14.1 Jimin’s Home

“Appa, what is that Kang b**** doing in the Skechers ad!” Jimin stormed into his father’s room after seeing the commercial on television.

“Watch your language, dear,” Mr Shin chided his daughter while packing his luggage for an upcoming overseas business trip. “We should be thankful that Seulgi-ssi agrees to model for the campaign. Despite not getting paid, she still gives her best.”

“She’s only doing it to help Taeyong terminate our engagement so that she can have him all to herself. What a devious !”

“Hmm… Taeyong’s friends are a bunch of good kids. Seulgi doesn’t look like she’s capable of scheming a plot like this. From what I see, she’s the one who’s clueless about Taeyong’s feelings for her.”

“No way! All of you have been fooled by her kindness!”

“Instead of questioning her kindness, you might want to learn a thing or two from Seulgi. If I were Taeyong, I would have chosen Seulgi over you too. Guys generally do not like girls that are brash and overly self-centred. That’s my two cents from a male perspective.”

What has the world come to?! Even my appa is on your side. Kang, you are so dead.

14.2 School – Outside Entrance

The next day…

“Hey, Taeyong! Wait for me!”

Taeyong was so startled by Jimin’s voice that he dropped his water bottle. As Taeyong chased after the bottle rolling on the ground, he was led to a drain near the bottom of the school building When he bent down to retrieve the bottle from the drain was fortunately dry, he noticed two familiar-looking bangles entangled with some wild plants growing nearby. Since he would be seeing one of the owners in class later, Taeyong picked up the bangles.

“If this thing means so much to you, why did you leave it lying here?” Taeyong muttered to himself. He remembered Seulgi mentioning that her unnie had one too. Finding a pair meant both of them were together near where he was standing previously. It made him wondered what they were doing back then, to the point that they did not realise they had dropped something so precious to them.

“Wow, that bangle looks so pretty, and you even have a pair,” Jimin caught up with Taeyong. “Are you giving one to me? I know you will change your mind terminating our engagement and come back…”

“Gosh! When did you appear?” the jump scare brought Taeyong back to reality. “First, this pair of bangles belong to someone else. Second, I have never changed my mind about ending the engagement. Hope that answers your questions.”

“Taeyong, what happened over the years? You have changed so much.”

“Nothing changed. I did not have any romantic feelings for you when we were kids. Neither do I have it now. Do not expect any in future either.”

“Yes, you did change. When we were kids, you weren’t that cold towards me. Instead, you were so loving and kind…”

“I guess that’s the problem. By being so-called loving and kind, I am leading you on. Therefore, I guess it is better off this way. I don’t want you to have any illusions about us being together, so would you please move on already?”

“Does Kang even feel the same way about you?” Jimin challenged Taeyong. “Perhaps you should be the one moving on and start paying attention to those who would love you back.”

Taeyong was momentarily stunned by Jimin’s comments. For once he could not disagree with her.

“I shall leave the engagement open for you to come back any time…”

“Thank you, but no thanks. Even if Seul never return my feelings, I won’t go back to you, because it’s unfair to use you as some sort of a substitute. I’ll move on when I’m ready. For now, just let me be…”

Jimin watched Taeyong walking away. As his well-toned back view slowly diminished from her sight, she could not help feeling how unfair life was. Here she was, ready to give it her all to let this relationship blossom. Instead of being appreciative and reciprocate the feelings accordingly, Taeyong would rather get hurt by the thorns of unrequited love. Overwhelmed with a broken heart, Jimin turned and charged towards the staircase lobby like an enraged bull. Halfway through, she collided with her classmate coming from the other direction, causing the latter’s books to fall to the ground.

“Yah, Mina! Are you blind or something? There are so many places to walk, and you choose to walk right into me?!” Jimin put the blame on her classmate.

“You a… appeared out of no… nowhere…” Mina stammered in fear.

“Are you trying to say it’s my fault?” Jimin pulled Mina’s collar roughly.

