"Where are we going?" Mr. Kim asked, looking out the window to figure out where he was based on his surroundings.
"To my place. I can give you some clothes to change into."
"Oh no, you don't have to go that far for me!" Mr. Kim politely declined, not wanting to bother him anymore.
"Don't worry about it." Jungkook smiled, reassuring him that it really wasn't a problem at all. "By the way, Mr. Kim, what's your name?"
Mr. Kim hesitated. His mind went blank as he thought of a response. "Uh..uh.. Just call me RM." He mentally smacked himself.Is that really the best you can come up with, idiot?Mr. Kim groaned on the inside, dreading his answer.
"RM?" Jungkook's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. "RM?" He asked again, just to make sure he heard right.
Mr. Kim started to panic a little. He groaned internally again; lying went against his morals, but he couldn't let Jungkook know who he was. He couldn't let him know he was Kim Namjoon. "Yeah... I don't like my name. So I tell people to call me RM." Haha...That's a reasonable excuse? Right? Right?!He tried to reassure himself.
Jungkook just shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, RM it is." He extended his hand for a handshake. "I'm Jungkook."
Namjoon released the breath he was holding and grabbed a hold of his hand, shaking it. "But you really don't have to take me to your house."
Jungkook frowned. "I was brought up better than that." He tightened the blanket around himself, slightly upset at the fact that RM probably didn't trust him. Not that he blamed him, but he really was just trying to help.
Namjoon just sighed. He'd figure something out. The rest of the car ride was just complete silence between the two.
The driver slowed the car down and waited for the gates to open. Once wide enough, he slipped through them, entering the courtyard of Jungkook's house.
Or rather, his mansion.
He gawked at the sheer size of the front of the mansion. From what he could tell, it was already at least ten times bigger than his entire house. And why a fountain in the courtyard? He was puzzled by the rich and their fascination with fountains.
He jumped when his car door was swung open by the driver.
"After you, Mr. Kim." He motioned with his hand for Namjoon to climb out of the car.
"Thank you." He awkwardly responded to the man, unused to people treating him like this.
"Let's go." Jungkook led him through the grand front doors, where the passing maids bowed their heads as they greeted them.
He looked around, spotting decorations that were probably worth more than he was. He clutched his backpack firmly to his body and stayed at least three feet away from the objects so he wouldn't accidentally knock over something. His affinity for breaking things was on a phenomenal level. And that's the last thing he needed... To repay Jungkook for something that would probably take a lifetime to pay back.
"Why so stiff?" Jungkook asked, observing RM's rigid posture and terrified expression.
"Relax. Feel as if you're in your own home." He tried to calm down Namjoon. He lead him up a large set of wide stairs, made of white granite, a deep royal blue carpet resting gracefully on the steps.
"My room's not too far away from here." They turned down a long hallway, Jungkook's room being the last one.
"If you don't mind me asking," Namjoon began, "but why is your room all the way down here?" As they trekked through the large house, he couldn't help but notice all the unoccupied rooms they passed before reaching Jungkook's.
Jungkook stopped short with his hand frozen on the doorknob. Namjoon immediately felt the tension in the air, a dark aura forming around Jungkook. "Sometime... Sometimes I like to be far away from things." Jungkook answered cautiously, not elaborating any further.
Namjoon immediately dropped the subject, seeing as it was an uncomfortable one for Jungkook.
Jungkook threw open his door, announcing, "Tada! My room!" His cheerful disposition made it seem as if nothing had happened just a few seconds ago.
Namjoon was floored as he entered the bedroom. First off, the sheer size of it was impressive enough. And second, the decoration was on point. He had posters of G-dragon and Iron man hanging on the walls, a large flat screen TV just across his king sized bed. An impressive collection of movies and gaming consoles just underneath. To his right, there were large windows that overlooked a humongous garden. There was even a maze of hedges that led to a lake.
Something caught his attention and he laughed when he saw the collection of bunnies. Ones that ranged as big as he was, to tiny ones that you could hang on a keychain.
