One
7 years later
Jungkook accepted that he was late when he put his glasses on his face. He cursed as he tried to tie his tie again – he hated that uniform –, now really seeing what he was doing. The toothpaste foam dripped, causing irreversible damage to the school uniform's blazer.
"Oh, you must be kidding me," Jungkook said as he spat the rest of the foam into the sink. He stared at the whitish stain. Well, it was too late to change, and even if he had time, this was his last clean uniform of the week.
That's what he got for trying to do eighty things at once because he was late, not for the first time this school year. He felt like it was almost time before the coordinator decided to call his uncles and tell them how much he was screwing up his record with those warnings.
He washed his mouth, picked up his backpack and headed downstairs.
Before he could even finish walking down the stairs, Aunt Mi was waiting for him with a brown paper bag in one hand, the other resting on her hip as the woman calmly tapped her foot on the floor. He smiled and gave the woman a kiss on the cheek as he picked up the package that contained his lunch.
“You’ve been sleeping too late, Jungkook,” she said, crossing her arms. Despite that, the woman had a loving look on her face.
“I’m fine,” he said, opening his backpack and stuffing the bag inside. “Where’s Uncle Byeon?”
He looked around.
“He’s already waiting for you in the car,” she said, Jungkook walking to the door. “Watch your shoelaces!”
Jungkook looked down. The laces on his sneakers were undone. As he opened the door and put the straps of the backpack on his shoulders, he stepped on one of the loose threads and almost fell onto the sidewalk, resulting in a laugh coming from Uncle Byeon’s car.
He rolled his eyes as he bent down to tie his shoelaces, his uncle honking twice.
“I’m coming!” he said, standing up and running to the car.
Once inside the vehicle, his uncle gave him a look of reprimand and amusement.
“Put your seatbelt on,” he said.
“You and Aunt Mi treat me like a child,” he said, buckling his seatbelt.
“If you stop acting like one, maybe we can think about treating you like an adult, huh?” Uncle Byeon’s tone wasn’t scolding, so Jungkook relaxed in the passenger seat.
“I was just a little late,” he said, brushing the strands of hair out of his eyes and adjusting his glasses on his face. “I’m fine.”
“Okay,” Uncle Byeon said.
The car fell silent during the ride to Jungkook’s school. He watched the buildings outside the car—it was one of his favorite pastimes as a child and he had never really gotten over the habit. He also liked the feeling of the wind blowing in his face, so he always rolled down the car window. He spotted the Lotte World Tower building. It was one of his favorite buildings, and Jungkook always took lots of pictures of it when he walked past. He liked the way the building mirrored the image of the streets, and the way it rose up like some kind of divine creature. It was breathtaking.
A few minutes later, his uncle stopped the car in front of the school. Checking his phone, Jeon saw that he still had one minute until he would be one hundred percent late and would have to get a warning. He unbuckled his seatbelt and smiled at Uncle Byeon. “Thank you, Uncle Byeon,” he said, trying to open the door. Uncle Byeon, however, had kept them locked. He looked at the older man beside him, who had a serious expression on his face. "I'm going to be late."
"Listen, Jungkook," he said. "You're okay, right?" he narrowed his eyes.
He wanted to tell his uncle that this wasn't the best time to try to talk to him. When he got home from school, they would have all the time in the world to talk about whatever he wanted. But instead, he smiled.
There was no need to tell his uncle that he had been studying more than he should have for his exams. It was the year that determined his entrance into college, and Jungkook had tried to spend the last six years making up for the year he had failed in school because of his parents' death.
"I'm fine," he assured.
"You know you can talk to me, right?" the uncle insisted. "At your age, a lot of questions come up, often involving girls... or even boys, if that's what you like," he shrugged. "I'm fine with it, you just need to tell your aunt, because she would really like another woman in the family…"
"Uncle Byeon," Jungkook interrupted him. Were they really talking about his love life? He was late! "I'm fine, there's no one. I have to go to class."
