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PART TWO
It's already fifteen minutes to nine and Seokjin really has to rush to school now. He enters the old Hyundai parked patiently outside the apartment that he shares with his older brother, and is greeted with Yoonji's soft giggles.
"That's rare," he voices his thought out loud as he shuffles in the backseat. Both his brother and Yoonji turn towards him with a confused look on their faces. "What is? You being late is nothing new." Yoonji says, tucking a strand of stark black hair behind her heavily pierced ear. Seokjin's eyes almost go awry as he tries to count the number of studs decorating her ear-lobe.
"It's the first day of our last year in high-school, Yoonji! I needed to put some effort into how I look."
Yoonji doesn't look impressed in the slightest bit as she scans her best-friend head-to-toe. Seokjin thinks he looks pretty nice in his soft-pink tee tucked messily in some black distressed jeans. He'd even thrown a pink baseball cap on top of his newly-bleached hair and slipped on his round glasses. Seokjin can't say he's surprised that Yoonji doesn't appreciate the effort. She rolls on the whole 'I don't give a fuck about anything and have no emotions' way of life and he respects that, wholly.
"You act like you don't always take hours to get ready, Jin." Yoonji points out and Seokjin gasps, retorts ready at the tip of his tongue.
His brother sighs at the usual banter he has to endure and starts the engine of the car. "What were you saying then, Seokjin?" Namjoon steers the topic away from their argument, his eyes focused on the road ahead as he drives the car.
"I was saying that," Seokjin eyes Yoonji with a playful smile as he begins, "Yoonji never giggles like that with anyone except you, hyung."
Yoonji turns a dark shade of red as she swats Seokjin's arm while the latter cackles loudly. He can see his brother hiding a smile as he purses his lips together and clears his throat. "I wasn't giggling!" The flushed girl exclaims and her cheeks burn more when Namjoon lets out a fond laugh at her defensive tone.
"Can't fool your best-friend, woman."
They make it to school a few mintues past the designated time. Namjoon leaves for his college which was located a few blocks away and Seokjin gives Yoonji a knowing look as the two part ways reluctantly.
"When are you guys making it official?" He asks, half-playful and half-serious as they trudge inside the cramped hallway. Yoonji hides her face behind her bangs and looks everywhere except Seokjin's way. "We're not dating, Jin."
They fall into comfortable silence for a while before Yoonji speaks softly, "Wouldn't it be awkward for you?" Seokjin blinks his eyes confusedly at her. "You guys dating, you mean?" Yoonji nods her head, sucking her cheeks in. She seems nervous and Seokjin wants to immediately melt her worries away.
"Why would it be awkward? I would be nothing but elated if the two people I love the most in the world find happiness in each other." A flash of grateful smile appears on Yoonji's face and disappears just as soon. "You're such a sap." She declares, pulling Seokjin by his sleeve towards their class. Seokjin laughs amusedly as he trips inside the class behind Yoonji, becuase that's as far as she would get to expressing her gratitude.
While they make their way towards their regular seats, Seokjin meets Taehyung's eyes at the corner of the classroom. He greets Seokjin with a gorgeous grin and Seokjin feels the heaviness in his heart as he offers a small smile back. The grin morphs into a smirk as Taehyung cocks his brow at a familiar figure sitting beside him—a pretty classmate with platinum blonde hair. Seokjin vaguely remembers seeing her name on Taehyung's stupid 'bang' list.
Gulping back the knots rising in his throat, Seokjin raises a faltering thumb at Taehyung. Yoonji scoffs from behind him and forces him to turn away from the sight of the two flirting. "I will never understand what you see in that jerk," she mutters and places a comforting hand on her friend's back. "I won't either," Seokjin admits weakly, slumping down on his seat with a deafeated sigh.
____
"Who's that?"
Jaehwan, one of Seokjin's closest friends in the bar, asks in an awestruck voice. The particular stain that Seokjin was scrubbing at was too stubborn for him to look away from so he distractedly replies, "Who's who?" Jaehwan tsks when he realizes how his friend was paying him little to no ounce of attention. "You're not even looking, Jinnie!"
"Okay, okay!" Seokjin laughs, holding his arms up in surrender. As he follows his friend's line of sight, his eyes fall upon the man in question. Seokjin now understands why Jaehwan had sounded so in awe becuase well—the man was strikingly attractive among the throng of regular customers.
The stranger's hair was tied into a careless ponytail and as he looked around curiously, stray locks fell on his angular face. In contrast to his sharp features, his unassuming doe-eyes stood out the most under the dimly lit interior. Seokjin has to bite back a gasp when their eyes meet. The blush creeping up his face must've been a dead giveaway of him checking out the stranger so openly.
"He's coming here," Jaehwan squeaks from beside him and before Seokjin can even register the information, his friend flees inside the staff room. As the handsome stranger nears him, Seokjin catches sight of an acoustic guitar strapped to his chest.
"Hi," the man greets in an unassumingly soft tone, "I was looking for Irene-ssi but she doesn't seem to be here."
Irene was the manager of this laid-back bar, who'd been kind enough to offer the waitering job to a broke Seokjin about a year ago. If it weren't for her, Seokjin would have to heavily cut off on buying new clothes or stationary. The money that their parents made was hardly enough to cover for both Seokjin and (half of) Namjoon's schooling fees. The two brothers were independent enough to fend for themselves when it came to the housing rent and food.
"Oh, noona comes in late on Mondays! Is there any problem that I can help you with?" Seokjin smiles helpfully at the man, who was quite a bit taller than Seokjin himself (he notices due to their close proximity). He also notices a fascinating amount of loops dangling all along the expanse of his ear. Seokjin wonders if he should get his ears pierced too, Yoonji had said it wouldn't be too painful. ("Well, that is if you're not a wuss,"—her exact words.)
"Actually, I'm the new performer and I was told to start from tonight. I have no idea who to contact now that she's not here," he laughs sheepishly, rubbing the nape of his neck. Seokjin deems his toothy smile rather adorable and perks up at the thought of seeing the stranger frequently.
"Don't worry, you can talk to Hyo-seob hyung since he manages the music department. He's right there!" The man trains his eyes to where Seokjin's pointing his finger at, shoulders slumping as he visibly relaxes. "Thank you so much," he shoots a thankful smile at the young clerk before getting ready to leave. However, he stops on his track after a few steps and turns back with furrowed brows.
"Sorry, I never caught your name."
Seokjin drops the rag in his hand on the table and wipes his palm hastily on his waistcoat before offering it to the man, "Seokjin. Kim Seokjin." Warmth envelops his cold fingers when the man holds his hand for a gentle shake. Seokjin could tell by his rough and calloused fingertips that the stranger wasn't foreign to playing guitar. "I'm Jeon Jeongguk. It was a pleasure meeting you, Seokjin-Kim-Seokjin."
Seokjin tucks his bottom lip between his teeth to hold back a wide smile.
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aaa so this was pretty boring but hey! i couldn't not write about long hair gguk that's a sin
