Time | Jikook [Discontinued]

Chapter 12

-Jungkook POV-

Ever since that incident, Mr. Min has acted the same as he's ever been with anyone, but I sometimes see his expression soften whenever he's trying to explain something to me. I'd also told him that I was friends with Mr. Jung, which he said he'd already known about. I think he's starting to show his true colours to me little by little.

My friends have realized how close I am with our teacher recently, especially Taehyung. He's always observing my every move when it comes to Mr. Min. The other students have noticed too, and they only tell me praise and amazement about the fact that I can make our grumpy teacher smile when I tell him a joke. Taehyung's jealousy only grows, and he has to excuse himself from the class because he can't control his anger.

"Hey, what's up with your friend?" Mr. Min asks as I shrug.

"I don't know, I'll go check up on him," I say as he nods, allowing me to run after my friend, Jimin following me from behind.

"Hey, Taehyung, wait up!" I holler, but he doesn't turn around. He only continues his way up the stairs until we're on the school roof. He mumbles something incoherently as I ask him to repeat what he said, him then screaming at the top of his lungs.

"It's not fair!" he cries up into the sky. "It's not fair..." He then looks at me with a sad expression, Jimin hurriedly rushing to his side. "How are you so close with him?"

I scratch the top of my head nervously. "N-nothing really."

He hiccups, at the brink of having a breakdown. "Wait, don't tell me. Are you guys dating?" I look at him with wide eyes as Jimin also looks at me, his eyes showing the sadness that is not on his poker face. I wonder why Jimin's upset as well. Maybe he feels betrayed?

"No, no, what are you talking about?!" I exclaim. "We don't have any relationship like that! We're only friends, Taehyung!"

I can see Jimin's face relax ever so slightly with relief, Taehyung staring at me with glossy eyes. "Really?" he asks softly as I nod. He looks down, only to mumble a short "okay".

"Hey, if you really want, I can introduce you to him," I offer as I see his eyes light up with a smile, him nodding as I chuckle at my friend.

"Thank you, Jungkook-ssi!" he says, giving me a big hug as I return the gesture. I can hear Jimin coughing to interrupt our interaction, myself soon letting go of the embrace and turning to face him.

"Let's get back to class now," Jimin says with a quiet tone, turning on his heel as we follow behind him.

----

"Hey, Mr. Min," I say as the lunch bell rings. "I'd like you to meet my friend." Yoongi then comes up and glances at a shy Taehyung.

"Yes, Taehyung-ssi, right?" he says, snapping his fingers as if he's remembering something. "You're the one always getting into trouble with that Bambam kid." I can see Taehyung blushing with embarrassment at his statement, chuckling nervously as he nods.

"Yeah, but you're better than him. At least you listen to my lectures and try to actually do your homework," Yoongi says as Taehyung's face lights up. He sure likes getting complimented.

"Oh yeah, you guys can talk together for longer, because I gotta go catch up with Jimin," I say. I can see Yoongi's eyes widen as he knows I'm trying to leave him here with Taehyung. "See ya~!"

I slide the door shut, sighing contently. I hope everything goes well for him. The least they could become is friends.

"Kookie!" I hear Jimin yell from the other side as I quickly jog over to where he is. He's carrying two lunchbox sets and two banana milk boxes. "Let's go on the roof."

As we reach our destination, we stop at the sight of Bambam and his friends smoking close to the railings. I grimace at the sight and pinch my nose, trying to block out the pungent smell. I tell Jimin to wait for me as I go to confront these students.

"What are you doing?" I almost growl as I start speaking to them, my voice low. "Isn't there a rule that says no smoking on school grounds?"

"Listen here, you assho— oh, Jungkook!" Bambam says, him quickly stomping his cigarette out on the ground as his friends almost choke, surprised at the sight of me.

I sneak a smile as one of them clears their throat before speaking, their voice a bit raspy. "Out here with your friends, I suppose?" the boy asks, and I can see on their front pocket that their name is Wang Jackson. Hmm, is he a foreigner? Not that I'm surprised. We sometimes get exchange students from different parts of the world.

"Yes," I smile but they know I don't mean well as they can see the heat rising from my back. "But, I just so happened to spot you guys. I could—if I wanted to—tell the teacher and have you suspended."

"No, no, please!" Bambam says. "Our parents would kill us if they found out." It's obvious that Bambam gets what I'm trying to say, but the rest of them don't seem the least bit convinced.

"I used to smoke," I admit as I think back to my college years. All of them have their attention on me now, their eyes filled with curiosity as I continue.

"It didn't give me any advantages in life, except the fact that I was slowly killing myself. I had to quit soccer because of it." They all look at me in shock while some of them show pity.

I know Bambam wants to say something, but a kid named Yugyeom speaks before him. I'm boggled to find that he isn't smoking a cigarette, unlike the rest of them. "I'm a dancer, so smoking is considered a death wish in that field." They all look at their friend, surprised as they probably didn't know this about him.

"So," I say. "I would suggest to stop and quit, right here, right now. All of you." And with that, I leave with Jimin, pulling him by his arm as we head for a grassy spot on the school yard instead.

"Is everything all right?" Jimin asks me as I realize I've been gripping his wrist tightly enough so that it's actually starting to bruise. I quickly loosen my hold and apologize, running my thumb tenderly against the mark.

"I'm sorry," I say. "I didn't mean to hurt you. It's just that I was angry. Seeing them smoking at such a young age, I..." But, I can't finish my sentence. Though, I do feel a pair of warm hands wrap around me gently as I fall into his embrace, placing my forehead on his shoulders and closing my eyes.

"Hey, it's okay now. You told them to stop, didn't you?" he says as I pull myself up to meet his eyes, nodding as he smiles fondly at me.

"Then, you shouldn't have to worry about a thing. If you didn't know already, you have quite the influence here. I was lucky enough to get the last two boxes of banana milk in the whole school!" he says, his cheeks lifting into a wide grin. As much as I should react to this news in some way, I'm too distracted by the way Jimin's face seems to glow every time he smiles at me.

"You are, as of recently, the most popular person at our school," he says as I soon get out of my trance, humming softly at what he has to say. I can see an imaginary light bulb switch on top of his head as he smirks.

"Which reminds me, we have our exams. There, you'll be able to show your amazing mathematical skills," he says teasingly as I just sigh.

"My worst subject," I say, groaning as my friend giggles, hitting my chest playfully. I swear he sounds like an angel when he does.

"But, we should relax and just eat," he says as he blushes, handing me one of the lunchboxes. "I made it myself. Please enjoy."

"Thank you," I say, smiling as he does the same.