And hesitantly, the uncle unlocked the door. Jungkook opened it and got out of the car.
"I love you, give Aunt Mi a kiss," he said before walking away.
Running, Jungkook went up the school stairs, hoping that there wouldn't be any monitors present, that he would sneak past and no one would notice his presence…
No one. He sighed in relief, heading towards his classroom.
"This is the second time in two weeks, Jeon," he heard a female voice behind him.
Jungkook stopped in his tracks. Then he turned around.
MJ's red hair was tied in a ponytail, her freckled face had a cold and hard expression. Her blue eyes almost shot him right there. She was wearing the school's female uniform – he remembered when she had shown up for the first week of classes a few months ago wearing pants and had almost gotten a warning. Fortunately, they had understood that she had come from another country, with different cultures, and had let that one slide.
So MJ had become the straight-A student in the class, soon one of the best in the school – something that Jungkook had to compete for every day if he wanted to get into the Science program he wanted – and they had made her a monitor. And she had decided to make Jeon's life hell.
“MJ,” he said. “Listen, you don't understand… Yesterday I stayed up late studying…”
She wrote something down on the clipboard she carried. Being a monitor granted MJ rights that other students didn't have: like being late for class without getting in trouble. And she could also get him a fucking warning.
"MJ, come on." He looked at the girl.
"I'm sure you'll love explaining this to the class council," she said seriously.
"If you don't give me that warning, I can..." Jungkook paused. There was nothing he could really give her, because again, she had privileges that he didn't. Like being the daughter of one of the greatest scientists who had migrated to Korea in recent times. She had the knife and cheese in her hand and Jungkook was still trying to buy a slice of mozzarella.
"I want to know what you're going to try to bribe me with," MJ said, a sarcastic smile on her face.
"Well, whatever you want, I can find a way..." he continued.
MJ rolled her eyes, walking past Jungkook with firm steps.
“MJ, please!”
The girl ignored him, heading towards the coordination – where the monitors met ten minutes after the time limit to hand in the names of those who were late that day. Jeon sighed.
The cherry on the cake, of course, was that Jungkook had been in love with MJ since she had entered the school. She was brilliantly intelligent, beautiful, and treated him like a bug – everything that made a boy want to date a girl.
Without hope that he would be able to return home without a scolding from Aunt Mi and a lecture from Uncle Byeon, Jungkook headed towards his classroom.
After a scolding from the teacher, Jungkook was sitting peacefully in his chair. He looked across the room, where Taehyung was doing a lab pair with someone else.
Kim gestured, asking where he was, what had happened, and Jungkook mouthed MJ's name. Taehyung seemed to understand immediately and then laughed. Jeon suppressed the urge to show his friend the middle finger – he already had enough complaints.
Speaking of her, the girl walked through the classroom door with impeccable diligence. He stopped breathing as he did every time she sat next to him in science class. He didn't want to smell the lavender that always emanated from her, because he was starting to get a little obsessed with that smell.
"Well, since we're all in the classroom," the teacher glared at Jeon for a moment. "I want to tell you that before you leave the classroom, stop by my desk to get a permission slip. Your guardians will have to sign it so you can go on the field trip to Watson's Lab. Don't sign it for your parents, I'll know it!"
Jungkook looked at Taehyung, who seemed just as excited as he was, although for different reasons. His friend would be happy to even leave the classroom, while Jungkook was just thinking about the opportunities he would have in that place. It was MJ's father's lab, and it specialized in genetics, something Jeon had always been incredibly curious about.
He glanced at the girl next to him, who had an impassive expression. She noticed, however, that he was staring at her, because she gave him a strange look—raising an eyebrow, as if asking what was wrong with him. Blushing, Jeon looked away. He had to remember not to act like an moron, because besides being his high school crush, MJ could open doors that wouldn't normally open otherwise—like a job at Watson's Lab after college. He just had to be careful not to be himself, and everything was going to be fine.