Even though her roommate knew now, Chayoung still tried to be as silent as possible when unlocking the door and entering her room with her sleeping roommate. And she was actually quite good at it, she had her experience and practice after all...

Or so, she thought.

"Sneaked out for another shift?"

"Where have you been?"

Chayoung was startled by her mother's voice and by her presence in the couch.

Her mother usually slept on the couch, there was nothing new in that. But it was only 1 am and Chayoung's mother's night shifts usually extended longer than that.

"Chayoung, where were you?"

Her voice was strict and cold. It was nothing like she was used to because Chayoung had always been a good daughter. She listened to her mother, never rebelled against her, didn't cause trouble in school and she certainly never snuck out before.

That's what her mother thought at least.

For the past few months, Chayoung had been doing her new job. Her mother thought she'd gotten a job at the bakery, but that was far from the truth. Because the girl had done exactly what her mother never wanted for her.

She'd become a stripper.

After only a month as a servant at the local strip club where Chayoung knew her mother would never work, the girl had become a stripper herself.

All to help her mother with the expenses.

But she knew her mother would never accept that. She would not want her daughter to become anything like her, just because she felt like she needed to help.

Chayoung actually didn't do it because she felt it was necessary to do so. She wanted to help.

And from what her mother had unconsciously taught her, stripping was an easy way of getting money.

All you needed to do was to be pretty and silent. And Chayoung was good at both things.

So she lied about the kind of job she'd gotten.

"A-are you already home?" The soon to be 17 year old stuttered as she was just caught sneaking into the house after midnight.

Surely her mother wouldn't know what she'd actually been doing... right?

"Don't change the subject. Now come here and tell me where you were."

The girl obediently went to the couch and sat down next to her mother. And sooner than she knew of it, tears continuously trickled down her cheeks.

Her mother pulled her in for a tight hug, embracing her daughter with all the love she had, even though she was still angry with her.

"Don't cry baby. I was really worried about you... why didn't you pick up your phone?" Her mother pulled away from the hug and cupping her daughter's face, wiping away her tears.

Chayoung felt disgusted with herself. Doing this to her mother. Lying to her, betraying her, disappointing her...

But still, her mother made her feel nothing but loved as a familiar warmth spread throughout her.

"I'm s-sorry." The young girl sobbed.

"Shhh." Her mother tried to soothe her, but the guilt came welling up on her and it was hard to stop the tears.

"I love you."

Chayoung swore she would never tell her mother about her job. She didn't want to lie to her mother... but she could not face her disappointment if she knew.

"I l-love you t-too mom."

She cried for so long that both mother and daughter fell asleep on the couch. Both strippers, both broke, but they were both full of love in that very moment.

They never finished the conversation.

Chayoung never got her answer to why her mother was home from a shift so early.

Her mother never got her answer to why Chayoung came home after midnight.

Despite how much Chayoung wanted to escape her life, the exit seemed very far.

"Chayoung?" Haneul called out and a loud smack sounded after.

Chayoung spaced back in and looked over at her roommate.

Haneul was sat up in her bed, leaning against the wall and with a closed book in her lap — probably the one she just closed with full force to catch Chayoung's attention.

It was 2 am, why was she reading?

"Chayoung you know you can tell me when you're having a shift now."

Chayoung went over to her bed sitting down on it before nodding vaguely. She knew, it was just so weird having someone to talk to this about. She never told anyone when she had a shift before.

"Why are you up?" The girl asked curiously. She noted the book, but her roommate really couldn't be reading a book 2 am on a weekday... what a psycho.

"I was worried Chayoung!" She bursted, sitting up straight in her bed and throwing away her book, "It's not easy to just fall asleep without knowing where your roommate is. Especially now that I start to like you." She huffed.

"Wow, you just started liking me?" Chayoung joked around which made Haneul roll her eyes.

"I'm sorry Haneul. I have to adjust to the fact that someone knows about this..." The girl sighed, "It might seem easy to do... but you know how I hid it from my mom for years, until she died..."

