26

"Why the hell is he here?"

His tone was dangerous, his words felt like they were venomous, dripping with a poison coating. The atmosphere tensed as Jungkook's eyes flickered from mine to Jimin's.

"W-we went to the aquarium together. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, you were sick and I didn't want to bother you."

"Don't give me that bullshit, I was perfectly fine and you knew I was."

I shivered under his glare but I put my foot down and held my ground.

"I'm not lying, Jungkook. You were sleeping anyway, I really didn't want to wake you."

"Okay, yeah, sure. But, you still ditched me for this good-for-nothing asshole, or maybe I should say, your new toy."

"Oh, is that what you think? That I toy around with people like your stupid girlfriend, AhYeon? Don't be fucking rude, Jungkook. I'm nothing like her."

"Don't bring AhYeon into this, she has nothing to do with it. I'm not being rude, I'm stating the truth."

I could already feel the tears welling up in my eyes and there was a burning sensation in my nose as I bit my bottom lip, trying my very best not to let my tears fall. Jungkook smirked cruelly as he saw my eyes glisten with tears.

"Are you going to cry? Wow, I'm really starting to think that's all you can ever do, how useless."

"I... I said I was sorry, Jungkook.. Can't you just let it go?"

As those words left my mouth, Jungkook's smirk dropped back to a deadly glare as he towered over me by the front gate.

"Yeah, okay, Jimin. Because a mere sorry can fix everything. Because all the

times I've ever said sorry, you passed it off and said it was okay, right?"

I shrunk as he viciously spat his words at me, entitling me as a hypocrite. Jimin gently took my hand and pulled me behind him. He matched Jungkook's glare with his own and protectively blocked me from Jungkook's view.

"Hey, watch it. You have no right to talk to her like that. It wasn't her fault, it was mine, so if you have a problem, complain to me."

The two boys glared at each other and the air became thick and suffocating as silence filled the cold November night. Chills crept up my spin as I felt the cold bitter vibes radiating off the two boys. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Jungkook's fist tightening and my breath hitched as I knew where he would take this. It didn't help how Jimin arrogantly smirked, snickering while bringing up his own fists, provoking Jungkook even further.

"What? You want to fight?"

They were at each others throat's by now and both of them stood in fighting position. Jungkook growled at Jimin's successful attempt to provoke him. He raised his fist and swung at Jimin, but I jumped in front of Jimin and grabbed hold of his arm before his fist could make contact with anyone's face.

"Stop. Please... I don't want to see you guys fighting over something ridiculous, neither do I want to see anyone get hurt."

Jungkook harshly retracted his arm while grunting and I turned to Jimin who wouldn't stop glaring at Jungkook.

"You can head home now, I can work the rest out. Thank you for today, Jimin. It was great."

Jimin gave me a skeptical look, his

eyes traveling back and forth, from Jungkook to me. I forced a reassuring smile and gave his hand a small squeeze. Sighing, Jimin reluctantly obeyed and waved goodbye before heading down the street and eventually turning the corner. He turned back a couple of times to make sure I was still there, safe and untouched before he disappeared out of sight. I quickly turned back to Jungkook who had his eyes shut and his hands shoved deep in his pockets. I opened my mouth to apologize again, but he seemed to already know and cut me off.

"Don't. I don't want to hear another useless apology. Just move."

Bewildered at his words, I stared at him with a blank stare.

"W-what?"

Jungkook sighed heavily and opened his eyes which were dark and angry, his annoyance obviously showing on his face.

"I said, move. Get out of the way."

Immediately, I stepped away from the front gate, flinching at his rough tone. He sounded entirely different from how he usually sounded. His voice was always gentle and soft-spoken, and his words were always said in a coaxing manner. It was frightening to see this side of him, but it was only because I never wanted to see him this way. I only wanted to see the kind and friendly Jungkook, but that was impossible. Everyone had a dark side.

Jungkook shoved past me and I had no choice but to just watch him leave. His head was cocked down, causing his front bangs to cover his eyes. Suddenly, he turned around one last time, a deadly glare still etched on his face. He stared down at me and I took a few steps back, seeing his icy cold glare. He reached into his pocket

for a second before pulling something out and chucking it over the gate.

"Take it. I don't want it anymore."

The small object glistened in the moonlight as it traveling over the front gates, soon hitting the concrete with a loud 'clink.' Jungkook seemed satisfied with the sound and turned on his heel and walked away. I approached the item on the ground and crouched down to see the crystal amulet I had given to him before. It was in pieces now, shattered and no longer glowing exquisitely. Slowly, I picked up the small shards of crystal while absentmindedly letting the tears I had held in, fall from my eyes. I let myself sniffle and soon, quiet sobs escaped my mouth as I clenched my hands around the broken shards of crystal. I glared at the concrete beneath my feet, telling myself how much I hated Jungkook, but deep down, I knew I was lying, trying to trick myself into liking Jimin instead.

How had things ended up like this? Jeon Jungkook, I despise you, hate you, detest you, and absolutely loathe you. Now, why can't I believe all of that?

•••

Day 22/29

I glanced over my shoulder for the hundredth time today to see Jungkook's seat still empty and vacant. He was supposedly absent today due to a fever which I thought was total bullshit. I sighed and pulled out my lunch box and stared at the classroom door, actually anticipating Jimin's arrival for once. A few minutes later, Jimin popped his head into the classroom and scanned the faces of the students until he met my eyes. He gave me a large cheeky smile

as he closed the door and walked over to me, pulling up a chair to my desk.

"Hello there, Princess. I see you've been waiting for my arrival."

I rolled my eyes at him while opening my lunch box.

"Mhm, sure. Whatever floats your boat."

I pulled out my chopsticks to eat when I saw Jimin pull his own lunch box out from behind his back. It was a double stacked lunch box and it was quite huge, taking up most of the space on my desk. I stared in awe as Jimin took apart the lunch box, revealing luxurious side dishes that were packed along with a main course dish. He chuckled and pushed the lunch box towards me.

"You can have some. I won't be able to finish it all anyway. Mrs. Lee packed me too much."

I raised my eyebrow in confusion as he mentioned 'Mrs. Lee.' He gave me a questioning look before understanding what I was confused about.

"Mrs. Lee is my new mother. It's still kind of weird calling her Mom so for now, I call her Mrs. Lee."

I nodded my head as I understood what he was talking about. Jimin took his chopsticks and gave me some of his side dishes and I thanked him before digging in, swinging my feet happily while savoring the flavor of the food. Jimin laughed at my happy feet and talked about how much of a kid I was. In reply, I stuck my tongue out at him and shoved his feet. He rolled his eyes at my childish behavior but he chuckled before finally digging in.

We at in silence for most of lunch hour, occasionally bringing up silly topics which ended in giggles. As we packed up our lunch boxes near the end of lunch period, Jimin cleared his throat and rubbed the nape of his neck, opening his mouth but closing it again. I gave him a confused look after putting away my lunch box.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, uh, nothing. I just wanted to apologize for last night. I shouldn't have provoked him."

"Oh that. No, it's fine. I should be the one apologizing for that."

Jimin wagged his finger at me while shaking his head. I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms, readying myself for some weird royal talk.

"Princesses aren't supposed to apologize to their subjects."

"Well, I'm not a princess, you dork."

"You are to me."

He sent me two hearts with his fingers while winking. I rolled my eyes and Jimin rose out of his seat as the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch period. He blew me a kiss before leaving the classroom.

"I'll see you after school, Princess."

Shaking my head, I pulled out my notebooks for the next class and focused on getting school over with. Jimin really needed to fix that princess thing or else I'd really end up treating him like a commoner someday.