▃ 1962, July 15th, 3:32 PM

Taehyung was sitting at the counter inside of the auto shop he worked at, sighing as he rested his chin in his palm. Business was slow that day, and he knew exactly why.

It was the annual surf competition.

Everyone in town would show up to this event, businesses would close for the day and the streets would be vacant.

He sighed, glancing at the time. The finals were about to start, and suddenly Taehyung remembered a certain someone he met a couple days ago.

"I never got his name." He muttered to himself, feeling a nice breeze blow onto his face from the small fan sitting on the counter beside him.

It was a hot day, perfect to be at the beach and in the water. Taehyung stood up, grabbing a towel and wiping the sweat off his forehead.

His hair was tied back in a messy ponytail, wearing his signature red bandana. He wore some old and stained ripped jeans and a white muscle tee, his usual work attire so he wouldn't get any of his nicer clothes dirty from constantly fixing cars and motorcycles.

He went inside to the small locker room they had, changing out of his work clothes into something cooler and nicer.

He changed into some tight blue jeans and a pale green collared shirt, the sleeves were cuffed up by his biceps. He buttoned it up about halfway, revealing his collarbones and the top half of his chest and tucking it into his jeans.

He put on some black sunglasses, locking up the shop and going out to find his beautiful red Triumph Bonneville standing tall and proud.

"Ready for another ride today, baby?" He asked, hopping on and kicking up the kickstand. He put on his helmet and quickly start his motorcycle, smirking as he heard the loud roar of her engine.

"That's my girl." He chuckled, revving the engine a bit before taking off down the street toward the beach.

The wind blew at his face, cooling him down tremendously. The sky was bright blue with puffy clouds scattered here and there, loud beach music and applause could be heard from a mile away since everyone was at the beach.

When he arrived, he parked in the closest spot he could find and walked down to the beach, purchasing some lemonade as a refreshment. He stood by the lifeguard tower, looking around.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, was at the beach. Even the bikers.

Taehyung looked out at the water, observing the many surfers who were either paddling, wiping out, or successfully riding the waves.

He sighed, knowing the finals were starting any minute so he didn't really pay attention to the current round.

He pulled out a cigarette, cupping his hand over it as he lit the end of the stick. He put his lighter away and breathed in, sighing in content.

It was pretty windy, so he was glad he had his hair up to keep it out of his face.

A few women, young and old, gave him suggestive and flirty looks when they noticed him. He smirked at them as an acknowledgement, unmoving from his spot against the lifeguard post.

He had a strict attraction to men, unfortunately.

Unfortunate for the women at least.

It was fun to mess around and make them all flustered, though. Taehyung was just that cocky about himself, he found pride in knowing he was attractive to others.

The beach was packed full with people, some in swimsuits, laying on towels and under umbrellas and others with clothes on, just watching the surfers and others being actual surfers, standing with their boards beside them.

He searched for a face he had been thinking about lately, but ending up empty handed when he couldn't find the bunny boy.

His lemonade was starting to condensate on the outside, it was so hot that the ice had already started to melt.

He pulled his cigarette out of his mouth with one hand, the other lifting the bottle to his lips and taking a big sip of the sweet and sour substance.

Suddenly, his eyes caught onto the person he had been looking for.

The boy was in white swim shorts, about mid-thigh length and a loose white button up over his torso, the material blowing rapidly in the wind.

As it flapped about, it revealed his abdomen. Taehyung wasn't surprised to see how fit the boy was, distinct muscles making themselves known on his body.

The boys black hair was also blowing in the wind, revealing his forehead. He was standing next to two other surfers, Taehyung recognised them as the ones he was sitting by a couple nights before.

He put his cigarette back in his mouth, letting it rest between his lips as he pushed himself off of the post, making his way over.

The boy hadn't noticed him until he was a few meters away, his eyes widening and cheeks turning pink.

Taehyung stopped his trek once he was in front of him, flashing a wide, boxy grin.

"Hey there, bunny." He said.

The two surfers beside him furrowed their eyebrows, narrowing their eyes.

"What the hell do you want?" Yugyeom asked.

"I just came over to have a friendly conversation. Anything wrong with that?" Taehyung asked, smirking lazily.

"Do you know this guy, Kook?" Jinyoung asked.

Jungkook looked like a deer in headlights as he stared at Taehyung. "U-Um, no. I've never... talked to him before." He squeaked.

Taehyung's smirk slowly faltered, turning into a frown.

"Leave our friend alone." Yugyeom said defensively, crossing his arms over his chest and stepping up to Taehyung.

Taehyung remained still, his eyes focused on someone else other than Yugyeom.

Bunny boy.

He was avoiding eye contact with the biker, staring down at the ground like a puppy found guilty eating out of the garbage bin.

Taehyung sighed, rolling his eyes. Luckily they couldn't see it underneath his sunglasses.

"Sorry, my bad. Mistook him for someone else." Taehyung said, turning on his heel and starting to walk away.

Meanwhile Jungkook was watching him retreat, wondering why the biker still wanted to talk to him. He thought that would be a one time thing. Jungkook only lied because he didn't want to get made fun of or yelled at. If you were a surfer and talked to a biker, you'd basically be shunned. It happened to one of Namjoon's closest friends, Min Yoongi. He's a biker now.

