Chapter 3 
"How much weight can a simple promise carry?"
-Takigawa Yoshino

She laughed, feeling the tears form in the corner of her eyes. Her stomach tightened painfully, but she just couldn't get the giggles to stop. The boy watched her with fascination and the softness in his eyes showed.

After calming down her senses, she let out a deep breath, glad that her laughing-fit was over. She looked up at the boy responsible for her sudden discomposure, and he simply gave her a grin. She rolled her eyes and reached over to fix his hair, parting it the way he usually did every morning. She could smell the faintness of his cologne, and when she felt the urge to wrap her arms around his neck, she quickly pulled back.

The boy shook his head, letting his bangs fall back into place before smiling up at her through his hair. She shook her head in amusement. 

"How's your training coming along?" She questioned, genuinely curious. He shrugged. "Same as usual." She hummed in response before picking at the grass. "I've been watching your video logs." He looked up at her in surprise. "Really? So you know all my members now right?" She nodded. "I think so." His smile suddenly turned mischevious and he leaned in closer to her face. "Who do you think is the most handsome?" Her eyes widened before she leaned back, feeling the beating of her heart accelerate. 

"I think you're all equally-" 

"That's bull. Choose one, Haneul." 

"You?" She uncertainly pointed out. He grinned at her response and gave her a joking wink. "Of course I am." She smiled, happy that he was smiling too.

"I can't believe I'm actually going to debut next year. After all this time," He whispered, leaning his back against the tree trunk. She nodded in agreement. "I'm happy for you." He turned to her. "Will you be my biggest fan?" She blinked in surprise, before laughing.

"Wasn't I always?" 

His lips tugged up at her response. "Yeah." 

She leaned against the trunk beside him and looked towards the playground where the kids were running around. The two of them sat in a comfortable silence before he decided to speak up.

“Should I come to school tomorrow with my hair parted straight down the middle like I did before?”

Her lips tugged upwards at his question and she had to refrain herself from bursting out in laughter once again. 

“Yeah, please don't. Do you want to become the school's laughing stock?”

He shrugged and lay his back down on the grass-covered ground. “I could care less about what these people think of me.”

The two of them were sitting underneath a giant oak tree. One that shaded them from the intense heat of the sun, as well as shielding them away from the public's eye- seeing as how the tree was located at the very edge of the park.

“Jungkook.,” She called out in slight disbelief. He opened one eye and peeked up at her.m“It's not like I'm going to be going to school with them any longer, right? We're graduating this year.”

“Are you really switching to a different high school? We're not going to be attending high school together?”

He shrugged from his position, leaving her with a weary response.

“Don't worry, Haneul. It's not like we won't be friends anymore. I'm just going to be at a different high school. We can still hang out after school and during the holidays,” He whispered, seeing how crest-fallen she looked. She tilted her head to look at him.

“Won't you be busy with your training?”

He let out a sigh, turning his gaze up towards the cloud-filled sky. He then turned back to face her. “Yeah. I will be.”

“Then how-”

He pushed himself up into a sitting position and hooked his pinky through hers, looking her straight in the eye.

“I promise we'll still be friends, okay?”

She smiled, giving in to his words.

“Okay, I believe you.”
 

She lay on her back, comfy within the warmth of her winter blanket. It was not winter, however. She had a strong dislike towards cold temperatures, which is all the reason as to why she was wrapped around in this oversized blanket in the midst of the hot season.

She turned to her left, giving her a clear view of her ringing alarm clock. Crinkling up her eyebrows, she stretched out her arm to turn off the blaring device. After doing so, she quickly retracted herself, settling back into the warmth she let escape just a few moments ago.

After letting the drowsiness seep out of her system, she found the strength to pull off the blanket and sit up. She ruffled her hair and stifled a yawn as she slipped her feet into her bunny slippers. Dragging her feet, she went towards the kitchen to eat her breakfast.

One thing about Lee Haneul was that she disliked brushing her teeth first. She found it revolting when you had to gulp down your orange juice with that bitter taste of toothpaste. She also found it weird how you would be fine going to school with your mouth smelling like your breakfast if you were to brush your teeth first.

Haneul went towards the kitchen table and grabbed the tray of muffins that was settled on top. The packaging of the tray crinkled as she opened it up to retrieve the baked good. After she managed to pull one out, she took a bite and sat down in one of the chairs.