“I’m… er… sorry…”

“Too late for that. As your punishment, I’m taking this,” Jimin picked up Mina’s Chemistry textbook from the ground. Mrs Choi had an aversion to students forgetting to bring books and other related material for her lessons. Hence, she decided to penalize students who committed this offence by deducting marks from their next quiz. Mina barely scraped through this subject, so any form of deductions was detrimental to her overall results.

“No, please! Jimin, anything but this…” Mina was tearing up while begging.

Jimin merely shrugged and walked briskly away. It would have been more satisfying if the victim was Seulgi herself. But for now, anything would do to tentatively comfort her broken heart.

14.3 School – Foyer

Meanwhile, in another part of the school…

“Good morning, Seul!”

“Good morning, Krys!” Seulgi turned around and found Krystal catching up to her. “Where is Kai?”

“It’s been a while since we last saw each other, and the first thing you ask about is Kai,” Krystal pretended to be jealous.

“Don’t get the wrong idea that I want to know more about Kai. It’s just that you two are inseparable these days, so it’s weird not to see him with you,” Seulgi became flustered on Krystal’s “accusation”.

“Calm down. I’m only messing with you. I know you are not the third-party kind of person. Then again, even if someone wants to come in between us, is he even worth fighting for?” Krystal paused and looked away.

“Is there something wrong?” Seulgi asked out of concern. All this while, she was under the impression that Krystal and Kai were very much in love, so what Krystal had just said was the last thing she expected to hear.

Krystal remained deep in thought. Just when she felt ready to say something…

“I finally found you!” Kai ran towards the girls panting.

“Let’s go, Seul!” Krystal held Seulgi’s hand and pulled her along to get away from Kai as far as possible. However, Kai was quick to grab Krystal’s other arm to stop her.

“Krystal, please hear me out!” Kai pleaded, then he turned towards Seulgi. “I’m sorry if I look like I am trying to chase you away. But I really need to talk to Krystal in private, so could you please?”

Under normal circumstances, Seulgi would make herself scarce as she believed it was not her place to interfere in the relationship issues of other couples. Something about Krystal’s uneasiness told her that this was not a normal circumstance, so Seulgi remained where she was and waited for a cue from her best friend.

Krystal contemplated for a good while before deciding to give in to Kai’s request. “Seul, I’m sorry to leave you like this. But can you go to the class first?”

“No worries, I understand. It might be a good idea to talk it out with each other, whatever the issue is.”

“Thank you. Catch up with you soon,” Krystal clasped Seulgi’s hand one last time before letting go. “I’ll really like to spend some time with you only, just hanging out like the good old days.”

Seulgi returned a smile before making her way to the locker, where a student in distress caught her attention.

“Are you okay?” Seulgi had seen the student before and knew she was from class 1-3. Being in a different class, they hardly had any chance to interact.

“Erm… I…” the student’s reddened eyes and sniffles proved that she had been crying.

“Do you need help?” Seulgi reached out to her first, hoping that it would get her to open up.

“Well… I… lost my Chemistry textbook, which I need for the next period…”

Seulgi understood the consequences. Without hesitation, she retrieved the said book from her locker. “My Chemistry lesson happens after lunch break, so you may borrow mine first and return it to me during lunchtime.”

Smiles of gratitude quickly replaced the student’s previously anxious face.

“Thank you very much,” the student saw the name on the cover, “Seulgi-ssi.”

14.4 School – Canteen

Later in the day…

Jimin was certain that her day was jinxed. She was looking forward to watch Mina, her perpetual punching bag, being torn to shreds by Mrs Choi. That would have helped her to forget about the pain of being rejected by Taeyong for the nth time. To her shocking disappointment, Mina miraculously produced the textbook from her bag, thus even her last resort to a consolation was taken away.

It could be due to her very bad mood or her maid’s cooking was really bad. Either way, Jimin thought her lunch bento tasted downright awful. After forcing a couple of mouthfuls down , Jimin decided she had enough.

