sɪɴᴄᴇ ʜɪɢʜsᴄʜᴏᴏʟ ☑

41. Babysitter To A Baby

"Jungkook-ie!" Mrs. Jeon ran after the kid to give him a few extra pens. "Do good in exam. All the best."

"I will, even if hell rains fire. I have to top the class."

Mrs. Jeon smiled meekly, stroking the boy's head. She had nothing to complain about. This was the mid-year exam but Jungkook had studied like they were finals so the mother was worried for her child's health. This competition she didn't know was with whom, but she could tell and it wasn't healthy.

"Just do your best, don't worry about the score."

Jungkook nodded slowly before dashing after the bus that had stopped in front of the house.

As he sat while revising the chapters like a maniac, he didn't realize Jimin was sitting behind him. All he did for the past three months was ignore the older and focus entirely on his studies. Jimin attempted to talk to him in a friendly way, but he royally ignored the older, holding so many grudges inside his heart.

Not a grand moment, all he expected was simple forgiveness and a will from Jimin to make amends, but he got nothing more than a casual wave of his hands, or sometimes stalking gazes.

Throughout the classes, Jimin learned to live with the pain, to not act out, to hold it all in together, but Jungkook changed, dramatically at that. He became an embodiment of what Jimin used to be.

His plans now included getting a car from his parents the moment he turned eighteen and just roaming around in it, picking up boys, asking them to fuck him. It was all very masochistic in his head, having no idea if this was what he could go through in reality at all.

As the driver pressed the brakes, since Jungkook had three books in his hands, he couldn't hold on to the bar to support his body, but he looked back when he still felt restraint. There was Jimin, holding onto his shirt so he wouldn't collide his face with the front seat.

The gaze met momentarily before Jimin came crashing ahead and stopped barely a few centimeters away from Jungkook. Next, Jimin dipped down to pick up the book that fell from Jungkook's hand and extended it towards him.

"Thanks."

Jungkook uttered indignantly and got immersed in studying again, but this time, cautiously.

Jimin smiled. Although he tried to talk to Jungkook, he couldn't succeed. Many times it came to his mind to just chuck everything and go to Jungkook, but he couldn't.

What if he failed to fulfill his father's wish again and ended up living life on his terms? He loathed the idea. As a kid, he did what was told, and whenever he opposed his father, he was given the silent treatment, a punishment too harsh for any 5-year-old.

As he grew old, he grew distant and scared of his father, and also to his mother to a somewhat lesser extent.

He has always been a disappointment, but he was a person who needed a lot of love, which he never got. Suddenly it seemed like the distance that was created between his parents and him was unerasable. How did it happen? He didn't know. But whenever he saw affectionate parents, he craved for the same albeit he never showcased it. Now, as a grown teenager, he thought he wanted nothing to do with his parents, but this was proven so wrong when he saw the disappointment in his father's eyes. All he wanted was to prove to him that he was worth loving and respecting.

At the same time, he also couldn't keep himself away from Jungkook. He made sure that the younger didn't go looking for trouble, even if Jungkook was annoyed by his maneuvers.

As they arrived at school, Jungkook got out first and Jimin followed behind closely.

They entered the same classroom, only the layout of the sitting arrangement was different. He found his desk and Jungkook sat behind him, given his roll number came after Jimin. The class slowly filled and the ring commenced the examination. Physics. Jungkook's specialty.

They started writing the moment they got the question paper. Jimin wasn't in a hurry, he focused and gave attention to each question, but Jungkook was in haste, which showed. He tried to finish as soon as he could to revise the answers later.

During halftime, Jungkook ran out to have some water when Jimin rushed behind him too. "Are you okay?"

Jungkook looked back at Jimin and scoffed after turning his face around without answering.

Do-Jin suddenly rushed towards them and almost pushed Jungkook in order to get to the water freezer first when Jimin held the boy from falling.

"I don't need a babysitter. Just leave me alone!" The boy snarked bitterly.

"I was just being nice. I'll let you fall the next time." Jimin rolled his eyes, walking past Jungkook to push Do-jin from the front of the freezer and occupy his place.

Jungkook and Do-Jin had beef since many arguments and the latter wanted to provoke Jimin by somehow trying and playing around with Jungkook.

They returned to the exam hall as half-time ended and continued the exam. Jungkook finished first and looked around, everyone was still writing so he breathed out, wanting to revise the answers. As he began to start from the first, he realized he has made a few mistakes in the calculation because of which the answers changed. He panicked now. In the first ten questions, he'd already corrected two answers. The time was running low and he still had twenty more questions to revise.

As he immersed himself in re-checking, he felt his desk being kicked that jostled him out of focus. "Check fifteenth, the rest of your answers are correct," Jimin whispered.

Jungkook scoffed, naturally jumping to fifteenth directly, but he still wanted to re-check every single answer, only, that the time seemed short. He did find the mistake in the answer Jimin pointed at and corrected it before going through others quickly. Just in time, his paper was taken away by the teacher.

"How did it go?" Jimin asked as the clamor erupted from the students who began to wind up and leave.

Jungkook didn't answer.

"You can at least say thanks."

"I was going to check everything. You didn't have to help me when I didn't ask." Jungkook sneered, now stopping his hands from putting the stationary back into his bag and glaring at the older.

Jimin had two options - to laugh it off or to show his true feelings of hurt. He chose to walk away from there and Jungkook felt an uneasiness rubbing over his chest. No matter how much he convinced himself he hated Jimin, or acted tough, he knew he'd run back to him in a jiffy if the boy got hurt or if anyone else tried to harm him in any way. But the true feelings remained shoved deep under the tough mask.

"How was it, Jimin?" He heard a girl ask the boy and his feet intentionally slowed down so he could stay behind them and listen to what they were saying.

Jimin smiled at the girl. "Really good, I think will score full marks if they don't deduct anything."

"Really?" The girl was all googly-eyed, touching Jimin's arm with a smile. "You are so smart in physics and maths. I don't even know how you do it?"

"Practice," Jimin answered simply. "The more you study, the more you want to study once you solve an equation or two and get the right answer. You just need the right motivation."

"Can you help me with the maths paper? I can come to your place for studying or you can come over to mine. I really think I'll fail maths."

Jungkook found himself madly jealous as he did on many occasions before too. Anytime a boy or a girl talked to his ex-boyfriend, he reminded himself that this boy was a bi-sexual. He'd stalk the people who posed interest in Jimin for days and only when he had assured himself that Jimin wasn't paying attention out of ordinary, he'd calm.

Stomping his feet, he gaited and pushed past the two. Jimin saw the boy go and turned to the girl with a sigh. "I am sorry, Sumi. I also need enough time to prepare and I can't risk getting less marks because my parents are quite strict. But hey, I think if I am done in time with my revision, I will help you. Give me your number."

The girl beamed. "Okay!"

13 Apr 2022