Illusion | Taekook

2

Soon enough, the seemingly relentless lesson had ended, and during the entire hour, Jeongguk didn't utter a word. Neither did Taehyung—at this point, he knew his place—but he half expected the guide to be more social. After all, he was casually chatting with him previously before feeling gravely irritated. To his defence, Jeongguk did sound considerably bland and uninterested while talking to him on the way to their geography class, so he must have only been completing his assigned task: guiding him.

"First period is over. I'll take you to your next lesson, now. I'm not in your class for this one." Jeongguk was looking down at Taehyung, not because he was taller, but because Taehyung was still sitting down, even after everybody had left to arrive at their next lesson.

Flustered, he immediately tucked his chair in and followed Jeongguk. "Sorry," he mumbled, apologetically.

To Taehyung's surprise, there wasn't an annoyed expression in return like earlier. His eyes softened but turned into rocks a second later. "Just hurry up."

"How many lessons until break?" he asked. In the end, despite him hating Taehyung just like everyone else, he did have the right to ask questions. That's what Jeongguk was here for.

"Just one more lesson. Then, after a break, you have another two lessons until lunch," Jeongguk explained. "Look through your schedule I gave you."

"You took my schedule."

His face morphed into one of confusion before he realised his mistake. "My bad." He stopped walking and lowered his backpack so he could take out the piece of paper. "Take it. After this lesson, I'll be waiting outside to give you a tour around the school."

A tour with Jeon Jeongguk, who Taehyung knew hated his guts, was exactly what he needed on this fine Monday. He grimaced at the thought of spending any more time with the negative school guide and glared at his disappearing figure while standing outside of his classroom. It was only one hour into his new day at school, and it was safe to say that he could already tell it was not going to turn out better than the last one.

☆彡

"You're taking your time—again," Jeongguk said, reprimanding him for being the last student to leave the classroom. Taehyung couldn't help the fact that he took his time to pack books away. His slowness was getting on Jungkook's nerves, his jaw clenching, tightly.

Taehyung had just finished his second lesson at St Charles, which was, without a second thought, even worse than the lesson with Jeongguk. The number of insults and people ridiculing him under their breaths thinking he wouldn't hear was a staggering amount. What was it about him that was so infatuating or entertaining to others? All he did was greet the class, take a seat and mind his own business, yet people he did not even know found that hilarious. The gnawing feeling at the back of his mind told him that there must have been somebody insulting him from behind, but he was oblivious to any other motives apart from tearing him, the transfer student, apart.

Most of the remarks were aimed at Taehyung's wet, shrivelled up uniform, which definitely heightened the chances of being ridiculed, but the insults were also fairly tamed compared to what he was used to hearing.

"Sorry," Taehyung apologised, fixing up his collar. Jeongguk's eyes were on him, expectantly waiting for him to finish whatever he was doing. Fidgety under his gaze, he played with his tie instead, a deep shade of red colouring his face.

Jeongguk scoffed, spinning around in seconds at his slowness, seeing as it was deliberate the second time. "Follow me," he said, angling his head in the boy's direction. "I'll give you the tour now."