“I’m going to the ladies. Who’s with me?” Jimin declared after shoving the lunchbox into her bag.

“Count me in. I need a puff.”

“Me too.”

In the end, the entire clique followed Jimin. Upon entering the washroom, they were greeted by the flushing sound. Seulgi emerged from the cubicle with her eyebrows raised on meeting Jimin and friends. Out of courtesy, she bowed slightly and proceeded to wash her hands. Before she could reach there, Jimin’s friends had already parked themselves in front of every sink available.

“If you want to wash your hands, you have to fight your way through us.”

Seulgi sighed with resignation and headed for the exit. She could use the basin in the canteen instead.

“Eww! Are you going to leave without washing your hands after using the toilet? That’s so disgusting!” The friend who smoked blocked the door.

“What do you guys want?” Seulgi questioned wearily.

“We want to ensure that you wash your hands after doing whatever business in the toilet before leaving. It’s about personal hygiene,” Jimin replied with an air of self-righteousness.

Seulgi knew the real reason. It was about something, or rather someone else, but she chose to give the benefit of the doubt. “I would have done so if your friends aren’t blocking the basins.”

“Then fight your way through.”

“What if I don’t?”

“Then we’ll just stay here and wait till you do so. We have no lessons after this, so we have the whole day.”

Unfortunately, time was not on Seulgi’s side. A non-advocate of conflicts and violence, Seulgi had to think fast on her feet for an alternative to get out of this situation. Scanning through the gang, she hoped that at least one of them was afraid of…

“Ahh! Cockroach!” Seulgi screamed out of the blue.

Since Seulgi did not specify where the dreaded insect was, Jimin’s friends were driven into mass hysteria from the fear that it might be lurking in their vicinity. Even Smoking Friend had a phobia for one of the oldest creatures on Earth, so much for her tough exterior. With the coast cleared, Seulgi dashed towards the exit and opened the door. Just when Seulgi thought she finally saw the light of the day, she took a massive hit on her head when a heavy textbook was aimed at her from the back, courtesy of Jimin. The impact left Seulgi crouching on the ground and wincing in pain.

“All you can think of is to run away? What a coward!” Smoking Friend grabbed Seulgi’s collar and hurled her towards the wall.

In an attempt to corner Seulgi, the gang closed in on her but stopped halfway when her stomach growled.

“Oh! Someone is hungry!”

“You are in luck. I have some food here,” Jimin took out the lunch bento that she could not finish before. Then she opened the lid and spat into it. “A little something to enhance the flavour.”

The lunch box was being passed around and Jimin’s friends followed suit. Smoking Friend even exhaled a cloud of smoke into the food, before it was returned to Jimin. Then she sauntered towards Seulgi and placed the lunch box on the ground. “If you can finish this, we might let you go.”

Each time Seulgi attempted to escape from Jimin’s clutches, the latter seemed to be one step ahead of her, giving her little incentive to keep trying. On the contrary, even if Jimin did not keep her end of the deal, Seulgi could at least satisfy her hunger. After reasoning that she had nothing to lose, Seulgi picked up the lunch box in front of her and started eating. To her surprise, the food tasted quite nice actually. It was something she could enjoy if she closed one eye to the extra ingredients added.

“I know right? Poor folks like Kang are disgusting. Not washing hands after using the toilet; eating other people’s saliva…”

While her friends were snickering at what they perceived to be funny, Jimin did not feel the same way as this was not what she wanted. “Are you serious about eating that?!”

“I can’t believe you are offering the food to me. It’s quite delicious actually,” Seulgi replied while chewing the food.

“Don’t you feel nauseated or something?” Jimin took out a can of coke from her bag and pulled the lid.

“Ahh… you mean the saliva? At worst, I find it revolting and unhygienic. Otherwise, it’s not fatal, or we would have died from swallowing our own saliva on a daily basis,” Seulgi laughed candidly at her own joke.

