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YURIM
When class was over, I gathered up my things and headed toward PE. I eyed the sloppy writing on the chalk board as I left. That had to have been the weirdest class and the strangest teacher I had ever had. It didn't seem like the man did much teaching before. He was just a substitute so it made a little sense that he was unprepared, but his assignment had nothing to do with the subject he subbed for. And of all tasks we had to write about our parents' businesses? Was he secretly looking for business partners? People were always looking to collaborate for profit.206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROoKzscAhS
One thing was for sure, he wouldn't be interested in my parents' tiny little business.
Something light flashed at the corner of my eye. I followed the movement and nearly choked. "Jimin-shi!" I excitedly pushed past a drove of students towards him. "Jimin-shi!"
The blonde who walked with his head high and his usual posture of perfection finally turned and met my eyes. I smiled. Both relief and happiness surging through me. He was alright and I wasn't alone!
However, his eyes remained indifferent before he continued walking as though I wasn't there. "Jimin...shi...?" I stood there shocked and completely dumbfounded. Had he not recognized me? I was sure he looked right at me.
"He's not interested," said a familiar voice. Upon hearing it I automatically frowned before looking towards it to find none other than Taehyung. His slender figure strolled toward me, hands in his pockets. Eyes just as predator-like as they were beautiful.
"Don't come any closer!" I stiffened. He scoffed, face doused in disgust.
"Believe me, I have no interest in getting close to a disease like you. That being said, why are you interested in Jimin? Don't you know he has..." he scanned me from head to toe, "...standards?"
"If you must know, we're friends."
Taehyung laughed, "Jimin doesn't have friends. He has toys and pawns only."
"What do you-"
"Jin? Pawn. Yoongi? He was a pawn too until he caught on. You? Neither. He hates you," he stated matter-of-factly. I could only stare as I tried to wrap my head around what he was saying. I had only seen Jimin do sweet and nice things. He got me a gift when I was in recovery. He visited me and listened to my troubles when I couldn't talk to anyone else. He was just messing with me, not that it's any surprise. I wondered if Yoongi had influenced this opinion of him? And then I realized Jimin had walked from where Taehyung appeared.
"Wait, were you two...talking? I didn't know you knew each other."
"We've known each other for a while," he boasted. "Longer than he's known you."
"So you're... friends?"
Taehyung rolled his eyes, "like I said, he doesn't have friends."
"Okay fine, what are you then, his pawn too?" I mocked.
"Toy," he corrected rather haughtily. "I thought that'd be obvious."
I shook my head at him. I wasn't sure if he was crazy or I was. Nothing was connecting at all. "It doesn't make sense. Why would Jimin consort with you? I mean, no offense but you don't have the greatest reputation."
"Why? Do you think he's too good? Too gentlemanly? Too sweet?" He laughed again. "He's probably the most dangerous person here. More dangerous than Namjoon. Why do you think Yoongi hates him more than anyone?"
"Because of his pride when Jimin tried to help him when his parent's died," I answered. Though at this point I wasn't completely convinced of what I had just said.
"Ddaeng! It's because he used the tragedy of his parents to get people's love and attention. And when Yoongi caught on to what he was doing, he nearly threw him off the building. From then on Jimin knew Yoongi couldn't be a pawn anymore, so he turned the school against him. That way his word was worth nothing. Thanks to Jimin, Yoongi became infamous for being nothing but a dangerous and unstable boy."
I stood speechless for a while. I vaguely remembered a point during middle school when Yoongi was regarded as a normal boy through the halls. I tended to forget that there was a time when people didn't hate and fear him. Now that I thought about it, it did seem like a strangely quick fall from grace he suffered. A tear startled me as it dripped to my chin.
'Because that's just who I am! I hit people, steal things, break things!' he said all those years ago. Everyone had been whispering the same things about him that he began to believe them himself.
'And maybe you're only pointing fingers at me because the person you really wanted to be mad at is him. But being mad at me is just easier,' he said.Even I used his reputation as an excuse to blame him for everything.
'If Jin was disturbed about anything it was probably because he finally realized just how selfish that prick really is.' What he said about Jimin that night was probably true too. He tried to tell me but I wouldn't listen.
"Yoongi told you all this?" I asked in barely a whisper.
"It took him being drunk to let it all out but yes. I was the only one that wasn't passed out. Namjoon and Jungkook had no idea that that was the reason behind his almost killing Jimin. They thought he had some kind of dormant demon living inside him, waiting for something to awaken it. They tried to trigger him but nothing worked. At least until you came along," Taehyung rolled his eyes at a distant memory.
