11: CLOSER OR FURTHER

Ever since Seulgi had to partner up with Jungkook to do the history assignment together, it had been slightly easier to talk to him.  Maybe because they focused on talking about planning the assignment, it wasn’t as awkward as Seulgi thought it would be.  But apart from talking about schoolwork, they didn’t talk about anything else.  Seulgi actually preferred it this way.  She didn’t have to lie about her family or talk about herself.

They had decided to work in the library during lunchtime.  They were sitting opposite each other, a book each in front of them and a large jungle of books waiting to be read beside them. 

Seulgi stole a glance at Jungkook who was busy copying down some notes from the book.  She could understand why all the girls in class always seemed to fawn over him; he was handsome with his large almond eyes, flawless clear skin and chiseled v-line face, plus he had the brains to go with it.

She found that Jungkook was an extremely organized and determined person.  He was focused with the details, minor and major ones, he never liked to skim over anything.  They had chosen to do their research on King Sejong, one of the Kings of Korea during the Joseon dynasty.

As he looked up to see where she was up to, Seulgi quickly looked back down at her book, hoping Jungkook hadn’t noticed her staring.

“Does the book you’re reading have anything on King Sejong’s early life?”  He asked, as he rested his head against his hand.  Ever since the time at the nurse’s office, Seulgi couldn’t shake off the tense feeling she got every time Jungkook looked into her eyes.

“There’s a short section about how his father favoured him over his two older brothers but not much else,” She answered, wary of Jungkook’s gaze on her.

“Let me have a look.” 

Just as Seulgi was about to pass the heavy book towards his side of the table, Jungkook had already stood up, walked over to Seulgi’s side and peered leisurely at the book over Seulgi’s shoulder as if they were the closest friends in the world. 

“Have you looked through the section on King Sejong’s father, King Taeyong?”

Seulgi turned around immediately to answer Jungkook without knowing that he was leaning closer towards her to turn the pages of the book.  They found their faces inches away from each other.  Seulgi froze on the spot, unable to look away.  She could feel her cheeks heating up.

And then Jin’s words popped into her mind immediately, do you like the human boy?

But the moment Jungkook’s sweet scent mixed in with the mild detergent of his clothes hit her like a brick wall, she couldn’t think straight any more.  Was it bad that she wanted to know how his blood tasted like?  Seulgi felt herself being pulled towards Jungkook like there was an invisible magnet between him and her.

After what felt like an eternity, Jungkook blinked a few times, his ears going red and stood up straight to move away from Seulgi.  He was not expecting that to happen either.  Seulgi quickly turned back to the book and tried to find the section that Jungkook was talking about previously. 

“I found it,” she said, turning slowly this time to face Jungkook, very embarrassed at what happened earlier.

“That’s great.  I’ll go back to work on my section then.” Jungkook said very normally like the awkward moment between them did not happen.  But Jungkook wasn’t looking at her anymore and instead focused at a bookshelf in front of them.

Seulgi wondered if he was angry with her?  She was probably a crappy partner for the project.  It was her fault that he was stuck with her since he had come to history class late because he had gone to see her at the infirmary.   She wished she were more helpful.

“I’m going to go to look for more books,” Seulgi said as she stood up from where she was sitting.  Jungkook briefly looked up and nodded before continuing to do his work.

Once she was out of Jungkook’s view, she took a deep breath.  What was wrong with her?  She couldn’t seem to think straight in Jungkook’s presence.  Seulgi placed her cold hands against her bright pink cheeks with a small sigh.  She ended up in the historical non-fiction section, picking one of the larger books on “The Great Kings of Joseon” and started flicking through the pages. 

- - -

“Come hang with us for a bit,” Jin said, a hand motioning.

“Why do you always make it seem like we are close friends when we’re not?”  She asked. 

It was after school and Seulgi was on an errand for her mother to pick up some toilet paper from the supermarket and out of nowhere, Jin popped out of the café she was passing.

But Jin ignored her question and put an arm around her shoulders so s