Why was he crying?

Taehyung shrugged it off and continued to walk home.

He couldn’t deny that he was surprised when he saw who was crying when he walked past. No way could he have been hallucinating, that was definitely Jungkook he saw. Was it perhaps associated with his infrequent appearances?

Taehyung thought for a while, but he shook his head and kicked a stray pebble out of his way.

It wasn’t any of his business.

“Shinae are you listening?”

“Hm? Yeah, I am.” As soon as she said that she went back to resting her chin on one of her hands, her elbow was propped on the table and she examined the tips of her hair. The voices of her friends droned in her ears and her vision eventually focused on an area outside the window which overlooked the park. She squinted her eyes, not quite believing what she was seeing.

What in the world?

“Hey Shinae.”

Shinae shifted her eyes back to Jihyun who was waving her hands in front of her face, trying to catch her attention. “You’ve been zoning out for a while, what are you looking at?” she asked, turning to the direction she was facing.

Shinae quickly flicked her eyes back to the window then back to Jihyun. Her other friends looked expectantly at her and Shinae abruptly stood up, walking over to the door.

“Oh, nothing interesting.”

*  *  *  *  *  *

Jimin didn’t like people holding grudges against him, which was why he had decided to apologize to Hyunjung after almost a week of avoiding one other. Problem was, he didn’t actually know where she was. He tried to brainstorm her whereabouts, but the fact that they only just started to talk to each other meant that he didn’t know much about her.  So how was he supposed to know where she was?

His thoughts wandered back to what Jungkook had told him on the phone earlier. Jimin finally understood why Jungkook’s appearances were so irregular lately.

They knew each other ever since kindergarten. The moment that 4 year-old Jungkook had thrown sand at his face, he stuck by him other since. At first Jimin only stuck by Jungkook purely so that he could throw sand back at the little jokester, but over time he eventually warmed up to him and they were best friends from kindergarten until the present day.

Of course, everyone has something that triggers them emotionally to the point that it affects themselves. Some people are just better at enduring it then others, some aren’t. Jimin was aware of how Jungkook was an only child for years. When they were in elementary, Jimin saw how overjoyed Jungkook was when he told him that he was going to be an older brother. Whenever they were together, Jungkook would talk of nothing but the approaching baby; he would talk about how he would play football when the baby was older and how he would help his new sibling with their homework. He would mention that if it was a girl, he would chase off any boys that would try and hurt her and be the best brother he could possibly be.

But after a couple of weeks, Jungkook suddenly fell silent. He no longer talked about the approaching baby; no longer said anything about playing football or helping with homework; he no longer mentioned anything about the baby to Jimin. Not a word.

Despite Jimin’s countless efforts to make Jungkook talk, he still kept quiet and was unfocused for most of the time. Eventually Jimin had asked his own parents what was wrong with him and told them about how Jungkook had suddenly stopped talking about the approaching baby he had been blabbing on about for ages. He remembered how his parents had looked at each other before telling their son the truth. Jimin being the clueless child he was, at first didn’t understand. But he later found out something so many people overlooked; that life was a gift and a game of luck.

Jimin had given Jungkook space and left him alone for a while to let him think. Like all humans, Jungkook had slowly healed and got back up on his feet.

Over the years, Jimin had forgotten about what had happened. But after that one phone call from Jungkook this morning, the things that had happened back then rushed back to Jimin and had collapsed on top of him.

He recalled what Jungkook had said on the phone earlier.

“Jungkook?”

“Jimin, my mom had another miscarriage.”

Jimin’s eyes widened. “What?”

“We went to the hospital… the doctor told us that my mom has a really low pregnancy rate. He said it’s not likely she will have another baby.”

Jimin bit his bottom lip and tapped his finger against his thumb. “I’m…really sorry to hear that...”

Jimin could remember the tremble in Jungkook’s voice. He didn’t know what to say; didn’t know any words to comfort him.

What could he say?

The only thing that Jimin could do right now was to leave Jungkook alone. Once again, this was something that only time could heal.

“Well look whose here?”

Jimin left his un-breaking gaze from the ground up to the person’s face. He folded his arms and gave Shinae a blank face. “What do you want?”

Shinae reciprocated his expression. “Nothing, I was just saying hi. Geez, no need to act as if I'm plotting your death.”

“Whatever,” he retorted. “Have you seen Hyunjung?”

Shinae raised her eyebrows and thought carefully. “Nope,” she stated, deciding that she wouldn’t tell him what she saw from her window earlier. “Haven’t seen her at all today, sorry.”

“I’m going, see you at school.” Jimin began walking away from her.

“Bye,” Shinae returned. “Wait Jimin!”

Jimin turned round. “What?”

“Is Hyunjung friends with Taehyung?”

“Yeah, why?”

Shinae paused. “Just asking.”

Jimin faced his back away from her and continued his search for Hyunjung. Shinae pursed her lips together. Whenever she tried being nice to Taehyung, he would ignore her. She remembered earlier last week when she had wished him luck on his test.

“Taehyung, good luck. I’m sure you’ll do your best.”

Taehyung had given her one glance then walked past her. He had muttered something that not many people would’ve been able to hear, but Shinae had undoubtedly heard what he had said; “So annoying.”

She was left gaping at his words and left him alone.

But how come Hyunjung was able to become friends with the guy that she had tried to talk to since he had arrived at their school? She gazed towards the direction of the park and saw Hyunjung and Jungkook walking in opposite directions.

Shinae continued to look at Hyunjung as she walked away from the park.