DRIVE | J.JK

5

JUNGKOOK

Third place.

The insides of my lips go dry when I see my score, and panic starts to cloud my mind in black waves. I wasn't even second this time— I was third.

"Good work, Jungkook!" The teacher claps me on the back, but I don't hear any of his compliments. "Just what so expect from my top student."

But I'm not first.

Blinking hard, I stand up numbly as the bell for third period rings. I'd already slipped in my lens this morning, before first period.

I'd practiced the entire night, locking myself in my bathroom.

Forget about it. Father will understand. I can do better next time— I can work even harder. And then I won't disappoint him anymore.

But when I don't find Min in her usual seat, the small scraps of positivity I'd given myself dissipates into ashes.

Where is she?

This time, I go find her even before the teacher tells me to. I rush outside of school, my heart racing furiously in anticipation.

Min wouldn't do that to me. She wouldn't be—

She was.

When I see her smoking with an empty look on her face, I instantly feel my eyes sting with tears. My usually soft voice is even softer as I stand there hopelessly.

"Min."

She suddenly stands up, not saying anything at all. Her usual smiling lips are flat, and panic seizes my chest when she brushes past me.

"Min!" My fingers tighten around the sleeve of her upper arm, chest falling hard. "Why are you like this? Why won't you talk to me?"

"Why are you smoking again?"

Then I see her swallow. But her voice is steel, and my head goes light when she hisses between her teeth.

"Let go, Jungkook."

I let go. I'm too stunned not to, with the dark look in her eyes. She'd never looked at me like that before— and it was terrifying.

But when she walks away without looking back not even once, that's somehow much more scarier.

"Don't do this to me."

My voice is all broken, and she pauses for a second. I needed someone to confide in right now— and if she left me as well, I didn't know how I could deal with myself after.

But then the moment shatters, and she leaves.

________________________

"Third place, Jungkook?"

I've stopped breathing a long time ago. I just look down at the polished wooden floor of my father's study, my body shaking under his disgusted gaze.

"Pathetic." He spits, and I hear the sound of the chair scraping against the floor. I fist my shirt in my hands.

"Show me your hands."

My eyes flicker up in panic, and I see him standing so close. He's holding his metal poker, and I suck in a harsh breath in terror.

"Show me your hands."