"The night of the fire..."
"No, before that."
My eyebrows shot up. "Huh?"
"I'm talking about the rooftop. Don't you know?" he crossed his arms with a sour face.
I stared at him blankly.
"When kookie pushed you down the stairs?" Taehyung waited for me to have a moment of realization but none came. He scoffed, "you're seriously this clueless. Yoongi and your dorky friend came up to the rooftop to beef it out with Jungkook and Namjoon that day! They were pissed. Do you live with your head up your ass? How is it that you don't know anything?"
Yoongi and Hoseok...?
And then it hit me. The day Hoseok had that cut on his lip and he wouldn't tell me how he got it. It was because he fought Namjoon? And... Yoongi too?
"Are you sure it was Yoongi? That was even before we... I mean why would he...?" My heart was racing. He'd been helping me since then?
No. Even before then. At the arcade. He warned me about Namjoon. I thought he was messing with me then but he really did mean to warn me. Taehyung was right about one thing: I had no actual idea.
"Of course it was Yoongi! Do you think I'm an idiot who doesn't recognize his own friends?" The boy clicked his tongue while trying to calm himself. "I need to stop talking to you before I smack you over the head."
"Why the sudden restraint?"
"You know what Yoongi would do if he found out." The slender boy straightened his expensively altered jacket and waved me off, "bye now!"
He didn't have to tell me twice. I continued down the hall towards the usual stairwell I took to PE. My mind was completely consumed by the abundance of information I was just given. As it turned out, knowledge was a heavy burden. I'd just faced the fact that I'd been fooled by Jimin just like everyone else at this school, including poor Jin. And worst of all, I'd just found out that Yoongi had been helping me a lot more than I realized. Yet I had just turned my back on him. All because I was too cowardly to admit my feelings.
Suddenly my shoulder bumped into someone, knocking me out into the real world. I looked at the startled boy and offered a muddled apology. When I turned forward again, my insides did flips, seeing Yoongi in line at the drinking fountain.
A new light shone upon him and I was eager to make things right. I wanted to tell him that I'm sorry for doubting him, that I was wrong to blame him. I wanted to thank him for being there for me and that I... well, maybe I can hold off on some parts. As much as I wanted to tell him all this, I couldn't bring my feet to move towards him.
Intrusive thoughts flew through my mind about the day of our middle school graduation. Before Yoongi I had always lied to myself that I didn't want friends. When in truth I couldn't make them and I couldn't fathom why. Yoongi was the first person I found hope in making a friend. I put all my heart and hope into befriending him and in the end, he rejected me. Since then, I accepted loneliness, figuring that I just wasn't meant to have friends - thinking that if I ever tried, my efforts would only me snuffed out by bad luck.
I thought I had escaped this bad luck when I met Hoseok and eventually Jin but it turns out, it just takes its time. I had lost both of them eventually.
What if I was bound to lose Yoongi too? After just realizing how important he was to me, I wasn't sure if my heart would take anymore. My fear grew. I could feel a tremor in my hands, my breathing became heavier. Quickly, I stepped to the side of the hall by the window. I looked down into the school yard with its cherry blossom trees. I imagined the familiar image of glowing snow sprinkled on the pinkish petals which helped me to calm down a bit.
I looked over at him, who had just stepped up the the fountain. I didn't know what to say, but I know I had to say something. Something that doesn't leave us in this cold-shouldered mess I started. Taking a shaky breath, I walk towards him again. Afraid but still committed to fix this mess.
"Lee Yurim?" I gasped when someone stepped out in front of me. It was the English substitute teacher.
"Yes, sir?" I asked.
"I'd like to discuss the paper you wrote today in class. I have a few questions about your parents' spa business," his eyes would've gleamed with money bags if this were a cartoon. Though, I wasn't sure what interest anyone would find in a small business.
"Oh, does it have to be now? I have PE soon-"
"It won't take long. Follow me please."
When he led the way, I took a last look at Yoongi who was still mid-drink. I sighed, feeling I'd just missed a pivotal opportunity. "Yes, sir," I followed the man reluctantly.
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YOONGI
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Contingencies in real estate are conditions that need to be met in order for a transaction to close, I recalled absently, keeping my mind busy. I turned into the stairwell. Warily checking the way up, I felt a small sense of relief. The coast was clear.
It felt ridiculous to suddenly feel obligated to avoid her around school. Not that I was putting extra effort into it. That'd be stupid. We both go here. If she expected me to stay out of her sight, too bad.
