song of the chapter: sunburn - droeloe

-

The sounds of droplets drowned the noise of the loud snore that I let out as I opened my eyes. My eyes scan the ceiling as I contemplate whether I should go to class or stay. Last night was filled with lots of mixed emotions. I couldn't sleep well. He kept roaming around in my mind all night, even though I tried to stop it.

Sighing, I turn to my side and glance at the clock. There are two minutes left until the alarm goes off.

7:58 AM, the red letters read.

Getting up, I stretch my arms and rub my eyes. Rapidly, the alarm starts going off and I turn it off.

I take my time and shower. Showers wake me up, therefore I always have to take one every morning. They really do help.

Once I'm done, I hold my towel that covers my body. My feet touch the floor and I start running.

Cold.

Cold.

It's so cold!!!

I sit down on my chair that's in front of my vanity. Taking the brush out of the right drawer, I start brushing my messy strands of hair.

My door opens slightly and I see my mom smile at me, "Morning, sweetie." she tells me.

"Morning!" I smile at her from the mirror and continue trying to untangle the mess that is my hair.

She walks in tow and stands by the edge of the door. Her eyes stay upon me as it gets harder for me to untangle the knots in my strands of hair. Maybe she wants to say something.

And I was right.

"Tonight Bree's coming for dinner." she takes my hair brush and starts combing my hair.

I nod. It takes my mom a few minutes before she reaches our goal: fix my messy hair.

Bree had mentioned that she wanted to have dinner with us soon. She just didn't say when or where.

My mom stops and sets the hair brush on the vanity. Quickly, I stand up and start settling the clothes in my bed. I make sure they are accommodated correctly.

She continues speaking as she leans on my bedroom door, "Did she tell you where her boyfriend and her were moving?"

I nod, "At the apartment complex that's two blocks from here."

Mom nods and continues walking towards the door, "They're taking everything too fast, but if she's happy then I'm happy."

"She's happy, the way she looked when she talked to me about him; it was different." I tell her.

"I'm glad she's happy." My mom responded with a smile on her face.

Bree had also become like her second daughter. My parents had my brother and I. My brother isn't living with us currently because he is in the U.S with his wife and two daughters. So, she has always considered Bree her other daughter and would always say that she had three children.

Mom closes the door, moving downstairs to the kitchen.

"Breakfast is on the table!" I hear her shout from downstairs.

I shout back, "I'll be there in a second!"

-

Going to the local bar with my friends at 3PM, after we finished our classes was not part of our plan. Nonetheless, here we are. Hana drinks a beer happily while she talks about her day.  Meanwhile, Taehyung, who has a low alcohol tolerance, drinks his coca-cola sip by sip. Jimin takes a gulp of his beer as he quietly listens to Hana.

We met on our first semester and instantly hit it off. Ever since I started going to college, these guys have been by my side. I love the three of them so much.

"And then, when I talked to Professor Yang about my grade, he dismissed me!" Hana says, not believing what had happened.

Jimin chuckles.

"Don't laugh! I know we all flunked that test, but he at least has to give us a chance," she hides a smile as she finishes her martini, "I just need to re-take the test and I will be fine."

Taehyung shakes his head in disagreement, "Nope. I'm in good terms with my grade, thank you."

"You are because you were the highest grade in the whole class, you genius." Jimin says jokingly as he nudges the boy beside him.

We all turn to Jimin who was now his turn to talk about how his day was. It was something we always did, listen to each other's experiences during the day.

He sighs and sets his beer on the table, "The counselor spoke with me today."

My eyebrows frown, "What happened?" I ask.

The blonde haired boy nods and smiles, "Yeah. It's nothing bad," he runs his hand through his golden locks, "it's just that next week a new student is coming and they needed someone to show them around."

"Can I come with you when you show the new student around?" Hana asks Jimin as she batters her eyes, in hopes of convincing the boy.

Jimin shakes his head, "Sorry, Hanie but no." he responds.

Hana pouts and places her hands on the table, putting her head on them, "Why?" she uses her cute baby tone, which she only uses on Jimin; who always falls for the baby tone trick.

Taehyung laughs and watches Jimin, before stepping in to help, "Because the new student is a boy," he responds, "we don't want you to scare him away."

Let me just put it this way, Hana is boy crazy. She's obsessed with cute boys. Whenever she sets eyes on a cute boy, it's over for all of us.

Hana opens her eyes bigger than normal, in excitement.

"Oh my, what if he is the man of my dreams and we have babies together after college. I need to start planning what to wear—"

I interrupt her, "Don't even start, you haven't even seen nor met him yet!"

"Exactly." Taehyung nods.

Hana shakes her head and starts to calm down. Taehyung begins speaking about his day, calmly.

"I was with Jimin the whole day, so the counselor mentioned the both of us to guide him," he moves the straw around his drink, "he's from Busan, like Jimin, so that's a plus."

Busan.

The place where everything happened.

My breathing stops short and I clench my hands.

My three friends notice it. They look at Taehyung with wide eyes. Taehyung stops talking and places a hand on his mouth, "Dae, I forgot we aren't supposed to mention—"

I pat his hand on the table, "It's okay, that happened a while ago. Don't worry," I try to smile and hold my tears that are threatening to start falling from my eyes, I see his worried expression and I say, "it's okay, Tae-Tae." my hands grip lightly his fingers.

They know about the whole situation. I didn't intend to tell them but the day the three of us met, Busan was mentioned and I became a mess. After I calmed down, I was able to express why I got worked up over just a name of a city and now they understand. They had made an agreement not to mention Busan between us; but today it had slipped.

"He didn't deserve you, Dae." Hana mentions, referring to Jungkook.

That's what my mom told me, after I had told her the situation. "He doesn't deserve such a nice girl like you, love. Maybe you were both not meant to be together. You'll find a person who will love you unconditionally, just give it time."

Just give it time.

Jimin and Taehyung nod.

We stay silent, not knowing what to say next. As I look to my surroundings, I check those around us. The bar begins getting crowded.

"I should start heading back home for dinner," I tell my friends as I start getting up, "don't want to be late." I smile.

My friends nod at me and start standing up. We begin heading toward the entrance of the bar. Hana crosses her arm through mine and we begin walking.

The feeling of a shoulder colliding with mine stops me. I feel leather graze upon my skin. I stay catching my breath. My friends check to see if I'm okay.

Why does everything have to remind me of him?

"Watch where you are going next time!" Hana shouts behind me, to whoever clashed with me.

We continue walking towards Jimin's car. The boys ask which one will sit beside Jimin, but Hana decides to sit at the back seats with me. All of us get settled in and Jimin starts the car.

"He didn't even look to see if you were alright. He just kept walking as if nothing had happened," the strawberry blonde haired girl beside me speaks, "men these days."

"I'm not like that!" Taehyung protests, trying to lift up my mood.

"Me neither!" Jimin chips in.

Hana rolls her eyes jokingly, staring at the two boys in the front seats, "You are angels."

"Yes we are." Taehyung reaffirms, his boxy smile can be seen from the rear view mirror.

"Our guardian angels." I manage to say, really meaning it. They are our guardian angels, always looking out for us, for our wellbeing. They make sure Hana and I are safe and sound. Those two boys mean so much.

Kim Taehyung and Park Jimin; my real life guardian angels.