“Over a thousand fans have been waiting outside the Incheon airport since last night. The bustle is all thanks to famous ….”

Jungkook’s appa, Mr. Jeon, lowers the volume on the television while his wife brings a tray of finger sandwiches and tea. Across from them sits Jimin dressed quite formally in a blue buttoned down shirt and dark gray slacks. Fidgeting nervously, Jimin averts his focus away from meeting Mr. Jeon’s glare. Instead, his vision settles on the old, dusky bookcases behind the elderly man.

Mr. Jeon takes a sip of the tea and thanks his wife. He clears his throat, grabbing Jimin's attention. “Jimin, what is the purpose of this ... important meeting?” It came as a surprise to Mr. Jeon and his wife to have received a call that morning from a persistent Jimin inquiring for a meeting.

Summoning all the strength he possesses, Jimin recollects his thoughts to avoid upsetting the parents of his beloved. A distressed Jungkook told him his efforts would be fruitless. It’s not like his parents would react the same way as Jimin’s and Taehyung’s did when they first came out of the closet. Then again, it did give the titos hope that someday their families would merge into one.

“Tito Jeon,” Jimin begins but the elder man coughs, and it has Jimin biting the inside of his cheek. “Mr. and Mrs. Jeon,” he says, switching to a more formal tone, “I have some important business to report to you.”

“Is it about Jungkook’s grades?” interrupts Mrs. Jeon hopefully, dusting the bookcase. “Did Jungkook tell you that your school or teachers made mistakes regarding his horrendous grades?” In fairness, Jungkook’s graders were not horrendous. In fact, his grades mostly consisted of B’s. “I knew that school is terrible. It’s fine for you, Jimin, and the little dreams you have, but not for our Jungkook. Our Jungkook was and is meant for greatness.”

Jimin forces himself to maintain a cheerful expression. “Aniyo, Mrs. Jeon. It has nothing to do with his grades.” Mrs. Jeon stops dusting and then crosses her arms in disastifaction.

“Then this meeting is pointless,” decides Mr. Jeon. Grieving, Mr. Jeon confides, “Jimin, I am disappointed in our son. He is becoming like his good-for-nothing-brother…”

“Mr. Jeon, please do not talk about Jungkook’s hyung in such a negative light,” defends Jimin. “You should be proud of Yonghwa hyung. Hyung made a name for himself, is earning money, and doing what he loves.

“Proud?” scoffs Mr. Jeon. “You think we should be proud of what he accomplished with music? Music is not a stable profession. He will fail at some point; and to think, we paid so much money to put him through a good school, and you know what he did? He just wasted everything to pursue a meaningless career in Japan. Jungkook’s brother is a good-for-nothing…”

“Jungkook and I are dating,” Jimin blurts out, wanting to leave quickly. “And I’m hoping that you give us your blessings.”

“My Jungkook is dating you!” yells Mrs. Jeon, horrified. “My Jungkook is dating a disabled boy! If Jungkook must be gay, then at least pick a decent man we can be proud of!” Her words sting Jimin.

Mr. Jeon abruptly rises; his face heating up. “We won’t give you our blessings, because you can’t date Jungkook, you piece of disabled .”

If this was the old Jimin, he would have apologized right away and tell himself that they were right. But this is the new Jimin. The one that’s stronger. Emotionally and mentally. “Mr. and Mrs. Jeon, I am in love with your son.”

“Love?” Mr. Jeon laughs cynically. “If you love our son, you would do what’s best for him and end this ridiculous relationship.”

“Do you even know what’s best for your own son?” Jimin challenges.

Mr. Jeon narrows his eyes, unpleased by the manner in how Jimin speaks to him. “Starting the next school year, Jungkook will be transferring to Seoul to complete his studies. I won’t allow him to see you again.”

Jimin steps out of the Jeon household, clenching his fists.

“How it go?” Jungkook emerges from his hiding spot in the bushes. He's angry, and who can blame him? His boyfriend just went behind his back. "How did my parents react?

Rather than responding, Jimin dives in and captures Jungkook’s lips with his own.

“Don't leave me,” Jimin whispers; lips still attached.

“I won’t,” Jungkook whispers back, unclear of the purpose of Jimin's words; but he knows, in the deepest parts of his heart, that he never wants to leave Jimin.

It becomes known to the group that Jungkook had officially left hell - also known as his parents’ house. Telling the gang was easy and ended in a celebration at Jungkook’s favorite restaurant. The moving out part had been chaotic, however, despite the fact that Jungkook's parents had ignored him for a good month and half. Mrs. Jeon begged Jungkook not to leave home, that she was sorry, and promised to be a better umma. Jungkook pitied his umma. He would have stayed. If it weren't for his appa.

Mr. Jeon held too much pride for his own good. He stood there, watching his wife beg, stoically.

"Honey!" Mrs. Jeon shrieked. "Don't let our son walk out on us."

