Last day of school. Well, not really. It was technically the last day because we wouldn't be learning anymore. Us fourth years still have to come to school bright and early in the morning for graduation practice. The word still skipped its way out of my mind. Graduation. The word itself is so grand, so important, so...sentimental. You hear the word and you just think, "What? It's the end already?" Being the last day of school, everyone was giving their last hugs to their underclassmen chums, taking pictures like, "This is that class I hated!" "Oh this teacher was the worst. I feel sorry for the people who get him/her next year." Not to mention all the selcas. This year was the year of selcas. With new cell phones and music players having HD cameras, the number of selcas rose to an all-time high. Fortunately, that was one crowd I was included in as well. If I were to look back on my last year of high school, I'd say it wasn't that much different than my last three years. However I can't say that it was completely the same. I was definitely more involved in school events, clubs, and such. I made a lot of new, good friends and maybe lost some. If it wasn't for my friends I probably wouldn't have done some of the things I had this year. I wouldn't have gone to my first basketball game, I wouldn't have met new people (that could be good and bad) and I wouldn't have tried so many new things. Other than last minute graduation requirements I had to get resolved, I had one last thing to do that was the top priority on my list: talking to Jungkook. For some reason I wasn't nervous. I was just planning to find a moment when he was alone and I'd steal him away to talk. Sounded easy enough.



Jaehwa and I were walking around in the halls giving our last goodbyes to our favorite teachers. It was something every student would do; we'd stop by the classrooms where we had our good and bad times. We stopped at one of Jaehwa's old classrooms while on our tour.

"Hyemi shh!" Jaehwa stopped me halfway to the room with her arm.
"I didn't say anything."
"Shh!" Jaehwa hushed me again and crouched down. For some reason I followed her example and got low. Jaehwa motioned for me to follow behind her slowly, keeping her stance. 
"What are we doing?" I whispered. Jaehwa began to tiptoe closer to the classroom. I looked passed her and saw us inch closer to the opened classroom in our stealthy way. I caught a glimpse of what was going on in the classroom: it was nothing really. Actually, the closer I got, the smell of food got stronger - the smell of pizza. 

"Yah!" Jaehwa pounced and attacked a person standing by the door. I didn't even notice the person until Jaehwa attacked. The said person didn't jump so much as flinch; his shoulders only bounced in a short startle. Yoongi turned his head to see Jaehwa poking endlessly at his sides. 
"Oh, what are you doing here?" He asked nonchalantly. "Hi Hyemi." He waved with a free hand. I waved back and laughed at Jaehwa's failed attempt. 
"Yeesh, you're so boring." She pouted to which Yoongi only laughed. 
"What are you doing here?" Yoongi asked again. Even I was curious since I had no idea what class this was. "You came because you smelled pizza right?" My eyebrows came up in curiosity and I eyed Jaehwa. She giggled and smiled brightly, her eyes turning into half moons when she didn't say a word. Actually, she looked a lot like...

"Eh, you look like Taehyung. I need to keep you away from him." Yoongi's face distorted itself as he scowled at his girlfriend. Both mine and Jaehwa's face mirrored each other at Yoongi's expression - we rolled our eyes away from his face and turned our heads. I heard Jaehwa sigh quietly enough for only me to hear: "so ugly." I held in my laughter and nodded in agreement. 

"Yah, I heard that." Yoongi warned but Jaehwa pulled me with our hooked arms away from the angry Yoongi. "Yah, Jae-ah.." He called but we ignored him. 

"Aw that's cute. Is that his nickname for you?" I teased Jaehwa. She took her arm out of mine and shushed me. "Jae-ah~?" I cooed. 
"Yeah yeah funny. Okay shut up now before everyone hears you." My friend warned. I giggled again. 
"Want some pizza Jae-ah?" I picked up a slice and batted my eyelashes at her. Jaehwa pretended to flare her nostrils and ripped the pizza out of my grip. 
"Yes. I do." She said while ripping the pizza with her fangs like a dinosaur. She was cute. 

At around the third slice of pizza I brushed my hands of the crumbs. Normally I would feel bad for eating so much food that wasn't necessarily mine but the teacher in the room insisted we eat as much as we liked. Jaehwa knew this teacher back in her second year and was his favorite student apparently, so that gave us "pizza points" I guess. It seemed like Jaehwa and I were the only ones eating the food, even Yoongi only had a slice or two while we were there. I started getting bored and a little uncomfortable so I pulled Jaehwa aside to tell her I was leaving. 