Feeling pissed off by how unaffected Seulgi seemed, Jimin imbibed a mouthful of coke and spat the content into her face. “I’ll like to see how long you can maintain your composure. Taeyong, and even my appa, may be fooled by your kind and gentle demeanour. But I’m gonna tear down that fake façade and expose your true ugly side.”

“Seulgi? Are you in there? I thought I heard…” The door of the washroom suddenly opened to reveal Mina.

Originally, Mina was supposed to meet Seulgi at the canteen during lunchtime to return the Chemistry textbook. When she did not find Seulgi there after waiting for a while, Mina decided to go to the washroom first. That was how Mina ended up where she was. A quick analysis of the surrounding told Mina that Seulgi was a victim of a bullying incident, a situation she herself was too familiar with.

“Sto… stop it… or I’ll te… tell the teachers,” Mina managed to muster enough courage to stand up to Jimin and friends, never mind if the words came out as stammers. No matter how scared she was, she could not turn her back on the person who had helped her before.

“You know each other?” Smoking Friend sounded mildly surprised.

“I believe your Appa still needs his job as the Sales Executive at my Omma’s boutique,” Jimin threatened. “Go ahead and tell the teachers. And I’ll see to it that your Appa’s entire career ended with a giant full-stop. My Omma just needs to throw her weight around and he’ll never find any job after losing his current one with us.”

In the midst of deliberating whether to help Seulgi or to protect her father’s career, Mina caught sight of her own Chemistry textbook on the floor. A seasoned bully she was, Jimin noticed Mina’s attention shift. When Mina was about to pick up her book, Jimin managed to get to it first. In a swift motion, she kicked the book away and stepped on Mina’s hand instead.

“Ahhhhhhhh!!”

“Hahaha! Serve her right for being a busybody.”

“Only fools will think of going head-on with our Leader Jimin. This will teach her a lesson.”

Just when Jimin was basking in her current state of dominance, she felt a strong push from the side of her shoulder that almost threw her off balance. Turning around, she realised it was Seulgi, whom everyone had forgotten about as their focus shifted to Mina. “Stop right there! You are hurting her!”

“Kang the coward suddenly grows some balls?” Smoking Friend pretended to be impressed.

“You should’ve shown this side of you a while ago. Now I’m busy with Mina and you’ve got nothing to do with this,” Jimin pointed to the far corner, “Go back to where you were and wait in line. When I return to you later, be ready to fight like this instead of boring me like a wimpy pushover.”

“Listen,” Seulgi cracked her knuckles, “You can call me names, throw stuff at me, or even spit drinks in my face. I can laugh it off and forget about it. But if you pull the same or worse **** on another innocent party, don’t expect me to sit around and do nothing.”

“Interesting. I’m curious to see what you are capable of.”

Jimin watched with anticipation as Seulgi approached her steadily. Little did she expect Seulgi to stuff her head with her own lunch box, now empty save for the excess sauce and gravy. “Thanks for the free lunch. I guess I can go now since I’ve finished the food as per your instruction.”

“Yah! Kang! Look what you’ve done to my hair! Arghhh!” Jimin was struggling to pull out the lunch box that fitted snugly around her head.

Ignoring Jimin, Seulgi approached Mina and passed her the textbook that Jimin had randomly kicked in her direction. “Let’s get out of here.”

While the rest of the friends were helping Jimin to pull the lunch box off her head, Smoking Friend continued to guard the door. “What makes you think you can go off this easy after all these?”

In a blink of an eye, Seulgi pinned Smoking Friend to the sidewall to clear the washroom exit of obstacles. “Mina! Get out immediately and don’t come back.”

“What about you?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll find a way out myself,” Seulgi’s eyes curved into a moon crescent as she smiled, “Please pass my book to Krystal.”

A/N: In case you are wondering how big is Jimin’s lunch box, let’s pretend it’s huge like an ice-cream tub that can fit a person’s head like a cap. Am I making sense here? Since when do fanfics make sense? 😜