Á̶͕̬̈́̑̽̍̆͘͝ḷ̸̨͔͇̗̿̋̑t̵̢͈̺̣́̆̏͊̌̊̔͑̊̈́́e̶͆̇͊̚ṙ̶̛̞̮̀̿͌͌̌̈́̑̋̊̂

4

Namjoon sat between his parents, facing Principal Pak with a slightly forced smile on his face.

Normally he got along great with people twice his age or more, but now he had grown tired of the constant praise these adults were dumping on him. It was never ending, it felt like this meeting had been going on for hours instead of just half of one. He felt like he was drowning in their high expectations the more they babbled on and on about his achievements.

Mr. Kim placed his hand on his oldest sons shoulder, squeezing it slightly. "Yes, Namjoon here has actually been scouted by several Ivy League schools these past few months alone. We're about to have them all fight to the death over who wants my son the most." He chuckled, and Namjoon forced his smile to be a little deeper.

"Cimarron High is extremely lucky to have a student like Namjoon representing it in academic tournaments." Pak beamed, fixing her eyes on boy in front of her. Her dark gray suit was primly pressed and crinkled slightly whenever she moved. "He has brought nothing but good publicity to this establishment. Which is why I'm hoping he will join the student council this year again."

Namjoon hadn't had a chance to say a word this whole time, and he had given up about fifteen minutes ago. Funny how he was talked about so much, yet they didn't seem to value what he had to say.

The hand on his shoulder squeezed a little tighter, and he fought a wince.

"Of course he will." Mr. Kim chuckled. "He's been student body president since freshman year. He would love to run again."

Namjoon bit the inside of his cheek, trying to relax his facial features to not betray how annoyed he was.

They were basically planning out his whole life for him without even acknowledging that he was in the room with them.

He had told Pak that he wasn't interested in the position anymore, and he declined every time she had tried to change his mind. He had a suspicion that this was part of why she called this meeting- to coerce him into saying yes with the help from his parents.

The hand got even tighter and Namjoon was fighting hard now to keep sitting still in the chair.

The door burst open suddenly, startling them all. Namjoon turned around quickly, seeing one of the main office ladies standing there, eyes wide and breathing heavily.

"Miss Cheong," Mrs. Pak's eyes narrowed. "I told you I was to be in an important meeting from noon to one today."

"I know, I'm sorry, but-"

"Miss Cheong," Mrs. Pak said again in that pressed and proper tone of hers. "Kindly shut the door. We will talk about your insubordination after-"

"There's a horse running around in the cafeteria!" Miss Cheong blurted out.

Silence for a brief moment, and Namjoon could faintly hear the sound of far away shouting.

Pak stood up abruptly. "I will not tolerate such absurd lies in front of parents, especially not in my own office. Of course there's not a wild farm animal rampaging around in this school."

"It's true!" The secretary pleaded. "It's in the cafeteria! It's causing a huge mess and the students are freaking out! We called animal control but we don't know how it got inside! Do we call the police? Can horses be rabid?"

The faint sounds of shouting and commotion got a little louder, and Namjoon's eyebrows shot up when he heard a horse whinny.

Now everyone was out of their chairs, following quickly after Pak as she raced down the halls, bursting into the cafeteria to see a sight of pure chaos.

Students were standing on tables and chairs or running around, slipping on the messy tiled floors. Food was everywhere- splattered on shirts, smeared into hair and stuck to the walls- even the ceiling.

And of course, there was a brown pony running around wildly, dodging the grabbing hands of teachers and security who were trying to catch it.

Some kids had gotten over their fear and were recording the scene with whoops and laughs.

Pak was frozen, mouth open wide as the animal whinnied again, knocking over a table with a loud and messy crash.

And through all the disaster, Namjoon saw a familiar face.

The one of his younger brother.

Jungkook was grinning wildly, phone held up to record the chaos, and Namjoon instantly knew who was responsible for this mess.

Pak had noticed at the same time, and her shock had turned into fury. Her heels marched over the tossed around food that had landed on the floor, stalking up to Jungkook.

Jungkook saw her through the camera and lowered the phone.

"Hello, Mrs. Pabo." He said casually, giving her a smile.

"Mr. Kim." She answered coldly, arms crossed. "Have you had your fun ruining my cafeteria?"

"Why, I'm hurt!" Jungkook gasped, placing his hand over his heart. "You think I did this?"

"I know you did." She glared. "You were the one who filled the pool with laundry detergent last month, and dyed the football teams uniforms pink last week. Not to mention the constant graffiti you've been caught doing red handed. And this has been the last straw. You can come with me to my office while I call the police. I'm finally getting rid of you."

Jungkook chuckled. "You have no proof I had anything to do with this. And go ahead and call them, I love Officer Shit."

She grabbed his arm, marching him up to Namjoon and his parents.

It was obvious they were fuming at their youngest sons actions, and the way they started shouting at him in front of all the people in the cafeteria proved it.

Jungkook just smiled as they berated him, used to it.

Namjoon wanted to talk to his brother, to ask him why, and how, he had done this, but he knew he would be expected to verbally abuse Jungkook like his parents always did, and he didn't want to do that. He never wanted to do that. So he kept his mouth closed, feeling hurt in his heart to watch his little brother have to endure their parents wrath.

"Why do you have to be you?" His mom growled.

"Why couldn't you just be like your brother?" His dad snapped.

These were the words that finally managed to make the grin drop off Jungkook's face, and that hurt worse.

But the look Jungkook gave Namjoon when he looked over his shoulder as he was marched away hurt the most.

The look of pure hatred that Jungkook had for Namjoon.