2 | Roommates

     I washed my face. Looking up and seeing the cool tap water soak the ends of my fringe, and feeling the water drip down to the edges of my chin. It was refreshing. My first class was cancelled but I still woke up early anyway because one, it’s a habit and two, I wanted to go for a basketball game while the court was empty. I slipped on my sweat band.

As I exited the bathroom after patting my face dry and applying moisturiser, my attention turned to the door that opened unexpectedly. A boy walked in excitedly, pushing the door open with his back as he dragged a large suitcase inside, another big back pack hanging over his left shoulder. He turned around and lightly gasped when he saw me. I rubbed my eyes and blinked as I glanced over his luggage curiously. He seemed to freeze momentarily. That was when I realised that my hair was still all over the place. I chuckled light-heartedly to ease the slight awkwardness in the air.

A wide grin suddenly appeared on his face and he looked awfully friendly, even vaguely familiar.

“Hi, you are…”

“Jeongkook. Jeon Jeongkook.” He pronounced clearly with a bright tone in his voice. “I’m your new roommate.”

“Ah, you’re the first year who’s moving in with us right? Taehyung’s not here at the moment, I can introduce you to him later when he returns.”

The smile on his face was still there and shining. “Actually, I’m already friends with Taehyung hyung. We met at the start of the year, the same day I first met you.”

I flashed him a confused face.

“At the school athletics, you injured your leg and you fell over, remember? I kinda…caught you.” He rubbed his nape nervously and blushed lightly. I nodded slowly, the memories flowing back.

“Ow! It really hurts!” I groaned, clenching my thigh as the sports coach fiddled with my twisted leg. The way he tilted it in different directions made me want to slap him unconscious because the pain was stinging through my whole body. Taehyung’s hand fell to my shoulder and he shot me a pitiful look.

The sports coach reminded us that Taehyung was my emergency, and someone needed to race at the end of the day. Taehyung nodded and patted me on the back. “Don’t worry Jimin. I’ll win that first place for you.” He said confidently before leaving me with the dumb teacher; I seriously started questioning his experience. Wasn’t it sort of obvious that I had probably sprained my ankle from the first time he tested it? Why did he need to test it over and over and over… Ugh.

I pushed off the floor and tried to stand up while putting all my weight on my good leg, ignoring the teacher as I hopped away. I managed to make my way closer to the track, spotting Taehyung warming up in position. It was only 400m, he could do it. I think. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. I started walking over, forgetting one leg was pretty much dead. Pain shot through my leg and I felt my body involuntarily drop.

That’s weird. There was no collapsing sound onto the floor. I winced and blinked my eyes open to see a pair of gleaming eyes staring down at me. The sun behind his head was blindingly bright and I could barely make out what he looked like, but he lifted me to my feet and I got a better look at him. Well, that was if I looked at least. It was embarrassing and I think I was too flustered about my red cheeks to even get a glimpse of him properly. All I knew was that he was in sport uniform like me, meaning he was competing too. I assumed he was probably competing in high jump or something since he was quite tall. He led me to a spare seat in the audience and we waited for Taehyung to finish his race.

Apparently he saw our little scene which caused him to start later than everyone else. He came second last. One boy who false started was disqualified. After he blamed me for embarrassing him, he glanced at my ‘saviour’ and they started a conversation that I had no part in.

“Wow…that was a while ago. You have quite a memory.” I commented after the flashback ended. Jeongkook smiled again before he remembered something. He revealed a box of milk tea and my eyes instantly lit up.”I went to the milk tea store this morning and bought some. Do you want one?”

I didn’t even need to think. My head was nodding automatically and I giggled as he handed me my favourite banana milk tea.

“Thanks! And welcome Jeongkook. It’s nice to finally properly meet you.” I held out my hand. He glanced down at it momentarily before reaching out and shaking it gladly. His eyes curved up slightly a bit more than before and it was cute.

“Do you have class first thing today?” I questioned.

He nodded and I walked past him to grab the handle of his suitcase, “Well then we better get unpacking quickly.” 

Author's Note | Sorry for the long wait for the second chapter! Trust me I have pre-written chapters already (Jikook and Taegi scenes) and the building plot is in my head. I have to add a warning that this story will include self harm (I feel so sad because there are so many stories where Jimin is a character with a sad life and this one is none the different.) Anyway, take care and I"ll see you guys soon!