"Ah, okay. Wait up let me just give this crust to Yoongi and we can leave." 
"You're not gonna eat it?" 
"No, you know I don't like the crust." Jaehwa waved the crust in her hand. 
"What happened to all your other pieces then? Have you been giving them to Yoongi?" Jaehwa pursed her lips and nodded innocently. I scoffed playfully. 
"He isn't a dog, Jojo." 
"He likes the crust." On cue Yoongi came and bit the piece of bread from Jaehwa's idle hand. I stared at him like he popped out of thin air (which he practically did) then at Jaehwa. "See?" Jaehwa brushed the crumbs off her hand and looked to Yoongi who ate his bread crust like an anime character: one hand in his pocket the other holding the bread as he munched on it. Then again, Jaehwa and Yoongi always looked like a couple from an anime to begin with. For a long time I've been wondering what kind of couple Jaehwa and Yoongi were. They weren't the star athletic couple since Jaehwa didn't play sports. They weren't the cute nerd couple since Yoongi wasn't on Jaehwa's level. They weren't hipsters, they weren't lovey dovey, they weren't the on-again-off-again couple either. I always thought of them as both cool in their own ways. They're both sassy and have an attitude from time to time. They weren't lovey dovey (which is what I was thankful for or else I'd feel like a third wheel.) I never even heard Jaehwa call Yoongi "oppa" once. They're opposites but the same. It always baffled me. But even though they weren't always face or cooing at each other, I'd see them hold hands while casually chatting on the way home, Yoongi have his arm around Jaehwa's shoulder like a habit when a normal conversation went on and she'd laugh by his shoulder, and even times like this when they were being completely normal and giving each other food like it was no big deal. That's how they were; they treated things like it wasn't a big deal. And it wasn't, which is probably why I never felt like a third wheel around them. I couldn't be more thankful to be honest. Seeing them like that made me realize I'd really miss Jaehwa and Yoongi, both together and separately. 

"Are you leaving?" Yoongi asked with mouth half full, his voice pulling me out of my thoughts. Jaehwa said yes and added a poke to Yoongi's stomach while she was at it. He poked her back and munched on his bread once more. I smiled at another one of their exchanges, but this time I felt lonely all of a sudden. Yoongi's hand reached toward Jaehwa's hand. I thought he'd try to hold it but instead I saw his pinky finger wrap around Jaehwa's and she did the same. Then I thought about Yoongi and Jaehwa having to separate. 

"You can stay here if you want Jojo. I was just gonna go to the office then head home right after." I told Jaehwa.
"I'll go with you. I was gonna ask if I could stay at your house a bit anyways since I'm getting picked up late." I had to think about it for a bit. As much as I'd want to hang out with Jaehwa all I wanted and party until we were purple before the school year ended, I kept thinking about others. My eyes looked from Jaehwa to Yoongi. Now Jaehwa gave me a concerned look when I took a while to answer. She was about to say something before I cut her off. 

"Okay I lied. I wanted to look for...a Kookie then head home. No offense Jojo but I wanted to go alone because I knew you would want one." For a second Jaehwa was confused until half a second after she processed it. 
"Oh haha. Nah don't worry about it. I had three pizzas already so yeah go ahead." She shook her head for show then nodded to me to get going. 

"Yah, you ate three pizzas? Haha!" Yoongi burst out laughing and repeatedly poked Jaehwa's side. She swatted his hand away and counter attacked. "What a pig~" he continued to tease his girlfriend. I started to leave before I'd feel more selfish and newly awkward. One more goodbye wave and I was gone. 

As if I was actually going to look for Jungkook. I mean, yes, I said I wanted to finally talk to him but I wasn't going to search for him. That was probably counter-productive. 

I stopped by my original locker and took some notebooks I forgot inside before leaving. I wanted to say my farewells to the other teachers but didn't have the enthusiasm for it anymore. Going home, eating ice cream, and watching a movie before Hyerin came home to ruin the atmosphere sounded like a great idea right now. So I started on my way passing opened classrooms. I passed my old economics class, feeling the air conditioning for a brief moment. My brain automatically remembered the moments in that class. The boring PowerPoint, the energetic teacher who made it less boring, and that one song that suddenly came to mind. 

haruman neowa naega hamkkehal su itdamyeon

haruman neowa naega sonjabeul su itdamyeon

haruman neowa naega hamkkehal su itdamyeon

haruman (haruman)

neowa naega hamkkehal su itdamyeon

 

"Hyemi," I turned at the sound of my name. I should've known who called me since I was just thinking about him. 
"Hi Jungkook." I smiled sincerely. He smiled when I said his name. It felt like ages since I've seen him smile. The light feeling in my heart came again. He jogged over to me after waving into the economics class and started walking, waiting for me to follow in step with him. 

"You're not going to say bye to him?" Meaning the teacher. 
"We'll see him at the ceremony so I'll say my real, final goodbye then." Jungkook chuckled and nodded. 
"Where have you been? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever." 
"Oh you know," I sighed at the heat, "walking down the yellow brick roads of memory lane before I actually leave this place. And what do you mean 'forever?' We had class together yesterday. I saw you." Jungkook chuckled again and looked at me half way. 
"You saw me? As in, you looked at me?" He snickered. I rolled my eyes hard and shoved him. 
"Shut up. You sit on the other side of the class, right in front of me. How could I not see you?" 
"You didn't have to look though." He laughed again. I shoved him even harder making him almost fall into another opened classroom. 
"Well neither did you! Since I saw you looking at me too." I countered. This time Jungkook scoffed. 
"How could I not look." He said in a muffled tone. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to hear that or not so I pretended like I didn't. I scratched the edge of my face and noticed it was warm. Stupid Jungkook.

