“Who’s that girl that’s the talk of the town?” 

Minjeong rolls her eyes at her brother, “Jonghyun, get off school property.” She pops a carrot into , flipping through the pictures on her camera that she took that day. When Minjeong made her way to her spot during her free period, she didn’t expect Jonghyun to be sitting there, waiting for her with a packed lunch. She also didn’t expect to get a scolding about how she didn’t bother to feed herself during school. It almost felt like Minjeong had an older brother again. 

“Why? I’m bored at the house.” 

“You said you would look for a job.” 

“I’m still looking.” Jonghyun steals a carrot from her, tossing it up in the air and catching it in his mouth. 

Minjeong only hums, the crunch of the carrot covering the tone of her hum that tells her brother that she doesn’t believe him at all. 

He’ll leave again. Minjeong never had the impression that he was going to stay long enough for her to let her guard down anyway. And she didn’t need any promises from him that would persuade her to believe that he’ll be there for her. This was only temporary.

In Minjeong’s life, everything is always temporary. 

“So the girl?” Jonghyun circles back to the earlier question. “Someone told me she was quite smitten with you. What was it? Uh—, Goo Jimin?” 

“It’s Yu Jimin.” Minjeong corrects him.

Jonghyun grins, leaning back onto the bleacher behind him where he rests his elbows. “You’re dating the it-girl of the school? Nice.” He nods proudly, and Minjeong rolls her eyes. 

“I’m not dating anyone.” She clarifies. 

“Then why are people talking about you two so much?” 

Minjeong shrugs. “I don’t know, and I don’t care.” 

“Is that her, right there?” Jonghyun nods forward, and Minjeong immediately snaps her head away from her camera to see Yu Jimin walking towards her, and next to her, Aeri and Ning Ning. 

“Great.” Minjeong mutters under her breath. 

“What? She’s not as great as they say?” 

Minjeong catches Jimin’s eyes from down below as they reach the bottom bleacher, “no, she is great. But now she has to meet you.”

Jonghyun scoffs, “I’ll behave.” 

Jimin finally notices the man next to Minjeong and frowns. She crosses the bleacher below the one that the two were sitting on, stepping over it once she’s reached Minjeong, and taking a seat next to her. 

“Hi Kim Minjeong.” Jimin says in a whisper, bumping their shoulders together. Ning Ning and Aeri sit on the bleacher below them, taking out their own packed lunch. 

“Who’s this?” Jimin glances at the grinning man next to Minjeong. He raises a hand, fingers fluttering at her in greeting. 

“H-Hi, I’m—,” 

“Yu Jimin.” Jonghyun finishes for her, extending his hand over Minjeong who heaves a heavy sigh, munching aggressively on another piece of carrot. 

“Oh.” Jimin says in surprise, shaking his hand, “and you are?” 

“Kim Jonghyun,” he nods towards Minjeong, “her older brother.” 

Jimin’s eyes widened, “oh!” She looks at the anxious expression Minjeong has, and she hides her smile. She places a cautious hand on Minjeong’s bouncing knee, “it’s nice to meet you. I didn’t know Kim Minjeong had an older brother.” 

“Yeah, well there’s not much to talk about.” Jonghyun says with a charming smile, and Minjeong heaves another sigh. 

“It’s nice to meet you, older brother. I’m Ning Ning and this is Aeri. Friends.” Ning Ning says as she sips from her water bottle. 

“Ah, friends.” Jonghyun crosses his arms to shake both Aeri’s and Ning Ning’s hands. “Minjeong’s finally got friends. And good ones, it seems.” 

Jimin continues to watch Minjeong instead of listening to the side conversation, and the younger woman seems to grow more and more annoyed the more Jonghyun spurred words out of his mouth. 

He was charming, and quite likable. That was Jimin’s first impression of Kim Jonghyun.

But if Kim Minjeong says he is not charming and likable, then Jimin won’t find him charming and likable. 

Jimin digs into her backpack and pulls out the daily pudding cup that she always stole from Aeri. “Pudding cup?” 

When Minjeong turns to her with a steel glare, Jimin doesn’t flinch, only trying to calm the latter with a comforting smile. The younger girl snatches the pudding cup from Jimin and the latter is happy to watch her eat it. 

“Do you want to see Minjeong as a baby? She was so—,”

“Yes!” Jimin cuts Jonghyun off very enthusiastically, blinking when her friends’ eyes turn to her with mischievous grins. “What? It’s not a secret that I like Kim Minjeong.” She says bluntly, before scooting closer to see Jonghyun’s phone, squeezing Minjeong between the both of them. 

“Look, here’s a tiny Kim Minjeong—,” Jimin doesn’t get to see it, and her smile quickly drops when Minjeong gets up with her bag. 

“I’m done here.” 

Jonghyun is completely quiet when Minjeong mutters under her breath for him to get off school grounds unless he wants to get caught, before she’s already making her way down the bleachers. His lips form a thin line and he’s pocketing his phone. “Well, I guess that’s my cue to leave.” 

“Wait, Minjeong!” Jimin is up on her feet, chasing after Minjeong with no hesitation. 

“Hey! Jimin, don’t run!” Aeri yells after her, mouth filled with her sandwich. She curses under her breath before leaving her things with Ning Ning, and chasing after her best friend who has completely forgotten that her heart needed her to chill the out. 

Jimin catches up to Minjeong when she turns around a corner of the main building. “Minjeong,” she doesn’t grab her, only blocking her path to force her to stop her from fleeing. 

She motions Aeri away when she sees her best friend just a few feet away, and Aeri doesn’t fight against it. She does point a finger at Jimin and gives her a stern look, before twirling around to join Ning Ning back on the bleachers. 

“What, Jimin?” Minjeong says, clearly annoyed.