Attention Lover

51

(Jimin's POV)

I was ruffling through my drawers for an appropriate outfit when I heard a knock at the door.

"I'm not ready Taehyung, what do you even wear to go to a mountain?" I groaned but when I went to open the door, I was surprised to see Nari there.

"I just wanted to ask...what you said to my friends?" She shuffled behind the door. "They sent me a long text apology and one of them is jealous that I have a college friend. But they never apologize, even when I cry, so...what did you say them?"

I stood there, not really sure if I had made her upset or not.

"Never mind, but thank you for whatever it was." Her voice dropped off when she thanked me, as if she wasn't used to doing it. "And also for earlier when you said you were Taehyung's friend instead of like boyfriend or something."

"Yeah what was all that about?" I asked, opening the door wider. "You can come in if you want." I sat down on my suitcase as she made herself a seat on my bed.

"I don't want to give them another reason to make fun of me."

"These don't seem like very good friends, Nari." I spoke honestly and she looked down at her hands. Part of me was mad at her for how she and her brother treated Taehyung for years, but right now all she seemed like was an insecure delicate middle schooler. Maybe she deserved to be shamed for how she treated her brother but she definitely didn't deserve to be shamed by her friends for something as natural as her first period.

"They think I'm cool now, because they think I have a college friend...so maybe things will be better now."

"So they're only nice if they think you're doing something cool? Do you have other friends at school? Ones that aren't so..."

"Fake? Yeah but the ones I was with... those are the cool girls." Cool girls? When I was in middle school the cool kids looked different but to each their own I guess. "I just need them to think I'm cool so they don't bully me- wait, could you do me a favor?" She looked at me and I raised an eyebrow.

"That would depend..."

"I don't think they're fully convinced you weren't just helping me because you're friends with my brother. Could we take a picture together for Instagram or something like that, just pretend to be my friend, that way they'd be so jealous."

"You know if you weren't so abrasive at dinner or breakfast, we could actually be friends."

"Really?" Her face lit up a little bit.

"On one condition."

***

"Taehyung, how much longer, my legs!" I whined, dragging my feet across the hardened snow. Hiking was not my thing, as I'm realizing. There was no snow where Taehyung's parents were but we had driven two hours north and this mountain was very much snowy.

"The clearing is just a little farther." he encouraged. It was cold out here, my coat and borrowed boots did little help. I leaned against a tree in protest. I had almost slipped twice, and my feet were hurting. I had seen the mountain from the bottom of the hill and it had look pretty, I didn't understand why we needed to get a closer look. I was not an outdoors person. Taehyung stopped, noticing the lack of footsteps behind him. "Cmon, it's not that far." He came back over to me. His hair was pulled back by a headband that covered his ears for warmth. A red scarf his mother gave him, covered half of his face. And the straps of a heavy looking black backpack adorned his shoulders. "There's a surprise up there." He wiggled his eyebrows, peaking my interest.