Jungkook looked at what he was laughing at, and he quickly picked up his blanket and dived in front of the bunnies, hiding them. "It's not what you think it is!"
Namjoon raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for an explanation.
Jungkook began to blush as he explained why he had such a large collection of bunnies. "Everyone makes fun of me, saying I'm like a bunny. The one who started it was my brother." He sighed, then smiled widely. "So now I get bunny gifts from him and the maids that have been with me since I was little."
Namjoon burst out laughing at his explanation. He went to go take off the blanket to display the collection. "Don't cover them up. It's nice to have people care for you like this." He smiled, trying to surpress the twinge of jealousy. But he was better than that; in all honesty, seeing Jungkook being loved made him genuinely happy.
"I guess when you put it that way..." Jungkook trailed off as he rummaged through his closet. "Here. I think these should fit you." He held out an elegantly designed blue suit, strips of white attached at the hems of the suit.
Namjoon's eyes went wide at the quality of the material. He started to shake his hands in front of him, refusing to wear such a high quality outfit.
"Take it. The bathrooms over there." Jungkook pointed behind him with his thumb. There was no discussing. "The towels are under the sink."
Namjoon sighed, admitting defeat as he took the suit and headed towards the bathroom. He peeled off his wet clothes and rubbed himself dry with the softest towel he had ever touched.
When he put on the clothes and looked in the mirror, he was taken aback. So this is what he would look like in such a high quality suit. He slowly let out a deep breath as he rested his hand against the mirror and hung his head. "What am I doing here?" He sadly mumbled to himself.
He walked out of the bathroom only to find that Jungkook wasn't in the room. He looked around the room, confused to where he could have gone.
"Jungkook??" He called out, turning in circles.
An older maid peeked inside the room. "Mr. Kim?"
Namjoon jumped, a hand placed over his rapidly beating heart.
"Jungkook was called into a meeting. He said he shouldn't be long. And to ask if you wanted to eat something in the meantime. We'll make you anything you want, sweetpea." She smiled warmly at Namjoon.
Namjoon returned her smile. "No thank you, ma'am. I have to get going. I got a lot of homework to finish." He laughed nervously, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.
"If only Jungkook was as diligent as you." She shook her head in disappointment.
"Um.. Tell him I'll return his suit soon." With a suit this elegant, he had to take it to the dry cleaners.
The maid perked up. "Keep it!"
This time, it was too much for Namjoon. "No, I'm okay. I appreciate the kind offer, but I must refuse."
"Pish posh." The maid waved her hand dismissively. "That boy hasn't worn that suit in over a year! So take it."
Namjoon was unsure of how to deal with this situation. It was out of his comfort zone. He really just wanted to go home.
The maid noticed how uncomfortable he was. "Let's take you home, love." She lead him back downstairs and told him to wait while she got everything ready. When she was done, she came and got him, bringing him out to the courtyard where a driver was waiting.
"Ano... Tell Jungkook that I am grateful for his help. And thank you for being so nice to me." He bowed to show his gratitude.
The maid grabbed his hand and placed something soft in it. "Don't look at it until you get home." She squeezed his hand one more time before he scrambled into the car, with her waving him off as the car peeled out of the courtyard.
As promised, he didn't look at what was given to him until he was dropped off in front of his house. When he looked down, he immediately felt his blood run cold and he broke out into a cold sweat as his heart hammered against his chest. In his hand was a little Ryan plushie doll.
"No way..." He began to panic. "There's no way she could have recognized me." He started to laugh, running a hand through his hair; his way of dealing with stress being uncanny. He quickly shoved the toy in his backpack and walked into his house, trying to control his emotions.
As he walked in and sat down to take off his shoes, he felt a pair of hands touch his back and he jumped to his feet as fast as if the floor was falling underneath him and he needed to get out of the way.
His mom burst out laughing, snorting at times from the force. She tried to speak to him but only managed gibberish.
