Broken & Ruined | TAEKOOK

sixteen

At 8 am, the graduation was supposed to start. When Jungkook arrived at the gym in their school, many people were already waiting for the ceremony to start. Graduates were standing in lines as they had practiced, waiting for the cue. He was wearing his robe and his graduation cap, all prepared. Every graduate had an adult on their side, the rest of the attendees were on the back. Some were taking pictures before the ceremony started, while others just patiently waited. But the thing that Jungkook noticed the most was that most of them were with their families.

While in line, a woman, he surmised the parent of his classmate in front of him, turned to face him with a stretched smile as she bent down a little and asked, "Is your father going with you on stage?"

There was a part of him that wanted to just ignore the question as he found it kind of insulting. But he only smiled, pretending he did not catch it. Besides, most people here knew him as the son of one of the most powerful men in their locality, who's typically quiet, calm, and only talks with people he's comfortable with.

He thought she would face back to the stage but the woman asked another question, "Who's going to take you on the stage? I heard you have received a lot of awards and medals from sports. Who's going to put those on you?"

Jungkook wasn't comfortable with the questions. He never was. So he gulped and tried to grope for an answer, but someone preceded him, "It's me. I'll go with him on stage."

He looked up at the person who spoke and saw their headmaid standing tall next to him. She was wearing a formal dress and 3-inch sandals. "Who.." The parent trailed to ask. But Ms. Jihyun did not bother to answer and placed the ribbon that had the word 'parent' printed on it on her right chest. "Oh.." Then, finally, she faced back to the stage.

"Ms. Jihyun," he called her. But she sushed and placed her fingertip on her lips. "I'm your mom today," she said. But it only made the boy frown. She fixed the ribbon on his chest, that said 'completer' on it.

"It's weird to call you mom," he said, and Ms. Jihyun hissed, "It's just for today, Jungkook."

He murmured, "You don't have to pretend." The truth is, it only made him feel more jealous of other students here.

"Smile!" Ms. Jihyun told him. "You're the only graduate frowning," she observed. "Look, they're taking pictures!" She excitedly pointed at the man approaching them while holding a DSLR camera. "Smile, Jungkook." But he barely lifted the edges of his lips for a smile. They were blinded by the flash of the camera for a second.

"Today, we celebrate the accomplishments and academic achievements of our dear completers," the announcer began and immediately caught all the attention. Adults and students went back to the proper lines. After welcoming all the guests and faculty members, they were next and walked on the aisle towards their respective seats.

An hour passed, and after the ceremony, they were called one by one on stage to get their grade school diplomas and shake hands with important people in the school, including the school's principal, dean, vice president, and respective guests. Later, Jeon Jungkook was called upon the stage. He walked and Ms. Jihyun was only at his side, her smile was never erased on her lips. Besides, cameras were everywhere.

While they were making an entrance on the stage, next to his name were his awards: excellence award, best sportsmanship, gold medal in athletics: district games, silver medal in athletics: division games, and a gold medal in intermediate basketball school league, also regarded as the most valuable player of the year.