Saturday morning.

A few days had passed and Jungkook still rarely appeared at school. When he was there, they only saw him during classes, yet he still somehow managed to not be found when his friends had tried looking for him. No one at school knew what was going on, apart from Jimin.

Why isn’t he picking up?

Jimin had tried to call Jungkook several times, but he wasn’t answering. It cut to voice mail. “The person you have tried to reach is currently unavailable. Please leave a message after the—”

He gave up and flung his cell phone onto his bed. He knew everyone was getting worried and he wanted to ask Jungkook if he could tell them; it wasn’t anything disheartening, so he wondered why Jungkook would want to keep it away from them in the first place. If it was him, he’d be happy to tell them. Whatever his reasons are for making everyone worried, it better be worth it.

He went up to his window and looked outside. Hyunjung was walking past his house and he quickly hid his face behind the curtain. They had been avoiding each other since he had let his words slip and badmouthed Taehyung. He was intending to apologize for it, just not yet. But how was he supposed to know she was friends with that guy? As if it was obvious; Taehyung calling her an idiot and all, not forgetting about the eye rolls either. Yeah, totally obvious that they were friends.

A buzz was heard. He looked over to the bed where his phone was and went to check the caller: Jungkook. He scoffed. “Now that guy decides to call.”

He answers. “Jungkook?” His eyes widened. “What?” Jimin bit his bottom lip and tapped his middle finger against his thumb. “I’m… really sorry to hear that. Do you want me to cover this up to everyone and just say you were feeling ill over the last couple of days?”

Jimin waited for his answer and all he could hear were Jungkook’s steady breaths over the phone. “It’s fine. I can tell them myself.”

He stared at the ceiling. “Okay.”

“I’ll see you later Jimin.” Jungkook hung up.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Taehyung watched his younger brother disapprovingly. “Do your homework.”

Taewon pretended not to hear him and continued with the video game he was playing, he was on the boss level and he was not going anywhere until he defeated it. Taehyung went threateningly close to the socket on the wall. Taewon didn’t take his eyes away from the TV, but he could hazard a guess what his older brother was planning to do. “Wait hyung, what are you doing?”

Taehyung pulled the TV socket out from the wall and the screen flickered to black. A horrified look flashed on Taewon’s face and he flung the game control onto the floor. “NO!”

Taehyung scoffed. “You’re getting upset over a video game.”

“I was on the boss level.” He gaped as if suddenly remembering something. “I didn’t even save at the checkpoint.”

Taehyung grabbed his jacket and went over to the door. “Tell dad I’m going out.”

“How could I forget to save at the checkpoint?”

“See you later.” Taehyung put on his shoes, then shut the door behind him.

As he was walking, he came across a couple of people from school, but other than that, nothing else really happened. He was about to turn back when he heard a rustle in the bushes. He went over to the noise and spotted a familiar figure crouched by the ground. “Hey, what are you doing?”

Hyunjung didn't look at him and continued to search for something. “Looking for Jungkook," she said casually. The corner of his mouth tipped up and his eyebrows sank in disbelief. “Why are you looking in a bush?”

Her face momentarily contorted to a confused expression. “Huh? Oh, I think I dropped my cell phone here somewhere and now I can’t find it.”

Taehyung squatted down next to her and helped her look around for it. After about five minutes of searching, Hyunjung suddenly shot up. “Oh…” she drawled. Taehyung looked up at her. “What?”

She laughed nervously. “You see… I just remembered I never even brought my cell phone with me…” She turned her back on him. “Well never mind then.”

Taehyung stared at her incredulously. “Then what were you doing in the bushes in the first place?”

“I never said for definite I dropped my phone, I said I thought I did.”

He rolled his eyes and stood up. “I’m going home.”

Hyunjung waved after him. “Bye! Sorry for the trouble!”

Taehyung stuffed his hands in his pockets and proceeded the path back to his house. He turned round the corner by the convenience store when he passed by someone he wouldn’t of thought would suddenly appear. He halted in his tracks and twisted his head to look behind him. The figure he just walked past didn’t see him, but Taehyung recognized him instantly. He knitted his eyebrows together.

Why was he crying? Taehyung shrugged it off and continued to walk home.

*  *  *  *  *  *

After Taehyung left, Hyunjung decided to go spend her morning somewhere other than her house. She didn’t know what it was, but something had urged her to go to the park. And so she now found herself sat on one of the swings, gripping the cold metal chains that held it up. She swayed on the swing just enough so that her feet grazed the ground.

Usually she’d be worried that she’d come across one of her classmates, but it was still considered pretty early in the morning and there wasn’t anyone in the park other than herself and an old married couple sat on one of the benches on the other side.

She stared forward, beyond the park towards the road where Jungkook’s house was. His appearances in school had gotten infrequent and it was troubling her; of course she was worried. He wasn’t there to greet her in the morning like he usually did and he didn’t walk with her home at the end of the school day.

Jimin had also been avoiding her. To be honest, she didn’t really want to approach him yet either, she was no longer angry but what he had said still annoyed her slightly. Her attempts to avoid him had also resulted in her not being with the rest of the guys; where ever Jimin was, you’d find them with him. She kicked the ground with her heel as she sat there, staring at the grey concrete. The soft footsteps of someone were heard approaching her and she looked up. She ceased swinging and kept her feet firmly on the ground, looking at the person in front of her levelly. Jungkook?

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, avoiding her eye-contact. “Hey,” he greeted, “Um…” He went over and sat on the swing next to her. 

They both sat in silence, waiting for the other to speak first. Hyunjung glanced at him from the side. “How are you?” she said, before quickly staring back down at the concrete. She immediately wished she didn’t say that. ‘“How are you?”’ Seriously? He finally appeared after almost a week and that’s all I can say?

“I’m okay,” Jungkook replied softly. She brought her eyes up from the ground and gradually turned her head round to finally look at him properly. Jungkook sensed her eyes on him and faced her. “About why I wasn’t at school recently…”

Hyunjung nodded slowly, waiting for him to continue. He threw his head back to look at the sky. After a while he let out a sharp sigh and stood up. “I’m sorry, I can’t say this.”

She assured him. “It’s fine, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

He ruffled his hair in frustration. “I’m really sorry…”

“No really Jungkook, it’s fine.” When she that his eyes began to get glassy, she panicked.  

In a quick, harsh movement, he twisted his body the other way so that his back faced her. The person he was when she first knew him and the person he was now, were completely different. Hyunjung was told by her mom that guys don’t usually like to openly talk about their feelings. If he couldn’t talk about it, the least she could do was to comfort him. She stood up and brought her hand out to him, but hesitated and brought it back to her side.

For about a minute, both stayed like that. Hyunjung let out a sigh and patted him consolingly on the back. Jungkook suddenly turned round to face her and he bent his head down to rest his forehead on her shoulder.

She froze. “Jungkook?” She was worried someone from school would see them and misunderstand.

His voice was almost a hoarse whisper. “Just a little longer.”

At first she was shocked at the close proximity, but after a while, her body grew less tense and she relaxed.

“Okay.”