"Mah!" He yelled angrily. He just calmed himself down and now his blood pressure spiked through the roof again.
"I- I- pfft. I'm... I'm sorry... Pfft." She snickered, trying to get out a proper apology.
Namjoon huffed. "I'm home!" He yelled and then in a girly tone he said, "Oh my! Welcome home, son!" He clamped his hands together as he put on an angelic smile. "That's how most mothers welcome home their sons!" He scolded.
His mother stopped laughing and just stared at him for what seemed like hours. Then she burst out laughing even harder than before.
Namjoon let out a sigh in frustration and walked around his mother to go to his room but was stopped by her hand suddenly grabbing his arm.
"Where did you get that suit?" She asked pleasantly, an angelic, fake smile plastered on her face.
Namjoon's eyes widened as he had forgotten he was wearing Jungkook's suit. His mind went blank for a few seconds as his mouth opened and closed. His mom waited patiently for his response.
"I uh... Something happened at school and I got lent this suit." To be fair, it's not like he was completely lying.
She let go of him, her fake smile becoming more eerie. "My... How generous of that person who lent you that suit. We must thank them properly. How about dinner?"
Namjoon was starting to panic. "No!" He automatically yelled, making his mom raise an eyebrow at him.
"I mean... no. That won't be necessary." He didn't want to disappoint her.
She sighed and shook her head. "Namjoon... You're a horrible liar. Every since you were a teeny little boy." She fondly recalled a memory. "Like that time you grabbed a cookie out of the jar and tried lying to me while you still had crumbs on your face." She pinched his cheeks.
"But please, love. Stay away from them." She pleaded. "I don't want to see you get hurt. Not again." The look on her face was heartbreaking. No doubt painful memories were flashing through her mind.
He downcasted his eyes. He knew she was right, but Jungkook's kindness made his resolve waver.
The next day...
Jungkook drummed his fingers against the wooden desk impatiently. He was the first to arrive. Maybe because of "Mr. Worldwide Handsome" blocking the entrace to the building with his swarm of fangirls. Jungkook rolled his eyes at the incident he barley avoided.
He heard shuffling and spun on his chair towards the entrance, hoping it was Namjoon. To his luck, it was.
"RM!" He called out, basically springing out of his chair. "I'm so sorry about leaving you like that earlier!" He looked like he was genuinely sorry. "I was forced to talk to someone I really didn't want to." He grumbled, crossing his arms.
Namjoon was about to tell him that it was okay until he noticed something on the corner of his desk. "Get lost scholarship student" was etched into the wood.
Namjoon grimaced, angry that they would ruin such a nice piece of furniture. It was mahogany too! He was going to use his book to cover it up but Jungkook stopped him. "Wait!" He told him, running to grab something from his backpack.
Namjoon looked at him with concern as Jungkook proudly displayed what looked like a crayon.
"Wha.. Is that a crayon?" Namjoon asked in disbelief.
"Yurp!" Jungkook began to color over the words to hide them. "They're specifically made to hide chips or scrapes on wooden furniture!"
"And you carry that around with you??" Namjoon was trying to understand Jungkook.
"For now. Remember what I told you yesterday?" He asked, wiping off the excess crayon shavings from the desk, satisfied with his work.
"Which part?" Namjoon was puzzled.
"I told you that I know how they think. I figured something like this would happen so I went to the store yesterday and bought some." Students started to shuffle in and so he headed back to his desk, glancing over his desk to make sure he didn't have anything written on there. He was surprised that no one wrote anything yet.
It seemed that everyone had their eyes on Namjoon, waiting to see his reaction.
Though he tried to not let it bother him, it really started to get under his skin. These rich students were like vultures, waiting for him to get upset.
One of the students was even bold enough to walk up to Namjoon. At this point, Jungkook was at the edge of his seat, ready to react if anything bad were to happen.
"Why aren't you saying anything? Did you not see the message?!" They yelled, slamming their hands down on the desk. They glanced at where the message was supposed to be.
