The Bulletproof Friendship (Book 1) || #LOVEYOURSELFAWARDS

Chapter 1 - Changes

Jimin was walking to his class until he noticed a girl crying near the lockers. She was the quiet and shy girl in his class. He couldn't help but approach her.

He walks over to her and he drops his bag. He tries to comfort her, placing his hand on her back. "Hey Jinseong, are you okay?" He asks, moving his hand up and down hoping it calms her. She doesn't reply but continues weeping, face buried in her hands. "What happened?" He asks concernedly. She finally faces Jimin with red-puffy eye bags and teary eyes. "Y-you know the jerk right? T-the person who they talk about in class?" She stutters. This was no shock to Jimin but he nods hating to believe he knew who that person was. After everything they've been through, this is how he acts now. He acts like he has power among all of them. Jinseong wipes her tears away trying to calm herself down. "Class starts in a while. Better go now before we get late." She smiles sadly at Jimin then walks away.

After she left, the said jerk came walking along the wide corridors. His gray school blazers were unbuttoned, his red tie wasn't tied properly and it's hanging from his neck, his white polo shirt was slightly crumpled along with his black pants, Jimin furrowed his eyebrows. He was with another guy named, Kim Mingyu. He notices Jimin and he walks over to him. "Jungkook" Jimin mutters angrily. "What's up shortie? You haven't even grow for at least a few centimeters." He laughs meanly along with Mingyu. Jimin feels embarrassed since he knows that Mingyu is very tall and Jungkook grew taller than him.

Jungkook notices Jimin speechless. "What now? Don't you have anything to say? Come on Mingyu, let us not waste our time with this jerk." They started walking pass Jimin, hitting his shoulder. Jimin was about to punch him at the back but was stopped by Seokjin, who popped out of nowhere, by grabbing his arm. "Come back here! You're the jerk you little-!" He shouted but they just ignored him. "Jimin stop. Don't begin a fight please." Seokjin begs. He lets go of Jimin who looked like he wanted to punch something. He picks his bag up from the ground and hangs it on his shoulder. "It's just that, he's getting on my nerves." He explained. Seokjin sighs at him. "Come on. Class is about to start. Let's not be late." He pats Jimin's back and he nods at his hyung.

RING RING RING!!!

It's lunchtime now. The boys meet up at their usual place. They are seated right now eating their lunch. Taehyung, on the other hand, was not eating at all. Just, turning the food around with his chopsticks. "Come on Taehyung. Eat your food. We will have a quiz later on Math so you need to get your energy up." Hoseok said noticing Taehyung not having the energy to eat but at the same time, he feels like something is bothering the younger one. "Spit it out." Yoongi said and it was like he just read his mind. "I miss him." Taehyung finally spoke. They already knew who it was and they did not need to ask anymore. Jimin sighs. "Come on Taehyung! It's been almost a year when he started being mean to us and to almost the whole school." Taehyung pouts. "That's not the Kookie I used to know. He used to be the quiet and shy one who is good."

"Taehyung, you have to move on. You have us." Namjoon joins in. He shrugs, "Well I guess. As long we are still together." Taehyung fakes a smile which didn't fool anybody but went with it.

It's just that, Taehyung missed the times with Jungkook. Those fun times they had together. Since now he is different, he thinks that he will never see the Jungkook he used to know but he hopes that he will be back to his old self once again.

On the other table, Jungkook just watches the group from a distance while Mingyu, on the other hand, was stuffing food in his mouth. He could hear Mingyu chewing his food so he faced him and muttered, "Pig", with his face scrunched up, disgusted. Mingyu rolls his eyes then swallows the food in his mouth. "Hey, why won't you eat Kookie?" Jungkook punched him on the shoulder. Mingyu then jolted back, enduring the pain. "What was that for?" He asks confused, holding the pain on his shoulder. "Didn't I tell you to not call me that?" He uttered in annoyance since, for some reason, he doesn't the like the name since it seems cute. Mingyu rolled his eyes since he knows that it was just a nickname. But then at the same time, he won't say it anymore since Jungkook is strong and it hurts. He doesn't want to experience another painful punch from him anytime soon. "This kid really. Fine but then I've been observing and you've been staring at those jerks for almost the whole lunch." Mingyu said taking another bite from his food. Jungkook sighs. "Is it weird that I miss them?" Mingyu got completely baffled at what Jungkook said. "Why would you miss them? Remember, they hate us! Especially you." Mingyu stated, using his chopsticks to point at him. He then too looked at the other table and they could see that they were having fun.

"Who cares anyway. I don't even know why I miss them." He says starting to eat his lunch. "You're weird and confusing. Why am I your friend?" Mingyu asks. "I don't know, why are you my friend?" Jungkook smirked as he repeated the question. Mingyu hits the shoulder of Jungkook. "Hey come on, you made me become your friend." Jungkook cackles at Mingyu.

"Man-se!" Jimin said. They were playing a game where they need to connect words but it should only be two syllables. Hoseok was up next. "Se-jung!" The others laugh at him. "Seriously, why Sejung-ssi?" Seokjin asks. "Isn't he the literature teacher that always sleeps?" Taehyung, who had a blank face, asks and now Hoseok was embarrassed. "Okay Taehyung, you have 10 seconds." Namjoon says showing his fingers for the count down. "Uh.." Taehyung started thinking. "10...9...8..." He was being pressured. He couldn't think of anything. "5...4...3...2..." He has no choice anymore. He will say the first thing that comes into his mind now. "Jung-kook!" He said with tightly shut eyelids then he faces down. There was sudden silence until Hoseok broke it. "You could've said Jungyeon." He said. "Shut up Hoseok! We all know you like her." Seokjin said and they laugh but Jimin. He was just looking down. They all notice this and Jimin caught them looking at him. "I'm sorry, I just don't like anyone bringing him up." Jimin said. Taehyung looked at him and sighed sadly. "I could only think about Jungkook right now. I'm sorry." He apologizes. "It's just that I've loved him as a brother didn't you guys?" He asks hoping he wasn't the only one. "Yes, we did love him as a brother." Seokjin says.

"If you didn't let him join, this wouldn't have happened." Jimin argued. "Jimin, just calm down-" Hoseok was then interrupted by Taehyung. "He was lonely okay?" He argued back with clenched fists. "So what if he was lonely? Sometimes it is better to be lonely." Jimin started raising his voice a bit. "He needed friends! He needed to have someone! He was someone who I knew back when we were kids!" Taehyung argued back raising his voice a bit too. There was a short pause of silence. Taehyung could feel the tears about to form. "Jimin, just calm down-" Hoseok was supposed to repeat but was ignored, again. He rolled his eyes since he doesn't get a chance to talk to Jimin. "Taehyung, it's time to move on. Yes we loved him and he loved us back." Jimin tried explaining. "And TaeTae, we don't know him anymore. He is not the Jungkook who we used to know. He is not the Kookie who was our beloved maknae. The Kookie who used to look up at us. He is now the person who can ruin our freaking lives. The person who looks very lowly at us. He is not the person who you met when you were kids. You know Taehyung, there are people who don't change and still be the same. Are you oblivious to see that,

He has changed?"

[EDITED]