It got unusually quiet between us. I kicked a random pebble as we walked to the other side of the school. Jungkook blew a raspberry and kept his head looking straight up at the sky. Now would probably be the perfect time to tell Jungkook about how I feel but I just couldn't bring the matter up. How was I supposed to anyway? "Oh yeah, so by the way, I'm sorry but I can't be your girlfriend. It's because I like that annoying jerk of a friend of yours" Yeah no. 

"You know now that I think about it, the last time we hung out like this was probably while we were doing the economics project." Jungkook said. I stifled a short laugh. 
"You call this hanging out?" Jungkook laughed at that then shook his head. 
"Whatever. Hm, I remember I was mad at you then. I stormed out stomping like a baby." 
"Well I doubt babies could stomp," Jungkook shoved me lightly at my joke. I smiled pleased, "but yeah. You were pretty mad." A short pause. 
"Do you know why?" He asked almost cautiously. I responded with the same kind of caution. 
"Yeah...now." 

This is the right time. I had to bring the subject up now. 

"Jungkook, about that thing. I...I can't be your girlfriend. It's not because I don't like you it's because..."
"Because of Jimin." Jungkook said. I stopped in the middle of our walk and so did Jungkook. 
"How did you know that?" Jungkook turned to face me and smiled shyly, his hand gripping the back of his head. 
"Taehyung." We both said in unison. "He told me you confessed to Jimin in his yearbook." I stared at Jungkook completely speechless. I narrowed my eyes nodded at no one in particular. 

"Did he say anything else?" I asked with teeth close to seething. 
"No. He didn't." Jungkook said more at ease than before. I sighed a breath of relief and started to walk again. 
"Listen Jungkook, I honestly have no idea why I like Jimin at all. I even talked to Jaehwa about it and still I don't know. I mean, I used to like you! I mean...I liked you. A lot. So I don't know what happened. I'm sorry." 

Again we were quiet but it wasn't awkward; it was calming. Jungkook and I walked slower and slower as we drew nearer to the other end of the school where the gates were. 

"You don't have to be sorry for liking Jimin. I'll admit, I don't know why you like Jimin either since it seems like you guys are always ready to rip each others' eyes out. But you liked me once right? That's good enough for me. I was just too late I guess." Jungkook shrugged with the corner of his mouth curved in an innocent grin. I hated him for that. 

"Did Jimin say anything after reading that message?" I asked. Jungkook hummed before answering.
"Hm..no. Not to me anyway. He probably didn't want me to know since he knew I liked you." My eyes couldn't help but look at the ground. Two confessions and one rejection in the span of 24 hours or so - not something I'm used to. 

"Jimin hyung is like that. Even if he likes someone, if he knows one of his friends has the same feelings, he'll give up. Ha, it's different compared to his usual competitiveness. The way he would plan to get back at you was almost scary to be honest." I scoffed. 

"But, I'm not like Jimin. If I like someone, I try my hardest to pursue that person. To let them know my feelings and hopefully get them to feel the same way." 

The way Jungkook explained himself made love sound like a dream, like a goal. In some way it was admirable and cute but on the other perspective it sounded tiring. But I didn't look at it on the negative side. Jungkook nudged my shoulder and smiled whole heartedly, almost like a laugh. I felt my ears turn red and just nudged him back. 

"Well then, next time again." I didn't know what I meant by that but it felt like the right words to say. Jungkook's eyebrow came up. 
"So you're saying there is a next time?" He smirked. I rolled my eyes again hopefully for the last time.

"Maybe." 
 

For the past four years I was sure my heart was set. I've had a crush on Jeon Jungkook for that long. I’ve had countless fantasies about what it’d be like if we were a couple, fantasies of how he would confess to me, fantasies of how I’d confess to him and he’d feel the same way. The problem with me was that I never tried to make those thoughts a reality; I never tried to pursue Jungkook. And surprisingly when I actually started talking to Jungkook and getting close to him, I didn’t think once about those fantasies: about him liking me. The notion of confessing to him escaped my mind. And I was satisfied with that. I was satisfied with the fact of just being Jungkook’s friend—someone he’d talk to about random stuff, someone to laugh with alongside his other friends. Although I didn’t know Jungkook as long as Yoongi has, or as long as Taehyung has, or even as long as Jimin has and his other friends, even Jaehwa, one year was more than enough. All I wanted was to be someone to him, and I was now. We were friends and that was more than enough. And like Jungkook said, there is a next time we could look forward to. 

[insert list of excuses]

Just kidding. I'm sure you guys wouldn't like to hear any of that junk :/

But END! Thank you all for waiting so long for this last crappy chapter. 

Thank you for your encouraging comments. I loved seeing the different ships. It looked like a lot of you were Hyemin(?) shippers but I saw quite a few Kookmi shippers too hehe

This was my first BTS fic so it may not have been that good. If I write any BTS fics in the future I promise better results huehue. 

Okay again thank you, love you, maybe I'll see you soon ;)

Oh! I made an ask.fm so ask me stuff haha! ask.fm/cheekmeats