Time to walk down memory lane
Jeon Jungkook must have asked out of pure curiosity. What was even stranger was that he didn't hear all the students around him calling his name in unison. I, too, frowned, worried about them.
Unable to hide my bewilderment, I locked eyes with Min Yoongi. He shook his head, then locked eyes with Jeon Jungkook.
“Are you in the same grade as us?”
“We’re in the same grade… but why Lee Jun all of a sudden?”
“I’ve heard that name quite a lot.”
I nodded, forcing the corners of my lips to rise. Jeon Jungkook still seemed curious about Lee Joon, and I still found it difficult to talk about him.
Time seemed to be on my side, and just as I was about to start second period, the bell rang. I grabbed Jeon Jungkook's arm and ran to class, and the question seemed to resurface.
“You can sit here. There’s an empty seat.”
I sat Jeon Jungkook down next to me. I don't know why. I wanted to think there were no seats left in our class, but the truth was, I wanted to see you up close. You looked so much like Lee Joon. The classmates' eyes were on me again. I tried to ignore them, and Min Yoongi, sitting diagonally across from me, looked at me with concern.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I’ll take care of it.’
I knew Min Yoongi's mouth better than anyone else. It was a habit that only came up when he was nervous: furrowing his brow. Min Yoongi was nervous because of Jeon Jungkook, who was sitting next to me. Of course, I knew full well that was my concern.
But I was more worried about Jeon Jungkook than about Min Yoongi.
Min Yoongi's expression darkened even more, as if he understood perfectly well my expression, which suggested I was doing it on my own. And so the precarious third period began to flow by.
I couldn't hear a single thing during the third period Korean history class. The reason was simple: the seat next to me had been occupied for a long time. Unlike me, Jeon Jungkook was completely focused on the lesson. I rested my arm on the desk and watched Jeon Jungkook's profile throughout the class.
So class ended, and everyone was busy talking, making the class noisy. Taking advantage of the break, Min Yoongi came to my seat and called me outside, asking if we could talk for a moment.
“Kim Yeo-ju, stop it.”
“What did I do?”
“I can see that bastard Lee Jun in Jeon Jungkook.”
It seems I wasn't the only one who couldn't focus in Korean history class. Min Yoongi was the same way. But his gaze wasn't on Jeon Jungkook, it was on me. He was watching me the entire class. So he must have read my gaze.
"… no."
"No, that's not true. You should've just kept your eyes hidden."
“Whether I see Lee Joon in Jeon Jungkook or not, it doesn’t matter to you.”
I made a mistake. One of the things Min Yoongi hated most was being excluded from my work. As soon as I blurted out that it had nothing to do with you, I bit my lip in a resentful manner. But Min Yoongi's expression had already changed.
“Min Yoon,”
“You don’t care… Really? I saw you struggling after he left, and I caught you trying to kill yourself. Why do you not care?”
“……”
“You finally calmed down, and now you’re saying you’re going to jump in again. So, I’m just going to watch?”
Min Yoongi's words were always spot-on. That left me even more speechless. I raised my head, which had been bowed, to check on Min Yoongi's condition. He was looking at me with a wounded expression.
Just when I was about to apologize, break was over. Min Yoongi had entered the classroom first, and when I followed him, everything was cracking.
“Lee Jun, he died last November. And here, at school.”
A group of gossipy kids surrounded Jeon Jungkook and were gossiping about Lee Joon. Hearing this, Jeon Jungkook turned his head. Then, as we were entering the classroom, our eyes met, and the noisy atmosphere suddenly became tense.
