12: IMAGE

Jimin sat lazily at the spare desk, staring idly at the students who were playing a casual game of basketball outside.  He turned towards Irene who was on her laptop and was busy editing photos to put into the school magazine. 

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do.”  Jimin commented as he stared at the photo Irene had up of Seulgi where she was posing dreamily out of window. 

“What are you talking about?”  Irene asked, not paying much attention to Jimin.  “Seulgi is really gorgeous when she’s all dolled up.”

“That is what I’m talking about.” Jimin knew that Irene liked Jungkook.  Heck, he wasn’t surprised if the all female population liked Jungkook but he also knew that Jungkook was slowly but surely becoming more interested in Seulgi, the new transfer student. 

Jungkook and Seulgi were busy in the library doing their history project and Jimin didn’t really feel like being the third wheel so he had ended up annoying Irene instead.

“Do elaborate,” Irene answered back as she continued to click away on her laptop. 

Irene, Jungkook and himself had been friends since primary school.  He was also pretty sure that Jungkook knew of Irene’s feelings as well but it was something they had never spoken about.  Something he was grateful and resentful about. 

“I thought you liked Jungkook,” Jimin said, not caring to be subtle.  But his eyes were tentatively observing her, watching for the change in expression.  Irene had stopped working, turned to Jimin and said firmly, “That’s none of your business, Park Jimin.”

The steely look in her eyes shot two piecing arrows into Jimin’s heart.

The first one was that Irene liked Jungkook with a certainty he would never be able to deter, while the second being that there was no place in her heart for him. 

Jimin had liked Irene since they were kids.  It wasn’t a feeling that was obvious to him until he realized that Irene was looking at Jungkook with the same eyes he was looking at her with. 

It was in primary school where Jungkook was playing soccer with some of the other kids.  Irene and Jimin were sitting on the sidelines watching.  “Don’t you think that Jungkook looks so cool when he plays sports?” Irene had asked, though Jimin knew she wasn’t really looking for an answer as she looked longingly towards Jungkook.  But as he turned to stare at the fair-skinned Irene with her neatly tied ponytail, which accentuated her petite face and bright eyes, Jimin had the sudden realization.  He wished that she would see him with such affectionate eyes. 

Oh Irene, what I am I going to do about you? Jimin thought with a heavy sigh. 

- - -

Seulgi didn’t know that everything could spiral into disaster so quickly.  She supposed that once the seeds are planted, as long as there was someone who watered the seeds, they would sprout no matter what.

It started with her photos that day she took with Irene, ending up in the school magazine that was circulated to all the students.  Apparently all the guys thought she looked like a model in the photos and started taking great more interest in her. 

She received a lot of unwanted and uncomfortable attention from her male classmates. 

It also was a source of displeasure from the female students.  It started small with some of her belongings going missing, but from their whisperings Seulgi knew where they hid her books, her pens and her sports uniform.  She had time later to slowly find her books and pens, but her class had sports class in the afternoon, so she needed her sports clothes.

She knew that her sports uniform had been dumped somewhere in the garbage area at the back of the school.  It was a small shed with several different large tipping bins where the designated cleaning student of each class had to bring the rubbish and dump the contents accordingly.  The garbage collector then took the rubbish away. 

Luckily today wasn’t the day the rubbish was collected.  Seulgi rummaged through the general waste bin, but with her heightened sense of smell, it only made the whole process a lot more unbearable. 

Seulgi heard another figure approaching the shed and turned to see who it was.  It was Jungkook.  Did he follow her here from the classroom? Seulgi wondered.