Illusion

Meeting new people

Jungkook gets to his school about 40 minutes later still being a bit concerned about his mom but not worrying too much. He walks into school and goes straight to math which is his first class, he walks in and goes straight to Naeun’s desk and sits down beside her like he did yesterday.

”Hey, you ok?” Naeun asks softly noticing him looking a bit uncomfortable and confused.

”Yeah, it’s just… My mom wasn’t home this morning but she’s always awake in the morning before I go to school.” He shrugs a bit trying to make it seem like not a big deal.

”Oh ok, she might’ve just been getting groceries or something. I wouldn’t worry too much.”

”Yeah, probably. I won’t worry about it, thanks.”

                       ———————

At 12 pm Jungkook sits down to eat lunch alone. He doesn’t want to sit beside Naeun because she has a whole separate friend group. He eats a chicken sandwich and some of his fries before hearing a voice come from in front of him.

”Do you want to sit with us new kid?” he looks up to see a tall skinny girl in front of him with her arms crossed. She has brown hair with the tips dyed dark blue. Her skin glows as the light shines on her cheekbone. He looks over at the table he saw her at before to see Naeun sitting at the same table along with a girl and boy.

”Sure,” he gets up and carries his tray over to the table and sits down at the empty seat next to Naeun to feel more comfortable. Immediately he notices a more mature guy sitting there staring at him. He noticed this guy at his other table but didn’t realize how mature the guy actually looks. He looks at the other girl sitting beside the guy, this girl looks oddly young for being in high school. The complete opposite of the guy he sits across from.

”Hey, I’m Yeji.” She says in a happy tone, her hair is in two braids which make her look younger and more innocent.

”And I’m Chungha and that is Wonwoo.” Chungha says in a stern tone, the complete opposite of Yeji. Wonwoo sits there now ignoring Jungkook completely. He doesn’t seem too happy for a new kid to be joining the table.

”I’m Jungkook, ”  he says in a soft tone feeling kind of upset he isn’t being completely accepted into the table. After he gets done introducing himself the bell rings telling them to go back to class. He gets up and goes to his next class following Yeji, he hadn’t noticed yesterday but she is in his last class which is pretty nice for him having a friend now in that class. ”What’s up with Wonwoo? He kinda seemed… Cold. Like he didn’t like me sitting there. If he doesn’t like it I can move, I don’t wanna cause issues.”

”Oh he’s always like that. He is pretty quiet, it’s not that he’s shy or he doesn’t want you there, he’s just naturally like that. I’m sorry if he seemed rude, he kind of grows on you after a little, it’s nice having the one calm person at that table. Also, he is the oldest in the group so he's more mature than us.”

“Oh ok. I get that,” he says in a quiet tone and soon gets to his desk sitting right beside Yeji in English class, their last class of the day.

After an hour and a half, the last bell of the day rings and they both get up to leave. He packs up his bookbag and follows Yeji outside to start heading home. ”How are you liking Renoa?” Yeji asks as they walk out the school doors.

”It’s pretty good, everyone is pretty nice. No one has picked on me yet, ” he says with a smile on his face happy about everything that happened today.

”That’s good. Hey, wanna come over to my house tonight? I'm sure my mom won’t care.”

”I’m good, thanks though. I just have to check to see if my mom is ok, ” he says while looking down at the concrete pavement.

”Oh, I’m sorry what happened to her?”

”Nothing, she didn’t get hurt or anything. She was just missing this morning when I woke up. She’s never done that before so I was kind of worried. That’s all.”

Yeji knows exactly what that means and soon Jungkook will too, but for now, she just tries to assure him. ”I'm sure she's fine. She probably just went somewhere, and since you’re in high school then she probably didn’t think anything of it.”

”I know. It’s just unlike her that’s all. I’m hoping she’s home when I get there just for reassurance.” Yeji just nods, deep in thought about what his mom now knows, wondering how she'll react.

”Well I’ll see you tomorrow, hopefully she’s home when you get there, bye-bye!”

Yeji walks in the opposite direction to go home. She was really nice… she seemed like she would be mean in the beginning, but she’s one of the nicest there. How she was acting though, does she know something about my mom that I don’t? No, I’m sure she would have told me if she knew where my mom went.

———————

After about 30 minutes of him speed walking, anxious to see if his mom is home. He walks inside seeing his mom on the couch staring at the wall. He goes over to her and sits beside her and sees tears running down her face, shocked he slowly hugs her and she hugs back tightly and pulls him so he’s laying on her lap like a baby.

”Mom, what happened? Why are you crying? Where did you go?” his mom just shakes her head softly holding him close to her.

”I can’t talk about it.” She says with a shaky voice trying to hold back her tears.”You should go upstairs and change, I don’t want your nice school clothes all dirty.” He nods, a bit confused but still goes upstairs to his small bedroom and changes into comfy clothes, right before he heads downstairs he hears a knock on the door. ”Jungkook! Someone’s here to see you.” His mom yells upstairs for him and he quickly runs downstairs wondering if it will be Naeun. As soon as he gets to the bottom of the stairs he stops right in front of the door seeing a tall male dressed in all black that he’s never met before.

”I’m sorry, you must have the wrong house, I don’t know who you are.”

”Sir, you need to come with me, right now.” He says and Jungkook looks at his mom before slowly walking to the stranger.