Looking around and noticing how quiet the apartment was, she assumed her parents had already left for work. She let a scoff of disbelief escape her lips.

They weren't even going to see her off for the first day of school.

This school was one that she set her goal and dreams towards getting into. After passing a few auditions, she was finally accepted. This was her dream school. Despite all the rumours she heard going around, her image of the school never went wrong.

Gulping down the last bite of her muffin, she threw the wrapping into the garbage can and walked back towards her room. She looked up at the yellow uniform, tinted with a darker shade, hanging by a hook on the wall of her bedroom.

Haneul reached up and took the uniform carefully off its hook, and went into the washroom to change. She adjusted the bow of the uniform, before giving herself one last look in the mirror. With a satisfied smile, she grabbed her school bag and left the apartment.
 

“Aren't you going to wake up to go to school today?”

The boy turned to his side, burying his face into the pillow to ignore whoever was shaking him awake. His eyes popped open when the person in charge of waking him up sat on top of him, cutting off his circulation. He shifted his body to get a better view at the obnoxious person who disturbed his peaceful sleep.

“Hoseok hyung, get off.”

“It's the first day. At least go for that and then ask the teachers for the rest of this week's school work.” The older one reasoned. The younger one stirred, and let out a frustrated groan before sitting up. He winced and recoiled back in pain when the top of his head collided with the ceiling.

“Real smooth.” J-Hope commented before hopping down the ladder and towards the door of the room.

He sat there in a hunched up position for a few minutes, realizing that had waken him up a whole hour earlier than he had to be. Shaking his head to dust off the particles that had accumulated from his interaction with the ceiling, he hopped off his top bunk and out of the room.

He spun back around on his heels to run back inside his room to grab a t-shirt and threw it over his head.

He entered the kitchen to make his own breakfast.

One of s looked up from his own bowl of cereal. “The sleeping princess finally decided to wake up.” Said boy turned around to glare at the older one. “Buzz off Yoongi hyung.” Suga let out a laugh. “Got it.”

“You think you'll be okay at school on your own?” He piped up. Jungkook turned around after he poured the milk into his cereal. He placed it down onto the kitchen table and sat across from his team member.

“Why wouldn't I be?” He countered. Suga raised an eyebrow at his uncaring tone.

“You're an idol now. The kids there will either be jealous, or will worship you like god.”

Jungkook looked up. “I'm only going there for the first day. I'll go back whenever I'm free to pick up the homework.” Suga shrugged and got up to put his bowl away. “Whatever you say.”

The youngest boy sat there, thinking about his words. He heard of the bullying stories associated at this school if there was a student who debuted before graduating high school. Rolling his eyes, he shook it off.

He was only going to be there for a day.

He finished up his breakfast, and threw the bowl into the sink. He went back into his room to grab his uniform before heading into the washroom to take a shower.

He fixed his bow, one that was coloured red black and white before putting on his uniform's black blazer. He grabbed his backpack that was hung around his bed post, and left the room.

His manager was already standing near the door, gesturing for him to hurry up. Rushing over, he slipped into his shoes and left the dorm after bidding his other members a goodbye.
 

Haneul looked up at the school standing before her. She examined her surroundings, noticing that almost everyone had a companion. There were those few stranglers, such as herself, without anybody walking beside them. She let a small sigh escape her lips before she put a smile on her face and walked confidently down the school grounds.

The reason she came early was so she could find her classes ahead of time. Her time table was emailed to her a few weeks prior to the first day of school, and each student was advised to print it out and keep it safe.

With the piece of paper in her hand, she walked into the school. The whole setting of a high school seemed a lot different than that of a middle school. The way people were huddled together, whispering every time somebody walked by seemed so horrifying.

Every high school was rumoured to be divided up into different cliques. She noticed that this very fact was true. Shutting out the people around her, she glanced down at her piece of paper. Being the well-prepared person she was, she printed out a map of the school on the back of her time table. Mentally giving herself a high-five she turned to the left of the hallway and made her way up the stairs to find her first classroom.

Haneul passed by a few more students on the top floor of the school, and she gave them a polite smile every time one of them made eye contact with her. She took note that some people in this school weren't as friendly as she had hoped.

They either ignored her, and gave her a curt nod of acknowledgement.

She looked out the window of the school when she heard a loud commotion at the front of the building. She stopped in her tracks to see what was going on.

