The Boy From The Bridge - Jakehoon

Chapter 116: Abandoned Reflection 4/7

Jungwon felt four sets of eyes turn to look at him. He had been quietly watching and listening to Jake's interrogation from the sideline. Listening to both the interviewer and interviewee in order to better get a sense of them.

Jake had appeared distressed and conflicted. That wasn't really a surprise, Jungwon had thought. He'd struggled beforehand with his sexuality that a public outing only picked at freshly dried scabs. What was noticeable was that, despite being eased into admitting his problems, Jake hadn't being overly reluctant to do so. With each declaration of difficulty the only person who seemed to be growing in discomfort was Sunghoon - though neither he appeared greatly surprised.

'That's why you don't fall in love' Jungwon had thought to himself as the principal lesson of the analysis.

The secondary lesson was rather more peculiar. Jimin was supposed to be Jungkook's old friend from high school. Someone who supposedly, according to Jungkook, you could talk to and he'd make sense of it, then he'd tell you what he'd do and you'd just following it. The advert for Jimin sounded great, but the reality was substantially depressing.

Jimin, while technically hospitable to all of them, was on edge. His line on questioning as someone who had only just met Jake was ugly and invasive and Jungwon could feel his dislike of the man burning in his ears.

The rising temperature was only stemmed when said man called his name. Jungwon, never one to shy away from a fight, locked his eyes with Jimin. Jungwon wanted to lay this know-it-all to the ground, to reprimand him for degrading Jake in front of them. Despite is intentions, when he opened his mouth, Jungwon wasn't sure what he was going to say, he was however saved the confrontation by the sound of a phone buzzing.

All of the eyes of the room turned away from Jungwon and went to Sunghoon, who was immediately trying to untangle himself from Jake in an effort to retrieve his phone from his pocket. Sunghoon did so, albeit awkwardly. Showing Jake the caller and then rejecting the call .

As he did so, the eyes returned to Jungwon and he thanked whomever had just called Sunghoon for buying him the time to build up to confidence to answer Jimin's question in a satisfactory manner.

"Why do I reckon I've come here" Jungwon begun slowly, "Because Jungkook thought you might be able to help him clear his head and..."

"No" Jimin interrupted. "Why are you here - I know why he's here but I'm interested in you"

Jungwon shrugged, "I got in a fight and ran away from my parents." He tried, hoping his curt response would satisfy the questioning.

It didn't. "No Jungwon. Why here? Why are you with Jungkook? That's what I care about."

Jungwon paused before answering, taking a moment to glance and Jungwon before returning his eyes to Jimin. "Because I trust him. If anyone's going to help me think it's him"

"Why?"

"Well, he takes care of people. He's easy to talk to and I guess he's my friend..."

"...Kook?" Jimin turned to his friend, "How old is Jungwon?"

"Uhh, 16, no 17. It was his birthday recently"

"How does a 16 year old become your friend?"

Jungkook eyes narrowed, "What are you insinuating?"

"Nothing"

"We play tabletop games together. We're geeks who goof off together. We embrace the same hobby as our route to escapism."

Jimin sighed. "And how involved did you you become in his life?"

"Not very. We just talked about life and I mean, after I began looking after Jake I guess I saw him more often"