ghostly ➳ kim taehyung

three; "we live in a small town"

❁

Locating the school was an obstacle within itself for Chaewon; she had planned to walk with Jimin but her alarm didn't ring until ten minutes after their scheduled meeting time, so she quickly jogged outside her new home, clad in oversized pyjamas and fluffy socks and told Jimin who stood outside with wide eyes to head off without her.

Her brother, Yejun, travelled by bike meaning she was totally alone. She wondered if her younger sibling had managed to find his way there alright. He's fifteen, so old enough to be capable, but he shares the same gene as her of not having any sense of direction.

When she eventually arrives at the gate she's somehow on time, just by a few minutes, but on time, nevertheless. It would've been embarrassing to show up late on her first day. She heads into the office like her parents instructed her to where she's met with a collection of papers and a neat timetable.

Walking into the first classroom, Chaewon felt like she was about to crumble underneath the many stares. The students were looking at her as though she'd grown two heads.

"There hasn't been a new person join for years," a voice says from behind her causing her to jump. Turning around swiftly, Jimin stands by his desk with a small smile on his face. "We live in a pretty small town, any small change is big news around here."

"Ah," she breaths, awkward. "I see. So, you're in this lesson now? Not going to lie, I thought you'd be a lot cleverer than me."

"Hey, I am clever!" He laughs. "And you are too, this is only one class lower than the highest."

"Is it really? In my last school I was in quite low classes, I guess a lot of clever people lived in Seoul."

A few minutes later, a middle-aged woman attired in a plumb cardigan and circular glasses steps inside, apologetic for her slight tardiness. Chaewon feels slightly awkward, considering she's the only student standing instead of sitting by a desk, but relaxes when the teacher recognises her as the new student.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Kim," the teacher greets, sorting through a small pile of textbooks before handing one to Chaewon. "Please take a seat at any empty desk."

Chaewon turns and scans over the free desks and spots a spare chair beside a rather intimidating-looking girl. Gulping, she heads to wards the desk and takes a seat.

"Hi," she whispers quietly.

The girl has black hair with fluorescent pink stripes in it, multiple piercings in each ear and a subtle tattoo on the side of her thumb which Chaewon wonders is even legal. It takes a few moments for the girl to even acknowledge Chaewon's greeting but when she does, she turns towards the new girl with a small smile.

"Hey."

Chaewon admittedly wasn't expecting that.

"I'm Chaewon."

"I know," the girl whispers back. "Everyone was talking about you this morning. I'm Mina."

"Why were people talking about me?"

"Literally like, I don't know, ten thousand people, live in this town. There hasn't been a 'new kid' to gossip about in four years."

"I feel honoured," Chaewon jokes before diverting her attention to Dr Ahn, who teaches her about some sort of chemical reaction which she isn't exactly interested about.

❁

The school day finishes quicker than expected so Chaewon is overjoyed when the final bell rings. She meets Yejun by the gates outside to check on him, only because their mom insisted despite the complaints from both siblings, but he heads back home on his bike by himself, anyway. Turns out, he managed to find the school within ten minutes this morning.

"Hey, Chaewon! Wait up!" A growingly familiar voice calls and she turns around swiftly to see Jimin jogging towards her. "I thought you were waiting by your locker for me."

"I thought you said outside the classroom," she frowns with a smile. "I did wait for a little but when you didn't show I assumed you had soccer practice or something."

"Me, soccer?" He asks rhetorically with a laugh. "Never. I'm not exactly a sport-orientated person."

"Me neither. I played hockey once but my coach started to not tell me about the games because I was so bad."

Jimin laughs loudly, crinkles forming by his eyes. They walk the remainder of the journey home in comfortable conversation which is odd considering they only met yesterday. When they reach their conjoined home, they bid goodbye after making plans for meeting tomorrow, on time, hopefully, unlike this morning.

❁

For some reason, Chaewon isn't even surprised when she pushes open her bedroom door to see Taehyung sitting on the edge of her bed, a book in his hands and totally undisturbed by the curtains that flail around his sitting figure.

"Hey, Taehyung." 

He looks up, once again not startled by her sudden presence. He smiles softly and closes the book, placing it beside him on the bed. 

"Hey," he says. "How was school?" 

"Pretty average, to be honest. I was the hot topic of conversation all morning. Apparently, there hasn't been a new kid in four years." 

"Well, I'm glad it went OK." 

Chaewon smiles and sits on the bed beside Taehyung who she's growing increasingly familiar with. She feels as though she's spent more time with him than her own family since they moved a few days ago. 

"Why do you always come here?" She asks but quickly adds, "I don't mind you visiting, I actually enjoy your company. Just wondering." 

"You're kinda my only friend around here."

Chaewon feels guilty for even asking. Of course, he's homeschooled, so she should have assumed he doesn't have many friends around here. 

"What about the other people around here? A boy your age lives next door, he's my friend -- wait, how old even are you?" 

"I'm nineteen," Taehyung responds. 

"Oh, you're older than me. You look quite young, to be honest." 

"Yeah, I've heard that a lot, mostly from family. They say I look like my grandfather who also looked way younger than he was." 

"Was?" Chaewon questions quietly, sensing his discreet use of past-tense. She fears the worst. 

"Yeah, he died years ago. I don't really remember him, though." 

"I'm sorry to hear that," Chaewon says sincerely. She smiles widely again, attempting to lighten the mood. "Anyways, how was your day, Taehyung?" 

❁

author's note: I'm sorry, that ending was so crappy but I didn't know how else to finish it without writing a load more haha. 

On a more serious note, I hope you all stay safe during the atrocities that are affecting the Earth at the moment, and my deepest sympathies are with anyone directly affected by what has happened/is happening. x