Then again, I was trying not to think about her so it would probably serve me best if I didn't see her after all. Hence the random facts I've been learning from Halmeoni about real estate.
I decided on the career officially, like my dad. Since then my grandmother has been helping me with matters regarding the properties that passed to her after he died. At first I just wanted to help out - maybe alleviate some of the old lady's stress about the recent struggles with the vacant properties. But after talking about it more, the more interested I became in it all.
I walked up to a nearby water fountain. Someone was already there so I waited for a turn. As I waited, my eyes wandered down the hall, typically spotting the last thing - or person I wanted to see. Something was on her mind. And it hit me that I'd never have any right to know what it was. With a heavy sigh I returned my gaze forward, ignoring her.
Four types of real estate: residential, commercial, industrial, and land. We currently own four - three commercial, one residential, I droned mentally.
Despite training my eyes forward, my ears reached out to the nearest conversation. Looking for anything to keep my mind distracted from the pathetic ache beneath my sternum.
"...he really said that and told us to write essays about our parent's businesses. Where did they find a sub like that? He didn't teach us any English at all!" Laughed a girl and her friend not too far from me. That's when the person in front finally left the water fountain and I was able to drink my fill. After, I looked down the hall again. She was gone. I was sure she'd have passed by me since her next class should've been PE, but she hadn't. She probably saw me and chose another route.
When I returned to class, Taehyung had been in his seat next to mine. I shouldn't have been surprised since he attended classes more often when I did. But by this time, he was usually out of here. Too bored to stay for the whole day.
"Why are you here?" I asked with my usual low monotone.
"It's my class too," he rested his jaw in his hand. "Plus, you came up in a conversation earlier today and it made me miss you."
And that concluded my curiosity. As usual, when I went silent, he threw a little whiny tantrum because I hadn't shown him more attention. Luckily the teacher managed to quell his disruptions, calling him out in front of the class. Many of the girls in class used the moment as an opportunity to turn and admire his looks before reluctantly turning back.
"Ugly goblin chin bitch..." he spat under his breath.
Much to my surprise, he'd been quiet for most of the class time. Though that much was expected when he was scrolling through social media.
"Hey, is your number the same?" he whispered over to me.
I sighed, annoyed, "yup, and you're still blocked."
"Why are you so mean?" He tapped at his screen with a sour look.
Taehyung had always been the one person in our group, who I didn't understand. He always acted like we were all friends. And although we were labeled that way, it was clear none of us actually cared about each other. Though, he was the closest to caring I guess. The one who acted like a friend, who showed a variety of emotions unlike the rest of us. I knew he was messed up, which makes him fit. But why the hell did he actually enjoy our company? Why did he still talk to me after I clearly wanted nothing to do with him or the rest?
Something told me that years from now, even if we never talked, he'd still greet me the same way as if time never passed. He was a weird guy.
BZZT! BZZT!
I reached in my pocket and pulled out my phone. Taehyung looked over, "who's Minju? And why are there hearts by her name? Yoongi-ah, don't tell me you have a girlfriend. Is she even pretty?" He inquired eagerly but I couldn't be bothered with his antics.
That kid left yet another text. Didn't anyone tell her that a chain of unanswered messages means, 'get lost'? Surely her sister would've told her the whole, no contact memo. Then again, this was Minju. I ignored the notification and stashed the device away.
Not five seconds later, another buzz came.
I sighed, getting my phone out again. This time with a fresh determination to block her. But the notification didn't say Minju this time. It was a number I didn't recognize. For a moment I felt hope. Maybe it was Hoseok. If it's him we could work together in finding out how he can come back. At least with him back, she'd have someone to trust again. Not that her life was any of my business. But maybe, just maybe, leaving her alone would be easier if I knew someone was there for her.
Hiding my phone behind my textbook, I opened the message impatiently searching for good news.
Instead, my heart stopped.
A tremor formed in my hand nearly causing me to drop my phone. Gripping it tight, I leaped out of my seat causing a big crash and threw myself out of the door. A few screams from my classmates seemed far away as I flew down the hall. There's no way! I just saw her!
The halls blurred past me until I arrived outdoors where I raced for the sports field. Dozens of students went about their games and exercises in PE. Some of them staring curiously at me, knowing I didn't belong there.
She's not here...
My labored breaths heaved in and out, eyes wide and still searching in vain for Yurim. My lunch stirred inside me like a storm. Still shaking, I looked at my phone again with horror. It's real!
On my screen was a picture of Yurim tied up and unconscious with an address and a message texted with it:
TELL HIM, WHERE IT BEGAN AT SUN DOWN. IT'S HER OR HIM.
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