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Be The One - Dua Lipa

Jimin

I saw Jungkook in football practice. He seemed different. He was laughing more, going back and forth to Taehyung a lot. I didn't know how to describe it, but even on a surface level, he was looking like he couldn't have more fun, yet I could sense something was off. He didn't look at me once, and I wasn't whining or complaining about it. Not that I wanted him to look at me, but it felt abnormal.

Just two days ago, he was as ecstatic to see me as he could, and after one dinner with Taehyung—which my friend mentioned in passing —Jungkook's attention completely switched from me to Taehyung. It wasn't believable, but I was trying to wrap my head around it. Maybe they finally talked and Jungkook decided he would be better off with Taehyung.

Some would ask why was I even thinking about it. It should have been good riddance, but something stung. I chalked it up to neither Taehyung nor Jungkook telling me about their new relationship.

If something had happened between them, I would take full credit for playing Cupid.

Shaking my head and letting out a breath, I ignored the pinprick as I entered the practice room on the seventh floor of the Uni building, only to find Jungkook with a black camera and Hoseok laughing out loud.

The GoPro in his hand looked like what food bloggers used to make vlogs. He was making videos, telling people what to do. "Jungkook," I called his name like a teacher would upon entering a chaotic class.

He turned to me with the same, goofy, smile and pointed the camera right at my face. He clicked something on it. "Say hi, Hyung."

I peeked into the camera and redirected my gaze back at his face, hearing his immature giggles. "Hi," I told him without amusement. "Can you explain what is it?" My finger pointed at the camera lens.

"It's a camera, Hyung." He kept zooming in and out on my face.

"I can see that," I tilted my head further to see his well-confined face behind the black object. "Whose permission did you take to start video recording?"

That wiped his smile and I felt myself jolt at the loss. "I needed permission to get the camera?" Asking innocently, his shoulders slouched as he lowered the device a little.

"What are you intending to do with recording?" I crossed my arms, asking in a softer tone.

"Nothing. I will keep them as memories." He told me, pouting and hugging the camera to his chest like I'd seize it from him if he didn't secure it.

I shook my head and puffed my cheeks before exhaling heavily. I had a big day today. "Fine, you can fill out the permit form and bring it to me. I will approve it."

"You would?" He excitedly stepped closer and his cologne invaded my senses. "Thank you, Hyung."

I couldn't help but smile. "Yeah. No problem. Now take it away. We have practice to do."

"Okay," He clicked something again and pointed it at my nose. "Say something."

My chest rumbled as a laugh bubbled out of me. "You little - Put it away before I change my mind."

He didn't stop recording me when I turned and took off my jacket. I watched him in the mirror,  frozen in his position, his camera pointing at me from behind. I waved to break his trance. My brows raised in warning as I made eye contact in the mirror.

He shuffled eventually and took off towards the back of the room where everyone had put their water bottles and towels.

Before I could play the music to stretch, I saw Taehyung walking in. My eyes went to Jungkook before I could stop myself and he caught my action. I felt this irrational jealousy pricking at me somewhere as I watched Jungkook dart across the room speedily.

I shook it off because it was baseless, yet I couldn't get rid of the thought of my reaction in my head as I began to teach the choreography to the rest of the students.

Taehyung was sitting, watching Jungkook dance. He never came to watch me, but there he was, wasting the time he could've used for something else. I stopped the music after half an hour and picked up my towel to wipe the sweat.

Jungkook went to Taehyung, a big smile on his face. I was always the person Jungkook trusted the most to discuss his things with, but I guess if those two were dating, it made more sense that Taehyung would be Jungkook's first. I didn't feel good about it, no matter how much I told myself that it was normal, but at least the guilt of hiding that Jungkook had a thing for me from my friend was no more. My work here was done.

As I consoled my mind with a big sigh, the room's door opened and everyone's head whipped to see Rose along with two more girls walking in.

The room fell silent as she came to me with papers in her hands. I knew what those were. She was in event management, and they also started working like all other committees for the final event. She stopped before me. "Hi," I said softly.

"Hi," she mumbled. "I hope I didn't disturb the session." She looked around to see everyone who was either drinking water or was huffing on the floor. Her gaze stayed a second too long on the duo at the back and she smiled.

"No. You didn't."

"I am here to discuss the arrangements. We have planned everything for the year-end event. Keep this copy with you and check the timing of everything and the agenda. If you have any requests, we will schedule a meeting."

I took the sheets from her and flipped them to see the table where all the events were serialized. My eyes automatically went to the end because our dance performance always took the last spot.

We tried to do it right before lunch once, and we found that most of the students didn't come back for the rest of the shows. Since then, we always held a dance at last to keep the audience hooked. But as I looked at the table again, I saw that my name was mentioned twice for two slots for dance."I think there's a mistake. You have blocked ten minutes after lunch for dance and then fifteen minutes at the end."

"No," she sighed wearily and by then Jungkook and Taehyung strolled towards us. "We lose participation from the audience after lunch and they come back to the arena a few minutes before the final performance. The event committee decided that they would break the time slot into two parts to engage maximum reach."

"Except that you forgot to ask me," my tone didn't hide my objection. "It will take two months to finalize one performance of fifteen minutes. And no. You didn't break the time slot, you added an extra ten minutes. It can't be done."

