Intertwined: Two fates

19 - Determination

"Ruan, you're finally here!"

"Oh, God, we have been so worried! What took you so long?!"

As soon as they entered the school, the students immediately rushed forward to circle them. Ruan, who was never close to anyone before, was taken aback by this enthusiastic greeting and shrunk back a bit.

However, Jungkook placed a hand on his shoulder and subtly pushed him forward, laughing. "It's okay, he is just a little nervous and can't stop going back to the bathroom. Isn't that right, Ruan?" Out of everyone's sight, he gave Ruan a conspiratorial wink. Ruan swallowed a little and nodded in acquiescence.

The students cast him a sympathetic look. Ruan looked really pitiful with his red rimmed eyes, it was obvious that he had just cried. They were not very familiar with Ruan at the beginning, but with this little accident, they suddenly felt a little closer like they had found a comrade amidst the suffering.

"You're not alone, Ruan. I am so nervous that I can't even swallow anything!"

"Yeah, I have been feeling nauseous all this time. Who brings medicine for car sickness? Hurry up and give me one!"

"Hey, I want one too!"

The tense atmosphere relaxed and the students bantered back and forth with laughter on their faces. Jungkook could not help but smile when he saw this. That's right, students should be like this; carefree and pure. It warmed his heart to think that he was able to take part in their future growth. He caught the grateful look Teacher Song gave him and returned with a polite nod.

Teacher Song clapped to draw their attention. "Okay, the time's almost up. Let's get into the bus! We should not be late for today's competition!"

"Yes, Teacher!"

Jungkook was the last to enter. He discreetly glanced at Ruan who was sitting together with a boy from the same class, discussing a problem in the notebook with a serious look, and a sigh of relief escaped his lips. It's good that Ruan was fine now.

Jungkook knew that the problem was far from over. On the contrary, it was certainly going to be a thorny path in the future. However, he could not back down. Not when he recalled how Ruan looked at him as if he was the last strand of hope amidst the filthy darkness around him.

Jungkook's heart was shaken. In that split second, he felt that Ruan's gaze was very familiar, as if in the past, someone had also looked at him with the same gaze...

Helpless, Jungkook rubbed his forehead. This was his first time being a teacher nor had he come into contact with teenagers of Ruan's age. Despite his unreliable memory, Jungkook was certain of it. So where did this sense of déjà vu come from? Was it only his imagination?

Yes, that must be it. Jungkook threw that fleeting thought to the back of his mind and no longer pondered on it.

As the bus drove out of the school and carried them to the competition venue, Jungkook finally took the time to check his phone. As he expected, there were many missed calls from Teacher Song from when he was talking to Ruan. Jungkook cleared them out and also scrolled through his unread notifications.

There were a few messages from Jackson asking whether Yoongi had contacted him and he replied with 'no' and a series of crying emojis.

Jungkook did not lose his cool like yesterday anymore. Yoongi was a responsible adult, and Jungkook trusted him when he said that he would not do anything stupid. If Yoongi was ready to come out, then he would definitely contact him. Jungkook only needed to give him some space and wait until the time came.

His fingers paused and a gentle smile automatically tugged on his lips when he found another voice note from Jimin.

At this rate, Jungkook was going to file them into one separate folder and play them back in loop when he could not sleep.