𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐒 || 𝐉𝐉𝐊✗𝐏𝐉𝐌 [Editing] ✔

- 2 -

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The following day is the same. Jimin enters the kitchen, fully dressed, and begins eating his breakfast. He can hear a door open upstairs and another close. The blonde boy wonders if he did something to make Jungkook uncomfortable or just their circumstances.

Jimin runs his hand through his blonde hair and sighs, gaze darting to the stairs and then the bathroom in which Jungkook must have vanished. Today is the day Jungkook would have his first day in his school. Jimin's stomach drops. The possibility that Jungkook is in his class is not impossible, and this uncertainty makes him uncomfortable because he doesn't know if it will be a good or bad thing.

He puts his shoes and jacket on, throws his backpack over his shoulders and leaves for school eventually, knowing there's no need to wait for Jungkook. He wonders if this will become his daily life; going to school, ignoring Jungkook in school and coming back and ignoring him again. Will they ever have a conversation?

Jimin plops down on the chair after he enters his classroom. He lies his head on the table, using his arms as a pillow. His gaze darts to the garden outside the school. Sometimes he wishes nothing more than to be a flower or butterfly; then, he could fly carefree, be alone in peace and would still look beautiful to people. But his life is meant to be different.

Soon, the first ring of the school bell chimes, and more students enter the classroom, taking their seats. Jimin's head snaps when the tall teacher enters the classroom with someone trailing behind him. "Please let me introduce a new student."

Murmurs make the rounds, and Jimin resists the urge to roll his eyes, seeing how the girls begin to eye the new student. Jimin tells him this has to be a joke and that he doesn't see Jungkook standing in the front. He waits for someone to say this is a bad dream, but nothing happens. 

"This is Jeon Jungkook. Please welcome him. You may take a seat behind Jimin." The teacher gestures towards the seat and Jimin's eyes widen. He tenses as Jungkook nods and places his bag on the table behind Jimin. The fact that Jungkook ignores Jimin's presence makes him relax, feeling somewhat relieved but sad at the same time.

Jimin thinks nothing, he was right when he thought Jungkook would ignore his presence, but that seems not to be the case as he peers at Jungkook from the corner of his eyes, briefly flinching as he sees Jungkook starting back. The entire lesson, the feeling of being watched from behind, doesn't go away. Jimin frowns when he turns around, and Jungkook changes his eyes to the teacher, avoiding his gaze. He wants to scoff at Jungkook acting like that. Is it not enough what he has to go through every day?

The lunch break bell rings, and just as he's about to stand up with his books in his hands, Jungkook bumps into him, which makes his books fall to the ground, leaving giggling classmates and a confused Jimin behind. No one wants to help him. Why would they?

Jimin feels his eyes sting and feels awkward as he picks up the books. All the attention on him makes his face burn. He's sure his quiet and shy character makes him appear like a weirdo in their eyes, and he hates it. He hates being so introverted that he feels intimidated by talking with others.

Just as he's about to leave his desk, he notices a folded paper on the desk, saying, 'Don't you dare tell anyone we are stepbrothers. We are strangers in school, got it? If you tell someone, I'll make your life more difficult.'

Tears are blurring his view as he makes it to the bathroom and hides in one of the toilet stalls. Jimin bites his bottom lip to keep him from sobbing. If Jungkook only knew that outside his home, his life was already a living hell, who would he tell? There's no one he could even consider a friend or best friend. It makes him feel lonely and fill with envy seeing other students hanging out with their friends.

He sits on the toilet bowl, his legs pressed to his chest and his head between them. He refuses to budge from his hunched position. Jimin decides to skip the rest of the day once the school bell rings. Until then, he'll stay here locked in the stall, wishing he could beam himself home to snuggle in his blanket like a burrito—nothing more, but he's soon pulled out of his reverie.

"Jimin!~ Where are you?~ I know you are here. Come out, and we won't hurt you. We only want to speak with you." He recognizes the voice as one of the boys who bully him as he enters the bathroom, not caring if other students are there.

Jimin crawls further into the corner space, feeling the cold tiles against his back as he is hit by fear. The boys begin to kick against stall doors, each hitting the wall and causing Jimin to flinch with each bang that echoes. He doesn't have the courage and strength to tell them to leave him alone. Jimin can only hope something makes them leave.

Suddenly, silence hangs in the air, and the world appears to have stopped before someone kicks the door of the stall Jimin is in. Panic surges through him like a virus. The leader of the boys gets down on his knees and looks underneath the door. "Oh, would you look at that? There you are. Come out! You'll regret it if you don't come out." The boy pushes himself up with his arms and stands up. "We will give you 10 seconds."

"1...2...3..." He counts slowly, and Jimin feels like he can't breathe with each number getting closer to ten. 

"We are waiting~"

"8..."

"Come on, fag. We don't have the entire day to waste...9—" The boy is clearly getting annoyed, almost screaming the number, and shivers run down Jimin's spine. He flinches as the school bell rings. Before leaving the bathroom, the leader speaks up again harshly, "Don't think we are done with you." 

His heart beats uncontrollably fast when he lets out a deep breath he didn't know he held in for so long. Not wasting another minute, Jimin leaves school and goes home, where he quickly unlocks the door of his house and throws his bag next to his shoes. 

He presses his back against the door and slumps down to the ground. He was such a coward for hiding in the bathroom stall, unable to open his mouth to defend himself.

Jimin feels out of place.