Forever And Ever (BTS)

Chapter 23

Jin stood outside the gates that led to his new school. He could see the building towering over him, with pristine white walls and a big wooden entrance. Students milled around the area, looking significantly less out of place than Jin. His heart was racing even more now that he was actually at the school. It was his first time seeing it, he hadn't been able to go and have a look at it before. He took a deep breath, trying to mentally prepare himself as much as possible. Don't worry, he thought to himself, you'll have a great time here, it's not like they're going to gang up on you and bully you... Now he had just added to his fears. He had only been worried about not liking the school and being on his own, he hadn't thought about what the other students would think of him. They were all teenagers, after all, they had reached the age where judgement was everyone's hobby. What if the stuff that happened in movies happened to him as well? Would he get slammed into lockers everyday? Would people dunk his head in a toilet? Jin shuddered at the thought. He steeled his nerves, realising that he only had a few minutes left before his first class started, according to his timetable. He started walking, entering the ginormous building. The first thing he saw was the office, which he needed to go to for the map of the school. He swung open the door and was instantly greeted by a smiling secretary. "Hello, you must be our new student! Are you here for the map?" Jin shyly nodded his head. The secretary handed a map to him and he stared with wide eyes. There were so many rooms and he wasn't sure how he would remember where everything was. This school was much bigger than his elementary school. He gave a nervous wave to the secretary before heading back out of the offfice. 

"So... it's a left here..." Jin muttered to himself as he followed the map towards his classroom. He was so engrossed in looking at the map that he didn't notice there was someone right in front of him. He bumped into the boy, finally snapping him out of his trance. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention! Please forgive me," Jin quickly apologised, praying for mercy. Was this going to be the start of the bullying? To his surprise, however, the other boy merely grinned and said, "No worries, I know it was an accident. I'm Dae Ho, you are?" "Jin. Um... do you know what room you're in? I'd really like it if we were in the same room so I don't feel so awkward. I'm in 1F." "Well, you're in luck, I'm there too. Why don't we find the room together?" Jin nodded, and the two boys started to walk in the direction he had been going in. "I've been managing to read the map pretty well so far, so hopefully we'll find it soon." Jin said. He felt like he could talk to Dae Ho easily, he just had an aura of friendliness. "While we're on the way, why don't you tell me about yourself?" Dae Ho suggested. Jin was happy to.

When they reached the classroom, Jin had told Dae Ho all about his brothers. Rather than talk about himself, he had proceeded to talk about them instead, believing that they were the biggest part of his life and that was all anyone needed to know to get the gist of his life. Dae Ho enjoyed learning about Jin's brothers, but he wanted to learn about Jin himself. As they reached the classroom, he said, "After class, I want to hear about you. Not your brothers, even if they are such a huge part of your life. You."

The end of class left Jin brooding at his desk as everyone left the room. Dae Ho walked over, "What's up? Aren't you going to go out?" Jin nodded absentmindedly as he slowly started to pack his stuff. "Sorry, I'm just still getting used to being in a new school. Before, I couldn't imagine being away from my brother, and now I'm being forced to leave them." Dae Ho took his arm and led him out the door, "Don't worry about them. From what you told me, they'll be fine on their own. Now, I believe I told you I wanted to hear about you."

In the elementary school, the six brothers were restless. All they could think about was their oldest hyung. They felt like something had been ripped been cruelly ripped from them. Gone were the days that they could look forward to being all together to walk home from school. They found it hard to concentrate in class, too caught up in missing Jin.

"When is Jin coming back?" Yoongi asked as they waited in the living room after school. "He said he should be back around now," Namjoon replied. They made themselves comfortable, either on the sofa or the floor. All six were ready to launch themselves into Jin's arms when he got back home. And that's exactly what they did when he finally walked through the door. "Hyung, I missed you!" Jungkook yelled as he was lifted onto Jin's shoulders. Jin smiled fondly at his brothers, "Hey, how was school?" "It sucks without you, hyung! We miss having you there with us!" Jin felt a stab of guilt. He couldn't be there to make sure they enjoyed their day. "I'm sorry I can't be there anymore," he softly apologised, truly feeling like he had done a great wrong. Yoongi, being blunt as ever, was quick to reply, "It's not like you have a choice. It's school. We'll just have to move on and get used to it." And yet, Jin still noticed a hint of sadness under Yoongi's blank face.

The rest of the evening, Jin was doing his homework as the rest lazed around in their bedroom. Middle school was definitely more taxing considering they gave homework on the first day. The others glanced at him every now and again, patiently waiting for him to finish. "It's going to be like this every day, isn't it?" Jimin whispered. Tae nodded, "Yeah, I guess it is."