"It's not me, Jimin," Rose answered patiently. I knew she didn't want to make a scene in front of the room. "It's the committee."

"What's wrong?" Hoseok piped in, taking the sheet from me.

I threw my hands in the air and sat down on the small elevation at the front of the room that connected with the wall-sized mirror, rubbing my eyes.

Rose's eyes narrowed at Jungkook, who was standing with a worried face. She didn't respond to Hoseok and stepped closer to me, looking down. "Can we at least discuss?"

"Ask them," I pointed a general finger at Jungkook and students standing behind him. "Can they take out an extra fifteen hours from their schedule to practice to fill that ten-minute slot?"

Rose's face was suddenly red with anger as I put her on the spot, and I caught the moment her eyes brimmed before she turned around and gaited towards the door. I stood up, wanting to follow her, but I stopped and I saw in the mirror Taehyung shaking his head at Jungkook as he tried to reach for me.

And Jungkook stopped.

My mood soured further.

Was this how I have been with Rose? Doing what she wanted and prioritizing her over my friends. I thought Jungkook and I were friends, but guess dating took precedence.

I let out a breath and resumed the practice session.

After the session ended thirty minutes later, I didn't wait for anyone and took the elevator to reach my dorm first.

We only had two months before all extracurricular activities stopped to focus on the final exams of the year. Everyone felt stressed in the 'even' semesters, but today was the longest and loneliest day.

The moment I stepped out of the bathroom after a shower, I heard a knock.

I threw the wet towel in the laundry bag and opened the door to see flustered Jungkook, and then I realized I wasn't wearing a shirt. "I can come back." He offered weakly.

"No," my brain-to-mouth filter stopped working and I invited him. "Come in."

His lashes lowered and I rushed to put on the first shirt I could find in my wardrobe. "You looked exhausted, Hyung. I wanted to check on you before going back."

"I am fine, Jungkook," I told him, turning and walking back to where he was standing by my bed.

"Are you coming for dinner?" He asked.

"Later, I am not hungry yet. You go ahead." I told him, wanting to be alone for some time as I slumped on the bed.

"Okay," he nodded and he was on his way out when I heard a shuffle. I lifted my head to see Rose had entered the room. She had to have seen Jungkook on his way out.

"Can we talk?" She asked. For a moment, I wanted to contradict but then I knew we had to.

The moment I sat up, I heard a loud growl followed by bangs of things being tossed out in the corridor. "Stay here!" I jumped to my feet and pushed her deeper into the room before bolting out and locking the door.

And the sight I encountered was enough to make my blood boil.

A few of the fifth-year seniors had grabbed Ulrich. Jungkook was squirming maniacally like a fish out of water in three men's hold. These students were the troublemakers with a penchant for racism. I knew them. They came from homes where the middle-aged men in their families tended to get a bit too touchy and aggressive after getting drunk and being extremely disgusting toward young and attractive. They might've been a younger generation, but they still carried the burden of orthodox unceremonious traditions of their families.

A few of them were making the two juniors feel unsafe and uncomfortable in many different ways with only their stares.

"Stop moving!" Ken forced Jungkook's attention on him by gripping his chin and my fist came in contact with his mouth.

With a jerk, he fell back and his friend, Bob, glared at me like he would bring hell. Thomas, who was gripping Ulrich, pushed the boy in front of me.

I steadied Ulrich.

I could notice with stark clarity I was outnumbered. I could only save one and run. But that wasn't an option. "Leave him!" I growled at the three seniors still holding Jungkook, but they didn't budge.

"What are you doing creating this Asian freak squad?" One of them laughed.

I saw red. I didn't know if I would come out of this without broken bones, but I did what my impulse told me. I flung at them and then all hell broke loose.

There were violent hits from both sides. I punched them, they punched twice as hard.

The commotion grew so strong that I was sure that the faculty would get involved, but suddenly I felt people being pulled away. As I chanced a glance, Taehyung was there along with Wolfgang, Christoph, and even Andre, who had many objections to juniors waltzing into our dormitory. They were all fighting the seniors.

When they hulked out on Ken and his group, they ran with tails between their legs.

I stood up, moaning in pain while holding my ribs. I was on an adrenaline rush, and I knew I would crash and burn the moment it wore off. Somehow, I collected myself and without a glance back I walked to my room.

The moment Rose saw me, she shrieked loudly and fussed about the purple bruises I had no doubt I was sporting on my left cheek.

Taehyung entered inside and the others followed him hot on heels. I turned, my breath heavy as I pushed a finger at my friend's chest. "I warned you!" I admonished. "I told you not to fraternize with them." I pointed at the two wide-eyed teenagers. "Now they are the target. Congratulations!"

"Jimin," Taehyung approached me slowly, his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Calm down and we will talk."

"There's nothing to talk about. Be ready with everything now, because we just declared war by beating up those shitheads. I am pretty sure."

"I will get to the end of this," Taehyung said calmly, rage coolly festering inside him as he looked at Jungkook. I had no doubt he would take revenge in his own diplomatic way. I trailed his gaze to see that Jungkook had a little blood on his forehead.

"No," I shook my head, my eyes filling with nothing but an appetite for vengeance stronger than nausea in my stomach. "Let's get the motherfuckers now."

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9 Oct, 2024