” 

He saw the amusement swirling in Jimin’s feline eyes, which didn’t help with the sudden knot that had formed in his stomach. He suddenly felt as though he wanted to dunk his head into some ice cold water. Preferably in a bath, just so that he could get the thought of Yennie out of his mind.

Good god. He hadn’t been ready for such a thought. Jungkook wanted to cringe.

“You look like you’ve just seen a ghost,” Jimin’s smirk was playful, as was his tone.

Jungkook merely looked away before biting his lip. He preferred not saying anything and if the two had noticed his subdued silence as they kept the conversation going, they didn’t point it out.

He excused himself the moment they unlocked their front door, stating that he stunk and should probably take a shower before anyone fainted at the smell. Stepping into the shower and tilting his face up towards the gentle rain of warm water cascading down his cheeks, Jungkook reflected on their earlier conversation, memories of his high school days floating back like sepia-toned photographs of the past. 

Him and Yennie had never really been friends during their younger days. Sure, they’d known each other as classmates, as acquaintances, because they had hung out in the same group and had close friendship circles with mutual people. But other than that, Yennie had just been another girl who didn’t seem to be interested in boys or makeup. She was one of the rare people that was content just sitting there and listening to other people talk, even though he’d found it weird at first, her silence. 

But when he got to know her, he realized that it wasn’t as uncomfortable as he thought it’d be.

Because Yennie was one of those people that easily got caught up inside her own mind, dancing along to the tunes inside her head, having unspoken conversations so deep that he probably wouldn’t comprehend. Behind her  quiet stature was a girl that had such a vivid imagination and a way of stringing words together that Jungkook had been flabbergasted the first time he’d read one of her pieces of poetry. 

When she finally confessed to him that she liked girls, he’d been genuinely surprised. It wasn’t something that people usually said so outwardly after all, especially in such a constrained society. 

“How did you know?” Jungkook had asked her, and he remembered how her eyes had flashed with an echo of pain etched inside her pupils, a pain so deep that Jungkook had felt like he was staring down at her soul, open to him and vulnerable. 

“I don’t know,” she’d shrugged then even when he was aware that it was much more important than how she made it out to be. Yennie had always been that way, addressing things so casually, too casually. That was now she got misunderstood. Because she never showed people whenever she was upset, always kept her feelings hidden behind closed doors. 

Jungkook had so much respect for everything that made up her countenance. She was strong and fearless and didn’t hesitate to stand up for what was right to her in her own silent manner. She wasn’t verbal, didn’t participate in such endeavours of screaming at the top of her lungs and doing dramatic things that would make her an icon.

No, Yennie was more of a silent type of strength. She was the power that thrummed from her pen to paper, like the ocean waves; powerful, yet silent and pondering, so that you never knew when they were going to attack.

 “Actually now that you say that, she does have nice thighs.” 

Jungkook flinched. Okay, so maybe he had noticed the nice curve of her hips and the wondrous shapes of her thighs. Not too thin and curvy enough to cause him to swallow hard at the prospect of skimming his fingers across their surface. But that was okay right? He was a man after all, a hot-blooded male that had a normal drive, that had needs like any other man. 

No, the real reason why he was denying himself of the fact that Yennie was indeed, very appealing, was the very fact that she was into girls. And that she’d never bat her eyes at him the way she batted her eyes at Risako.

Was he disappointed? 

...Maybe. 

Of course he had been disappointed. He considered Yennie to be his closest female friend and while his heart had entertained the previous possibility of falling for her charm, it just wasn’t possible when she batted for the same team as him.

He impulsively shook his head to rid himself of any kind of thought that would stray too far out of the boundary line. It wasn’t productive to be thinking of such things, he chided inwardly. He should focus on Celine. Yes, Celine was gorgeous and Celine was straight. Celine saw him as a man and that was enough for him, really.

Jungkook tried to ignore the way his heart tugged at the thought.

Yennie’s foot kept tapping against the wooden floor in her bout of anxiety.

She hated this. All this waiting. 

Last weekend’s events still flickered past her mind, her body still remembering Risako’s touch as though she’d left her imprint, heat searing across her flesh and causing goosebumps to explode along her back at the thought. Yennie breathed in and allowed her head to fall into her palms, a groan resounding from her lips.

She was so far gone. Too far gone and she should really get a ing grip.

“Hi.” 

Yennie’s head lifted so abruptly that it spun. She blinked away the flurry of stars to reveal a smiling Risako. There was nothing in her eyes to indicate that she felt awkward in her presence and a relieved sigh left Yennie’s lips.

“Hey.” 

Risako slid onto the seat opposite hers with a giggle, “what? Why do you look so flustered?” 

“I--” Yennie swallowed hard, “Uh-- it’s nothing.” 

“Okay,” the smile still lingered on the Japanese girl’s face.

They proceeded to order their drinks; a mocha latte for Yennie and a soy cappuccino for Risako, who reasoned that soy milk was less fattening and that she wanted to lose a few pounds.

“You don’t need to though,” was what Yennie blurted out abruptly. She blinked and clamped her lips shut almost instantly. 

Risako burst out laughing, “thanks, Yen-yen. I appreciate that,” her expression turned sombre then before she asked, “are you okay?” 

Yennie blinked, “yeah. Why?” 

“Well, with what happened during the party,” there was a slight trace of guilt in Risako’s chestnut brown eyes. She bit her lip, averted her gaze, “I’m sorry, it was my fault, I--”