"Why not?" He shrugged. "We don't need him. Just like his crappy older brother. We don’t need a bunch of ungrateful kids mooching off me."

Jungkook restrained himself from punching his father.

For the meantime, Jungkook’s staying at Taehyung and Jimin’s place. Being Jimin's boyfriend, Jungkook expected a permanent residence, but Taehyung refused to let him move in for real, claiming he’s tired of waking up to and groaning in the middle of the night. Jimin and Jungkook pleaded with and bribed Taehyung with double chocolate chip cookies and milk. Yet, Taehyung miraculously did not budge.

Jungkook turned to Seokjin. Even though Namjoon would boss the living out of Jungkook, Seokjin’s cooking is the best, and their apartment is Heaven for food-lovers like Jungkook. Unfortunately, Seokjin admitted that it was not a wise idea for reasons he did not explain. (Everyone figures it has to do with Namjoon’s girlfriend.) Hoseok shares an apartment with Yixing, Taemin, Kikwang, and Kai, therefore, ruling him out as a potential roommate. The only option left was Yoongi. It would make sense for Jungkook to move into Yoongi’s apartment considering Jungkook’s art studio. But Yoongi, sweet Yoongi, Grandpa Yoongi, nags too much for Jungkook’s taste.

With no options left, Jungkook, Jimin, and Taehyung went on a roommate hunt.

That did not bode too well.

Seven prospects within the area were offering an empty room to Jungkook. All cheap and affordable. (Tita Park really likes Jungkook so she offered to give Jungkook a monthly allowance. In addition, Jackson managed to get a job for Jungkook at his family’s restaurant, “Got Love.”) All were located within a walking distance from the school. The problem was the tenants.

The first tenant had an unhealthy obsession with Girl’s Day. And, of course, being men, the trio also had unhealthy obsessions with a couple of girl groups and boy bands - referring particularly to Big Bang - at some point in their lives or currently. But possessing four blow up dolls dressed as the Girl’s Day members did not sound all too normal. The guys immediately fled from the apartment after pulling Taehyung away from a batch of cookies. The second tenant had beer bottles and old pizza boxes covering the ground. College, in Namjoon’s opinion, was all about beer and old pizza boxes, but the trio is pretty sure Namjoon, himself, would find a half girl on the kitchen table worthy of calling the cops. The third …. You know, this is getting really uncomfortable for the guys to even talk about, so let’s just move on. Lets just say, all of the offers were promptly and, in some cases, kindly declined on the spot.

Exhausted from the hunt, the guys return to their apartment, out of breath from all the running and fleeing they did. Their moods did not improve when they saw Yoongi leaning against the apartment door, arms crossed against his chest, and a smirk plastered on his face. In actuality, their moods dampened when they realized that Yoongi played them like fools.

On one fine morning, Hoseok wakes up to Kikwang singing, Kai and Taemin battling for the television, and Yixing cooking. And then, like a meteor striking planet Earth, a realization hits Hoseok.

Flying Monkeys needs new members.

The practice room for the Flying Monkeys is in chaos as auditions are being held. Hoseok, Fei, and Hoya are in charge of the event. The other members are there to watch and give their input.

A line of students forms outside the room, and Fei is screaming at the top of her lungs for everyone to get into one line. Amidst the excitement and nerves, people could not hear her, causing Fei to give up and leaves the task of handling the line to a scowling Hoya.

“It’s crazy out there,” Fei complains, throwing a pad of papers at the wall. Someone will eventually clean up the mess.

“A lot are auditioning,” notes Jackson, twirling a pencil in between his fingers. “Even kids from rival crews are in line.”

“Most are guys, though,” Yixing chimes in. “It’s a shame. With half of our female members graduating, we’re looking at mostly females this time.”

“Exactly how many are we gonna accept?” asks Min, stretching.

“We have a total of six members graduating this year: Jia, Fei, Hoya, Kikwang, Taemin, and Hoseok. So that’s how many people we need to recruit,” reports Hyuna, sighing. “To think, it’s been three years since this dance crew was created. Last year, we lost three of our original members. This year, we’ll be losing six more. Next year, the rest of the original members will graduate.”

The crew stops what they’re doing and reels themselves into a moment of silence. What Hyuna’s says is true. Next year will be the year when all of the original Flying Monkeys members will officially graduate from the crew. As much as they all love to dance, many of them don’t envision a future of solely dancing for themselves. Some took up engineering. Others delved into the art of culinary. There were a few who want to be in the medical field. Pretty much, once they graduate from college, the chapter possessing their fondest memories of the Flying Monkeys will, thus, close and open another chapter, leaving it all behind.

“Yeah. We were all here from the very start,” says Mark, ruffling Jackson’s hair. “In Flying Monkey’s three years of history, we’ve only added in one new member,” he mentions, referring to Jongup.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter