Jungkook rested his head against his hand as he stared out the car window, looking longily at the empty playground as they passed by it. He remembered it as if it was yesterday.
13 years ago...
Jungkook sat huddled against a tree, his knees brought up to his chest as he rested his head on his arms. He began to sniffle as his crying subdued.
"What's wrong?" A voice filled with concern asked. A little boy squatted in front of him.
Jungkook lifted his head and saw a scrawny boy with ruffled black hair.
"I'm lost." Jungkook responded with a trembling voice.
The boy tilted his head to the side, staring curiously at Jungkook, making a 'hmmm...' sound.
"What?" Jungkook asked, awkwardly avoiding the boy's gaze.
"What's your name?" He asked, a wide smile spreading on his face as he stood up and offered his hand to Jungkook.
"Jungkook." He grabbed ahold of his hand.
"Jungkook... Kook...cookie..." The boy began to drool. "I'm going to call you Kookie." He said with a tone of finality. "My name is Jimin."
Jungkook began to giggle, already feeling better.
"Let's go." He pulled Jungkook towards the sidewalk that circled the park.
"Where are we going?" He asked, trotting along.
"To my friend. I'm not very good with directions, but he is." He pulled him along towards the playground where a kid with overalls and a pink hat sat on the swing, twisting in circles.
"Hey! I brought a new friend!" He waved at him to get his attention.
The boy in overalls smiled at them, showing off his dimples, and came walking towards them.
"Who's this?" He asked, giving the boy a once over.
Jungkook hid a little behind Jimin. "His name is Kookie!" Jimin smiled wide, proud to show off his nicknameing skills.
The boy with the pink hat just stared at Jimin in exasperation. "What's your name?" He asked in frustration, peeking around Jimin; completely ignoring him.
"My name is Jungkook."
"Jungkook... Kook... Kookie." He put a hand up to his chin and nodded approvingly as he understood Jimin's logic. "I'm Namjoon."
"Jungkookie is lost." Jimin jumped back in.
"He's lost?" Namjoon frowned. "What happened?"
Jungkook was ashamed as he told them his story. He had run away from his nanny when she said she wouldn't take him to the zoo. "Do you know where Rowan Street is?"
"You live in that area?!" A shocked Namjoon exclaimed.
"Yes..." Jungkook replied nervously. "Is.. is there something wrong with that?"
"No. Not at all." Namjoon reassured him. "Let's go. I'll take you there." He started walking in the opposite direction, towards the high class neighborhoods.
Present...
He sighed. The next couple of days he went back to that same playground and stayed there for hours, waiting for the two to show up again. But they never did.
"Master Jungkook!" He snapped out of his daze as the person proceeded to call out his name again.
"We've arrived."
Jungkook grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder as the driver opened the door for him. He stared up at the prestigious college campus. Only the elite of the elite could enter. Those included business owners, heirs, prodigies, etc.
He just happened to be the second heir to the JJK group. He walked around the campus, staring left and right at the finely trimmed greenery. Not a leaf was out of place, and flowers from all the colors of the rainbow were arranged in patterns. The fountain that decorated the front entrance sprayed water high up, doing a water show. And the large windows that clearly showed the riches of the classrooms; luxurious office desks and comfy chairs, a large whiteboard with expensive vases and decorations dotting the room.
He accidentally bumped into someone while in awe of the school.
"Excuse you." The girl remarked in a snarky tone.
"I'm sorry!" Jungkook quickly apologized, checking to make sure she was okay.
The girl changed her tone when she saw his face. "It's okay, love." She winked at him. "I'll see you around." She trailed her fingertips across his chest.
Jungkook rolled his eyes. Why was he surprised? He'd been surrounded by girls like her his entire life. And it wasn't about to change when he was in a school surrounded by spoiled, rich students.
He looked at his schedule to find his first class. "English II... second floor... class number 20..." He muttered to himself. He headed through the grand double doors and towards the large staircase. Just as he reached the first few steps, he heard screaming, causing him to jump. He quickly whirled around towards the sound.
In the main hall, girls were swarming to the entrance, creating a passage in front of the doors.
A guy walked in, waving and blowing kisses at the girls, making them squeal with every kiss. They yelled his name in hopes of him looking at them for even just a second. His smile widened as his fan base went wild, his ego fueled.
He stopped short and turned to one of the girls and grabbed her by the waist, bringing her in close. "You look lovely today, princess." He complimented, gliding his fingers through her hair, to tuck the strands behind her ear.
The girl nearly melted in his arms, as her friends tried to grab her so she wouldn't hit the floor. A second of silence passed before a raging uproar exploded among the jealous girls.
He smiled a devious smile as he tried to 'sooth' the crowd. "Maybe one of you will be the lucky princess tomorrow."
The girls shrieked in excitement at the idea of Mr. Worldwide Handsome acknowledging them.
Jungkook scrunched up his face in disgust which didn't go unnoticed by 'Mr. Worldwide Handsome' as he looked up at that exact moment. He winked up at him and made a heart shape with his hands, sending it his way.
Jungkook felt the hairs on his arms stand on end as all the girls glared daggers at him.
Taken aback by that guy's action, and being frightened by the girls, he hauled himself up the stairs and into the classroom.
He sighed in relief when he saw that no one had arrived yet. Scanning his eyes among the desks, he found his name and plopped into the soft office chair, swirling around in it. "Hehe, they look like ants." He laughed to himself as he caught glimpses of the students on the ground. However, while he was spinning, he failed to notice the other student that had walked in.
Upon one of his spins, he saw a flash of pink. He dug his heels into the floor to stop his spinning, causing him to lurch forward and hit his knee on the side of the desk. He pretended to rummage through his backpack to hide his embarrassment and to rub his throbbing knee.
He felt the other guy staring at him and Jungkook prayed that he would move on and ignore him.
To his relief, other students started shuffling in and sitting in their respective seats. From the corner of his eye, he saw the girl he bumped into from earlier sit next to him. He groaned internally.
"Good morning, good morning!" A voice boomed as the door was shut. A slightly bald man with a pot belly came walking in. "My name is Mr. Spazziano." He introduced himself in English. "But you can call me Mr. Spazz." He laughed at his own joke.
Him and the nine other students greeted him and the class began.
Mr. Spazz grabbed a marker and wrote a quote on the board.
He turned towards the class. "Can anyone translate that into English?"
Jungkook stared at the board, scrambling to figure out how to translate it. He began to write out the words he knew in English and hopefully stream together a coherent sentence.
"Anyone?" The teacher asked again, scanning the room for volunteers. His eyes landed on Jungkook and he tried his best to look like he was in deep thought to give him extra time. Which to be fair, he was. He continued to glance in confusion between the whiteboard and his paper of measly words.
"I can translate it." A voice called out from the other side of the room.
"Ah! Mr. Kim! Go on ahead and give it your best shot." The teacher eagerly encouraged.
The student from earlier that saw Jungkook being a dork, stood up.
"People come from all different types of backgrounds," He began, pronouncing the sentence flawlessly. Jungkook looked on in admiration as he continued. "Every single one of them should be treated like they're worth giving a chance." He finished, promptly sitting back down.
Jungkook mentally applauded him for what he was guessing was a perfect translation based on the teacher's expression. But regardless of what the teacher thought, he was amazed by his pronunciation and the ability to form a coherent sentence so easily. Jungkook only hoped he could get as good as him.
"Absolutely beautiful." The teacher praised him.
Suddenly, someone snickered as they quickly put away their phone.
"What's so funny?" The teacher asked, annoyed at the student for having her phone out.
"It's just funny hearing him say it." She giggled again, sneering at him.
"Yeah." Another person chimed in. "As if we'd give a scholarship student a chance." He put as much malice into his words as possible.
Jungkook was shocked by their behavior. Why were they treating him like that? And what exactly was a scholarship student?
He glanced at the guy to see how he would react. He said nothing. He just stared forward at the board as if he didn't hear anything. And Jungkook thought for a moment that he just wasn't paying attention until he noticed the vice like grip he had on his pen.
"Mr. Kim worked hard to be where he is right now." The teacher defended him. "Unlike the lot of you who attend this college by default because of your parents." He scolded, angry that they would pick on someone just because of their status.
Some of the students scoffed in annoyance, while others rolled their eyes.
"If that's how you want to be, then fine. Pop quiz. Anyone that gets below an eighty must stay after class and clean the classroom."
Jungkook's heart started racing. He wasn't ready for it. His hands started to sweat as the teacher began to write questions on the board. He looked at the first question and his mind went blank. Okay, no need to freak out. I'll just move onto the next question and come back to the first one. He tried to calm himself down. However, he started to feel defeated when he realized the second question was based off the first one.
By the time it took for him to read each question and attempt to solve them, the guy called Mr. Kim stood up and handed in his piece of paper to the teacher who looked over it and said loudly, "Amazing. A perfect score."
Jungkook groaned as he slammed his head down on the desk. I'm screwed. He thought.
"Mr. Jeon, is there a problem?" The teacher asked, one eyebrow raised as he stared at his student in confusion.
Jungkook immediately straightened himself. Unfortunately, his paper followed suit as it stuck to his forehead due to the sweat. He quickly grabbed it, laughing nervously.
"No. No. Everything is fine." He responded in English, hoping he would get a curve when he handed in his paper.
He tried to make himself as little as possible. He gave it his best shot and ten minutes later he handed his answers to the teacher.
The teacher grabbed a red pen and started marking off a lot of his answers. Each stroke of the pen made Jungkook lose more and more hope.
The teacher frowned and handed him his paper. Jungkook felt his stomach drop as he saw his grade at the top of his paper. Next to it was written, "See me after class."
He walked towards his desk with wobbly legs, sprawling himself on the cold, shiny wood.
He waited for the others to finish. In the end, it was just him, the girl from earlier, and the two that made fun of that guy.
"The cleaning supplies are in that closet." The teacher pointed to something behind them. "Decide among yourselves who gets what chore."
They went and opened the closet. Each grabbed an item, fumbling on how to use them properly.
Jungkook got stuck with cleaning the windows.
As he went about his business trying to make the windows as clear as possible, he couldn't help but remember the incident from before. He put his forehead against the window as he groaned from embarrassment. When the wave of embarrassment passed, he lifted his head and sprayed the section where his forehead left an imprint and wiped away the suds. Below he watched the students walking around, a certain group of people catching his attention. They were... pushing someone? Jungkook moved to get a better look.
"What the heck..." He mumbled to himself as he saw a guy grab the books out of the other guy's hands and run away with them, teasing him with the books which he kept just out of reach.
"What are you looking at?" The same snarky girl from before asked as she walked up next to Jungkook.
She immediately noticed what he was looking at and started laughing. "That must be a scholarship student." She pressed herself against the glass to get a better view. The very same glass that Jungkook had just cleaned.
"What's so funny about that?" He snapped at the girl, both annoyed by her messing up the window and her laughing at the student still getting picked on. This time they were starting to shove him around the group.
"You're not seriously defending a scholarship student, are you?" She asked in disbelief.
Jungkook about had it with her. "What's a scholarship student?! And why is everyone so against them?!" He exploded in rage. His voice echoed throughout the room and everyone stopped to stare at him.
"You don't know what a scholarship student is? Really?"
Jungkook stayed silent and waited for an explanation.
"It's someone that's been admitted to the school that has no elite background. They're literally nobodies who think they can fit in with people like us." She sounded like she was genuinely disgusted with them.
"But the reason they're admitted is because they have exceptional talents or score high on the entrance exam." A voice chimed in from behind. He turned around and saw the teacher leaning against the desk with his arms crossed.
"That student, Mr. Kim, is highly intelligent. His English skills are especially phenomenal."
Jungkook opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the other students cracking up, yelling, "OhmyGod! They really did it!"
Jungkook looked back out the window and was mortified. He saw the student in the fountain, bending down and grabbing what seemd to be a notebook. He squinted his eyes to see the student's face but couldn't manage but his outfit, which had a pink handkerchief.
Jungkook dropped everything in his hands and sprinted out of the classroom. He looked like he was gliding above the stairs as he descended them, tumbling at one point, but regaining both his balance and speed immediately. He was huffing by the time he got there, his chest heaving with every breath.
The boy was still rummaging through the water, picking up his belongings and placing them on the side of the fountain.
As Jungkook managed to catch his breath, he took off his shoes and socks, rolling up his pants as well as his sleeves.
He got in the fountain and shivered as the cold water touched his skin. He must be freezing. He thought as he looked at the guy called Mr. Kim who was drenched; his clothes were sticking to his body and water dripped down his hair.
Something bumped his leg and he looked down to see the pen that Mr. Kim had a vice like grip on earlier. Kind of ironic that it ended up in here because of those bullies. He picked it up and turned to pick up the notebook that was in a constant loop of being submerged in water and reaching the surface because of a stream of water. The sudden movement made the guy jump and whirl around defensively. He relaxed a little when he saw Jungkook holding his pen and notebook.
"Why are you helping me?" He asked, squinting his eyes, his guard was up as he tried to guess what Jungkook's intentions were. "Aren't you one of them?"
"What do you mean?" Jungkook asked, placing the things in his arms on the side of the fountain.
"Well... you know. The stuck up, rich brats of this school who think they're better than you just because they have a pedigree." His face was distorted in disgust and then fear as he realized what he just said.
"Pffft.." Jungkook tried to hold back his laughter, even covering his mouth to stop it, but Mr. Kim's description of the students here was too funny. "Pedigree? Ahahaha!" He clutched his stomach as his sides began to hurt.
Mr. Kim laughed nervously, unsure of what to do in this type of situation.
Jungkook wiped away a tear. "You're too funny." He wiped his hands on the spots where his pants were still dry and took out his phone to make a call which lasted only a few seconds.
"I do have a pedigree. I'm actually the descendant of a reputable line of huskies," Jungkook began, snickering at the joke, "but I'm helping you because I'm disgusted with the way people treat you. So what if you're a 'scholarship student'?"
Mr. Kim grimaced. "But they'll pick on you too." He looked around him and noticed a lot of people were watching them.
Jungkook shrugged. "So? I know how they think." He didn't elaborate on what he meant, but that devious smile that spread across Jungkook's face made Mr. Kim shiver.
Jungkook bent down to pick up another item. "Come on. Let's get the rest of your stuff. I'm freezing!"
Mr. Kim said nothing and just started picking up his things.
When they finally finished, Jungkook broke the silence first. "Alright. Let's go." He said, grabbing his shoes and socks.
"Go where?" Mr. Kim asked, a little wary. He began to doubt that Jungkook was helping him just because it was the right thing to do.
Jungkook saw him tense up. "Relax. I'm not going to do anything bad. We're both soaking wet and it's cold outside. Do you wanna catch a cold?"
Mr. Kim started walking with Jungkook to what seemed to be his driver. They opened the doors where towels were laid on the seats to avoid water damage and freshly cleaned blankets straight out of the dryer where ready for the taking.
Mr. Kim and Jungkook quickly wrapped the blankets around themselves, snuggling up in them like a cocoon.
"Thank you for everything." Mr. Kim was more than grateful for his kindness.