The girl swallowed thickly. She didn't really like speaking of her mother's death.

"It's new to have someone to talk about it with. I'll do better to tell you in the future."

Haneul felt bad for making her roommate feel bad. But too, she knew her roommate by now and if there was something Chayoung didn't want, it was pity.

"Good." Haneul huffed like a princess getting her will before scooting back under her blanket.

Chayoung let out a chuckle at Haneul's reaction. She could feel that the girl knew her enough by now to not drag the conversation out to be something sad. She appreciated that.

"Now go to bed young lady!" Haneul scolded.

"Aren't you younger than me?" Chayoung laughed, making herself comfortable under her own blanket.

"I bet that one month difference means very much to you."

"It's still older." Chayoung snorted.

A very short silence fell over them before both girls' laughs echoed loudly in the entire room, making it seem much smaller than it actually was.

❁₩❁

The sun was beaming brightly at late noon, every now and then hiding behind a few clouds but escaping the cover soon after. It was an abnormal sunny day considering the season. It was weekend again, finally letting everyone have a brief break from the study.

The weather was too nice to stay inside, despite the slightly chilly air.

And that was exactly what the two roommates were doing. They were outside, enjoying the air and....

"Remind me why we're here again?" Chayoung growled even though she remembered why.

Haneul had recently deliberated on trying out for the cheerleading team. Today, she wanted to watch the cheerleader practice after school ended.

The only thing that got Chayoung questioning her roommate's real intention was the fact that she did not watch the cheerleaders at all. Instead, her eyes was glued on the lane where the football team was practicing.

The two girls were sat on one of the middle rows of the horizontal benches that were made for people to sit at when the football team would play a home match. But they were more regularly used by girls who wanted to watch the boys play soccer or boys wanting to watch the cheerleaders practice.

And it didn't require many brain cells to figure that Haneul had lied about the cheerleading team or at least had another reason for trying out than 'just wanting to have a hobby'.

Her eyes were on the field, following a specific guy in the name of Kim Taehyung.

It said on the back of the shirt, that's how Chayoung knew his name.

She recognized him from Jungkook's table but also from the club the other day. She wondered if anything had happened between the two. She noticed how they were dancing alone together when she waited behind Jungkook as he talked to Jimin.

"You're here to support me when I'll be trying out!" Haneul detached her eyes from the field and looked at her friend before looking at the cheerleading team, "I need mental support."

Sure you do, Chayoung thought but just chuckled instead of saying anything.

"Hey! What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing..." Chayoung mused, leaning back and letting her eyes fall on the football players following them as they run from the one goal to the other, "Nothing else beside the fact that that Taehyung guy is all the mental support you need to be ready to make it onto the cheerleading squad."

"What! Taehyung? I'm not trying to impress him!" Haneul straightened her back immediately, startled by her friend's observation.

"Impress him? When did I ever mention anything about that?" Chayoung turned to look at Haneul and bursted into laughter when she saw her red cheeks.

"Damn, what's going on between the two of you?" She continuously laughed.

"Oh look! The practice is over. I'll go talk to the cheer captain." Haneul stood up from her spot and started walking down the stairs.

"Haneul!" Chayoung called. Now that Chayoung had told Haneul about her job as a stripper, Haneul should definitely be able to tell her about her crush, if that was what it was.

Haneul stopped and sighed, looking back at her friend, "I'll tell you another time, it's quite a long story... Do you wanna come with?" She changed the subject again, motioning towards the group of cheerleaders at the bottom of the platform.

"I'm good thanks." Chayoung declined, "But I definitely need to hear that story later!"

Haneul shook her head at her friend before she turned around and continued down the stairs.

Chayoung got up from her spot and followed her friend. She didn't want to try out, but she wanted to eaves drop if that was possible. She was curious.

The girl stood at a distance as Haneul approached the cheer captain and introduced herself.

But she didn't get to eaves drop much as a figure suddenly seemed to approach her.

