A GUIDE TO DATING MIN YOONGI

Lesson 6: School, Relationshp, Balance

I ignore the fact Yoongi knows where I live now, he was bound to find out anyways. What I was mostly regretting was pulling up with his shiny black car right where Jungkook could see from his.
"This your place?" Yoongi asked as I quickly started to unbuckle.
"Yup, thank you."
I get out and walk up to the driveway where Jungkook met me halfway. He had a devious smile plastered on his face.
"Don't say a word." I warn and we head inside the house.

***

"Mother, Father, I'm home!" Jungkook and I both take off our shoes at the front. Mother is in the kitchen and I make sure she knows I brought someone home.
Her face changed when she sees Jungkook.
"Why're you here?" She tries hard to sound nice but it's obvious what her true tone is.
"Hello Mrs. Park, I'm here to help Jimin with packing his stuff."
She scoffs, "packing? He's not leaving tomorrow!"
"Mother I'm moving out in two and a half months. I have to start packing sometime soon or I'm not going to have time to study for my finals." I try to reassure her but she doesn't seem to believe me.
Instead of trying to argue for nothing, I excuse ourselves into my room.
"You could've told me you were helping with packing." I told Jungkook as he sat on my bed. "I thought it was something important."
"What do you mean? This is hella important. I haven't been in ur house in forever." I roll my eyes and lay back.
"But for real, you really gotta start packing. Where in America are you studying again?"
"California." I say, "It's where LA is."
"Damn I wanna snag myself a LA girlfriend too." Jungkook walks around the room as if he's looking at displays at a museum.
"I'm not going there to find a girlfriend. I'm going to study, and get away from my parents."
Jungkook sits down next to me. "Yeah yeah I know. You already have a boyfriend anyways. A rich one at that."
I sigh, "I can't even deny that anymore. I took his offer."
"Is that why you were with him?"
"Yeah, it's a...long story."
"Well I didn't come over for nothing." He persisted.
He listened carefully as I explained to him the whole thing at church and the lunch meeting. He would silently nod along to what I said, his eyebrows continuing to grow more and more character as I spoke. I even unfolded the printed document from my pocket and showed it.
"Man this guy gotta be a psychopath to be doing all this. If I were the chairman, he would've been disowned a long time ago."
I snickered and got up from the bed.
"Anyways, enough about him. Should we start packing?"
Jungkook clasped his hands together and rubbed them, "What should we start with first?"

***

"Goddamn," Jungkook blurted with hands on his hips. He stared down at the floor like it was a crime scene. "you have a lot more stuff than I thought in this room."
"Don't say that! You're gonna get me killed." I shush him and he sucks his lips in as if to retrieve his words. I make sure my door is shut completely so my parents don't hear my friend accidentally curse the lord.
"My bad."
He's been over for two and a half hours already and we've made minimal progress. Mostly because we would pull stuff out the closet and glee over nostalgic items.
"I mean, I can't take everything." I run my hand through my hair and sit on the only box we were able to sort out. "I'm only gonna be there for 2 years."
"Do you even have a place to stay yet?" He asked.
I nodded, "My parents actually said they would pay for my dorm. I guess it's an early birthday present."
"God-I mean-dang. Dorm is expensive. I'm glad they're cool with you leaving."
I tilt my head to the side, "'cool' might be an overstatement but I'm also glad they're at least trying to hide the fact they don't want me to leave."
As soon as silence started to fall, a muffled ringing is heard from a phone.
"Sorry, that's mine." Jungkook stands up and looks around for it, feeling his pants pockets.
"I can feel the buzzing, I think it might be in this box." I say. I open the lid and the ringing gets louder as I pull a jacket out.
"Found it." I pull out the phone and hand it to him. The screen faces up and the caller reads 'Her <3'
He swipes the phone and walks out the room to answer.
I hear his faint voice from the hallway but it's not coherent enough for me to understand.
He's on the phone for a while and I'm left sitting on the box. I can hear him laughing and pacing back and forth, he must really like this girl. He hasn't mentioned her to me yet so he probably met her fairly recently. It might even be a girl he almost hooked up with at the bar.
I let out a sigh. Just the thought of Jungkook finding a love has got me feeling like I should probably search for someone as well.
I haven't dated since high school, and that's when I was still in denial about being gay. Maybe Jungkook is right and should look for a hot American boyfriend once I leave. But sometimes I wish there was a cool, handsome and rich Korean guy I could snag so it'd be easier to communicate.
As I contemplate my dream boy, my phone buzzes on my bed. I get up to check the notification.
Yoongi (from bar) is the contact name. I chuckle a little when I remember that he was the one who had put his contact into my phone when I got drunk that night.
I open the text:

Choi Jaehyun, how's the memorizing going?

I scrunch my face at how proper he texts. What am I, a business partner?
I text back:

Good I guess

I immediately get a reply back:

Good.
Next Friday, my old high school friends invited me to their pool. I want you to come as my boyfriend.

My jaw sinks. It hasn't even been 24 hours and he's already planning a date?! And a pool date at that. I am not ready to take off my shirt and swim in front of people I barely know. My fingers don't hesitate to respond.

What??
No im not going
And if you threaten me again you're a terrible person

I put in that last part to hopefully make him feel guilty for constantly trying to threaten to tell my parents of my sexuality. I think back to when he told me to get into his car, his expression seemed softer when he asked me. I watch his bubbles for about 10 seconds before he answers.

I'll pay you, how much you want?

I'm taken aback at his sudden offer.

No keep your money
I don't want to go

He asks me why but I don't feel like explaining what body dysmorphia is to a man who probably has a perfect body.

Look, no amount of money will make me want to go
Take me out another time

I decide that's not enough to convince him. So at the end, I say:
Also I'm busy that day

I feel a few more buzzes from my phone but I hear the door creak open and Jungkook walks back into the room. I close the phone and set it on my bad to deal with later.
"Sorry that was so long." Jungkook says with a flushed face and a smile.
I also greet him with a large grin.
"Who's she?" I ask.
"How much longer can I stay here?" He asks bashfully, "the whole story might take a while."
I check my phone for the time and ignore my recent notifications.
"3 hours." I say, "4 max until my mom kicks you out."
He chuckles, "that's more than enough time."

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