Shattered illusions

Dinner party 5: Remember

Everyone was seated at the table and digging into the delicious delicacies. Plates were being passed around, the clicking sound of the cutlery lightly touching the plates, ringing around the room. The aroma of different dishes fills the air. Every single dish on the table looked exquisitely tasty and appealing, yet your body was craving for just one dish. The aroma hitting your nose each time you sniffed the air, warming up your insides in the process. You felt your stomach leap excitedly each time the aroma gracefully danced your way. 'god' you groaned internally, as you stared at the dish at the far end of the table.

"Seojoon pass me a plate of fried kimchi rice please," Jungkook said to Seojoon. He grinned to himself as he watched you 'salivate', your eyes practically begging for the dish, he watched as you unconsciously licked your lips only to wipe your lips immediately. He could tell you were internally scolding yourself. He chuckled silently to himself as he watched the way your eyes followed the plate as it was being passed round the table to him. When the plate finally got to him, he held it out to you "Here you go" you simply stared at him, your eyes widening in confusion. His grin only widened further as he stared at you, he watched as your eyes flickered between the plate and him.

He extended his hand placing the plate in front of you, you looked up at him before muttering a "thanks", he simply smiled back in return, 'gosh' all he really wanted to do was reach forward and ruffle your hair. You were the visual representation of puppy eyes. He chuckled silently, digging into his food, as he wondered how you still managed to have the same look in your eyes whenever you saw a dish you liked, even after a decade.

You stared down at the plate of kimchi fried rice in front of you, and mentally scolded yourself, this wasn't some rare dish, the type you'd only see once in a lifetime. It was kimchi fried rice, fucking kimchi fried rice. Well, it seemed like your stomach was in dire need of kimchi fried rice, cause as soon as your spoon entered your mouth, you had to fight the urge to throw your head back on the chair's headrest and let out a satisfied moan. Without a second thought, you took a second spoonful of the rice the satisfying feeling still present.

Meanwhile, Taehyung watched as you ate, he had a plate of rice in front of him too, but it didn't feel like he was eating food, instead, it felt like he was practically swallowing stones, his appetite long gone. It felt like anger laced intermittently with confusion coursing through every part of his body as he stared at Jungkook, watching how his eyes darted to you every second, even when he was having another conversation.

He had no idea what was going on here— Why the hell you were here as  Jungkook's plus one but one thing he was sure of was the fact that he hated the way Jungkook was constantly staring at you. He hated the air of familiarity hanging around you two.

He had questions, tons and tons of questions, but firstly he had one question that was more than necessary now.

"So... How do you two know each other?"

Okay! Someone just took the question right out of his head and lips, who was it?— Hoseok.  Well, it was obvious everyone was just as curious as he was. He looked up at Jungkook, the younger man who was more focused on chewing the food in his mouth and savouring its taste than answering.

If he didn't know better he'd say Jungkook was enjoying keeping everyone in suspense.  The table willed quiet as everyone waited for Jungkook to speak and answer the question.

"We went to high school together" Jungkook finally says.

With a casual air that bothers Taehyung even more than the shocking revelation. The table erupts with shocked gasps "No way," someone says and Jungkook immediately counters "Yes way...".

Everyone at the table is looking from Jungkook to you and back again. They rarely met people from Jungkook's pre-debut days as in rarely!  And you both seemed pretty close as that.

"So you graduated from SPAS (School of Performing Arts Seoul)"  Jimin asks an exasperated look on his face. As he stares at you.

"Nope, I only attended. I didn't graduate from SPAS" you reply quickly, while trying to hold back a chuckle at the look on Jimin's face. 

"She left Korea a year before graduation..." Jungkook adds and the table choruses an "oh" and—

"that makes sense" Jungkook simply rolls his eyes a smirk tugging at the side of his lips. A mischievous gleam in his eyes as he stared at you, his eyes nonchalantly darting around the faces present at the table.

"Did I mention we were also neighbours back in Busan when we were little" His tone was so casual that anyone who wasn't paying attention wouldn't have heard his words.

But that wasn't the case, cause the entire table seemed too stunned to speak. Your eyes inevitably disobey your brain's command to admire your new gorgeous manicure and instead flutter across the room at its will to land on the one person you didn't want to look at right now— or ever. His expression is like that of a person who has just been physically struck. His gaze was that of one betrayed.

And for the slightest second, you almost felt guilty— for what reason? You had no idea, simply ignoring the questions behind his gaze. Afterall you didn't choose were you lived as a child.

hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

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