Jungkook stopped in front of the gate that separated the football field and the seats.

The girl looked down at the dark-haired boy as he put his arms on the fence and rested his chin on there.

Chayoung stood a bit higher up than Jungkook, that being due to the platform the seats were on. But despite that, the girl is still not much taller than Jungkook, the boy noticed.

"Hi." Jungkook broke the silence between them.

The girl didn't even realize she'd been staring until now. She formed a smile replying back with a simple hi.

Jungkook adored the smile on her lips. He hadn't forgotten that she cried that night, even though he promised to. 

It made him happy to see her smile now.

"What are you doing here?" The girl asked, but slapped herself mentally afterwards.

She already knew.

She'd seen Jungkook play.

Actually, she'd been watching him.

Her and Haneul didn't speak much during the football practice, but none of the girls seemed to notice the silence. Because both were busy with watching two specific players.

"What I'm doing here? Or what I'm doing here?" Jungkook answered with a question, motioning between the two.

Chayoung's breath hitched at the raspy tone in his voice and the way he looked her in the eyes. And then her cheeks flushed. She remembered the way they'd danced the other night and she felt the skin around her hips tingle.

Jungkook chuckled at her reaction, "I'm practicing obviously. What are you doing here? Watching me, hm?"

Chayoung felt a pang inside her. That being annoyance. Why was he so cocky? Why did he think every girl would go around drooling over him?

Maybe, because most did.

But Chayoung thought his cockiness was ridiculous. She in the least would not be the one to sit around watching Jungkook practice as the other girls in the school seemed to be doing.

Yes she might've watched him when he played. He was hot, she could not deny that. But it wasn't the reason she came.

She would never ever fall for him. What she liked most about him at the moment, was the fact that the two were almost done with their assignment and she wouldn't need to talk to him after that anymore.

"I'm sure you'd wish that. Actually, I'm here because my friend wanted to try out for the cheerleading team." The girl clarified her presence.

"Cheerleading..." Jungkook mused, looking at the group of girls standing at a distance beside him.

"Aren't you gonna try out?" He looked back at the girl, "I'd love to have you cheering for me."

"Oh, really?" The girl scoffed at that.

Sure he'd be loving that, she thought.

"Yeah... Having you stand on the side, watching me, cheering for me in that small uniform-"

"Jungkook!" A guy from the field called for the boy. Jungkook looked to the side yelling something back.

When he turned his head back he shook it while looking down. What shit timing. He licked his lips in annoyance. When his teeth found his lip ring, they bit down on it. He didn't even get to finish the conversation with her. His tongue poked the inside of his cheek before he looked back at the girl and...

..caught her staring. At his lips.

To Chayoung, the tension for some reason seemed thick between the two. She was convinced that it was his annoying comments and cockiness. Yet, she couldn't help but be captivated when his tongue poked out and started wetting his lips, playing with his lip ring again. She didn't miss the way his Adams apple bopped before it started moving and his lips as well... almost as if he was saying something.

"What? Wanna taste them or are you just gonna keep staring and do nothing about it?" A self-satisfied smirk was plastered onto Jungkook's face after catching her stare.

So she did watch me at the game... He concluded.

The girl blushed immediately at his words but gathered herself because she could not be caught looking too flustered. He might be a great guy, but she wanted nothing to do with him after their assignment was done.

"In your dreams Jeon." She huffed, pushing a bit away from the fence. It was only now she realized how close the two had been. Jungkook's elbows on the fence rail had even stroked her shirt a few times.

"Hell yeah." He breathed.

"Ew! Perv!" Chayoung bursted at his nasty sounding horny breathy voice.

Jungkook laughed and stepped away from the fence too. He shrugged before sending her a last smirk and turned around, running to the guy that had called for him.

Chayoung was left watching him as he walked away. What a pervert! 

Maybe, she watched for a bit longer than what she wanted.

au.n.

I think I will start giving the chapters names now... the numbers look lonely lol