"What the??" They did a double take. "Yoosung! I thought you wrote on his desk!"
Yoosung stood up and walked over to the desk, complaining the whole way there that he must be blind because he did it this morning.
Namjoon didn't say a word as he watched the two bicker. Suddenly, a familiar voice called out to Namjoon.
"See? This thing came in handy!" Jungkook triumphantly raised the crayon in the air. "And it was only a dollar!" That last part made him really happy. Even if he was rich, a good bargain was a good bargain.
The whole class turned to look at Jungkook who was waving the crayon in the air like a five year old, with a stupid grin plastered on his face.
"Did you cover it up?" One of the students asked in disbelief.
"Yea." There wasn't even a hint of regret in Jungkook's voice.
"You do realize he's a nobody scholarship student, right??" Another one asked, just to clarify if Jungkook was in his right state of mind.
"What?!" Jungkook's mouth opened in shock. He looked at Namjoon in disbelief. "You're a scholarship student? Why didn't you tell me?" He asked Namjoon in disgust.
Namjoon felt his stomach drop, his face completely shrouded in shock and hurt. Was Jungkook's kindness a lie? He was too shocked to give a proper response.
However, Jungkook's demeanor did a 360 as he dropped his charade. "Just kidding." He sang. "Because I don't care if he's a scholarship student or not." The looks he got from the other students made him want to laugh, but he held it in. It wasn't time to laugh just yet.
At this point, he knew he had made himself an enemy of the students in the school. He'd give it two or three days before the entire school found out.
English class went without interruption, only a few glares here and there that were directed towards Jungkook.
When class was dismissed, everyone stood, ready to go to lunch. On the way out, a classmate threw their backpack over their shoulder, hitting Jungkook in the process. Jungkook lurched forward, trying to catch himself against the desk as his backpack went tumbling to the ground.
Jungkook smiled to himself. Today was going to be interesting.
He walked up to Namjoon and before he could get a single word out, Namjoon snapped at him. "You need to stop defending me. I mean, thank you. But you'll become a target too."
"Pssshhh." Was Jungkook's response as he picked up Namjoon's backpack and walked out the door. He stopped just outside the entrance. "You coming or not?" He shook Namjoon's backpack for emphasis that he had no choice. "Hurry up. The bimbibap is going to be gone!"
Namjoon reluctantly got up, following after Jungkook.
"Why?" Namjoon asked quietly.
"Why what?" Jungkook asked, drooling as he thought about the school's bimbibap.
"Why go out of your way to stand up for me?" It still didn't sit well with him. Did he know? The Ryan plushie crossed his mind.
"I already told you. I find it disgusting the way they treat you."
Namjoon grimaced.
"Alright! We made it just in time!" Jungkook exclaimed happily, grabbing a bowl of bimbibap. He went down the line to grab some fruit and banana milk.
He and Namjoon sat at a table, Jungkook shoveling his food down. Suddenly, something hit the side of his face and slid down on the table. Reflexively he went to wipe it off, shivering in disgust when he saw it was a mashed up ball of fish.
He looked towards the direction of the offender and it was the guy who had slammed his hands against Namjoon's desk.
Jungkook rolled his eyes and continued to eat. How pathetic. He thought. But then the bombardment of balled up napkins started to hit their table. Jungkook tried to control his temper, squeezing his chopsticks to the point where his knuckles turned white, but when a napkin filled with food hit his uniform and dirtied it, that's when he lost it. He took a handleful of Napkins, saturated it in his cup of sweet chili pepper sauce and chucked it at the table. However, the jerk managed to dodge it, the napkins hitting someone else in the face.
Jungkook's eyes widened in fear as he realized who he had just hit.
"Ah crap!" He yelled loudly, as he watched the sauce drip down the face of Mr. Worldwide Handsome. Mr. Worldwide Handsome lifted a hand to his face and wiped some of the sauce, flinging it on the floor. The expression of complete and utter rage was apparent on every inch of his face.