Purposely

ft. Kim Taehyung (V) 

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♦"Kwon Bori" is you! 

“Wow.”

That was the word eight-year-old Taehyung used to describe the smile of his classmate, Bori. 

He rested his cheek in the palm of his right hand as he stared dreamily at her as she presented her favourite soft toy in front of class. When she was done presenting, Taehyung clapped with all his might, but then realised his claps weren’t the loudest, because his other male classmates were clapping loudly as well.

Taehyung groaned and leaned back against his chair. He had already warned his friends not to like Bori because she was his. Well, at least that was what he liked to believe. 

When Bori walked back to her seat, she ignored all the boys that tried to get her attention. Taehyung ran his fingers through his hair even though it wasn’t messy (it was just a natural reflex) and cleared his throat when Bori sat down. He didn’t know whether it was a blessing or not to have Bori sitting next to him in class. 

Before he could even open his mouth to talk to her, the bell rang indicating that it was time for the third lesson of the day. The class was well aware that since it was Maths class next, they had time to talk because their teacher never showed up to class on time. 

“Cue the boys in three..two..” Taehyung breathed out and Bori’s table was then swarmed with boys.

“Bori! What are you having for lunch today? My mother cooked some delicious pancakes, enough for the both of us to share!” 

“Bori! Want to see my new action figure? It’s limited edition!”

“Hey Bori! Your teddy bear is really cute. But I think you’re cuter!” 

Taehyung got ready to bang his fist against his table to draw attention towards him, but Bori’s best friend beat him to it.

“We would all appreciate it if you would give Bori some space. She is obviously uncomfortable!” Soyoung said in her annoying nasal voice which everyone hates.

The boys went back to their seats and Bori mouthed “thank you”. 

“Hey Bori, I just wanted to tell you that you were really confident up there earlier,” Taehyung said softly, so Bori had to ask him to repeat it.

“That includes you, you monkey!” Soyoung yelled.

Everyone laughed at the reference because everyone knew where that name came from. Bori had to bite back her laughter, and Taehyung felt his cheeks heat up from embarrassment. 

“What is all this noise about?” Mr. Choi’s infamous bellow echoed the room. He had sheets of papers rolled in left hand and his stick that he carries around everywhere in his right. 

Mr. Choi explained that they will be having a recitation quiz, and they will be called to the front to his table one by one. 

“This recitation quiz will be used to screen your level of understanding simple multiplication. You will have to recite the multiplications of two until the multiplications of nine. Those who score badly will have to stay back to do extra multiplication exercises while being guided by the best student in this class,” a series if groans filled the classroom again. It was a situation in which the student with the lowest score and the student with the highest score will have to face the consequences!

Taehyung thought for a bit. The best student would obviously be Eunwoo, but he’s conceited so he wouldn’t like to help people. So, Taehyung was sure that Eunwoo would purposely do a few mistakes in the quiz. 

Following closely behind is Bori, and Taehyung was sure that Bori wouldn’t make mistakes on purpose even though she didn’t want to stay back to help. 

When Mr. Choi started to call out students, Taehyung noticed that everyone was purposely giving two or more answers wrongly. Multiplications we