It wasn't even because he simply talked to a biker, but because Namjoon and Yoongi were inseparable, then Yoongi befriended a biker and started spending a lot of time with him, and less and less with Namjoon.

Namjoon got jealous, and one time Yoongi even ditched him for his new biker friend. Eventually Namjoon had enough and didn't let him hang out with them ever again.

It seemed childish and selfish to Jungkook, but he didn't know the full story so he couldn't assume.

Taehyung went back to his spot near the lifeguard post, still working on his cigarette as he crossed his arms over his chest, dark eyes watching Jungkook from afar.

He was shocked when the boy lied in front of his face. Yet at the same time, he wasn't. The surfers were cruel and judgemental, and wouldn't hesitate to drop someone if they were different. It's what happened with Yoongi.

He came to the bikers, upset because his surfer friends wouldn't talk to him or let him hang out anymore. It was all a big misunderstanding, but Namjoon was petty, and ever since that incident, their rival got even worse.

"Good afternoon everyone! It's time for the final rounds! Today's finalists are... Park Chaeyoung, who scored 16 out of 20 in the previous rounds, Jeon Jungkook who scored a whopping 18.5 out of 20, and Kim Namjoon, our sixth year champion, who scored a 19 out of 20! Each surfer will have 25 minutes to catch a wave, the judges will be judging the same points as before and will at their final scores onto your previous ones to see who will be our champion!!" The announcer said.

Taehyung wasn't sure who the other two surfers were, but he for sure knew Kim Namjoon. He was basically the leader of the surfers, due to his incredible surfing talent. He was sure he had met or at least heard of Chaeyoung before but... who was Jungkook?

He watched with curiosity as the finalists began to make their way toward the judges table. His eyes widened when he saw bunny boy making his way over as well.

He is Jungkook!

Taehyung stood up a bit straighter, his interest peaking as he watched the small boy carry his board to the table.

"On your marks, get set, go!"

They ran toward the water, diving in with their boards and paddling out in different directions to give them some space.

He watched as Chaeyoung went first, finding a nice wave. She paddled out, hoisting herself up and beginning to ride the wave. She did very well, doing a few neat tricks but near the end she lost balance and fell.

Meanwhile Jungkook was paddling out very far, glancing between Namjoon and the shore. His eyes met with Taehyung's, seeing the biker smile smugly at him.

He quickly looked away, studying the waves ahead of him. He smiled when he saw the perfect wave. Well.... it wasn't perfect. Because it was huge. It was the biggest wave he had ever seen, maybe even too dangerous.

The sky ahead of him was grey, thick and dark clouds making their way toward the town.

No wonder the waves are so big, there's a storm coming. He thought.

"Jungkook!"

He turned his head, seeing Namjoon about ten meters away from him. "It's too high!! Don't do it!" He called out.

"No, I have to! It's a once in a lifetime chance!!" Jungkook called back.

"It's too risky, Kook. Please, stay back." He said desperately.

The lifeguard blew his whistle, waving a big red flag.

Jungkook ignored it, but the crowd started yelling at him to come back to shore.

He kept paddling forward.

He gulped as he saw the giant wave towering it's way over.

Here we go.... now!

He dove under the first wave that came to him, popping out and quickly mounting his board. The giant wave was upon him, he quickly rode up the side, trying to keep his balance.

The crowd went silent but all he could hear was the rushing of the water, doing a couple of tricks but suddenly he started to lose control, the wave becoming too strong and too tall for his liking as it started to curve in on him.

His proud smirk started to fade, his face turning into an expression of terror as the curve started closing in, his exit becoming smaller and smaller.

He screamed and held his breath, feeling the heavy wave collapse on him as he wiped out and fell underwater.

The slight undertow sucked him down, his board slipping away from underneath him as he struggled to find which way was up or down, left or right.

He was running out of air quickly as he whipped around in a panic, water sloshing all around him and disrupting his sense of direction.

Suddenly just as everything was starting to fade into black, strong hands grabbed onto him, lifting him out of the water and swimming him to shore. It was the lifeguard, he had wrapped a lifebuoy around him.

Once they were on shore, Jungkook coughed up a bunch of water, taking deep breaths.

"Oh my gosh, Kook. Why didn't you listen to me???" Namjoon asked angrily as he ran toward the boy, kneeling down in front of him.

"I-I thought I could do it." He panted, coughing even more.

"You idiot! You're insane to think that, you're not ready for those kinds of waves yet. You can't be stupid." He snapped.

Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows, his bottom lip trembling.

"I'm not stupid." He whimpered, quickly getting up and pushing his way through the crowd, which was surrounding him and watching worriedly.

He was so ashamed and embarrassed. And his mentor, one of his best friends as well, would rather lecture him after almost drowning than asking if he was okay.

He started to cry as he shoved past more people.

Taehyung came into view, him and that damn bandana and those sunglasses standing near the lifeguard tower.

"Hey, are you alright?" He asked, reaching out and laying his hand on Jungkook's shoulder.

The boy stopped, seeming to be hyperventilating as tears spilled out of his eyes.

"Please, get me out of here."

❍

hey guys! we got some dramaaaa, ooh!
anyways, vote and comment please, i'd appreciate it! i'm really happy and proud with this book so far and i hope you all enjoy it.

- nat ♡