She noticed the giant signs that the female students were holding up, and considering the fact that they were screaming their heads off while holding up their phones- it must be an idol. She stayed rooted in her spot, somehow wishing the person who stepped out of that big black van would be that someone she hoped to see.

Although, she knew that it was practically impossible.

A few voices from behind snapped her out of her thoughts.

“Man, it's another idol attending our school. I hate the fuss they make as if they're all mighty and high above us.” One boy commented as his gaze fixated down towards the screaming fangirls. His friend chuckled in agreement. “I guess this year will be another fun one for us.”

The first boy smirked. “We'll make their high school experience a living hell.”

Haneul's eyes widened from her position and she stayed frozen until the two boys disappeared around the corner. She immediately felt bad for the students who attended these schools as celebrities.

Her mind then wavered off to him once again. Would his first day go smoothly? Would he manage okay on his own? She desperately hoped that his band wasn't well known at his school- just so he would not get noticed.

She turned her attention back down to the front of school when the screaming became louder. Her eyes flickered in curiosity when the door to the van opened up, and somebody stepped out. She realized it was a boy, and a rather tall boy at that. His hair was dyed a shocking shade of grey, and he seemed surprisingly shy as he ducked away from all the girls. His manager held the girls back and helped him make his way into the school.

Haneul let out a hum, and turned back around to resume her earlier journey.

She hoped the best for that boy, even though she was a newcomer herself.
 

He sat down into an empty chair in the auditorium, settling down when the principal made his way up onto stage. The mic made a noise when he tapped his finger against it. Clearing his throat, he began his speech. One that he must have repeated every year, seeing as how most of the students were already zoned out.

He mentally sighed, feeling the lack of sleep kick in. He forced himself, though, to keep his attention on the old man standing on the stage. His speech was a few minutes long, and once he was down, almost all the students clapped- glad that it was finally over. He clapped along, wondering when he'd be able to go to his first class and then leave.

His wish was granted when the principal called out the names of the students, and their homeroom numbers.

After hearing his name be called along with the other first-years, he got up and shuffled out of the auditorium to get to his first class. Walking down the hallway, he noticed that people had become surprisingly quiet when he walked by. He kept his head down.

His eyes rounded when the tips of his shoes came into contact with that of a female student's. He looked up to meet her gaze and she smiled at him.

Jungkook groaned internally.

It was hard enough for him to get into the school this morning, considering he wasn't even the only idol. He finally got his manager to lead him into the auditorium, and now that his manager left, he was left all alone to fend for himself.

The girl held out a hand and tilted her head. “My name's Cho Mari. Do you have a girlfriend, Jungkook-ssi?” The boy blinked in surprise before letting out a fake laugh. “No, I don't but it's nice to meet you.” He quickly evaded her and turned the first corner he came to.

He was caught off-guard when his body jerked forward after his foot collided with a coming force. He stabilized himself and whirled around in shock. Three boys laughed, while the ring-leader held out a hand as an apology.

“Whoops. I didn't see you there, big-shot.”

He frowned, obviously displeased before fixing his uniform and continued his way down the hall. He was met by many of the female students who giggled at him, and took pictures of him as he passed by. He held his head down, in hope that they would get the hint.

They didn't.

He finally made it to his classroom, and he bowed to the teacher before making his way to a seat in the back of the classroom. He ignored the whispers going on around him. His patience ran thin when one boy beside him had the audacity to throw an eraser at his head. He turned to face him, picked up the eraser and gently placed it back on the boy's desk.

“Please, don't do that.” He whispered before turning his gaze back towards the front of the class. The boy's eyes widened before he grinned and held up his hands.

“Whoa there, Jungkook-ssi. I didn't mean to offend you or anything.”

The bell rang, signalling that class was starting. The teacher set down her novel book and got out of her seat.

“Good morning class. I'm looking forward to a great year.”

 

✍  a u t h o r 's   n o t e

Thank you guys for the long wait! I've been so busy and my other Jungkook story's been my top priority since it's just about completed now. Although, I will return to this story regularly after that one is finished! :D Because y'know, I love Zelo ♥

Also, thank you guys for subscribing, commenting and upvoting. Like holy- D: I can't thank you guys enough and I don't even know how to express it LOL. This chapter was 3000+ words guys :3 Just because I'm so thankful and as an apology for my late update.

See ya! x)