"Hey." The body of a girl loomed over Jungkook with the sun behind her back.

Jungkook stopped kneading his right palm with his thumb and looked up, legs crossed on the grass. They were in the farthest part of the park where many kids from school loved to go to, behind thick bushes that worked as walls, and an ugly dumpster whose sour smell disguised the one coming from the cigarette that Yugyeom and Jaebeom were trying to smoke.

"Did you hear about it?" the girl, Hyejin, said.

"What?"

"About what Taehyung did." She put her hands on her hips as a frown appeared between her eyebrows. "You're his best friend."

"What—"

Jaebeom's cough in the background grew louder as he slouched his way closer to Jungkook. He put an arm around his shoulders, his breath full of nicotine near Jungkook's face. "Yugyeom doesn't know how to smoke."

"At least I know how to light up a cig!" Yugyeom shouted while taking a short drag and choking.

Jaebeom laughed again. He acted as the most childish of the group, but he made up for it by being the tallest and most outgoing, giving Jungkook a sense of protection whenever someone bothered him.

"What happened?" Jaebeom asked, tilting his head up to look at Hyejin, one eye closed trying to avoid the rays of sun.

"Nothing." Jungkook glanced down, his hands finding each other, fingers locking. He didn't want to talk about Taehyung in front of Jaebeom. It wasn't his thing.

"It's not nothing," Hyejin said, sounding hurt. "It's about Taehyung."

Jungkook looked up again. Why did she care so much? He never saw her hanging out with Taehyung at school before. They weren't exactly friends. And what exactly did she know about him that Jungkook didn't? Why was she here trying to make Jungkook feel bad for not being aware of everything his best friend was up to?

"Taehyung." Jaebeom repeated the name, something weird in his voice that Jungkook had noticed many times whenever his best friend was mentioned. "He's sick at home with his mommy."

There was a bit of mockery in those words, but Jungkook remained quiet.

"So, you don't know." Hyejin crossed her arms in front of her school clothes, her backpack hanging from her left shoulder.

The last time Jungkook spoke to Taehyung had been last week when they lay down on the back of Mr. Sihyuk's old truck. The next day, Taehyung got the flu and took time off from school. All because it started raining and Taehyung hadn't been wearing any shoes.

Ms. Kim told Jungkook that her son would miss school for an entire week, without permission to see anyone. Jungkook felt guilty for not having told Taehyung to be more careful when it rained, but Taehyung assured him the next night, through his window with two fingers up in a peace sign and before turning off the lights, that it had been worth it.

"So?" Hyejin tsked, getting Jungkook's attention back.

Jaebeom made a sound at the girl with his throat, smiling widely. "So?"

"I'm not talking to you."

Jaebeom smirked, sitting straight and rubbing his nose. Yugyeom was already mocking him with a piercing laugh from where he was laying, arms and legs spread over the grass.

Jungkook had heard Dowoon talking about something earlier during the first period, but he hadn't asked what that was about. He'd stopped interacting with his classmates a long time ago, especially with the bullies. So no, he didn't know. He didn't know something was up with his best friend. And he hated Hyejin for pointing it out.

The rotten smell from the dumpster mixed with the cigarette scent from Jaebeom's clothes made Jungkook wince. Standing up, he suddenly missed the weight of Jaebeom's arm on him. He cleaned the dirt off his school uniform just to keep his hands busy, and then looked at Hyejin, who was staring back at him with her gigantic head and impatient eyes.

He asked, genuine worry in his voice this time, "What about him?"