In the quiet hallway, only the sound of Seokjin and Pel's footsteps echoed and then disappeared within the space.
"How's your hair?"
"are you okay."
"That's right, didn't you say you didn't have a gym uniform? That gym uniform..."
"Taehyung borrowed it. He said there were two."
At the word Taehyung, Seokjin scratched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly.
"I thought you two wouldn't get along."
"Really? After talking to Taehyung for a bit, I thought he seemed like a nice guy."
Seokjin couldn't help but flinch once more at Pel, who looked up at him with a bright smile as she said that. That smile again. That pure smile, as if she knew absolutely nothing. When I came to my senses after seeing that smile, I found myself staring at Pel's smile, completely lost in thought. Seriously... she's a strange kid. When I first saw her, she acted like all the sadness in the world was hers... but now she acts as if nothing happened.
"...Seokjin? Does your head hurt again?"
"Oh, no. Sorry, I couldn't hear you because I was thinking about something else."
"So, Kim Taehyung, he's not usually very friendly."
Seokjin chuckled at Pel, who was speaking with a rather serious expression. Idiot, you're just as good as Kim Taehyung, but you're talking as if Kim Taehyung's friendliness is amazing.
"You're funny."
"What? Are you swearing?"
"Oh, no. I'm just saying it's fun."
"Hmm~ I see. I'm not completely fluent in Korean yet, so it's a bit difficult to interpret the underlying meaning."
Seokjin laughed softly at Pell's words.
"If you're not good at Korean, then who is?"
Seokjin thought Fel was a really weird kid. A weird kid who was funny and interesting. A kid who was good because he was weird.
Wait, do you like it?
Fourth period, 11:30 AM
As I entered the playground, I saw two pairs of excited children tying each other's feet.
"I heard from Taehyung that Pel and Seokjin went to the infirmary."
"We're going to play dodgeball, so tie your ankles together with a rope. Do you know how to do it?"
The PE teacher, who had carelessly tossed a blue string to Seokjin, blew a whistle and called the kids together. "Divide into teams with the PE president and class president," he said, before disappearing. The kids quickly found the class president and PE president and lined them up in the middle of the playground.
Taehyung and Seokjin, standing facing each other in the middle of the playground, talked as if they were familiar with each other.
"Shall we share it like we always do, Taehyung?"
"I see. But."
Taehyung's long fingers pointed at Fel. Seokjin's gaze followed Taehyung's fingertips and was fixed on Fel. Seokjin tightened his grip on Fel.
"Pel, can't you be my partner?"
Seokjin's eyes rolled back and turned to Taehyung.
"...why?"
A warm breeze blew through Seokjin's hair. An inexplicable tension enveloped his entire body. Why?